maya somaiya library case study

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Maya Somaiya Library, Sharda School / Sameep Padora & Associates

• Curated by Fernanda Castro
• Architects: Sameep Padora & Associates
• Area Area of this architecture project Area:  5750 ft²
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2018
• Photographs Photographs: Edmund Sumner
• Structural Engineering : Sameer Sawant
• Superstructure : Vivek Garg , Rhino Vault
• Contractor : Unique Concrete Technologies , Rajesh Murkar, Milind Naik
• Design Team:  Vami Sheth Koticha, Archita Banerjee, Manasi Punde, Aparna Dhareshwar
• Site Supervision:  Zubair Kachawa
• Client:  Somaiya Vidyavihar
• Site Area:  3 acres
• City:  Kopargaon
• Country:  India
• Did you collaborate on this project?

Text description provided by the architects. The site chosen for this small addition of a children’s library within a school in rural Maharashtra, was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary, a site that almost implied a linear building footprint to adjust the program for the chosen site.
Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane. A place inside for study and a place above for play. With the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours. 

On our first visit to the site it was interesting to see Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence. We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’. At this point we were captivated by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century, it’s use by Gustavino in the early 19th century and finally the incredible details from the work of Eladio Dieste from the mid-twentieth century. While working with the specific site condition we used Rhino Vault developed by the Block Research Group at the ETH to articulate a pure compression form for the project.

The library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine it became a pavilion accessed from multiple sides with students potentially engaging with books while traversing through the library or over it. 

The library interior has varied spatial & seating systems, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area and towards the centre, tables and stools for collaborative study.  The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economical window section sizes.

The construction technology for the project also makes a case to reexamine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition. The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifests within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies.

Our effort to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that our practices are situated in, allowing us to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.

In using principles ranging from the Catalan Tile Vaulting sytem to the compression ring detail from the work of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay, to using a form finding software plug -in made in Switzerland the library is a resultant of not only lessons learnt from various geographic locations but also various lessons through time/history.

Project gallery

Project location

Address: kopargaon, maharashtra, india.

Materials and Tags

• Sustainability

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All in the mound: Maya Somaiya Library in Kopargaon, India, by Sameep Padora + Associates

18 December 2018 By A Srivathsan AR Library

5/6 The concertina configuration of the timber-framed windows was necessary as they had to be self-supporting. The lower halves are glazed, while the upper halves are covered by netting allowing passive ventilation

6/6 The gently undulating brick roof of the library is possibly the widest and longest example of the Catalan vault. It could serve as a walkway between the two playgrounds, health and safety permitting

AR Library Highly Commended: in the Maya Somaiya Library, the constraints of the site paved the way for invention

Maya Somaiya Library reaffirms engineer David Billington’s remarks about the tenets of shell structures: economy, efficiency and elegance. Designed by Mumbai-based Sameep Padora +Associates (sP+a), this thin brick vault structure creates a fluid, free space for 10,000 books. Seamlessly merging with the landscape, the improvised Catalan vault bathes in light, and, to paraphrase the Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste, ‘dances without effort’. In previous projects, sP+a have explored and experimented with construction techniques, crafts and methods of putting buildings together. Maya Somaiya Library extends this spirit of inquiry.

‘In its lightness and fluidity, the brick vault seems more like a fabric tent than a masonry structure’ 

Set in a fertile region that cultivates sugar cane and cotton, Kopargaon is a small town east of Mumbai with a population of 65,000. In this predominantly Marathi-speaking region, private schools that teach in English are sought after by aspiring parents. Shri Sharda School, where the library is located, is one of eight schools that deliver education in English. Until a few years ago, the school had a small hall that doubled unsatisfactorily as a library for its 1,800 students. In response to a growing need, the trust that supports the school commissioned a new and improved facility. The programme could be simply distilled to ‘a place to read books’.

Tightly sandwiched between two buildings in the north-east quadrant of the school, the Maya Somaiya Library connects two playgrounds frequented by students. The plot delineated for construction was small and irregular, yet this constraint created opportunity. An irregular shape paved the way for an unorthodox geometry and visual variations. Central to the design is the idea of chhatri , a traditional Mughal pavilion. However, unlike the Indian version, essentially a trabeated, umbrella-like structure, the architects drew on Mediterranean construction techniques to create a Catalan masonry vault that simultaneously shelters and defines space.

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Though the Catalan vault system had a Roman precedent, it came to fruition in 14th-century Spain. Also known as a timbrel vault, the Catalan vault is a thin vaulted structure that spans and encloses space by means of compression. It usually comprises three layers of brick tiles held together by a quick-setting mortar and constructed using a minimal formwork made of timber slats. Prevalent in Mediterranean countries, it later spread across the world. Yet while it eventually went out of fashion, engineers such as Eladio Dieste rediscovered it and elevated it into a structural art. 

Modern Catalan vaults are not as symmetrical as traditional ones, acquiring complex shapes covering different kinds of footprints. Pioneering research by the Block Research Group (BRG) at the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zürich has made such improvisations possible. The Swiss research team introduced advanced computational techniques to enhance aesthetic qualities, explore new tiling patterns and develop different forms of curvature. This has led to more radical experiments and outcomes, for instance, Brick-topia by Spanish architecture firm Map13 in Barcelona. 

Spa edmund sumner lib 0058

‘The choice of the vault was a natural one’, says sP+a principal Sameep Padora. ‘It was a suitable and appropriate form that met our design intention to create a pavilion for the books. I was already familiar with the work of Eladio Dieste and the magnificent vaults he had built in Uruguay. When we were pondering over the design for the library, ideas and inspiration came together.’

Drawing on the ETH research, Maya Somaiya Library takes structural innovation a stage further. With a width of 25ft and span of 150ft, it is probably the widest and longest example of the Catalan vault built to date and is also the first permanent structure of its kind. Unusually, it has no intermediate supports, so the resultant form generates a free-flowing, unobstructed space.

