Architectural Thesis Report 2018| B.arch | RVCA|Ganesh R K

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09ARC 81 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PROJECT 2018 THE HOUSE OF SILENT SCREAMS: Tracing untold and lost stories of Colonial Era

A project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE B ARCH

Presented by GANESH KATAVE 1RV14AT034

R V COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

(Affiliated to the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum)

Site CA-1, Banashankari 6th Stage, 4th Block, Near Chikagowdanapalya Village, Off Vajarahalli Main Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560062 Bangalore 560 062


THE HOUSE OF SILENT SCREAMS: Tracing untold and lost stories of Colonial Era

A project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE B ARCH

by GANESH KATAVE 1RV14AT034

R V COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

(Affiliated to the Vishvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum)

Site CA-1, Banashankari 6th Stage, 4th Block, Near Chikagowdanapalya Village, Off Vajarahalli Main Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560062 Bangalore 560 062 JANUARY- MAY 2018


R V COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

(Affiliated to the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum)

Site CA-1, Banashankari 6th Stage, 4th Block, Near Chikagowdanapalya Village, Off Vajarahalli Main Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560062 Bangalore 560 062

CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis project entitled “THE HOUSE OF SILENT SCREAMS: Tracing untold and lost stories of Colonial Era” is a bonafide work carried out by GANESH KATAVE 1RV14AT034 towards partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Architecture JANUARY TO MAY 2018.

Guides Ar. NAME: ANUP NAIK Ar. NAME: GURU PRASANNA Ar. NAME: NAGARAJ VASTAREY Ar. NAME: SMRUTHI BALVALLI Ar. NAME: U SEEMA MAIYA

EXAMINERS: Signature: Date:

INTERNAL

Dr. OM PRAKASH BAWANE Principal R V College of Architecture Bangalore

EXTERNAL 1

EXTERNAL 2


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am deeply indebted to my guide Ar .U Seema Maiya, Ar. Nagaraj Vastarey and Ar. Dev Bildikar, faculty for their invaluable guidance and constructive criticism rendered during the course of the project. I wish to express my gratitude to Dr Om Prakash Bawane, Principal, R V College of Architecture, under whose encouragement all possible facilities were provided for the successful completion of the project. I would also like to express my warm appreciation to the members of the faculty of the College namely Ar. Guru Prasanna, Ar. Smruthi Balvalli, Ar. Anup Naik and my friends Tushar, Sheejal and Divya for their kind co-operation during the course of my work. Several people have directly or indirectly contributed to the success of this project and writing of this report. It is my pleasure acknowledging the help of these people.

GANESH KATAVE 1RV14AT034

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DEDICATION

IN THE LOVING MEMORY OF DAD To mom, who believed in me My brothers for their support And Curi, Minso and Termite without whom this couldn’t have been possible.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

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2. ABSTRACT

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3. DESIGN INTENT

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4. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

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5. RESEARCH

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•Understanding The uncanny •Design parameters •What is kappiri myth? •Prevalance of myth among people •Relevance of cemetery in Biennale 6. CONTEXT AND SITE STUDY

•History of Fort Kochi •Project Context •Context Map with Transcepts •Site Plan and Sections •Site Analysis

7. PROGRAM

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•Program idea •Program Components •Area Statement •Design Concept •Archetypes and Networks

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

8. DESIGN ITERATIONS

•Design iterations and Archetype study •Design iteration A and Precedents •Design iteration B and Precedents •Design iteration C and Precedents •Design iteration D and Precedents

9. DESIGN DRAWINGS

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•Roof Plan •Plan +2500MM •Plan +5000MM •Plan + 10500MM •Plan + 13500MM •Sections •Diagrammatic Section Showing Path Taken •Elevations •Wall Section Detail •Design Visualization from Sea •Design Visualization from Beach •Aerial View of the Project •Design Model Pictures

10. CONCLUSION

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11. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Introduction

