KHUSHALI HAJI URBAN DESIGN
DRISHTI BOMMAI The term “Dhrishti” means`eye gaze’ and “Bommai”, is Tamil for ‘doll’. The doll is the remover of `evil eyes’, connected to a baffling array of objects, Indian rituals and superstitions.
KHUSHALI HAJI
Bachelor of Urban Design| CEPT University | Ahmedabad, India khushali.haji.bud16@cept.ac.in | khushihaji@gmail.com
WORK EXPERIENCE/VOLUNTEERING Ahmedabad, Jan 2020
STUDIOS Semester 8
Urban Policies Design Studio
Focusing on the complexity of urban transformations and the integration of policy design and urban design, dealing with the technical, economic and political feasibility of an urban project. Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Exchange Semester) `Semester 6
Designing Water Infrastructure as Civic Infrastructure
Investigating and designing for the many natures and scales of water to develop a new collective imagination around water in Ahmedabad and its hinterlands. Semester 5
Rebel Bodies Rebel Cities
Designing sensitive urban devices in contested public spaces where, people claim their own identities, aesthetics, and patterns of behaviors through ‘non-compliant’ spatial practices. (Cited as HONOURS PROJECT in University Honours Exhibition) Semester 4
Iterations
Iterative design proposals developed through careful and inclusive community participation to address social and ecological vulberability, (both which go hand in hand) that lead to more contextually appropriate design. Semester 3
Context in Urban Design
The studio focused on how the context of the site developed, evolved and most importantly, rooted the design.
Research Assistantship
Under Prof. Melissa Smith, mapping Ahmedabad’s greenbelt and TP Schemes under CEPT URP Grant.
Chennai, June - Sept 2019
Urban Design Collective (Internship)
A 6 month internship at UDC, Chennai, a collaborative platform for architects, urban designers and planners to create livable cities through participatory planning.
Mumbai, June 2017
Little Humans Leher (Child Rights NGO)
Volunteering in Little Human photo project by Leher, giving content comprising of stories of conversations with under-privileged children who live in the streets of Mumbai, for a campaign to create a space for children’s voices.
Ahmedabad, Febuary 2019
Scriptwriter of Natakbazi, CEPT Theatre Group
Writing the script of the play ‘The Rabbit Hole’, a futuristic dystopia. (Running time: 90 minutes)
WORKSHOPS/PAPERS City Observer Magazine (Feature Article), June 2020
Post Pandemic Indian Urbanism
An article on thoughts of post COVID planning, design and policy at three scales. https://issuu.com/urbandesigncollective/docs/city_observer_-_june_2020/56
Berkeley Essay Prize 2020 (2nd Prize), Jan 2020
Ahmedabad: A History of Community and Conflict
Teaming with an architect to analyze buildings of communal importance that foster intellectual life.
SOFTWARE
AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro GIS, Rhinocerous, SketchUp, Adobe After Effects, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint
https://www.berkeleyprize.org/competition/essay/2020/winning-essays
Wipro Earthian 2019 (Winning Entry), Sept 2019
How a Forgotten Canal can be a Hope for Chennai’s Flooding Crisis
A journalistic essay on how forgotten mechanisms of the city can be revived to combat climate change. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YmjgzlVPyxuTiM5ieabtQi0_30kM3kY6/view?usp=sharing
WORK ON SOCIAL MEDIA Academic Semester Portfolios https://portfolio.cept.ac.in/student/khushali-haji-ud1816 Writings https://alturbanate.wordpress.com Video Projects https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0-CjP8k5KkXH0KGQvzXcg
Alappuzha (IIT Bombay - KILA Workshop), December 2018
Canalpy: Canal Rejuvenation through Integrated Sanitation Planning
A field based study to understand the water and sanitation problems, focusing on the pollution in Alappuzha canals. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yte0XfB8A4F53wg-Jqom6E8srfaIYLKr/view?usp=sharing
Nanjing, Ahmedabad (CEPT - SEU Summer School), June 2018
Heritage Cities Development: Lessons and Experiences from China
Comparison of cities in India and China, on response to urbanization and heritage conservation.