It also optimises use of materials. Three layers of 20mm brick tiles were laid perpendicular to each other and held together by mortar, so the structure carries only 140 tonnes of self-weight. The steel cage employed as formwork to construct the first tile layer was later reused in other buildings. Each layer of tiles required around four weeks to construct, so the building took about nine months to complete, comparable to the more conventional steel and concrete frame structures that surround the library. However, when it comes to sustainability, efficiency and elegance, the library clearly prevails. 

Spa edmund sumner lib 0026

The fluid form emerges out of careful consideration and manoeuvring of parameters. The vault’s springing point was located so that the library entrance orients towards the playgrounds. Its arches face the landscaped area, encouraging students to step outside during cooler months of the year. The flow and proportions of the curve were adjusted to achieve a suitable working height as well as visual impact. Laid out in a zigzag pattern, timber-framed windows of varying dimensions cover the openings below the arches. The zigzag arrangement was necessary because the windows had to stand up and be self-supporting. The lower halves of the windows are glazed, while the upper parts are covered by netting to allow airflow, affording a well-lit, adequately ventilated and comfortable space. 

Inside the sinuous, vaulted space, bookshelves are arranged diagonally along a central spine. Taking account of future needs, the shelves are designed to hold three times their current capacity. Places to read are clustered along both sides of the shelves. Senior students sit on stools, while younger ones comfortably squat on stone seats in quiet corners. The floor is made of polished grey green kota, a widely used natural stone, adding to the sense of warmth. Fans, a necessity in the tropical locale, are hung from mild steel frames that hug the bookshelves. Their constant gentle whir penetrates the studious silence.

Though delightful, the building’s innate simplicity is also its drawback, as the design creates an uncluttered space unsuited to hosting other kinds of activities. School libraries are no longer mere repositories of books, they have to engage, inform and entertain. Some spatial subdivisions might have encouraged the library to embrace this extended role, enhancing its educational and social potential. 

Sp+a section

Within the library, students do not seem to mind the conspicuous absence of new media and interactive devices. Presumably, this was a conscious decision to keep them away from digital distractions. Rather, they seemed to be enthused by and fascinated with the new structure. School principal KL Wakchaure proudly notes that library usage has substantially increased and students eagerly anticipate their set periods in the new space. Requests to use the library have also increased, prompting the school to keep it open beyond school hours. Residents and students from other institutions regularly visit the school to inspect the new addition. The pride of students and staff is visible, a testament to the impact of architectural imagination.

‘We wanted a structure that appears to emerge from the landscape organically and then slowly descends into it’, says Padora. The brick vault extends upwards, effortlessly spreads and carefully tucks into the ground. In its lightness and fluidity, it seems more like a fabric tent than a masonry structure, inviting rather than intimidating. 

Spa edmund sumner lib 0029

Padora hopes that students will be able to walk over the vault as they shuffle between the two playgrounds, an idea that would help to develop an intimacy with the building. However, this is yet to be fully realised as the school needs to get used to the idea of students walking over buildings with all the attendant anxieties of supervision. Yet if and when it happens, it would cement the bond between the students and their library still further. 

The significance of this building lies not only in its innovative form, technical virtuosity and economy. More importantly, it is a commendable effort to endow a school in a small town with a much-needed amenity. Most libraries in India’s schools are poorly serviced and under-utilised, so this generous building is a welcome contrast. By inviting students from the rural hinterlands to dwell in books, reflect, imagine and grow wise, it embodies a powerful sense of hope. 

Architect: Sameep Padora + Associates (sP+a)

Project team: Sameep Padora, Vami Seth Koticha, Archita Banerjee, Manasi Punde, Aparna Dhareshwar

Structural engineer: Sameer Sawant (foundation design); Rhino Vault, Vivek Garg (superstructure)

Photographs: Edmund Sumner

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Maya Somaiya Library at Sharda School by Sameep Padora and Associates

In 2018 Indian architecture firm Sameep Padora and Associates completed the Maya Somaiya Library in Maharashtra, India. Inspired by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault, the library becomes a formal extension of the ground plane where children can play and learn.

Maya Somaiya Library Technical Information

• Architects 1-4 : sP+a (Sameep Padora and Associates)
• Location: Kopergaon, Maharashtra, India
• Client: Somaiya Vidyavihar
• Topics: Bricks , Library , Organic Architecture , Catalan Vault
• Area: 3 acres
• Total floor area: 5,750 square feet
• Project Year: 2014 – 2018
• Photographs: © Edmund Sumner

Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building, we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane – a place inside to study and a place above to play.  – Sameep Padora Architects

Maya Somaiya Library Photographs

Text by the Architects

The site chosen for this small addition of a children’s library within a school in rural Maharashtra was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary. This site almost implied a linear building footprint to adjust the program for the chosen location.

Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building, we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane – a place inside to study and a place above to play. With the limited teaching resources available in the broader vicinity, we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours. 

On our first visit to the site, it was interesting to see Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few school buildings. We were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from construction intelligence. We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape.’

At this point, we were captivated by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century. Gustavino uses it in the early 19th century, and finally, the incredible details from Eladio Dieste from the mid-twentieth century. While working with the specific site condition, we used Rhino Vault developed by the Block Research Group at the ETH to articulate a pure compression form.

The library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine. It became a pavilion accessed from multiple sides, with students potentially engaging with books while traversing through the library or over it. 

The library interior has varied spatial & seating systems, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area, and towards the center, tables, and stools for collaborative study.  The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economic window section sizes.

The construction technology for the project also makes a case to reexamine the old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition. The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifest within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies.

Our effort to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that our practices are situated in, allowing us to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.

