[YAJNASENI]
A PLACE FOR REMEMBRANCE, HEALING AND AWARENESS OF FEAMLE VICTIMS IN INDIA SUBMITTED BY: VISHWA VORA
[ACEDEMIC PROJECT]
THESIS DESIGN PROPOSAL
YAJNASENI, MEMORIAL FOR FEMALE VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE
Proposed Design for Thesis Sabarmati RiverFront Ahmedabad January 2020
TO DESIGN A PLACE FOR REMEMBRANCE, HEALING AND AWARENESS OF FEMALE VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE IN INDIA
Under the Guidance of Ar. Krishna Shah
Submitted by Vishwa Vora 151591040 | B.Arch 2019-20
School of EnvironmEntal DESign anD architEcturE navrachana univErSity, vaDoDara, gujarat
SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE NAVRACHANA UNIVERSITY, VADODARA, GUJARAT
TO DESIGN A PLACE FOR REMEMBRANCE, HEALING AND AWARENESS OF FEMALE VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE IN INDIA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELORS OF ARCHITECTURE 2019-20
Submitted to: Ar. Pratyush Shankar Dean SEDA
Submitted by: Ar. Pragya Shankar Program Chair B.Arch, SEDA
Guided by: Ar. Krishna Shah
Submitted by: Vishwa Vora 15191040
DECLARATION................................................................................
I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “A place for Remembrance, healing and Awareness of Female Victims of Violence in India” is a record of original work by me .The References taken from published or unpublished thesis and contributions of others have been clearly mentioned in this Thesis. This thesis was done under the guidance of Architect Krishna Shah at the School of Environmental Design and Architecture, Navrachana University, Vadodara.
Vishwa Vora In my capacity as a supervisor of the candidate’s thesis. I certify that the above statements are true to the best of my knowledge.
Ar.Krishna Shah
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.........................................................
The thesis would not have been possible without the support of multiple people from varied field. I was really fortunate to get assistance on the subject whenever required and for the motivation I received from them. I am most grateful to my guide for this thesis, Ar. Krishna Shah. for sharing her invaluable expertise and knowledge in the subject and for her constructive criticism and guidance throughout the thesis. I would like to thank Ar. Shantanu Jha and Ar. Vinay Dhudaiya for guiding me with the structural aspect of the proposed design. I would also like to thank our college faculties- Pragya Shankar, Pratyush Shankar, Percy Pithawala, Mohammed Ayaz Pathan, Shalini Amin, Hiten Chavda, Advaita Jalan and Sunita Dalvi, throughout my college journey for helping me grow and develop in my undergraduate program. I also thank my parents and my sister for their unceasing encouragement, support and attention. I am also grateful to my fellow classmates who have supported me throughout this venture. I would like to thank my companions- Ananyaa, Miloni, Aneri, Savan, Nidhi, Shaymi, Bhargav, Vishesh, seniors and juniors who have been a constant support and have been a great company throughout my college years. Would specially like to thank Jimit for lending me his help for the thesis. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the former Dean of the Faculty of Architecture Professor Gurdev Singh for providing with all the necessary facilities during our initial years and for constant encouragement.
Fig 0.01 Illustration by Zehra Nawab about Female Victims of Violence I
ABSTRACT.............................................................................................
“I was once happy, content Sloshing around in my own private primordial pool Then one day for reasons beyond my control I was repeatedly crushed Over and over By the cruel world from outside I put up a good fight But I lost For the first time, But not for last…”[1] The culture in India is profoundly patriarchal and is a feudal where women are neither seen nor heard. The text written above talks about one of the crimes done to women in India- Female Infanticide. India has an age-old fascination with the boy child. There is a societal pressure for women to have male children and as a result women are often considered failures and tend to feel guilty after giving birth to a girl. Women who are considered to have less value because they did not give their husbands a son are at risk of being beaten and rejected by their in laws and by the community. This leads to killing of girl child as soon as she is born. This is not the only case where innocent daughters have died. Many innocent women have died or suffered because of henious crimes like Dowry death, Rape, Female Infanticide, Acid attacks and many other violent crimes. This thesis seeks to understand how through architecture, one’s attention is drawn towards such social crimes against women and how architecture helps to mold one’s mind. Thus through the means of design a place for Remembrance, Healing and Awareness of Female Victims of Violence of India is proposed to resolve this questions.
II
TABLE OF CONTENT INTRODUCTION AIM OBJECTIVES HYPOTHESIS METHODOLOGY SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
01. 02. 03. III
Chapter 1.0 : The Search 1.1. Introduction to the Search 1.2. Crimes Against Women in India 1.3. Mythology 1.4. History of Status of Women in India 1.5. Laws for Safety of Women in India 1.6. Role of an Architect
001 002 007 009 014 015
Chapter 2.0 : Precedent Research 2.1.Understanding Memorials 2.2.Idea of Tragedy 2.3.Idea of Memory 2.5.Memorial History - Western Context 2.6.Memorial History - Indian Context
017 018 020 022 028
Chapter 3.0 : Case Study 2.1.Precedent Selection 2.2. 9/11 Memorial, New York. 2.3. Jewish Museum, Berlin 2.4. Holocaust Museum, Berlin 2.5. Taj Amity Pavillion Competition 2.6. Design Elements
031 032 046 056 066 074
04. 05. 06. 07.
Chapter 4.0 : Site Selection 4.1. Importance of Water in India 4.2. Why Ahmedabad ? 4.3. Introducing Ahmedabad 4.4. Glimpse of the Past 4.5. Sabarmati Riverfront Project 4.6. Why this Site ?
079 082 083 085 089 092
Chapter 5.0 : Conceptual Ideas 5.1. Intangible emotions of the Cause 5.2. Idea of Destruction 5.3. Idea of Void 5.4. Idea of Healing and Support. 5.5. Idea of Shame 5.6. Initial Concept Drawings and model
096 096 097 098 100 101
Chapter 6.0 : Design Development 6.1. Site Analysis 6.2. Design Process 6.2.1. Organization & Circulation 6.2.2. Design Elements 6.3. Area Statement
103 107 107 110 113
Chapter 7.0. : Final Design 7.1. Final Proposal 7.2. Drawings of Final Proposal 7.3. Renders
115 118 125
List of Figures Bibliography
128 134 IV
INTRODUCTION............................................................................
“The world which worships Mother Mary and goddess Durga also has experienced such heinous crimes against her daughters.” [2] On the dark and cold fateful night of December 2012, in the capital of India a twenty three year old (Nirbhaya) was beaten with iron rods, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus while she was traveling with her boyfriend. As a result of an international outrage over her assault and subsequent death, new laws and new fast-track courts were promised. More women are now willing to report rape cases. But even seven years after Nirbhaya death, In India a women is reportedly raped every 15 minutes. The statistics on crime against women is even worse: Every two minutes, a woman in India is a victim of a crime. “Babul pyare sajan sakha re Suno meri maiyya Bojh nahi main kisi ke sar ka Naa majdhar mein naiyya Patwar banoongi, leharon se ladungi Arey mujhe kya bechega rupaiya Ho arey mujhe kya bechega rupaiya”[3] This Hindi song is a voice of daughter to her parents that I am not a burden; would fight against all odds and no money can buy my respect and me. Cultural practices such as dowry system have assigned a secondary status to women leading to further ills such as female feticide and infanticide. Separated and divorced women are stigmatized, which is the reason behind women continuing in abusive marriages either under family pressure or of their own accord. We have laws providing equality in all spheres for women whether education, employment, property rights etc. We desperately need to root out the sex-based prejudices ingrained in our social consciousness. Religious leaders can help and they should do their bit. We need a wider social movement to educate both men as well as women to acknowledge basic human worth that is needed to assign this pernicious social evil to flames. We as a nation can no longer afford to be complacent. The daughters of India have been died because of brutal crime done against done by this patriarchal society.
V
AIM...................................................................................................................
Design proposal for a Place for Remembrance, Healing and Awareness of Female Victims of Violence in India.
OBJECTIVE.............................................................................................
- The primary objective of the thesis is to understand the need of a place for Remembrance, Healing and Awareness as a response to the increasing death of innocent daughters in India due to crimes done against them. It is also highlight the nurturing of women in this patriarchal society. - The other objective is to understand the how through architecture one can help mold the mindsets of the society against such social stigma.
HYPOTHESIS.........................................................................................
- Public memorials draw attention to causes, values and hopes. - Memorials help teach us how to react to the death of victims of certain natural and man-made cause. Memorials are seen as places of Contemplation and healing for the grieving and there is a deep human desire to express this architecturally.
METHODOLOGY.........................................................................
- Firstly a brief study will be conducted to understand the violence against women and how the women are natured in this society. This will help to understand the roots of this evil happening. Then a brief study will be done on how architecture can help to remember the loss of innocent daughter .It will try to understand how architecture can draw attention to a cause and can be seen a an element for contemplation and healing. It will also try to understand how architecture helps in creating awareness among the masses. Thus, understanding the role of an architect. Thus through the means of design, a place of remembrance, healing and awareness of the female victims of violence in India will be proposed.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS.............................................
- The thesis research for understanding the female victims of violence in India was limited to knowing the facts and figures of the increase of cases in India and the why it is happening and also how it affects the victims. Also no real photographs of violence have been shown; only through illustrations they have been shown. - Examples of memorials as case studies are recent contemporary memorials. Also the memorials chosen are examples of works of different architects in their own style. - Analysis carried out of site is solely on the basis of literature available. Due to constraints of time and lock-down, it was not possible to visit the site for more than two times. - The service detailing of the final proposal was not done to a certain aspect due to constraints of time. VI
Fig 1.01 Collage of Articles about Female Victims of Violence in India. VII
CHAPTER 1.0 : THE SEARCH
1.1. Introduction to the Search “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, and karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path; and that will make all the difference.” [4] 16 May 2017: Visit to 9/11 memorial. That was my personal journey to a memorial. The architectural elements, sculptors, exhibits and mode of abstractions can make anyone feel the cruelty of terrorism people of America had to face. History and Architectural theory class, Semester 5, August 2017: We were shown the video of Jewish museum by Daniel Libeskind and Peter Eisenmen Holocaust Memorial durning our History lectures. Summer 2018: International Competition- To propose a Memorial for people and city of Lisbon, which was destroyed in earthquake. November 2019: In November 2019, the gang rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor in Shamshabad, near Hyderabad, sparked outrage across India. Her body was found in Shadnagar on 28 November 2019, the day after she was murdered. Four suspects were arrested and, according to the Cyberabad Metropolitan Police, confessed to having raped and killed her. It is when I realized that in our country the female victims of violence need a voice; they need to be remembered; they needed our support. It is the need of the hour. Somewhere the voice had to be translated in form of architecture to generate awareness about the crime in the society. Thus for the cause -proposing a place for Remembrance, Healing and Awareness of Female Victims of Violence in India.
1
1.2. Crimes Against Women Police report in India show a high incidence of crime against women. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that by 2010 growth rate of crimes against women will exceed the population growth rate. Earlier many crimes against women were not reported to police due to the social stigma. Official statistics show a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women It includes rape, sexual assault, and insult to modesty, kidnapping, abduction, cruelty by intimate partner or relatives, trafficking, persecution of dowry, dowry deaths, indecency, female infanticide and all other crimes listed in Indian Penal Code. Year
Reported Violence
2008
195,856
2009
203,804
2010
213,585
2011
228,650
2012
244,270
Dowry deaths Marriage as a social institution is recognised as a civilized social order where two individuals, capable of entering into the union, have pledged themselves to the institutional norms and values and promised to each other a very strong bond to sustain and maintain the marital obligation. Despite all the promises made at different occasions of marriage ceremony that the individual incompatibilities and attitudinal differences for nonadjustment or refusal for adjustment may come to an end, but certain circumstances occurred where the husbands and his families demand i.e. Dowry which is not fulfilled can sometimes become a revenge. A dowry death is a murder or suicide of a married woman caused by a dispute over her dowry. In some cases, husbands and in-laws will attempt to extort a greater dowry through continuous harassment and torture, which sometimes results in the wife committing suicide. The majority of these suicides are done through hanging, poisoning or self-immolation. When setting the woman on fire does a dowry death, it is called bride burning. Bride burning murder is often set up to appear to be a suicide or accident. Dowry is illegal in India, but it is still common practice to give expensive gifts to groom and his relatives at weddings, by the family of the bride.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, reported incidents of crime against women increased 6.4% during 2012, and a crime against a woman is committed every three minutes. In 2012, there were 244,270 reported incidents of crime against women, while in 2011; there were 228,650 reported incidents. Of the women living in India, 7.5% live in West Bengal where 12.7% of the total reported crime against women occurs. Andhra Pradesh is home to 7.3% of India’s female population and accounts for 11.5% of the total reported crimes against women. 65% of Indian men believe women should tolerate violence in order to keep the family together, and women sometimes deserve to be beaten. In January 2011, the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) Questionnaire reported that 24% of Indian men had committed sexual violence at some point during their lives. 2
Fig 1.02 Illustration of Dowry Death
The custom of dowry is deep-rooted in Indian society over the years, it has turned into a social peril, too entrenched and devilish to be tackled by reformers and law-makers. Though the efforts for the eradication of the dowry practise go back to more than a century, it has perhaps become the most alarming social issue during the last two decades or so as manifested by the growing violence against women emerging from matters relating to dowry. It is generally understood that dowry, in its original form, was not based on greed and extortion as it quite often the case today but present a token of love and regard for the bridegroom. The term Varadakshina, mentioned in the Hindu Shastras, was a Dakshina of a purely voluntary nature without which the meritorious act of Kanyadaan would not be complete. The role of the bride’s parents was to provide security and compensation for inheritance rights to the daughter in order to enable her to lead a dignified and harmonious relationship with her husband and his family. Year
Reported Dowry Death
2008
8,172
2009
8,383
2010
8,391
2011
8,618
2012
8,833
Twenty-one dowry deaths are reported across the country every day. (2017, India Today) The conviction rate, however, is less than 35 per cent. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) states that in 2015, as many as 7,634 women died in the country due to dowry harassment. In the last five years, as many as 715 cases of dowry deaths have been reported in the national Capital and the crime rate have been increasing with every passing year. Moreover, in Delhi, around 3,877 cases of cruelty by in-laws and husbands have been registered in 2016. Till March 15 this year (2017), as many as 506 such cases have been reported in the city. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, prohibits the request, payment or acceptance of a dowry ‘as consideration for marriage’, and dowry here is defined as a gift demanded or given as a precondition for marriage.
Honour Killing An Honour killing is a murder of a family member who has been considered to bring dishonor and shame upon the family Examples of reasons for Honour killings includes the refusal to enter an arranged marriage, committing adultery, choosing a partner that the family disapproves of, and becoming a victim of rape. Honour killings are rooted to tradition and cannot be justified by any major world religion, because none of the major world religions condone Honour-related crimes. The most prominent areas where Honour killings occur in India are northern regions. Honour killings are especially seen in Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. In contrast, honor killings are rare to non-existent in South India and the western Indian states. Honour killings have notably increased in some Indian states, which has led to the Supreme Court of India, in June 2010, issuing notices to both the Indian central government and six states to take preventative measures against Honour killings. Honour killings can be very violent. For example, in June 2012, a father chopped off his 20-year-old daughter’s head with a sword in pure rage upon hearing that she was dating a man who he did not approve of. Honour killings can also be openly supported by both local villagers and neighboring villagers. This was the case in September 2013, when a young couple who married after having a love affair was brutally murdered.
Witchcraft Related Murder Murders of women accused of witchcraft still occur in India. Poor women, widows, and women from lower castes are most at risk of such killings. Violence against women related to accusations of witchcraft occurs in India, particularly in parts of Northern India. Belief in the supernatural among the Indian population is still strong, and lynchings for witchcraft are reported by the media. In Assam and West Bengal between 2003 and 2008 there were around 750 deaths related to accusations of witchcraft. Officials of Chhattisgarh reported in 2008 that at least 100 women are maltreated annually as suspected witches. Allegations of Witchcraft that result in communal muder have been a part of rural India’s history. 3
Female Infanticide Female infanticide is the elected killing of a newborn female child. In India, there is incentive to have a son, because they offer security to the family in old age and are able to conduct rituals for deceased parents and ancestors. In contrast, daughters are considered to be a social and economic burden. An example of this is dowry. The fear of not being able to pay an acceptable dowry and becoming socially ostracized can lead to female infanticide for poorer.
Female Foeticide
Fig 1.03 Infanticide in the Ganges
Female foeticide is the elected abortion of a fetus, because it is female. Female foeticide occurs when a family has a strong preference for sons over daughters, which is a common cultural theme in India. Modern medical technology has allowed for the gender of a child to be determined while the child is still a fetus. Once these modern prenatal diagnostic techniques determine the gender of the fetus, families then are able to decide if they would like to abort based on gender. If they decide to abort the fetus after discovering it is female, they are committing female foeticide. The fetal sex determination and sex-selective abortion by medical professionals is now a R.s 1,000 crore (US$244 million) industry. The Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act of 1994 (PCPNDT Act 1994) was modified in 2003 in order to target medical professionals. The Act has proven ineffective due to the lack of implementation.
Fig 1.04 Illustration of Female Foeticide
4
Sex-selective abortions have totaled approximately 4.2-12.1 million from 1980-2010. There was a greater increase in the number of sex-selective abortions in the 1990s than the 2000s. Significantly more abortions occur in rural areas versus urban areas when the first child is female. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has acknowledged that illegal abortions still outnumber legal abortions and thousands of women die every year due to complications resulting from unsafe abortions. According to the Population Research Institute, at least 12,771,043 sex-selective abortions had taken place in India between 2000 and 2014. It takes the daily average of sexselective abortion to 2,332.
Rape Victims In India, a woman is raped every 15 minutes on an average in India in 2018, according to government data released. Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2013 annual report, 24,923 rape cases were reported across India in 2012. Out of these, 24,470 were committed by someone known to the victim (98% of the cases). India has been characterised as one of the “countries with the lowest per capita rates of rape”. A 2014 piece in The Lancet states that the “8.5% prevalence of sexual violence in the country is among the lowest in the world.” Several rape cases in India received widespread media attention and triggered protests since 2012. This led the Government of India to reform its penal code for crimes of rape and sexual assault. Even after the 2013 reform, marital rape when wife and husband live together, continued not to be a crime in India. Year
Reported Rapes
2008
21,467
2009
21,397
2010
22,172
2011
24,206
2012
24,923
Women are becoming more independent and educated, which is increasing their likelihood to report their rape. Although rapes are becoming more frequently reported, many go unreported or have the complaint files withdrawn due to the perception of family Honour being compromised. Women frequently do not receive justice for their rapes, because police often do not give a fair hearing, and/or medical evidence is often unrecorded which makes it easy for offenders to get away with their crimes under the current laws. Increased attention in the media and awareness among both Indians and the outside world is both bringing attention to the issue of rape in India and helping empower women to report the crime. The number of reported rapes nearly doubled from 143 reported in January–March 2012 to 359 during the three months after rape.
Fig 1.05 Illustraion of Candle March for Justice for Nirbhaya
Fig 1.06 Illustraion of Rape Victims
5
Marital rape In India, marital rape is not a criminal offense. 20% of Indian men admit to forcing their wives or partners to have sex. Marital rape can be classified into one of three types: Battering rape: This includes both physical and sexual violence. The majority of marital rape victims experience battering rape. Force-only rape: Husbands use the minimum amount of force necessary to coerce wife. Compulsive Rape: Torture and/or perverse sexual acts occur and often physically violent. Gang Rape
Fig 1.07 Illustration of Gang Rape Victim.
Fig 1.08 Illustration of Gang Rape Victim.
6
Gang Rape is defined as the rape of an individual by two or more perpetrators. The 2012 Delhi gang rape brought a lot of international attention to the issue of gang rape in India. Following the Delhi gang-rape, there was widespread national and international coverage of the incident as well as public protests against the government of India and Delhi. Modesty-related violence against women includes assaults on women with intent to outrage her modesty and insults to the modesty of women. From 2011 to 2012, there was a 5.5% increase in reported assaults on women with intent to outrage her modesty. Madhya Pradesh had 6,655 cases, accounting for 14.7% of the national incidents. From 2011 to 2012, there was a 7.0% increase in reported insults to the modesty of women. Andhra Pradesh had 3,714 cases, accounting for 40.5% of the national accounts, and Maharashtra had 3,714 cases, accounting for 14.1% of the national accounts. Women reported almost 34,000 rapes in 2018, barely changed from the year before. Just over 85 per cent led to charges, and 27 per cent to convictions, according to National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) -- the annual crime report released by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The four adult convicts of the Delhi gang rape were hanged on 20 March 2020. Yet activists say there is no proof the changes have had a deterrent effect. Women reported almost 34,000 rapes in 2018, barely changed from the year before. Just over a quarter led to convictions and the real figures are almost certainly far higher, with it still considered a taboo by conservative Indians to report sexual violence. Death sentences handed down for murder involving sexual violence have nearly doubled in the last three years alone, yet the vast majority are commuted to life sentences by the Supreme Court.