CONTENTS
Currently pursuing a degree in Urban Design, I am fascinated by how cities, the people and networks that consists them and the environment that they are a part of, work and impact one another. I am interested in understanding how these smaller interactions lead to the larger somethings, the multiple narratives formed in the process and how story-telling and fiction writing can bring out these layers of politics, social and environmental vulnerabilities, histories and cultures.
HISTORIES OF PUBLIC SPACE
POLITICS AND POETICS OF WATER
Page 1
Page 11
Bhadra Plaza, Ahmedabad
ON THE EDGE
Memnagar Lake, Ahmedabad
Page 5
Sabarmati, Narmada and Ahmedabad
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HISTORI--CITIES HISTORI
Nanjing, Ahmedabad, Kollam
Forlanini, Milano
Page 21
Page 17
UDC
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Page 14
Page 20
Internship
Vadaj, Ahmedabad
VIDEO PROJECTS
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THE LOST NARRATIVES OF BHADRA PLAZA Proposed Plan: Iteration 2 The story of Bhadra starts with the story of Ahmedabad. As legend goes, 19 year old Ahmed Shah was hunting along the banks of the Sabarmati, where he happened upon the sight of a rabbit chasing a dog. Proclaiming the land as blessed, he decided to build his capital here, on the east banks of the river. And this is how Ahmedabad was founded. In 1411, Bhadra Darwaza, a massive fortified gate, was built to become the primary axis of the old walled city, around which the rest of Ahmedabad eventually grew. Over the years, the space between Bhadra Fort and Teen Darwaza went through various rulers, users and usage, a dynamic place of changing activity and public expression. After its redevelopment in 2016 a continuous conflict brings the plaza to reek of apathy and neglect, choked by encroachment and a lack of enforcement. The narratives of the histories, the spaces and its people have been lost or dominated by other regressive narratives. The aim of the project is to uncover these lost stories and narrate them through spatial experiences in order to activate pockets of public spaces and address issues they currently face. These stories intend to create active and engaging spaces that dignify the lost histories in a way that is responsive to their current context, using the forgotten or neglected narratives of a city that was founded, as they say, on a myth itself.
A
This has been done by choosing narratives. These have been attempted to be communicated through space in 16 different pockets around the plaza.
A
1 . Histories
A'
of
Public Space
A'
VIEWS OF EXISTING AND PROPOSED DESIGN Proposed Design for Lost Narratives
2. ANCIENT BHADRAKALI TEMPLE
5. AHMEDABAD'S OLDEST LIBRARY
Built during the Maratha Rule, it is a temple of the fierce goddess Bhadrakali that was built to represent an older temple had been told to be 800 years old, more older than the city itself. Proposal: Giving shade and a buffer of trees along edges to emulate the wilderness and connect with nature, associated with the older shrine and act as swales for stormwater runoff.
Himabhai Institute, a part of Gujarat Vidhya Sabha, is the oldest library in the entire state. The organisation it is under also published Gujarat’s first newspaper, established the first Gujarati school for girls and the first Gujarati periodical as well. Proposal: Opening up the access between the library and plaza, with softscaping and adding trees for buffer (to dignify the history).
15. MARATHAS AND THE BEAM
16. WOMEN'S RIGHT TO INHERITANCE
The Marathas before going to war, aimed 5 arrows at a beam of the Teen Darwaza, superstitiously to prophesy good or bad luck in the battle. Proposal: Creating a pause point by using the story of Maratha’s and the Beam, using the high ceiling to disorient passerbys by highlighting the beam(in relation to the Maratha superstition of anticipation), creating seating in alcoves and changing the floor material for demarcation.