In using principles ranging from the Catalan Tile Vaulting system to the compression ring detail from the work of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay to using a form-finding software plugin made in Switzerland, the library is a resultant of not only lessons learned from various geographic locations but also different lessons through time/history.

Maya Somaiya Library Plans

Maya Somaiya Library Image Gallery

About Sameep Padora and Associates

sP+a approach is to look to context as a repository of latent resources connecting production process and networks, appropriating techniques beyond their traditional use while allowing them to evolve and persist not just through preservation but also through evolution. Other works from Sameep Padora & Associates

• Design Team: Vami Seth Koticha, Archita Banerjee, Manasi Punde, Aparna Dhareshwar
• Structural engineering: Foundation Design: Sameer Sawant. Superstructure: Rhino Vault, Vivek Garg
• Contractor: Rajesh Murkar, Milind Naik
• Site Supervision: Zubair Kachawa

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Sameep Padora creates undulating brick roof to cover school library in India

Sameep Padora & Associates looked at the forms of vaulted brick ceilings found in Catalonia to develop the complex curved roof of this extension to a children's library in the Indian town of Kopargaon.

Padora's Mumbai-based practice designed the Maya Somaiya Library for the Shri Sharda English Medium School, which is located on the edge of the town in the state of Maharashtra.

The building occupies a narrow strip of land between existing buildings and the school's boundary, which looks out onto the adjacent farmland.

The site's proportions informed the building's linear floorplan, which is enveloped by a fluid roof form that appears to grow out of the ground.

"Alluding to the intuitive impetus that children have towards landscape we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground," said the studio, "using brick as material for its tactility, availability as well as its utility as insulation against the strong sun."

The architects were also inspired by existing geodesic structures on the school campus to explore the possibilities of a technically innovative construction solution for the new building.

After considering different building techniques including concrete shells and brick vaults, the team settled on a method for creating structural arches known as the Catalan vault.

The vaulted surfaces are found throughout the Mediterranean and are typically created by laying bricks lengthwise on top of a wooden form.

Padora and his team were particularly influenced by the 19th-century Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino Moreno's adaptation of the technique to create his patented Tile Arch System, as well as by the thin-shell structures developed by Uruguayan architect Eladio Dieste in the mid 20th century.

The complex double-curved surfaces required to form the school's roof were created using a plug-in for 3D modelling programme Rhinoceros, which facilitates the design of structures that are held together by compression only.

The Rhino Vault software was developed by the Block Research Group at ETH Zürich , and has previously been used to create a robotically fabricated wooden structure made from 225 individual panels, as well as a canopy made entirely from stone with no additional fixings.

The vaulted roof encloses a single room with capacity to house over 22,000 books. Small courtyards are situated in the gaps between where the roof touches the ground.

The roof spans 44 metres and comprises three layers of 32-millimetre-thick brick tiles held together by mortar. The result is an undulating roofscape that is strong enough to walk across.

Daylight pours into the library through angular glazed walls that are set back from the edge of the overhanging roof structure to ensure they are shaded from the sun's harshest rays.

Sameep Padora & Associates' previous projects include a Buddhist education and meditation centre built using rammed earth that contains volcanic dust, and a holiday home wrapped in screens made from vertical timber battens .

Photography is by Edmund Sumner .

Project credits:

Architect: Sameep Padora & Associates Design team: Vami Sheth, Aparna Dhareshwar, Manasi Punde, Archita Banerjee

• Sameep Padora & Associates
• Architecture
• Edmund Sumner

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Maya Somaiya Library by SP+A

Students can walk on the pavilion to access other parts of the campus.

Photo © Edmund Sumner

Folded glass curtain walls allow for ample natural light and clear sightlines.

Architects & Firms

Nestled into a tight, irregular site on the campus of a public primary and secondary school in the town of Kopargaon in rural India, an undulating form invites students and teachers in—and onto—a new library designed by Mumbai-based architecture practice sP+a.

The Maya Somaiya Library, a 6,000-square-foot masonry structure that replaces a makeshift facility in one of the school’s classroom buildings, provides an enticing new space for study, collaboration, and play. “We wanted people to be attracted to this place,” says Sameep Padora, who founded sP+a in 2006, “so that kids didn’t just look at the library as a container for books, but as something that they can engage with physically.” The firm had previous experience with the client, a philanthropic organization called Somaiya Vidyavihar, that runs schools in the region. “Somaiya Vidyavihar aspires to create an architecture of sensitivity,” says Padora, in tune with the “capacity to inspire young minds.”

Addressing the awkward site, surrounded by nondescript concrete structures, the architects designed the library to feel like part of the landscape, envisioning it as a feature that would enhance, rather than disrupt, the flow of foot traffic between buildings. “We thought of the library as a node for the campus that would allow people to move through and also on top,” says Padora. “And we wanted the students to be able to approach from any side, so we began considering what forms to create with the materials we had.”

Padora and his team looked across history and the globe for inspiration: Catalan tile vaults of the 16th century, as well as Eladio Dieste’s swooping masonry forms in Uruguay and Rafael Guastavino’s “tile arch system” in the United States. The team sourced terra-cotta tiles from a factory in the neighboring state of Gujarat for the compression-only structure. To create the vaulted form, builders defined the curvature of the surface with a grid of rebar, then laid three layers of tile, joining bricks with fast-setting mortar and staggering the joints to form a structure stable enough to enable people to walk on top. Once the mortar set, the contractor removed the rebar and reused it in another project.

Daylight enters the library from all sides through glass walls, folded accordion-style to maximize stability. Using smaller spans of glass was also a more economical choice for the project, which cost roughly $30 per square foot, says the architect. Above each window’s wood frame, a metal grate facilitates passive cooling; the library, like other buildings here, has no air-conditioning, despite the hot, dry climate.

