P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T H ES I S :
P R O J E CT M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
AG EN C I ES :
S TA R T I N G P O N TO O N S TIMING HUTS AUCTION HALL : FISH MARKET & RESTUARANT G R A N D S TA N D
[ PA RA ] S I T UAT I O N
R A B I N D R A S A R O B A R L A K E , KO L K ATA
M E AS UR ED I N T EN S I T Y S I TE S O F IN Q UIRY
TA L L A H TA N K LAKE MALL FISH MARKET
AU T H O R S :
CORRIE GRAHAM MICHAEL POSSO
T UTO R S :
DORIAN WISZNIEWSKI K E V I N A DA M S
RULE BOOK
RULE BOOK
DESIGN R E P O R T P R O J E CT M AY H E M :
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
CORRIE GRAHAM MICHAEL POSSO
CORRIE GRAHAM MICHAEL POSSO
DESIGN REPORT
DESIGN REPORT
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H is complemented by a
CORRIE GRAHAM MICHAEL POSSO
CORRIE GRAHAM MICHAEL POSSO
RULE BOOK
and both should be read in conjunction with the exhibition
CONTENTS T H E N A R R ATO R
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G AG G I N G G A N G A WRITTEN THESIS
C R A F T A N D C O N TO U R S
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T H E R A B I N D R A R E G AT TA S E T (S E T OF E N Z Y MAT I C TER R I TO R I ES) CR AF T I N G C ON TOUR S B E ACH TA B LE WAT E R H OUS E S RUP T UR E D E D G E S
T H E AU CT I O N H O U S E
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T H E AUCT I ON V E S S E LS T H E T I MI N G H UT CA ST OF G AG’S PACK AG E AUCT I ON H OUS E B UI LD I N GS PAC K AGE
TA L L A H A N D TA B L E
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TA LL A H - G A N G A P R OP ORTI O N S T H E H OR I ZON
EXHBITION
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
PARA-Situation [Calcutta / Kolkata] Inside Out Oceans Of Wetness
CONTENTS
Lake Mall Fish Market
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
Tallah Tank
PROJECT M AY H E M :
T H E N A R R AT O R The existing measures in Kolkata present themselves ready for tactical rupture, bubbling on the muddy, clay surface. Scale sets the pace and narrates the way in which Project Mayhem1 unfolds.
Project Mayhem is an architectural manifesto for a new biopolis on an existing lake in South Kolkata. It seeks to use existing and proposed measures, exposing and surfacing rich dichotomies. The scales in which Project Mayhem operate at are as follows:
T H E LO V I N G M E T R O P O L I TA N LANDSCAPE (TLML) Lake & City
S E T O F E N Z Y M AT I C T E R R I T O R I E S ( S E T ) Territories held within the landscape
B U I L D I N G ( B LG ) Tectonic & programmatic
B O DY ( B DY ) Table & detail These are the rules of Project Mayhem.
1. Concept adapted from Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996)
Contours and buoys of the 1:200 Auction House Water Table
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
PARA-Situation [Calcutta / Kolkata] Inside Out Oceans Of Wetness
CHAPTER 01 P R O J E C T M AY H E M : T H E N A R R AT O R
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G AG G I N G G A N G A T H E D I S CI P LI N E S I N C OLO N I A L BEN G A L | PA RTH A C H AT TER JEE 2
Anandachandra Mitra was a Bengali intellectual who Partha Chatterjee writes about in the essay “Texts Of Power: Emerging Disciplines in Colonial Bengal.” Chatterjee depicts a dream which Mitra had in which Ganga, the Hindu Goddess of the Rivers, is having a conversation with Brahma, the creator of the world. Ganga describes how she had been “bound and gagged” by the British colonials:
A Center of Empire when the gods arrived in Calcutta in 1880, they “were
Ganga turned to her waves and said, “Look, that old man
damage it would cause to the rest of Bengal. The bridge connects Calcutta to
met by a “weeping Gariga. The only available account of this visit tells us
standing there weeping is my father. Next to him are Indra, king of the
Howrah. It’s the only floating bridge of its kind. It cost them eighteen lakhs
that Gariga complained bitterly to the gods about the indignities she was being
gods, Varuna, the rain god, and Narayana himself, from whose feet I sprang
of rupees to build. It is one thousand five hundred and thirty feet long and
forced to suffer at the hands of the English, the new rulers of the country. As
to life. They all look so crestfallen. It breaks my heart to see them like this,
forty-eight feet wide. It was opened in October 1874.”
