When I was invited to Goa to photograph the Kulhad Pavilion by Wallmakers for the Serendipity Arts Festival, I knew very little about the project itself. What I did know was that it was Wallmakers' first pavilion to be comprehensively documented through photography. Having previously experienced some of Vinu Daniel and Wallmakers' installations firsthand, I chose to arrive with a blank canvas in my mind—open to surprise, yet prepared for the challenges that come with photographing architecture in a public setting.

As my train approached Goa, I imagined a striking parametric form emerging from the white sands of Miramar Beach. By the time I arrived, the pavilion was still receiving its final touches. My first reaction was disbelief. How was it even standing? Built entirely from stacked terracotta kulhads, the structure rose as a sculptural composition of three catenary arches, its texture, scale, and materiality creating an experience that felt both familiar and unexpected.

Yet what fascinated me most was not the architecture itself, but what happened around it.

Rather than rushing to photograph it, I chose to stay and observe. As evening arrived and the pavilion opened to the public, a steady stream of visitors gathered around it. The structure stood as an unfamiliar object on the beach—an interruption in the daily rhythm of Miramar. But over the next day, I watched that relationship slowly change.

People who initially approached it with curiosity began to claim it as their own. It became a place to pause, sit, meet friends, share conversations, and seek shade from the Goan sun. Children wandered through its arches. Strangers lingered. Even squirrels appeared when the crowds thinned. What had begun as an architectural installation gradually transformed into a lived space, quietly weaving itself into the routines of the beach.

In many ways, the pavilion mirrored the journey of the kulhad itself. Once a simple vessel for tea, discarded after a brief use, these 18,000 terracotta cups were given a second life as architecture. And just as the cups were once part of countless everyday moments, the pavilion became the backdrop for new memories unfolding before my camera.

Through this series, I wanted to capture not only the ingenuity of the structure but also its transformation—from an unfamiliar object on the shoreline into a place that belonged to the people around it. For me, the Kulhad Pavilion was less about form and more about witnessing architecture become part of everyday life.

• Architects: WALLMAKERS

• Lead Architect: Ar. Vinu Daniel

• Architects: Preksha Shah, Jayesh Varma

• City: GOA