“In rural parts of the country like this, the architectural language is often tied to the material and human resources that are available,” says Padora, who, while working within those constraints, takes things a step further by reinterpreting the vernacular. “We’re more interested in evolution than in the ‘museumication’ of a particular craft,” he says. “We try to see the potential of how it can evolve through the input of different techniques or construction systems.”

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Miriam Sitz was a staff writer and editor for  Architectural Record from 2015 to 2020, during which time she served as the web editor, then senior news & web editor.

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Maya Somaiya Library, Sharda School | Sameep Padora & Associates

Information

• Project Name: Maya Somaiya Library, Sharda School
• Practice: Sameep Padora & Associates
• Completion year: 2018
• Gross Built up Area: 5750 square feet
• Project Location: Kopergaon
• Country: India
• Design Team: Vami Seth Koticha, Archita Banerjee, Manasi Punde, Aparna Dhareshwar
• Clients: Somaiya Vidyavihar
• Structural Consultants: Sameer Sawant, Rhino Vault, Vivek Garg
• Contractors: Rajesh Murkar, Milind Naik
• Photo Credits: Edmund Sumner

Excerpt: Maya Somaiya Library is a children’s library designed by Sameep Padora & Associates within a school premise. The site chosen for this addition was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary, which almost implied a linear building footprint. Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane. A place inside for study and a place above for play.

Project Description

[Text as submitted by Architect] The site chosen for this small addition of a children’s library within a school in rural Maharashtra, was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary, a site that almost implied a linear building footprint to adjust the program for the chosen site. Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane. A place inside for study and a place above for play. With the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours.

On our first visit to the site it was interesting to see Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence. We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’. At this point we were captivated by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century, its use by Gustavino in the early 19th century and finally the incredible details from the work of Eladio Dieste from the mid-twentieth century. While working with the specific site condition we used Rhino Vault developed by the Block Research Group at the ETH to articulate a pure compression form for the project.

The library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine it became a pavilion accessed from multiple sides with students potentially engaging with books while traversing through the library or over it.

The library interior has varied spatial & seating systems, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area and towards the centre, tables and stools for collaborative study.  The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economical window section sizes.

The construction technology for the project also makes a case to re-examine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition. The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifests within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies.

Our effort to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that our practices are situated in, allowing us to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.

In using principles ranging from the Catalan Tile Vaulting system to the compression ring detail from the work of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay, to using a form finding software plug -in made in Switzerland the library is a resultant of not only lessons learnt from various geographic locations but also various lessons through time/history.

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Maya Somaiya Library in India by Sameep Padora & Associates

• Words: Gavin Kirk
• Photography: Edmund Sumner

Positioned on a narrow thoroughfare site between existing education buildings and a nearby boundary-line, the library for a small school in central western India saw its designers, Mumbai-based firm Sameep Padora and Associates, cast their net globally upon receiving the commission. Roman-inspired Catalan roof vaulting, a reinforcement technique developed in Uruguay, Swiss software and locally made brick tiles were all used to create the striking building, which went on to win a Brick Award in late 2020 for ‘Building Outside the Box’.

Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape versus a building, the architects say they imagined the library (now known as the Maya Somaiya Library) to be a formal extension of the ground plane – with a roof that appears to grow out of the ground – where there’s a space inside for study and a place above for play. Importantly, the building also needed to pique the interests of residents near and far in order to sustain its future. “With the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours,” says the team at Sameep Padora and Associates. 

Maya Somaiya Library in India by Sameep Padora & Associates

“On our first visit to the site it was interesting to see geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings. We were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence. We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults,” explains the architects, whose final landing point was born from a fascination for the material efficiencies realised by Catalan tile vaults. Particularly architectural examples from the 16th century, structures by Spanish designer Rafael Guastavino created in the early 19th century and the detailed work of Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste in the mid-20th century. 

The now-completed library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine where it has become a pavilion accessed from multiple sides. Students potentially engage with books or partake in classes when inside the building, otherwise they might simply pass through the library – or travel up and over its roof en route to their next destination. 

With the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students. Sameep Padora and Associates

For those spending time in the library, the architects say the interior offers varied spatial and seating systems, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area and, towards the centre, tables and stools for collaborative study. “The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economical window section sizes,” they add. The multitude of large window openings offer increased ventilation inside the library, boosted by bracket-mounted ceiling fans that keep the occupants cool.

“The construction technology for the project also makes a case to reexamine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition. The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifests within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies,” says the architects. “Our effort to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that our practices are situated in, allowing us to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.”

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Maya Somaiya Library, Sharda School / Sameep Padora & Associates

Maya Somaiya Library, Sharda School / Sameep Padora & Associates

The site chosen for this small addition of a children’s library within a school in rural Maharashtra was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary, a site that almost implied a linear building footprint to adjust the program for the chosen site. Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane. A place inside for study and a place above for play. With the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours.

On our first visit to the site, it was interesting to see Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence. We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’. At this point we were captivated by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century, it’s used by Gustavino in the early 19th century and finally the incredible details from the work of Eladio Dieste from the mid-twentieth century. While working with the specific site condition we used Rhino Vault developed by the Block Research Group at the ETH to articulate a pure compression form for the project.

The library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine it became a pavilion accessed from multiple sides with students potentially engaging with books while traversing through the library or over it.

The library interior has varied spatial & seating systems, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area and towards the center, tables, and stools for collaborative study.  The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economical window section sizes.

The construction technology for the project also makes a case to reexamine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition. The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifest within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies.

Our effort to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that our practices are situated in, allowing us to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.

In using principles ranging from the Catalan Tile Vaulting system to the compression ring detail from the work of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay to using a form finding software plugin made in Switzerland the library is a resultant of not only lessons learned from various geographic locations but also various lessons through.

