Winner of Excellent Award from the Hospitality Category, Senthil Kumar Doss

Hosted by NPO Aoyama Design Forum(ADF), the "ADF Design Award 2023" has chosen Senthil Kumar Doss's work as the Excellent Award in the Hospitality category. Here is an interview article with Senthil, to introduce the award-winning work and the story behind the designing process.

What kind of areas do you usually design?

We are Architects working on various typology of projects ranging from individual residences, multi dwelling housing, commercial-Hospitality( Hotels and Resorts) Public buildings( Convention Center).

What is the background behind the winning work?

We were invited by our client to design a dining space/ restaurant on a highly ecologically sensitive site overlooking a lake and a stream flowing through it. The brief was to retain the existing ecosystem to the maximum extent and to come up with a unique design, respecting the local culture, climate and build with locally available materials. As a design response we created a long span, doubly curved, catenary based timbrel vaulted (pure masonry) roof built out of thin clay tiles in multiple layers following the flow of natural forces, hovering over a natural stone and steel base floor.

What did you struggle with this work?

The site located at Sakleshpur is a tropical rainforest boasts of being one of the regions with high rainfall in the country. The project had to be planned well to ensure that the vault work is completed within 3 months where there is no rainfall. Also handling a site with high water table and complex topography were challenging.

What are your thoughts on receiving this award?

We really feel honoured to have a prestigious organisation as ADF, recognising this humble work, communicating a valuable message to the society which will inspire many Architects to find a simple and a truthful building expression.

What does architectural expression mean to you?

Any Architectural expression should reflect its time, place and the context in a meaningful way. Taking clues from nature and natural forms can lead to buildings that consume less material and therefore become highly sustainable by removing the design redundancy.

What kind of actual activities do you think about your future?

As an individual I am keen in research and academics where there is opportunity to take up challenging deeper design questions and keep finding answers. We have also been conducting hands on design-built workshops on Timbrel vaulting technique which helps one to understand the logic behind the geometry and does not require any advanced software for computation and analysis. As a practice we would love to translate the ideology set by this project to other typologies which involves building for larger communities. We are also in the process of working with various other materials like stone and timber which minimises or almost eliminates the need for steel and concrete.

What are your thoughts about winning the ADF award?

It gives me a lot of satisfaction and confidence by means of winning this award. ADF by recognising this project has very clearly expressed its intention to not go behind any trend/fashion but support projects where ecology, sustainability and originality thrives.

Please tell us about the continuation of the exhibition of award-winning works in Milan, Italy from April 18th.

I think it’s a great idea to have an exhibition of the winning works. Mostly the projects are forgotten after the award are won but extending it and taking it to the public will definitely have a far and meaningful impact. Architects need to connect with common man and communities to help make a larger impact in the society.