Four Walls is a lakeside pavilion in a coastal site south of Chennai, India. Designed by London-based architects Studio Mango, the building forms the endpoint of a linear park within Sanctuary by Aarth, a new residential development for which the practice also designed the villas. Constructed as the first element within the wider masterplan, the client requested a building simple in its conception but capable of serving several programmatic requirements. A gallery space was necessary to display the villa designs, while a larger space was required for gatherings. The pavilion would frame visitors’ first encounter with the lake, around which the development is organized.
Studio Mango
The architects started with a simple concept for the lakeside pavilion, to employ the minimum number of architectural gestures to define the different programmatic requirements. The architects conceived each of the four walls to shape the visitor’s experience, only revealing the lake at the culmination of the journey. On arrival, a wall opens to the walkway, drawing visitors within. A second wall runs parallel, forming a linear, more focused gallery space. Two curving walls then compress the route, drawing visitors around to reveal the lake’s beauty for the first time. Here, a large semi-circular space offers sheltered views across the water.
The architects brought these simple architectural gestures to life through laterite, a local, iron-rich stone known for its striking red colour and natural variation. It is a material found abundantly across South India, where it is commonly used as a building block. The walls rise from a red concrete plinth, which extends to form a cast-in-situ bench overlooking the water. Gravel borders mediate between material junctions, giving a deep-rooted feeling to the four walls. Above, they rested a thin, exposed concrete canopy alternately on the walls and supported it by slender columns, lifting it away from the structure below. Shafts of light cut through the space, striking the curved walls and drawing visitors towards the lake beyond.
The lakeside pavilion champions locally sourced materials and craft. Kadappa, a dark grey limestone, weaves a path up to the pavilion where visitors are greeted by a water feature at the entrance, anchoring the building within its coastal context. They relocated granite boulders, from across the site and semi-submerged them in the water, holding the walkway’s edge.
Studio Mango is an architecture and design practice based in Shoreditch, London. Formed in 2022 between friends Fergus Davis and Utsav Jain, the practice works across scales and geographies, from carefully detailed homes in London and the UK countryside to larger civic and residential projects in India and China.
Across all projects, there is a focus on quality of space, celebration of light, and a deep appreciation of materiality. The architects inform every project by its unique context, whether that be something specific within a client’s brief, a historical detail or the cultural influences on a site. Architecture Foundation’s ‘New Architects 5’ recently included Studio Mango in the definitive guide to Britain’s emerging architectural talent.
Fact File
Designed by: Studio Mango
Project Type: Installations & Structures, Public Architecture
Project Name: Four Walls Pavilion
Location: Chennai
Year Built: 2026
Built-up Area: 1399 sqft
Principal Architects: Utsav Jain, Fergus Davis
General Contractor: Sanctuary by Aarth
Photograph Courtesy: Geomorph Studio
Source: Archdaily
Firm’s Website Link: Studio Mango
Firm’s Instagram Link: Studio Mango
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