Spotlight on Religious Spaces: Balaji Temple (Temple of Steps) by Sameep Padora & Associates

The impressive Balaji Temple designed by Sameep Padora & Associates in Nandyal is made entirely in black limestone and is planned on a 10th century temple for the same deity at Tirupathi. 

Curated by: Deepa Nair
Photographs: Edmund Sumner, courtesy Sameep Padora & Associates

The brief

The brief was to design a temple for the residents of villages around Nandyal. In the dry terrain of Nandyal, the main concern was to provide a space which would marry the socio-cultural expectations of a temple with the ecological framework and dynamics of and around the low lying and largely barren site.

The design intent

The immediate context of cotton and chilly farms in the region were fed by a natural canal system which had dried up. The ecological strategy for the temple, thus began with recharging of the groundwater. The water overflow from limestone quarries was led to a low-lying recharge pit or ‘kund’: the banks of which was imagined as a social space, in the manner of a traditional ghat; a flight of steps leading down to a waterbody. This negotiation of land and water with steps is a significant part of India’s architectural heritage as is seen in the ghats of the ancient city of Banaras.

The structure

The planning of the temple itself was based on a 10th century temple for the same deity at Tirupathi in southern India and similarly includes the Balaji and Varahaswamy shrines (in two separate structures) and a Pushkarini (water tank). The construction process uses locally available black limestone slabs corbelled to form the main body of the temple. The same corbelled profile also incorporates soil and planting in the lower half of the temple body to buffer against the heat, and finally this stone corbelling turns into a ghat ie the steps that access the water.

Fact File

Project: Balaji Temple (Temple of Steps)
Client: Anushree Jindal, JSW Cement Ltd
Location: Nandyal
Area: 2.5 acres
Principal architect: Sameep Padora
Design team: Sanjana Purohit, Vami Sheth, Aparna Dhareshwar and Kunal Sharma