Architects:  Sameep Padora & Associates

Location: Kopargaon, Maharashtra, India

Category: Schools

Design Team: Vami Sheth Koticha, Archita Banerjee, Manasi Punde, Aparna Dhareshwar

Area: 5750.0 ft2

Project Year: 2018

Photographs:  Edmund Sumner

Structural Engineering: Foundation Design: Sameer Sawant

Superstructure: Rhino Vault, Vivek Garg

Contractor: Unique Concrete / Rajesh Murkar, Milind Naik

Site Supervision: Zubair Kachawa

Client: Somaiya Vidyavihar

Site area: 3 acres

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Maya Somaiya Library by SP+A

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Publish Date

9th January 2019

Area of Interest

Architectural Record

Institution(s)

Shri Sharda English Medium School, Somaiya Vidyavihar

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Nestled into a tight, irregular site on the campus of a public primary and secondary school in the town of Kopargaon in rural India, an undulating form invites students and teachers in—and onto—a new library designed by Mumbai-based architecture practice sP+a.

The Maya Somaiya Library, a 6,000-square-foot masonry structure that replaces a makeshift facility in one of the school’s classroom buildings, provides an enticing new space for study, collaboration, and play. “We wanted people to be attracted to this place,” says Sameep Padora, who founded sP+a in 2006, “so that kids didn’t just look at the library as a container for books, but as something that they can engage with physically.” The firm had previous experience with the client, a philanthropic organization called Somaiya Vidyavihar, that runs schools in the region. “Somaiya Vidyavihar aspires to create an architecture of sensitivity,” says Padora, in tune with the “capacity to inspire young minds.”

Addressing the awkward site, surrounded by nondescript concrete structures, the architects designed the library to feel like part of the landscape, envisioning it as a feature that would enhance, rather than disrupt, the flow of foot traffic between buildings. “We thought of the library as a node for the campus that would allow people to move through and also on top,” says Padora. “And we wanted the students to be able to approach from any side, so we began considering what forms to create with the materials we had.”

Padora and his team looked across history and the globe for inspiration: Catalan tile vaults of the 16th century, as well as Eladio Dieste’s swooping masonry forms in Uruguay and Rafael Guastavino’s “tile arch system” in the United States. The team sourced terra-cotta tiles from a factory in the neighboring state of Gujarat for the compression-only structure. To create the vaulted form, builders defined the curvature of the surface with a grid of rebar, then laid three layers of tile, joining bricks with fast-setting mortar and staggering the joints to form a structure stable enough to enable people to walk on top. Once the mortar set, the contractor removed the rebar and reused it in another project.

Daylight enters the library from all sides through glass walls, folded accordion-style to maximize stability. Using smaller spans of glass was also a more economical choice for the project, which cost roughly $30 per square foot, says the architect. Above each window’s wood frame, a metal grate facilitates passive cooling; the library, like other buildings here, has no air-conditioning, despite the hot, dry climate.

“In rural parts of the country like this, the architectural language is often tied to the material and human resources that are available,” says Padora, who, while working within those constraints, takes things a step further by reinterpreting the vernacular. “We’re more interested in evolution than in the ‘museumication’ of a particular craft,” he says. “We try to see the potential of how it can evolve through the input of different techniques or construction systems.”

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How to Detail an Incredibly Thin Brick Roof

The maya somaiya library is inspired by 14th-century tile vaulting techniques..

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It’s not too often in architecture that the roof is the structure. Defying typical categorizations of walls, ceilings, and floors, the Maya Somaiya Library by Sameep Padora & Associates  is defined by its all-encompassing roof form, which makes you think twice about where the ground ends and the building begins.

Image via Metalocus

Located in the town of Kopargaon within the Indian state of Maharashtra, this unique children’s library will serve as a new addition to the Shri Sharda English Medium School. Although the building looks out onto adjacent farmland, it occupies just a narrow strip of land, which is prescribed by existing school buildings on either side; the library’s slender yet sweeping geometry was greatly informed by the linear proportions of the site.

Image via Dezeen

The complex curved roof, which serves as the design’s anchoring element, was developed through extensive research and experimentation.  The architects were particularly drawn to brick due to its unmatched characteristics in terms of tactility, availability, and performance, especially as protection and insulation against the harsh sun.

After considering a wide range of building techniques, including shells made from concrete, Sameep Padora & Associates looked towards timbrel vaulting, which dates back to the Catalan region in the 14th-century.

Section drawing; image via Dezeen

In its earliest incarnations, timbrel vaulting was a novel way of building long, low arches. Rather than compressing stone, which was the common approach among Romans at the time, timbrel vaults were made by placing bricks in an interlocking pattern on lightweight wooden formwork, and setting them with mortar. The skins created through this technique proved tough yet flexible, and in many cases, just as strong as steel-reinforced concrete.

While the craftsmanship associated with traditional approaches to timbrel vaulting have largely vanished, the architects of Maya Somaiya Library drew inspiration from 19th-century Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino Moreno, whose adaptation on the age-old technique later became patented as the Tile Arch System. The team also drew inspiration from mid-20th-century Uruguayan architect Eladio Dieste, who did immense work on compression ring detailing.

Tile vaulting at New York’s City Hall Subway Station by Guastavino; Image via NYC-ARTS

When Rafael Guastavino Moreno moved from Europe to the United States around 1880, he brought timbrel vaulting along, and adapted the technique to make it increasingly efficient. Using lightweight terracotta tiles instead of bricks and fast-setting, modern Portland cement instead of mortar, this became the Tile Arch System.

Not only were these systems cheaper and lighter than steel-frame and steel-reinforced construction, but they were also quicker to build, required fewer materials and offered an impressive final product that was fireproof, soundproof and resistant to water damage.