1.3. Mythology One needs look no further than mythology to know what the fabric of society, its structure and norms would be like. It’s interesting to look at what Indian mythology holds as signs of strength and morality in women. These are women who always listen to what they’re told, never protest and they’re only recourse to expressing anger is renunciation of everything, even asceticism. Sadly at the heart of these ballad-like mythological stories lie lurid tales of sex that glorify rape. Tale of Vishnu The God Vishnu is said to have raped Tulsi/Vrinda by assuming the guise of her husband: On seeing her husband, Vrinda was delighted; she forgot her sorrow, dormant passions kindled up. She embraced her husband right there in the middle of the forest. But, at the end of the intercourse she realized that it was Vishnu and not her husband. Vrinda rebuked him angrily. Vrinda said, “Fie on Vishnu in outraging the modesty of another man’s wife.” Yet this horrible act is justified and glorified, because Indians believe that Tulsi’s husband, Shankachuda/Jalandhar, was invincible in war unless her chastity was first destroyed. Therefore to defeat Jalandhar, it was imperative and gallant of Vishnu to rape Tulsi. Vishnu is seen as a hero for raping her.
Fig 1.09 Goddess Tulsi got raped by the Lord Vishnu whom she used to worship.
Tale of God Brihaspati Brihaspati, one day saw Mamata, the wife of his brother, Usija. She was pregnant at that time, nonetheless, the story goes that that Brihaspati proposed to her “Dress thyself well and let us enjoy.” She replied, “The embryo in my womb is mature and is already reciting the Vedas.” Hearing that Brihaspati said, “I don’t need to be taught morality by thee, O sweet one.” After saying that, he raped her. But Brihaspati, even after the tales of rape, is still a God in India. No God in India was ever demoted; leave alone “prosecuted,” for raping a women. Every rape in Indian stories is given a clean chit. It is merely what macho men do; it is just normal. Indian mythology conditions people to attach zero consequence to rape. Furthermore, it is not just rape—all kinds of sordid sex is normalized in old Indian Scriptures.
Fig 1.10 Goddess Lakshmi having bruises, depicting violence done to women.
7
Tale of Sita Sita is hailed as another pure and righteous woman. She follows her husband, Rama, when he is exiled to the forest, but is abducted by Ravana when she is tricked into crossing the Lakshman rekha. This leads to the battle of Ramayan in which Rama defeats Ravana. When a pregnant Sita returns to Ayodhya with her husband after 14 years, the people of Ayodhya question the lineage of the unborn children. Sita takes a test to prove her purity, but later chooses to quit everything and return to her mother, the earth, rather than being the queen of Ayodhya. What’s outrageous here is not just her abduction but also the fact that she chose to go through with proving her chastity although it wasn’t her fault. Above all, the whole concept of a lakshman rekha drawn by someone younger to her shows where she stands in the hierarchy of things despite being a Goddess. And should she cross it, there shall be a question on her very character. Fig 1.11 Illustration of Sita doing Agnipariksha to prove her purity.
Tale of Draupati Draupadi, as is well known, is played and lost in a game of dice much like an object. She is publically disrobed by the Kauravas who were angered when she laughed at them and called Duryodhana “the blind son of a blind man”. She’s probably the only character in mythology to have shown her anger and successfully wrecked vengeance.
Fig 1.12 Illustration of Drapaudi’s Vastraharan
8
Draupadi was always depicted as the victim in Mahabharata. Instead, she was a fighter calling out the Kauravas for her mistreatment. Not only this, she morally shamed her own husbands, the Pandavas, for treating her as an object to put a bet on.Though the actual reason of Mahabharata was Pandavas avenging their wife’s humiliation, the narrative said something else. Draupadi’s beauty and her choice of having five men as husbands was portrayed as the reason behind the great- war. For generations, people have overlooked the fierceness of Draupadi to stand her ground. She was no damsel in distress but a righteous woman who avenged her enemies. She vowed not to tie her hair unless she soaked them in the blood of people who wronged her. She was a true warrior who sought justice.
Tale of Ahalya: The wife of sage Gautam, Ahalya was one of the “most beautiful” women. So much so that Indra had his eyes on her. He takes the form of Gautam and seduces her. On knowing what transpired, the sage curses Ahalya to live for the rest of her life as a stone until Vishnu himself graces her by placing his feet on her. Ahalya’s penance is considered exemplary. But come to think of it, she hardly had a voice. She was raped and punished for the rape. Indra was punished too for his crime. He is cursed with a thousand vulvae on his body and loses his testicles. But after performing penance, these are converted to a thousand eyes. While Indra renews himself, Ahalya simply rejoins her husband after penance. Each of these stories shows how patriarchy reduces the character of a woman to the number of sexual partners she has, and her purpose to childbearing. The obsession with knowing the lineage of offspring, virginity and the narrow definition of character led to the imposition of restrictions on women and artificially stunted their status. And much of this continues today.Even now, the way to seek revenge for many is to rape someone’s sister or wife because somehow they are “property” and their sexual chastity is synonymous with the honor of the family. Either that or women are punished for crossing imaginary lines imposed by the society — it could be something as small as being out with a friend as in the case of Nirbhaya.
Fig 1.13 Illustration of Ahalya
Tale of Krishna Krishna immediately collected all the garments of the gopis, climbed up in a nearby tree, and with smiling face began to speak to them. “My dear girls,” He said. “Please come here one after another and pray for your garments and then take them away. I’m not joking with you. I’m just telling the truth. I have no desire to play any joke with you, for you have observed the regulative principles for one month by worshiping goddess Katyayani. Please do not come here all at once. Come alone; I want to see each of you in your complete beauty, for you all have thin waists. I have requested you to come alone. Now please comply.” The act of stealing cloths of gopis is glorified in Indian mythology and is termed as one of Krishna Leela. Even a act of stealing cloths (indirectly taking away their self respect) is injustice.
Fig 1.14 Illustration of Krishna stealing cloths of Gopis.
9
1.4. History of Status of Women in India The status of Women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. With a decline in their status from the ancient to medieval times, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful. Ancient India Women during the early Vedic period enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects of life. Works by ancient Indian grammarians such as Pantanjali and Katyayana suggests that women were educated in early Vedic period. Rig-Vedic verses suggest that women married at a mature age and were probably free to select their own husband in a practice called swayamvar or live in relationship called Gandharva marriage. Fig 1.15 Illustration of Gandharva Marraige
Scriptures such as the Rig Veda and Upanishads mention several women sages and seers, notably Gargi and Maitreyi. In approximately 500 B.C., the status of the woman begins to decline. Although reform movements such as Jainism allowed women to be admitted in religious orders, by and large women forced confinement and restrictions. The practice of child marriages is believed to have started around the sixth century. Medieval period Indian women’s position further deteriorated during the medieval period when child marriages and ban on remarriage by widows became part of social life in some communities in India. The Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent brought purdah to Indian society. Among the Rajputs of Rajasthan, the Jauhar was practiced. In some parts of the India some of the Devadasi were sexually exploited. Polygamy was practiced among some Hindu Kshatriya rulers for some political reasons. In many Muslim areas, women were restricted to Zenana areas of the house.
Fig 1.16 Illustration of Razia Sultan
10
In spite of these conditions women became prominent in the fields of politics, literature, education and religion. Razia Sultan became the only woman monarch to have ever ruled Delhi, India.
The Gond queen Durgavati ruled for fifteen years before losing her life in a battle with Mughal emperor Akbar’s general Asaf Khan in 1564. Chand Bibi defended Ahmednagar against the powerful Mughal forces of Akbar in the 1590s. Jahangir’s wife Nur Jahan effectively yielded imperial power and was recognized as the real power behind the Mughal throne. The Mughal princesses Jahanara and Zebunnissa were well known poets and also influenced the ruling powers. Shivaji’s mother, Jijabai was queen regent because of her ability as a warrior and an administration. In South India, many women administered villages, towns, divisions and ushered in new social and religious institutions. The Bhakti movements tried to restore women’s status and questioned certain forms of oppression. Bhakti sects within Hinduism such as the Mahanubhav, Varkari and many others were principle movements within the Hindu fold openly advocating social justice and equality between men and women. Immediately following the Bhakti movements, Guru Nanak, the first Guru of Sikhs, preached equality between men and women. He advocated that women be allowed to lead religious assemblies; to lead congregational hymn singing called kirtan or bhajan; to become members of religious management committees; to lead armies on the battlefield; to have equality in marriage and to have equality in Amrit (Baptism).
Fig 1.17 Illustration of Durgavati - Gond queen
Historical Practices Traditions such as Sati, Jauhar and Devadasi among some communities have been banned and defunct in modern India. However some instances of these practices are still found in remote parts of India. The purdah is still practiced by Indian women in some communities. Child marriage remains common in rural areas, although it is illegal under current Indian law. Sati: It is an old, almost completely defunct custom among some communities, in which the widow was immolated alive on her husband’s funeral pyre. Although the act was supposed to be voluntary on the widow’s part, the Hindu scriptures in kali yug forbid its practice, the current age. After the foreign invasions of Indian subcontinent, this practice started to mark its presence, as women were often raped or kidnapped by the foreign forced. The British abolished it in 1829.
Fig 1.18 Illustration of Widow Burning, Sati.
11
Jauhar: It refers to the practice of voluntary immolation by wives and daughters of defeated warriors, in order to avoid capture and consequent molestation by the enemy. Wives of defeated Rajput’s rulers, who are known to place a high premium on Honour, followed the practice. Purdah: It is the practice among some Muslim communities requiring women to cover themselves in front of males for the purpose of modesty. Devadasi: It is often misunderstood as religious practice. It was practiced in southern India, in which women were “married” to a deity or temple. The ritual was well established by the 10th century A.D. British Rule
Fig 1.19 Illustration of Jauhar.
Fig 1.20 Illustration of Rani Laxmi Bai.
12
During the British Raj, many reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Jyotirao Phule fought for the betterment of women. Peary Charan Sarkar, a former student of Hindu College, Calcutta and a member of “Young Bengal”, set up the first free school for girls in India in 1847 in Barasat, a suburb of Calcutta (later the school was named Kalikrishna Girls’ High School). Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s crusade for improvement in the situation of widows led to the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856. Many women reformers such as Pandita Ramabai also helped the cause of women. Kittur Chennamma, queen of the princely state Kittur in Karnataka, led an armed rebellion against the British in response to the Doctrine of lapse. Abbakka Rani, queen of coastal Karnataka, led the defence against invading European armies, notably the Portuguese in the 16th century. Rani Lakshmi Bai, the Queen of Jhansi, led the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British. She is now widely considered as a national hero. In 1917, the first women’s delegation met the Secretary of State to demand women’s political rights. The All India Women’s Education Conference was held in Pune in 1927, it became a major organisation in the movement for social change. In 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed, stipulating fourteen as minimum age of marriage for a girl. Though Gandhiji himself married at the age of thirteen, he later urged people to boycott child marriages and called upon young men to marry child widows. Women played an important part in India’s independence struggle.
Independent India Women in India now participate fully in areas such as education, sports, politics, media, art and culture, service sectors, science and technology, etc. Indira Gandhi, who served as Prime Minister of India for an aggregate period of fifteen years, is the world’s longest serving woman Prime Minister. Feminist activism in India gained momentum in the late 1970s. One of the first national-level issues that brought women’s groups together was the Mathura rape case. The acquittal of policemen accused of raping a young girl Mathura in a police station led to countrywide protests in 1979-1980. The protests, widely covered by the national media, forced the Government to amend the Evidence Act, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Indian Penal Code; and created a new offence, custodial rape. Female activists also united over issues such as female infanticide, gender bias, women’s health, women’s safety, and women’s literacy. Since alcoholism is often associated with violence against women in India, many women groups launched anti-liquor campaigns in other states. Many Indian Muslim women have questioned the fundamental leaders’ interpretation of women’s rights under the Shariat law and have criticized the triple talaq system. In the 1990s, grants from foreign donor agencies enabled the formation of new women-oriented NGOs. Self-help groups and NGOs such as Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) have played a major role in the advancement of women’s rights in India. The Government of India declared 2001 as the Year of Women’s Empowerment (Swashakti). The National Policy For Empowerment Of Women came was passed in 2001. In 2006, the media highlighted the case of Imrana, a Muslim rape victim. Her father-in-law raped Imrana. The pronouncement of some Muslim clerics that Imrana should marry her father-in-law led to widespread protests, and finally Imrana’s father-in-law was sentenced to 10 years in prison. According to a report by Thomson Reuters, India is the “fourth most dangerous country” in the world for women, India was also noted as the worst country for women among the G20 countries, however, and this report has faced criticism for its inaccuracy. On 9 March 2010, one day after International Women’s day, Rajya Sabha passed the Women’s Reservation Bill requiring that 33% of seats in India’s Parliament and state legislative bodies be reserved for women. Soon many laws and reforms led to empowerment of women in workplaces and households. Still cases like Delhi gang rape show us that violence against women still happen in India.
Fig 1.21 Women Indian Freedom fighters
Fig 1.22 Protests for Justice for Mathura Rape Case
13
1.5. Laws for Women’s Safety in India Women’s safety laws
Fig 1.23 Illustration of Domestic Violence
Fig 1.24 Illustration to Make India Safe for Women
14
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Guardians & Wards Act, 1890 Indian Penal Code, 1860 Christian Marriage Act, 1872 Indian Evidence Act, 1872 Married Women’s Property Act, 1874 Workmen’s compensation Act, 1923 Indian Successions Act, 1925 Immoral Traffic (prevention) Act, 1956 Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 Cinematograph Act, 1952 Births, Deaths & Marriages Registration Act, 1886 Minimum Wages Act, 1948 Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application, 1937 Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) Act, 1986 Special Marriage Act, 1954 Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 Hindu Successions Act, 1956 Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 Family Courts Act, 1984 Maternity Benefit Act, 1861 Hindu Adoption & Maintenance ACT, 1956 Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 National Commission for Women Act, 1990 The Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place Act, 2013 Indian Divorce Act, 1969 Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 Hindu Widows Remarriage Act, 1856 Muslim women (protection of rights on divorce) Act, 1986 The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013
1.6. Role of an Architect In India Sati, Sabitri, Durga, Laxmi are worshipped by people treating them as goddesses where as there is increasing number of violence against women. The amount of violence against women has increased by many fold due to the greater exposure of women in every field of life. Women were previously restricted to the four walls of the houses and after globalisation they have got the chances and opportunities to stand equally in all sectors at par with male. It is a good sign that the patriarchal mind set of the society has changed to some extent but not to the extent it was supposed to. It is the same mind set that restricts women to go out and work making them as a tool for domestication. It is the same mind set that treats males as superior than female and always try to dominate the women folk; thus violence is increasing in India and women safety is a concern in India. Along with the mind set the slow pace of operation of Indian judiciary is another major reason for the increasing women safety in India. The police of India is not efficient and not neutral and that is the reason why the cases of violence against women takes long time in the investigation phase. In the name of social pressure and shame many women did not come out and report the matter to police. This is one of the many reasons why the number of cases reported are less than the actual number of violence happening against women. In order to improve women safety in India the first task is to improve the number of women in every sphere of society. Along with that the change in mind set of people is very essential for the safety of women. From family to educational institutions men should be taught about respecting females. The real issue behind the Increasing Violence against Women in India is lack of Awareness and the Patriarchal society. Crimes against women occur every minute in India. Women are not safe, whether it is in their houses, public places or at the workplace. Your safety in your hands sounds like a clichÊd adage to repeat. The role of an architect is creating order in devastated environments. The architect’s role is to express certain emotions and tragedy as Living memory in form of a building.
Fig 1.25 Clocking Violence against Women in India, 2005 and 2012 15
Fig 2.01 Illustration to Memorial 16
CHAPTER 2.0 : PRECEDENT RESEARCH
2.1. Understanding Memorial What are the certain question one has when one think about memorial design or memroials: 1. What is the meaning of a memorial to people of different regions or religions in world? 2. Is there a common human understanding or definition of a memorial? 3. What kind of memory does one address when dealing with the making of a memorial space? The Oxford Dictionary defines the memorial asA. adj. 1. Preserving or intending to preserve the memory of a person or thing commemorative. 2. Remembered; worthy to be remembered, memorable. 3. Of or pertaining to memory. Formerly also, intended to assist the memory or mnemonic. B. noun. 1. Remembrance, recollection;(a person’s) memory or power of recollection. 2. A memorial act; an act of commemoration; spec=commemoration. 3. A thing, as a monument, a custom etc., which preserves the memory of a person thing or event. 4. A record, a chronicle; esp. in pl., memoirs. 5. A note, a memorandum. A memorial then can be said to be a record of or holding memory of a person an event or thing. When one talk of memory, the word suggests something, which is of the past; either lost or gone. It is part of one’s thought or thinking. Thinking is concerned with the objects and events of the world we know. Therefore, when thinking takes place, these objects and events must be present and acted upon. When they are bodily present we can perceive them, think about them, handle them. When objects are not physically present, they are represented indirectly by what we remember or know about them i.e. they become a part of one’s memory- the mental faculty or retaining and recalling past experiences. 17
When the memory is memorialized, one is dealing with the memory of a person or event that was tragic. The death of a person or a group of people due to any unforeseen circumstances becomes a part of the memory of his loved ones or society and takes shape in the form of an expression of the emotion of the dead, linking the living with dead and the past. The nature of the expression of the tragic emotion and form of memory depend on various factors. It would depend on the nature of tragedy, the scale of tragedy, socio-political causes at the scene of tragedy, cultural and religious beliefs of people affected by the tragedy. This calls for a better understanding of what is the meaning of the word tragedy and its relationship with memory in the minds of the people affected by it.
2.2. Idea of Tragedy Tragedy, according to Aristotle, differs from history, in the sense that whereas history deals with something that has happened (and maybe be episodic), tragedy deals with interpretations, the perception and consciousness of actions that might or might have happened. It concerns intention, perception, error and physical reconciliation. Tragedy structures a threshold between three things; what is really going on, but is unnoticed; the imaginary world of the subject’s narcissistic identity; and symbolic representation. Aristotle makes the threshold event clear in the requirement he placed on the structure of the plot: the reversal of the situation, the recognition (that moment of the awakening of perception and consciousness, that moment at which the material signs become symbols, enter discourse and acquire significance) and scene of suffering. The hallmark of tragedy is an act of assertion – the articulation of a specific great ambition- the triggers, an inexorable, implacable fate; for example – the great ambition to rule the world, becomes the reason for many wars and violence and tragedy to take place. In tragedy, the hero’s flaw has to lead to the hero’s death; yet the significance of tragedy is not death itself but that the community derives knowledge about the consequences of tempting fate. As a mode of expression, tragedy reaffirms the limits, the bounded identity, of society, although containing enormous compassion for the human condition that must assert ambition and must fail. 18
The scale of tragedy would determine an individual or mass interpretation and responsibility. The death of a loved one would result in an individual affected by this tragic incident. On the other hand, when there is mass scene of suffering or a collective experience of tragedy by a large section of the society, the implications of it over a long term are borne by the society at large. Here, the tragic as a genre serves as a model of social inclusion and responsibility of the ‘proper’, in the sense that through it the ordinary man, in becoming a member of the chorus, leaves his pathetic self obsessed illusions and enters a sphere of feelings that may be called symbolic and mythic. It is only in the modern world, with the increase in communication and popular knowledge, that ordinary people have become sufficiently aware of events in larger context to assume personal responsibility for history. As participants in mass production one has become involved in and indeed as the violence of conflict has shifted inexorably towards civilian populations – responsible for actions of state. Tragedy and Memory As discussed earlier tragedy and memory are an integral part of each other. The memory of the tragedy depends on the nature of tragedy, the scale of tragedy socio-political causes at the scene of tragedy and cultural and religious beliefs of people affected by the tragedy.Memory – the word refers to ‘the systems, representations and processes in living organisms that are involved in the retention of information’, or the ability to keep things in mind and recall them at will. A sad or a tragic event affects man to a degree such that it is something, which cannot be forgotten, and it becomes a part of his memory. In a prescient moment in ‘In search of Lost Time’, Marcel Proust identifies two different kinds of memory – nostalgic memory and living memory. 1. Tragedy as Nostalgic Memory In case of an individual’s death, the nature of memory of this loss is of a kind such that the individual who died becomes a part of the memory of the past and is remembered at times and situation in the present, which make one, associate it with the past. The memory does not affect anyone’s present in a very large manner but only at moments, when one is reminded of the past; the past becomes history. This is nostalgic Memory.
A nostalgia located in the past, touched with a sentimentality that remembers things not as they were but as one wants to remember them. Thus, the memory of nostalgia becomes very personal and specific or subjective to an individual’s recall of the past and hence, is very idiosyncratic in nature. 2. Tragedy as Living Memory In case of a mass death or a large scale suffering due to a tragedy, which hits a nation or a large section of the population of a country or world, the nature of memory of this loss is of a kind such that the event becomes a part of the memory of the present and exists in the memory of the society at all times because of its long term after effects. The scale of the tragedy, its socio-political causes occupy the minds of the society at large, and the past is constantly being interpreted in the context of the present.