he heard this tale of woe from his long-lost daughter, Brahma, the creator
unattended. If a son of the empress of India, or if even the governor, were
of the world, was greatly distressed. Looking up, he surveyed the shore and
to come here, imagine what a scramble there would be. All the great men of
Gariga in the meantime had begun to catalogue her woes. “Father,”
realized to his utter amazement that this was not how he had created the
the city would assemble to receive him. Schoolboys would line up with flags in
she said, “no one, god, demon, or human, is as unfortunate as me. The new
world. Clearly, someone had intervened. The river was so thick with boats,
their hands. Shopkeepers would close their businesses for the day and crowd
rulers of the country are not content with having me bound in chains. They
large and small, of all descriptions that the water was hardly visible. The air
around to watch. And by now the guns would sound in the fort. But no
force me like a slave to carry their huge ships. If I say it’s too hard for me,
was heavy with the sounds of horns, sirens, and whistles emanating from the
matter! Run along quickly and wash their feet.”
they tug the boats all over me. There are carriages and men crossing that bridge at all times of day and night. I don’t have a minute’s rest. And now
vessels . There were English sailors perched on the masts of the large ships. On the opposite bank of the river, bathers had lined up like rows of ants on
The ablutions over, Gariga proceeded to tell her father about her
they’ve put up all kinds of factories on my banks: the noise and the smoke
the ghats (riverbank steps). Beyond them, in a line stretching from one end
present condition. “I have been bound and gagged,” she said. “Look over
are unbearable. I’ve never seewn rulers like these in my life. When they need
of the horizon to the other, stood the great mansions of the city, interspersed
there. See how they have put me in chains.”
land,they grab it from me. Just look how far they have filled up the land near the mint. They tax the boats,they tax the fish, they tax the corpses,they even
at points by huge chimneys belching smoke into the sky. Puzzled by this unexpected sight, Brahma said to his daughter,
Brahma turned his gaze up the river and saw the bridge. He stared
tax my waters.”
at it long and hard, and his eyes were filled with astonishment Varuna, whose “Ganga, you are the mother of the world, the greatest of rivers! Have the English made you so contented that you have forgotten even your old
annual visits during the monsoons had made him familiar with the changes in this part of the world, decided that he ought to explain.
father? Their ships float on your waters, their city adorns your bank. Does this please you so much that you cannot get away from this place even for a moment?”
“When they first put it up,” he said, “we did try to destroy it. We even sent a cyclone for the purpose. But it withdrew after a while, fearing the
2. “The Disciplines in Colonial Bengal.” In Texts of Power: Emerging Disciplines in Colonial Bengal, edited by Chatterjee Partha, 1-29. (University of Minnesota Press, 1995)
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
An illustration depicting Anandachandra Mitra’s dream, held within the Tallah Tank
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : T H E N A R R AT O R
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G AN G A’S D R E AM T H E AT R E
In the adjacent drawing and model, an appreciation of Ganga measure is portrayed through a cast of characters which reside in the Tallah Tank, a large scale overhead water tank in the North of Kolkata. A parallel knowledge and understanding of Kolkata is appreciated though Tallah. The cast of characters seek to explore the city and challenge the current Ganga measures. Therefore, Tallah presents a different appreciation of Kolkata’s water measures; it represents a colonial understanding of Kolkata’s water needs.
Ganga’s Theatre, originally drawn at 1:200
Ganga’s dreamscape model, 1:200
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : T H E N A R R AT O R
WRITTEN THESIS P RO J ECT MAYH EM : ON TH E C USP O F TA LL A H
Boat Clubs tend to convey elitist views, sub-urban mentality, notions of wealth and exclusivity. Kolkata seems to encourage urban infrastructure built upon bourgeois amenities: social clubs and other privileged spaces are linked together as series of buoys floating on a surface of now fragmented colonial class-formed territoriality. In the South of Kolkata, The Lake Mall creates a distinction between the “up”-market measure of privilege in the upstairs shopping mall and the “down”-market Ganga measures present among the fishmonger folk at street level. In the North of Kolkata, the Tallah Tank echoes and represents parallel water distribution inequalities of Kolkata more directly through its re-
Lake Mall (above the fish market) “up”-market measure of privilege
appropriation, dominance and measure of nature. These agencies negotiate edges in a dichotomy of measures.
