Introduction

Most people recognize her as a pioneer of ‘Mud

Architecture’ in India, someone who gave it a new
dimension. However, as an architect as well as a
person, she was much more. A person who wouldn’t
hesitate calling a spade a spade, with an unmatched
sensitivity towards nature and her craft is something
we always will remember about her. She was the
recipient of the WADE ASIA Sustainability Champion
Award in 2018. She has also nominated for the Aga
Khan Award for Three of her projects.
The Roots
Talking about her early years, during a conference, she
said, “As far back as my memory takes me, I had always
wanted to be an architect. From the age of about five to
sixteen, my annual holidays in Bangalore were spent
browsing through my grandfather’s architectural journals.”
She would drown in the world of Frank Lloyd Wright,
Bruno Taut, Bruce Goff, Oscar Niemeyer, Fredrick Kiesler
and Eric Mendelsohn.

“Kiesler’s Endless House is ensconced in my

subconscious, and Kenzo Tange, whose incredible stadiam
were imprinted on a medallion that I wore around my neck
through my college days.”
- REVATHI KAMATH

The Nurturing
Bachelors in Architecture: 1977
School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi

Urban and Regional Planning: 1981

School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi
Anandgram Rehousing Project
• Circa 1985, Revathi Kamath, worked alongside them to
help them build their houses and enhance settlement to
Kathputli Colony make them worthy of the government's recognition.

Area- Approx 30 acres • She envisioned to create affordable architecture through

It’s a colony of Street performers in Shadipur community participation aiming for the community's
Depot area of Delhi. For the last 50 years, it recognition.
is home to some 2,800 families of magicians,
snake charmers, acrobats, singers, • Her attempts to transform the existing settlement, and
dancers, actors, traditional healers and enrich it through the artisanal skills and methods of the
musicians and especially puppeteers people, formed the backdrop of Anandgram. 
or Kathputli performers from Rajasthan.
This makes it world’s largest community of
street performers.
• Every year over a hundred thousand
people migrate to Delhi, the National
capital of India.

• Some are warmly received by the city and

succeed here, whereas others who fail to
do so, are forced to its severity .

• The people of Kathputli colony, in

Shadipur suburb in west- Delhi faced the
latter fate.
. 1 9 8 3 .
 Desert Resort Mandawa,Rajasthan

Desert Camp or Resort is an attempt to create

contextual architecture and progress, sensitive to
cultural values. It is wholly commercial, but respects
the cultural authenticity of the Shekhawati tradition. Cottages

• The Architect, Revathi Kamath wanted the

international tourist to experience rural India’s
cultural diversity and rich traditions.
• Wanted this project to be a very contextual
expression that preserved the socio – ecological
fabric, while drawing on the indegenous
architecture of shekhawati region.

The warmth of cowdung

Expressing continuity in the desert Plaster with the vibrant
colors of ethenicity
. 1 9 8 4 .
Desert Resort Mandawa,Rajasthan

Site Development Zoning of Resort

Swimming pool
. 1 9 8 4 .
 Community centre Maheshwar Fort

The community center was an extension of a weaving center for the now well Site Plan
known Maheshwar Sarees. While it was meant primarily for the weavers, the
activities generated were to provide an incentive to the townspeople to brave the
steep slope up to the fort, participate in activities and so rejuvenate the space.

Fun Fact-
• The plan was drawn directly on the ground and later transferred to the
drawing board in Delhi, to work out details. This reversal of the usual
process has been fruitful in that building which fits well into the context.
Elevation

Ground Floor Plan

Client- Rehwa Society and

BORDA, Germany
Architect- Revathi Kamath
Plinth Area- 120 Sq m
Cost of the project- Rs. 1,90,000
Contractor- Built by local masons
. 1 9 8 9 .
 Akshay Pratisthan Delhi Ground floor Plan

The Akshay Pratishthan School Annexe was designed to meet the evolving
needs of educating and imparting skills to differently able children along
with students from disadvantaged backgrounds, to enable them to learn and
live together.

This structure was designed and built in two months while the Main
Building of the school was being constructed. Its initial function was
to house five classrooms, and once these shifted to the main building,
it housed extra-curricular activities such as a crafts centre, a
gymnasium, a play space and an amphitheatre. The exigencies of
time necessitated the structural separation of the roof and the walls so
that they could come up simultaneously. The roof is a corrugated sheet
donated for the cause and was covered with thatch and creepers to
improve thermal performance and blend it with the mud brick walls.

• The Architect attempts to create elements of joy, excitement, beauty

and scale.
• It seeks to establish a strong tactile relationship with material, built
form and space that are missing in the resettlement colonies from
where most students come.
• There’s also a contrast to the rectilinear, brutist, main building
which appeared to have little to do with the world of the child.
Thatched Roof • The building was nominated for the Aga Khan Award in 1995.
. 1 9 9 0 .
 Nalin Tomar House Hauz khas, Delhi
The Residence is located overlooking the Section
medieval Hauz Khas monuments in Hauz
Khas Village in New Delhi built on a tight
plot of land .
Strategy
• Strategy was to built vertically on the
basis of a multiple-level plan.
• Using Local Badarpur Sandstone, the
façade and other interior details express a

Stairs
visual continuum in language of the
neighbouring monument.

