The Bengaluru-based practice found by Cyrus Patell and Eliza Higgins seeks a critical framework for their work that refrains from ascribing predictable means and material to their projects through a values-oriented process.
Cyrus and Eliza instituted their practice CollectiveProject in Bengaluru in 2013. Operating from a studio based in Indiranagar, their work is characterised by its process and rigour. Amongst the many emergent contemporary architecture offices in India, CollectiveProject has been able to create a portfolio of diversity – both in terms of typology and scale – in the past seven years. However, what sets them apart is not the outcome of their work or the visual impact of their architecture, but their ability to engage with concerns that have a larger consequence on their continually evolving practice.
PROGRAMME
An analysis of the architectural plans of an array of projects reveals an interesting progression – the ability of CollectiveProject to engage with the programme through a critical framework. From the design of a pavilion in the constricted setback of a house to re-imagining a vibrant school courtyard in an existing campus, one can observe a keen sense of the immediate – a process that delves in responding to the existing prior to drawing out the possibilities. This enables them to create a unique vantage point for each project to take shape in its independent context – physical and conceptual.
As a practice, we believe in responsive design that is considered, personal, and unique. Our work does not begin with preconceived ideas of form but evolves through building on personal stories/memory (from the client), our material interests/explorations and an understanding of the site and its context.
Eliza Higgins
While the omnipresent typology of the 2000s was the mega-farm-house-second-home, a few studios like the CollectiveProject are experimenting with more urban building types reclaiming the typological gap. Moreover, by resisting a commitment to style, language or a predictable palette of materials, the work CollectiveProject postulates new and intriguing frameworks for their projects; thus, constituting a significant diversity in their body of work at multiple scales.
LANGUAGE
There are two important considerations in the work of CollectiveProject. The first, is their ability to articulate the core challenge of the project. This articulation is a result of their attempt to establish a common ground for multiple stakeholders – the clients, the users, the contractors, the craftspeople and their internal team. A statement from the architects reads, “For us, the foundation for a successful project comes from establishing a common language, as the meanings of the words used to describe spaces/ materials vary dramatically from person to person.” This ability enables them to define central concerns in a project and to commit to confronting certain fundamental challenges.
The second aspect is their reluctance to subscribe to preconceptions, in-turn, creating space for the process to take over and determine the trajectory of the project. In a comparative study of the plans, one can map a unique pattern of organisation for each site. One can also observe specificity in their selection of materials and their articulation of detail in each project. The studio has a significant investment in developing new ways of construction with an orientation to finer details. The experiments with construction systems enable CollectiveProject to work on ideas such as casting building blocks from the reclaimed bricks in the Cooketown House, wherein “the debris from the existing structure was crushed and used to make mud-concrete blocks for the new home.”
The resultant environments have a refreshing diversity in spatial, tectonic and material domains. The plans are clear and legible. The formal complexity is derived from the sections and the articulation of internal space – variations in a theme. It is important to recognise that the projects are not indulgent in terms of materials and finishes. The depth of experience in their architecture is offered by the detail.
QUALITY
The process of design at CollectiveProject involves a cyclic progression between physical model-making and digital mediums of drawing and modelling. Their office space has preserved some instances and key moments of this process from a multitude of projects: samples of material experimentation, architectural models of the work-inprogress projects etc. that convey the presence of a constantly evolving paradigm: the office as a laboratory.
We work back and forth between sketching, physical and digital modelling and CAD, though most of our studies happen in Rhino. From an outside perspective, we could be accused of over-modelling, but it has been working well for us even though it takes more time.
Cyrus Patell
Across their work, there is a certain emphasis on the idea of the quality. Their designs are well-detailed with a consideration and understanding of the tools of the trade – a deviation from the product-driven assemblies that we find in contemporary buildings. This distinction and the competence of the studio to evolve and execute fine articulations enables their projects to work at two levels – firstly as a scheme and then as a human experience with a specific emphasis on the human scale and the interaction with built and open space.
There have been means available for many post-liberalisation practices to indulge in an architecture of excess. However, a few young and emergent studios have chosen to reflect more critically towards ideas that are consumptive, wasteful and out of place in our contemporary times. In this context, the work of CollectiveProject seems to present a strong emphasis on the role of architecture in creating a better-informed, appropriate and contextual response without sacrificing the lyrical quality in design – a fine balance between the formal and the experiential; the physical and the emotional ⊗
CollectiveProject is an architecture and design studio founded in Bengaluru, India in 2013 by Cyrus Patell and Eliza Higgins. Their investigations occur at multiple scales; from objects and interiors to residential and institutional buildings. Current work includes private residences, residential interiors, hospitality and institutional projects across South India. As a studio, their work is process-driven: combining spatial narratives, landscape, and materials to create projects that are responsive and carefully considered. Their approach is open and fluid – drawing inspiration from site, culture, environment and technology. Presently, the CollectiveProject team includes Cyrus Patell, Eliza Higgins, Akash Moish, Muthamma MC, Rajiv Ribeiro, Saniya Jejani, Sheejal Shetty, Urvi Udani, Vandana Shekar, Samyuktha S, Rakshith Raghu, Advaith Mani, Divya Reddy, Niriksha Shetty and Srijita Kar.
