Building Facade | Bhubaneswar, Odisha |2022-2024
 

A monumental sculptural mural transforms the façade of a contemporary institutional building, blending heritage with modernity in a powerful visual narrative. The front spans 28 by 10 meters and wraps around the building. The artwork draws from the sacred geometry of traditional Kalinga temple architecture and the rhythmic patterns of Odisha’s ikat textile traditions and stalks of rice gesture towards the farming tradition.

A scaled model was made, then almost 500 A0 size 1:1 drawings were made. This was a herculean collaborative project with 15 stone artisans and structural and civil engineers, to mount almost 2,500 blocks of about 2 cubic feet, and over 4,000 tiles in nine months, using locally sourced laterite stone. These were meticulously carved and shaped and laid out on the ground part by part, and then brought to the site and fixed exactly in the same manner with dry wall cladding hardware. The result is a seamless composition that plays dynamically with light and shadow. The project is in collaboration with Studio Lotus.

 

This installation reimagines tradition through a contemporary lens, becoming a cultural landmark that celebrates craftsmanship, place, and identity.