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This small Christian shrine in Juhu, located between a busy road and the market lane, serves as more than just a place of worship. Opposite a mutton and chicken shop, it has become a community spot where tired laborers and people from the nearby village come to rest, relax, and chat. The shrine brings people together, blending religious purpose with a social space for comfort and connection amidst the lively market.
This shrine is right in the middle of all the action. It's surrounded by a bustling market, with a nearby Christian community adding to the local flavor. The whole area is alive with people shopping, eating, and relaxing, making the shrine a lively mix of faith and everyday life.
Site Plan
Site Plan
Site Elevation
Site Elevation
Collage : A Patchwork Of Grids & Texture:
I began to notice how the shrine exists as a patchwork of different activities and spaces. The nearby pan tapri, Smoking Joes, the mutton and chicken shop, vegetable vendors, and the bustling road all spill over into the shrine area, creating a complex grid of interactions. To capture this, I created various collages of textures, representing the unique materiality of the site while also establishing a color palette that reflects its diverse layers.
These different elements are not isolated but overlap, blending into one another to form a layered and textured environment. To show the overlaps on the site, I made collage depicting the same.
Syntax :
Using the collages as a foundation, particularly focusing on the manipulation of grids, I started developing a syntax for my shrine site. The overlapping patchwork of spaces—ranging from the pan tapri to the busy road, becomes the basis for a reimagined design where these grids shape the interactions and experiences of the space.
By reinterpreting the grid, the design allows for flexible, multi-functional areas where people can come to sit, children can play, and others can find places to rest or wait. These grids create terraces, seating, walkways, and interactive spaces that cater to different activities, while still preserving the organic overlap that defines the site's existing dynamics. This design integrates these elements into a cohesive, inhabitable space, encouraging community interaction while reflecting the complex patchwork that originally defined the shrine’s environment.
Syntax Diagram:
Grids—manipulating and transforming them to reflect the underlying structure of these overlaps. By layering and shifting these grids in my collages, I sought to design a new spatial language for the shrine, where the patchwork of overlapping activities and textures becomes an intentional, cohesive part of the site’s evolving identity.
Design Iteration :
Design : Evolving the Design: From Scaffolding to an Interactive Walkway
Initially, the design concept featured a scaffolding structure that provided spaces for planters, seating, and a designated area for Smoking Joes to serve food. The idea was that the scaffolding wouldn’t just function as a structural element but would become an active space where people could sit, relax, interact, eat, and where children could play. This multi-functional scaffolding was intended to transform the shrine site into a vibrant hub of activity.
However, upon reflection, I realized that the scaffolding might appear too much like an object placed onto the site, rather than an integral part of its environment. In response, I revised the design, reducing the prominence of the scaffolding and integrating a walkway above it. This walkway serves as a more organic extension of the site, offering spaces where people can sit, walk, and relax. The grids, previously a separate design feature, were reimagined as stairs, seamlessly connecting the ground level to the elevated walkway. Additionally, space was created for planters, further integrating nature into the design.
Design Drawing:
Design Elevation
Design Plan
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