What would it feel like to live in a rock? Well, a genius architect named Amey Kandalgaonkar has decided to recreate the Mada’in Salah rock tombs in Saudi Arabia.
The design fits together almost like the popular Chinese puzzle box, and the aerial view of the architecture will eject heavy sighs from you, for sure. It’s only when we look down and at the behemoth rock that we realize the complex structure.
Kandalgaonkar is an expert in 3D concepts. For the project, he spent hours researching and studying the giant rock. Rather than cutting pieces of the stone to make way for his House Inside The Rock, he constructed the structure around it.
The Shanghai-based architect talks about how he was inspired by the rock tomb in Saudi Arabia, and how rather than cutting through it, he wanted to build a tomb around it. For that, he also had to sculpt the very rock on 3D software, after which he placed the house in it. His idea was for the structure to bloom completely only when seen from a height. The impact from a regular eye level was not made to be that fancy, but the view from the height was worth that painstaking process.
The complex architectural wonder is a perfect example of an old/new juxtaposition. When the ancient rock is put together with modern material and design, they seamlessly complement each other. The rough rock and the smooth concrete together make for a visual scene. It may be improbable to recreate it in a real-life setting, but it does make us wonder about how significant the value of ‘art’ is in architecture.
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