Fig 2.02 Painting of Picasso- Guernica
The memory of the tragedy becomes living memory, which is active in the present and devoid of; nostalgic for a remembered past. Sometimes the horror of the tragedy is capable for rupturing the link between nostalgic and memory. Remembering the tragedy can therefore only be a living condition in which the past remains active in the present. Types of Tragedy Before one can classify the different kinds of tragedy, there is a need here to understand the difference between tragedy and tragic. The dead of an individual cannot be termed as tragedy; it is tragic. But the death of an individual who is a hero for the people of nation can be called tragedy. In both cases the situation is tragic, but the latter is an example of tragedy because a tragedy essentially deals with mishap that affects a section of the society, a nation or the world at large such that the tragedy calls for mass interpretation and responsibility and the community derives knowledge from the event. Considering this genre of tragic, tragedy can be classified into three different types1.Death of Personality/ Hero/ Nation Figure: The Death of a hero or a nation figure is a case of tragedy because the entire nation directly or indirectly is affected by this loss. The death of Gandhi, or Tagore or Sir Aurobindo even till today is considered as a great loss to humanity.
Fig 2.03 Newspaper Article of Gandhi’s Death, a Tragedy 19
2. Death of people due to Natural Calamity: In case of a natural calamity that causes the death of hundreds and thousands of people, becomes an example of tragedy because this collective scene of suffering again calls for social inclusion and a collective understanding of the tragedy its causes and consequences. It calls for a mass awareness for dealing with or preventive and precautionary measures to tackle with these unforeseen natural calamities such as floods, earthquakes, droughts, tsunami etc. Such tragedies can cause physical and mental displacement in the lives of the people and thus become a part of their present and hence become living memory.
Fig 2.04 Great Fire of London, a Tragedy
3. Death of people due to a Manmade Tragedy A large-scale manmade tragedy that may result in the death of a large number of innocent people is another example of mass tragedy. In case of war or an accident due to the carelessness of certain individuals, loss of lives of many results in the involvement and participation of the citizens of the country where the responsibility of the decision of the state or the country also falls on the society. The state together with its citizens decides the nature of the memory of the tragedy, how they together as a collective whole wish to keep or deal with the memory of the tragedy.
2.3. Idea of Memory it is important to understand the relationship of the built environment and memory and how the built environment plays an important role or is an aid to one’s direct or indirect memory and form a part of one’s image bank. Image of the past can relate to buildings or events that were part of the life span of a generation and are therefore part of recent past included in direct personal memory.
Fig 2.05 Hiroshima Bombing, a Manmade Tragedy
20
Buildings or events outside of direct memory are considered a part of history and can exist or they might be demolished, possibly rebuilt, or merely preserved in images and other documentation. Although not directly expressed, content in the form of memory or association can be incorporated into build objects. There are two kinds of memory; direct referring to the building’s original shape or style; and indirect a narrative component evoking historic places or elements. The conscious handling of indirect and direct memory incorporates narratives into buildings.
Memories are the connection to immaterial expression in architecture, the narrative aspects that contains what the building wants to communicate. Parallel to its function in the city, memory can refer to the direct context of a building (like its history) as well as to a broader complex of interest. Understanding these broader complex of interest in the context to a tragedy and hence its memory, one now looks at the ‘built’ for the memories of the tragedy which we call memorials. History has been a witness to the relationship of man and the memory of tragedies, which has materialized in various forms of expression of this emotion. These expressions give definition to the memory an individual or a collective group of people hope to memorialize or eternalize, which sometimes helps them connect better to their present or future and not just the past. Thus the memorials get a temporal dimension – transporting the past into the present, blurring past and present, recreating the present as past. These memorials have created landscapes of memory and their expressions sometimes in very personal or sometimes social. This may depend on whether only an individual or the society, putting in other words, experiences the sentiments; the need for a memorial may be personal or societal.
Fig 2.06 Anne Frank, Depicting the Jewish Genocide- an autobiographical memory
1. Memorial as a Autobiographical Memory Autobiographical memory refers to the memories a person has of his or her own life experiences. The archival function of memory has often been given primary emphasis in biographical and historical work. According to this view, life memories are time capsules, records of an unrepeatable past. As such they can be used both to recount the past and to teach lessons for the future. The intimate association between memory and narrative arises from urge to use the past to instruct the present and future generations. 2. Memorial as Collective Memory. A memorial may be built as a sign of collective memory. These memorials refer to events, which are public or social in nature. memory is a social, not a psychological phenomenon, can reside in society rather than simply in the heads of individuals. It is through interconnections among these shared images that the social frameworks of our collective memory are formed. Taking the example of war memorials aiding to the collective memory-War memorials acquire their landscape definitions from sentiments, utility, social purpose and historical interpretation.
Fig 2.07 Tribute in Light for 9/11 Victims, a Collective Memory
21
22
Fig 2.08 Memorial History: Western Context, Before World War One 23
24
Fig 2.09 Memorial History: Western Context, After World War One 25
26
Fig 2.10 Memorial History: Western Context, After 1980’s 27
28
Fig 2.11 Memorial History: Indian Context 29
Fig 3.01 Illustration of Selected Built Memorials for Case Study 30
CHAPTER 3.0 : CASE STUDY
3.1. Precedent Selection 9/11 Memorial, New York. The Story - 9/11 attack World Trade Center Site Competition “Reflecting Absence” Design and Concept Key Elements The Museum Making Absence Visible : Micheal Arad Jewish Museum, Berlin The Story - The Jewish Genocide The Site Design- Extension of Existing museum Key Elements Functional Aspects Time Space Existence : Daniel Libeskind Holocaust Museum, Berlin The Story - Holocaust The Site Key Elements Mode of Abstarction Functional Aspects Field of Otherness : Peter Eisenman The Taj Amity Pavillion, Mumbai. (unbuilt project) The Story - 26/11 Attack The Architecural Competition The Winning Design Second Runner - up Third Runner - up 31
3.2. 9/11 Memorial : ‘Reflecting Absence’ New York
The story :
Fig 3.02 New Skyline Before the Attack
The iconic twin towers of downtown Manhattan’s World Trade Center were a triumph of human imagination and will. Completed in 1973, the towers stood at 110 stories each, accommodating 50,000 workers and 200,000 daily visitors in 10 million square feet of space. They were the hub of the bustling Financial District, a top tourist attraction and a symbol of New York City’s–and America’s–steadfast devotion to progress and the future. At the time of their completion, the Twin Towers—the original 1 World Trade Center, at 1,368 feet (417 m); and 2 World Trade Center, at 1,362 feet (415.1 m)—were the tallest buildings in the world. On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism.
Fig 3.03 New Skyline Durning the attack
Fig 3.04 New Skyline after the attack (Tribute by Light)
32
On Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767— United Airlines Flight 175—appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and streets below. It immediately became clear that America was under attack.
The following is a summary of facts, as they are known today: - 7 buildings destroyed at the World Trade Center site - 13.4 million square feet in 6 buildings destroyed; - 21.1 million square feet in 23 buildings damaged; - 1.8 million tons of debris were removed in less than ten months; - 40 people aboard the airplane that crashed in Shanksville, PA were murdered; - 184 military personnel and civilians were murdered at the Pentagon; - 2,792 people were murdered in the World Trade Center and its vicinity (number of victims confirmed by New York City Medical Examiner’s office as of April 18, 2003) - People from 92 countries around the world were murdered at all of these locations. In total, 3,016 men, women and children were murdered September 11, 2001 and six people were murdered in the bombing of the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. How America reacted ? The first memorials to September 11 came in the immediate wake of the attacks, with candlelight vigils and flower tributes at U.S. embassies around the world. For the first anniversary of the attacks in New York City in 2002, two bright columns of light were shot up into the sky from where the Twin Towers once stood. The “Tribute in Light” then became an annual installation run by the Municipal Art Society of New York. On clear nights, the beams are visible from over 60 miles away.
Fig 3.05 The Twin Tower
A World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was held to select an appropriate permanent memorial to the victims of 9/11. The winning design by Michael Arad, “Reflecting Absence,” now sits outside the museum in an eight-acre park. It consists of two reflecting pools with waterfalls rushing down where the Twin Towers once rose into the sky. The 9/11 Memorial was opened to the public on September 11, 2011, to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum followed, opening on the original World Trade Center Site in May 2014.
Fig 3.06 9/11 Memorial Competition Brief
33
World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition On March 5, 2002, Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) jointly announced plans for an interim memorial to the victims September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 World Trade Center attacks. The Selection Jury for the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition were announced on April 10. The Competition began on April 28, when the Guidelines were released, Registration was opened. The LMDC accepted questions from competitors between April 28 and May 18, which were answered on its website on May 23 and removed at the end of the competition. Potential entrants were given until May 29 to register for the stated purpose of gauging the volume of entires. On May 15, the LMDC announced that it had received registrants from all 50 US states and 70 other nations; on May 30, the LMDC announced that 13,683 competitors had registered. Guidelines: There were five required “program elements”: - Recognize each individual who was a victim of the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 attacks - Provide an area for quiet visitation and contemplation - Provide an area for the families and loved ones of victims - Provide a separate accessible space to serve as the final resting-place for the unidentified remains from the World Trade Center Site - Make visible the footprints of the original World Trade Center Towers
Fig 3.07 Map of Lower Manhattan and Plan of World Trade Center Site 34
Also, entrants were expected to conform to following “guiding principles”: - Embody the goals and spirit of the mission statement - Convey the magnitude of personal and physical loss at this location - Acknowledge all those who aided in rescue, recovery, and healing - Respect and enhance the sacred quality of the overall site and the space designed for the memorial - Encourage reflection and contemplation - Evoke the historical significance of the worldwide impact of 9/11. - Create an original and powerful statement of enduring and universal symbolism. - Inspire and engage people to learn more about the events and impact of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 and which Evolve over time.
The Site The memorial site is part of the larger site plan for the future rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Of the approximately 16 acres designated for reconstruction, the memorial and cultural complex occupies an area of 6.5 acres that includes the 4.7-acre memorial site, a museum and other cultural buildings. The memorial and cultural complex is bounded by the West Street 8-lane highway to the west, an extension of Fulton Street to the north, a restored Greenwich Street to the east, and a new, eastwest oriented Liberty Street Park to the south. The cultural buildings form a protective shield and a buffer zone for the memorial site along Fulton Street and Greenwich Street. The memorial site itself is an area of approximately 4.7 acres that is recessed 30 feet below street level. The site includes the two approximately 200 by 200 feet areas known as “footprints,” where original Towers were located. There is a glazed wall defining northern edge of north tower footprint. This glazed wall provides natural light for the adjacent pedestrian concourse. On the southern side of the site there is a new concrete wall forming the edge of the memorial site at Liberty Street. At the western perimeter of the memorial site is an area adjacent to the slurry wall going all the way down to bedrock, approximately 70 feet below street level. It extends approximately 260 feet south from the northwest corner of the site and has a width of approximately 24 feet. It provides an opportunity for visitors to experience the full depth of the site and allows explicit views of slurry wall’s full height.
Fig 3.08 Statue of Liberty, Studio Libeskind Skyline View
The museum and cultural buildings framing the site, including the façades and all architectural elements, are not included as part of the competition. The western edge of the site, below grade, is defined by the exposed slurry wall, the only surviving structure from the original World Trade Center. It is fundamental to Studio Daniel Libeskind’s design that the slurry wall remains prominent and visible. The north wing of the cultural building complex spans over the North Tower footprint and provides a visual frame from Fulton Street. The eastern wing cantilevers over the southern footprint and, together with a waterfall, provides a definition of the South Tower footprint. Between the two wings and at their center is September 11 Place plaza, overlooking the memorial site and giving central access to the memorial and the museum.
Fig 3.09 Memorial Site Boundary Plan
35
Access and Circulation: It was estimated that the number of visitors to the memorial site will be 5 million annually, with an estimated 8,000 – 50,000 visitors daily. Memorial designs may accommodate opportunities for ceremonies and celebration. In general, however, future primary east-west pedestrian movement through the site to the memorial will be on Fulton Street. Starting on the east side at South Street Seaport and moving west, Fulton Street will connect: (a) The MTA subway Transit Center hub at Broadway and further west (b) The Wedge of Light Plaza and the PATH station at Church Street (c) The September 11th Place plaza, one of the four points of access to the memorial site itself. Fulton Street continues west past the World Trade Center site to the World Financial Center Winter Garden, and finally the Hudson River waterfront and the ferry terminal. Pedestrians will also arrive using the remapped Greenwich Street running north-south, as well as the entry ramps on Liberty and Fulton streets. Fig 3.10 Site View Render- Northeast
There are four access points to the memorial site: 1. The main access from September 11th Place plaza; 2. A ramp from the corner of Liberty Street and West Street; 3. Third, a ramp at Greenwich Street; and 4. A staircase and elevators at the intersection of Fulton and West Street. Competition Boundaries Competitors may locate or integrate the memorial anywhere within the memorial site limits and boundaries as shown in Illustrations. The memorial site ground plane is a concrete deck located approximately 30 feet below street level and approximately 40 feet above bedrock. Memorial designs should not extend below this plane except at the northwest corner of the memorial site where the exposed slurry wall extends down to the bedrock. Any landscaping and soil must extend up from this memorial plane.
Fig 3.11 Site View Render- Northwest
36
Access points, escalators, and ramps are indicated on the attached site plans as excluded from the memorial competition. Exposed slurry wall, the waterfall and walls of the cultural buildings are also excluded from the competition.
Climate: New York City is in a temperate region. Summers are often hot and humid. Winters may be harsh with freezing temperatures, snowfall, and northwest winds off the Hudson River located three blocks from the World Trade Center site. Competitors had to consider this wide range of climates.
The World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was an open, international memorial contest, initiated by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) according to the specifications of architect Daniel Libeskind, to design a memorial for the World Trade Center site (later renamed the National September 11 Memorial) at the underconstruction World Trade Center in New York City. The competition began on April 28, 2003 . Fig 3.12 Site View Render- Aerial View
Selection: On July 17, the LMDC announced that 5,201 submissions had been received, representing competitors from 49 U.S. states and 63 nations. Entries were examined by “LMDC staff” prior to jury review to determine whether they met the competition requirements. Although the Jury was allowed to review the list of ineligible submissions, the LMDC itself was to make the final determination. The LMDC displayed the 8 finalists in the Winter Garden on November 19. On January 6, 2004, the Selection Jury named Michael Arad and Peter Walker’s “Reflecting Absence” as the winning design, which was displayed publicly January 14. On February 19, 2004, all 5,201 entries on its website were made available on the LMDC’s website. On April 8, the LMDC announced the creation of an Advisory Committee to ensure that the Competition Guidelines are incorporated into the final design, which had undergone revision since January 14. On April 13, the LMDC announced that associate architect Davis Brody Bond would assist Arad and Walker with their final design.
Fig 3.13 Architect Micheal Arad Reflecting Absence Design Model
37
Reflecting Absence design: Today in Lower Manhattan, thousands of visitors are crossing a landscaped plaza of oak trees towards two black granite, sculptural voids, and carved deep into the earth, to commemorate the victims of September 11, 2001. Designed by Michael Arad of Handel Architects, the National September 11 Memorial has transformed the last remnants of the former World Trade Center (WTC) towers into a power civic space for contemplation and healing. Here, the painful memory of 9/11 is preserved and honored, while the necessary bustle of everyday life is able to move forward. The design and construction of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site is one of the most significant undertakings in the history of New York City.
Fig 3.14 9/11 Site and Surrounding
The National September 11 Memorial, appropriately titled “Reflecting Absence”, occupies eight of the site’s 16 acres. The two identical reflecting pools, each 192 feet by 192 feet and clad in Jet Mist granite, frame the footprints of the WTC and provide an integrated public space that fosters meditation and contemplation within the city. Water cascades from the edges of the voids into the seemingly endless pit, drowning out the noises of the city and focusing the visitors attention to the memorial, while Oak trees screen the contemplative memorial and border the 212 foot by 212 foot perimeters of the original twin towers. The park is at street level, sitting above the Memorial Museum. The World Trade Center site is a bathtub, as the area was excavated to construct the original World Trade Center and the earth was used to build Battery Park City, a neighboring residential community. The names of the victims of the attacks (including those from the Pentagon, American Airlines Flight 77, and United Airlines Flight 93) and the 1993 bombing are inscribed on the parapets surrounding the waterfalls,in an arrangement based on “meaningful adjacencies”. A portion of the slurry wall (approximately half of what Daniel Libeskind originally wanted to preserve), originally designed to hold back the Hudson River, were maintained in the Museum.
Fig 3.15 9/11 Pools- the voids
38
PWP joined Michael Arad in the final stage of the Memorial design competition with a mandate from the jury to humanize the scheme without diminishing the abstraction that had established it as a finalist. The broad scope of the trauma of 9/11 requires that the Memorial use a symbolic language understood by a diverse audience; this language is an integral part of “Reflecting Absence” by Michael Arad and Peter Walker. Key Design Elements Sacred Space: Visitors will leave the everyday life of the city and enter into a sacred zone defined by a dense forest of 416 oak trees. Above the limbed-up trunks, a canopy of leaves will provided welcome shade in the heat of the summer and seasonal color in the fall. In the winter the sun will cast shadows through a light tracery of bare branches, and in spring, the trees will express the renewal of nature. The Voids: Using a language similar to Michael Heizer’s North, East, South, West, the voids render absence visible. In this way, the overwhelming losses of September 11th are given permanent presence. Within the protected space of the forest, visitors will arrive at the two great voids with their thundering waterfalls. After viewing the victims’ names on the bronze parapets of the voids, visitors will move back to the city through the trees and take comfort from the soothing, life-affirming forest.
Fig 3.16 9/11 Memorial Aerial View
The Flat Plane: Through the trunks of the trees the flat plane of the park is visible in its entirety. The density of the trunks extend the apparent depth and size of the plane and at the same time soften the view of the buildings beyond. The horizontal surfaces of the plaza--stone, ground cover, lawn, and steel grating--are patterned to assert and reinforce the flatness of the constructed plane. PWP combined graphic techniques and technical solutions developed through the firm’s long tradition of designing perceptually flat landscapes. Fountains: The one-acre voids, cut 30 feet into the site, are lined with waterfalls designed by Dan Euser With the addition of lighting designed by Paul Marantz, the waterfalls are also visible at night.
Fig 3.17 Landscape- The Trees in different seasons
39
The Forest The Memorial grove resembles a “natural” forest, until visitors discover that the trees align to form arching corridors in one orientation. The form recalls the arches that architect Minoru Yamasaki placed at the bottom of the original towers. In this way, the grove expresses the shared patterns of nature and humanity. The Glade: A grassy clearing within the grove is a quiet space away from the bustle of the plaza. Designed to accommodate ceremonies--specifically, the reading of victims’ names annually on September 11th--the space also provides soft green park space on typical days. Scaling Space: Within the Memorial grove, the varying distances between trees, the placement of benches, and the rhythm of ground-cover beds will create spaces with distinct scale, character, and qualities of light. Paving Design PWP studied the paving pattern at full scale in chalk, ultimately arriving at 12” x 60” pavers and 3” x 15” cobbles. The varying density of shadows in the joints between the pavers and the cobbles creates a subtle banding pattern that breaks up the vast flat plane of the Memorial into humanscaled zones.
Fig 3.18 Sections of 9/11 Memorial
Fig 3.19 The Memorial Tree
40
Fig 3.20 Abstract form of Tree in the Facade of Original Twin Towers
The Memorial Tree Working in collaboration with arborist Paul Cowie, PWP selected swamp white oaks as the tree species for the Memorial. Considered more disease resistant than red or pin oaks, the swamp white provides the strength, longevity, and symbolic weight that PWP was seeking for the Memorial. To maximize transplant recovery time the trees were transplanted into boxes several years ahead of construction. Since the trees were grown in over-sized boxes at a nearby location, tree transport and installation had virtually no impact on the root system. The trees were transported by Environmental Design to a temporary nursery in New Jersey where they have acclimated to the local climate for several years. The trees were simply craned onto a flatbed truck, driven into the city.In contrast to the typical ‘ball and burlap’ tree-transplant process, the Memorial trees were installed in batches through the seasons, in pace with plaza construction.
