TO Arquitectura creates vaulted Mexico music school with reclaimed masonry
CategoriesArchitecture

TO Arquitectura creates vaulted Mexico music school with reclaimed masonry

Mexican studio TO Arquitectura has worked with the local community to create a music school that features a vault made from recycled and donated masonry in Mexico City.

Known as the Kithara Music Kiosk, the 645-square foot (60-square metre) project sits on an 860-square foot (80-square metre) corner lot in the Yuguelito neighbourhood. TO Arquitectura completed the project in March of 2022.

An arched stone music hall made of stone with cacti
TO Arquitectura has built a music pavilion in Mexico City

Yuguelito is located in Iztapalapa, an area that experiences high levels of conflict due to violence, poor soil quality and water scarcity.

Set along the base of the Xaltocan Volcano, an earthquake in 1985 reduced Yuguelito to rubble, and the community has been working to improve the soil for construction and to re-establish the residential area for the last forty years.

A woman pours out water next to a music kiosk
It is made of recycled and donated materials

In 2015, the Kithara Project – a classical guitar education program based in Boston, Massachusetts – arrived in the area to offer free music lessons to the community using one of the most popular instruments in the world.

To show their appreciation, the community members donated a small plot next to the local library for a guitar classroom, and TO Arquitectura held a workshop with the guitar students to develop the designs for a music school.

Hall with wooden ceiling and large doors
It was built for a community recovering from an earthquake that occurred more than 40 years ago

The resulting structure is a rectangular space that sits diagonally on its site, orienting toward the volcano and the intersection rather than the street grid. This allows the building to be opened up to the views when it serves as a stage for events in the neighbourhood.

The team employed recycled and donated materials and labour from three local builders.

Guitar man playing for audience
The vault was oriented towards the volcano and town

The open-air, pavilion-like vault is composed of different types of donated masonry, including red brick, cement blocks, volcanic stone, and a red stone called tezontle.

The two-storey vault serves as a shelter for a wooden stand made of reclaimed lumber. A set of concrete stairs climbs up to a set of raked, wooden bleachers that form the classroom space.

Aerial view of Kithara Music Kiosk
It sits on a small, donated plot

A small restroom is tucked underneath the staircase and the landing is used as a teaching platform.

The underside of the bleachers functions as a bandstand with double-height wooden doors swinging open to the community. The reclaimed wood was cut into small sections and assembled like tiles over the doors to create a varied pattern.

Light and airflow through the ground-floor space from doors on each end, while mismatched ceramic pendant lights serve as a small suspended detail.

The combination of wood and masonry creates “an acoustic balance between sound absorption and reverberation,” the studio said.

An arched music school in Mexico City
It employs rainwater capture techniques

Integrated metal scuppers run along the intersection of the vault and the wall and capture rainwater that is piped into a collection chamber and a small garden.

“Nowadays Kithara Music Kiosk has surpassed its intended uses, and the community has used it for making different events like theatre arts presentations, choir concerts and different types of social gatherings,” the studio said.

“It has a personal space scale but it definitely resonates as a collective space.”

Kithara Music Kiosk has been shortlisted in the small architecture project category of the Dezeen Awards 2023.

TO leaders Carlos Facio and José Amozurruita are also members of Mexico City’s Colectivo C733 with Gabriela Carrillo, Eric Valdez, and Israel Espín. Together they have created a brick music school with a coconut wood roof in Nacajuca and a market with an inverted trapezoid-shaped roof structure in Matamoros.

The photography is by Jaime Navarro and Santiago Arau.


Project credits:

Architecture: TO (Carlos Facio, José Amozurrutia)
Project team: Lizeth Ríos, Úrsula Rebollar, Lena Arsenijevic
Client: Matthew Rode, Kithara Foundation
Structural: Armando Pelcastre
Construction: TO, maestro Pablo Escobar
Landscape: Entorno, Tonatiuh Martínez



Reference

Flowing vaulted roofs top Tarang arts space by The Grid Architects
CategoriesArchitecture

Flowing vaulted roofs top Tarang arts space by The Grid Architects

Undulating vaults shelter this multipurpose arts space in Ahmedabad, India, which local studio The Grid Architects designed to defy “conventional architectural norms”.

Named Tarang after the Hindi word for waves, the sweeping structure is formed of a series of timbrel vaults made from locally-sourced terracotta tiles without supporting beams or reinforcement.

According to The Grid Architects, with an area of 279 square metres, it is one of the largest vaulted structures of its kind in India.

Arts space by The Grid Architects in Ahmedabad
The Grid Architects has created a multipurpose arts space in Ahmedabad

“[Tarang] emerged from the desire to create a structure distinct from the urban context, where box-like structures dominated the surroundings,” said studio founders Snehal Suthar and Bhadri Suthar.

“The vision was to craft a cornerless edifice, harmonic waves that defied conventional architectural norms,” they told Dezeen.

