G R A D U AT E DESIGN
portfolio ANJANI TRIVEDI
CONTENTS
120
musuem of zoroastrian philosophy
hours 2016
Royal car musuem
120
hours 2015
related study program
museum of zoroastrian philosophy
“The earth beneath me, water around me, the sky above me and the fire within me.” This quote, more or less, pays it’s respects for all that which embodies the Zoroastrian religion. The project was to design a place and space which would be a homage to the dying and misunderstood religion. The ‘ultimate space’ that would come into being shouldn’t fossilize the religion further but breathe a new life into it. Udvada was chosen as an ideal location where such a museum could be designed because more than being a Parsi pilgrim spot, it is where the foundations of the religion were laid by establishing the first ever fire temple in the world, thus cementing it’s significance in Zoroastrian religious history.
Philosophy
The people of Parsa (now Iran) fled their country to flee from religious oppression. As a result, they travelled across the globe to find a suitable location which would allow them to flourish. Thus, was born a staunch religion out of scarcity. As can only be expected, the followers keenly respect the natural, life-sustaining elements; the fire being the most important. It is said that the ashes of the consecrated fire of the Iranshah Atash Behram of Udvada was brought all the way from Iran.
A popular story of the religion has it’s roots in Sanjan, Gujarat. It is the place where the Parsis had first arrived in India, along the western coast of Gujarat. The then king of Sanjan, Jadi Rana, offered a glass of milk to the Zoroastrians and told them that he would let them reside here and follow their religion only if they didn’t force the others to follow it as well. The Zoroastrians gave the glass of milk back mixed with sugar meaning that not only would they not disturb the residents but sweeten their experience.
The primary belief of the religion is “Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta” meaning “good thoughts, good words, good work”. This is perhaps the only religion in the world which shows a relevant way of life, without providing unnecessary and difficult constraints.
The site is along the coast of the Arabian Sea, in northern Udvada, which previously housed the Della Majestic or the Majestic Hotel. Even though the hotel lies in a dilapidated condition, it is a symbol of Parsi pride and heritage. It was shut down in the early 1990s.
Zoroastrian Information Center
It was once a prolific hotel known for it’s lip smacking Parsi cuisine and irreplaceable hospitality. It’s proximity to the sea and beach gave it the prime location to thrive as a hotel. The site follows the “heritage arc” including the Iranshah Atash Behram, Pandola Aadaran and the Zoroastrian Information Center.
Pandola Aadaran
Iranshah Atash Behram
Part plan of northern Udvada, with the heritage “arc”
program The thesis can be categorized into three major headings for program building: 1 People 2 Values 3 Religion
People
Since there are no major architectural references of the religion except for fire temples (which do not allow nonfollowers), these can be a guiding factor in designing a multi-purpose “space� for the followers and an insightful glimpse into the religion for the non-followers.
Rooted and peaceful; clan oriented
A homage to and the worship of life-sustaining elements especially fire
Values
E
Religion
The only religion, probably, which shows the way of life. Not by altering physical practices but by adhering to a forgotten history and a stark mind set.
1 Kitchen quarters 2 Guest rooms 3 Guest rooms 4 Guest rooms
5 Administration 6 Servant quarters 7 Servant quarters
interpretation Design concerns: Respectfully adding to the old
Ephedra
Jujube
Cypress
Translating the intangible to the tangible is perhaps the most difficult task that any architect can encounter. In this case, the religious beliefs and their entire value system was to be translated to the built, which has never been concieved before.
Paying tribute to the natural elements that the site offers; adding the fire. Placing ritual-specific flora such as the ephedra shrub, jujube and cypress trees which are symbols for “Gnan, Bhakti, Karma”. A sea-facing courtyard with a pomegranate tree in the north-west corner; a place of reflection A ‘journey’ through both the old and new; the final destination being the sea; an end place
Also, the concluding “place” has to have aspects which add to celebratory, nostalgic and religious behaviour so as to maintain the sanctity of not only the old building but also being respectful towards the town. Section showing the dug-out tunnel under the Fire Room which depicts the struggle of the Zoroastrians. The journey leads towards the fire.
NEW
OLD
Indoor exhibition spaces
The program is divided into three built zones:
Kitchen/ Dining
Exhibition spaces Outdoor exhibition spaces?
The new museum: This will sustain the Fire Room, the dug-out tunnel, the courtyard with the pomegranate tree (place of reflection facing the sea), the “Gnan, Bhakti, Karma” exhibit, administration areas and a car park
Indoor exhibition spaces
Deck (the end place)
The deck (the end place), facing the sea, along the west edge of the site
Entry to the new building established along the east edge so as to not disrupt the older building’s entrance.
