1
2
ACADEMIC WORK 3
RESEARCH THESIS:
:
THE TRADING PORT IN HISTORY Relationships between modes of
seafaring; kinds of trading methods and It’s Urban Structure.
Guided by: Prof.Neelkanth Chhaya
Trade and Architecture in a port city of the Indian Ocean Littoral. (Presented here is the summary of the research proposal) “If we take a reasonable amount of load for a man to transport on feet as 25 kg, It may be said that the same energy expended is sufficient to move roughly 250 kg on wheels on a road, 2,500 kg on water. These figures bring home forcefully the economic advantage of sea communications, once men are capable of constructing vessels adequate to transport cargo with a degree of safety and reliability. Given Such Sea going vessels, the oceans and seas unite, rather than divide, the peoples of the world. It is as profitable to think in terms of oceans as in terms of continents when we consider cultural spheres of influence.”
- Neville Chittick
FIG.1 THE ENCAMPMENT OF THE CARAVAN OF PILGRIMS FROM THE MAGHRIB, NORTH AFRICA & VIEW OF THE PORT OF SURAT, ORIENTED TO THE SOUTH AND THE SHIPS CARRYING PILGRIMS,BY ANIS AL HUJJAJ.
ABSTRACT
The Maritime profile of the Indian Ocean Littoral has emerged as an important area of historical investigation. Central to the maritime story; it has been rise and fall of the cities involved in the Trading networks of the Indian Ocean World, which have been a conduit for change and transformation, the crucible of culture and exchange. We can see here the cultural and economical role of the long distance trade in an age where the technological breakthrough of the late eighteen century had changed the structure of the Asian trading cities, its societies and state systems. The research is an attempt to demonstrate that the culture of trade profoundly shaped the underlying structure of the port city, defining the principle orientation of its urban shape, the functional modes of its built elements (as part of the larger urban system) and the social hierarchies that dominated community life. 4
FIG.2 14TH CENTURY CATALAN MAP SHOWING MANSA MUSA, KING OF TIMBUKTU, HOLDING A GOLD NUGGET WHICH HE IS OFFERING TO A MUSLIM MERCHANT WHO IS APPROACHING ON CAMEL.
FORT KOCHI & MATTANCHERRY
KINDS OF SAILING VESSELS
BOMBAY
DHOW
IMPACT ON KIND & QUANTITY OF GOODS
IMPACT ON PORT FACILITIES
ECONOMICAL & POLITICAL BACKGROUND AND NATURE OF TRADING PORT
GEOGRAPHY OF TRADE WITHIN INDIAN TERRITORY
FORM OF THE CITY : URBAN DOMAINS WITHIN THE CITY
Map of Indian Railways in 1868
Places of storage: Shop front Godowns in Mattancherry.
Evolution of major road axes.
Institutions for Administration & Law in Mattancherry
The Rise of P.&O.
A set of social and religious Institutions within urban structure. Jewish Synagogue, Jew Town, Mattancherry.
Kingdoms of trade within the Indian Ocean Network before European invasion. Kochi as a “site of trade”
SAILBOATS
STEAMSHIPS
Trade connections between Europe and Indian west coast 15th Cent.
International British Empire trade territory in 1897. Bombay as a colonial port in the Indian Ocean Littoral.
THE CHART EXPLAINING THE LOOP
The given chart helps deriving a hypothesis that, following are the generators that creates a loop within the city, and is responsible for a trading city’s unique urban form and pattern. • The Goods/Nature of commodities • The mode of sea faring/Kind of vessels • The Mercantile community/Littoral society.
THE URBAN NUCLEUS & URBAN FORM
THE URBAN NUCLEUS OF A CITY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS GROWTH AND ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE CITY. THESE URBAN DOMAINS ARE KNITTED TOGETHER AS PART OF A UNIFIED SYSTEM OF TRADE WITHIN A TRADING CITY.
Territorial routes meet inside the walls in the structuring routes of the ancient fabric and leads to a major intersection. In spontaneous systems this point coincides with the founding nucleus of the city. 5
PATTERN OF TRADE AND CHARACTER OF A TRADING CITY
Tracing the cross cultural Influences in Architecture and urbanism through Urban systems within the trading cities of East African coast, the Arabian Peninsula and Indian west coast.