The 9/11 Memorial Museum The Museum serves as the country’s principal institution for examining the events of September 11, 2001, documenting its impacts, and exploring the continuing significance of the 9/11 attacks. About the Museum The 9/11 Memorial Museum invites visitors to learn about the history of the attacks and 1993 World Trade Center bombing at the site where the Twin Towers once stood. The Museum’s dynamic blend of architecture, archaeology, and history creates an unforgettable encounter with the story of the attacks, the aftermath, and the people who experienced these events.The Memorial Museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, in a ceremony led by U.S. President Barack Obama . It opened to the public on May 21, 2014. Visitors enter the Museum through an aboveground entry Pavilion on the Memorial. Designed by architectural firm Snøhetta, the Pavilion serves as a bridge between the memory of past events and the promise of renewal through reconstruction. Belowground, architect Davis Brody Bond designed Museum spaces that recognize the power of place and highlight the archaeological remnants of the World Trade Center Connecting with the Past- The Museum’s ramped descent offers views into the vast cavity of the original World Trade Center complex. After 9/11, preservationists, survivors, and other advocates fought to ensure that the World Trade Center site and its archaeological remnants were saved. The World Trade Center site, however, became eligible in February 2004 after it was deemed to be “exceptionally significant in the history of the United States as the location of events that immediately and profoundly influenced the lives of millions of American citizens.” One of these historic remnants, known as the Survivors’ Stairs, lies at the end of the ramp. On 9/11, this staircase at the edge of the elevated World Trade Center Plaza provided an unobstructed exit for people fleeing the site. After 9/11, the stairs were slated for demolition but were saved during the federal review process of the site’s historic assets. As visitors arrive at the main exhibition and education level, they follow the stairs that led hundreds of survivors to safety on September 11, 2001.
Fig 3.21 Plans and Model of 9/11 Memorial and Museum 41
Recognizing the Power of Place: Visitors descend to the main exhibition and education level via a ramp that evokes a history of construction ramps at the World Trade Center site: one to build the original complex in the 1960s and another installed during the post-9/11 recovery period to remove wreckage from the site and grant victims’ family members access to Ground Zero. At bedrock, visitors encounter two monumental spaces: Memorial Hall and Foundation Hall. In Memorial Hall, located between the footprints of the original Twin Towers, two site-specific artworks are on view. A quotation forged from recovered World Trade Center steel by artist and blacksmith Tom Joyce—“No day shall erase you from the memory of time”—speaks to the Museum’s promise to remember the 2,983 lives lost. Surrounding the letters of the Virgil quote is a work by artist Spencer Finch titled Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning. Composed of 2,983 individual paper panels, Finch’s installation is a panoramic mosaic of color that attests to the magnitude of the disaster and its incalculable cost in human lives. Fig 3.22 Interiors of 9/11 Museum- The Last Column
The largest space in the Museum is Foundation Hall, situated beside the North Tower footprint. The backdrop for Foundation Hall is a monumental portion of the slurry wall, a concrete retaining wall built to hold back the waters of the nearby Hudson River when the World Trade Center site was first excavated in the mid-1960s. Following the collapse of the two towers on 9/11, the slurry wall remained intact, a potent symbol of strength ,resistance and resilience. At the center of Foundation Hall stands the Last Column, the final piece of World Trade Center steel to be removed from Ground Zero. As rescue and recovery workers cleared the site after 9/11, they covered the 36-foot steel column from top to bottom with inscriptions, mementos, and signatures. The Last Column was removed from the World Trade Center site on May 30, 2002, in a ceremony marking the official end of the recovery period.
Fig 3.23 Interiors of 9/11 Museum- Survivors Staircase
42
Remembering the Story of 9/11 : Exhibition spaces, conceived by lead designers Thinc Design in collaboration with Local Projects, provide visitors with an indelible encounter with the story of the attacks situated within the authentic site of the World Trade Center. The Museum’s core exhibitions are located inside the footprints of the North and South Towers. In Memoriam, the Museum’s memorial exhibition in the South Tower footprint, commemorates the victims of the attacks.
In the North Tower footprint, the Museum’s historical exhibition designed by Layman Design, , revisits the events of that day and explores the attacks’ historical antecedents as well as their aftermath and lasting repercussions. The Museum also has two galleries for rotating, temporary exhibitions. The South Tower Gallery in the South Tower footprint is dedicated to exhibitions of photography and artwork. The Special Exhibitions Gallery, in the North Tower footprint, explores topics of contemporary significance that speak to the ongoing ramifications of 9/11. Providing Access to History: Films are scheduled throughout the day in the Auditorium, and activities for students, children, and their caregivers are offered in the Education Center.
Exhibition The Museum tells the story of 9/11 through artifacts, imagery, personal stories, and interactive technology. Learn about the core exhibitions, special exhibitions, and rotating galleries in the Museum’s 110,000 square feet of space.
Fig 3.24 Interiors of 9/11 Museum- Historical Exhibition
Historical Exhibition: September 11, 2001- This historical exhibition presents the story of 9/11 using artifacts, images, first-person testimony, and archival audio and video recordings. The exhibition is made up of three parts: the Events of the Day, as they unfolded; Before 9/11, which provides the historical context leading up to the attacks; and After 9/11, which addresses the immediate aftermath and ongoing repercussions of the terrorist attacks. Memorial Exhibition: In Memoriam -It honors the 2,977 individuals killed as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, at this site as well as at the Pentagon and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It also honors the six individuals killed in the terrorist bombing of World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. K-9 Courage- The newest special exhibition at the 9/11 Memorial Museum honors the hundreds of dogs that participated in the response to the 9/11 attacks.
Fig 3.25 Interiors of 9/11 Museum- Memorial Exhibition
43
Revealed: The Hunt for Bin Laden- Based on unprecedented access to the agencies and people who conducted the hunt. Revealed: It examines the intelligence and military activities that led to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was killed nearly 10 years after 9/11. Reflecting on 9/11- It invites visitors to record their own stories, memories and opinions about 9/11 and the day’s ongoing ramifications. . Visitor recordings are added to the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s digital archive and may be featured in the Reflecting on 9/11 galleries. Rebirth at Ground Zero- It is an immersive media installation that tracks the physical transformation and renewal at the World Trade Center site alongside the emotional journeys of individuals who were directly affected by 9/11. The Collection Fig 3.26 Interiors of 9/11 Museum- K9 Courage Exhibition
The 9/11 Memorial Museum’s permanent collection is an unparalleled repository consisting of material evidence, first-person testimony, and historical records of response to February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001 and the ongoing repercussions of these terrorist events. Inside the Collection- The Museum’s permanent collection is available on Inside the Collection, an online catalog with a searchable database of select objects. The database is continually growing to bring more of the Museum’s rich holdings to a wider audience. Give to the Collection- The Museum is actively accepting donations to the permanent collection. If you have objects, documents, or images of a historical or commemorative nature, or a story to share that you believe might be of interest to the Museum, please tell us about them by using the link below.
Fig 3.27 Interiors of 9/11 Museum- Twin Tower Tridents 44
Fig 3.28 Exometric View of Layout of 9/11 Museum
Oral Histories- The 9/11 Memorial Museum’s oral history archive tells the story of 9/11 through recorded interviews conducted from different perspectives, offering the immediacy of first-person testimony of lived experiences. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum Audio Guide provides themed audio tours featuring stories from the day of 9/11 and the recovery at Ground Zero.
Making absence Visible: Michael Arad at TEDxWallStreet To begin with this sketch, which I drew a few weeks maybe month after the attack brings me back to that day in 2001 and in fact when I walked in the building today I noticed the address on Broad Street it reminded me if that day my wife used to work at the very other end of the Broadway at 1:25 and she was already at work that morning and I remember seeing the attacks from the rooftop of our apartment building in East village and then rushing down here to find her walking north on Water Street as the first tower fell. So as a New Yorker and I think many people in this room is New Yorkers and remembers that day very clearly. I felt compelled to try and respond in some way to the emotions that I felt and as a designer I begin to sketch and I imagined for some reason the sort of image that came in dream; two voids in a Hudson river as if the river had been split open, torn open and forming these two square voids and the water would cascade down into them never filling them up, the sense of ongoing absence. I was so intrigued by the idea that I ended up spending the next year in my free time taking this sketch and developing a small fountain; a small sculpture that captured the idea of that surface of water sort of shorn open forming these two square voids and ended up taking it up to that rooftop in East village and photographing it against the Manhattan skyline and I could see the absence of the towers and the skyline mirrored and reflected in the foreground and these two voids and today we are talking about filling the void. I don’t know that this was an attempt to fill the void as much as to acknowledge in to it too, to accept it in some way and when I finished doing this you can took this model and set it aside and thought that I had kind of finished this self-directed cathartic exercise but a year later a competition was announced for the design of the memorial at the World Trade Center and it followed the selection of a master plan by Daniel Liebeskind which took that super block that had been created in the 60s and carved it up into four unequal blocks by bringing Greenwich Street back through the site as well as Fulton setting aside an 8 acre site where the towers had once been as the site for the memorial & I thought that was a very positive move .I thought that connecting the site back to the city was important and in no small part because of my own experience in New York in the days and weeks that followed the attack. I think the way that New York responded to the attack; the way New Yorkers did with a tremendous amount of stoicism and compassion and determination was in no small part the product of our ability to stand side to side with foe or curse at street corners or public squares and that these public spaces had a civic virtue within them that allowed us to literally stand together and respond as a community and for the first time in life having lived in New York for number of years I felt like a New Yorker. It was kind of a strange that it had to take that to bring me to that realization. So when I saw these plans for the site that were issued as part of the competition guidelines, I felt that although the master plan tried to integrate the site overall back into the life of the city the site of the memorial itself was cut off from the life of the city. There was a large bridge building over the North Tower footprint, which you see in a lighter green on the left side of the screen and there was a long ramp, which would bring you down from the street level into this very big pit in the middle of the city and I can understand the desire to shield and separate the site from the everyday life of the city, but my own experience in New York taught me how resilient public space was and how important it was to actually bring this different uses together to imagine a place it would be a memorial but also a living part of the day to day life of New York so in a very polemical way I started to develop an idea which ignored these guidelines and suggested bringing everything up to grade creating memorial plaza bounded by West Street and Greenwich by Fulton and Liberty and then taking these voids which I had previously thought of as markers in the river and bringing them to the site to mark the footprints of the towers. This was the competition entry I sent him was before digital submissions were common so literally sent a 30 by 40 inch board to the LMDC and on this board I described this ideas and the last few words on the text above our work or play that was very important to say that this is a site is for memory but it is also site where people who will be working in these office towers around this plaza should be able to come down at lunch where people who live in this neighborhood with their kids should come and be able to spend a beautiful afternoon or day together and this wasn’t a zero-sum game that in fact having all of these different groups together on this site enriched and made more meaningfully the experience of being at the site for whatever reason you are here whether it was for that once in a life time pilgrimage or whether it was because you know you wanted to take a lunch break with a friend and then go back to work. So in a nutshell I think these two simple ideas, this notion of making absence visible and intangible and the notion of creating a public space were at the heart of this memorial design and as you can see it changes in some way over this period of eight years from design to construction, but I think those ideas remain true. But what looks like a very simple plaza in the middle of the city is in fact quite a complicated structure. It’s a green roof above 60 feet of program space and below us is everything from a train to New Jersey, a subway running under Greenwich Street, Pump Rooms for Fountains, A museum in underground concourse linking the Fulton street Transit center to the World Financial center but up above what it feels like is a normal public space and we didn’t want to Telegraph that complexity up; what we really wanted to do was allow the site to communicate absence which is quality that is rare in New York, where if New York is full of stuff and to actually leave a space empty is rare and its not empty and devoid of meaning. Its an emptiness that is analogous to the silence of a moment of silence. What you do with that moan of silence, where you take it is up to you; but we have given people the opportunity to have that; that moment of introspection. I’d like to segue to two corollaries to this, which is my thought about design we were guided by these ideas, this notion of making absence visible, of being able to look to the past; but design itself is the process and when we began this process there are many things which are unknown to us its not just the end product; its how you get there. He ended the speech by saying these words: “Everything that we did up until that point (Completing of construction and opening the memorial to public) felt like it was just half of the equation and the second half was letting the public come in here together; to be in the presence of each other and to me that goes back to my own experience in New York, if not being alone by going to places like Union Square, Washington Square and standing in the company of others what charges this place is not just the past but how we react to it today.”
45
3.3. Jewish Museum - “Between the lines Berlin, Germany Design by: Daniel Libeskind Competition: 1989 Opening: 2001 Net Area: 120, 000 sq. ft. The following project is the winning entry for “The extension of the Berlin Museum with the Jewish Museum Department”. The site:
Fig 3.29 Interior View of Jewish Museum
The site is next to a building- the classical Kollegienhaus. The new Jewish Museum is a modern structure hailed as an architectural masterpiece; house the exhibitions, collections, and several offices of the Jewish Museum Berlin. The Kollegienhaus is the entrance to the Jewish Museum Berlin. A black slate staircase leads visitors downwards into the neighboring Libeskind Building. Constructed in 1735, the Kollegienhaus was built to house the Prussian chamber court. All but the court’s exterior walls were destroyed during World War II. The Kollegienhaus was rebuilt in 1963 and was used as the city Museum of Berlin. Story:
Fig 3.30 Site Model and Location of Jewish Museum, Berlin
46
The tragedy of the holocaust- the Jewish extermination from Germany the event and its story, has been interpreted by the designer in this project as various levels that communicate the essence of the tragedy to form a new narrative plot of the tragedy giving it new meaning in the light of the past and the future.The design is based on a rather involved process of connecting lines between locations of historic events and locations of Jewish culture in Berlin. These lines form a basic outline and structure for the building. The essence of the tragedy has been reduced to the concepts of Absence, emptiness and the invisible expressions of the disappearance of Jewish culture in the city- to design the building. The Jewish Museum is a museum, which explicitly Thematizes and integrates for the first time in post war Germany, history of Jews in Germany and repercussions of Holocaust.
There are three basic ideas that formed the plot for Jewish Museum design: • The impossibility of understanding the history of Berlin without understanding the enormous intellectual, economic and cultural contribution made by the Jewish citizens of Berlin. •The necessity to integrate physically and spiritually the meaning of Holocaust into the consciousness and memory of the city of Berlin. •That only through the acknowledgement and incorporation of this erasure and void of Jewish life in berlin, can the history of Berlin and Europe have a human future. The official name of the project is the “Jewish Museum”, but the architect has called it “Between the Lines”. This is because it is a project about two lines of thinking, organization and relationship. One is a straight line, but broken into many fragments; the other is a tortuous line, but continuing indefinitely. These two lines develop architecturally and programmatically through a limited but define dialogue. They also fall apart, become disengaged and are seen as separated. In this way, they expose a void that runs through this museum and through architecture, a discontinuous void.
Fig 3.31 Illustration of Exisiting Building and its Extension
The site is the new old center of Berlin on Lindenstrasse next to the distinguished Kollegienhaus, the former Baroque Prussian courthouse. At the same time, the designer identifies, that there was this actual visible site, and there was an invisible matrix of connections, a connection of relationships between figures of Germans and Jews. This connection has been found and plotted as an irrational matrix, which would yield reference to the emblematic of a compressed and distorted star. The yellow star that was so frequently worn on this very site. This is the first aspect of the Project. The design also gets inspiration from music of Schonberg .His greatest work is the opera called “Moses and Aaron”, which could not be completed. For an important structural reason the logic of libretto could not be completed by the musical score. At the end of the opera, Moses doesn’t sing, he just speaks “oh word, thou word”, addressing the absence of the Word, and one can understand it as a ‘text’, because when there is no more singing, the missing word which is uttered by Moses, the call for the Word, the call for the Deed, is understood clearly. The design has sought to complete the opera architecturally and that is the second aspect of this project.
Fig 3.32 Aerial View of Jewish Museum
47
The third aspect of this project is the interest in the names of those persons who were deported from Berlin during the fatal years of the Holocaust. Two very large volumes called the ‘Gedenkbuch’, which are incredibly because all they contain are names, just lists and lists of names, dates of birth, dates of deportation and presumed places where they were murdered. The forth aspect of the project is formed by Walter Benjamin’s One Way Street. This aspect is incorporated into the continuous sequence of 60 sections along the zigzag, each of which represents one of the ‘Stations of the Star’. To summarize the fourfold structure: The first is the invisible and irrationally connected star, which shines with absent light of individual address. The second is the cut off Act 2 of Moses and Aaron, which culminates with the not musical fulfillment of the world. The third is the everpresent dimension of the deported and missing Berliners; forth is Walter Benjamin’s urban apocalypse along the one-way street.
Fig 3.33 Jewish Cemetry in Weissensee
These are inspirations from the cultural narrative, which help interpret the tragedy and build a new narrative. The Jewish cemetery in Weissensee, Berlin has a striking character, which is its emptiness. The tombstones were huge granite slabs, stretching for many meters long and high. There was no one left to visit. There was almost no evidence of Hebrew letters or symbols and it was somehow, for the future of a community with the confidence that they will be carved by the future generation. This phenomenon is truly poignant. The Idea: The idea of the Jewish museum get translated into sketches that looks like sketches of the museums ruins, a house whose wings have been scrambled and reshaped by the jolt of genocide. It is a devastated site that would now enshrine its broken forms. Through a twisting and jagged lightening bolt of a building, runs a straight- cut void, slicing through it and even extending outside of it an empty, unused space bisecting the entire building.
Fig 3.34 Voids that run through the New Extension 48
According to Libeskind, “The new extension is conceived as an emblem where the not visible has made itself apparent as a void, an invisible…. The idea is very simple: to build the museum around that runs through it a void that is to be experienced by the public.”
This void is indeed the building’s structural rib, its main axis, a central bearing wall that bears only its own absence. “I have introduced the idea of the void as a physical interference with chronology,” Libeskind has said. “It is the one element of continuity throughout the complex form of the building. It is 27 meters high and runs the entire length of the building over 150 meters. It’s a straight line whose impenetrability forms the central axis. The void is traversed by bridges which connect the various part of the museum to each other.” Indeed, it is not the building itself that constitutes this architecture but the spaces inside the building, the voids and absence embodies by empty spaces: that which is constituted not by the lines of the drawings but by those spaces in between the lines. By building voids into the heart of the design, it highlights the spaces between walls as the primary element of architecture. The walls themselves are important only insofar as they lend shape to these spaces and define borders. It is the void “between the lines” that one seeks to capture here, a void so real, so palpable and so elemental to Jewish history of berlin as to be its focal point after the holocaust - a negative center of gravity around which Jewish memory now assembles.
Fig 3.35 People viewing the city through voids
This concept takes form in kinked and angled sequence through the building, orchestrated to allow visitors to see (but not to enter) certain empty rooms, which Libeskind terms as “voided voids.” The ideas which generate the plan of the building repeat themselves on the surface of the building, where voids, windows and perforations form a sort of cosmological composition on zigzagging zinc surface. The light that comes in and out of the museum does not come through normal windows, as there are no conventional windows in the building. Of course there are places where one can see the sky, where one can see the street and where one can look across, but they have never been conceived as traditional windows, as holes in the walls, which are there to look out of. They were generated by a completely different logic of openness; of a new better future.
Fig 3.36 The voids as seen from Interiors of the building 49
It is the openness of what remains of those glimpses across the terrainglimpse, views and glances that are sometimes accidental yet are the disciplined longitude- latitude lines belonging to a projection of addresses traversing the addresses.The building’s radical design is barely apparent as one approaches it from the street. Although its untempered zinc plating is startlingly bright in its metallic sheen, when viewed from the entrance of the berlin museum on Lindenstrasse, the new building also strikes one as a proportionately modest neighbor to the older Baroque faced next door. Indeed, over time, the plating will weather into the same sky blue shade as the untempered zinc window frames on the berlin museum next door. The echo of the materials and hue between these buildings is thus subtle but distinct, the only apparent link between them at first sight.
Fig 3.37 The Inaccessible Void
Moreover, Libeskind’s museum is lower and narrower than the Berlin Museum and its zinc-plated façade seems relatively self-effacing next to the ochre hues of its Baroque neighbor. Though outwardly untouched, the stolid Baroque façade of the Berlin museum itself is now re-contextualized in its new setting adjacent the Jewish Museum. The connection between the Berlin Museum and Jewish museum extension remains subterranean, a remembered nexus that is also no longer visible in the landscape but buried in memory. The entrance is through Baroque Kollegienhaus and then into a dramatic entry void by a star, which descends under the existing, building foundations, crisscrosses underground and materializes itself as an independent building on the outside. The existing building is tied to the extension underground, preserving the contradictory autonomy of both the old building and the new building and the new building on the surface, while binding the two together in the depth of time and space.
Fig 3.38 Between the lines as seen from Exterior of the building
50
As one enters the museum, in fact the very plane of the ground on which one stands seems to slope slightly. It is an illusion created in part by the diagonal slant of narrow, turret- like- window, cut at 35-degree angles across the ground line itself. For, on the “ground floor,” one is actually standing just below ground level, which is literally visible through the window at above eye level. Only the earth line in the half buried window establishes a stable horizon. Because the upper floor windows are similarly angles, one’s view of berlin itself is skewed; its skyline is broken into disorienting slices of sky and surrounding buildings of the city.