Project Mayhem is an urban garden project that seeks to disturb current water and Ganga relations. The Rabindra Sarobar Lake presents a fecund ground for tactical rupture. A rowing track is proposed for the artificial lake. It seeks to look beyond the handicap of water through aquatectural thresholds (Ganga’s Cast of Gags), using various social measures to rupture and redistribute privileged measure. A series of kilns will re-appropriate the man-made garden ground (that was once swamp) to Democratic Huts, abiding by the precision of a rowing track. Urban Shuttering will provide a transition between Ganga measure and the conditions demanded by social measures. Ganga’s Cast of Gags will reveal a new garden biopolis to initiate a different Boat Club mentality for the benefit of all folk. Lake Mall Fish Market “down”-market Ganga measure present amongst fishmonger folk
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
1:1000 Proposed re-calibration of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake for a new Regatta paper model
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : T H E N A R R AT O R
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PROJECT M AY H E M :
CRAFT AND CONTOURS “Kolkata is clay mud, it sits in it and is made of it.”3 The Talllah Tank sits on its ground as a raft hovers over water; it is bound on a malleable surface and holds a measure of Ganga (water from the Hoogly River). The local folk use clay cups to consume chai tea, which they then dispose of as it returns to become ground. Fishmongers of Lake Mall negotiate and operate in Ganga measure. The architecture of Project
Mayhem is craft from ground, and sits in its landscape as the Tallah Tank does; on raft. This chapter explores how a 2km Olympic length rowing track is crafted from the ground, and what urban tactics in Ganag’s Cast of Gags are employed to disrupt and redistribute the existing privileged measures.
3. Kevin Adams, Calcutta/Kolkata: A Spirited Rupture (2019)
1:500 Auction House model
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
PARA-Situation [Calcutta / Kolkata] Inside Out Oceans Of Wetness
CHAPTER 02 CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
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T H E R A B I N D R A R E G AT TA R AB I N D R A S AR OB AR L A KE
The Rabindra Sarobar Lake in the South of Kolkata is an ecological hub and a centre of sports, active tourism and leisure, but only truly accessible to the privileged. It is an artificial lake composed of four fragmented water bodies, which were once swamp. All of Kolkata’s rowing clubs occupy the lake and race on a 0.8km track.
Existing site plan of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake, originally drawn at 1:2500 T L M L - L A K E - 0 1
The Auction House Site, currently occupied by the NCC Boating Club
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 13
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS The Rabindra Sarobar Lake is located in South Kolkata
A C OM M UN AL LE I S UR E G A R D EN
In order to re-calibrate and re-appropriate the existing measures, Project
Mayhem seeks to re-purpose the site with an Olympic length rowing track. The track will facilitate a greater level of competition amongst the existing rowing clubs (and any visiting teams), as well as opening the lake to the folk, through the introduction of communal clubs integrated to the timing huts (Democratic Huts) across the lake. These programmatic pieces become opportunities for a new architecture of the lake.
Proposed lake intervention, originally at 1:1000 T L M L - L A K E - 0 3
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 15
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
P R OJ E CT M AY H E M: R E -P U R POSI N G SWA M P
Through the re-purposing of the lake from leisure pond to competitive race regatta track, the lake will return to Ganga measure, as a gift to the folk. A series of kilns will be proposed along the site, strategically collecting clay and ground at specific moments throughout the lake (see TLML-LAKE-02 in the folio) to re-appropriate the ground as Democratic Huts and an Auction House.
Kiln isometric, originally drawn at 1:100
Groundworks package isometric, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - I S O - 0 4
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
Site re-calibration map, originally drawn at 1:2500 T L M L - L A K E - 0 2
Proposed site plan, originally drawn at 1:2500 T L M L - L A K E - 0 3
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
Existing Lake Site Plan, originally drawn at 1:2500 T L M L - L A K E - 0 1
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S E T ( S E T O F E N Z Y M AT I C T E R R I TO R I E S )
The Starting Pontoons
Timing Hut 500m
Timing Hut
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
The Grandstand Timing Hut 1.5km The Auction House 1km
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CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
T H E START I N G P ON TO ON S
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T L M L S E T B LG B DY 21
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
T H E START I N G P ON TO ON S
The starting point of a race is crucial; precision is key. The tectonics of the pontoon architecture reflects this requirement. The green Urban Shutters provide shade before the rowers carry their sculls to the lake edge along the raft. A lifeguard post and club is also proposed as an attachment to the existing swimming club allowing for a higher level of training and safety.