The trading cities are considered as a product of trade and religion modified by the environment. Due to the mercantile interactions among the kingdoms of trade, there remained a constant exchange of traditional building styles, building construction skills and architectural motifs. The shape of the city and architectural properties of these buildings allowed for a commercial engagement that assumed cultural, geographical and linguistic multiplicity and provided guests from afar with a recognizable mode of handling trade transaction in an urban space that was once foreign.
FIG.3 THE SEA FRONT PROMENADE IN LAMU, KENYA WITH ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE FROM THE INDIA WEST COAST AND THE CENTRAL SQUARE OF LAMU WITH COMMERCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
6
INDIAN WEST COAST
EAST AFRICAN COAST
ARABIAN PENINSULA
U R B A N F O R M & O R I E N T A T I O N
MUNDRA
MANDVI, GUJARAT
LAMU
MOMBASA, KENYA
MOCHA
ADEN, YEMEN
H O U S E F O R M MERCHANT HOUSES IN MUNDRA AND MANDVI, KUTCH REGION
SWAHILI STONE HOUSE IN LAMU, KENYA BAYT AL BELAYLI, PERSPECTIVE OF PLANS A MERCHANT HOUSE IN SANA’A
I M P O R T A N T I N S T I T U T I O N S FRIDAY MOSQUE IN MANDVI, GUJARAT
MAKUTANI MOSQUE IN KILWA KISIWANI
MOSQUE OF AL SHADHILI IN MOCHA, YEMEN
7
THE CITY LEVEL READINGS AND ANALYSIS:
The cities on the Indian West Coast has been chosen based on its mode of sea communication and the city’s urban structure-as resultant of the simultaneous change in magnitude of political events and the magnitude of technology in a trading city.
THE WOODEN DHOW USED FOR THE MOVEMENT OF GOODS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN WORLD.
KINGDOMS OF TRADE WITHIN THE INDIAN OCEAN WORLD
INTERNATIONAL BRITISH EMPIRE TRADE TERRITORY IN 1897.
In order to understand the trade operations and its urban expression of these two cities,there are several criteria which need an explanation at city level. A. Location of the Port B. Form of the city C. Building typology which served the facilities for trading operations within the city.
PORT CONSTRUCTION IN CASE OF KOCHI
8
PORT ENGINEERING IN CASE OF BOMBAY.
PORT AND WAREHOUSING FACILITIES : THE WATERFRONT AS A SYMBOL
THE STEAMSHIP AS RELIABLE FASTER MODE OF SEA COMMUNICATION.
PIECEMEAL FORMATION OF PORT CONSTRUCTION OF KOCHI AND THOUGHTFUL PORT ENGINEERING IN BOMBAY.
CIVIC STRUCTURES WITHIN THE UNIFIED URBAN SYSTEM OF TRADE.
9
GINGER GODOWN, CALVETHY ROAD & RYAN GRAIN MARKET, BOMBAY
IN MATTANCHERRY THE MOVEMENT OF GOODS DEFINED THE CLOSELY PACKED BUILT FORM OF GODOWNS AND NARROW LANES.
SCALE OF ACTIVITIES REFLECTED IN PLAN ORGANIZATION OF GODOWNS A
10
AND OTHER TRADING STRUCTURES IN MATTANCHERRY & BOMBAY.
PULSES GODOWN, MATTANCHERRY & COTTON WAREHOUSE, BOMBAY
THE TRADING STRUCTURE’S REPETITION OF SIMILAR MODULE EMPHASIZING ON THE SCALE OF ACTIVITIES IN BOMBAY.
11
STUDIO 9 DESIGN THESIS THE VOILES : Boat Builder’s workshop in the estuary of Rukmavati River, Mandvi, Kutchh, IN Prof. Neelkanth Chhaya
&
Prof. Surya Kakani
&
Prof. Pratyush Shankar
Trade, whether by land or by sea represents a society’s capability of producing and marketing surplus in return for a range of commodities, which in turn assumes a range of cultural meanings. Trade is a regional economic activity of exchange and as serving a very deeply felt cultural need, which constituted a compelling agent of growth and development for the settlements along the coast, and more significantly of technology that facilitates physical movement of men and material. The design thesis is an attempt to trace the occurrence of these specialized waterfront activities in the estuary of Rukmavati River in Mandvi, Kutch region in Gujarat and hence to trace the past and recognize the linkages among the country craft of dhow building activity with other waterfront activities and the existing urban settlement. From the towns of Indus Civilization to the ports of Mughal Indian and the metropolitan cities of British Raj, there is an underlying thread of continuity that is inextricably related to the functions and potential of urban formation.
