Talwar, Sidhartha

Architect of the year - Vol.86(4), April - Mumbai Indian Institute of Architects 2021 - 37-39p.

Krushi Bhawan is a facility developed for Govern-
ment of Odisha’s Department of Agriculture & Farm-
ers’ Empowerment. It was originally planned as a
purely administrative building; upon our suggestion,
the spatial programme was revised to accommodate
spaces for community engagement and learning.
The ground floor has been designed as a
free-flowing public space that opens out into a pla-
za, whereas the terrace has been designed to house
urban farming exhibits and for demonstration of
best agricultural practices. The purely administra-
tive spaces—which have restricted access—have
been placed on the first, second and third floors.
We collaborated with over 100 highly-skilled
artisans to create a vibrant and contemporary nar-
rative of traditional Odia craft depicting agricul-
tural folklore and mythological stories, envisioned
at an unprecedented architectural scale. The ma-
terial palette employs locally-sourced laterite and
khondalite stones. Dhokra (tribal cast metal craft)
has been adapted to make light fixtures and metal
screens that line the corridors. Bas-relief carvings
in laterite along the Public Plaza depict ripe pad-
dy crops illustrated in the Odia Pattachitra (cloth-
based scroll paintings) style.


ARCHITECTURE GENERAL (AR-GEN)