Project Description
FROM BALKRISHNA DOSHI:
Amdavad Ni Gufa was designed to demonstrate the collaboration between an artist and architect. An underground gallery housing the works of artist Maqbool Fida Husain, Doshi’s design was inspired by a discussion between the two that occurred thirty years prior to the project. It was about a response to climate, and the benefits of interred spaces.
In designing the landscape and entrance, the architect connects the building to the extended world.
“Amdavad Ni Gufa, designed as an art gallery, transformed and became a living organism and sociocultural centre due to its unusual combination of computer aided design, use of mobile ferro-cement forms and craftsmanship by local crafts people using waste products.”
“The form and space of Gufa animate the mysteries of light and memories. Challenges between an artist and an architect give birth to the most unexpected. Searching the uncommon meant raising fundamental questions – what is the meaning of function, space and technology – amidst structure and form.”
Porcelain mosaic tiles reflect sunlight and mitigate heat, covering the tortoise shell-inspired roof that shelters the undulating cave-like interiors below.
The shells are handmade from reinforcing bars and mesh covered with cement. This is covered with compacted vermiculite, followed by mosaic pieces.