There are three underground ‘roads’, which programmatically have three separate stories. The first and longest ‘road’, leads to the main stair, to the continuation of Berlin’s history, to the exhibition space in the Jewish Museum. The second road leads outdoors to the E.T.A. Hoffmann Garden and represents the exile and emigration of Jews from Germany. The third road leads to the dead end – the Holocaust Void. The axis of Continuity- the longest axis leads to the steep stairways, likened by some to Jacob’s ladder (with important biblical context), climbing up the exhibition spaces. Due to the steepness, it looks like an endless stair from the basement level at its base; from the top where the last steps lead to a dead-end wall, looking down, the steps disappears from view - there seems to be no turning back. The space in compresses and opens only in one direction – upwards. The visitor is then forced to look upwards where one sees great concrete beams seeming to have great difficulty in stabilizing the structure and holding it apart. The long axis with the stairway makes it difficult to return to the light of the day.The exhibition hall themselves are spacious but so irregular in their spaces, cut through by enclosed voids and concrete trusses, that one never gains a sense of continuous passage. In fact a total of six voids, the first two are accessible to visitors entering from the sacred and religious exhibition spaces. According to the architect’s specifications, nothing is to be mounted on the walls of these first two voids, which may contain only freestanding vitrines or pedestals. The third and forth voids cut through the ceiling in angles that traverse several floors, but there are otherwise inaccessible voids. A window open into these voids and they may be viewed, but otherwise they are remain sealed off and so completely “unusable space” running throughout the structure and outside it. The fifth and sixth voids run vertically the height of the building. The fifth void mirrors the geometry of the sixth void, an external space enclosed by a tower: this is the holocaust void, an architectural model for absence.Though connected to the museum by an underground passageway, it appears to rise autonomously outside the walls of the museum and has no doors leading into it from outside. Fig 3.39 The Three Underground Roads and Voids (right)
51
It is lit indirectly by natural light that comes through an acutely slanted window up high in the structure, barely visible from inside. Entering this insulated, non-climate-controlled space, the heavy door closing with a menacing thud, is to experience an instant sense of confinement. The sloped floor has a rough finish, creating a sound like scraping sandpaper as visitors walk about. The acoustics amplify sound, which bounces off the towering, surface of the angled walls, windowless but one vertical strip, where light penetrates high up near the top of the structure. It is a space calculated to evoke disconcerting disorientation, emotionally evocative. “The void” is a quality. It is a space one enters in the museum, which organizes the museum and yet it is not part of the museum. It is not heated, it is not air-conditioned and furthermore it is not really a museum space. Yet” the void” is something else- it is the space of Berlin, because it refers to that which can be exhibited when it comes to the Jewish Berlin history. Humanity reduced to ashes. So there is nothing except the walls and a line, which runs across Berlin. And the line is a white line of light, which connects the dream to a tectonic and constructive future of Berlin. The spaces inside the museum are to be constructed as “open narratives,” which in their architecture seek to provide the museum- goer with new insight into the collection and in particular, the relation and significance of the Jewish Department to the Museum as a whole. Instead of merely housing the collection, in other words, the space seeks to estrange it from the viewers own preconceptions. Such walls and oblique angles, defamiliarize the all too familiar ritual objects and historical chronologies and cause museumgoers to see into these relations between the Jewish and German departments as if for the first time.
Fig 3.40 Emotional and Physical Experience Inside the Museum
52
The interior of the building is thus interrupted by smaller, individual structure, shells housing the voids running throughout the structure, each painted graphite-black. They suggest instead architectural, spatial and thematic gaps in the presentation of Jewish history in Berlin. The absence of Berlin’s Jews, as embodied by these voids, is meant to haunt any retrospective presentation of their past here. Moreover, curators of both permanent and temporary exhibitions are not to use these voids as “natural” boundaries or walls in their exhibition, or as markers within their exhibition narratives. Instead, they are to design exhibitions that integrate these voids into any story being told.
Implied in any museums collection is that what one see’s is all there is to see, all that there ever was. By placing architectural “voids” throughout the museum, one has tried to puncture this museological illusion. What one sees here, is actually only a mask for all that is missing, for the great absence of life that now makes a presentation of these artifacts a necessity. The voids make palpable a sense that much more is missing here than can ever be shown. It was the destruction itself that caused the collection to come into being. Otherwise, these objects would all be part of living, breathing homes- unavailable as museum objects. This is, then, an aggressively anti redemptory design, build literally around an absence of meaning in history, an absence of the people who would have given meaning to their history. The only way out of the new building is through the Garden of exile. “This road of exile and emigration leads to a very special garden which Libeskind calls “The E.T.A. Hoffmann Garden.” Hoffmann was the romantic writer of incredible tales and he was a lawyer working in a building adjacent to the site. The Garden of Exile consists of 49 concrete filled with earth, each 7 meters high, 1.3 x 1.5 meters square, spaced a meter apart. Forty-eight of these columns are filled with earth from berlin, their number referring to the year of Israel’s independence, 1948; the 49th column stands for Berlin and is filled with earth from Jerusalem. They are planted with willow oaks that spread over the entire garden of columns into a green canopy overhead. The column stand at 90-degree angles to the ground plate, but the ground plate itself is tilted at two different angles, so that one stumbles about as if in the dark, at sea without sea legs. One is sheltered in exile, on one hand, but still somehow thrown off balance by it and disoriented at the same time. Here the experience begins with the feet – it begins at the ground. The E.T.A Hoffmann Garden represents an attempt to completely disorient the visitor. One enters it and finds the experience somewhat disturbing. It is unstable; one feels a little bit sick walking through it. But is accurate, because thats what perfect order feels, when one leaves history of Berlin. The garden is in the open air- a hanging garden or an image of uprooting. There is a loss of reference point as the garden is like a labyrinth. The garden is a dead end. It is cut off from the outside by a dry moat worthy of a fortress. The escape into the free air is an illusion! There is no way to get out other than to return to the underground axis.
Fig 3.41 Organization of the Jewish Museum
53
Functional aspect: The design of the Jewish Museum engenders a fundamental rethinking of architecture in relation to this program. The museum exhibits the social, political and cultural history of Jews in Berlin from the 4th Century to the present. The program here as evolved as an intrinsic part of the narrative structure is to communicate the Jewish genocide in Berlin’s history. The function of a space is conceived as an experience of the narrative and not an isolated activity. The underground three major axes deal with a programmatic need to make visitor experience the stories that make the Jewish Museum narrative, representing its meaning. The exhibition space is seen in light of a continuation of Berlin’s history and not in isolation as a space to just display objects.
Fig 3.42 Exterior View of the Zinc Facade
The voids though are “unused spaces”, play the major role. They are not meant to instruct, per se, but to throw previously received instruction into question. Their aim is not to reassure or console but to haunt visitors with the unpleasant- uncanny- sensation of calling into consciousness that which has been previously – even happily – repressed. The voids are reminders of the abyss into which this culture once sank and from which it never really emerges. The function of a window or a staircase has been redefined to enhance the ‘latent function’, where their meaning becomes most critical. There has been an attempt to sever the connection altogether between form and function. If, until then, architecture had taught that form was function, the case here show that form could be much more than merely functional by being much less. Here one has exploded geometrical shapes into their components, re-arranging them in a ways to show affinities and dissimilarities between their parts and other shapes.
Fig 3.43 The Narrow Passages of the Jewish Museum
54
The three major programmatic axes, pull the visitor back in time and sometimes push him/her back into the present, left to self introspection. This is the history; this is the collision, the kaleidoscope of gaps, traces and the intersection of the impossibilities, which this building presents to the public through books, artifacts, paintings, sculptures, toys and fashions. This is not Kaiser’s collection, but rather a museum, which presents the collection of ordinary citizens. This is what makes the building unique and what makes it fascinating program to fulfill.
Daniel Libeskind- Time Space Existence “Time is out of Joint.” How beautiful is that thought of Shakespeare that time itself is out of joint and it is this disjointing; that where the building happens. That’s the moment in which our building is built. Time is coming from the future, not from behind us .Its coming towards us, in a very unexpected way and that’s the aspect that one has to articulate in a building which is always of course moving forward as you are constructing it and as people are inhabiting it and living in it; Remembering it. Architecture is the only art that exists completely in drawing. My career’s path of architecture was drawing. I didn’t start with commissions, with clients, with sociology of architecture. I started by siting at a table with a ruling pen and ink and a pencil and a piece lines” or “Between the lines” and it’s about drawing what lies between the lines of paper and started drawing a structure of architecture. It’s not different from music; you know music is a notation. I intended it as a projection of ideas which are really incarnated in drawings, embodied in drawings. I call my project for the Jewish museum “In between the mind, the drawings and of the building itself. Who would have ever thought I mean the Jewish Museum the history itself would show you that, it was never meant to be built. After a while the Jewish Museum became part of the fabric of Berlin, it’s a building that really presents itself with the out bow or something that speaks to that history and has changed history. Memory as far as I’m concerned is the ground of architecture. What gives us a sense of place? Well it’s more than just the site and it’s more than just us. Its all the others that gives meaning to the site. I always seek to think of; What has been repressed in memory on a site? What are the voices that are whispering to us across an abyss, across catastrophes, across voids? What are these voices saying to us? What are they, the invisible aspects that are really there and you have to be aware of them in order to build anything of true significance? Architecture in many ways subverts, that world of order; that we have come to associate with convention. You have to sell navigate and unfold possibilities that are not always obvious but whether it is huge master plan like ground zero which has to be consensus of literally most powerful groups in the world to be build. Very few master plans have ever been built as massive as so I thought to myself of how do you build a master plan that will not wind up in archive. You have to engage yourself in the politics; don’t build anything on the site in the central city where people perished. It’s a piece of real estate, very expensive but isn’t just not quite right to build anything. Exile the buildings, the Big Sky Square to the periphery of the site, leave it as a civic space and create symbolic elements. Architecture is in a way, but now anybody can build a building but the civic art of architect is not below, it’s cultural.
55
3.4. Holocaust Memorial -’Field of Otherness’ Berlin, Germany Design by: Peter Eisenman Competition: 1989 Opening: 2001 Net Area: 120, 000 sq. ft. The Story of Holocaust:
Fig 3.44 The Holocaust Memorial Site (a) Locating the city (b) Locating the Museum
The story of the holocaust has been interpreted in the most abstract sense in making of the memorial. It is Hitler’s irrational growth of power and control that has given plot to the memorial. The enormity of the banal is the context of this monument. The project manifests the instability inherent in what seems to be a system, here a rational grid and its potential for dissolution in time. It suggests that when a supposedly rational grid and ordered system grows too large and out of proportion to its intended purpose, it in fact loses touch with human reason. It then begins to reveal the innate disturbances and potential for chaos in all systems of seeming order, the idea that all closed systems of a closed order are bound to fail. The Site: It’s a very unusual site, and it’s kind of amazing that the site right in the center of Berlin was actually made available for this project. And the reason is basically that between 1963 and 1989 the Berlin Wall, which separated eastern Berlin from western Berlin, occupied the site. The site to the north is bounded by the Brandenburg Gate and the Unter den Linden. The Unter den Linden, or Under the Linden Trees, is one of the main boulevards of Berlin, and it leads right to the heart of the cultural area of Berlin. On the south is the Potsdamer Platz, which before the Berlin Wall went up was the main commercial center of Berlin. After the Berlin Wall came down, was just like this 17-acre wasteland with grass and weeds and some remnants of pavement. The site during the Nazi occupation of Berlin was the command center of the National Socialist Party. And it’s reported that even buried in the site with no entrance to it is the bunker in which Hitler committed suicide. So the site is saturated, is deep with these this history and these memories, these contradictory memories.
56
The Design elements: In searching for the instability in an apparently stable system, the design begins from a rigid grid structure composed of some 2,711 concrete pillars or stelae, each 95 centimeters wide and 2.375 meters long, with heights varying from zero to 4 meters. The pillars are spaced 95 centimeters apart to allow only for individual passage through the grid. The only possible way of experiencing it would therefore is an ‘individual’, since no two people can move next to each other in these narrow spaces. Although the difference between the ground plane and the top plane of the pillars may appear to be random and arbitrary, a matter of pure expression, this is not the case. Each plane is determined by the intersections of the voids of the pillar grid and the gridlines of the larger site context of berlin. In effect, a slippage in the grid structure occurs, causing indeterminate spaces to develop within the seemingly rigid order of the Holocaust memorial. These spaces condense, narrow and deepen to provide a multilayered experience from any point. The agitation of the field shatters any notions of absence axially and reveals instead an Omni-directional reality. The illusion of the order and security in the internal grid and frame of the street grid are thus destroyed.
Fig 3.45 Aerial View of the Holocaust Memorial
Remaining intact however is the idea that the pillars extend between two undulating grids, forming the top plane at eye level. The way these two systems interact describes a zone of instability between them. These instabilities, or irregularities are superimposed on both the topography of the site and on the top plane of the field of concrete pillars. A perceptual and conceptual divergence between the topography of the ground and the top plane of the stelae is thus created.With the thousands of concrete steles lined up in rows across a 19,000 square-meter open area, it is slightly reminiscent of a graveyard. “The place of no meaning”, as Eisenman once referred to the site in the hopes of dispelling fears that the design was trying to symbolize the death of the holocaust, however is intended as a confrontation with the past. The visitor, who finds himself winding his way through the forest of steles, will be struck by how distant the busy city center seems, and how quiet and reflective- but not graveyard like- the atmosphere is.
Fig 3.46 Plan of the Holocaust Memorial
57
Standing on an uneven piece of land, the stelae almost fall into the center of the site, rising up again towards the edge, forming a myriad of uneven stone corridors. Walking down one of these passages is disorientating and scary; one can’t see who is approaching or who is behind. The design gives the impression of an ‘undulating field.’ There is no entrance or exit to the site; no prescribed pathway through the steles. Since the monument does not have a specific entrance or exit, visitors will be able to choose their own way in and out of the complex. Passing through the rows of slabs that lean almost imperceptibly and stand on seemingly unstable ground, visitors may experience a sensation of insecurity. From outside, the 2,711 dark grey slabs form gentle wave, ankle high in some places, designed to give visitors a sense of groundlessness, of instability, a loss of orientation.
Fig 3.47 The Grid Layout of the Holocaust Memorial
Apart from being quite somber- the grey steles seem to absorb the light- the design is indeed striped of emotional symbols, even though connotations to grave fields or Jewish cemeteries can easily be made. In the end the design can’t be in itself wake up emotions among people who have not been affected by the holocaust one way or another. The strongest emotions are to be found in the hearts of the people that experienced the atrocities, as perpetrators, victims or liberators. The object is in itself numb; the traumas on the other hand are not. If people not affected by the holocaust find the memorial to be “cold”, is that not a reflection of their own disinterest? The memorial is not objective reflecting the memory of the past but reflects the visitors emotions and thereby force them to contemplate their personal relation to the Holocaust. The memorial itself does not offer any formal descriptions and does not make any specific reference to Judaism or the Nazi atrocities. It is absent of the names on the steles because it is not a graveyard. It is a field of pillars that attempts to de-contextualize the holocaust.The memorial does not try and locate it, does not try and make it a thing of nostalgia, does not try and make it be able to be rationalized.
Fig 3.48 Sections of Holocaust Memorial
58
The “cold” and “numb” object gives an unsettling experience and thus past in context of the present. The memorial minimalist abstraction refuses to provide a meaning beyond its name: Memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe. Like minimalism in sculpture, the memorial aspires towards the condition of non-art: it becomes ‘real’.
There is no figure, and one does not even face an object. Instead, the individual moves within and inside the components of the memorial. One’s body becomes involved as a part of it, and the memorial is only complete when faced by each, single participating observer. Any form of memory transported to it by the observer becomes part of the memorial. The memorial also included a subterranean information center at the edge of the site, which houses permanent exhibition dedicated to six million victims of the holocaust. The past has been buried underground and thus commemorating the dead. The visitors almost stumble to encounter the Ort. The entrance to the exhibition is made discreet and made to get lost in the maze of the steles. The Ort is subdued in manner, effectively designed to minimize any disturbance to the Memorial’s field of pillars. Its mass, weight and destiny seem to perceptibly bear down and close in on individuals. The organization of its space extends the stelae of the field into the structure, provoking a continued state of reflection and contemplation once inside. The stelae are manifested in the form of a coffered roof deck with rib spacing, which matches that of the field above. The presence of these elements is subverted by the Ort’s walls, which are set on a classical ninesquare grid. This grid is rotated against the logic of the field, thereafter thwarting any paradigmatic understanding of its formal arrangement. The uncertain frame of reference that results further isolates individuals in what is intended to be an unsettling, personal experience.
Fig 3.49 The Interiors of the Ort
Juxtaposed against the hard, concrete materiality of the Ort is a series of exhibitions that will use state of the art technologies to create an ephemeral and visceral dimension appropriate for reflection. The glow of the illuminated images and text is intended to dematerialize the walls of the Ort, allowing the stelae to reveal themselves as a topographical extension of the field. The exhibition space incorporates seats as elements within the display area to give opportunity to the visitors to sit, contemplate and spend time within one’s reflection.The space is dark ,disorienting. Projected stelae and stark white flooring lines guide the visitor. From this experience, one has to return back and thrown again into the jungle of the concrete pillars without any breathing space.
Fig 3.50 The Memorial and the Landscape around it
59
Mode of Abstraction: We’re told that abstract art is an art that doesn’t allow us interpretation with reference to something in reality that’s being depicted. While the Holocaust and abstraction have not often been put together in art history, there is a very powerful body of literature, in philosophy, and in theoretical writing, that often sanctions and even recommends abstract art over realistic art. The thinking goes something like this. To represent the victim suffering, realistically, gives us an image that fixes that stabilizes the victim’s condition, rather than actually inviting us and requiring us an active living memory. To wrest any kind of aesthetic pleasure out of a realistic depiction would just further victimize those who suffered. And then, finally to try to find some redemption, to try to find some relief, as if we could project our collective guilt onto these realistic images, to try to find some redemption would just falsify the actual horror, itself.
Fig 3.51 The Repetition of the Stelaes
Fig 3.52 The Consistancy of the same material- Concrete
60
Abstract architecture tends to focus more on form and structure, rather than content and subject matter. With this interpretation, we might begin to get at the hidden meanings those things that are unsayable, and unthinkable, and perhaps, even, unrepresentable. This can be quite productive in a project like this. If we make the structure of denial part of the content of the work we make denial, itself, part of the content of the work then the architecture might be able to bear the device of denial, itself. The first of these and maybe, in some ways, the most important in this project is repetition. It’s very important that the way these blocks are repeated the repetition takes our focus away from the attention on the object. It’s not like looking at the facade of a church. It’s not like studying a single piece of sculpture. The representation takes the attention away from the object and puts it on the process of repetition, itself. The process of reproduction. There’s also a kind of randomness that results from this process of repetition. The way the blocks seem to come up, out of the earth, even though there is a limit to the site. . It’s almost implied that the blocks continue under the earth, almost to infinity. As if, just this particular site has revealed the blocks that, otherwise, might be spread to infinity. So repetition also gives a kind of randomness and then limitlessness to the project. There’s no clear route. There’s no directed place to go. And yet, the field of blocks doesn’t seem homogeneous. Rather-- because of the randomness, because of the tilts, because of the difference in heights you actually feel like what’s been created is a field of difference, a field that’s charged with difference.
The second aspect of abstraction involves us with a different dimension of the project. The memorial has to be experienced in time. The architecture has to be performed. When you come up on the site, you’re almost in the project before you know it. The blocks start off very low. But, very, very quickly, the ground moves down, the blocks move up, and the outside world is shut out. Once you’re in the project, and lose the horizon, and lose the surroundings, the project actually becomes very enclosing. And then you’re required to focus on things that are immediate-- that are right there in experience, right there in the present. You focus on the textures, the inert coolness of the blocks. You focus on the way the light is constantly changing, the way there are bright spots and shadows. You focus on the undulation of the ground. Your whole experience becomes not a kind of constructed image of past history, but it becomes an intensified experience of the present of this moment. But mainly, you’re in the present. We might call this a sort of peripatetic architecture, an architecture that you have to walk through, an architecture that you experience really as much with your body as you do your mind. And this peripatetic architecture is the way that Eisenman doesn’t give us a fixed history of the Holocaust, in the same way he doesn’t give us an image of the Holocaust. But he gives us a way of remembering-- a living memory. The third aspect of abstraction has to do with the treatment of the ground in the memorial. The ground-- a stable ground-- gives us a bodily security, as well as a mental certainty. When the ground is disturbed, that certainty is taken away. Think about the experience of an earthquake. There’s nothing more disturbing, more horrifying, than the sense that the very ground underneath you has become arbitrary, has become uncertain. There’s a particular characteristic in Germany, of the ground, that has to do with the Nazis’ tendency to make a fetish out of the earth, itself out of the German soil. The operation that the memorial performs on the ground is a disturbance and the fact that this German soil in the center of Berlin has been disturbed, has been made arbitrary. The ground though, first, it seems to give you that bodily security, it quickly gives way. The undulations are a little too strong. The architects also placed very coarse gravel on the ground that focuses your attention, both acoustically as well as visually, on the surface of the ground, on this kind of crunch. It’s the crunch, the sliding, and the undulations that disturb the sense of ground that disturbs the sense of security. Even though the experience is an individual bodily experience, there’s a kind of ideological collective that is also being disturbed and manipulated in that operation on the ground.
