Marimba

Project idea

The idea was to design a cultural center for Seidhou in the Casamence region in the country of Senegal. A closely knit community, Seidhou has been cursed with drought and all kinds of illness over the years. In order to create the sense of mutual collaboration and awareness, Music has been utilized as the common element to bring joy into the hearts and minds of the people .The construct gives the people a reason to celebrate life, culture and identity.

Project description

A fully Bamboo based construct , the pavilion resemble the profile of a Marimba , a xylophone like musical instrument recreated with the help of giant bamboo chimes that form the wall of the enclosure . Central to the culture and tradition of Seidhou, music has been utilized as the binding element that brings people from all backgrounds together under one roof to sing, dance and celebrate. The pavilion has been designed to produce minimum intervention to the environment which also makes it modular and easily buildable by the general people of the village.

Technical information

With a pre-determined built-up of 400 square meters, he pavilion has been mostly designed as a semi-open space, covered with cloth or fabric at the top if at all necessary. Centrally, a stage has been provided for people to come, participate and perform.The diaphragm stage works on the principle of pressure based percussion or cymatics. With movement of feet, the surface vibrates and creates a dance of sand in turn, making the music or beat literally visible to the people.The construction is carried out in stages to very carefully align the bamboo chimes one after another in order to achieve a structure that resembles a musical instrument and behaves like the same. Open to kids and all elders alike, it turns into the symposium of storytelling. All sitting is based on arranging Cajons to involve the audience in the performance.

Co-authors

Ujjayant Bhattacharyya , Priyanka Mukherjee , Abhranil Munsi