Kitchen/ Dining
Car park
The old hotel: This will sustain a kitchen block (extension to existing), a dining area for 200 people, indoor exhibition spaces (for history), a rest area facing the sea and a toilet block
Exhibition spaces Indoor exhibition spaces
Outdoor exhibition spaces not suitable for the new museum since the fire is never kept uncovered and the tunnel is underground. Need to keep the northern corner open to sustain air circulation and ventilation throughout the building.
Indoor exhibition spaces and entrance foyer
Trees to be kept just as they are on the site. Deck
North corner freed to allow in north light and sea breeze.
Kitchen/ Dining
Entrance foyer connected to the main axis of the older building; physically or visually or both?
Exhibition spaces
ESTABLISH a journey!
Indoor exhibition spaces
Key connecting element between the old and the new still missing?
Entrance foyer
Courtyard for pause and reflection? Key element? Flora?
Deck
Car park
New museum connected to old hotel through main NE-SW oriented axis and brought into the entrance foyer of new building; only VISUALLY.
Kitchen/ Dining
Car park Fire Room
Semi open step down space
Exhibition spaces Outdoor exhibition space
VISUAL AXIS Entrance foyer
CONNECTING ELEMENT
A ‘chahar taq’ structure to be key connecting element between the two buildings without obstructing view or passage to pass through. Semi-open walkway from Fire Room leads to the step down “Gnan, Bhakti, Karma” exhibit.
Pomegranate courtyard Deck
“Openings” placed alongside the west edge to ‘frame the sea’ and to allow sea and land breeze into the building complex
intervention
The site, along the coast
The new museum with a raised skylight (which follows the axis of the hotel complex) and a semiopen walkway. Chimneys one the fire room and the adjacent room to allow smoke, heat, air and light
The kitchen block (in yellow) and the deck, to facilitate the new intervention.
The ‘chahar taq’ structure between the old and the new to act as connecting element
The new buildings are placed such, to facilitate and not disrupt the older building in any way. The old building maintains a visual axis with the museum and a physical axis with the ‘chahar taq’, the deck and the kitchen block.
The new building’s entrance foyer allows a direct view of the sea through the pomegranate courtyard. Both the buildings, individually, have a visual connection to the sea, before reaching the ‘end place’, the deck, which allows access directly to the
The ‘chahar taq’, allows a visual and physical connection from the new building to the old and vice versa. It’s structure is considered the most primitive design of a fire temple.
The ‘frame’ in the courtyard and the chimneys allows natural light and sea breeze to penetrate the building. The openings of the deck are kept in the axis of the old and the new to allow sea breeze to flow in.
3
4
2
1
5 Fire Room
Ground floor plan
Section AA’
The ‘chahar taq’ structure looking towards the old, from the new
2
1
First floor plan
Section BB’
The step-down space for the “Gnan, Bhakti, Karma” exhibit
Section CC’
The Fire Room
“The well-thought thought, the wellspoken word, the well-acted act; it is the sum of all these from throughout his mature life that the individual’s salvation depends upon - to the path of Paradise.”
- Middle Persian texts
preserving pyramiden
Pyramiden, named for the pyramidshaped mountain adjacent to the town, was founded by a Swedish state-owned company and bought by Soviet-Russia in 1926. The Russian state-owned mining company Trust Arktikugol was founded in 1931 and in 1939 started developing Pyramiden for future coal-mining operations. After a period of intense construction in the years that followed, commercial coal production finally came online in 1956. In the years that followed, however, a series of events would lead to the eventual closure of the mining procedures in 1998 and the following year, the entire town was evacuated. Left behind as if frozen in time was Pyramiden, a deserted town full of signs of a life, that once had been. The competition was to ‘develop’ a modern system of preservation for the ghost town, to rejuvenate it’s value. The project was done in a group of three.
Revisit. Revive. Restore. The project deals with our interpretation of experimental architectural preservation. After countless discussions on the concepts of architectural preservation, as they are today, we came to a conclusion that since all the ideas and principles of today’s preservation techniques only deal with the superficial, tangible aspects, let’s explore the other side of the argument: try to ‘touch’ the intangible and may be, find a ‘method’ to preserve Pyramiden, architecturally. What is it that we wish to preserve in Pyramiden? - History, because it has always inspired us to realize our present and also preserves the power of story-telling that the past has, a force nothing can stand up against - An ideology, as it represents the ideals of someone or something and these need to be looked after as it was once a basis of our present and yet, has a few mysteries to unravel and to be solved - Preserve the NECESSARY because nothing lasts forever. This brings us to the HOW of it all. Our approach is what we call virtual
preservation in which we try to create a lively atmosphere at Pyramiden as it might have been when it had permanent residents. We have tried to inculcate the technology of holography to create virtual humans ‘participating’ in the daily activities of Pyramiden and making the abandoned settlement ‘alive’ again, with their myriad of sounds. Because the technology is interactive, long lasting and the apparent future, it fulfills its function and we manage to keep the identity and dignity of the place intact with zero built intervention and don’t hinder the scenic views that it so magnificently offers. We would conclude by saying that, the idea of preservation is not to make something last forever but to increase the longevity of its apparent ‘shelf life’ so that we can learn from it, enjoy it and appreciate its existence all the more.
