Sonia M

This project is an on-site exercise where students have to sketch and document the physical and intangible qualities of the buildings as well as the immediate context of the site. It can be from an element as broad as the urban planning itself down to the smallest detail of the ornaments used in the building. Some of the physical aspects may include building or structure such as a bridge; architectural elements such as windows, doors, five foot ways; architectural features such as ornaments, keystone, arches over windows, carvings, tiles layout; construction details such as staircase, roof structure; the physical context – overall urban layout, street furniture; traditional transportation such the trishaw. The intangible aspects that can be captured are people of the place doing their daily activities; cultural elements such as clothes, furniture, glass and china, food; traditional trade – incense shop, street side cobbler, other family businesses; urban qualities such as the rhythm created by the repetition of roof volumes, the serial visions and vistas, the circulation nodes.

As a start, it is COMPULSORY for all students to sketch the plans, sections and elevations of the building that the group has measured, as an expression of the students’ understanding of the building.

The sketches are to comprise at least 2 each of these categories:

1. The Genius Loci

2. Poetic Quality

3. Cultural Attributes

4. Technical /Construction details