Place for Prayer

The studio primarily focuses on three significant aspects, the first involving understanding spiritual spaces and the architecture that enables them. To that extent, the initial exercises involved reading two key pieces of literature regarding Islamic and Hindu architecture, namely : 1.Footprints of Vishwakarma by M. A. Dhaky 2.IndoIslamic Architecture by Z. A. Desai There were multiple site visits to various mosques, tombs, and temples, all from different time periods, each embodying a strong spiritual sense in their architectural language. These site visits and the reference readings were followed by a small design exercise of designing a place for prayer in a remote setting. The second major learning from the studio was in the form of architectural elements. An exercise wherein each student was required to study five different architectural elements every week, in order to understand their genesis and development of them to enrich their architectural vocabulary.