Interior
Planning
o The 0.75 m Wide staircase provides the basic Window
module for the house which at entrance level
accommodates the study and bedroom,
separated by a level difference.

o A few steps from the study leads to kitchen

and dining room.

o The first flight of stairs with a fountain on

landing leads to the living room, which has a
view of the monuments.

o The next level leads to the guest bedroom,

bathrooms and finally to the terrace.

o Local crafts and techniques have been widely

used in interiors.
. 1 9 9 0 .
 Management Development Institute
The corporate image blends with the environment.
Hindustan Petroleum pvt ltd A : A multitude visual expression- concrete
The Brief was to enhance it’s corporate image through Architecture and to framework, exposed stone, plaster, concrete and
emphasize blending with the environment. The Design achieved both – the manglore tiles.
former, through an unanticipated spatial formation. The latter, through visual
expression.

Site
• The long narrow site rises gradually from the highway to a point of about
243m from where it slopes down to the fields against a backdrop of hills.

• The Main building sits on the highest point, dug into the slope opening
out into the fields on the other side.

• It’s tucked away from noise and pollution and scale is diminished.

Materials and Finishes

• Curiously enough, The Projected borders around the external windows and openings which were the major visual feature of the A
buildings, arose as part of a major cost – reduction effort undertaken.
• As the stone walls were to be in random rubble masonry, an ‘extra’ item for dressed stone masonry was included for jams and
corners.
• As the tendered costs were higher than anticipated, the firm had to change the specifications and areas according to the budgeted
cost.
• They struck a considerable saving by replacing the dressed stone jambs with burnt
Brick and concrete block jambs.
. 1 9 9 1 .
Management Development Institute
Hindustan Petroleum pvt ltd

The Spatial form of the complex First Floor Plan The building conceived as a
evolves as the building wrap continuous wrapping around
themselves around three courtyard
courtyards-

• The Academic Court

• The Dining Court
• The Hostel Court

These semi enclosed courts are

encountered with the openings,
enclosures, sloping roofs, lit and
cloistered spaces in darkness, with
surprise.

Elevation

Courtyard
. 1 9 9 1 .
 Kohima Cathedral Nagaland
Kohima Cathedral prominently located on a rising terrain, southwest of Kohima town. Approached
by a wide flight of steps, the form of the cathedral dominates the vista. Encircling the church, is a
large semi-circular plaza designed to accommodate a congregation of people on ceremonial
occasions.

Form First Floor Plan

The form is semicircular; a process of
elimination of conventional rectangular and
cruciform plans. A circle was more
acceptable, but without focus, so was cut into
a semi circle with a strong focus along it’s
straight wall, and the radial arrangement of
seats encouraging group participation.

Section AA

Courtyard

. 1 9 9 4 .
Kohima Cathedral Nagaland

What gives the cathedral form, is it’s roof system. Small forms
constitute a total enclosure. The roof slopes gently over the the
nave increasing its height as it approaches the sanctuary. The pitch
of the roof rises over the sanctuary, steeply enclosing a large
expanse of sunlight.

There is some attempt to translate the traditional decorative

elements, richness, form, pattern, color and texture into the overall
project.

Courtyard

. 1 9 9 4 .
Kamath/Mud House Anangpur village
The creating of space, form and visual characteristics is based on the rearrangement of natural
materials found on the site and its surroundings, with a minimum, judicious use of non-renewable,
non-bio-degradable and fossil resources such as metals, stone, stone slabs, plastics, cement, lime etc.

• Mud House at Anangpur Village, Surajkund, Haryana is

a small residential building designed by REVATHI
KAMATH
• Located on a land that was once a quarry, mining
quartzite and Badarpur stone dust.
• Ecology of the area had been devastated by the mining
• Original scrub forest had been chopped and ravaged for
fire wood.
• The Mud House is an attempt to heal the wounds
inflicted on the earth and establish a niche in the
ecosystem that is expressive of emerging ecological
values.
• A two storey structure.
• Has load bearing walls made of sun dried, hand moulded
mud bricks.
• Intermediate floor is made of sandstone slabs supported
on the mud walls
• Maximum use of natural materials found in surroundings
About Project
• Network was also made to channelize the rainwater into
Location: Aanangpur Village, Faridabad
Plot Area: 1.25 Acres the ponds
• Ponds - major source of the clay and silt used to make
Built up Area: 5000 sqft
Architects: Kamath design studio the mud bricks for the construction.
Cost of construction: Rs. 350 per sqm

. 1 9 9 7 .
 • For heating in winter there is a fireplace in the living room,

Kamath/Mud House Anangpur village

which uses the dry and waste wood from the land and from
which glowing embers from the evening’s fire are taken into the
bedrooms in mobile iron containers for the night. Day time
Planning heating relies on the warmth of the sun, coming into different
spaces at different times of the day.
• The house is located at the highest
• The structure itself has a high thermal capacity with its thick
elevations and responds to the undulating
earth walls and ‘green’ roof, which moderate the effect of both
land by incorporating a number of levels
the cold and the heat within the house. No air conditioners are
within itself, enclosing both internal and
used.
external courtyards within its form.
• The sinuous outlines of the building
follow the existing rock formations while
utilizing them as foundations.
• The bed rooms are placed in an arc,
overlooking one of the ponds in the north
east. They receive the early morning sun
all year round .
• The main corridor connecting the
bedroom block to the living room is
placed on the Western face .The western
face is thick, with small jaalis puncturing
the wall for breeze.
• The living room is an extension of the
courtyard and overlooks the east .
• On the southern side are an array of built
in solar cookers that are operated from
within the living space .
• The public areas of the house are placed
over the bedrooms, commanding a view
of the north and northeast.
• A large opening is placed on the extreme
west to catch a view of the setting sun

. 1 9 9 7 .
Thank You