On the actual War Footing

Unmesh Jawalkar V Yr unmesh.jawalkar@gmail.com

Have we as architects ever thought, where do our services actually contribute? What is the scope of our profession? The spark for my thesis arose, watching the popular series “Veer” on Discovery network. The tales of the sacrifice and courage of the Indian National Army makes our chests swell with pride and eyes a little moist. When they are protecting our country’s borders at a temperature of -50 degree Celsius at 16000 feet above sea level at the Siachen glacier or battling the temperature of 50 degrees in the blistering heat of Rajasthan, they are not doing it for themselves but for their country and its citizens. We, as a nation, are forever indebted to their sacrifice. Understanding all of the above, have we ever thought what bare minimum could an architect bestowe upon these soldiers? Carrying this question ahead began the journey of my thesis. Fortunately, I got the opportunity to visit the Army headquarter of Leh, with an aim to understand the living conditions of our armed forces during peace or semi war periods. I was displeased to see the built environment not being very favourable to its users. The inhabiting and working conditions lacked a designer’s perspective due to which its infrastructure was highly unadaptive to its local context. The system followed certain stereotypical methods of construction (permanent or temporary) which caused discomfort to its users in terms of usability, cost, psychology and sustainibility. There is a need of an architect’s intervention to tackle the above circumstances through potential “design” and not just “technological” solutions. Considering the above factors, shifting the paradigm of the way built spaces for the army are perceived and stereotyped became the epicentre of the thesis. There was a need to initiate awareness of “importance of design” amongst the defence fraternity through a decent design proposal. Ladakh comprises of three major valleys naming Nubra, Ladakh and Zanskar. The former two already have defence bases in Nubra and Leh respectively. Currently a rail route has been approved between New Delhi and Leh. This railway line shall pass through Zanskar and has potential to form a new development zone for the army as all the required goods henceforth shall be supplied via rail. The scope shall limit around the village of Padum. Having studied the exisitng Army infrastructure in this region, following points came forth.

The entire Amry Infrastructure is under the control of Engineers. The existing structures are not climate responsive and thus are heavily dependant artificial means of maintainance which inturn adds up to the net cost and the carbon footprint. Sick building Syndrome is common amongst the users of residential quarters in this region. The users are already distant from their homes and such living conditions affect their psyche even more.

Thus through my thesis I tried to address the following questions: What is the role of an architect when it comes to designing something which is regimentalized due to its function? 2.Can architects question the stereotyping of amry architecture and present some meaningful solutions to the army? 3.Can architects set up an example to shift the paradigm of the way built spaces for the army are perceived and brought up? The entire journey of thesis made me realise that there are quite a lot platforms which are still unexplored by architects. This thesis is an attempt to explore unconventional sectors in the market which are underestimated due to its unfantasizing nature. Its a message to our fraternity to go beyond the set boundaries and serve where we actually can make a difference.