How does one excavate the sub-alterned histories of a place, which are suppressed in the historical landscape that they are lost or forgotten? How does a place get back the memory of people, no longer at home there? How do shrines of African spirits provide places of lost heritage for presenting and performing relatively marginalized histories? Such questions may suggest their own, uncanny answers: Fort Kochi , that not so long ago voided itself of the African slaves, making them alien strangers in a land they had considered “home,” will not by definition be heimlich but must be regarded as unheimlich—or, as our translation would have it, uncanny. The dilemma facing the designer of such a memorial thus becomes how to embody this sense of unheimlichkeit, or uncanniness, in a medium like architecture, which has its own long tradition of heimlichkeit, or homeliness. Moreover, can the construction of a contemporary architecture remain entirely distinct from, even oblivious to, the history it shelters? Is its spatial existence ever really independent of its contents? It is the memory of this redolent past which was formerly familiar, has overtime de-familiarized itself to be called uncanny. The uncanny evolves out of cultural practices and activities carried out in certain landscapes that have overtime been overshadowed by contemporary European heritage. How do these shrines in the landscape act as memory depositories of marginalized and lost histories of a place? The thesis uses the idea of spirit worship as an alternate source of lost memories and celebrates the silenced voices and lost heritage to create spaces that are un-homely and dis-locating.

“This uncanny is in reality is nothing new or alien, but something which is familiar and old established in the mind and which has become alienated from it only through the process of repression. The uncanny [is] something which ought to have remained hidden but has come to light.” - Freud ww

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Abstract

This thesis explores and understands the idea of architectural uncanny and questions the possibility of spatializing uncanny by using the sub-text of subalterned memories and cultures like the kappiri spirit worship in the region of Fort Kochi. It aims at manifesting these forgotten and lost memories of the colonial era that are instances of the uncanny, a triggering of the return of the repressed. This thesis looks at how certain cultural practices in the palimpsest memory-scape of Fort Kochi act as alternate sources to celebrate history. This thesis is just a preview of a bigger picture of the vast and yet to be explored linkage between African and Indian sub-continent.

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Design Intent

The project intent is to create and spatialize uncanny and comprises of series of architectural spaces acting as memory depository, archive and exhibition which are fragmented throughout the existing ruin of Dutch cemetery. Each tower is based on a specific historic event that took place during the African enslavement. The upright towers claim the sky for light and the subterrenean towers seek the depth claiming the ground. The memorial is placed above the cemetery to highten the feeling of uncanny. A series of linear tube like display zones provide opportunities to artists from different fields to celebrate these lost histories. The project seeks to create dislocating and uncanny spaces by distorting familiar forms. This is achieved by transforming pure forms to visually imbalanced structures in the landscape. The design takes something that is already established (from form, space , actitvities and notions) and defamiliarizes them to achieve what we call ‘the unhomely’. The project hence acts as a vessel, a monument and mainly as an experience for showcasing and interpreting the lost memories, as individual structures or as a journey through time. By analyzing the revitalization of Dutch cemetery in Fort Kochi, the project shows how the cemetery function as alternative archives that harbors submerged narratives of migration and cultural exchange through unique modes of museum display, both within and beyond the walls of the gallery spaces.

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Scope and Limitations

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT: •Primarily the project looks and explores at the idea of uncanny and spatializes it with help of certain parameters. •It creates unique spaces for display in the exhibitionary landscape of Fort Kochi. •The projects intends to create evocative monsters in the skyline of Fort Kochi to throw light on events that are forgotten while relooking at ancient ruins in historic landscapes as memory hoarders and depositories, to celebrate lost events and cultures. •It redefines the way we look at simple geometries (familiar) and creates disturbing spaces that are unfamiliar or are dislocating to a person. •The thesis places a fragmented spatial installation to evoke histories of redolent pasts to reactivate the abandoned Dutch cemetery. •The thesis looks at how it could be the climax of the already existing activity of biennale and places the towers that are tall markers in the entire context of Fort Kochi.

