Help Us Help Them, Kolkata
Project Typology: Pavillion
Site Area: 180 sq. m
Status: Built | July 2024

Help Us Help Them (HUHT) is a not-for-profit organization working directly with underprivileged children by catering to their education and overall development needs. Since 2005, it has been an honest attempt to reach out to more and more underprivileged children and provide them with quality education. They wanted an urgent pavilion for their students at their school in Pailan, Amgachia, which the students would use for various purposes. The pavilion was to be simple yet elegant and highly flexible for multiple uses.

A hyperbolic paraboloid is a doubly-curved surface that resembles a saddle shape. It is a popular structural system in bamboo architecture due to its simplicity and elegance. The success of a hyperbolic paraboloid in bamboo architecture lies in the efficient load transmission across its surface. This allows the structure to carry compression in the arches while simultaneously creating tension in the linear structural members.

Using multiple iterations with hypers placed in a line, an initial form was developed that can be used as a pavilion by the students. The form had simple structures using bamboo and translucent corrugated sheets. Due to the use of hypers, the pavilion’s approach provided a parametric arch-type look throughout the pavilion. An initial concept model was then made, which ultimately acted as the main piece of information during construction at the site.