The Starting Pontoons isometric
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
The Starting Pontoons SET isometric, originally at 1:500 S E T- I S O - 0 1
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
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The Starting Pontoons isometric, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG - P O N - I S O - 0 1
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
2
1
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
3
4
1. Lifeguard training post 2. Boat house 3. Starting pontoons 4. Starting tower The Starting Pontoons SET plan, originally at 1:500 S E T- P L A N - 0 1
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
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1:20 Starting Pontoon sectional model, crafted from walnut
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 27
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
T H E AUCT I ON H OUS E
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 29
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
T H E AUCT I ON H OUS E
Competition is a trait of negociation. An Auction House along the rowing track will mirror the competition which occurs on the lake. It will be a hub for communal activitiy between the privileged and common folk. Conditioned vessels containing an Auction Hall, Gallery, Restaurant and Jewellers workshops will be wrapped by Urban Shutters and Clouds. The fishmongers will be allocated tables to sell and prepare fish for the restaurant. Democratic Huts flank the hub of activity, suggesting moments of rest and shade.
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
The Auction House SET isometric, originally at 1:500 S E T- I S O - 0 2
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
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2
3
5
4
6 1
7
1. Bridge entrance 2. Main entrance 3. Auction Halls 4. Adda Hut 5. Gallery 6. Restaurant & Fish Market 7. Club House 8. 1km Timing Hut The Auction House SET Plan, originally drawn at 1:500 S E T- P L A N - 0 2
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T L M L S E T B LG B DY
8
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CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
The Auction House SET North Elevation, originally drawn at 1:500 S E T- E L E - 0 1
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T L M L S E T B LG B DY 35
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
1:500 Auction House SET model, crafted from walnut
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 37
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
T H E G R A N DSTAN D
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 39
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
T H E G R A N DSTAN D
The Granstand be used on regatta race days to seat memebers of clubhouses on the lake, not just the privilaged few.
1
2
3
4
1. Finishing Tower 2. Main Stand 3. Trophy Room 4. Entrance Hall The Grandstand ground floor plan, originally drawn at 1:100 B LG - G R A N D - P L A N - 0 1
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
The Grandstand SET isometric, originally at 1:500 S E T- I S O - 0 3
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
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C R A F T I N G C O N TO U R S
Through a process of drawing and model making, Project Mayhem implements cuts and contours into the landscape. To craft the walnut table is to create a platform that is durable but yet porous. A surface that can withstand a climate whether that be through the craft of excavation and carving or passage of ‘working’ wear and tare. The walnut table becomes a microcosm of the dimension for a Democratic territory within the Lake Mall Fish Market tables and the wealth associated with such a surface. The walnut becomes a ‘top’ or rigid skin that in the making of the surface is a combination of joining pieces in a process unnatural to its original form. Linking to the fired earth that forms our clay building elements.
Contouring the water table
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
This drawing tested ways in which to draw the ground condition of the Auction House
Ground conditions plan of the Auction House, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - P L A N - LG
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
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Testing how the Auction House Building sits in it’s landscape, originally drawn at 1:200
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 45
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
Testing the architectural edges of the Auction House through sections, originally drawn at 1:100
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
Testing the programmatic and social tensions between fishmongers and auctioneers, originally drawn at 1:100
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
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B E AC H TA B L E
G R E E N G R OY N E S
The Beach Table tests the initial principles of scale of Project Mayhem. Like the Tallah Tank, the task was to anchor oneself in a malleable and wet landscape through the design of a desk in Portobello Beach, Edinburgh. The desk was designed at a body scale, but was part of a much wider landscape, that of a temporal nature. Project Mayhem also exists in the temporal nature of its climate and social environment in Kolkata, that of monsoon & drought, privilege and slum, Ganga and Tallah.
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
Drawing of the beach table, locating itself within the cosmos
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
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B E ACH CAST I N G S
To explore ways of drawing edges and boundaries in a wet landscape, castings were made of the beach table. These castings replicated a claylike crafted from the every imprint and relief moment, evoking a paper architecture to emerge. During a visiting critique by Anarudha Mathur and Dilip da Cunha4, mud-tasting was discussed. The tongue is the most sensitive part of the body therefore it is used to determine how fine mud samples are. The Casting Desk (adjacent page) tested conditions of ground with this discussion in mind.