LIMITATIONS OF THE PROJECT: •The project is a subjective interpretation of a central idea and is a conceptual take on the memorial events. •It does not take into consideration any social and political concern directly that might affect the project otherwise. •The project only deals with events that are redolent and disturbing. •The project is alienated in a certain minor context and does not deal with issues at a macro level. •The user groups in the project are targeted based on age and physical ability. The memorial does not provide access to the physically challenged. •The project only looks at certain cultural practices and does not directly target the local material usage to fit into the context.

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Research • 5


Research and Understanding of Architectural Uncanny Definations Uncanny is the concept derived by Sigmund Freud of an instance that is strange yet familiar and is unsettling in all the senses. It is the return of the repressed memory, something that was frightening, leads the mind to what is known and familiar. The subject of the “uncanny” is a province that undoubtedly belongs to all that is terrible—to all that arouses dread and creeping horror; it is equally certain, too, that the word is not always used in a clearly definable sense, so that it tends to coincide with whatever excites dread....Sigmund Freud feeling of the uncanny (‘Unheimlich’) to a fundamental insecurity is brought about by a “lack of orientation”, a sense of something new, foreign, and hostile invading an old, familiar, customary world… “The better oriented in his environment a person is, the less readily will he get the impression of something uncanny in regard to the objects and events in it”… Ernst Jentsch

The Architectural Uncanny Vidler, one of the deftest and surest critics of the contemporary scene, explores aspects of architecture through notions of the uncanny as they have been developed in literature, philosophy, and psychology from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. He interprets the unsettling qualities of today’s architecture its fragmented neo-constructivist forms reminiscent of dismembered bodies. Focusing on the work of architects such as Bernard Tschumi, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman, Coop Himmelblau, John Hejduk, Elizabeth Diller, and Ricardo Scofidio, as well as theorists of the urban condition, Vidler delineates the problems and paradoxes associated with the subject of domesticity.

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Eldorado

By Edgar Allan Poe Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, (literal shadow) Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew old— This knight so bold— And o’er his heart a shadow— (shadow representing gloom and despair) Fell as he found No spot of ground That looked like Eldorado. And, as his strength Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadow— (shadow as guide or ghost entity) ‘Shadow,’ said he, ‘Where can it be— This land of Eldorado?’ ‘Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, (suggesting riches really don’t exist) Ride, boldly ride,’ The shade replied,— ‘If you seek for Eldorado!

Understanding the idea of capturing the uncanny through literature by Edgar Alan Poe By literature study of some of the most celebrated gothic poems to evoke the feeling of uncanny. Skectches done to understand the feelings evoked after reading the poems and novels. Uncanny seen in movies like Silence of the lambs, Shindlers list, Mulholand drive, North by Northwest etc.

Role Reversal

Frame within Frames

The Infinite Scene

Paintings done to try and understand the way we perceive architectural spaces. The paintings try to capture ideas like elements changing their roles and monotony in the spaces till infinity. The idea was to capture spaces that are familiarly strange. 7


Design Parameters

Sublime/ uncanny and grotesque are some innate qualities of architecture that are not necessarily built but overtime something the architecture itself offers. the subjectivity of this innate qualities are some factors this thesis

Often certain histories or memories are so deeply embedded in history that they need to be excavated to understand their real existence. These sub-alterned memories are usually hidden in the cultural Practices of a community.

This architecture thesis understands ways of representing narratives in architecture by using color, form and space as mediums to narrate a central thesis idea. These factors finally become the tools dislocate a person.

Architecture and phenomenology often create a greatest architectural impact on a person. The five senses are often intentionally introduced in a space to enhance the experience.

