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Other Projects by Khaled M. Abou Taam - KMA Atelier
Gridscape Village
GRIDSCAPE VILLAGE: A Modular Sanctuary in Rural India
• Project Name: Gridscape Village
• Architecture Firm: Khaled M. Abou Taam - KMA Atelier
• Lead Architect: Dr. Khaled M. Abou Taam
• Design Team:
Imad Ammatoury - Architect
• Organizer: Archstorming
• Location: Kodidoddi Village, India
• Built-up Area: 400 sqm
• Design Year: 2024
Project Overview
Set amidst the vibrant sunsets of Kodidoddi village, the Gridscape Village community center is designed as a sanctuary for learning, togetherness, and community empowerment. The project bridges architectural innovation with rural resilience, transforming a foundational community space through sustainable, modular design. By harmonizing tradition, innovation, and collective aspiration, Gridscape Village serves as a resilient and adaptable prototype for rural India.
The "Gridscape" Concept
The core of the design relies on a modular grid system, a versatile framework that establishes clear hierarchy, coherence, and structural harmony. This foundational square grid enhances both scalability and flexibility, allowing NGOs to easily modify or expand the architecture. The core structure provides essential spaces, while optional modules can be integrated based on the evolving needs of individual villages.
The Gridscape Village unfolds in three distinct programmatic parts:
1. Core Elements (Immediate Functionality): Establishes the essential components of the center, including a multipurpose room, a storage room, toilets, and a shaded veranda. These form a standalone structure designed for immediate usability.
2. Additional Facilities (Tailored Expansion): Integrates optional spaces such as an office, Anganwadi (rural child care center), kitchen garden, and playground. An internal courtyard is introduced here to enhance communal interaction.
3. Cultural Integration (The Arcade): Introduces a three-grid gallery arcade that emulates the traditional shamiyana used for public meetings and events. This space directly resonates with local customs, fostering a deep sense of cultural pride and familiarity.
Contextual Integration
The design carefully preserves traditional gathering spaces. The main entrance faces a front yard anchored by a majestic Neem tree, serving as a focal point visible from key areas within the center. A spacious entrance veranda extends into the yard, seamlessly blurring the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces. An east-to-south passage connects the Neem tree’s yard to the internal courtyard, ensuring a coherent spatial flow that harmoniously links nature with architecture.
Sustainability and Construction Strategies
Alongside passive design strategies, the center proposes highly collaborative, easy-to-build construction techniques utilizing cost-effective materials familiar to local builders.
• Vernacular Materiality: Drawing inspiration from Laurie Baker's sustainable architecture, the structure utilizes a reinforced concrete frame and concrete block walls, accented heavily with local country bricks. These bricks are used for the perimeter compound and to create louvres and screen walls, forming intricate, dynamic patterns of light and shadow.
• Passive Cooling: Each architectural element features brick louvres positioned at the upper extremities of the walls. These are strategically placed to encourage natural cross-ventilation, effectively cooling the interior spaces.
• Dual-Layered Canopy Roof: With the exception of the internal courtyard, the entire center is covered by an elevated corrugated steel roof. This acts as a dual-layered thermal shield, preventing overheating in the summer, providing rain protection in the winter, and serving as a rainwater harvesting system.
• Adaptable Shelters: The main gathering areas—the arcade and the courtyard—utilize easy-to-install textile tents. These provide flexible, semi-permanent protection from the sun, UV rays, and rain.
• Biophilic Anchoring: By anchoring the gathering spaces around the existing large Neem tree, the project capitalizes on natural shade, temperature moderation, and improved air quality, providing a stress-reducing environment for the community.
• Project Name: Gridscape Village
• Architecture Firm: Khaled M. Abou Taam - KMA Atelier
• Lead Architect: Dr. Khaled M. Abou Taam
• Design Team:
Imad Ammatoury - Architect
• Organizer: Archstorming
• Location: Kodidoddi Village, India
• Built-up Area: 400 sqm
• Design Year: 2024
Project Overview
Set amidst the vibrant sunsets of Kodidoddi village, the Gridscape Village community center is designed as a sanctuary for learning, togetherness, and community empowerment. The project bridges architectural innovation with rural resilience, transforming a foundational community space through sustainable, modular design. By harmonizing tradition, innovation, and collective aspiration, Gridscape Village serves as a resilient and adaptable prototype for rural India.
The "Gridscape" Concept
The core of the design relies on a modular grid system, a versatile framework that establishes clear hierarchy, coherence, and structural harmony. This foundational square grid enhances both scalability and flexibility, allowing NGOs to easily modify or expand the architecture. The core structure provides essential spaces, while optional modules can be integrated based on the evolving needs of individual villages.
The Gridscape Village unfolds in three distinct programmatic parts:
1. Core Elements (Immediate Functionality): Establishes the essential components of the center, including a multipurpose room, a storage room, toilets, and a shaded veranda. These form a standalone structure designed for immediate usability.
2. Additional Facilities (Tailored Expansion): Integrates optional spaces such as an office, Anganwadi (rural child care center), kitchen garden, and playground. An internal courtyard is introduced here to enhance communal interaction.
3. Cultural Integration (The Arcade): Introduces a three-grid gallery arcade that emulates the traditional shamiyana used for public meetings and events. This space directly resonates with local customs, fostering a deep sense of cultural pride and familiarity.
Contextual Integration
The design carefully preserves traditional gathering spaces. The main entrance faces a front yard anchored by a majestic Neem tree, serving as a focal point visible from key areas within the center. A spacious entrance veranda extends into the yard, seamlessly blurring the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces. An east-to-south passage connects the Neem tree’s yard to the internal courtyard, ensuring a coherent spatial flow that harmoniously links nature with architecture.
Sustainability and Construction Strategies
Alongside passive design strategies, the center proposes highly collaborative, easy-to-build construction techniques utilizing cost-effective materials familiar to local builders.
• Vernacular Materiality: Drawing inspiration from Laurie Baker's sustainable architecture, the structure utilizes a reinforced concrete frame and concrete block walls, accented heavily with local country bricks. These bricks are used for the perimeter compound and to create louvres and screen walls, forming intricate, dynamic patterns of light and shadow.
• Passive Cooling: Each architectural element features brick louvres positioned at the upper extremities of the walls. These are strategically placed to encourage natural cross-ventilation, effectively cooling the interior spaces.
• Dual-Layered Canopy Roof: With the exception of the internal courtyard, the entire center is covered by an elevated corrugated steel roof. This acts as a dual-layered thermal shield, preventing overheating in the summer, providing rain protection in the winter, and serving as a rainwater harvesting system.
• Adaptable Shelters: The main gathering areas—the arcade and the courtyard—utilize easy-to-install textile tents. These provide flexible, semi-permanent protection from the sun, UV rays, and rain.
• Biophilic Anchoring: By anchoring the gathering spaces around the existing large Neem tree, the project capitalizes on natural shade, temperature moderation, and improved air quality, providing a stress-reducing environment for the community.
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