4. Visiting critics to MSc AUD 2017-2018 and MArch 2017-2019
Sand castings of the beach table using foundry and beach sand
Negative of Beach Casting Table
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 51
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS Beach Casting Desk, Auction House 1:500
WAT E R H O U S E S
Tectonic drawings of the emerging paper architecture, originally drawn at 1:50
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
Water House paper model, which emerged from a wax relief cast of the beach desk
Close up of the Auction House in the re-calibration of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake paper model, scale 1:1000
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
Water House, plan originally drawn at 1:100
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1:1000 Proposed re-calibration of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake for a new Regatta paper model, view from the Starting Pontoons
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 55
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
Water House section, originally drawn at 1:100
Water House paper model
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T L M L S E T B LG B DY 57
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS Auction House section II paper model, scale 1:200
RUPTURED EDGES RUP T UR I N G WAT E R B OD I ES
The haptic nature and delicacy of the paper models that emerged was applied to a TLML scale drawing. It is a speculation of how the city is on the cusp of controlled rupture, where a dichotomy of measures, such as those that exist in the Lake Mall, are constantly on the verge of chaotic equilibrium. This tension also exists in the interior tank walls of the Tallah Tank which are held by tension rods. When the tank is empty, these rods are slack.
A TLML map of rupture existing in the water measures in Kolkata, originally drawn at 1:20000
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY 59
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
CR A F T I N G T H E LI M I N AL ED GE
In the same manner that the paper sections so far have investigated building at the water’s edge, the recalibration map tests these studies at a SET and TLML scale. It proposed a blurring of what is horizontal through the aesthetic and materiality of the paper. The model looks to relieve the necessity to discuss pure form but allows a subtler carving of land and mass to appear.
1:1000 Proposed re-calibration of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake for a new Regatta, paper model
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T L M L S E T B LG B DY 61
CRAFTING AND CONTOURS
PROJECT M AY H E M :
THE AUCTION HOUSE A Cast of Gags set the aquatectural thresholds of the site. Through an appreciation of Ganga and pure measure, Project Mayhem will disturb the current edges and boundaries of building, ground and water along the site. The Auction House is composed of a series of Gags: Clouds, Urban Shutters, Democratic Huts, Deck and Kilns. This chapter explores the tectonic and building properties of these characters.
Timing hut model, 1:50
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P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
PARA-Situation [Calcutta / Kolkata] Inside Out Oceans Of Wetness
CHAPTER 04 P R O J E C T M AY H E M : T H E A U C T O N H O U S E
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T H E AU CT I O N V E S S E L S
A series of vessels dock on the Rabindra Sarobar Lake. They contain moments of privilege and condition relating to their programmatic values. For example, Auction Halls and Galleries need to be conditioned as their will house high value items. However, the ground the vessels dock on respond to Ganga measure, that of the Sundarban jungle.
6
5 2 3 4
1. Fish Market 2. Fish Market Restaurant 3. Jewellers workshop 4. Gallery 5. Auction Hall 6. Adda Terrace
1
Vessel exploded isometric, originally drawn at 1:200 64
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
2
3
2
5
Auction House ground floor plan, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - P L A N - G
Auction House ground floor plan, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - P L A N - 0 1
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : T H E A U C T O N H O U S E
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
1
65
Auction House first floor plan, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - P L A N - 0 1
Auction House roof plan, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - P L A N - 0 3 66
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : O N T H E C U S P O F TA L L A H
T L M L S E T B LG B DY
Auction House Water Table Model, 1:200
P R O J E C T M AY H E M : T H E A U C T O N H O U S E
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T H E F I S H MA R K E T, R E STAUR A N T A N D JEWELLER S WO R KSH O P
Programmatic tensions are proposed to expose the edges of privilege and down-market bazar; fishmongers work below jewellers workshops and profit from the restaurant.
Fish market detailed section, originally drawn at 1:50 B DY-A U C - 0 1
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Auction House section CC, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - S E C - C C
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Auction House Water Table model, 1:200
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Fish Market & Jewellers Workshop dichotomy render
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Auction House Water Table close-up, 1:200
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Auction House section HH originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - S E C - H H
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Auction House Paper model section II, 1:200
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Acoustic insulation will be added to the floor of the Auction Hall
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Auction Hall detailed section, originally drawn at 1:50 B DY-A U C - 0 2
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T H E G AL L E RY
The Gallery will be one of the coolest places in the Auction House as it is protected entirely by two layers of roof; one for the monsoon rain and one to maintain condition. It has an angled shuttered facade overlooking the open auction space.