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What is Kappiri myth? In Malayalam ‘kappiri’ (also spelled as kaappiri) is a black one or one with an African origin , as in the title ‘Kappirikalude Naatil’ by S K Pottekkatt. The origin of the word could be ‘cafre’ from Portuguese and Arabic. In and around Cochin the common man holds this strange myth that there are legendary ‘kappiris’ sometimes called ‘kappiri muthappan’ who are good spirits that guard treasures buried in certain backyards or cellars (Mal. nilavara) of the age-old bungalows of this ancient city. These Kappiris are thought to have come from the African continent along with the Portuguese tradesmen that came to Cochin in the 16th and 17th centuries and worked as their faithful slaves. The Dutch took over Portuguese later on and held them captive in the region. Before the evacuation the Portuguese buried the treasures in safe places along with the slaves to guard the treasure and planted trees as markers to the buried treasures. Hence according to some beliefs, the kappiris habits themselves in the fort walls and old trees under which they were buried.

Kappiri shrines in and around FORT KOCHI

Kappiri shrines in FORT KOCHI 9


Prevalence of the myth among the people Though the historian’s may dispute the veracity of content of this folk belief it is interesting and informative to gauge the rootedness of it in the psyche of the land. Over the years specific places have been identified, quasi-religious practices have emerged and a variety of customs and beliefs have evolved out of Kappiri Myth. In the recently concluded art extravaganza, KochiMuziris Biennale Portuguese muralist, Ricardo Gouveia known as Rigo 23 had his installation named “Echo Armada” commemorating the myth of the Kapiris in Cochin . Many of the art critics found it most interesting due to the mythical and historic moorings of this work of art.In Mattancherry which is the old trading centre and the ancient commercial section of Cochin there are a number of curios places called ‘Kappiri Mathil’. “The legend of the ‘Kappiri’ smoking a cigar, resting on a wall (Kappiri mathil) and safeguarding the treasures hidden by their masters has been doing the rounds for almost 350 years” . K J Sohan a history enthusiast mentions in the report that there are about 20 such walls in Mattancherry. Anglo Indians in different parts of central Kerala speaks vividly of this protecting spirit called Kappiri. “In different parts of Kerala Anglo Indians of the previous generations have said to have seen ‘Kappiri Muthappan’. Kappiri Muthappan appears as a male spirit wearing coat and suit and smoking cigar and shaking chains. He appears on full moon days” . There used to be a custom of offering ‘puttu’ (steamed rice-flour preparation) and kaldo, in order to keep the Kappiri happy.

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Relevance of Cemetery as an extension of Biennale Path Kochi Muziris biennale reengages with cochins transnational past by commissioning installations that directly reflect the harbor towns complex and intertwined history. The site chosen also reflects the mnemonic and mimetic power of exhibition spaces in post colonies and how individuals and communities employ this exhibitionary landscape of Fort Kochi to narrate history, circulate cultural memories and address modern socio-political tensions through curatorial and artistic interventions. Although the town of Fort Kochi survives as an open air museum that narrates the story of colonialism, it is not a space that critically questions colonial discourses. Rather, the colonial phase is presented as an era of inter-cultural exchange. Vasco Da Gama though given credits for being the explorer of this harbor city, is not seen as person who was brutally involved in enslavement of many Africans and was held guilty for murders of many and forceful conversion of many Syrian Muslims into Catholics. The project questions the existence of Dutch cemetery as a silent observer of historic past and yet remains abandoned in the biennale path. The thesis hence tries to create a architectural intervention which can act as a climax to this path, thus giving the lost meaning back to the cemetery and the events alike. Existing biennale path ends at Dutch cemetery and leading to the Fort kochi Promenade.

current biennale venues and tourist track

desired and projected biennale venues and tourist track 11


Context and Site Study • 12


History of Fort Kochi

Fort Kochi 1505

Fort Kochi 1729

Fort Kochi 1777

Fort Kochi current figure 1. Portuguese map 2. Dutch map 3. Britain map

1 2 3 Portuguese built a wooden church and a hospital (later destroyed by Dutch) on the site beside parade ground. After Dutch took over Portuguese, they destroyed a lot of Portuguese monuments including the hospital. The Dutch also built a separate cemetery for themselves because they where protestants. They retained and restored the church as a government church later. After the Dutch dynasty fell, the Dutch cemetery was left abandoned after then. 13


