Year_2- Project_2 - gallery for the city .

What a book is?

A book is a sequence of spaces, possible virtual.

Not a case of mere case words, nor bearer of words

The text in a book only comes from the dimensions of the text.

A book is a space –time sequence

Written language is a sequence of signs expanding within the space frame while reading occurs in real time.

In order to read a book the reader must understand it as a structure, identify its elements and also understand the function of it.

A book unfolds multiple possibilities and is non-generic in its nature.

Book is a space –time sequence. 

Generate Patterns

image-rotate-mirror-rotate-mirror-warmify-generate pattern

Year 2 - project 3. Housing at Bhopal.

The following texts are produced to help understand the design of my housing project in second year. The site is located at bhopal .

site image: Bhopal, nearby landmark - reliance mart

The question of housing

The question of housing goes beyond the mere question of a single house. The single house is a unit, but housing has to do with several other understandings of people the context the content and the tactility that it shall produce.

 For centuries now, every society has produced the housing it needs, naturally or ingeniously. Mykonos, jaisalmer, saana, mesa Verde-these are not habitats that outsiders had to come in and ‘design’.Rather they are the product of processes which are organic to each society,like flowers that bloom in a meadow. (Housing and urbanization, a bill of rights, Charles correa).

Bill of rights proposed by correa for housing:

Incremental Pluralism Malleability Participation Income generation Open to sky spaces Dis aggregation.

Housing or rather any building is very rooted deep to the place where it has to be built up. So for this very example of housing at Bhopal it is of extreme need that the housing works with the nature and not against the nature.

the above image shows the topiary grid and the yellow pedestrian path way. Relation of both with respect to the site.

Short analysis of Bhopal

Climate of Bhopal

 Bhopal is located in the North Western part of the state of Madhya Pradesh in the central region of India. The summer in these parts of India can be very warm with temperature reaching as high as 47.7 ‘C. In winter the temperature drops to about the minimum of 9.1 ‘C hence the winters are quite pleasant. It has a humid subtropical climate, with cool, dry winters, a hot summer and a humid monsoon season. Summers start in late March and go on till mid-June. Bhopal has a humid subtropical climate, with cool, dry winters, a hot summer and a humid monsoon season. Summers start in late March and go on till mid-June, the average temperature being around 30 °C (86 °F), with the peak of summer in May, when the highs regularly exceed 40 °C (104 °F).

Cultural of Bhopal

The city of Bhopal can boast of great historical experiences which have definitely left their impression on the art and culture of Bhopal. The city of Bhopal is a picturesque one with two artificial lakes and a masonry wall enclosing it. Old parts of the city have mix of Hindu and Muslim population is equal numbers, and good communal harmony is seen. Every year in January/February, the villages of the Manav Sangrahalaya hosts the potters’ workshops, folk music and dance, and open-air plays. A three-day Iztima-Muslim dhaarmik sammelan or Muslim religious assembly (religious congregation) used to be held in the precincts of the Taj-ul-Masjid annually. Bhopalites treat paan preparation as a science and an art, which is perfected among the streets of Bhopal, a tradition passed down generations. The paans in Bhopal are wide in variety and innovations.

Designing the system

Architecture is not seen here as the result of composition, a synthesis of formal concerns and functional constraints ,but rather as part of a complex process of transformation-relations.

-Bernard tschumi, architecture and dis-junction.

Collective individuality

The conceptualization of the role of individual house and its relation with the other tenants lead to the thinking of this idea of ‘collective individuality’- The ability of the society to live in terms of plurality i.e. both collectively as well as individually. The designed system enable the users to achieve both of this aspects and at level enables them to even dismantle it and order the design as per there requirements.  The idea of this housing is to create the effect of refusing fixity and to co-exist in plurality. The houses in particular are also planned where they could added on and are incremental in nature.

The thought herein is to design a grid system that shall be in a constant change, its meaning shall never be fixed absolute nor to an ideal. However, shall always be deffer ed  differed, rendered irresolute by the multiplicity of meanings it inscribes. To enable this grid as multi-functional at individual as well as collective level. The system shall function as heterogeneous object always transforming and subjected to elemental changes of both user as whole and as individual.

The factors that model the idea

Topiary grid

All through the site runs a green foliage grid that divides the site into squares of 16*16 meters. These squares are allocated to every individual house. There exist 4 types of houses, 6+6+10+10 .Every house is bordered by the topiary wall, giving each tenant its individual space.  There is a regular interplay of the walls with its relation to the heights. They are arranged, keeping the sun in mind. Therefore, in return they help as means of casting shadows during the peak heating hours. In addition, they are even flexible. The users have ability to dismantle their own space and adjoin their own self with neighborhoods.

Pedestrian walkway

Intermingling with the topiary grid is a meandering pedestrian walkway .This walkway supports and binds the grid with every house. This walkway can be used in multiple ways (jogging, evening walks, hello goodbyes). Besides this, the walkway also leads to a central common space for public gathering and play area.

