A Connect
View of the main courtyard
SHIVANI S. MAHADIK
2016PA0042/38
PILLAI COLLEGE OF ARCHITECURE
NEW PANVEL
Shivani Mahadik is a 3rd year student of
Architecture .
High School Education -- J.H. Ambani
Petrochemicals School,Nagothane,Raigad.
Worked on-
Designing A HOUSE 100sq.m.-1st year
PRE SCHOOL ,DAYCARE CENTRE (location
Panvel,Raigad) and SECODARY SCHOOL
(location Dhodhani,Panvel)-2nd year
Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed works
ABSTRACT
A Connect with our surroundings is
essential for our very survival. Materials
and energy move from organism to
organism. Matter is arranged in precise
order in every organism, but in death this
order is followed by disorder: cycling of
materials through organisms brings
order once again. But today, rapidly
drifting from our traditions of
sustainable use and coexistence, we
seem to be entering a man-centered
world that implies the decimation of
nature. Thus, today reestablishing the
connection with our nature is need of
time.
Prithvi Sukta in Atharva Veda states,
|| माता भूमम पुत्रोहं पृमिव्या ||
|| Mata Bhumi putroham prithivyah ||
Earth is my mother and I am her son/child.

INTRODUCTION
The mythological evidences explaining the importance of being
connected with the surroundings are plenty. Where we are taught to
respect or surroundings (includes everything around us). for example
there are many festivals involving a tree thus keeping that specific or
any tree around us became a belief .As everything in this universe is
vibrating at certain frequency ,and it is said in our ancient Indian
scriptures that the Panchmahabhot (Five Great Elements) are the
greatest source of energies. And thus, for our very survival or spirited
life it is essential to be connected with these all.
The Varah Purana says,
"One who plants one peepal, one neem, one bar, ten flowering plants or
creepers, two pomegranates, two oranges and five mangos, does not go
to hell."
Thus, these beliefs were made indirectly for our wellbeing, and we
started planting trees.
And thus the connect with nature became essential today, we think of
having implicit or artificial environments to create a stable
environment using air conditions, but once we are out of these plastic
environments our body is unable to withstand outer environment, thus
leading to diseases where our body fails to build its immune system.
So it becomes very much essential for us to be connected with our
surroundings.
Geoffrey Bawa was one of the original proponents of Tropical
Modernism, a design movement in which sensitivity for local context
combines with the form-making principles of modernism. Bawa’s
architecture led to the formation of a new architectural identity and
aesthetic for many tropical environments.
For Bawa, it is not only the careful situation of architecture within a
landscape but also the embodiment of that landscape within the
building; a unity between architecture and place (Taylor 1986).

Shivani S. Mahadik | A Connect

METHODOLOGY

HOUSE FOR OSMUND AND ENA DE SILVA

COLOMBO 1960-62

Cross section through the Ena de silva House,

Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed works

The paln is introspective ,forming a pattern of linked pavillions

and courtyards disposed around large central court and
contained within a limiting perimeter wall.the design may well
have been inspired by Kandyan Courtyard houses .
The main elements are arranged in layers of increasing privacy
as they progress away from the street. First a long loggia, since
removed, was formed by huge timber column supporting a cane
screen, recalling the front porches. Behind this a high wall,
broken only by openings for the main entrance and cart port,
defines long garden court in front of the first pavilion, serving as
buffer zone between the house and the street.

Plan of the Ena de Silva House

Book – Geoffrey Bawa -
Completed works

Shivani S. Mahadik | A Connect

 Left and right: Views form the entrance towards the main courtyard,
Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed works
The first pavilion, which contains the office and studio, the garage
and a guest suite, looks onto a large central court occupying the
heart of the plan, surrounded on four sides by an open loggia. The
courtyard is finished in a combination of cobbles and gravel, with
four huge grinding stones placed at each corner and is shaded by
large mango tree and gnarled plumeria. Beyond is the main living
accommodation: a 2 storey pavilion with living and dining areas
at the ground levels separated by a stair tower and shrine room,
with bedroom above. Running down the side of the complex is the
service tract: two long walls define the servant’s rooms and
kitchens, each separated small courts and at the intersection
with the first pavilion, the garage.
The overpowering presence of a tiled roof and the generally
localized palette of materials give the house its vernacular feel,
yet the highly articulated and open plan is quite modern in its
effect. Space flows from inside to outside and long vistas range
across a series of indoor and outdoor rooms to create the illusion
of infinite space on relatively small plot

Shivani S. Mahadik | A Connect

. Every room is naturally ventilated from 2 sides: Ena de siva did not
want air conditioning, demanding a house without glass, with windows
that could be used for serenading at night. New devices are
incorporated -projecting bay windows boxed out with diagonal timber
lattice, raised on elegant granite bases, deep overhanging eaves. The
net result is something quite new: an inward -looking house on a
restricted urban site in which workspaces are all clearly defined and
separated but at the same time interconnected

Left: the main courtyard

Right: the dining verandah
Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed works

Shivani S. Mahadik | A Connect

HOUSE FOR DR BRTHOLOMEUSZ
COLOMBO 1961-63

With its courtyards, loggias and verandahs,

the building created a pleasant and
comfortable working environment that
obviated the need for air conditioning and
offered a sample of the practice’s work to
any perspective clients. The design of the
building incorporated two innovations:
polished coconut trunks were used in
conjunction with granite bases and capitals
to protect them from termite attack, and ‘tile
on cement’ roof made its appearance.

View of the main office from the

central court in 1984, showing the
first use on tile on cement sheet
Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed
works

Top left : front elvation

Bottom :Long cross-section
Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed works

Shivani S. Mahadik | A Connect

 Bawa’s own office
Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed works

Bawa had already concluded that the roof was the critical
element in tropical architecture and experimented with a
number of alternative materials and methods of construction:
flat roofs were difficult to seal and tended to get hot, though
earth-covered slabs had yielded interesting results; interlocking
‘Calicut’ or Mangalore tiles were lightweight and required
relatively minimal timber support but offered little insulation
;traditional flat Kandyan tiles needed high maintenance and had
to be laid to steep pitches; corrugated cement sheeting was light
,easy to support and highly water proof but unbearably hot and
totally unattractive; the half round ‘Portuguese’ tiles produced s
pleasing texture and good thermal mass, but its double layering
reqired a complex and costly timber structure of batten, close-
spaced rafters, purlins and trusses. While seeking a solution for
roof of a house in Jawatte Road, Bawa hit upon the idea of laying
Portuguese’s tiles in and over the corrugations of cement
sheeting. This marriage combined the advantages of the 2
materials-excellent water proofing, good insulation and
attractive appearance -and minimized their disadvantages.

View of central courtyard and pool

in 1984
Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed
works

Shivani S. Mahadik | A Connect

 Top :View of central courtyard
1984
Bottom: view of central courtyard
in 2000
Book – Geoffrey Bawa -Completed
works

Shivani S. Mahadik | A Connect

CONCLUSION

Therefore , Geoffrey bawa carefully studied the tropical

climate and not only used passive methods but merged
the surroundings with the building by using courtyards,
verandahs. Thus, he connects his buildings with nature
around, by Physically (direct openings), visually (giving
views), and also responding to climate (maintaining the
micro climate).therefore,.

KEYWORDS
Connect-Surroundings-Nature-Mythological Evidences-
Merge-Loggia-Obviated-Conjunction

REFERENCES

Book - Geoffrey Bawa -Completed works

nature_worship_(attributetohinduism.com).pdf

Shivani S. Mahadik | A Connect