Maya Somaiya Library Case Study: Brick Shell Roof, Section and Construction (Sameep Padora)

The Maya Somaiya Library is a children's library at the Shri Sharda English Medium School in Kopargaon, Maharashtra, designed by the Mumbai practice Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a) and finished in 2018. It is one long, column-free room under a thin shell of three layers of brick tile, shaped by computer form-finding and laid by hand, and its roof doubles as a landscape that children can walk and play on.

Published figures do not all agree, so each comes with its source. For writing your own study, see our guide on how to document a building for a case study.

Who is the Maya Somaiya Library architect? The brief and the client

sP+a was founded in Mumbai in 2006 by Sameep Padora, according to Architectural Record's review by Miriam Sitz (7 January 2019). The same review says the client, Somaiya Vidyavihar, is a philanthropic organisation that runs schools in the region and had worked with the practice before.

The brief was small: a children's library added to an existing school. Architectural Record says the new building replaced a makeshift library inside one of the classroom blocks. In the project text sP+a published with ArchEyes and ArchDaily, the architects add a second aim: because there were few learning resources nearby, they wanted a building inspiring enough to draw students and nearby residents even after school hours.

Padora told Architectural Record: "We wanted people to be attracted to this place."

Maya Somaiya Library location: site and context in Kopargaon

Kopargaon is a town in Ahmednagar district, and the school's website places the campus on the Ahmednagar to Manmad highway. The Design Museum's exhibition page describes the town as northeast of Mumbai, and Architectural Record calls the region hot and dry.

The site was what was left over. The architects describe it as "a sliver between existing buildings and the school boundary" (project text on ArchDaily), and Dezeen adds that the strip faces adjacent farmland. STIRworld places the library between the school and a proposed playground.

One more piece of context shaped the design. On their first visit, designboom reports, the architects found geodesic structures that an engineer had built for some of the school's buildings, and took that as a cue to pursue a design that "followed from a construction intelligence".

Concept: a library that is an extension of the ground

The architects' stated idea is that the library is "a formal extension of the ground plane" (designboom and Metalocus both carry the phrase). It gives the building two uses at once: study inside and play on top. The project text on ArchEyes adds that students can read while moving "through the library or over it".

designboom reports that sP+a evaluated configurations "ranging from concrete shells to brick vaults" before settling on brick tile vaulting. The precedents the architects name are:

• The Catalan tile vault, which the architects date to the 16th century and chose, in the words of their own page, "for its material efficiency".
• Rafael Guastavino's Tile Arch System, which Guastavino took to the United States (Dezeen; Architectural Record).
• Eladio Dieste, the Uruguayan engineer, whose "compression ring detail" the architects cite (Metalocus; ArchEyes).
• RhinoVAULT, a form-finding plug-in from the Block Research Group at ETH Zurich.

The architects frame this as an argument against treating global and local as opposites: a Catalan technique, a Uruguayan detail and Swiss software combined to build in rural Maharashtra (Metalocus, 27 September 2018). Padora put the same thought another way to Architectural Record: the practice is "more interested in evolution than in the 'museumication' of a particular craft".

Maya Somaiya Library plan: one long room, open on every side

The plan is a single room. STIRworld gives the central space as 45 m by 8 m, and the Danish Architecture Centre (DAC) gives roughly the same. There are no columns or internal walls: Somaiya Vidyavihar's inauguration notice stresses that there are no columns or beams under the vault.

• Entry from all sides. STIRworld describes pivoted doors on all four sides, and sP+a's page says the library is "accessible from multiple sides". Architectural Record says the building was shaped to keep foot traffic moving between buildings, which Padora describes as "a node for the campus".
• Courtyards. Dezeen says small courtyards sit in the gaps where the roof touches the ground. DAC says the shell rests on concrete pedestals at five points.
• Seating zones. The project text describes a floor-stool system along the edges for more intimate study, and tables and stools towards the centre for group study. STIRworld adds that the furniture is movable and that corners form small reading spaces.

For the real site plan, floor plan and section, see the drawings credited to sP+a on ArchDaily and STIRworld, which publish them with Edmund Sumner's photographs.

Is the floor stepped? No source we read describes a stepped floor or tiered seating: they describe one Kota stone floor (STIRworld) with low stools at the edges.

Maya Somaiya Library section and structure: a shell in compression

The shell is a funicular form: a shape found so that, under its own weight, it works almost entirely in compression, which is what brick and mortar are good at. sP+a used RhinoVAULT to find it. The Block Research Group's documentation describes RhinoVAULT as a plug-in "for the form-finding of funicular shell structures", based on a method called Thrust Network Analysis, for designing compression-only shells.

