Rohan Vinay Samruddhi - Vault Structure PDF

M AYA S O M A I YA L I B R A R Y
B U I L D I N G C O N S T R U C T I O N
R O H A N J O S H I S A M R U D D H I S H A R M A V I N A Y K A T A R I Y A
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
ABOUT THE ARCHITECT

1
INTRODUCTION
3
CHAPTER I
7
CHAPTER II
13
CHAPTER III
25
BIBLIOGRAPHY
27
ABOUT THE ARCHITECT
Sameep Padora completed his undergraduate

studies in Mumbai in 1996 followed by post-
graduate studies at the Graduate School of
Design, Harvard University in 2005. He is the
principal architect and founder of Mumbai based
studio, sP+a (Sameep Padora & Associates) as
well as Director of sPare, a research initiative
looking at issues of urbanization & architecture
in India. sPare’s maiden project, a documentation
and analysis of historic housing types within the
city of Mumbai resulted in a traveling exhibition
entitled ‘In the Name of Housing’ and a book
published by the UDRI. He is also one of the
founding members of the Bandra Collective,
an organization of architects involved with the
design of public spaces in Mumbai.
His practice has received numerous awards

including Wallpaper Magazine’s award for
single-family house of the year, the WAN 21 for
21 Award for Emerging International Practices
and the MARMOMACC award for Architecture
in Stone. His studio’s work has also received
commendations at the AR Emerging Architecture
Awards and has been nominated for the BSI Swiss
Architecture Award. In 2016 the studio’s projects
have been a basis for a travelling solo exhibition
entitled Projective Histories.
In 2017 sP+a won two prestigious international

competitions, for the National War Museum at
India Gate in Delhi and the Maharashtra Nature
Park In Mumbai. Sameep is also a member of
academic councils for a number of architectural
schools in India and is a member of the National
Technical Committee of Habitat for Humanity,
India.
1 2
INTRODUCTION
The Maya Somaiya library is an award-

winning library that was built around a
pre-existing school. A mere sliver of the site
squeezed between the existing structure
and the boundary, almost pre-empting a
linear building footprint. But it is the dramatic
curve of the new library which is its most
striking feature. Like an undulating sand
dune, the building rises out of the ground,
the walls growing almost from the earth
itself, modulating into the roofing structure
and then tapering away while sloping down
towards the other side.
The architects worked through several
different construction incarnations for the
library ranging from concrete shells to brick
vaults for creating the dramatic curved roof
and walls. In the end, they settled on the
material efficiencies of the Catalan tile vault
from the 16th century.
It has 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. Practically
speaking, the library sits at the typological
intersection of the students’ daily routine. It
is accessible from multiple sides, becoming a
space where students indirectly engage with
books and learning as they travel through
the library or indeed over it, in order to reach
other locations around the school.
3 4
LOCATION / SITE SITE CONSTRAINTS
Architects : Sameep Padora & Associates Vami Seth Koticha, Archita Banerjee,
Punde, Aparna Dhareshwar The site chosen for this small addition of a children’s library within a school in rural
Site area : 3 acres Maharashtra, was a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary, a site that
Floor area: 5750 square feet almost implied a linear building footprint to adjust the program for the chosen site. With
Materials: the limited teaching resources available in the larger vicinity needed the inspiring spatial
Super Structure : 20mm thick Brick Tile experience to be a magnet to attract students and hopefully other residents from the
Flooring: Kota Stone nearby settlements after school hours.
Windows Furniture: Aluminium, Wood, Glass Pre-laminated Wood Ply
5 6
CHAPTER I The building occupies a narrow strip of land between
existing buildings and the school›s boundary, which looks
CONCEPT & APPROACH 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, 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. 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 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
-32millimetre-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.
7 8
9 10
The making of the building saw the
adoption of the Catalan Tile Vaulting
System, used earlier in the 16th century;
the compression ring detail from the work
of Eladio Dieste in Uruguay, and the Rhino
Vault from Switzerland, developed by the
Block Research Group at the ETH University,
to articulate a pure compression form for
the project. The structure is supported by
concrete pedestals dug into the terrain
where the vault meets the ground,
allowing the users to climb up and down
and move across the space.
While the superstructure is made of brick