Diagram of the library’s load transfers; Image via ArchDaily

The brick vault under construction; image via Metalocus

Leveraging old and new knowledge, Sameep Padora & Associates were able to create an innovative three-layer brick vault that spans 145-feet long and 25-feet wide, without the use of any columns or beams.

The double-curved surface that forms the school’s roof was created using Rhino Vault, a plug-in for 3D-modeling program Rhinoceros that facilitates the design of structures that are held together solely by compression. Developed by the Block Research Group at ETH Zurich , Rhino Vault has previously been used to create a canopy made entirely from stone, with no additional fixings.

The mesmerizing vault encloses a single room with over 5,000-square-feet of floor space and the capacity to house 22,000 books. The Maya Somaiya Library is not only a feat in its ability to draw on both local and global construction techniques, but also in its celebration of approaches and learnings from different periods in architectural history.

It is only through this immense accumulation of knowledge that the library manifests as a site that will enrich school life for decades to come.

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Maya Somaiya Library in Kopargaon

• Typologies Culture / Leisure  Library 
• City Kopargaon 
• Country India 
• Photographer Edmund Sumner 

sP+a, the Mumbai practice headed by Sameep Padora, has enlarged a small children’s library for Sharda School in Kopargaon, a town in the largely rural Indian state of Maharashtra. Its complex undulating roof is inspired in the brick tile vault techniques of the Spaniard Rafael Guastavino (1842-1908) and the Uruguayan Eladio Dieste (1917-2000), and the curved surfaces required to build the roof were designed using the Rhino Vault software plur-in developed by the Block Research Group at ETH Zurich. Combining lessons learned from different periods and geographic locations has resulted in a 44-meter-long passable brick roof formed by three layers of 32-millimeter-thick ceramic pieces put together with mortar, and thought out as an extension of the terrain and playground.

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Maya Somaiya Library, Sharda School

Designing and constructing a space to inspire young people to share and cultivate knowledge is a challenging task, but it’s one that sameep padora and associates approach with the values of education kept in focus from beginning to end., af ariana zilliacus.

The program itself — a library for the Shri Sharda English Medium School in Kopergaon, India — lends itself to the sharing of knowledge. However, the Mumbai-based architecture firm pushed the potential of Maya Somaiya Library beyond its program, utilizing the architectural design and construction processes as additional, essential educational opportunities. Maya Somaiya Library holds the potential to inspire both young students and the local community to interact with their environment in ways that challenge the status quo.

Sameep Padora and Associates were presented with the challenge to design a library for school children in rural Kopergaon, on a narrow site wedged between existing buildings and the boundary of the Shri Sharda English Medium School. The obvious solution would have been to design a ‘linear building footprint’, similar to the existing buildings on site. However, the forward-thinking architecture firm sees the power of an ‘inspiring spatial experience’ to attract young people and encourage education, even after the official school hours are over. As a result, Sameep Padora and Associates decided to present Sharda School with the opposite of a traditional linear building footprint: an omnidirectional footprint, an extension of the ground plane. The outcome is a construction that neither obstructs nor inhibits, instead allowing for freedom and continuity — a beautiful metaphor for the power of education.

The studio’s approach hence is to look to context as a repository of latent resources connecting production process and networks, appropriating techniques beyond their traditional use while allowing them to evolve and persist not just through preservation but more so through evolution. — Sameep Padora and Associates

The method used to construct Maya Somaiya Library is a combination of multiple sources of knowledge spanning epochs and places. Their interests stemmed from a desire to develop a project through a constructional principle, inspired by the material efficiency of the 16th-century Catalan tile vaults. Pairing this ancient knowledge with contemporary technology — in the form of the RhinoVault 3D modeling plug-in developed by the Block Research Group at ETH Zurich — Sameep Padora and Associates arrived at a pure compression structure for the library.

Spanning almost forty-five by eight meters, the vaulted structure is only ten centimeters thick — a depth of three layers of brick. Supporting the thin membrane are concrete pedestals dug into the earth in the five places where the vault merges with the ground. With this simple construction, the Maya Somaiya Library is able to carry its own load, as well as the ‘live load’ of anyone wandering over the architectural landscape, while supporting a sheltering capacity of twenty-two thousand books. In addition to bookshelves, the interior spaces include seating suitable for personal study spaces as well as collaborative areas. All the furniture is moveable, making the space adaptable to changing needs.

The studio structure actively engages with research, collaborations and collective models of practice not as isolated individual formats but as symbiotic streams feeding into each other. We advocate this hybrid model as an alternative to the traditional architectural practice, believing that this enables us to respond to the specificity of the local by evolving methodologies of extreme subjectivity. — Sameep Padora and Associates

Perhaps the most notable aspect of this project is Sameep Padora and Associates’ approach to the building process: seeing it as an educational opportunity in itself, not just as a means to house future educational opportunities. The architecture firm sees the construction of the library as a chance to ‘re-examine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition,’ and challenge the ‘strict formal constraints’ of South Asian building culture with something that is not only aesthetically intriguing but also materially efficient. This is especially valuable given that the bricks used to construct the library are locally sourced and available, making it possible for others to learn from and experiment with these building techniques. Regardless of one’s architectural or building experience, the library’s alternative spatial experience has the power to inspire locals to challenge the status quo and embrace the sharing of knowledge.

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Sameep padora & associates built this children's library with curved brick roof in maharashtra, india architecture news - nov 08, 2018 - 03:23   31239 views.

A curvaceous brick roof covers a children's library in rural Maharashtra, India, situated in a plot between existing buildings and the school boundary. Designed by Mumbai-based studio Sameep Padora & Associates , the architects were inspired by Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings at the site and vaulted brick ceilings from the 16th century in Catalonia. 

Dubbed as Maya Somaiya Library, the school was built at a linear site that almost determines the linear footprint of the building to adjust the program for the chosen site.

"Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building, we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane," said the architects. 