Gallery detailed section, originally drawn at 1:50 B DY-A U C - 0 4
Gallery facade detail, originally drawn at 1:20
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Gallery detailed elevation, originally drawn at 1:50 B DY-A U C - 0 6
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Auction House section HH originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - S E C - H H
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Auction House section EE, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - S E C - E E
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THE TIMING HUT T H E D E MO CR AT I C H UT
The opportunity for an architecture is taken advantage of through the re-appropriation of a tradition timing hut. The Democratic Hut provides moments of rest in an unforgiving, humid climate. It also suggests moments of verticality an otherwise flat landscape. Therefore, these huts are part of the landscape when read at a larger scale (SET or TLML).
Timing hut model, scale 1:50
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Timing hut model through the reflection of the water datum mirror , scale 1:50
Timing hut wormseye isometric, originally drawn at scale 1:50 B DY- H U T- 0 1
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Early sketches testing the democratic hut
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Timing hut model, 1:200
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Timing hut ground floor plan, originally drawn at 1:100 B LG - H U T- P L A N - G
Timing hut lower ground floor plan, originally drawn at 1:100 B LG - H U T- P L A N - LG
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Timing North elevation, originally drawn at 1:50 B DY- H U T- 0 3
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Timing North-South section, originally drawn at 1:50 B DY- H U T- 0 2
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1. Special brick fired on site (white glaze finish) 2. Angle bracket 3. Metal mesh 4. Rosewood timber frame treated on site in kilns 5. 100x100 curved square steel section Democratic hut facade detail, originally drawn at 1:5 B DY- D E T- 0 8
1. Hut steel frame 2. Metal roof 3. Roof structure 4. Hit & miss brickwork wrapped inside primary structure 5. Deck 6. Brick walls 7. Kiln Democratic exploded isometric, originally drawn at 1:50 B DY- I S O - 0 4
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CA ST O F G AG’ S PAC K AG E
Kilns
Urban Shutter
Auction vessel
Deck
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Secondary Roof
Democratic Hut
Cloud
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G AN G A’S K I T OF PARTS
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T H E CLOUD
The Cloud is the first layer which rain comes into contact with. It protects the vessels and folk from strong rainfall but not from the obvious wetness.
Details of the cloud, originally drawn at 1:10/1:20 B DY- D E T- 0 1 / 0 2
Special column-gutter intersection detail, originally drawn at 1:20
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The cloud structural components isometric, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - I S O - 0 4
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T H E UR B AN S H UT T E R
The green shutters idiosyncratic to Kolkata are proposed as a character in the Cast of Gags. The Urban Shutter provides shade across the site, whist allowing natural cross-ventilation to circulate across the site. It also plays a programmatic in allowing the two worlds of “up”-market and “down”-market to communicate visually.
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Urban Shutter type 1 detail isometric B DY- D E T- 0 5
Urban Shutter type 2 detail isometric B DY- D E T- 0 6
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AU CT I O N H O U S E B U I L D I N G S PAC K AG E
Goundworks
Primary structure
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P R I M A RY ST RUCT UR E
As Project Mayhem operates on a soft ground of clay, the Auction House will be held on a collection stilts. Rosewood columns will sit on concrete pile footings to support raft. To match the precision of the rowing track, various methods of supporting cloud were tested.
Column based on the biscuit used in the rowing boat making, originally drawn at 1:50
Column 1:50 sketch model
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Primary structure isometric, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - I S O - 0 4
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S E C ON DA RY ST RUCT UR E
The secondary structure supports democratic facade huts and primary roofs.
1:20 column and roof model studies exploring a precise architecture for an imprecise environment
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Secondary structure isometric, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - I S O - 0 4
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A Water House
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Rendered isometric, originally drawn at 1:200 B LG -A U C - I S O - 0 1
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PROJECT M AY H E M :
TA L L A H A N D TA B L E “Our bodies are borne of the cosmos and are compelled to navigate every cosmopolitical scale.”5 The fishonger folk of Lake Mall Market navigate their daily routine through the measure of their table and equipment, which are very much of the body scale relation. They are situated under a Westernised-style, conditioned shopping mall, forcing them to the play the part of the urban and social gutter. However, they are part of a cosmopolitcal scale, that which stretches to the Himalayas. The ice used to keep the fish fresh once began as glaciers in the Himalayas. Project Mayhem is seeks to disrupt the measures used to turn the swamp of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake, which attaches itself to the changing landscape of the Sundarbans, to bourgeouis leisure garden. The same conditioned measure which now sits above the slab of the Lake Mall Fish Market. Water passed through the Tallah Tank is filtered at the Palta Water Works, North of Kolkata. This water is collected from the Hoogly,
Lake Mall Fish Market:
which descends from the Himalayas. In a flat landscape, there can be
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moments of verticality; Himalayas moments. The fishmongers table and Tallah measure are part of the same cosmopolitics, the same politics Project Mayhem seeks to rupture. This chapter explains the measures which Project Mayhem operates in; between Table and Tallah.