Site: The site of Mandvi at the banks of the estuary of the Rukmavati River, at the entrance to the Gulf of Kutch has been known as a Sea port town with its very old links to the long distance trade within the Indian Ocean Network. 12
The plan organization of a the proposed Institution of boat building as an extension of the existing country craft in the estuary. 13
SECTIONS THROUGH THE WORKSHOP AREA SHOWING THE INSTITUTION AS THE TRANSITIONAL SPACE BETWEEN LAND AND WATER.
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
14
THE WEST FACADE OF THE WORKSHOP
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
The program intend to make a study into the nature of Port as a significant agent of change to the urbanization, by looking at these places and the elements involved, while these places used to be vibrant trade hubs in the past. The program making an attempt to look into the nature of Littoral society and the spaces with the waterfront activities as per the landforms and recognizing a common link among all the other waterfront activities and the country craft in the estuary of Rukmavati River.
FRIDAY MOSQUE & MADRASA
DHOW BUILDING WORKSHOP AREA
DARGAH
15
THE PROCESS : AMALGAM OF THE EXISTING INSTITUTION WITH THE COMMERCE GENERATED URBAN FORM OF THE CITY.
MODEL SHOWING THE BOAT BUILDER’S SETTLEMENT
THE MOSQUE URBAN SPACE
PROPOSED EXTENSION OF THE INSTITUTION.
SECTIONS SHOWING THE RESPONSE TO THE LITTORAL SPACES AND SOCIETY.
16
BOAT BUILDING YARDS
The entire idea depicting the form of a dhow allows facilitating many activities to take place under one roof; which has been divided as per the various functions; like the School of wooden boat building, Naval architect’s lab, material testing laboratory and dormitory block for transient community like merchants, visitors and Interns those who pursue their career in marine trades. The use of the nailed timber trusses - as primary structural element allows longer spanning of the spaces and opportunity to break the harsh sun and allows diffused light penetrating through the canvas.
THE NAILED TIMBER TRUSSES & STRUCTURE OF THE WORKSPACES.
17
STUDIO 8
URBAN INSERT
THE SENSORIUM: Natural History Museum of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Prof. Nitin Raje
&
Ass. Prof. Sivith Kumar
The principle initiative of a Natural History Museum is to document and exhibit unique specimens from nature. They preserve evidence of the past, explain the present, and evoke visions of the future. It is a place that facilitates a range of discourses on nature; the place providesnovelty for the curious, pastime for the hobbyist, discovery for the scholar, sources for the researcher, and information for the curator. Similarly as per the purpose of NHM, the building program also follows the same theory of preserving the past and integrating the Old heritage with the new. The key activities included
18
thematic galleries depicting the Universe, Earth and geology, ecology and environment, Water, Evolution, Society and culture and Climate change. The museum intends to provide places where educational institutional as well as informal discussions on the thematic issues can flourish. Key issues for the Building program revolve around the adaptation of the site and environment of the Old city of Ahmedabad. The building program is expected to resolve the significant design challenges posed by the need for integration of diverse environments within the museum, such as living ecosystems, environmentally stable preservation areas, easy to occupy public spaces with the various services as may be required.