Martha governor Chimnaji Raghunath inscribed farman on 10th Oct 1812 declaring equal right to women in inheritance of ancestral property. ‘Let the daughter get her due share of her father’s property. If you defy, the Hindu will have to answer Mahadev and the Mussalman to Allah.’ Proposal: Using two small stumps on the ground for viewing the farman in a sturdy posture and its Gujarati, English transalation at eye level.
3 . Histories
of
Public Space
BHADRA PLAZA Zoomed in Design Proposal
To view the entire project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hSAwlTIOUKi7YjSKM6g_qSyaARDc9J2m/view?usp=sharing
ON THE EDGE Iteration 2.5: Community Feedback
5 . On The Edge
MAPPING Initial Site Analysis
7 . On The Edge
ITERATION 3 Views of the Proposed Edge
ITERATION 1 Proposed Section
9 . On The Edge
To view the entire project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oVj0j9mBg490zgUBu8dPgoCzhHSZnOEy/view?usp=sharing
POLITICS AND POETICS OF WATER Political History of Water in Ahmedabad Understanding the political history of Ahmedbad and how water as an element was used to shape the city, as an element of ultility, a display of wealth, a means of control and more recently as a political power, across the span of a 1000 years.
11 . The Politics
and
Poetics
of
Water
POLITICS AND POETICS OF WATER Glass Timeline of Water and the City A total of 25 glass maps were made of Ahmedabad from 1000 CE to 2018 CE, to understand the relationship of the city with water through different empires, dynasties, colonization and post independence democracy.
(Group partner: Vaishnavi Akila)
POLITICS AND POETICS OF WATER Speculation: Ahmedabad2061
The speculation is set in Ahmedabad in 2061, a hundred years after the foundation of Sardar Sarovar Dam was laid by Nehru. It speculates the possible future of the city if the water crisis is further politicised and current socio-ecological concerns worsen. It follows a storyline of protagonist Kachari, a 14 year old girl sold off to a water thief of the urban lower class of the city, residing in the ruins that used to be the old city of Ahmedabad. She journeys a water crisis hit dystopia that explores the city, its people and its spaces fifty years down the line, in the wastelands of Ahmedabad, following hints she stumbled upon to discover a mysterious settlement that had a highly sought after resource: water. The illustration depicts a final scene from the story speculation. After many near miss deaths, a strings of clues lead her across the old Narmada canal to the ruins of Sardar Sarovar dam, which was destroyed in the Earthquake of 2050. As the gunmen start to surround her, she looks around at the purple river cascading slowly down through hills of wasteland and spotting cylindrical disks and vertical shafts spattered around her, eerily close to what chacha described, she is hit by a sudden question: Where did these shafts lead to? What if she was at the location of the settlement she was seeking, what if she was just on top of it?
To view the entire project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oVj0j9mBg490zgUBu8dPgoCzhHSZnOEy/view?usp=sharing
13 . The Politics
and
Poetics
of
Water
URBAN DESIGN COLLECTIVE Participatoty Models for Data Collection Ways of interaction with on site stakeholders for awareness and data collection for the Kovai Connect tacital urbanism project, a collaboration between UDC, GIZ and Coimbatore Municipal Corportaion.
A participatory street model to ask people on the streets of Coimbatore to rearrange mobile street elements of the model along the sectional street model according to their needs and wishes. This is later used to engage in a conversation with the participant about their city and its streets. Project Team: Khushali Haji (Intern), Srivardhan Ramlingam (Associate)
Making a 2-5 player participatory boardgame for Coimbatore citizens. It is themed on air pollution is taking over the city of Coimbatore. Before the city perishes within smog and polluted water bodies, you need to team up with the other players to construct NMT roads to combat with these rising environmental challenges before it’s too late. Project Team: Radhika Babu, Khushali Haji (Interns)
URBAN DESIGN COLLECTIVE BSG Water Exhibit
Public Transport Joke Posters
This project included coming up with a proposal for an installation in the Bangalore Science Gallery ‘Water’ Exhibition. The installation is designed to be a linear passage filled with water up to a depth of 20cm that visitors could wade through, with a series of informative panels elucidating the timeline of developments that have led to the present state of the Buckingham canal in Chennai.