5. Dorian Wiszniewski, Much “Adda” about everything (2019)
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PARA-Situation [Calcutta / Kolkata] Inside Out Oceans Of Wetness
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TA L L A H - G A N G A P R O P O R T I O N S
A redistribution map of the water measures in Kolkata, originally drawn at 1:40000
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Ganga measure; fish markets and bazaars
Colonial residue; leisure clubs
A new edge biopolis
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Tallah Tank supply zone
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V E RT I CALI T Y AN D H OR I ZO N TA LI T Y
A map of India showing the route of glacier water from Gaumukh in the Himalayas to the Hoogly in West Bengal
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Mapping the Sundarbans from 1786-1967
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GANGA MEASURE
Lake Mall Fish Market, Fishmongers table daily cycle, originally drawn at 1:20
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The Water Table and accompanying attachments, scale 1:200 and 1:1
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Lake Mall Fish Market, the fishmongers table
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Lake Mall Fish Market, the fishmongers’ accounting table
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Lake Mall Fish Market, the fishmongers’ measure
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Lake Mall Fish Market, the fishmongers’ deities
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Lake Mall Fish Market section, originally drawn at 1:20
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The Water Table portfolio hanging system
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THE HORIZON
Kolkata as a city and region is incredibly flat resulting in a deeply rich and saturated soil layer. Kolkata sits on the banks of the Hoogly river which is directly sourced from the Himalayas. As the verticality of the Himalayas meets the horizontal nature of Kolkata’s topography we find a deep meniscus of saturated soil and flooded plain forming. The horizon becomes a blurred edge as you look towards the ‘horizon’ in search of an end however as the liquid surface mirrors the sky above a parallel edge forms and ‘mirrors’ the waters edge. Forming a seemingly never ending distance of water.
Project Mayhem seeks to utilise this continuous play with waters edge, horizontal and measure by introducing minor disturbances in the horizon as the ground gets fired and placed vertically above the datum of such wet horizon.
Proposed Rabindra Regatta North Elevation, originally drawn at 1:1000 T L M L - L A K E - 0 4
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EXHBITION
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S I T UAT I N G P R OJ E CT MAY H EM WI TH I N TH E M AT TH EW G A LLERY
The exhibition looks to curate a sense of horizon amongst the situated projects within the Matthew gallery. Each territory marks its own unique area. For example, our projects look at projecting the pure measure within the space as the rowing track at 1:200, which extends to the far wall with a small gesture of walnut fixed in line with the table. The distance from edge of table to caught wall is a pure measure of 5 meters which, by the addition of a mirrored screen that hangs upon the water table can fold to attention and reflect the parallel 5 meters allowing for anyone viewing through the screen to see the ‘full’ rowing track at the intended 1:200 scale of the main auction house model. Following the direction of true north being the left hand side of the room (as you enter) we took this opportunity to extend both short and long paper sectional models as we felt that whilst the long section expresses the building in relation to ground and the surrounding context the short section drew the topography of the rowing track into the model. Like the walnut fixing it too acts as a visual reference back from table to wall space. The second positioning of upon the table is how you receive the building to body scale as the location places you facing the curatorial south, although this position allows for the building scale to take dominance as you have the building and body drawings hung bellow you also face the 1:50 scale model.
Water Table Image 02
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EXHBITION
B I B LI O G R A P H Y Adams, Kevin. Calcutta/Kolkata: A Spirited Rupture (2019) Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996) Partha, Chatterjee. “The Disciplines in Colonial Bengal.” In Texts of Power: Emerging Disciplines in Colonial Bengal, edited by Chatterjee Partha, 1-29. (University of Minnesota Press, 1995) Wiszniewski, Dorian. Much “Adda” about everything (2019)