Re-Imagining the India-Pakistan Border
Binaries… Some exist in nature, while others created by humans. Some bring neutrality, while others generate entropy. Some make the experience vibrant and rich, while others lead to chaos. Some are meant to be, while others just need not be. There is one such binary we often overlook; a binary within humanity; a binary created by humans to create division for most but also power and profits for a few. The binary of Human v/s Human Or US v/s THEM This thesis, ‘Re-Imagining the India-Pakistan Border’ deals with one such binary created decades ago by the advent of history and conflict, leading to the division of the once united Indian Subcontinent; a binary created by one line drawn on a piece of paper. For decades, this divide shifted the discourse of architecture from a sociocommunal domain to that of ugly, hostile borders with haunted stretches of no man’s land. However, very slowly, the paradigm has been shifting; through momentary flickers of light in the darkness of pain. This gives rise to a new hope of using architecture as a tangible medium to write a chapter of peace in the history of mankind. This project is a bold yet sensitive attempt to blur boundaries and diffuse the binary; to identify, highlight and weave a web of relationships and interdependencies, including tangible aspects like arts, resources, trade, infrastructure, development and intangible aspects like shared history, food, memories and nostalgia to heal and connect. Through this project, the architect and the architecture take up the role of a mediator, bridging the divide by carefully tackling various complexities like geopolitics, bio-physics, socio-cultural aspects, economic and power dynamics to realise a common ground within the No Man’s Land, celebrating relationships, interdependencies and more importantly… Humanity!
Riyesh Patil | Thesis - May 2021
Q1. Why do we Desire for Walls?
Permeable Borders
Visible walls respond to people’s and nation’s desire for Containment and Boundaries in too Global a world, too unhorizoned a universe.
Blurred boundaries Exchange of Dialogue, Culture, Tradition and Trade Promotes Love and Brotherhood Netherlands-Germany-Belgium Border
India-Pakistan Border
Q2. Why are Walls built in the first place?
Anxiety
India-Pakistan Border
Ego / Psyche
Defence [first response]
India-Pakistan Border
Netherlands-Belgium Border
Norway-Sweden Border
Abstract It’s been more than seven decades since India got its Independence. To be precise, in August, 1947 India got its freedom. The Partition remains one of the ugliest events in the history of our Mother Nation. A period filled with traumatizing stories of endless religious and communal riots and which witnessed one of the largest migrations human-kind has ever seen. The emergence of the border divided our social life and severed our economic interdependencies. But a line drawn on the face of this subcontinent couldn’t erase the similarities we share within our people, lives, culture, art, design and architecture. This thesis is an attempt to investigate, analyse and reinterpret the idea of this border.
Impermeable Borders Anxiety
Ego / Psyche [collective]
Defence
Fenced/Walled boundaries
Walling
[first response]
Sense of Fear, Hostility and Divide.
Q3. Why do Walls Fail? Israel-Palestine Border
Walls are Superficial Solutions to Deep-rooted Issues
An attempt to re-imagine it as a line which could unite humanity, rather than dividing it. An attempt to spread love via design!
Q4. How to Percieve Borders?
U.S.-Mexico Border
India-Pakistan Border
Interventions @ the U.S.-Mexico Border
Borders = Sites of Cultural Encounter with the “other”
Q5. How to Decoded Borders? Border Complexities 1. Geopolitical 2. Socio-Cultural 3. Economic 4. Biophysical 5. Power Relations
U.S.-Mexico Border
U.S.-Mexico Border
Teeter-Totter, US-Mexico Border - Ar. Ronald Rael
Giant Picnic, US-Mexico Border - Artist JR (Jean René) An Intricate Web of Relationships and Interdependencies.
If the intentions are right and humanity is at the pedestal, even the smallest of interventions can bring people together and have a huge impact irrespective of the boundaries that we have created.
Research
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Riyesh Patil | Thesis - May 2021
Site: Suchetgarh Border Outpost, Sialkot, PK | Jammu, IN
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Suchetgarh Border Villages
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Jammu & Sialkot shared strong SocioCultural and Economic Ties which were severed right after the Partition in 1947.
The site, maintained by both the Governments, currently is a Tourist destination with minimal facilities. It is one of the rare zones across the entire IN-PK Border where one can actually cross the Border Fence, enter the No Man’s Land and walk upto the Zero Line which divides the Subcontinent.