How long and how thick is it? Sources give slightly different figures, probably because some measure the room and some the shell:

Figure	Value	Source
Span or length	44 m	Dezeen
Central space	45 m by 8 m	STIRworld; DAC ("roughly")
Vault	145 ft by 25 ft	Somaiya Vidyavihar
Shell length	140 ft	sP+a image caption, on ArchEyes and Metalocus
Shell thickness	about 10 cm	DAC
Shell thickness	4 in	Somaiya Vidyavihar
Shell thickness	4.5 in	sP+a image caption, on STIRworld and Metalocus

The shell does not stand on beams or a ring of walls. STIRworld describes the vault as supported by concrete pedestals dug into the terrain where it meets the ground, and DAC counts five such points. Between them, the roof edge lifts clear of the ground, and those openings are glazed.

The shell is walkable. Dezeen says the roof is strong enough to walk across, Architectural Record says it is stable enough for people to walk on, and STIRworld publishes a photograph of children playing on it. No source we read publishes the shell's rise, its curvature, its load calculations or the design of the pedestals, so our section has no numbers on it. For clay vaults in another climate, see our Wall House case study, where Anupama Kundoo used catenary vaults of hollow terracotta tubes.

Maya Somaiya Library construction details: tiles, mortar and a rebar grid

A Catalan tile vault uses thin tiles in several layers rather than thick bricks. Dezeen notes that such vaults are typically built by laying the tiles lengthwise on a wooden form. At Kopargaon, the published accounts describe a different guide.

The tiles. Three layers of brick tile, all sources agree. Dezeen and the Brick Award page give each tile as 32 mm thick; the material list on ArchDaily, STIRworld and e-architect gives "20mm thick brick tile". Architectural Record says the terracotta tiles came from a factory in Gujarat; DAC says the bricks were sourced locally. We could not settle either point.

The mortar and the joints. Architectural Record says the tiles were joined with fast-setting mortar and that the joints were staggered from layer to layer. Staggering means no joint runs straight through the shell.

The guide. Architectural Record reports that a grid of rebar defined the curvature of the surface, and that once the mortar had set, the contractor removed the rebar and reused it on another project. sP+a's construction photographs, captioned "Rebar Formwork", show the grid (on STIRworld and ArchEyes).

Mock-ups. The architects' published images include study models and a mock-up vault ("Mock Up 1" on Metalocus). No source describes what was tested.

The Brick Award text sums up the method as designed with computers but made by hand. The only cost figure we found is from the architect, as reported by Architectural Record: roughly US$30 per square foot. We have not converted it.

Light, climate and services

The architects say they chose brick for its "tactility, availability as well as its utility as insulation against the strong sun" (Dezeen). The rest, as described:

• Daylight from all sides. Dezeen describes angular glazed walls set back from the edge of the overhanging roof, so they are shaded from the harshest sun. Architectural Record says the glass walls are folded like an accordion for stability, which also allowed smaller, cheaper glass spans.
• Stiff, slim window frames. The project text calls the window bays "self-structured" and "striated", for stability with economical section sizes (e-architect; ArchEyes).
• Ventilation. Architectural Record says a metal grate above each wooden window frame helps passive cooling.
• No air-conditioning. Architectural Record says the library has none, like other buildings in the area.

No source we found publishes measured indoor temperatures. The school's own newsletter (Somaiya News, 9 April 2025) says the brick blocks the sun's heat and keeps the interior comfortable, but gives no figures, so treat that as the owner's account. For how roof choices change with climate across India, see our roofing materials by climate guide.

Reception: awards, critics and the owner

• ArchDaily Building of the Year 2019, Educational Architecture category (ArchDaily, 12 March 2019).
• Beazley Designs of the Year 2019, Architecture category winner, as STIRworld reported on 23 November 2019. The Design Museum showed the project in its exhibition from 11 September 2019 to 9 February 2020, and its page describes a roof that children can walk and play on.
• Brick Award 20, winner of the "Building outside the box" category, announced at an online ceremony on 23 September 2020. Wienerberger's press release quotes the jury: "this innovative project is exactly what this prize is about".
• The Architectural Review lists it as AR Library Highly Commended, in an article titled "All in the mound" whose standfirst says the constraints of the site "paved the way for invention".