tiles, various other materials have been
used in the sub-structure. The flooring
has been done in Kota stone and the
furniture in pre-laminated wood ply. The
windows are a composition of aluminium,
wood and glass. Moreover, with the
movable furniture there is flexibility
and dynamic quality in the layout of the
space. The self-structured window bays
are striated profiles for increased stability
with economical window section sizes,
enabling an interesting play of light and
shadow in the space.
11 12
CHAPTER II
STRUCTURAL DESIGN
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.
13 14
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 structure is wrapped around the school
building to create a more prominent sense
of presence. The overall form of the structure
makes it more engaging and interactive and
inviting.
15 16
In terms of being minimal, the structure spanning across the library›s massing
is left alone like a bare shell and even the openings, seems like a rather indulgent
door frames do not line the openings in design feature, it is more economical as the
the conventional manner of outlining their staggered form allows the entire assemblage
silhouette. The door shutters meet one to be self-supporting without touching the
another in a perpendicular fashion creating roof with reduced section sizes
a ‹folded plate configuration for structural
stability. While the criss-cross› silhouette,
17 18
Adhering to the minimal scheme of
things, the library-top, the one that
manifests as a playground is sans a
parapet It is important detail that has
endowed it the unobstructed landscape
characteristics And yet again there is
an interesting theory that should put
paranoia at ease.
The architect quotes Takaharu Tezuka,

the Japanese architect, who offered
a perspective that obstacles in the
physical world are also ways of teaching
self-preservation. The library-slope is
gentle and the maximum height of
the structure is contained to 65 feet
And having said that, even parapets or
railing have been scaled and jumped
by children, all for the sake of play.
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.
19 20
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.
21 22
The slope is calibrated as the roof also acts
as a bridge, a playground that is accessible
from the ground It rises like a peak, but not
loftily or overwhelming but gradually and
organically. Being located at the core of
the school services and being open on all
sides, the library often engages students
throughout the day. It endows the passers
by a landscape and a semi-open space that is
like a cave but with the warmth of terracotta
And to the one who is traversing atop the
library, it is perhaps, a playground
23 24
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION
The Maya Somaiya Library most captivating

feature and function perhaps lie outside and
above it. And it is not only the interesting
feature and the form that captivates but also
the opposing theories and arguments that
the structure articulates through its design
and construction. Arising from limited
opportunities but expected to address
multi-fold educational challenges, the
library is metaphor that establishes ideas,
raises certain pertinent questions on the
local-global conflict a and raises the bar on
how much moro a building (and building
programme) can be, beyond the functions
attributed to it
25 26
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Source: https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/maya-somaiya-school-library-kopargaon-india-sameep-padora-associates/
https://www.archdaily.com/903713/maya-somaiya-library-sharda-school-sameep-padora-and-associates
https://issuu.com/iabeditorial/docs/dec_2018
https://ebuild.in/october-2018-indian-architect-and-builder
https://yazargokcenur.wordpress.com/03/03/2019/accordion-drawing-sketchbook-case-study/#jp-carousel1321-
27 28

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M AYA S O M A I YA L I B R A R Y

ABOUT THE ARCHITECT

Sameep Padora completed his undergraduate

His practice has received numerous awards

In 2017 sP+a won two prestigious international

The Maya Somaiya library is an award-

Alluding to the intuitive impetus that children have

The architects were also inspired by existing geodesic

The vaulted surfaces are found throughout the

The vaulted roof encloses a single room with capacity to

While the superstructure is made of brick

The method used to construct Maya Somaiya

Spanning almost forty-five by eight meters,

The architect quotes Takaharu Tezuka,

In using principles ranging from the

The Maya Somaiya Library most captivating

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