Architecture Autonomous (Gerard da Cunha) Gerard da Cunha maintains his practice from the old Portuguese colony of Goa, which he considers has a novel history in that it was the site of the ‘first sustained encounter between the East and the West’. This encounter has engendered a unique culture and architecture that is evident in da Cunha’s lively and rather Gaudíesque work.
Nrityagram Dance Village, Bangalore, 1994 Established by dancer and teacher Protima Gauri as a model residential ‘dance village’, this was the first of its kind for Indian classical dancing. The architectural project derives its inspiration and construction methodology from the local vernacular of a region rich in materials and building practice. The methodology of design was an evolutionary one, with many on-site additions and modifications creating buildings of a lyrical nature often arranged to enclose space or as backdrops for dance. ‘I dream of building a community of dancers in a forsaken place amidst nature,’ says Gauri, ‘a place where nothing exists except dance. A place where you breathe, eat, sleep, dream, talk, imagine – dance. A place where all the five senses can be refined to perfection … A place called Nrityagram.’
Museum of Traditional Goan Architecture, near Panjim, Goa, 2004
Text © 2007 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images © Gerard da Cunha
The building of a small museum as a ‘traffic island’ here became an occasion for affecting the larger setting by creating something that ‘had to look “crazy” enough in the tradition of museum buildings (Bilbao and Guggenheim) which would seduce the local vegetable seller into buying a ticket.’ Though situated 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) from the town of Panjim and 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) from a national highway, the setting of the acute-angled site is an enchanted valley and a genuine sacred grove. The architectural brief included creating a village core with urban design considerations, and controlling the traffic to a neighbouring playschool and organising the parking. In the triangulated building there is a reception at one corner and a café at the other, with the two ends supported on giant grinding stones. Da Cunha turned the corners using a corbel (the most basic of traditional structural systems), and added a verandah to the south and part of the auditorium to the north, both of which are simply supported and resting on props. According to da Cunha: ‘Coming down the road on the east, the building looks like the Titanic, which is what the villagers call it. It could also pass for a fish waiting to swallow you up. From the south it looks like the set of a play … I’m sometimes asked why the metaphor of a ship. Well the honest truth is that this was quite accidental, but when I noticed it, I played along and added the waves.’
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