MUSEUM OF CONFLICT

Studio: Strange Details

Year: Spring 2021 (Sem 6)

Faculty: Mehul Bhatt and Rajan Bhatt

Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Studio Type: Working Drawing

During the process of designing, it is quite common for the initial ideas to fade away and be unseen in the final product. The Topography of Terror, a museum for documentation of the Nazi activitites, an unbuilt project by Peter Zumthor (originally proposed in Berlin) was selected and translocated in Ahemdabad. The project was redesigned, keeping in mind the initial ideas and attributes of the architect, and considering the climate of the new allocated site. The new museum focused on the documentation of the Gujarat riots. Features like the rectilinear plan, interplay of light and shadow, transparency, and precast structure were retained. Changes were made to emphasize the monumentality, scale, and experience of the structure.

Interpretation Model

The series of columns appeared as a ‘fence’, protecting the history. The long narrow building creates a controlled perspective, giving a ‘tunnel-like’ feeling, as if going into a time capsule.

Initial Idea

Bridges were proposed between the 3 exhibition volumes to create an alternate between history and reality, where the exhibtion spaces were more secluded, and the bridges connected the viewers to the existing Hindu-Muslim communities in the outside.

Alternate between history and reality compared with the interplay of light and shadow

Sectional Axonometric Of The Bridge