SIAA Artist Recreation Centre

India (Unbuilt)
A Tribute to Tamil Cinema and South Indian Craft

Proposed as the first artist recreation centre of its kind in Chennai, this design for the South Indian Artistes’ Association (SIAA) was imagined as both a cultural landmark and a celebration of Tamil cinema’s rich legacy.

At its heart was a dramatic reinterpretation of the region’s famous “butter ball” in Mahabalipuram - a naturally balanced granite boulder that has long inspired wonder. Here, it was reimagined as a sculptural and structural centrepiece, symbolising the weight and endurance of cultural memory.

The complex’s geometry drew from kolam - the intricate, ephemeral rice flour drawings made daily on South Indian thresholds. Translated into architecture, these patterns guided the layout and rhythm of the project, weaving sacred and everyday meaning into its spatial logic.

Visitors would first encounter the monumental “butter ball” from the roadside, before being guided inward by a sweeping rammed earth wall. Inside, the spaces were designed as a bold canvas for performance, gathering, and exchange - an architecture of cultural memory, material experimentation, and structural ingenuity.

Though never realised, the proposal remains a vision of how architecture can embody identity, honour legacy, and create an enduring dialogue between tradition and invention.