a house without function
In the present time the architectural discourse has been shifted to a purely political and programmatic agenda. The current tendency implies a hierarchical order that doesn’t consider composition and tectonics until the end of a project. The aim is to revert the normal sequence of the design process. Architectural choices will define a project based on pure spatial qualities rather than economic or programmatic needs. And this is to be showcased in a house. The house will be a place suitable for human scale. A primary space that is conceived through your own intimate, personal and critical vision of architecture. Is it then possible to imagine architecture without site and program? If so how can they complement initial spatial qualities? The project was done in a group of three.
To design any space without a function is definitely a challenge which changes according to the human’s needs of the kind of but to design a house which is suitable to human needs and environment that they may want to surround themselves with anthropometrics, even more so. and has no outer characteristics except for a mirror finish. A mobius-inspired staircase allowed movement throughout the Our idea was to design a space which allows human beings, of house, allowing movement and places for pause without any all age groups, to sit and contemplate and enjoy the space that hindrance; around a water feature which is the starting and envelopes them. To achieve this, we created a facade, firstly, ending place of the house.
royal car museum
The project brief to re-think a car garage as a vintage car museum for the royal family of Rajkot under the guidance of HRH Mandhatasinhji Jadeja and HRH Yuvrani Kadambariba Jadeja. The garage lies on the northeastern corner of the Rajkot Palace complex and holds a number of vintage cars including an award winning butter yellow Rolls Royce Phantom (which, unfortunately not allowed to touch, let alone photograph.) The idea was to create a visitable space out of the rarely used but wellmaintained premises. The queen wished for “night car museum” so as to maintain the decorum of the palace’s activity and also, allow the people of Rajkot to finally become a part of the royal complex (which only happens during royal weddings.) The project was done in a group of six.
Program
SIte
Storage area
GAR AGE
Ground for small ceremonies
Unused servant quarters
Ranjit Vilas Palace complex
Storage area
Towards the
Palace Road
hana Hathi K
Hathi Khana chowk
s Toward
Used servant quarters
palace
The garage is a slim, rectangular building with an area of 340 sq. m. It was recently renovated with a new metal roof and refurbishing the wooden structure after a devastating monsoon.
The garage
Garage for display and reception area
Landscaping for front court
Canopy (for sitting and shade) 2m wide road
The idea was, firstly, to re-design the layout of the garage to make it a suitable showcase area. For this, we kept the outer walls intact since it was in good condition (all it required was coat of paint) alongwith landscaping of the porch.The second stage was to design a canopy for sitting in the shade.
The cars
Reception and display area
Reception and display area
Reception and display area
The layouts for the showcase area with the entry directly through the reception, doubled as display area for family and royal automobiles’ history
In the second stage, a canopy was to be designed for sitting outside the museum, for chilling and snacking. We proposed a canopy out of metal which would look sleek and at the same time, would not hinder the old structure in any way; rather look like a part of it.
Landscaping options for the front porch, leading directly from the road to the reception area and musuem
related study programs II & III
The related study programs (RSP) are a part of the curriculum, conducted before the even semesters, as a basis of the design studio for that semester. RSP I focuses on the architecture of a small village, it’s users, building characters and general anthropometrics and elements. The drawings are hand-drafted. RSP II sheds some light on how small towns are built and structured around communities. For this, the Kansara community of Wadhwan was considered. The drawings are hand-drafted and inked. RSP III focuses on the institutional buildings of a small town and their history, building characters and significance in town planning are a few things that are studied and documented. The drawings are generated in CAD.
This RSP was to be a precedent for the community housing studio (Semester IV). We studied and documented the house, user patterns and building characteristics and elements such as materials used for staircases, windows, slabs, etc. This was done in a group of three.
A site in the same town was identified for the studio, to be developed into a rural mass housing site for the Kansara (“steel making�) community of Wadhwan. The idea was to draw references from the RSP study and translate them to a commumity housing model.
For this RSP, the L. E. College was studied and documented. The college was previously Nazarbagh Palace, the official residence of the then queen of Morbi. The history of the building was studied and its significance was understood against the history of the town. This was done in a group of fifteen.