Project Context

Kerala

Ernakulam Zone

Fort Kochi

Dutch cemetery

Fort kochi have been reconstituted as heritage destinations and is now exhibitionary landscapes with multiple museums, heritage homes, and archeological ruins. Furthermore, is a venues for recurring cultural performances and festivals. The urban landscapes simultaneously exhibit colonial struggles, modern aspirations, and postcolonial predicaments. It has heritage sites and museums in order to represent particular histories. The exploration of these port demonstrates the continued relevance and resonance of colonial heritage in postcolonies and exposes how knowledge of colonialism are produced and disseminated through the media of heritage and museums.

Category-II (CRZ-II) This category includes areas that have already been developed up to or close to the shoreline. For this purpose, the term ‘developed area’ is used for areas within municipal limits or in other legally designated urban areas that are already substantially built up.

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Context Map

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Site Plan

Section A-A

Section B-B 16


Site Pictures

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Site Analysis Site of intervention is sandwiched between a vast open sea and a dense urban fabric on the other side. Majority of the site is the part of the Dutch cemetery and the Fort Kochi beach promenade facing the sea.

Site is situated near the Fort Kochi beach. The part of the site includes the existing promenade facing the sea, a small park adjunct to the promenade and the Dutch cemetery which is currently inaccessible.

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Site Analysis The site faces the sea and sits on the edge of the beach. The promenade has a series of trees which are used by public as the part of promenade for morning walks. The cemetery on other hand is shaded by two wide spread trees.

The site is surrounded by activity areas like the beach promenade on one side and tourist track (Dutch cemetery road) on the other. The site is accessed by a large plaza that opens out into the beach and is a active area for eateries and parking shaded by trees.

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Program • 20


Program Idea The program is hence derived from the research done on the history of the place and also the idea of uncanny. The proposed program is hence a archive, a cenotaph and a exhibition for lost memories. The program is hence a hybrid of this three programs that govern the project. The cenotaph majorly contributes to memory of slaves.The program proposed hence targets the many issues and questions raised on the process of understanding the history of the site and also the theory of uncanny which leads to a deeper understanding of: - Site as a container of memories which are very old. - Impact of Vasco Da Gama on the harbor city of Kochi. - Uncanny and its relation to history and myth. - Historical erasures that cannot be ignored and are brought back. - Site as a opportunity to add to culture of Kochi The idea was to create spaces that are entangled and are a labyrinth of movement that dislocates a person. The entry and exit multiplicity of the program targets the many layers of experiencing the program and hence creates a permutation of spaces for one to experience. 21


Program Components The network of existing garves is overlayed with a network of labyrinthine vertical towers and bridges with different experince and impacts. this overlay of networks above a sensitive landscape is what this thesis challenges programmatically.

program majorly focuses on the use of this five archetypes to evoke memory, sublime, uncanny and those experiences often lost in the fabric of the society.

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Area Statement FUNCTION MEMORIAL COMPONENT 1. THE ARRIVAL

AREA(sqm)

2. THE FOREST OF COLUMNS 3. TOWERS OF CONTEMPLATION pyramidical towers(6 nos)

187

4. TUBES OF SILENCE enclosed bridges (8 nos)

263

TOTAL AREA

450

MUSUEM COMPONENT 1. GARDEN OF LIGHT 2. PATH OF LIBERATION

522

3. SHELL OF MEMORY

750

4. BOX OF LIGHT

370

5. THE SPINE

46

TOTAL AREA

1688

EXHIBITION COMPONENT 1. HOLLOW OF REFLECTION display gallery reception(2 nos) curators cabin(1 nos) biennale admin( 1 nos) program advisiory(1 nos) audio visual room(1 nos) conference room(1 nos) Storage space( 2 nos) debate space(1 nos) toilets(2 nos)

