DRAWING FORGOTTEN HERITAGE ARCHITECTURE
An ethnography novel of a typical traditional house and its appropriation in Indore’s old city
THE OLD CITY FORT CITY & SIX SQUARES
THE HOUSES
JAIN HOUSE SINCE 1920S
The Social Spaces
- part of domestic activities
part of economic & social activties
Mornings are full of personal domestic activies reflected on the housefront where a man brushes teeth on otla, more cows & less people on street, reading newspaper &drinking tea by the window
Evenings are full of social and economic activities on a market street. Lot more movement of people, shops are open, windows and otlas become space of recreationl activities.
MORNING WINDOW
WINDOW
EVENING
OTLA THROUGHOUT THE DAY
6:00 a.m.
7:00 a.m.
The cows arrive in the morning to eat
Women putting remaining food on the corner
Brushing teeth
Otla in the morning as a domestic space - as aprivate space
Almost around noon before shops open. Elephant ride was a common activity on a less active street.
The outside space is regularly cleaned
10:00a.m.
2:00p.m.
An
11:00 a.m.
Slowly
6:00p.m. 9:00p.m. 9:00p.m.
7:00p.m.
After shop is closed the children come out to play
Usually after dinner a kulfiwala would arrive which children enjoy eating on otla
As night approaches, the street becomes silent again, dogs are barking and rarely any human avtivity occurs
Usually at this time when otla is the most active social space
Sitting around otla with fire during winters nights after dinner was a common way of spending time
the street activates with vendinghere women vendor selling clothes
active street edge with shops open, people walking by etc.
Window
This is how the day ends...
11:00p.m.
Ethnographic Study
INTRODUCTION TO THE HOUSE
The house room size follow pattern of 2:1 where after every two large rooms of 3.18m X 3.18m is one smaller space of 2.1m X 2.18m
Ground floor First floor Dukan Jewellry shop Otla Living room Bedroom + Living room Staircase Staircase Store room Store room Baithak
3.8m 25.6m Bedroom Main Kitchen Kitchen Kitchen extension Store room Store room Rasoi ghar Chowk Bhandhar ghar
DUKAN
Jewellry shop
As soon as we enter the first room is a jewellry shop and baithak for men. It is pleasant to sit by the window gazing at the outside street activites
FRAMES
The big alcoves in the first room are used for keeping things related to shop where one alcove is dedicated to god as a small place for worship next has bahi khata (accounts registers), keys hanging, and one last is for general use. Size is 45cm X 20cm
The small alcoves on the top usually had diyas
HINGE
An intricately carved wooden knob
Pointed cinquefoil arched alcove
The frames are place on the walls at certain angle.
Calendar Clothes
Thela (bag)
Lalten (latern) are some objects hanging on khunti
Pooja ghar bahi khata
Khunti
ALLIYE
ALCOVES
BAITHAK
Living room
The second room is baithak or living room for women and used for taking afternoon naps after lunch. The use of room is not specific it was both a meeting place & resting place
Radio with its cassattes & Popular books, magazines, keys, objects related to dau to day routine like oil, toys, photoframeof diety, diyas etc.
The big alcoves store general items which are frequently accessible. Its size is 60cm X 30cm
The small cureved rectangular alcoves store items rarely used. Its size is 20cm X 30cm
An plain wooden knob Three pointed arched alcove
This is used to store clothes, shoes, peti, baksa(storage boxes)
ALCOVES ALLIYE
HINGE KHUNTI NICHED ALMIRAH Bhandariya
RASOIGHAR Kitchen
Kitchen is towards the back of the house along with a chowk as an opening for ventilation. The main kitchen was also a space of dining.
RASOIGHAR
Extension of kitchen & chowk
An extension of the Kitchen close attached to it is the chowk. Therefore the cooking which required use of chula happened here.
BHANDHAR GRAH
Store room
This is where the wood for cooking was stored along with other household storage like old items etc. There were two store rooms the first room was for household & other for kitcehen storage.
Story of urban transformation
STREET SCENARIO IN 1960S
In this illustration, one can observe the change in the streetscape of the Pipli Bazaar. The buildings of this market have retained their mixed-used typologies; however, its features such as the spatial elements and material have drastic changes due to the people’s changing lifestyle. The otla (outdoor verandah) presence was an essential feature in the housing typologies of the time. It reflected the social life of the residents since it witnessed several activities, conversation and daily rituals on the bustling street. Residents enjoyed sitting on the otla and interacting with their neighbourhood, feeding the animals, or simply observing and relaxing with a newspaper. Otla was essential to the everyday mundane activities and routines.
STREET SCENARIO IN 2020S
Today, these scenes have evolved with increasing presence of automobile and regulated traffic and parking obstructing the previously thriving activities. This reflects the changing social life of people where residential activites are replaced by commercial ones evident in the drawing below when compared with 1960s scenario. The drawing is highlighting the impact of the changing streetscapes on the lives and conduct of the people.
Victor Ciborro
Graphic novel by: Shubhangi Saxena
Guided by: Mansi Shah