![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates_top.jpg)
Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates
Photographer Edmund Sumner has sent us his pictures of a temple by Mumbai studio Sameep Padora & Associates.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates9.jpg)
Called Shiv Temple, the project involved simplifying a traditional temple design by removing the usual decoration but maintaining symbolic elements.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates15.jpg)
A wood-clad frame wraps around one corner marking the entrance, while the interior is illuminated by a skylight.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates12.jpg)
The temple was constructed by the villagers using local stone from a quarry near the site.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates13.jpg)
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![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates11.jpg)
The information below is from Sameep Padora & Associates:
Designed in dialogue with the priest and the people from surrounding villages the temple design is a collaborative effort.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates10.jpg)
Built through ‘Shramdaan’ (self build) by the villagers, this temple was constructed on a shoestring budget, using a local stone as a primary building block because of its availability from a quarry within 200 meters from the temple site.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates165.jpg)
The stone’s natural patina seems to confer age, as if the temple had always existed... before inhabitation.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates5.jpg)
In realizing the temple design in close consultation with the temple priest & the villagers, we attempted to sieve out through discussion & sketches the decorative components from the symbolic. Adhering to the planning logic of traditional temple architecture, the form of the temple chosen evokes in memory, the traditional shikhara temple silhouette.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates2.jpg)
Only embellishments integral to the essence of temple architecture in memory actually appear in the finished temple.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates6.jpg)
The heavy foliage of trees along the site edge demarcate an outdoor room, which become the traditional ‘mandapa’ (pillared hall), a room with trees as walls and sky the roof.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora & Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-Associates8.jpg)
The path to the temple winds in between white oak trees till two free-standing basalt stone walls embedded in the landscape create pause as well as direct a person onto the East-West axis on which the garbagriha / inner sanctum lies.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-and-Associates-5.gif)
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Entry to the sanctum is through an exaggerated threshold space which in turn frames the outside landscape for the inside.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-and-Associates-3.gif)
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Stepped seating on the southern edge of the site negotiates steep contours while transforming the purely religious space into a socio-cultural one used for festival & gatherings.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-and-Associates-4.gif)
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Religious Iconography in the form of statues of the holy cow, Nandi and Lord Vishnu’s avatar as a turtle become installations in the landscape and hence find their positions in a natural setting of the metaphoric sky-roofed mandapa.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-and-Associates-1.gif)
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The ashtadhaatu (8 metal composite) temple kalash (finial) is held in place by a frame which also anchors a skylight to allow light to penetrate the inner sanctum/garbagriha.
![Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates Shiv Temple by Sameep Padora and Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Shiv-Temple-by-Sameep-Padora-and-Associates-2.jpg)
Architects: Sameep Padora & Associates Design Team: Sameep Padora, Minal Modak, Vinay Mathias
Documentation: Viresh Mhatre, Anushka Contractor, Maansi Hathiwala, Prajish Vinayak
See also:
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