Shared parking

In totality, there exists total of 32 individual houses.20 on the periphery of site and 12 adjoining it inside. Therefore, these 12 share their parking with the ones that are on periphery. The idea of shared parking space in due consideration with increasing neighborhood interaction.

study and process models understanding the arrangement’s of building blocks and its relation to the site.

meanwhile in life _ the edge product design contest -

meanwhile _ the edge product design competition .

Recently i had participated in a product design competition - the edge design contest, organised by the association of furniture and manufacture traders(AFMT) , India.The product design brief was really an interesting project to come across . small-concise-precise.

the following are few texts and render models as of how i approached the problem.

design brief - a large set of home based and commercial based product list was open for selection from which i choose center and side table to design .

Home section_center table and side table

Functional sculptures –
the notion is to compose both functionality and the visual quality of a designed product .the deformation of the mirror polished stainless steel helps in doing the so. The deformed polished steel adds aesthetic value as well as functional value to the product. Also the pockets so created by deformation has multiple daily usage viz, paper racks, service tray, magazine holder etc.

C E N T E R  T A B L E

The design initiates an exploration for two mirror polished stainless steel sheets which are deformed .These sheets are pivoted and are rotatory in nature .The Deformations on both the sheets add visual and functional value to the product. also every deformed angle and spaces turns out to be a new functional space viz, paper racks, service tray, magazine holder ,footrest etc.

Dimension: L62cm x B40cm x H40cm

Material   : Mirror Polished Stainless Steel

s i d e   t a b l e

The single sheet side table is pivoted in centre at the base level. The table gives a continual essence to the formed stainless steel. The   pivoting helps in the rotatory movement and ease of handle. A rubber sole at the base provides stiffness and firmness over the ground.

Dimension: L52cm x B40cm x H40cm

Material:  Mirror Polished Stainless Steel

After a week or so the winners were announced of the competition I stood first among other 80 entries from Mumbai and other colleges of Maharashtra . Also 6 people form my college managed to best among the best 20 entries . medals , trophies and cash amount  we distributed for the first three and the 20 best entries .

the event was a part of furniture expo at nehru science center and the works of winning as well as best entries were at display for a period of 3 days .

the award ceremony event took place at the nehru science center auditorium.

my entry at the display exhibit .

other entries t display .

    

    the award ceremony 

  

letters as memories

Today I saw my father clearing his rack of files, important documents and rest of the bills and other stuff. Among such objects that he was busy clearing, he held a bunch of few letters. I asked him if i could read them.he hesitated, I insisted.he gave me those letters.partly dusted,rugged stamped .filled with nostalgia and memories.

But these letter are merely more than a a nostalgia , they are a past gone by.every element of these hand-written letters dictates the intentions of the writer, his aspirations his urge to write to other person he intend.
the crumples and the incompleteness of the written format rules the over neat and well formatted informal letter.

The rugged nature of the paper for the preserved letter, implies to its value that my father holds. How often does our chat on the watsapp or rather Facebook were a medium of admiration and kept close with us.none.
but these letters still exist, a timeless nature of the medium. 

that P O L L O C K in me

The ingenious quality of people

It is not always necessary to have spaces built and add interventions in it for a proper functioning. How spontaneous is it to come to the notion that people deprived of any sort of architectural backdrop tend into the happening and making of spaces. Herein I would like to mention of a road (just a random road), this road happens to be very close to place where I live, and one  unusual part of this road which i like to focus upon is how it has a property of constant adaptability.

The quality that this particular road provides is, it functions as an after dinner walking track for many people living in the locality and while in morning, it is used by fair amount of vehicles, buses and few pedestrians at regular intervals. It is currently summer season going around and people tend to get heated at home. So an afternoon or night walk is what they prefer under such circumstances. Locality supports a garden, but it shuts up too early .So these people ingeniously just happen to walk by the corner lane of the road. All they have is a proper pavement so they are not stuck anywhere and few streetlights for safety.So this road is in a constant state of transformation be it morning or a night. It adapts to its users or the users adapt to it.

Therefore, the point to make here , it is not actually always important to have spaces built and commanded or guided by an architect or a designer. People indeed have an ingenious quality that they themselves tend into them making of spaces. I would like to ponder upon a question that  ... is it the pre notional quality of an environment that guides you through the space or the user is quiet inventive about his interactions with the surroundings?

The people walking/commuting by never wished to have a specialized track or pretty landscape around them and some benches here and there. These are the idea or idea of spaces that an architect creates .First we make an idea of space and try fitting people into it. Whereas, how interesting it would be to design systems or modules that have this quality of transformability and yet are multifunctional. cleverness come from there,  as even prominent  Charles Eames who were  famously fascinated by everyday objects like the lota and the matka(spherical water vessels) of typically Indian houses spoke of the same thing.

This aspect of locale and ingeniousness drives me to the nature of design, and takes me to a short conclusion that not always design is about form making or dealing with pre conceivable idea of space. However, it also has to deal with flexibility and a state where people themselves create space and are not guided by space.




ps: i shall soon update an image of the road for a gauge of the user density ps: i shall soon update an image of the road for a gauge of the user density