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Site Border Condition
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Site Walkthrough: Nodes & Tresholds LEGEND India-Pakistan Border [Zero Line] No Man’s Land Border Fence Peepal-918 Agricultural Land n
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Lying within the No Man’s Land overlapping the India-Pakistan Border, the Peepal-918 with its roots and foliage penetrating both the countries, have become a Symbol of Peace, Love and Harmony. In the recent years, the tree grew so large that the trunk entirely engulfed the adjacent Border Pillar no. 918. As a result the Suchetgarh BOP has seen a boom in tourists and visitors coming to witness this phenomenon.
Site Plan Suchetgarh, like most of the Border Strip of the IN-PK Border, consists of a Zero Line which separates the two countries. This Line lies within a stretch of defunct land known as the No Man’s Land which is marked by the Border Fences maintained by Pakistan and India respectively. The site has numerous Villages scattered in near proximity to the border on either side.
Peepal-918
Site
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Riyesh Patil | Thesis - May 2021
Program Concept
Shared Memories
Shared Food
Shared History & Similarities
The idea was to realise a place in a space that we so ignorantly call the No Man’s Land. A place that flips the dynamics of bordering by creating a common ground for people from both sides of the border, to create a symbiotic zone which derives it’s energy from the ideas of inclusion and togetherness negating the pain of exclusion and separation.
Trade
Design Development Gathering
Entertainment
Peepal-918
Auditorium
Border
Open-Air Theatre
Amphitheatre Public Landscape
Bazaar
Learning Museum of Shared History & Commonalities Partition Memorial
Langar
Library
Comm. Kitchen
Workshop
Bi-Lateral Formal Spaces Conference Hall Meeting Room
Security BSF Control Centre Pakistani rangers Control Centre
Safe Spaces Underground Bunkers
Trade
[Phase II]
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Proposal for reactivating the JammuSialkot Road and the Railway.
A simple yet strong geaometry - Circle /Ring- was selected as it concentrates all the energies to its centre; in this case, the Peepal-918. 4
Climate
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Material Palette
The Entrance to the building on either side was carved out along the existing connecting axis of the Jammu-Sialkot Road which lies defunct since the Partition.
Zoning
The thickness of the resultant ring was gradually increased on one side to house various functions and programmes of the design. 5
The Central Public Void around the Peepal Tree was treated with landscape elements, making it a warm and friendly space for the lost siblings to reunite, talk, interact and observe.
The main mass is enveloped with a secondary surface/screen which allows the outer ring to be opened up to a landscaped area createing various hierarchy & quality of spaces 6
Finally, alterations to the mass were made with respect to the various spaces housed within.
Pre-Design
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Riyesh Patil | Thesis - May 2021
Section through Museum & Auditorium
Museum Module
Section through Partition Memorial & Langar + Library
The Museums have been designed in a way that the external side facing the Green Belt have larger openings which connects the ‘Inside’ with the ‘Outside” and bring it one step closer to the Nature. The inner side on contrary has just one slender slit oriented towards the Peepal Tree through which people can peep in and out. The inner surfaces also have Brick Jali much above the eye level through which rays of light trickle into the space. This combination of openings ensure enough flow of air and ventilation. The High Volumes of the Museum are complemented with a long Skylight which borrows diffused light and fills the space with a certain aura and right below it is the Landscaped Central Circulation Spine which traverses the person along the path of light as one moves around in the Museum.
Partition Memorial
View of the Museums
Positioned in a way that the Border cuts straight through the space, the ‘Partition Memorial’ through the sheer power of Architectural Phenomenon, recreates the turmoil, ambiguity, pain, suffering, death, confusion and drama of the millions of migrants who had fallen victim to the Partition.
Ground Level Plan View from the Entrance
A Series of Walls (as a metaphor for the Border and Division) divide the space into a labyrinth of dark, high and narrow volumes which are pierced by the invisible border forcing the visitors from both the countries back and forth across the border almost rubbing past each other in an attempt to blur the notional boundaries. The walls do not touch the ceiling and leave the space connected above which gives the sense of no matter how many barriers we build, we still remain connected above and within.
View from the Amphitheatre
Langar (G) + Library (G+1) The entire Library area lifts itself up above the ground becoming a semi-public space. While doing so it creates a free void below which connects seamlessly with the external Green Belt & would be used to host Langars. A Linear Pathway along the Jammu-Sialkot Road lined with landscape on either side directs the visitor towards the Huge Gateway which welcomes one into the site. The External Envelop acts as a consolidating element and becomes a foreground to the structure in the background. The exposed beams form a band running throughout the design which visually ties the structure together.
Design
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Riyesh Patil | Thesis - May 2021
Fin
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Riyesh Patil | Thesis - May 2021