The Patio

The project began with my observation of an existing reading centre that was largely underused. Despite its intended function, people rarely visited the space, and it had gradually become inactive. Adjacent to it is a temple that attracts regular visitors; however, the movement of people remains limited to the temple and rarely extends toward the reading centre. This disconnect led me to rethink the potential of the site.

My intention was to remodel the space in a way that would encourage the public to engage with it and spend time there. I wanted the design to feel playful and inviting, allowing people to inhabit the space both during the day and at night. More broadly, I feel that many public spaces in our cities often remain underutilized, and therefore it becomes important to reconsider how design can make such spaces more accessible and engaging for people.

In the initial stage of the design process, I explored several iterative proposals. However, many of these began to take the form of larger infrastructural interventions, which did not suit the limited scale of the site. Recognizing this, I shifted my focus toward a more petit or small-scale architectural intervention, working carefully with the available space.

Interestingly, throughout the conceptual exploration, the idea of courtyards repeatedly emerged. Although I had not initially intended to incorporate courtyards, the design process gradually developed my interest in them, and they eventually became a central spatial element of the project.

The final design aims to remain accessible to people of all age groups at any time of the day. The structure has no doors and no restricted entry time; it remains open and approachable for public use. Structurally, the shear walls carry the load of the slab, and where these walls reduce in height, they transform into informal seating edges. The design also allows clear sightlines across the space, enabling visual connections from multiple points.

Rather than providing excessive fixed seating, I kept the space relatively open so that it does not feel congested. Some areas are intentionally left free so that people may sit on the ground, which is a common preference for many users.