A coupling of inspiration—the vibrant energy of Mumbai and the simple beauty of the chalanee rice sieve—informs artist and architect Suchi Reddy’s multisensory pavilion for this year’s Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF). Aptly titled Sift, the multisensory space guides visitors inward through light-filtering bamboo layers toward a centrifugal core of visible vibration. Within, a meditative sonic landscape by Mally James references the rhythmic swish of a chalanee. Sift is one of eight pavilions realized for this year’s festival and installed in ADFF’s Jaquar Pavilion Park. Following the festival, it will find a permanent home in a Mumbai sculpture park being developed by Godrej Properties Ltd, which sponsored its creation.
The pavilion as an architectural concept has become part of Reddy’s oeuvre—with previous works like X is for Love, Patterns of Protection, and even Look Here investigating the depth, dimensions, and purpose of the concept. “For me, the pavilion is a unique typology—one that sits squarely between art and architecture,” she shares with Surface. “I approach pavilion design as an experiential practice rather than an object-oriented one; what matters most is how people move through space, gather, pause, and feel.”
Courtesy of Ram Rahman…
“Because pavilions are often temporary or speculative, they allow for large-scale poetic gestures alongside experimentation—testing new spatial ideas, materials, and modes of perception without the constraints of permanent architecture,” she adds. “They become laboratories for thinking about how space can inspire, protect, and connect, and how architecture can operate emotionally as well as functionally.” For Reddy, this type of exploration is invaluable. She explains, “it keeps the work fresh, expands how I think about spatial experience, and continually reshapes how those insights carry back into more conventional architectural projects.”
Courtesy of Ram Rahman…
The origin of the chalanee as inspiration harkens back to her childhood. “It was one of the first if not the first object I fell in love with,” Reddy says. “I loved that it was functional and beautiful and its compound curves at the corners were fascinating to me. I sensed the beauty of the craft in them intuitively.” With Mumbai’s swirling energy, the chalanee seemed like an ideal metaphor.
This is Reddy’s second project with the Architecture and Design Film Festival. “I had participated in the first edition, so I knew that this could be an impactful project that would reach many people; that convinced me to enter and I was very happy to be selected as one of the pavilions,” she adds. The illustrious panel of jurors—Aric Chen, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Lesley Lokko OBE, Ma Yansong, Martha Thorne, and Raj Rewal—was also part of this year’s allure. Fortunately, the pavilion will have its home afterward so even more individuals can engage with its enchantment.
