The dynamism of Contemporary Architecture and its postulates keep facing numerous amendments in terms of new techniques, materials, and ways of construction. Parametricism or Parametric Architecture is one such style that emerged out of advanced ideas of computation and digital animation techniques, moulded into the built world.
With the help of this mechanism, today designers can choose to recreate any form that seems relevant. However, the primary concern at hand, is whether these can be manifested to address pertinent global issues related to the environment, climatic changes and animal abuse.
We at Ant Studio, have always endeavoured to create designs that generate a conversation by blending such avant-garde processes with the exotic vibes of nature and express it through Art. The ‘Pangolin Pavilion’ designed by us at the ‘OneistoX’ workshop, required an ideology that would go beyond the generic norms of design and re-invent the concept of Parametricism but with a social cause.
Pangolins are one of the most trafficked mammals in the world. Despite their friendly temperament and an inability to cause any significant harm to human kind; they are trafficked for their scales, meat and blood. In compliance with our Studio’s core philosophy, we sought to create an installation that could successfully spread an artistic awareness against poaching of these fascinating creatures. The primary brief handed by ‘OneistoX’, was to design in order to educate the upcoming architects and students about the intricacies of Parametricism.
Monish Siripurapu, our Principal Architect, chose to raise the bar and implement an abstract form of the Pangolin, to meet the specifics of the organisers as well as spark a thought against animal abuse. “In the age of infinite possibilities driven by technology, the question is no more how we build, but why we build and what we build'', as he states concisely.
Along with possessing the silver lining of representing a social cause, the design team sought to conceptualise a structure that is simple to assemble and incorporates mass-produced modules for the ease of procurement. Thus, the fundamental skeleton was made of steel ribs of unifying radii with clamps that hold the tiles. These ribs were then cut to suit the varying arc lengths and implanted at different angles, to create the basic structure. While this segment of the modus operandi represented modern technical affluence, the twist which is synonymous to most designs of Ant Studio, was supplemented through the clamped tiles.
Customised to symbolise the scales of a Pangolin, these Mangalore tiles were made of terracotta and thus added the ‘extra leaf’ of Nature to the final pavilion created. Completed in a mere span of 10 days, we were elated to be able to devise the apt blend between contemporary materials and an enveloping natural demeanour through its concept and execution.
Biomimicry is one of the most inspiring principles of design that can easily be instilled in our built world. We believe in connecting the people and the spaces we design with nature; like in the words of the great artist inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, – “Human ingenuity may make various inventions, but it will never devise any invention more beautiful, nor more simple, nor more to the purpose than Nature does; because in her inventions nothing is wanting and nothing is superfluous!”
Text Credits: Ar. Bineeta Ghoshal
