Media Studio Progresses
December 23, 2012Several teams are at work on the renovation of the monastery publications building. One is at work doing the all-important demolition. Another is working on design for the floors and walls. A third is engineering the drawings, permits, budgets and work flow (critical path planning). A fourth is busy assembling the ceiling. It is not to be an ordinary ceiling. No. This ceiling is made entirely of Kauai woods (mostly camphor and Rainbow Eucalyptus), milled at the monastery and shaped and planed by our team of thondars. Now they are doing the final touches, sanding, assembling the units and varnishing.
The ceiling is made of eighteen four-foot-square panels. Inset in them are three-foot panels of Indian tribal art and kolams. The colors are soft, since these panels will be the reflective surfaces that bathe the room in indirect light.
The slideshow shows the team at work today and four of the kolam art panels.
Between the squares are T&G panels, shown in the lower right corner.
The craftsmanship is refined and elegant.
These are magnets. They are what will hold the art panels to the ceiling.
This will allow the panels to be exchanged, moved around the room every few months, giving a fresh look to the space.
Each of these units weight nearly 90 pounds.
Adi Srikantha is the main force behind this work of art. He has spent months taking the wood through its many stages.
Tandu works on a panel.
Applying protective coating.
One of the traditional kolams that will grace the ceiling.
A few are Saivite art.
Most are kolams one would see on the entry of a village home, except they are rendered with digital perfection and not rice flour.
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