FERNANDEZ BRIDGE
THE SITE
19
T
A N
K SH A L
R
OA D
RATANPOL CLOTH MARKET
E EZ BRIDG
FERNAND
GANDHI ROAD
DANAPITH ROAD
JUMMA MASJID
AHMEDSHAH BADSHAH’ TOMB
MUGLIBIBI’S TOMB
SPICE MARKET
The Living Museum of Heritage - Old city Ahmedabad; A place as demonstration of culture and society in a particular urban context, where the mixture of religious Institutions and Bazaar gives a character to the urban context made of amalgam of two diverse background; the presence of the Hindu baniyas and the Muslim merchants has made this place sustain as a thriving trade hub. 20
SECTION
PLAN ABOVE BRIDGE LEVEL
The emphasis throughout the process had been the integration of all seven galleries of the museum with the existing urban context of old city Bazaar and the language of the building that emerged out of its dialogue with the immediate context. 21
The strong urban context of the old city with a series of layers of history and cultural heritage, restrict to take the liberty as to make obvious physical connections to the three entities scattered in the busy, mundane bazaar street. Hence there were various aspects within the urban context which were realised as a tool which could act as connectors without making its presence dominating to the most crucial landmarks in the urban landscape.
15500 LVL
11670 LVL THE STEP WELL AS WATER GALLERY
7425 LVL THE CONNECTORS ACROSS THE STREETS
2413 LVL
Âą 0.00 LVL
-3100 LVL
A dark narrow step well (Baoli), depicting the Earth and Geology and Water gallery beneath the bridge, acts as a connector between the triangle wing and the rest of the museum building program. 22 -4500 LVL
F A C
D
A A SOCIETY AND CULTURE B EARTH AND GEOLOGY C UNIVERSE D ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT E WATER F EVOLUTION
B
A
23
EXCHANGE PROGRAMME AT Hochschule f端r Technik, Stuttgart BAUCONSTRUKTION & ENTWERFEN 1 (Ip2-summer semester) Prof. Gerd Gassmann & Prof. Stefan Zimmermann(St. Design) & Prof. Benno Bauer
/ The Site In the northern part of the city of Stuttgart, there located the site; in the middle of the industries along with thermal power station, coal bunkers, gas stations, football fields and tennis courts, factories, railway bridges and waste disposal facilities on the banks of the Neckar River is a remarkable place. On the either side of Neckar, stepped terraces with small Waldeinstreuungen trollinger is grown. This slope edge lines the banks of the Neckar opposite the M端nster district. Further down the stream there is a bulge, which is used as a harbor basin and yard for the Waterways and Shipping Office of the City of Stuttgart. DER ORT
/ The Task : In this seemingly inhospitable place, like a lost island impacted by the wine-castle backdrop, however, in the biplane city is a container filled with thermal water-swimming-pool is taken into the Neckar River.It should provide for pedestrians and cyclists a smallest, but unique and unexpected pleasure. This floating pontoon, which is filled year-round with warm water 30 degrees, is available around the clock, 365 days a year, open and accessible without any restriction. The conflict field between the urban dueling describing sensitivity and brittleness of urban design serves as a generator for unconventional but structurally logical solutions to be proposed only with timber construction. DIE AUFGABE
24
GRUNDRISS EG
GRUNDRISS OG
25
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
26 PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
27
28
PROFESSIONAL WORKS STEPHANE PAUMIER ARCHITECTS, DELHI. 2009 29
INTERN AT STEPHANE PAUMIER ARCHITECTS, DELHI STEPHANE PAUMIER ARCHITECTS is a medium scale firm, located in the midst of the historical monuments of Mehrauli Archeological Park in Delhi. The firm has conceived and realized many urban scale Institutions like the Tarun Tahiliani headquarters (nominated for the AGA Khan Awards 2010), the Triburg headquarters, the O.P. Jindal Global University at Sonepat, Anokhi Haveli Museum, Amber village, Rajasthan. With a strong emphasis, the organization explores all the opportunities that come with a site and the program to ascertain a strong design concept. The organization believes that the structural solutions can not only support the building but also lend an aesthetic idiom to it.
FACULTY HOUSING
ACADEMIC BLOCK
At SPA, the learning happened through a series of projects, of which two projects are presented here. STUDENT HOUSING
The project is designed like a vast classical garden where the nature has been tamed by the rule of geometry as the metaphor for the men pacified by the rule of law. Being part of such a project It provided with an enriching on-site practical building experience. O. P. JINDAL GLOBAL LAW UNIVERSITY, SONEPAT
ACADEMIC BLOCK FACADE
30
FIG. MASTER PLAN SHOWING ACADEMIC BLOCK, FACULTY HOUSING, STUDENT DORMITORY AND OTHER AMENITIES FOR SPORTS COMPLEX.