Making content for posters that communicated inappropriate behavior while using public transport in a humorous way. Posters to be distributed around the city and local train stations and social media, emphasising inappropriate behaviour as a user of public transport.
Project Team: Shourya Dubey, Khushali Haji (Interns)
15 . Urban Design Collective (Internship)
Project Team: Khushali Haji (Intern)
URBAN DESIGN COLLECTIVE Georgetown Heritage Audio Tour As a part of Madras Week celebrations, UDC conducted a heritage tour ‘Georgetown Chronciles’. The Project included writing the lyrics of the poetry for the audio, producing and comiling it into audio tracks. After production, this map was made to guide the partcipants. The tour was also conducted by the team itself. Location: Georgetown, Chennai Tour length: 5km walk through Georgetown, Chennai Tour time: 3 hours Project Team: Khushali Haji, Shourya Dubey (Interns)
Click here to listen to Track 1: Customs House and Bentick’s Building
Click here to listen to Track 31: Armenian Church
1. PILOT PROJECT CASCINA CAVRIANA
CLUELESS 2.0
THE FORLANINI MAKEOVER
Pilot Project, Masterplan and Vision
For the pilot project, phase 1 of the action plan was chosen: Redeveloping the abandoned structure of Cascina Cavriana. This was chosen due to its proximity to both one of the first new metro stations to be built in the area as well as Cascina Sant'ambrogio from where CasciNet operates.
The pilot project, phase 1, of the action plan for a proposal in Forlanini, Milano, a peri-urban agricultural neighborhood. The test project included redeveloping the abandoned structure of Cascina (Farmstead) Cavriana. This was chosen due to its proximity to both one of the first new metro stations to be built in the area as well as nearby Cascina Sant’ambrogio from where CasciNet operates.
Innovation Agri-Space
3
Cafe, Shop, Restaurant
1. PILOT PROJECT
Library / Community Workspace
REVITALISING THE CASCINA
an
Experiment Area (Green house)
Theatre performance in front of Alcoves
Plaza for Community Activities
Cafe/ Kitchen
Small Community Clinic
With the aim to revitalise old casina to become a new cultural and community centrality, the proposal includes providing quality and inclusive spaces for community, adding new socio-economic activity and holding the events under the concept of sustainability and agriculture
en
s
Innovation Agri-Space
Cascina Cavriana
plan
Cafe, Shop, Restaurant
Plaza for Community Activities
Garden
Agriculture
osen t as e
Main Program: Sustainable AgriculturalVisitors centerCentre/ Play Area Adopting Idea Cassina Biblioteca : from Farm to Table Reception A Possible Configuration of Activities in Different Parts of the Cascina
Cascina Cavriana
Permeable Outdoor Tiles
Solar Panels Painted Graphic Walls
or nity es
CasciNet Forlanini (Sant’Ambrogio), Station CasciNet Gasometer Forlanini Train,M4 (Sant’Ambrogio), Station Train,M4
Main Program: Sustainable Agricultural center Adopting Idea Cassina Biblioteca : from Farm to Table
3
1. PILOT PROJECT
Library / Community Workspace
REVITALISING THE CASCINA
Gasometer
Community Space for Cultural Events : The Open Exhibition
Experiment Area (Green house)
Theatre performance in front of Alcoves
Cafe/ Kitchen
Small Community Clinic
With the aim to revitalise old casina to become a new cultural and community centrality, the proposal includes providing quality and inclusive spaces for community, adding new socio-economic activity and holding the events under the concept of sustainability and agriculture
nter able
Innovation Agri-Space
Active Cascina Active
Abandoned Pilot Project Cascina Abandoned
Cascina
17 . The Forlanini Makeover
Cascina
Cafe, Shop, Restaurant
Plaza for Community Activities
Garden
Agriculture
Play Area
Visitors Centre/ Reception
A Possible Configuration of Activities in Different Parts of the Cascina
Pilot Project Permeable Outdoor Tiles
Solar Panels Painted (Group partner: Napisa Nakviroj) Graphic Walls
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THE FORLANINI MAKEOVER
Economic Feasibility This is to come up with a buisness plan, proposing funding and profit generation for project costs. The funding is divided two way: 1. For initial redevelopment and construction and 2. For regular maintaince.
3. ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY
Proposing funding and profit generation for project costs
For the the initial redevelopment of the old cascina, partners funding are sought.partners MUFPP could For initial redevelopment of thefunding old cascina, arehelp with outreach and the project could be pitched to UIA for funding. sought. MUFPP could help with outreach and the project could be pitched (Eg OpenAgri got ERDF budget of € 4,996,745.52) to UIA for funding (Eg OpenAgri got ERDF budget of € 4,996,745.52)
For further regular profit generators likerenting For further regularmaintenance, maintenance, smallsmall profit generators like restaurants, out for small events,out can be restaurants, renting forproposed. small events, can be proposed.
(Group partner: Napisa Nakviroj)
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THE FORLANINI MAKEOVER
6
Political Feasability
4. POLITICAL FEASIBILITY
At different levels, organisations are listed with the role they can play in the project, that aligns with their individual ambitions. Below each level, the specific strategies proposed for the action plan that can be supported are listed.
Alignment of project to aim of actors and stakeholders At different levels, organisations are listed with the role they can play in the project, that aligns with their individual ambitions. Below each level, the specific strategies that can be supported as listed.
Bike Infrastructure
Agriculture Production
Bike Infrastructure
Ecological Rejuvenation
Ecological Rejuvenation
Agriculture Production
Actor Network
To view the entire project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PFcSY1XzJjQ0z5heuR5iaCjkvFE5G1jQ/view?usp=sharing
19 . The Forlanini Makeover
(Group partner: Napisa Nakviroj)
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE 2020 Parikshitnagar Concerns As a part of a competition, Digital Infratsructure 2020, a proposal was given of the bastee in Parikshitnagar, Vadaj, Ahmedabad of how it can be updated infrastructurally to become a model for flexible urban development to house the millions of future migrants that will come to reside in Indian cities. The illustration is a representation of concerns of the residents of the bastee, derived from conversations with them.
(Group partner: Vanshika Shah)
21 . Histori-Cities
(Groupwork as a part of summer school)
KOLLAM, KERALA Projection of Future Urban Landscape Quilon or Kollam (Pepper in Sanskrit) is a coastal city on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake, and the oldest port city in the Malabar Coast, now a district capital. Because of geographical barriers, the inscrease in population has led to a rapid inscrease in density in the core area. Ashtamundi Lake (A Ramsar Site) lying in the heart of the city as a result has seen major urban growth on its periphery and a reduction in green patches. A lot of new projects have been proposed in this growing economy, of which one is the Kollam Bypass (2018), whose impact in the surrounding wetlands can be seen in the grid analysis. The suitability map shows a possible suggestion for its future urban growth, keeping the ecology and landscape of its peripheries in mind.
KOLLAM BYPASS
To view the entire project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PkvfIuuXLLN_xzVQ8Fue-Ahm0L8AKE2E/view?usp=sharing
VIDEO PROJECTS
(Click on the image or link below to view)
COMMUNCIATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
Social Unacceptance and Peer Rejection: It’s time for the victims to take a stand
URBAN PERFORMANCE 1 Creating a Temporary Change in Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNb8cCmCjuI&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hRAohJm6Mw&t=2s
URBAN PERFORMANCE 2 Is the ‘Public’ Space being taken away from the Public?
THE WATERS OF FORGETFULLNESS
(ANIMATION)
A Journey through the Times and Spaces of CEPT that Hold Memories of Water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcWDDpAvHFs&t=4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W79cm9OmWXU&t=1s
23 . Videos
khushali.haji.bud16@cept.ac.in | +91 9429474640