Fig 3.53 The Undulating Ground of the Holocaust Memorial
61
The fourth dimension of abstraction moves from the phenomenal, or the experiential, toward the structural. This is, in some ways, perhaps the most abstract of these operations of abstraction that is the grid itself. It’s very important that this project is fundamentally, simply, the superimposition of an abstract grid on the specific concrete site in Berlin. It is the superimposition that marks the site as a site. The grid is anti-natural. It’s systematic. It is highly constructed. It’s highly artificial. It’s calibrated. In some ways, the grid is a kind of lowest common denominator of architecture, itself. Architecture, in all its geometrical qualities, and its calibration, and its measured qualities-- the grid is just the sign of architecture, itself. The grid doesn’t represent. It relates. If you have a grid, anything you put in a grid relates to everything else on the grid. So it’s extremely relational, even though it’s non-representational. But the grid in Eisenman’s project is even more complex, because there are actually two grids.
Fig 3.54 No symbols or names inscripted in the Memorial
Fig 3.55 Physical Model of Holocaust Memorial
62
The project was conceptualized as in Eisenman’s words as the product of two topographies. There’s one topography-- which is the ground, itself. The undulating ground, itself. But there’s another topography, which you can kind of see from the aerial photographs of the project, that is a topography that seems to be laid over the top of the project. And the way the project was conceptualized, were that there were these two grids equal, but shifted, relative, to one another. Then the grids were thrown into a topographical undulation. In each grid the grid on the ground and the grid above each is undulating at different rates. They’re also not lining up. They’re slightly misaligned. Then the blocks are nothing other than the connection of the points of those two grids. So that’s what gives the blocks its tilt. That’s what gives the blocks this random height. It’s an absolutely systematic procedure it’s not subjective, it’s not authored. It’s not like the creation of some you don’t sense that someone has created this grid. It seems to be totally constructed, artificial, and systematic, and yet it produces the effect of randomness. It’s this interaction of systematicity and randomness that really focuses the abstraction of this project. You can’t actually see the two grids at the same time. You can’t photograph the two grids together. The understanding of the operations of the grids and this operation of abstraction must take place in the architectural imagination. As we walk through it, we start to construct, in our minds, the interaction of these two grids.
Now we’ll look at the fifth and final dimension of abstraction. One of the most striking things about the memorial in Berlin is that there are no names. The names have been refused. In the memorial in Berlin, there are no bodies. The fact that the names have been refused it’s almost like the names have been erased. It’s that negation of the names which comes as a kind of shock, as a kind of a negative force. Now, there are reasons for this refusal to name. First of all, in the case of the Holocaust, we don’t know all the victims. We couldn’t. Even if Eisenman had wanted to, we couldn’t name all the victims. The records aren’t complete. Many of the victims were unknown. But, more important, the absence of inscription signifies a requirement for critical memory. Think of it this way. If we had an archive if we had all the names and we represented the Holocaust through this archive that would fix the history of the Holocaust. It would make it certain. It would make it, in some way, over and done with and, in that way, forgettable. But the Holocaust exceeds its archive. The Holocaust-- and the living memory of the Holocaust must exceed the archive. So, in refusing inscription, in refusing to try to represent the archive, Eisenman has forced us to continue to remember to refuse to forget.
Fig 3.56 Kids Playing at Holocaust Memorial
Functional Aspect: The memorial does not have not many programmatic activities to fulfill but its function as a memorial of the state, projecting national identity and meaning becomes complex.The function of the memorial is to open up discussion rather than close it off; that is, to take the Memorial beyond its specific holocaust context and raise wider issues of anti- Semitism and social responsibility. In this, undoubtedly the abstract design has worked. The memorial had integrated trees, a space for buses to park and most importantly, a designated place for the laying of wreaths. The memorial offers itself as a communal event. The space for the laying of wreaths is assigned as such, created to enable communal/political rituals to take place. This makes the differentiation between the Nazi Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany even more explicitly manifest. It allows the pedestrians to stroll along its edges and perceive it as an object from the outside, returning to notion of a conventional memorial that asks for irrational identification.
Fig 3.57 Interiors of the Ort( Exhibition Space below the Memorial)
63
The motif of the graveyard - although a symbol for mourning which has always been one of the intentions of this memorial has different implications. For the graveyard is not only a Jewish symbol; it is also Christian, which fits perfectly with the politics the post war conversations. The manner in which the memorial functions, making it a security free, open for all place, makes it an integral part of the city. Set on one of Berlin’s most prominent streets, close to the German capital’s central Tiergarten Park. The monument stays open for people to walk through whenever they want, making it a people’s place. “Like a prison or concentration camp.” Eisenman said the monument should survive attacks unscathed, as the steles are “all made out of concrete.” The graffiti allowed the memorial, acknowledges the destructive feelings, which come once in a while which are a part of any nation. ‘That’s an expression of the people”. The stones however have been given a graffiti proof coating and this in itself raised specters from the past. But if graffiti is allowed, traditional German sausages are not. The commercialization of and profiting from the suffering of the Holocaust is something, which is adamantly rejected. The aspect that gives the memorial its meaning is the fact that it does not force any individual into a specific activity or purpose. In this monument there is no goal, no end, no working one’s way in or out. But the experience of this aimlessness suspends the visitor in time and space and realizations occur. The time of the monument, its duration from top surface to ground is disjoined from the time of experience. In this context, there is no nostalgia, no memory of the individual experience. Here, one can only know the past through its manifestation in the present. It holds the narrative of a difficult task, turning “the place of no meaning,” the site in the hopes of dispelling fears that the memorial is trying to symbolize the deaths that took place during the Holocaust, into a confrontation with the past.
Fig 3.58 Sketches of the Holocaust Memorial
64
Peter Eisenmen interview
First of all I had no experience of the Holocaust project personally and I didn’t know if I really wanted to do this project, when I started. Because the project was so immense that the idea of the project in the middle of berlin and the struggle we had – political parties and Jewish community didn’t want a memorial! And I didn’t want the --they wanted stuff with Jewish embellishment stars and lettering and I say I don’t want it ! I want a field of otherness where people understand that being a Jew in Germany is “other” and what was it like being a other in space and time. That’s how we came up with the field! It had nothing to do really with the holocaust things. It’s symbolical. But it had to do with the fact that I had spoken to a young woman who went with mother to Auschwitz from Budapest in late 44 and Josef Mengele was there and he took her mother over and pushed her mother over there and she said no I want to be with my mother and Mengele kicked her and said “You will be with your mother soon enough.” And she said “At that moment alone and lost in a space. I didn’t know how to move or what to do.” I wanted that feeling of being lost in space to inhabit the memorial and that what we did. We made this field and you can feel this from being there. The sound is different. The space is different. The fact that, it undulates. You know it’s a very strange thing and it needed to be very big because it was just a few pillars to be nothing. Its not about the pillars, its about the field of movement, about walking in it and feeling it. It was a really lucky accident that we turned it out the way we think. It’s not like my other work, but it is not like a commission like my other work either. So, I think its works. It works for a lot of people, not the way I think of it or maybe the way you think of it, but for the average person. Look, I wanted school kids who come and drove in buses, those little 7 year olds who runs around, who plays hide and seek, who gets lost, you know its really fun. That kid goes home and tells his grandfather who might be in army or with the regime that, “I had a great time at holocaust memorial.” Boom! That idea that hit grandfather or father that hey I had a great time at memorial, “Are you kidding me.” It was that feeling to get to the popular level was really important to me. The kids are not realizing what they were saying or doing and the grandfather are not realizing what the kid meant. It was to me very important. That’s what I hear. When I go there and I talk to children specially. They love it. They feel it. They don’t know what it is and I don’t think it matters, if someone from mars came down, they knew nothing about Jewish, Germany, holocaust and walked in the field. They would know it was different then walking on in London or walking in Paris. Look, I watch people. They don’t behave quite as simply as crowds. Mothers are afraid to let their kids sometimes to walk in. “Don’t go too far,” you hear the say. “Stay on the edge.” Other you can hear them screaming. The kids go to one corner and you go around in other corner, you might not find the kid even though it’s impossible to get lost. Both people are moving finding each other is difficult. There’s nothing, which says if I move I’ll find the kid over here. So there are lots of people who get lost. There are lot of people who eat lunch on the pillars, they sunbath on the pillars, they sexually get active inside the field at night… I mean all kinds of things happen. It’s a public space. I gave it to the city; I have nothing to do with it. It’s not my problem. The people that goes to the memorial and talk about the holocaust, but that’s not the effect that it really has on people. They only project that. There’s nothing to do this, no Jewish symbolism, no German symbolism, nothing, some concrete slabs. It’s not a cemetery. It’s not about guilt. I don’t feel like the Germans today are guilty. No more guilty that we are voting trump in. I mean I take responsibility, I mean I participated in a vote to elect this man. Yes that is true. There is a relation between architecture and memory. Architecture collects collective memory, not individual memory necessarily. Architecture I believe is necessary to mark collective memory and that’s what it is about. We need to mark our moment in time with our architecture.
65
3.5 : THE TAJ AMITY PAVILLION MUMBAI, INDIA
Winning Design by: The B.A.D. Studio Competition: 2018 Location: The Gateway of India, Mumbai. Net Area: 6000 sqm. The following case study are the winning three entries for “The Taj Amity Pavillion Architecture Competition”. Story:
Fig 3.59 The Taj Hotel where 26/11 Attacks Happened
Mumbai, considered rightfully the city of dreams, has a landscape that boasts of people from all walks of life, and architectural styles that transcend several eras. Today, Mumbai is a melting pot of lifestyles. It soaks everything in its fabric and makes it its own. Such is its recognition, that people within India itself, as well as all over the world, take Mumbai to be the symbol of India. The Gateway of India precinct is one of the oldest and most popular tourist friendly areas of not just the city, but also of the nation. The precinct hosts an array of various hotels, art galleries, historic buildings and other businesses that cater to visitors from within and outside the city. As a result, it has become the hub of tourist activity with a variety of landmarks, heritage buildings and a vital street life. Apart from being an attractive destination point for tourists, the precinct has a strong, poignant history which resulted in it being the prominent locale that it is today.
Fig 3.60 Site for the Competition near the Gateway of India
66
Events that have time and again tested the city’s resilience and fighting spirit are studded in its history and come to mind, when we think of Mumbai. The attacks of 26/11, hit the nation in shockwaves so strong, that it broke the city’s spirit for several months to come. It claimed 166 lives and more than 200 injuries. An attack of such an intense magnitude wrenched through the heart of every Indian, broke the homes of the people involved, and left a stain in the timeline of our country. While the immensity of the event brings to mind the brutality of the attack; the several lives that were lost, those of the victims and the courageous soldiers who fought to save them, are left forgotten.
Fig 3.63 Process 1- Site and its Immediate Context
Fig 3.61 Six Sites in Mumbai,India where 26/11 Attack happened
Fig 3.64 Process 2- Mapping Points of Attack Locations on the Site
Fig 3.62 Concept: Three main experiences one under-go durning the attack
Fig 3.65 Process 3- Number of Radiating Lines Represents Deaths at each location
67
Winning Entry-Gyre Pavilion The winning entrants are Taikhum Shaikh, Aadil Amla and Boney Keriwala. The Winners express their idea by saying the following : “The attacks of 26/11 marked terror within the hearts of Indians and foreign nationals. It claimed 166 lives and more than 200 injuries. The Taj peace pavilion pays homage to these brave martyrs and victims. The form was evolved by mapping the places of the attack on site, with six major places as tribute pavilion for victims. Each of these pavilions radiates lines defining the number of deaths at a particular place. The central open space defines the magnitude of attacks” Fig 3.66 Process 4- Interwining lines creates a Vortex
Fig 3.67 Process 5- Defining movement paths and fragmenting lines at equal
“These events created terror vortex trapping citizens into an inescapable situation, likewise, this vortex is represented by an intertwining of radiating lines from six points with varying intensity of magnetic fields. These lines are fragmented at regular intervals marking a position of poles,” “These poles are constructed from recycled mild steel. These poles are painted in white and topped with L.E.D fixture, a metaphor for candle tribute. Within the central pavilion, each of these poles is engraved with the name of the person who lost their life at a particular placeThese poles are varying in height, 0.3 meters at entrances and 4.5 meters at central pavilions forming a drape. As one enters from the area of low height, an initial thought that prevails within the visitor’s mind is intrigue, as what lies ahead,” “Transcending further, as pole height increases, the visitor starts to feel trapped and claustrophobic, with no escape from the maze of poles. Swiftly moving towards the epicenter, these narrow pathways open up into wide plaza with a centrally located tree, symbolizing strength, valor and eternity. These central areas provide space for meditation, art display, and exhibitions,”
Fig 3.68 Process 6- Gyre Pavillion engaging visitors with different experiences and draping the context with visual treat. 68
“The pavilion signifies the experiences of the victims trapped in an attack. Three main experiences that an individual relate are as follows: 1. Intrigue (at entrance) 2. Fear and claustrophobia (amidst the maze of poles) 3. Peace and freedom (central plaza) The pavilion portrays strong aesthetics that drapes the entire site giving a significant visual treat to residents of The Taj hotel, tourists and ferry commuters from the sea.”
Fig 3.69 Rendered views of the first runner up
69
The Runners Up The runners include Shantanu Paul, Lakshya Gupta. The Winners express their idea by saying the following : "A Spatial Encounter Mumbai the capital city of Maharashtra and also the financial capital of India has a distinctive ensemble of many Victorian and Art Deco buildings. It is also home to three UNESCO World Heritage sites. The city has been tested many-a-times over the past years by terrorists with a motive of breaking down the spirit of the place and its people. The idea of this pavilion design is to ideate a public space that doesn’t pose as an object of terror but instead generate interaction and unity among people of all backgrounds to come together as one. Mumbai lies in the Konkan coast on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. Taking advantage of its geographical location, the primary idea for the material as a resource has been ideated. The use of shipping containers allows a lightweight yet flexible material which can be found in abundance in and around the city, cutting down on cost of material resource and its transportation. The material can be fabricated ex-situ and installed on site as they are of standard available sizes,”
Fig 3.70 Conceptual ideas of the Second runner up
70
”The incorporation of Indo-saracenic style arches which is contextual to site, jalis or perforated walls and louvers at various spaces makes it standout as a monumental structure amidst others surrounding it, while being true to its purpose and functions. While being contextual, the fluorescent pink colour adds a pop-cum-contemporary emotion and adds vibrance to the overall space. The Pavilion has been conceptualized to generate interaction and encounter a conflict with one’s own image while providing abundant shaded public spaces. The High reflecting steel walls depict the martyrs protecting the space in form of solid walls even after they are gone. The reflecting walls also depict an encounter with one’s own image as he stands in front of it. The reflection of the city’s skyline on the walls showcases and highlights Mumbai’s rich heritage and architecture. Small tombstone style rustic walls dedicated to the civilians who lost their lives stand adjacent to the main reflective walls. This depicts how the martyrs stood next to the civilians protecting them in times of hardships and horror. The result is a public space that generates interaction and unifies people of all background, where they can come together as one. Also, the use of modular shipping containers, incorporated with Indo-saracenic arches makes the design more humble and pragmatic while tending to a monumental character holistically.”
Fig 3.71 Rendered views of the Second runner up
71
The Second runners up- Water colour The team includes Sparsh jha, Gurucharan Chhabra, Rahul Kumar. The Winners express their idea by saying the following : “The pavilion is in remembrance of the ones we lost on that black day and to pay tribute to the martyrs of 26/11 attack the placement of pavilion creates axis towards four major landmarks of the site. Here ‘Water colour’ recounts the emotions, feelings and state of mind of victims.” “The idea is to reflect the loss of life by change in colour of water and building façade with time, as victims put their steps ahead depicting the end of sorrow and despair. The central space portrays the tree of life where its branches are reaching to heaven in the form of ETFE balloons and roofs connecting to earth so are one’s life. This space henceforth shares the memory and love of those ones we lost.”
Fig 3.72 Plan of the third runner up
“The main purpose of the project is to serve not only a tribute to the innocent lost souls and also majorly provide an essence of security and safety to the people by overcoming the terror with an architectural expression symbolizing power, peace and harmony.” The cafeteria brings liveliness to the surrounding with various levelled sitout spaces. The Statue of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj depicts the courage, bravery and unbreakable spirit of Indian Soldiers and of victims. The exihibition space pays a tribute to several valiant soldiers who lost their lives fighting the corrupt ideas of terrorism. The feet of the visitors comes in contact with blue colour on stairs and changes the colour of water on roofs thereby changing the colour of cascade walls depicting the peace and amity.
Fig 3.73 Conceptual idea of the third runner up
72
The competition has resulted with entries that manifest the passion that the nation carries for some of Mumbai’s precincts and the challenges they have faced. All the top 50 submissions are up for viewing on the Archdais’ website.
Fig 3.74 Rendered Views of the third runner up
73
Fig 3.75 Matrix of the Key Elements of the Three Selected Build Case Studies 74
123 75
76 2
123 77
Fig 4.01 Old picture of Ahmedabad City before Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project 78
CHAPTER 4.0 : SITE SELECTION
4.1. Significance of Water in India : Water has always played a key role in the belief system of the any culture/ religion in India. It is that one resource which never differentiates for anyone. It purifies or satisfies the thrust of anyone who uses it. For Hindu culture: In ancient Hindu mythology (approximately 800 BCE), water is replayed as the basis for life, elixir of immortality and the foundation of the whole world. Water can thereafter be seen to hold huge significance and importance in the history and beliefs of Hinduism, relayed not only through literature, mythology and art, but also through praxis: worship, ritual and ceremony. The main role of the water is to provide purity to individuals, both physical and spiritually through pilgrimages or sacred baths. Those rituals are particularly important during main life events: birth, puberty and death. Rivers represent the most important natural element. Their flow is connected to vital energy. Their flow is connected to vital energy: in the Baghavata Purana, the entire visible world is depicted as the body of God, Krishna, of which the rivers were his veins and arteries. It was also believed that rivers were created in the land of the King of Himail (Himalaya), the land that unites this world and the heaven. There are seven most sacred rivers in India, the ones that according to Hindu religion have a divine origin: the most important is the Ganga, then the Yamuna, Saraswati (which doesn’t exist anymore), Narmada, Shipra, Godavari and Kaveri. They’re often represented as goddess who descent on earth, as so bathing in their waters means purifying and erasing sins. On riverbanks are celebrated the main religious festivals and pilgrimages which attracts millions of worshipper from around India. The Ganges is considered as the most sacred river. There are hundreds of temples situated along the banks of the river, along with the sacred city of Varanasi. It is believed a holy dip in the Ganges, purifies the soul; this practice is observed from millions of worshippers every year. Confluences in-between rivers and estuaries are particularly sacred, places symbolically connected to the joining of different Gods. The most famous one is in Allahabad, spot of great importance in Hindu religion, since it is located at the confluence of Ganges with Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, 79
For Islam: In Islam, water is seen as life-giving, sustaining, and purifying. The Qur’an states, “from water every living creature was created.” Water is used in Islamic architecture for several basic reasons. First, it is used practically to provide cooling in hot, dry climates (e.g. the courtyard fountains and pools typically found in the vernacular architecture of the Middle East and North Africa, the origin of Islam). Second, it is used aesthetically to emphasize visual axes, reflect the surrounding environment, and visually multiply the adjacent architecture and its decorative detailing Third, it is used symbolically to represent the life-giving, sustaining, and purifying aspects of water mentioned in the Qur’an. Water is an important component of traditional Islamic gardens and courtyards. In the Qur’an, the “garden” is used to represent the paradise promised to believers. For Buddhism:
Fig 4.02 Significance of Water in Hinduism
In Buddhism , water symbolizes life , the purest form of food , and water is the particular element which in nature carries everything together . Water symbolizes purity , clarity and calmness , and reminds us to cleanse our minds and attain the state of purity . Water is used to clean away dirt . When everyone sees you (the water) , they are happy and joyful . This is because they are reminded that they can wash away the filth of their minds . They should wash away selfish and unkind thoughts and be clean and pure like you . “It is as with Ice and Water : Without Water there is no Ice ...” (Hakuins song of meditation) Water is also most important for funerals. Water sustains and makes possible new life . For Christianity: In jewish and christian religion water is a symbol of the origin of creation . Water is a hierophany (i.e. a physical manifestation of the holy or sacred) . It can represent a creative force of life or a destructive force of death . Jesus Christ considered Water as the Symbol for eternal life .
Fig 4.03 Significance of Water in Islamic Architecture
80
Main Indian cities developed on riverbanks: The river is by definition a dynamic, fluid, mobile element: it is etymologically connects to the eternal flow. The city, as the architecture of which is made up, tends to constitute itself in forms able of solidity, permanence, and steadiness. For many centuries it tried to consolidate its forms surrounding it with walls, drawing linear and net borders. The relationship of ancestral symbiosis between the city and the river is therefore a dialectic tie, for many aspects: the city tends to stiffen and enclose the unkind flow of water; the river tries to break that steadiness to move it to make undefined and inconstant its relation with the city. There are 14 major river basins in India, each having a basin area of 20,000km2 or more. Three of the basins: the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra are north of the Tropic of Cancer and 20° latitude; and four: the Godavari, the Krishna, the Pennar and the Kaveri are in peninsular India. There are 44 ”medium” rivers with a basin area between 2000 and 20,000km2 and the remaining “minor” rivers with basin less than 2000 km2 are mostly in the east and west coastal areas.The Himalayan rivers are fed by the snows and glaciers of the Great Himalayan ranges and are thus perennial. The peninsular rivers are dependent on the southwest monsoon whose failure can lead to a serious drought situation in their regions. They mostly originate in the Western Ghats and invariably flow through two or three states.
