Category praxis
READINGS ON DIDI CONTRACTOR
91-year-old environmental designer and builder – Delia (Didi) Narayan Contractor – passed away peacefully at her home on July 5, 2021. I had the privilege of working closely with her as a junior architect for three years from 2011 to 2014 in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. She instilled in me an ethos of critical thinking and […]
Kudali Learning Center, Telangana
I’m happy to share that the Kudali Learning Center in Medak, Telangana is up and running. Please find below a small snippet from their website, yakshi.org.in/kudali/. Here is a document that captures the collaborative process of the construction with different stakeholders, communities, and landscapes between January 2014 and December 2016. Kūdali – is a transformative space for […]
Architecture Work Sample (2016)
Below is a sample of my architecture work that I conducted as a professional architect in India from 2011 to 2016.
Earth House, Himachal Pradesh
Location: Village Chandpur, Block Baijnath, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh Building Type: Guest House Architect: Siddharth Menon Design Team: Pappu Kumar, Uddham Singh, Pratap Chand, Hansraj, Roshan Lal, Meher Chand, Om Prakash, Deepika Amonkar Castes, Crafts & Communities: Gaddi stone cutters, Chamaar carpenters, Lohaar carpenters, Pandit slate cutters, Thakur-Rana labour, Chowdhury masons, Patiyaal painters, Masand labour […]
The wedding, the bridge, and the peacock
17th April 2015 It has been 16 months since we started building the community centre for Anubhuti Seva Samiti in Sidhpura, District Kasganj, UP. After months of trials and tribulations for the clients, the space is finally edging towards completion. The ground floor is tiled, plastered and finished. Furnishings are being added gradually while some […]
Didi Contractor Environmental Designers
From May 2011 to February 2014, I worked with Didi Contractor in the Kangra Valley of Himachal Pradesh. Didi was instrumental in shaping my ideas about environmental design and for molding me into a critical thinker of the built environment. She gave me a lot of time and energy for which I am forever indebted. […]
Auroville Earth Institute
I began my journey as a travelling architect-geographer with Satprem Maini at the Auroville Earth Institute, Tamil Nadu in December 2010 where I was an architectural intern. Below are some images from my time there.
Siddharth Menon 