Spaces by Manah Completes The Soil & Sea Community Centre in Chennai with Barrel-Vaulted Roof

Spaces by Manah has completed The Soil & Sea, a 4,330-square-metre community centre in Chennai, India. The single-storey masonry building, raised on a rubble stone foundation, features a brick barrel-vaulted roof that rises above the tree canopy to act as a visible landmark. It provides learning space for a local education centre and houses community workshops and events. The design is organised around a flat-roofed volume flanked on two sides by an L-shaped verandah, conceived as an intermediate, informal zone between the building and landscape. The verandah is sheltered by the barrel vault on one side, forming a main gathering space, while its other edge has a sloping, tiled roof. Granite stone pillars and built-in seating frame the space, with steps and a ramp at the front ensuring accessibility. The studio aimed for the building to appear as though it were growing out of the existing landscape, creating a sequence of shaded, open and enclosed spaces that overlook the lush surroundings. Exposed load-bearing brick walls are left throughout, complemented by locally sourced and repurposed doors, windows and Mangalore floor tiles. Glossy tiles offset the raw interior. A separate toilet block on the site is similarly perched on a stone foundation with load-bearing brick walls and a tiled canopy roof. The photography is by Sreenag Pictures.