Fig 4.04 Varanasi on the banks of River Ganga
First urban settlements have very ancient origins: the civilization of Indo river, along with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilization of the Old world, characterized by the development of agriculture, of urbanization and of the use of writing. Of the three, it is the most widespread one. The Islamic and Hindu Dynasties established their settlements on river banks, normally on an elevated area and the city used to expand on only one side of the river. During the XVIII century India was gradually annexed to the East India Company.The British occupation led to the creation of new centers, like Calcutta and to prefund deification on the urban tissues of the cities; they tried to impose a regular scheme in the intricate contest of Indian cities. It was on the Banks of Sabarmati River, Ahmedabad that Gandhiji started the Dandi March. After a long non-violent resistance guided by Gandhiji, India obtained the Independence.
Fig 4.05 Kolkata on the banks of River Hooghly
81
4.2. Choosing Ahmedabad The river is the definition of a dynamic, fluid, mobile element. It is etymologically connected to the eternal flow; Feminine in nature The city, as the architecture of which is made up, tends to constitute itself in forms able of solidity, permanence and steadiness; Masculine in nature. For many centuries it tried to consolidate its forms surrounding it with walls, drawing linear and net borders. The relationship of ancestral symbiosis between the city and the river is therefore a dialectic tie, for many aspects: the city tends to stiffen and enclose the unkind flow of water; the river tries to break that steadiness, to move it, to make undefined and inconstant its relation with the city. Thus having a city on the banks of river was one criterion for site; which represents how the River tries to break the steadiness of the city. Ahmedabad being on the banks of River Sabarmati was the site chosen for the Program.
Fig 4.06 (a)Illustration of Ahmedabad by Deepti Pai(left). Edited for this Thesis (b)Ahmedabad city aerial view (Above) 82
4.3. Introducing Ahmedabad Ahmedabad is the largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was formerly the capital of Gujarat and is still the judicial capital since the Gujarat High Court is located there. The estimated population of Ahmedabad in 2016 is over 7 million people in the city and approximately 8 million in the urban agglomeration. (Source: World Population Review) This makes Ahmedabad the fifth largest city in India and the seventh largest metropolitan area. Forbes magazine ranked Ahmedabad as the third fastest growing city of the decade. Ahmedabad’s 2020 population is now estimated at 8,059,441. It is acquiring more and more strategic importance in the political Indian set, also its location, set in the 1480km corridor connecting New Delhi to Mumbai, the largest infrastructural project in the Indian subcontinent. The Sabarmati River crosses and divides Ahmedabad into two distinct parts: the historical town, surrounded by the city walls and its expansion under British domain. Its municipality (AMC- Ahmedabad Municipal Cooperation) is divided into 6 zones (central, west, east, south, north, new west) and 64 wards. The conurbation also encompasses the rural areas surrounding the city and governed by the AUDA (Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority). The AMC is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Ahmedabad, while AUDA carries out the sustained planned development of the area falling outside the periphery of AMC. Ahmedabad Demographics: Ahmedabad has an overall sex ratio within the population of 897 women to every 1000 men. The overall literacy rate is 88.29% with 92.30% of men being literate and 83.85% of women being literate. There is also a large population of traders, known as Vanias, who belong to various sects of the Jainism religion and the Vaishnava sect of Hinduism. In addition to Hindus and people practicing Jainism, over 300,000 Muslims are living in Ahmedabad. There is a small percentage of the population (0.72%) who are Christian. There is only one synagogue and around 125 Jewish people living in the city. Thanks to the population of practicing Jains and Hindus, there is a widespread vegetarianism in the city’s restaurants and hotels. The majorities of Ahmedabad’s residents are native Gujaratis and speak the Gujarati language.
Fig 4.07 Illustration of Ahmedabad Demographics(above) 83
Demographic growth and Distribution The Indian population is still rural: the Indian constitution and Gandhi’s idea confront the idea of city and prefer the rural lifestyle, as the urban growth (after the Independence). Ahmedabad underwent an impressive demographic growth after the 80’s: from the 2,159,127 ingisteres in 1981, to the 3,520,085 in 2001, to the current 8,059,441 in 2020 (Source: World Population Review). Inhabitants mainly move from rural areas of the villages adjacent to the city to Ahmedabad, but also from the historical center to less congested areas on the west of the Sabarmati. Almost 90% of the AUDA population resides in the urbanized area of AMC. Ahmedabad is known for its good quality of life in India. As a matter of facts, its growing importance attracts many people: 73% of its immigrants come from other Gujarat’s district, while 26% of them from other Indian states (particularly Rajasthan having 33% and Maharashtra having 18%). (Source: Migration Census). Of the 35 Indian cities with more than 1 million people, Ahmedabad has the lowest crime rate.
Fig 4.08 (a) Number of Inhabitants in Ahmedabad (above)
Mobility: Ahmedabad is well connected through road infrastructures, railroads and the airports. The increase of vehicles (from 2001 till 2009 the growth rate has been approximately 103% - Source: AUDA) provoked the congestion of the main axes. The majority of urban streets in Ahmedabad have a poor accessibility to pedestrians. Transportation usually takes place on 2wheeler vehicles (78%), less (13%) on 4 wheeler vehicles (latter are however growing fast, from 11,147 units in 2001 to 45,471 in 2011) Since 1947, then Ahmedabad Municipal Transport service provided by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation connects all the areas within the city as well as the peripheral villages.
Fig 4.08 (b) Mobility in Ahmedabad (above) 84
In order to improve the transit service AMC invited private operators to participate in public transport calls since 2005. Among them, the most recent and innovative was the Janmarg Bus Rapid Transportation System (BRTS), which broadened the public service to several areas of Ahmedabad and introduced cyclo-pedestrian infrastructures. In fact, aside from the 20km of BRTS, the urban roads are poorly accessible for pedestrians and cyclists: 42% of the road accidents involve a cyclist, and 19% a pedestrian. Almost 62% of the accidents are caused by non- motorized vehicles.
4.4. Glimpses of the past : In 1411 when the Sultan Ahmed Shah, took the throne of Gujarat, he decided to extend his reign to west in order to found a new Islamic capital. He left Patan’s capital city and he moved to Ashaval picking the Bhadra plain as the place for its new palace. He set up the Bhadra fort and gave life to its bastion, Manek Burj. The area was almost squared, with a mosque to the west side and open spaces to the east, 162 dwellings and 8 doors. The mosque and some of the wall parts are still present today, while some others have sustained variations through the years. Outside of the historical door of Teen Darwaza, on the eastern side of the Bhadra, the most important area was the Manek Chowk, which included the Jama Masjid. Many main roads with a east-west axes connected fortress to the city doors, while another road tangent to the Teen Darwaza cut it north to south. Numerous Hindu monuments were built around pre-existing temples. In 1487 a second loop of fortification wall was built: it ran around the original core for 10km, with 12 doors and 189 bastions. New roads were planned and city became rich of beautiful buildings; the atmosphere was feisty and plenty of lush gardens made it greener than ever. The Mughal domination Between 1511 and 1572, Gujarat declined its position due to the violent attacks from the Mughal and the frequent raids from the Portuguese along the coast. In 1572 Akbar the emperor of the Mughal Dynasty reached and conquered Ahmedabad, making it of his reigns many province. The Mughal period left a mark on the city thanks to its many monuments (specially the Sidi Sayyid mosque). During the Mughal period Ahmedabad confirmed its important commercial role with textile and opium, thanks to the many exports to Europe. Between 1629 and 1630 Ahmedabad lived two years of famine so harsh that most of its streets were occupied by dying dwellers. Overcome the difficulties, the city regained its prosperity and during the next 30 years it reached its maximum power. The Maratha domination 1707 was the beginning of a period of chaos, hostility and misery. The Maratha raid the south of Gujarat and organized an attack on Ahmedabad. From 1738 to 1758 the Mughal and the Maratha jointly ruled the city.
Fig 4.09 Evolution of Ahmedabad City 85
Then in 1758 the army of Raghunath Rao and Damaji Gaekwad hit the last Mughal emperor, gaining unlimited power on Ahmedabad for the next 23 years. Fights and conflicts rose, numerous artisans left the city as in a state of decay, the public spaced deserted and the protecting walls destroyed. The few inhabitants who decided to stay begun building without caring much about urban planning laws. The British Colonization
Fig 4.10 Evolution of Ahmedabad Map.
In 1817 the Indian East Company gained ownership of Ahmedabad. The internal stability, the order and the lowering of the taxes gave great input to the development of the city. The population rose, the walls were rebuilt, the roads were enlarged and the merchants were given freedom to trade. In 1858 the British East Indian Company founded its first municipality and it imposed colonialism. The city rapidly grew out of its original boundaries and the first bridge on the Sabarmati was built in 1892. Ahmedabad became a focal point of the textile industry, with 3 factories inside the walled city and 80 more outside. New machineries and technologies were used, female schools were introduced and between 1939 and 1940 most of the riverbanks were cleaned and urbanized. The Independence
Fig 4.11 Gandhiji at Sabarmati Ashram
86
Ahmedabad had a very important role in the fight for Indian Independence. In 1915 Gandhi came here from South Africa to establish two Ashrams: the Satyagraha Ashram Kochrab and the Sabarmati Ashram. In 1930 he started famous ‘Dandi March’ against the salt tax. In 1947, after the Indian Independence was declared, a new migration flow hit Ahmedabad, especially from the Sind region. This sudden population growth was seen on both the riverbanks. The left side of the Sabarmati and even its outskirts were urbanized. In the mid 50’s two thirds of the city walls and the northwest quarters were destroyed during the Hindu-Muslim conflict. New buildings rose and a modern scale was adopted. The Nehru Bridge was built in 1960, which helped the traffic situation in the city paired with the Relief Road. Between 1950 and 1960 Louis Khan and le Corbusier built important pieces of Ahmedabad, which became capitol city until 1970. From 1960 onwards, Ahmedabad started to appear more like a European Capital City. The economic base of Ahmedabad has been very diversified lately, with industries getting stronger in chemical and hardware departments. Also modern leaders like Narender Modi hail from Ahmedabad.
Structural Principals: The river has always had a fundamental role in Ahmedabad. The first settlers chose the hillside of the area to better protect the mosque and the regal palace from the Sabarmati’s recurrent floods.Along The line that connected the Bhadra to the Juma Masjid many merchants established their working places, transforming that line into the production core of the city. The first loop of city walls was raised, which defined the shape and pattern of the city for a long time. The first road network was created connecting each wall door to the other, which resulted into the foundation of a void space in the center, the commercial center called Manek Chowk.The pattern then grew irregularly and was used to determine the subdivisions of the land. Since its foundation, the city has kept its original half-moon shape, defined by the presence of the walls. It started developing in other directions since the beginning of XX century. There’s a great heterogeneity between the urban pattern and the suburban one. The importance of the river for the city: According to legend, the Sultan was walking along the Sabarmati banks when he saw a small rabbit was chasing a dog, rather than the other way around. There he stopped and asked his spiritual guide to help understand him what he saw. The wise man told about the features of this place and the Sultan decided to establish Ahmedabad there, starting a new center production and commerce.Since ever, the Sabarmati represents a central element in the history of the city. The monsonic character of the river allowed the inhabitants to carry out on its bed some daily activities, as washing tissues, cultivating land and collecting sand. On the river banks there were the informal markets and recreational activities.Gandhi chose to settle close to the Sabarmati to benefit from the relation with the river and carry on his ideology. At the feet of Ellis-bridge he held the speech, which began the famous Salt March (Dandi March). Furthermore, Le Corbusier built one of the most important examples of modernist architecture in India: the Mill’s Owner Association building (Atma House). The open structure has his main view on the Sabarmati, to let the industrials admire the river and the workers washing tissues in it. With the industrial development the watercourse was damaged due to the augmented discharges of the growing city and of the factories. Also, the strong demographic pressure provoked the sudden increase of informal settlements on the riverbanks.
Fig 4.12 Sabarmati river flowing from Gujarat Map
Fig 4.13 Illustration of Ahmedabad City Walls in their totality in 1980
87
4.5. Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project
Fig 4.14 Land Use of Sabarmati River before the Riverfront Project
Ahmedabad had always turned its back to the river, due to its unpredictable behavior and the problems connected to it. Since Sabarmati was a seasonal river, it ran practically dry for nine months of the year and carried water mostly during the monsoon season. The dry riverbed and riverbanks were used for farming and hosted a weekly market, Ravivari as well as other recreational activities such as the circus. Until the 1970s the river was also the prime source of water, while today Ahmedabad receives the majority of its water supply – more than 65% from Narmada Canal. However, several French wells dug in the Sabarmati bed still remain an important drinking water supply source (more than 12%). With the declining ecological health of the river and the city’s association with it, a number of informal settlements arose along the riverbanks, further reducing direct access to the river. These encroachments affected the flood management on the Sabarmati River, in case of heavy rainfall in the catchment area of the river and attendant flood management/ prevention, water needed to be released from Dharoi Dam. The risk for these encroachments to be submerged due to excess water release from the dam prevented the dam supervisors from releasing the water intermittently. Although attempts were made to relocate some of these riverfront settlements in the past, it was found that as the relocation sites were too far, the strategy was unsuccessful in curbing the growth of slums along the river. Apart from housing a section of mill workers the informal settlements were also home to number of other people: a section of these informal settlement included people engaged in farming on the riverbed, as the river was dry for most part of the year; another section included the Dhobi Ghat, an informal laundry place. In addition, there were also many other smaller groups of informal vocation, such as fruit and vegetable vendors, flower vendors, incense stick rollers and so on. Some of these informal settlements were also havens for certain illegal activities such as bootleg liquor. The riverbank encompassed 70 formal and informal settlements providing habitat to about 40 thousand families. As Ahmedabad grew as an industrial center, the water of the river became more and more populated also the demographic pressure and immigration from rural areas provoked increase of informal settlements along the riverbanks side. Thus the city kept its back towards the river.
Fig 4.15 Land Use of Sabarmati River after the Riverfront Project 88
The AMC set up the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Cooperation Ltd. (SRDC) in May 1997. After a feasibility study done by the EPC, the design of the project was given to private firm HCP. The average width of the Sabarmati channel was 382 meters and the narrowest cross-section 330 meters; to develop the riverfront, SDRC had uniformly narrowed the channel to 275 meters, thus making sure that the constriction did not affect its carrying capacity. The water is retained through two barrages to assure the presence of water even during dry season when the water level drops to 3-7m high. The project also intended to face the pollution issue. Right on the banks of the river, two promenades made in concrete have been realized; one is closer to the water level, the other is built at the city level (an average of eight meter higher). The two promenades stretch for approximately 9km, from Subhash Bridge to Vasna barrage and they are connected by a series of staircase, every 500m. The walkways are equipped with a series of trees and public illumination for the whole length. Another infrastructure has been planned out to serve the new land next to the river. On the east and on the west side of the river is 6 lanes roads, 10m wide in each sense.
Another main feature of the project was the relocation of the slum dwellers living on the riverbanks. At the time of the preparation of the project feasibility study, the Vikas Center for Development, an NGO based in Ahmedabad was engaged in preparing resettlement and rehabilitation plans; they intended to face the resettlement with human approach. Inputs were also sough from the self-employed women’s Association and a quick assessment of the number of affected household was undertaken. The AMC submitted a final relocation and rehabilitation plan in 2008: identified more than 8000 directly affected households according to the Socio-economic Survey of 2002 and another 4,000 as partially affected by the relocation. By this time, the national government had planned a national housing subsidy to people below poverty line. Through this scheme, the project-affected households would be relocated to municipal owned land afar from the riverfront. This allowed the burden of one of the significant components of the relocation cost.After significant criticism from the media throughout the process of relocation, the AMC has now engaged NGOs to work with resettled families to support local community organizations and management of their new surroundings.
Fig 4.16 Locating the landmarks around the Sabarmati Riverfront 89
Urban Landmarks The city elements that recall a historical value can be great starting points to deeply analyze a specific area. As Aldo Rossi once said, an isolated element depository of historical value can be a symbol of pathology, while that some element can become the foundation of a future development if it is part of a dynamic process. Walking alongside the riverbanks for whole length of the waterway, one can perceive many entities of different size and use.
Fig 4.17 Ahmedabad City Aerial View
Since the foundation of Ahmedabad and the construction of the fort, many important figures (like Mahatma Gandhi and Le Corbusier) have looked at the river and have proposed a different ways of interacting with it. As time passed by many buildings have spun from the ground with the most diverse functions: religious, monumental or cultural. Some of these like the Gandhi Ashram, have become the base of new social dynamics attracting loads of new social dynamics, attracting loads of tourists while others like the Atma house, the Sanskar Kendra or the Tagore hall have lost their initial use. GANDHI ASHRAM- 1917 It occupies a large area (36 acre) along the Sabarmati. Mahatma Gandhi used this location as the headquarters of the Dandi march, which had a substantial influence on the Indian independence movement. Gandhi wanted to recreate the basis for agriculture and cattle; hence he picked this area adjacent to the river. The Ashram is made of the museum, house to host visitors, a playgroup and a living space dedicated to the manager. The complex hosts about 700k visitors per year, it collects and organizes archival documents, and it is the physical base for all the research and studies of the Gandhian philosophy.
Fig 4.18 Aerial View of Kakaria Lake, Ahmedabad
90
MILL OWNER ASSOCIATION BUILDING: It’s a modern architecture, designed by Le Corbusier. He came to India in 1951, was invited to Ahmedabad and the president of mill owner association commissioned Corbusier to build the new headquarters of the association. It was completed in 1954. The building sits between Ashram Road to the west and the Sabarmati River to the east. At the rear of the building, the brise-soleil is perpendicular to the façade, allowing the breeze from the river to pass uninhabited through the shaded perimeter. Here, Le Corbusier designed the openings to frame views of the river below.
SIDI SAIYYED MASJID Built in 1573 by Sidi Saiyyed it is one of the most important mosques of Ahmedabad. It is entirely arched and is known worldwide for it’s ten beautiful stone windows and its posterior arches. The stone panels geometrically designed on its back have become the symbol of the city. BHADRA FORT It is situated in the walled city area. With its carved royal palaces, mosques, gates and open spaces it symbolizes the cultural center for the city. It had a fortified city wall with 14 towers and eight gates, covering an area of 43 acres. AHMED SHAH MOSQUE It happened to be the royal household’s private mosque. The outer wall, almost bear of ornament, with ill designed pointed arches and squat minarets mark the Hindu artisans first attempts to build in Islamic style. Inside, five large and several smaller domes formed of conveying stones and richly carved are supported by rows of pillars some of them still bearing Hindu figures and emblems. SANSKAR KENDRA It is a museum designed by Le Corbusier. It is a city museum depicting history, art, culture and architecture of Ahmedabad. It was originally a part of the large complex of cultural center of Ahmedabad, which had planned, separated pavilions and areas for different subjects, but only the museum was built. TOGORE HALL Togore Hall Designed by B.V.Doshi is a Modernist Theatre hall. Jamalpur Market: Born in 1989, this area is very busy at all daily hours thanks to its culture mix nd communities mélange and lets not forget the numerous stray animals from downtown. The Parks: Two main parks are present in this area, namely the Lal Darwaza Park and the Victoria Garden. The former is today in state of decay and hosts only a small part of those activities which could make it importantThe latter also appears as an introverted space in spite of its proximity and possibility of integration with the riverfront.