A series of brick plinths on the perimeter of the oval-shaped site support the vaulted roof and create a series of arched openings of different heights that lead inside.

Aerial view of Tarang arts space by The Grid Architects in India
It is sheltered by undulating vaults. Photo by Vinay Panjwani

At the centre of Tarang, three circular plinths form funnel-shaped openings that provide sunlight and water to small planters positioned at their base.

The construction of Tarang was carried out by So Hath – 100 Hands Foundation For Building Artisans, a local organisation that advocates for and provides training in traditional construction techniques.

Vaulted building by The Grid Architects
It is made from tiles without supporting beams

The tiles are designed so that if Tarang’s arches are ever deconstructed they can be repurposed.

“Minimizing waste and concrete use, and prioritizing local resources and labour, it serves as a model for environmentally conscious architecture that celebrates local culture and positively contributes to the community,” explained the studio’s founders.

Inside, the tiles and polished stone floors are intended as a backdrop to a range of activities, from performances to artistic exhibitions and gatherings.

“The interplay of sunlight and shadow within the space is nothing short of mesmerising, imbuing the simplicity of the tiles and bricks with a quality that is truly remarkable,” said the duo.

Vaulted brick interior of Tarang
Planters feature inside

“Indeed, the structure itself is the finished product, where the rawness of the materials is transformed into something sublime and transcendent,” they continued.

The Grid Architects is an Ahmedabad-based studio founded in 2002. In 2021 it was longlisted for the studio of the year in the Dezeen Awards.

Vaulted arts space in India
It is intended as a backdrop to a range of activities. Photo by Vinay Panjwani

The studio previously turned to the brutalist buildings of the 1960s to create a home sheltered by a geometric, folded concrete shell.

Other recent projects in Ahmedabad include a factory by Iksoi Studio with an exposed concrete grid and the timber and stone-tiled VS House by Sārānsh.

The photography is by Photographix unless stated otherwise.

Reference

Earthscape Studio adds sweeping vaulted farmhouse to Kerala forest
CategoriesArchitecture

Earthscape Studio adds sweeping vaulted farmhouse to Kerala forest

Locally produced bricks and recycled materials feature in this vaulted residence in Kerala, India, named The Wendy House.

Designed by Bangalore practice Earthscape Studio, the home is located within eight acres of dense forest and was designed to stand among the trees without disrupting the existing nature.

Exterior photo of The Wendy House
The Wendy House was designed by Earthscape Studio

“Our main aim was to not harm nature by cutting down the trees and other existing natural features on the site,” lead architect Petchimuthu Kennedy told Dezeen.

“When we visited the site, there were lots of trees such as mango, coconut, nutmeg, and teak. Since we didn’t want to disturb them, we made a grid on site and determined the shape of the house according to the placement of existing trees.”

Photo of The Wendy House
It was constructed using recycled materials

Aiming to draw from the surrounding nature, Earthscape Studio used locally sourced materials throughout the building, including recycled rods, broken tiles and earth from the site.

The studio also used traditional sithu kal bricks – small bricks constructed of three layers – sourced from within 50 kilometres of the site and joined by local workers to create the building’s vaulted form.

Photo of The Wendy House
It has a sweeping roof

“The bricks that we used are small sithu kal bricks, which were previously used along the south side of Tamil Nadu for the famous technique called Madras terrace roof,” said Kennedy, referring to an Indian roofing system that involves creating a series of sloping roofs to encourage rainwater drainage.

“Nowadays, the technique is no longer used and the community members who produce these bricks have become unemployed,” he continued. “We wanted to bring them back by engaging the local community with work.”

The Wendy House is split across two separate vaulted volumes each comprising three layers of bricks along with a fourth recycled waterproofing layer made from broken tiles from factories.

“We wanted no steel or concrete to be on our building structure and we don’t want to cut down any trees,” said Kennedy. “This timbrel vault technique is a catenary-based vault that requires no steel or concrete.”

“The catenary form is self-stabilising since the forces of the vault are transferred directly to the footing.”

Interior photo of The Wendy House
There is a courtyard at the centre

The vaulted forms were topped with a sweeping roof made from locally sourced, recycled mudga tiles.

Inside, the home has an open plan with a bedroom, bathroom and storage space in one wing, along with a living room, dining space, and pantry in the other.

Photo of the interior of the home
The home has an open-plan design

A courtyard with a small pond in its centre runs between the two blocks, punctuated on either end by curved rammed earth walls.

Framed with recycled rods, glass walls on the inner facing walls of the vaulted buildings offer views from the interior into the central courtyard.

Photo of a living space
It has built-in furniture

The recycled rods were also used alongside waste wood to create the frames for built-in furniture, including a bed, sofa, and kitchen counter.

Other Indian homes recently featured on Dezeen include a cylindrical house designed to collect rainwater and a home with large terraces sheltered by a jagged metal canopy.

The photography is by Syam Sreesylam.

Reference