ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the barrel-vaulted ceiling of the studio at Sangath, Ahmedabad office of 2018 Pritzker Laureate, architect Balkrishna Doshi creates what he calls the gap/pause in architectural experience – when a breach from the corporeal occurs giving way to an unexpected and immeasurable dream-like quality. At Sangath, the espousal of the subjunctive mood – embracing the unexpected and reimagined creates the gap/pause. In its ceiling, the conditions of being above ground – outside and below ground – within the building are reinforced, thus orienting in the vertical axis between the earth and the sky, disconnecting from the horizontal surrounding world and connecting to the sky, the changing lights and shadows and the changing seasons. Doshi’s use of miniature-style illustrations for Sangath, combining plans, elevations and axonometric views all in a single frame, along with the stories that are narrated when given a tour of the office, subvert the notions of conventional architectural representation in order to emphasize different spatial and temporal aspects of the building. Instead of being passive, programmatic descriptions, these stories create the gap/pause that intensify engagement and intrigue in the experience of space.
