The Lunchbox

The site undertaken by my project is an udipi touching the edge of the road and sandwiched between a motorcycle garage on one side and an open plot on the other two. The primary users of the udipi are daily wage laborers and college students. An interesting observation made at site was that the form of the place adapted to an existing tree and they oriented the structure in a way that the tree could grow organically rather than cutting it down.

There was a compactness noticed at the site which forced the food stall to flow outside. Hence the intent of my project was to give a part of the interior of the food stall to the street and keep the footpath untouched to provide users who don't want to use the intervention a path for movement rather than restricting movement. The intent of the project was to provide something to the street rather than adding a built form onto the street.

One of the key challenges the project unfolded was to increase the number of seating spaces and kitchen area while also proviiding sufficient natural light and ventilation.  I started designing my project by creating a puncture in the overall surface facade of the street to give an emphasis to the activities i wanted to add through my intervention.  Thus a language of pushing and pulling surfaces was developed. 

Since there was a lack of natural light in the corridor behind and not enough room for ventilation the syntax developed into further scooping out volume from the form.  The breaking up of the previous rigid form and pushing surfaces and further carving volume out allowed me to optimise maximum space allow natural circulation and light as well as creating visual experiences.

The project aims to promote public sanitation by providing a wash basin to the customers as well as the street. The aim was to provide an experience to the street by creating a pause where any user can just grab a cup of tea or coffee from the udipi and just sit and relax along the road or besides the tree for people who want to sit besides nature.