The school's April 2025 newsletter says students use the room before school, in breaks and after lessons. We found no published report of leaks, cracking or alterations, and no independent study of how the building has performed since 2018. That is an absence of evidence, not proof that there have been no problems.

What designers in India can take from it today

These are our reading, not the architects' claims.

1. Treat the leftover strip as a site, not a constraint. The library is a thin, long building on a sliver of campus, and it works because it is also a path and a play surface.
2. Thin masonry shells need a method, not just a shape. Form-finding software gives the shape; the mock-ups, the reusable rebar guide and fast-setting mortar are how the published accounts say it was actually built. If you propose a vault, plan the guide and the sequence with the builder from the start.
3. Shade the glass with the structure. Setting the folded glass walls back under the roof edge and adding a grate above each window is a low-cost way to cut glare and heat gain. No one has published measurements here, so treat it as a principle, not a proven result.
4. Credit and document the engineering. Here the engineering is the thinnest part of a widely published record. Publish the structural logic as well as the photographs.

The building is a good B.Arch thesis precedent for school and library typologies; our thesis topics by typology post lists more.

Visiting the Maya Somaiya Library

The library is part of a working school, and none of the official pages we read describes public visits, hours or tours. Study tours should contact the school first through the Shri Sharda English Medium School website, which gives its contact details and directions. Do not photograph pupils without permission.

FAQ

Who designed the Maya Somaiya Library?

Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a), Mumbai. The design team credited on the practice's page is Sameep Padora, Aparna Dhareshwar, Vami Seth Koticha, Archita Banerjee and Manasi Punde. ArchDaily credits Sameer Sawant for structural engineering, Vivek Garg for the superstructure and Unique Concrete Technologies as contractor.

Where is the Maya Somaiya Library?

At the Shri Sharda English Medium School in Kopargaon, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, a school run by Somaiya Vidyavihar.

When was the Maya Somaiya Library built?

Design ran from May 2014 to November 2015 and construction from August 2017 to May 2018, according to the project data on e-architect. Somaiya Vidyavihar says the library was inaugurated on 13 July 2018.

How was the Maya Somaiya Library roof built?

As a thin Catalan-style tile vault: three layers of brick tile with staggered joints and fast-setting mortar, laid over a rebar grid that set the curvature and was removed afterwards. The shape was found with RhinoVAULT so that the shell works in compression. Sources give its thickness as about 10 cm, 4 in or 4.5 in.

How big is the Maya Somaiya Library?

About 535 sq m (5,750 sq ft) on the architects' figures, with a central space of about 45 m by 8 m. Other sources give 5,000 or 6,000 sq ft. It holds over 22,000 books.

Planning a school, library or any building with an unusual structure? Find an architect on MOA.

Sources

• Sameep Padora & Associates: Maya Somaiya Library (project page) (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• ArchDaily: Maya Somaiya Library, Sharda School / Sameep Padora & Associates (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Architectural Record: Maya Somaiya Library by sP+a, Miriam Sitz, 7 January 2019 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Dezeen: Sameep Padora creates undulating brick roof to cover Indian school library, Alyn Griffiths, 8 October 2018 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• designboom: sP+a constructs brick vaulted library for a school in India, Philip Stevens, 19 September 2018 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Metalocus: Remembering Guastavino and Dieste. Maya Somaiya (Sharda) Library, Ana Menéndez, 27 September 2018 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• STIRworld: Maya Somaiya Library by sP+a wins Beazley Award for Architecture, 23 November 2019 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Danish Architecture Centre (DAC): Maya Somaiya Library, Sharda School (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• ArchEyes: Roof promenade: Maya Somaiya Library at Sharda School, 12 September 2020 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• e-architect: Maya Somaiya Library Sharda School, Kopergaon (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Somaiya Vidyavihar: We inaugurated Maya S. Somaiya Library at Shri Sharda English Medium School, Kopargaon (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Somaiya News: Unravelling the Architectural Marvel: The Maya Somaiya Library, 9 April 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Shri Sharda English Medium School: school website (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Design Museum: Beazley Designs of the Year 2019: Maya Somaiya Library (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• ArchDaily: Winners of the 2019 Building of the Year Awards, 12 March 2019 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Wienerberger: Brick Award 20: a tribute to high quality brick architecture, 23 September 2020 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Brick Award: Maya Somaiya Library, category winner Building outside the box (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• The Architectural Review: All in the mound: Maya Somaiya Library in Kopargaon, India (headline and standfirst only; accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Block Research Group, ETH Zurich: RhinoVAULT documentation (accessed 11 Nov 2026)