Fact file
Location: Nandyal
Size: 930 sq m
Principal Architect: Sameep Padora
Photographs by: Edmund Sumner
Temple of Steps by Sameep Padora & Associates is a balance between the socio-cultural expectations of a religious structure and the ecological dynamics of its environment. Referencing a 10th-century temple that hosts the same deity at Tirupati, the form is composed of vernacular, meticulously corbelled black limestone slabs. The verdure of plants at the base of the structure is an aesthetic element that facilitates the buffering of heat gain, while the stepped composition pays homage to the ghats of Benaras—an integral facet of India’s architectural heritage.
Commissioned by the JSW Group, the serene place of worship is located in the arid region of Nandyal. The surrounding cotton and chilli farms were fed by a natural canal irrigation system that had dried up; hence a detailed ecological strategy (beginning with the recharging of groundwater stores) was conceived as an integral part of the overall design. “Water overflow from the limestone quarries was led to a low-lying recharge pit, or “kund,” whose banks were imagined as a social space in the manner of a traditional “ghat,” a flight of steps leading down to a water body,” explained the architects. Detailing in the form of contemporary reinterpretations of Hindu religious motifs is another fascinating element of this sustainable, contextual, and communal edifice.
