5. General view of the campus of the Bellary Pupil Tree Academy. The brick-domed pavilion offers moments of rest in the open space
6. The wavy thatch roofs of the cultural centre were built by Bangladeshi immigrant craftsmen settled nearby
7. The academic block showing the easy flow of space throughout the campus
The 20,000 sq. ft Bellary Pupil Tree Academy in rural Karnataka is another example of this approach. There is something remarkably like an updated village, about the 14 acre campus which has academic, administrative and cultural activity spaces. “We were trying to push the idea of breaking away from the ‘barrack’ and ‘hospital’ model of school design,” says Kumar. “Though we did not succeed entirely, we were able to introduce playfulness into the architecture, and also into the curriculum and operations.”
The campus exemplifies many of Kumar’s strengths as an outsider with an ideology, and a learner open to collaboration. The complex is basically a huddle of small buildings built with a lively mix of materials, and kept sane by its small scale and simple geometries. Kumar has kept independent blocks close together in informal geometries, creating very intimate outdoor spaces. These are detailed with warmth and made memorable.
Method and materials
The wavy thatch roofs are entirely the work of Bangladeshi refugees living close to the site. “They designed the roof themselves without any engineer to help them, including the dormer-like openings for ventilation,” Kumar says. His pride in the craftsperson’s skill is revealing. Mastering the constructional aspect of architecture has obviously been a fraught business for this ‘outsider’, who cannot sign statutory applications nor call himself an architect. The respect he feels towards the rural craftsperson is not sentimental: CVA’s success and sustenance depends on it.
Kumar’s craft orientation comes through quite clearly in his work. Most artist-architects usually build the entire building completely in advance on paper (or computer screen) right down to the smallest detail. Thus, the building is first built in virtual space, far from the light, breeze and possible viewpoints on site. Kumar, on the other hand, begins construction only with the broadest scheme, letting the actual detailing emerge. The walls of the different buildings at Pupil Tree are a variable mix of materials—brick, stone, plastered concrete—and each block has a different kind of wall pattern. The constant variety of visual impression this creates could easily have degenerated into kitsch. Indeed, to strict formalists, this may already appear as such. However, the lack of an all-controlling order actually humanizes the basic simplicity, especially welcome in a school.
What makes space memorable
This is an enduring question in architecture. ‘Place’ has been defined as a ‘concretion of value’ by the geographer Yi-Fu Tuan. Such a definition automatically involves the human being, since values are humanly created.