2272

p 2. TUNNEL OF SILENT NOISE

470

DUNGEONS OF SOLEMN inverted pyramids(14 nos) subterrenean passages

1262

TOTAL AREA

4004

SERVICE COMPONENT diesel generator electrical room transformer yard parking space( existing parking included) security room server room AHU TOTAL AREA LANDSCAPE COMPONENT sculpture garden masques open air theatre promenade TOTAL AREA TOTAL BUILT UP AREA TOTAL SITE AREA

30 15 15 20 15 10 105

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6247 ~ 6250 8094

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Design Concept The design evolves out of generating domains out of objects and relics found on site. A grid is generated by studying the location of graves which are organically placed in the landscape. The Design concept is hence overlaying of newer layers and unearthing old historic layers to create a program.

initial Design sketches

Relation of built and open spaces translated to design 24


Archetypes and Networks This thesis majorly works with the five archetypes as devices to evoke memories and nostalgia along with feeling of uncanny and sublime. The idea was to take familiar forms and notions of space making and distort them to dislocate. - Garden - Tower - Labyrinth - Bridge - Cave (sub-terrainean)

The Five Archetypes explored

initial Design sketches

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Design Iterations • 26


Design Iterations and Archetype Study

Design iteration A

Design iteration B

Design iteration C

Design iteration D

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Design Iteration A This iteration explores the idea of vertical labyrinthine network as the central idea to evoke memories. Sublime and uncanny are the parameters this iteration tries to represent using various archetypal elements mainly like a tower and sub-terranean tunnels. The design involves a series of vertical tower networks which are evocative monsters in the skyline of fort Kochi.

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Case Studies That Influenced the Iteration cannaregio, venice - peter eisenmen

Eisenmen uses Le Corbusier’s hospital in Cannaregio., in Cannergio he suddenly i confronted with the idea of a site - a real site, and in fact a very rich one: Venice. Yet, interestingly we see that even then, the approach was to invent a site, in fact an “artificial” one. He uses Le Corbusier’s un-built hospital in Venice as point of departure, and used the grid of the hospital as a generative system in his project. And finally when he draws the project he includes the hospital with the project with no notational difference.

VICTIMS, BERLIN - JOHN HEJDUK

A central recurring theme of research in Hejduk’s projects of that period is the development of the concept of “Masques“: architectural structures embodying a character, specified more by the construction of relationships with other elements than by a specific identity and representing the problematic correlation between the human being and the symbols which he’s supposed to embody.

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Design Iteration B This iteration relooks at the way the landscape of cemetery usually works and tries to create a garden of glass boxes that work as the central idea to evoke memories. The beach promenade works on three different track routes(direct, looped, puzzled) to create a public edge to the memorial.The arch at the end of axis acts a anti-symbolic archetype of the commemorative tower for Vasco-da Gama in Lisbon.

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Case Studies That Influenced the Iteration BERLIN HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL- PETER EISENMEN.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is without names, yet the strength of the design is in its mass of anonymity. The solid rectangular stones have been compared to tombstones and coffins.Visitors to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe can follow a labyrinth of pathways between the massive stone slabs.

DANTEUM- GIUSEPPE TERRAGNI.

The levels, forms, and spaces of the Danteum are Terragni’s interpretation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The sequence of spaces experienced by the visitor leads through hell, purgatory, and paradise. As the Divine Comedy includes references to numerology and geometry, the poem could be seen as a written allegory of the physical structure of the afterlife. Terragni, in his turn, took the text and designed a physical model of that written allegory, also using numerology and geometry.

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Design Iteration C This iteration looks at the simpler way of diagramming a architectural narrative using a series of pure geometries that form the design. The memorial is lifted above the graves to symbolise the events that took place and also pay homage to the African. The beach promenade has a lifted museum which happens in a tunnel space created by intersecting geometries. This object overlooks the beach and sits as a linear entity in the design. The watch tower houses exhibition spaces on lower floors and is capped by a reflective plate as a symbol to see from the beach.

