Moulded To Modernity

With the design of Terracotta, a restaurant in Gandhinagar The Grid Architects, have proved that the simplest of material — clay in this case — when cleverly used can render a luxurious, modern effect despite the rusticity one usually associates with it.

- Alifiya Mehamdabadwala

When Snehal Suthar and Bhadri Suthar, the principals at Ahmedabad-based The Grid Architects were commissioned to design a restaurant in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, they were faced with a daunting task: to complete the project in a mere 45 days and on a shoestring budget. “We resolved to meet these challenges with tremendous positive energy, and that’s what drove us to choose natural and earthy materials which are charged with the energy and the spirit of the universe,” the duo explains.

After searching for affordable, rooted-to-the-earth, organic materials to work with, they settled on clay. “Soft, malleable and mouldable, it's a material that finds use in daily life, yet has great aesthetic value and is evocative of craftsmanship. The endeavour was to create a contemporary space that was simple but arresting with the help of locally sourced materials such as brick, clay, terracotta and raw wood,” asserts Brinda when asked about the basic design philosophy of the space.