Kochi Kitchen

Fall 2014 | Professors Inaqui Carnicero and Anupama Kundoo | In response to a brief from the World Bank

Assignment: to design a women's shelter in India's south-western state of Kerala, providing educational, medical, and technological programs.

Solution: a reinterpreted women's shelter, occupying a central site on Kochi's port island, Wellington Island. Utilizing the existing ferry infrastructure, and appropriating the "dabbawala" infrastructure from Mumbai, Kochi Kitchen gives women a recognizable job and income, while placing this operation in an otherwise male-dominated space of the port.

Discussion: appropriating the architecture of the port, Kochi Kitchen uses two scales of cranes as a key part of its structural system.  Large gantry cranes, formerly used to move shipping containers, are now used to hold the elevated plane above the treeline and port infrastructures, granting unique views of the cityscape.  Small vessel cranes are used below this elevated plane, which houses the processing and cooking programs, to create adaptable spaces for the secondary programs.

Physical model: aspen wood base, 3/32in brass I-section beams soldered into truss form using a laser-cut jig, manually cut basswood, and welded steel members.