KIRAN VENKATESH – InFORM ARCHITECTS, BANGALORE

Studio Works 1997- 2005

Kiran Venkatesh is co-founder of InFORM Architects, Bangalore. The firm's works have been the recipients of several Architecture Awards. Some of the projects are:

1. The Tillany Fine Arts Museum and Gallery
2. The STEER ENGINEERING Corporate Office
3. The GRS Residence, Bangalore
4. SKSVMA College of Engineering and Technology, Karnataka

The Tillany Fine Arts Museum and Gallery

The Tillany Fine Arts Museum and Gallery is located near the village of Baliganapalli, Tamil Nadu (about 60 km away from Bangalore). The Client Brief stipulated a state of the art contemporary display and viewing gallery with services comparable to the best in Art Galleries.

The concept was to provide multiple galleries with varying spatial configurations for the display of paintings and sculpture. On the tabula-rasa site, a regular Cartesian grid is subjected to local deformations generating three separate bars. The central bar is manifested as a 40 foot high sky lit atrium with two interlocked flights of stairs and the floors on the two side bars become galleries for exhibiting artwork. The resultant plan is dynamically interwoven with a section that allows for varying heights and widths – generating a form that denies conventional categorization. The two end bars slip in / out in plan and appropriate different sectional heights to meet the internal requirement for display of artwork of varying sizes. One is constantly aware of the changing relationship between body and building

– the space sometimes narrows and at other times widens, sometimes it is short and at other times very high. To move from one bar to the other, one has to cut across the atrium on bridges that allow one to occupy the atrium temporarily. There are no closed rooms within which to display art – only spaces that are demarcated by voids and changes in passage widths.

The grand stairs in the atrium and the connecting bridges allow for the Art to be viewed dynamically from unconventional sight-lines, establishing a varying relationship between viewer and the work of art.The surrounds of the Tillany are patterned with landscapes that complement the dynamic geometry of the building. Large skylights in the atrium and upper level reflector windows ensure that the gallery spaces are extensively lit by indirect daylight.

Client:
The George Foundation

Design Team:
Kiran Venkatesh(Principle Designer), Sandhya Kochar(Asso. Architect), Ramaraju, Kshema Mary Thomas, Manasvi S, Aparna M, Ajay N, A.V. Chandrashekar

Built Up Area: 15,000 sq.ft.
Cost of Construction: INR 20,000,000/-
Completed: 2000


The STEER ENGINEERING Corporate Office

The InFORM proposal conceptualized the new building as enveloping the front side of the existing premises – creating a small compressed atrium that connected the production facilities with the new offices. Symbolically it gave a new face, a new presence to an older entity without compromising the production facility.

The program consisted of reception, video conference room and three cabins for the directors of the company. The design is visualized as three C-sections that are attached to the atrium. The C-section manifests itself in the exterior with strong façade treatment. The three cabins within the three C’s on the upper floor have slit skylights between them and straddle the video conference room below.

Client:
Steer Engineering Pvt. Ltd.

Design Team:
Kiran Venkatesh(Principle Designer), Reshma, Arul, Smaran, Venkatesh, Jalpa

Built Up Area: 4000 sq.ft.
Cost of Construction: INR 7,000,000/-
Completed: 2003


The GRS Residence, Bangalore

Sited on a 52’ x 112’ oblong site, the house is organized along a linear spine running parallel to a strip garden. A prime constraint imposed by the client was a strict adherence to the pre-determined principles of vaastu. Rather than making a value judgment and resist the constraint, vaastu was accepted as a design parameter and operated to develop the highly structured organization of the house.

The external elevations emerge as a manifestation of these stitched programs in “vaastu-driven” locations around and along the central spine.

The overall intent of the project is to generate a domestic space consistent with the changing lifestyles of nuclear families – an adaptive space that is open yet secure and private yet connected. Creating an exciting internalized space with an austere exterior surrounded by green.

Client:
G. R. Suresh

Design Team:
Kiran Venkatesh(Principle Designer), Dhurghai Kumaran, Sandhya

Built Up Area: 4500 sq.ft.
Cost of Construction: INR 8,000,000/-
Completed: 2003

SKSVMA College of Engineering and Technology, Karnataka

The Engineering College in Laxmeshwar is a phased design project for a large campus. The program consists of Academic, Residential and Recreational facilities in addition to the infrastructure needed to service the 28 acre site.

The scale of the campus a aesthetic design value-engineered for efficiency and economy, that allows for timed modular additions.

Client:
Mr. Venkappa M. Agadi
Smt. Kamala and Sri Venkappa M. Agadi College of Engineering and Technology

Design Consultants:
InFORM Architects

Built Up Area: 4500 sq.ft.
Cost of Construction: INR 60,000,000/-
Completed: 2003