The studio placed study spaces inside and playing space on the roof, which provides an easy walk on it. Due to the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity, the architects needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours. 

"On our first visit to the site it was interesting to see Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence," the studio added.

"We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’."

"At this point we were captivated by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century, it’s use by Gustavino in the early 19th century and finally the incredible details from the work of Eladio Dieste from the mid-twentieth century." 

"While working with the specific site condition we used Rhino Vault developed by the Block Research Group at the ETH to articulate a pure compression form for the project."

The library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine and the building became a pavilion accessed from multiple sides with students potentially engaging with books while traversing through the library or over it.

The library interior has a flexible layout that allows varied spatial & seating configurations, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area and towards the centre, tables and stools for collaborative study. The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economical window section sizes.

"The construction technology for the project also makes a case to reexamine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition," added the architects.

"The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifests within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies."

The architects state that their efforts to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that their practices are situated in, allowing them to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.

"In using principles ranging from the Catalan Tile Vaulting system to the compression ring detail from the work of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay, to using a form finding software plug -in made in Switzerland the library is a resultant of not only lessons learnt from various geographic locations but also various lessons through time/history," they added.

Site plan 

Site plan with routes

Concept diagram-knowledge

Concept diagram-load transfer

Concept diagram-details

All images © Edmund Sumner

All drawings © Sameep Padora & Associates

> via Sameep Padora & Associates

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sP+a constructs brick vaulted library for a school in india

mumbai-based architecture firm sP+a has designed a brick vaulted library for a school in india . located in kopargaon, a town in the state of maharashtra, the structure’s narrow footprint is a result of the site, which sits between the school’s existing buildings. conceived as a formal extension of the ground plane, the scheme responds to children’s preference of landscape over man-made structures with an accessible roof.

‘on our first visit to the site it was interesting to see geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence,’ explains sP+a , an architecture firm led by sameep padora. ‘we hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’.’

the design team became interested in the material efficiencies of the catalan tile vault from the 16th century, its use by spanish architect guastavino in the early 19th century, and the details used in the work of uruguayan engineer and architect eladio dieste. to articulate a pure compression form for the library, sP+a used rhinoVAULT — a form-finding plug-in developed by the block research group at ETH zürich . consequently, the maya somaiya library is the result of lessons learned from different time periods as well as geographic locations.

project info:

name: maya somaiya (sharda) library client: somaiya vidyavihar
 location: kopargaon, maharashtra, india area: 5,750 sqf / 534 sqm architects: sameep padora & associates
 (sP+a) design team: vami sheth, aparna dhareshwar, manasi punde, archita banerjee year of completion: 2018

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Maya Somaiya Library

Sameep Padora & Associates

Maharashtra, india, description.

The site chosen for this small addition of a children’s library within a school in rural Maharashtra, was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary, a site that almost implied a linear building footprint to adjust the program for the chosen site. Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane. A place inside for study and a place above for play. With the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours.

On our first visit to the site it was interesting to see Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence. We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’. At this point we were captivated by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century, it’s use by Gustavino in the early 19th century and finally the incredible details from the work of Eladio Dieste from the mid-twentieth century. While working with the specific site condition we used Rhino Vault developed by the Block Research Group at the ETH to articulate a pure compression form for the project.

The library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine it became a pavilion accessed from multiple sides with students potentially engaging with books while traversing through the library or over it.

The library interior has varied spatial & seating systems, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area and towards the centre, tables and stools for collaborative study.  The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economical window section sizes.

The construction technology for the project also makes a case to reexamine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition. The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifests within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies.

Our effort to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that our practices are situated in, allowing us to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.

In using principles ranging from the Catalan Tile Vaulting sytem to the compression ring detail from the work of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay, to using a form finding software plug -in made in Switzerland the library is a resultant of not only lessons learnt from various geographic locations but also various lessons through time/history.

Somaiya Vidyasihar

Sameep Padora & Associates 

Vami Sheth, Aparna Dhareshwar, Manasi Punde, Archita Banerjee

Structural engineering: Sameer Sawant Super Structure: Rhino Vault, Vivek Garg Site Supervision: Zubair  Kachawa

Unique Concrete: Rajesh Murkar, Milind Naik

Photography

Edmund Sumner

Shardanagar, Kopargaon, Maharashtra 423601, India

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Maya Somaiya Library

The site chosen for this small addition of a children’s library within a school in rural Maharashtra, was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary, a site that almost implied a linear building footprint to adjust the program for the chosen site.
Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane. A place inside for study and a place above for play. With the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours. 

On our first visit to the site it was interesting to see Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence. We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’. At this point we were captivated by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century, it’s use by Gustavino in the early 19th century and finally the incredible details from the work of Eladio Dieste from the mid-twentieth century. While working with the specific site condition we used Rhino Vault developed by the Block Research Group at the ETH to articulate a pure compression form for the project.


The library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine it became a pavilion accessed from multiple sides with students potentially engaging with books while traversing through the library or over it.  The library interior has varied spatial & seating systems, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area and towards the centre, tables and stools for collaborative study.  The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economical window section sizes. The construction technology for the project also makes a case to reexamine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition. The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifests within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies.


Our effort to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that our practices are situated in, allowing us to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.
 In using principles ranging from the Catalan Tile Vaulting sytem to the compression ring detail from the work of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay, to using a form finding software plug -in made in Switzerland the library is a resultant of not only lessons learnt from various geographic locations but also various lessons through time/history.

• Brick Interiors
• Details of Interiors
• Libraries and Mediatheques
• The Fifth Facade
• October 15, 2018

Maya Somaiya Library

Location Kopergaon, Maharashtra

Size 535 Sq.M

Design Team Sameep Padora, Aparna Dhareshwar, Vami Seth Koticha, Archita Banerjee, Manasi Punde

Year of Completion 2018

Status Built

Photographer Edmund Sumner

The Architectural Review Brick Award ArchDaily STIRworld Architizer Design Owl ArchEyes Arquitectura Viva Dezeen ArchitectureLive!