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Case Studies That Influenced the Iteration

WATER TEMPLE- TADAO ANDO

Respecting the particular dogmatic and their symbols founding Ando creates a new work and syncretic: the contribution given by the West is material and technique; the eastern entrance to the oil-for-seems natural factors. The wind, light and water are not merely “mentioned” in this construction, but constitute a true “experience” in the body of the visitor. In its forms are strong Symbolism, some of them are hidden but also shows clearly, and belong to the Buddhist doctrine and the oldest Japanese philosophical tradition.

STEILNESET MEMORIAL-PETER ZUMTHOR

The result is really about two things — there is a line, which is mine, and adot, which is hers… louise’s installation is more about the burning and the aggression, and my installation is more about the life and the emotions .”Bourgeois’s last major installation, “the damned, the possessed and the beloved” contains an endless flame burning upon a steel chair that lies within a hollow concrete cone.

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Design Iteration D This iteration relooks at the idea of tower, bridge, garden and labyrinth as the base archetypes of the project. This iteration tries to combine a mixed experience of uncanny, sublime, nostalgia and also hope by using both evocative and subtle elements in two distinct zones the site provides. The towers and bridges form the basis of memorial where the feeling of uncanny and sublime are introduced to evoke memories. The sub-terranean towers are inverted cones which are ventilated after they cut open the ground for light forming a garden of truncated cones on the top.

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Case Studies That Influenced the Iteration SAN CATALDO CEMETERY- ALDO ROSSI

The ground on which Aldo’s cemetery was built was first the home of an ancient cemetery by architect Cesare Costa. The cemetery built by Aldo is an analogical route through all of these images of the “house of the dead.”Rossi believed in representation of typologies, translations of the past, which were basic theories. This translated into a his writing as well, with the quote “the question of the fragment in architecture is very important since it may be that only ruins express a fact completely... I am thinking of a unity, or a system, made solely by reassembled fragments.”

CASA DAS HISTORIAS- PAULA REGO

In keeping with the ideas defended by Aldo Rossi in his scientific autobiography - evoking timeless archetypes from urban iconography: towers, lighthouses, silos and chimneys. Adopting specific formulas for the building’s insertion in the surrounding area as well as a use of scale which can be easily contextualized in a very specific type of geography.

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Design Drawings • 36


Roof Plan

37


38

Plan + 2500MM


39

THE HOUSE OF SILENT SCREAMS -

TRACING UNTOLD AND LOST STORIES OF THE COLONIAL ERA

Plan + 5000MM

SEMESTER VIII

1RV14AT034

GANESH R KATAVE


THE HOUSE OF SILENT SCREAMS -

GANESH R KATAVE

TRACING UNTOLD AND LOST STORIES OF THE COLONIAL ERA

PLAN + 10500MM

1RV14AT034 SEMESTER VIII

Plan + 10500MM 40


THE HOUSE OF SILENT SCREAMS -

GANESH R KATAVE

TRACING UNTOLD AND LOST STORIES OF THE COLONIAL ERA

PLAN+ 13500MM

1RV14AT034 SEMESTER VIII

Plan +13500MM 41


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Section B-B

Section A-A


Section C-C

Diagrammatic Section of the Path Taken 43


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South Eastern Elevation(from Cemetery)

Western Elevation(from sea)


Wall Section Detail

45


Design Visualisation from the Sea

46


Design Visualisation from the Beach

47


Design Visualisation from Entrance

48


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Aerial view showing the project in the context


Design Model Pictures

Before

Proposed

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Regulating rhythms filling my heart with a euphoricsensation, lifting me spiritually into another levelof life. One where beauty and peace are everywhere I look, awonderful world without any evil or political correct-ness to destroy other people. Walking through it’s streets feeling safe and comfort-able, no bigots, racists or corrupt people to be found, a dream of contemplative proportions encircling my mind. Hoping to help others see beyond the walls that havebeen invisibly built by those who want everything forthemselves at the expense of everyone else in this world. RoseAnn V. Shawiak

