The Shanghai and Mumbai based designer and architectural photographer Amey Kandalgaonkar has designed "House inside a rock" inspired by Madain Saleh the ancient rock-cut tomb that located in the Sector of Al-`Ula within Al Madinah Region in the Hejaz, Saudi Arabia.
Architect's statement: When I first saw the images of rock cut-tomb architecture of Madain Saleh in Saudi Arabia, I knew I had to use it as an inspiration in an architectural project. There is a huge amount of architectural heritage laid out for us by past builders and I believe they did a great job of integrating built environments in natural elements. Following this idea, I decided to carry out an architectural exploration.
Considering the visual complexity of the rocks at Madain Saleh, it was imperative to use simple planes and cubes in order to achieve a visual balance. I started out creating the rock in 3D software which in itself was a sculpting process. Later when inserting the house into this rock, I tried to keep its visual impact from eye level as minimum as possible and only when observed from a birds eye, the real extent of the intervention is revealed.
In the end, creating these architectural proposals is an ongoing learning process for me and I hope it will help me be a better designer.
Designer: Amey Kandalgaonkar
