Aswin Senthil

A farmer's market in Chennai was built by the vendors themselves. We intended the structure to be an open framework that can be constantly adapted and reappropriated. These ecologies of adaptation enable structures to be built using frugally available materials.

Through the DIY techniques employed, we believe it also questions the notion of the necessity of formal construction practices thereby returning the agency of construction to the users.

The materials used, especially the asbestos and corrugated sheets, are all recycled from derelict construction and building sites of our other projects helping us to significantly reduce construction costs.

Dirty Deets: OK fine. We gotta confess our drawings are not neat or formal, the resolutions are shoddy, the work is not clean. It trips your OCD. We get it. But take a step back. Who are the actual users and agents of the space? We commit this cardinal sin of architecture just so we can return the agency of not only the space but also the process of space making to the vendors.

Empowering them in construction practices through basic know-how. So sue us. PS Also our fee was a week's worth of vegetables. So take that.