Factory: Bhartia Cutler Hammer

The discipline of the factory, interrupted by moments of structural invention. Designed for Bhartia Cutler Hammer in Faridabad, this early industrial project approached the factory not simply as an enclosure for production, but as a piece of architecture in which structure, construction and movement could provide the building's expression. The principal factory block is deliberately robust and repetitive. A regular structural frame establishes the order of the building, its external bays articulated by deep projecting concrete elements that shade the continuous bands of windows below. The long elevations make little attempt to disguise their industrial purpose: repetition, span, daylight and the legibility of construction determine their character. Against this rational framework, particular spaces were allowed a greater degree of architectural freedom. Most striking is the sculptural reinforced-concrete staircase, conceived as a continuous folded and curving element suspended within a tall internal volume. Its underside reveals its construction with unusual directness: a thin concrete ribbon changes direction and geometry as it rises, becoming simultaneously stair, structure and spatial event. The finished stair, with its restrained metal balustrade and timber handrail, becomes the focus of the interior without requiring applied ornament. This interest in construction continues at a smaller scale. Ceilings, skylights and services are incorporated into geometric compositions, while exposed concrete beams and columns remain visible within the principal circulation spaces. In the administrative interiors, timber panelling and more controlled finishes introduce a different scale and material character without concealing the underlying structural order of the building. The project belongs to an early period of the practice in which industrial architecture provided an opportunity to investigate economy, repetition and structural clarity, while reserving moments of invention for the parts of the building encountered most directly by people. The factory is consequently both machine and building: repetitive where production demands repetition, precise where construction demands economy, and unexpectedly expressive where structure meets human movement.