© Sameep Padora and Associates

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Maya Somaiya Library by Sameep Padora & Associates

The site chosen for this small addition of a children’s library within a school in rural Maharashtra, was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary, a site that almost implied a linear building footprint to adjust the program for the chosen site. Alluding to the impetus that children have towards landscape over a building we imagined the library building to be a formal extension of the ground plane.

A place inside for study and a place above for play. With the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity we needed the inspiring spatial experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the nearby settlements after school hours. On our first visit to the site it was interesting to see Geodesic structures built by an engineer for a few of the school buildings, we were somewhat encouraged by this to pursue a project that followed from a construction intelligence.

We hence parsed through several possible material configurations ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults for building this ‘architectural landscape’. At this point we were captivated by the material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault from the 16th century, it’s use by Gustavino in the early 19th century and finally the incredible details from the work of Eladio Dieste from the mid-twentieth century. While working with the specific site condition we used Rhino Vault developed by the Block Research Group at the ETH to articulate a pure compression form for the project.

The library lies at the intersection of a student’s daily routine it became a pavilion accessed from multiple sides with students potentially engaging with books while traversing through the library or over it. The library interior has varied spatial & seating systems, a floor stool system towards the edges for a more intimate study area and towards the centre, tables and stools for collaborative study. The self-structured window bays are striated profiles for increased stability with economical window section sizes.

The construction technology for the project also makes a case to reexamine the age-old binaries of the global and local as being in opposition. The regional or the local within the South Asian paradigm typically manifests within strict formal constraints of the style in memory. This is often at the expense of material efficiencies. Our effort to search for a material and construction efficiency in brick tile looked to leverage the networks of knowledge that our practices are situated in, allowing us to enrich the regional or local through the extended capacities of the global.

In using principles ranging from the Catalan Tile Vaulting sytem to the compression ring detail from the work of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay, to using a form finding software plug -in made in Switzerland the library is a resultant of not only lessons learnt from various geographic locations but also various lessons through time/history. Source by Sameep Padora & Associates.

• Location: Kopergaon, Maharashtra, India
• Architect: Sameep Padora & Associates
• Design team: Vami Seth Koticha, Archita Banerjee, Manasi Punde, Aparna Dhareshwar
• Foundation Design: Sameer Sawant
• Superstructure: Rhino Vault, Vivek Garg
• Unique Concrete: Rajesh Murkar, Milind Naik
• Site Supervision: Zubair Kachawa,
• Client: Somaiya Vidyavihar
• Site area: 3 acres
• Total floor area: 5750 square feet
• Photographs: Edmund Sumner , Courtesy of Sameep Padora & Associates

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Maya Somaiya Library designed by Sameep Padora and Associates wins the coveted Beazley Award 2019 for Architecture

• November 22, 2019

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A nomination-only award, sP+a won the architecture award category which included nominees like Diller Scofidio, Juniya Ishigami among others. Maya Somaya Library, earlier this year also won the Archdaily Building of the Year Award.

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Publish Date

9th January 2019

Area of Interest

Architectural Record

Institution(s)

Shri Sharda English Medium School, Somaiya Vidyavihar

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Nestled into a tight, irregular site on the campus of a public primary and secondary school in the town of Kopargaon in rural India, an undulating form invites students and teachers in—and onto—a new library designed by Mumbai-based architecture practice sP+a.

The Maya Somaiya Library, a 6,000-square-foot masonry structure that replaces a makeshift facility in one of the school’s classroom buildings, provides an enticing new space for study, collaboration, and play. “We wanted people to be attracted to this place,” says Sameep Padora, who founded sP+a in 2006, “so that kids didn’t just look at the library as a container for books, but as something that they can engage with physically.” The firm had previous experience with the client, a philanthropic organization called Somaiya Vidyavihar, that runs schools in the region. “Somaiya Vidyavihar aspires to create an architecture of sensitivity,” says Padora, in tune with the “capacity to inspire young minds.”

Addressing the awkward site, surrounded by nondescript concrete structures, the architects designed the library to feel like part of the landscape, envisioning it as a feature that would enhance, rather than disrupt, the flow of foot traffic between buildings. “We thought of the library as a node for the campus that would allow people to move through and also on top,” says Padora. “And we wanted the students to be able to approach from any side, so we began considering what forms to create with the materials we had.”

Padora and his team looked across history and the globe for inspiration: Catalan tile vaults of the 16th century, as well as Eladio Dieste’s swooping masonry forms in Uruguay and Rafael Guastavino’s “tile arch system” in the United States. The team sourced terra-cotta tiles from a factory in the neighboring state of Gujarat for the compression-only structure. To create the vaulted form, builders defined the curvature of the surface with a grid of rebar, then laid three layers of tile, joining bricks with fast-setting mortar and staggering the joints to form a structure stable enough to enable people to walk on top. Once the mortar set, the contractor removed the rebar and reused it in another project.

Daylight enters the library from all sides through glass walls, folded accordion-style to maximize stability. Using smaller spans of glass was also a more economical choice for the project, which cost roughly $30 per square foot, says the architect. Above each window’s wood frame, a metal grate facilitates passive cooling; the library, like other buildings here, has no air-conditioning, despite the hot, dry climate.

“In rural parts of the country like this, the architectural language is often tied to the material and human resources that are available,” says Padora, who, while working within those constraints, takes things a step further by reinterpreting the vernacular. “We’re more interested in evolution than in the ‘museumication’ of a particular craft,” he says. “We try to see the potential of how it can evolve through the input of different techniques or construction systems.”

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