The prominent virtue of the practice is that the structure being the most important of any project is always dealt with high sensitivity. The clarity in structural solutions always reveals the simplicity and order of thoughts on which the foundations of a project stand. ACADEMIC BLOCK
LANDSCAPE
ACCESS
FUNCTIONS AT GROUND FLOOR
FACULTY HOUSING FACADE
31
SECTION
The common ambition of the Franco- German embassy is a strong opportunity to demonstrate the theme of duality and unity in a single building. At the origin of the European Union, France and Germany are still today perceived as the “origin and engine of Europe”, its raison d’être. The DNA molecule, two parallel spirals made architecture demonstrate that harmonious relationship in which both need the other to grow, generating life around them. FRANCO GERMAN EMBASSY ,BANGLADESH
32
NORTH ELEVATION
WEST ELEVATION
One of the major consideration was to offer four quality green spaces with different character at the four corners of the plot in a reminiscence of the “char bagh” –the four parts gardens celebrated in the tradition of Mughal gardens from Iran to Bangladesh.
33
34
PERSONAL WORK 2007 - 2010 35
THEORY OF DOING The theory of doing tries to encompass all aspects of present day as well as future week crisis. It identifies the crisis to be moral one rather than economic or climatic. These are nothing but the outcomes. They are not the cause of the deplorable state we find ourselves in today’s time. The cause is rooted in man and only if we deal with this single entity one at a time do we see a cure. The idea of “doing” probes into the core. Here one need to provide a custom solution that stems from a standard structure which is applicable to any given situation.
THE MAKING OF
THE PLASTER OF PARIS MOULD MADE FOR SLURRY CASTING TECHNIQUE
36
THE MODEL OF SEHZADE MOSQUE IS MADE BY SLURRY CASTING TECHNIQUE IN WHICH CLAY SLURRY IS POURED INTO THE P.O.P. MOULD; WHEN IT DRIES TO GIVE A DESIRED THICKNESS OF THE CLAY, THE CLAY IS POURED OUT.
CLAY CLUB The implementation of the same idea and the “theory of doing” was to be realized by the people to whom it will yield results. And with the same, a group of students from the CEPT University started an initiative under the name of “Clay Club”, which till now has sheltered a various activities which are not revenue generating activities but the activities that are self sufficient and generates a cycle.
THE CLAY POT IS MADE BY PINCHING METHOD
One such system has been put into action at the CEPT University, where the unique characteristic of the “theory” is to consume sources from the waste generated by the design students during the studio hours. It is merely means to meet a moral end. While these activities are more than revenue generating; they are more about engaging one’s self, which in turn reinforcing the lessons learned of architecture and leaving behind the mundane ways of expression in design processes and creating more artistic expression out of it. Some of these initiatives involved Terra-cotta workshop by renowned artist Valsan Kolleri from Kerala IN and Bamboo workshop as one of the attempt of roofing the place by a group of five rigorous students those who kept on generating a cycle of such self sufficient activities under the roof of Clay Club; making it a vibrant place thriving with various such activities constantly. 37
BAMBOO ROOF STRUCTURE FOR CLAY CLUB
38
The study attempted understanding various aspects of the Earth architecture and spaces within the Mosque; encompassing the scale & context (as a cultural significance of it), material & structure and the construction techniques. The representation of these aspects studied, put together in a plan relief, which emphasize the scale of the mosque reflected in its tight spaces between the aisles to perform “Namaaz�.
MUD AT ITS MOST MAJESTIC The “Theory of doing” started expanding in various ways such as experimenting with material explorations; one of the experiments took place at a very early stage of academic years. This was the study of vernacular architecture of the Great Mosque of Djenné, which is an adobe building from 13th century that is considered to be one of the greatest achievements of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style.
STAGE 1 THE CLAY RELIEF WAS PREPARED TO THE SCALE
STAGE 2 THE STYROFOAM MODEL FOR LOST WAX CAST.
STAGE 3 THE BRONZE CAST OUT OF STYROFOAM PROTOTYPE USING LOST WAX CASTING TECHNIQUE
39
THANK YOU
40