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Conclusion

The design is a conceptual interpretation of spatializing uncanny. The thesis aims to bring back the lost memories of colonial ear and creates a memorial for one such event of kappiris as a design demonstration. The design idea majorly revolves around the use of the four parameters the project considers and hence only focuses on research of these parameters to strengthen the central thesis argument. The design hence concludes by creating a archive of lost memories in the exhibitionery landscape of Fort Kochi and only targets at events that are deeply suppressed or are overseen. The project aims to throw light on these events by using these lost stories as sub-texts to highlight the uncanny the project wishes to spatialize.

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Bibliography and Readings READINGS - Vidler - The Architectural Uncanny - SIGMUND FREUD - uncanny - CHARLES ALLEN LAWSON -British and native cochin - FIONA SCHOUTEN- Labyrinth without Walls;The Uncanny and the Gothic Modes - DAVID ELLISON- Ethics and aestheticism European modernist Literature. - Mircea Ioan Lupu1-Grotesque as aesthetic identity. - TIMOTHY MORTON -haunted architecture, dark ecology, and other objects. - Colin D. Lupiou- Labyrinths of the Uncanny(A Study of Urban Minotaurs). - Revisiting the Uncanny: a Model of Visuality for Architectural Speculation.

CASE STUDIES http://socks-studio.com/2015/11/01/a-growing-incremental-place-incrementaltime-victims-a-project-by-john-hejduk-1984/ https://www.architectural-review.com/rethink/interview-peter-eisenman/8646893. article https://www.archdaily.com/213222/steilneset-memorial-peter-zumthor-and-louise-bourgeois-photographed-by-andrew-meredith/a4544191 http://collectionsblog.aaschool.ac.uk/aa-archives-john-hejduk-victims-drawings-2/ https://www.archdaily.com/563628/the-interface-of-the-afterlife-examining-cemeteries-and-mausoleums-in-the-21st-century http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/ancient-cemetery-in-pulicat-now-decrepit/article5168437.ece https://www.archdaily.com/268507/venice-biennale-2012-the-piranesi-variations-peter-eisenman 53


Bibliography and Readings OTHER REFERANCES The Witching Hour Exhibition(https://www.e-architect.co.uk/exhibitions/the-witching-hour-exhibition) “The Architecture of Madness”: León Ferrari’s Héliographias(http://socks-studio. com/2014/01/31/the-architecture-of-madness-leon-ferraris-heliographias/) The Uncanny in Mark Z. Danielewski’s “House of Leaves” by Nele Bemong(http://www. imageandnarrative.be/inarchive/uncanny/nelebemong.htm) Types of Doubles Seen in Film(http://scalar.usc.edu/works/index-2/types-of-do blesseen-in-film?path=freuds-uncanny-double-a-theoretical-study-of-the-portrayal-ofdoubles-in-film) https://cochinmunicipalcorporation.kerala.gov.in/web/guest/development-plan http://socks-studio.com/2013/02/20/house-taken-over-by-julio-cortazar-1944-illustrated-by-juan-fresan-1969/ http://socks-studio.com/category/topics/dysfunctional-plans/ https://books.google.co.in/books?id=KW2iBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=is+labyrinth+uncanny?&source=bl&ots=wSIFD1w7Sp&sig=t8P3tYKPIYA38Wh-5VxwB9uw0Rg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSxYiY8rHXAhWBUbwKHcjXCgQQ6AEINDAC#v=onepage&q=is%20labyrinth%20uncanny%3F&f=false MAPS https://w w w.google.nl/search?q=Maps+of+C ochin+in+Portuguese+Period+%26+Dutch+Period&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiqtqnjz-bXAhVBUt8KHSHsCMoQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=656#imgrc=RW08ctfj_LVTSM: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1443370&page=3 https://www.culturalmapping.in/fortkochi/ https://www.colonialvoyage.com/portuguese-cochin/#

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