Elephanta Island, Mumbai

Hewn directly from the rock of the rock of the hillside, the temple to Shiva at Elephanta Island near Mumbai exhibits an extraordinary proximity to its natural context - architecture exists as that which has been removed; nature, in a physical sense, is all that remains. Human intention gives order to nature through the medium of absence.

The grid-like arrangement of columns enforces a secondary diagonal relationship to be set up between spaces.


This allows for spaces to be viewed through, and in the context of, other spaces. Here, the sunlight picking out a carving of a playful Shiva seems all the brighter in the context of the solemn lignum altar space.