Fig 4.19 Landmarks around the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project 91
Choosing the Site Near Gandhi Ashram At that time the ashram was called the Satyagraha Ashram. On 17 June 1917, the ashram was located to an area of thirty-six acres on the banks of the river Sabarmati, and it came to be known as the Sabarmati Ashram. The Sabarmati ashram is sited between a prison and a crematorium, and Gandhi believed that a Satyagrahi has invariably to go to either place. Mohandas Gandhi said, “This is the right place for our activities to carry on the search for truth and develop fearlessness, for on one side are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other the thunderbolts of Mother Nature.” It was also from here that on 12 March 1930, Gandhi marched to Dandi, 241 miles from the ashram. Sabarmati Ashram has been a place, which stands for seeking truth and as a place, which doesn’t tolerate violence. Keeping in mind the Gandhian ideas and the historic means of this place; for a program, which stands to stop violence against Women in India, a site near Gandhi Ashram would be appropriate. “To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?” [5] Fig 4.20 (a) Gandhi Ashram Plan and Sections (b) Organization of Gandhi Ashram (Below)
92
Fig 4.21 Gandhi Ashram Old Photo (Below)
Fig 4.22 Existing Site and its Surrounding 93
Fig 5.01 Conceptual Sketch of Jewish Museum
94
CHAPTER 5.0 : CONCEPTUAL IDEAS
“Phenomenology demonstrated in architecture is the manipulation of space, material, light and shadow to create a memorable encounter through an impact on the human senses. This theory promotes the integration of sensory perception as a function of a built form. This creates an experience that is beyond tangible, nut rather abstract, observed and perceived.” [6]
The concept diagram is the starting point for developing the design approach. Certain analytical sketches are prepared investigating the parameters and the opportunities of the project. Critically these are not driven by aesthetic preconceptions about achieving an architectural style. The intention instead is to unearth objective clues that can lead to delivering optimal as well as architecture, which connects itself with the crowd and narrates the story behind it. Collectively with initial ideas – a process that transcends into a magical carpet ride, with playful hand-drawn sketches and models helped to refine the initial idea behind this program. This process leads to a series of concept sketches/diagrams that distill our vision and objectives for the design. Sometimes we pursue a single ‘ideal or pure’ direction or more commonly a hybrid design, which embraces a number of possibly competing ideas, but also address the implications. A robust concept sketch becomes the touchstone for the design development and it may even become a motif that informs the detailing of the constructed project. Thus this process is applied for this particular design for a Place for Remembrance, Healing and Awareness of Female Victims of violence in India. The Violence against female Victims is looked upon and the intangible emotions and the trauma, which a female go through is abstracted in form of sketches and models. This process of abstraction of the intangible emotions will be embodied in the design, through which one can sense the emotions of the female and feel a sense of contemplation while walking through the space. Thus the following chapter will explore the abstract form of the emotions a female victims experiences when the violence is happening to her and the aftermath of the evil act in form of process model and sketches. 95
5.1. Intangible emotions of Female Victims
5.2. Idea of Destruction
“There is another world inside this one No words can describe it” [7]
“Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” [8]
It is human nature to feel safe around their crowd. One feels that the ones who know them or whom they have known since a long time won’t harm them. Unfortunately their known relatives or friends do the violence happening to female victims (in 90% of the cases).
Violence itself means destruction. Here in such cases the aftermath of a violence, survivors can face extremely difficult and painful emotions and experiences. Every survivor responds to traumatic events in their own way. The effects of the trauma can be short-term or last long.
Women who have experienced domestic violence or abuse are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing a range of mental health conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and thoughts of suicide. Most of them lose their lives because of the evil deed done to them or in many cases they are killed. Their existence is erased and sometimes their very being of existing is taken away from them. A void is created in their soul. The cruelest crime is killing the child in womb. The little one’s existence is taken away from them; they weren’t even given a chance to breathe for once in this world or to even embrace in their mother’s warm arms.
The destruction in physical form for the victims can be :
The trauma that a female goes through is unimaginable. Trauma is dissonant, confusing, and chaotic, a kind of dismantling that its victims describe in terms of physical and emotional modes of detachment: time and space “out of order”. Trauma’s inexpressible pain “unmakes” the body, shattering the unity of the subject. Minimalism, often selected to commemorate trauma, is said to resolve it; it conjures trauma’s profound dissonance and also speaks to the recovery and reaffirmation- the remaking- of individual and collective harmony. Thus, here the emotions are abstracted in form of sketches to urnderstand the deep intangible aspect of it. Those emotions are - Destruction/ Chaos - Fear/ Unsafe - Void/ Emptiness - Ruptured /Devasted/ Finished - Caged.
96
-Bruising -Bleeding (vaginal or anal) -Soreness -Broken or dislocated bones -Sexually transmitted infections and diseases/ Pregnancy. -Harm to skin (During acid attacks) OR DEATH. The destruction in mental form for the victims can be : -Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts -Depression, including prolonged sadness, feelings of hopelessness, unexplained crying, weight loss or gain, loss of energy or interest in activities previously enjoyed -Suicidal thoughts or attempts. Dissociation, including not being able to focus on work or on schoolwork, as well as not feeling present in everyday situations So taking in the idea of destruction a victim a victim has to go through, few conceptual sketches and models were made common emotional effects like Shock, Numbness, Loss of control, Disorientation, Helplessness, Sense of vulnerability or Fear are taken in consideration to show the essence of destruction for concept making.
5.3. Idea of Void “It took from me. Something was taken from me.” [9] The lexical meaning of the void is “cavity, hole, unclosed space” according to its Turkish translation. And in English, it is defined as “nullity” in the dictionary. In another definition, void is “space with no bodies in” and identified as the opposite meaning of “fullness”. In terms of Architecture: conceptually void is defined as “nonexistence, nullity”, while spatially it gains a different meaning than its dictionary definitions. Void in space is a place incorporating activity. Therefore, this void created in form based on space indeed creates a place. Void can be discussed on various examples depending on the trinity of form, function and perception. In the case of Female victims of violence, it is a traumatic experience that impacts the victims in a physical, psychological and sociology way. The victims experience that something of theirs is taken away. There is this “VOID” inside them. Thus taking forward this experience of Void a female has to go through in form of architecture is the basic idea behind this concept. Initially it is understood through simple process diagrams and models, where the Victim is taken as a Element (Whole unharmed element) , then there is this destroyer which affects the element and leaves behinds its imprints in form of void. It is like there is “Presence of Absence” in the element (Victim). Fig 5.02 Conceptual Sketches of the Idea of the Void (Below)
Fig 5.03 Conceptual Models of the Idea of the Void (Right) 97
5.4. Idea of Healing and Support “We don’t heal in isolation, but in community.” [10] A recent survey of victims of violence reported that memorialization was prioritized as the second most valuable form of state reparations following monetary compensations. In part it is perhaps the impetus to bear witness to the suffering of the victims that has given rise to a proliferation of memorials in recent decades. As a form of transitional justice, memorials have too often been relegated to the domain of artists and architects whereas they represent a strategic resource in conflict and peace
Idea of Healing
Many veins of memorialization can be pursued in the space between justice and reconciliation, forgiveness and retribution, and remembrance and forgetting.They function as pedagogical instruments, instilling the lessons of “never again” in future generations or threaten a nascent peace by inciting retaliation through an inflammatory rendering of the past. Memorials can also provide a place of sanctuary for mourning or they can become targets of future aggression due to their symbolic resonance.No one is alone in their healing process. There are resources to help along the restorative pathway to healing.
Idea of Destruction
Along with quick retributive justice, compensatory rehabilitation is also needed for victims of all crimes but especially more important when it comes to violence done to female victims in the Indian Context. Thus the idea and healing is not abstracted for the program, rather its purely presented in its physical through which the space becomes serene and Therapeutic. Idea of Destruction and then Support
Through the process of Memorialization a sense of support is provided to the family of victims and also for survivors. Also those who have lost their life are remembered.
Fig 5.04 Conceptual Sketches for the Idea of Destruction and Healing (right) 98
Idea of Healing
Fig 5.05 Conceptual Model for the Idea of Destruction and Healing 99
5.5. Idea of Shame “As a man, I apologize for what those evil men did. All of us men are guilty in some way or the other for these atrocities and crimes against our dear women. I hope you have a very happy life and future.” [11] Competence in treating the victims of voilence and exploitation requires an understanding of shame, the complex and multilayered emotion triggered when we have been exposed or when our self-esteem has been reduced. The experience of shame is initially physiologic, involving a cortical shock momentarily halting higher cognitive function, but followed immediately by a host of associations to previous experiences of shame. Acutely, the affect itself impels hiding, while defenses against it include anger, humor, silence, and a wide range of behaviors. A study of the interaction between abuser and abused suggests that shame conflict figures prominently in the genesis of such activity. To the extent that psychotherapy itself involves exposure, it must trigger shame; thus, it is likely that the therapist unskilled in the recognition of shame in all its disguises will overlook or misunderstand many of the issues that should form the core of our treatment of those whose selves have been abused or exploited. Shame, by the way, is why #MeToo is being used by all kinds of victims of sexual assault. The shame of having been assulted is so great that it’s only in solidarity with women who’ve been subject to a different form of sexual violence that many rape victims feel comfortable admitting anything happened to them at all.
Fig 5.06 Conceptual Sketches of the Idea of Shame
In Indian context most of the cases go unreported, the main reason is the Vctims- shaming. But rather it should be the one who is guilty; who should be shameful and the society should feel shameful for such acts. Thus taking the idea of Shame few conceptual sketches and models were made to incooperate in the design elements of the proposal.
Fig 5.07 Conceptual Model of the Idea of Shame 100
5.6. Initial Concepts Models and Drawings
Fig 5.08 Process Models of the Initial Concept
Fig 5.09 Process Plans of the Initial Concept 101
Fig 6.01 Satellite Image of the Selected Site 102
CHAPTER 6.0 : DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
6.1. Site Analysis Site Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India City’s Polulation Density: 9900 persons/ sq.km River: Sabarmati Span of River: 245m - 320m Total Area of Ahmedabad Region- 465 km2 Total Population - 8.6 million ( by 2020) Ahmedabad is the largest city and former capital of the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad is the fifth most populous city in India, and the encompassing urban agglomeration the seventh most populous city in India. Ahmedabad is located on the banks of the Sabarmati River, 23 km from the state capital Gandhinagar, which is its twin city. The Average elevation is 53 m. The city is located in a sandy and dry area. Except for the small hills of Thaltej- Jodhpur Tekra, the entire city is almost flat. The Sabarmati bifurcates the city into eastern and western parts, connected by five bridges.
Fig 6.02 Locating Ahmedabad City in Gujarat, India.
103
Fig 6.03 Road Map of the Context around Riverfront
Fig 6.04 Road Map of the Context around Gandhi Ashram
104
Fig 6.05 Landmarks and Road Network Map of Sabarmati Riverfront
Fig 6.06 Detail Section of Sabarmati Riverfront
Fig 6.07 Plan of the Selected Site 105
6.2. Weather Data of Ahmedabad The Ahmedabad lies on 51m above sea level The climate here is considered to be a local steppe climate. During the year there is little rainfall. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is BSh. The temperature here averages 27.3 °C | 81.1 °F. About 753 mm | 29.6 inch of precipitation falls annually. The monthly mean minimum and maximum temperatures over the year in Ahmedabad. The months January and December have a nice average temperature. On average, the temperatures are always high. On average, the warmest month is May. On average, the coolest month is January. The average annual maximum temperature is: 34.4° Celsius (93.92° Fahrenheit) The average annual minimum temperature is: 21.0° Celsius (69.8° Fahrenheit) The monthly total of sunhours over the year in Ahmedabad (Gujarat), India. On average, May is the most sunny. On average, August has the lowest amount of sunshine. The average annual amount of sunhours is: 3020.0 hours This is the mean monthly precipitation over the year, including rainfall , snow, hail etc. Most rainfall (rainy season) is seen in July and August. Ahmedabad has dry periods in January, February, March, April, May, October, November and December. On average, July is the wettest month, averaging 271 mm | 10.7 inch. On average, March is the driest month. The average amount of annual precipitation is: 750.0 mm (29.53 in) The number of days each month with rain, snow and hail in Ahmedabad Ahmedabad has dry periods in January, February, March, April, May, October, November and December. On average, July is the most rainy and March has the least rainy days. The average annual amount of rainy days is: 34.0 days Fig 6.08 Weather Data of Ahmedabad City (Right)
106
6.3. Design Process
The Place of Remembrance
After the process of finalizing with the concept for the ‘Place for Remembrance, Healing and Awareness of Female Victims of violence in India’, the idea is placed on the selected site and set according to the site context. Further Design Developments are done to add certain functions and elements to the concept, thus giving it a form. Thus the purpose of the archietcture is fulfiled.
It is that function of the program, which is the most important for people to let them never forget that such violence happens to daughters of country. Memory is the essential part of when it comes to human behavior. We act in accordance to our past and present memories. Thus the place of Remembrance is the display area where one encounters the feeling a women goes through when violence is done to them. It is place where one feels shameful and guilty that such act still happens in their country. It is place where the dead are remembered. It is place for contemplation and grief for the lost souls. It also remembers the survivors and reformers who fought against these evil deeds or were saved from it. It salutes all the humans who helped in stopping such violence against women. The entrance to this space is through from Reception area on ground floor. The journey through this space is linear with pause point at the void and pit of shame.
6.3.1 Organization The Organization of the building is unfolded like how a narrator unflods a story. Thus one would experience a journey of Awareness... Remembrance... Healing...Shame...Contemplation... while in this building. Setting up a base (Place of Awareness): A base is set for the concept, from which emerges; like cantillivering out from it. The base is the entry point; it is a “Pause” before one enters the memorial space .The base is a space of Awareness and a space which creates curiosity what is inside. In a way it is indirect entry. Functions at the Base: 1. Coffee house 2. Library 3. Sitting Space 4. Toilets 5. Reception (Entance for Memorial) 6. Open Amphitheatre (First floor of the base) Below the base Service Room is added so all the HVAC machinery and ducts can be accesed from that room. It can also be used for additional storage purpose. The entrance to that Room is behind the Reception desk and only can be accesed by staff members. Two staircases are added on both sides of the bases for people who wish to directly access the First floor. On the Terrace of the Base, Open Amphitheatre is placed thus all the places of Awareness are at the base.
Functions at the Place of Remembrance : 1. Display Area 2. The voids 3. Pit of Shame The Place of Healing In arriving at builtform, as architects, we take decision on various physical aspects of space making. The decisions on buildform include its placements, form and space, organization, organzing principle, approaches, shape and scale, desirable views and decor etc. This place for healing is such space where a better healing environment is created for the one’s who are affected and also give them a support through the means of nature. Not only does it helps for healing , but also the Spaces which offer Legal and Medical Consultany can make one Aware. Its also a place where hope is regenerated and one hopes for bright future where no such crimes happen. Functions at the Place of Healing : 1. Medical and Legal Advocate 2. Healing groups 3. Walk Line 4. Garden of Hope 107
Fig 6.09 (a) Organization of Place of Awareness 108
Fig 6.09 (b) Organization of Place of Remembrance
Fig 6.09 (c) Organization of Place of Healing
Fig 6.10 Circulation of the Proposed Design 109
6.3.2 Design Elements The Name “Yagnaseni” Draupadi was called Yajnaseni as she was born out of fire and was known for always fighting and standing up against Evil (Adharma). As the program came into being becuase of the idea to help in someway the females of nations and to spread awareness to stop such wrong deeds; it was in a some extend a anger(fire) against those who do such crimes and to stand up against evil, thus the name of the memorial is ‘Yajnaseni’. Pit of Shame Whenever a crime happens to any women, our society should feel guilty and shameful that such crimes happen to our ‘LAKSHMI’. Thus the very first thought that the architecture of this program wishes to inscribe in people’s mind who visit it ,is to feel this idea of ‘SHAME’. Fig 6.11 Illustration of Yajnaseni
If the shame is felt, there will be a sense of comtemplation with the lost souls and actions will be thus taken to stop it. In the area termed Pit of shame, found at the very center of memorial’s ground floor ; abstraction of candles is done to remember the lost innocent souls who have been the victim of violence. No names of Victims to be inscripted in the Memorial No victims of violence in India (or maybe even the world)wish their names to be known out there in public or maybe they arent alive to speak about the crime done to them, thus many cases and crimes goes unreported or missing. One might never know the name of victims and it has been happening since ages. Thus having no names of vcitims and having only one idea to stop this crime through the means of architecture makes the memorial ‘Timeless Architecture’.
Fig 6.12 Pit of Shame
110
It will be timeless, thus all the victims through out the history will be remembered and all it will be means of standing up against the evil in future . It also works upon taking actions in present and healing those who survived .
The Staircase of Hope The Staircase of Hope represents that there is good in this world and one should never loose hope. Fighting for the truth will lead to good someday . It represents and pays tribute to the survivors and the people who helps them to fight against the crime or to reduce it .
24 LED Light poles It represents the Abstract form of 24 Spokes of Ashoka Chakra. The Ashoka Chakra is the depiction of the “Dharmachakra”; represented with 24 spokes. Ashoka Chakra appears on a number of edicts of Ashoka, most prominent among which is the Lion Capital of Ashoka. Ashok Chakra is also called the wheel of duty. These 24 spokes represent 24 qualities of a person. In other words they can also be said to be 24 religious paths made for humans. All the paths mentioned in the Ashok Chakra will lead any country on the path of progress.
Fig 6.13 Twenty four LED poles in the Garden of Hope
18 Ashok Plants in the Garden of Hope. NUMBER 18 means victory and the numerical value of this Sanskrit word Jaya is 18. The Mahabharata contains 100,000 stanzas, divided into 18 Parvans (chapters). Lord Krishna defines there are 18 traits which go to constitute the ideal Man. Holy Basil (Tulsi) has natively grown in India for thousands of years, and has traditionally been used to help support the body during stress. * This ancient herb is considered sacred among locals. In the Hindu tradition, it is worshipped in India as a form of the goddess Lakshmi. Thus the Garden of hope has 18 ‘Basil’ plants. Fig 6.14 Eighteen Ashok Plants in the Garden of Hope 111
Landscaping for First floor Walk line. Wandering through our gardens, you’ll find perennials, grasses, shrubs, and trees that were chosen for their hardiness, sustainability, and ever-changing textures and colors in all three seasons. We do not have a very cold winter in India; in fact most parts of the country have just three seasons namely summer, monsoons and spring. Birds and insects thread through and animate the plantings. The mood of each garden changes through the year, conveying the ever-changing wonder and mystery of wild places. Landscape for Yagnaseni: Trees: Drumstick, Neem Flowering Plants: Champa, Ashok, Parijat, Lotus, Hibuscus, Indian Jasmina West, Indian Jasmine. Grasses: Doab Grass, Lemon Grass, Carpet Grass, Desho Grass, Foxtail Bristle Grass, Congress Grass, Sewan Grass. Air Purifying Plants: Dracaena reflexa, Aloe Vera (Indian Aloe), Peace Lily, Spider Plant, Money Plant. The 18 Plants: Ashoka Plant Indian garden plants are rich in variety just like the diverse culture of our country. Usually, flora and fauna grow better in warm weathers than frosty climate. That is why there are many common garden plants that thrive in the hot tropical weather of India. Indian garden plants often have religious significance too. For example, the basil plant is considered holy by the Hindus. That is why it is a fairly common Indian garden plant that is seen in a majority of homes. Most of the common garden plants grown in the Indian subcontinent are also flowering plants. Actually Indians have a huge fetish for blooming flowers and thus, you will see a fragrant garden in most of homes. Topical flowering plants are colourful and vibrant. So you will see many tropical plants with colourful blooms at any average Indian household. Indian garden plants like warm weather and often bloom in the spring.
Fig 6.15 Landscaping for the Program (Left) 112
6.4. Area Statement Sr.no
Functions
Area
1. 2. 3.
Place for Remembrance A memorial (The voids) Memorial Plaza (Pit of Shame) Display areas
5m2 175m2 1000m2
1. 2. 3.
Place of Awareness Coffee house Library Open Amphitheatre
100m2 100m2 450m2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Place of Healing Garden of Hope The Walk Line The Green Space Legal Advocate Medical Advoacte Healing Groups Space
330m2 1070m2 600m2 30m2 30m2 50m2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Other Common Space Reception Seating space Female Toilet Male Toilet Storage Space HVAC room
130m2 70m2 50m2 50m2 10m2 10m2
Staircase Ground Floor Total Area First Floor Total Area
10m2 2400m2 2400m2
113
Fig 7.01 Exterior View of the Proposed Design 114
CHAPTER 7.0 : FINAL PROPOSAL
The Mission Statement: Remember and honor the thousands of innocent women, daughters, females who have lost their soul or murdered because of voilence or evil deeds done to them.Recognize the endurance of those who survived, the courage of those who risked their lives to save others, and the compassion of all who supported them in our darkest times.May the lives remembered, the deeds recognized, and the spirit reawakened be eternal beacons, which reaffirm respect for life, strengthen our resolve to preserve freedom, and inspire an end to hatred, ignorance and intolerance.
Fig 7.02 Isometric View of the Existing Site with the Proposed Design 115
Fig 7.03 Site Plan. Scale- 1:5000 116
Fig 7.04 Exploded Isometric View of the Proposed Design 117
Fig 7.05 Ground Floor Plan. Scale- 1:500 118
Fig 7.06 Exploded Isometric View of Ground Floor Plan. 119
Fig 7.07 First Floor Plan. Scale- 1:500 120
Fig 7.08 Exploded Isometric View of First Floor Plan. 121
Fig 7.09 Section AA’ and Front Elevation. Scale- 1:500
122
Fig 7.10 Section BB’, CC’ and Back Elevation. Scale- 1:500
123
22670 mm
21870 mm 21470 mm
17150 mm
14550 mm
Fig 7.11 Detailed Drawings and Wall Section of the Proposed Design. 124
Fig 7.12 Rendered Views of the Final Proposal 125
Fig 7.12 Rendered Views of the Final Proposal 126
Fig 7.12 Rendered Views of the Final Proposal 127
LIST OF FIGURES Fig 0.01 Illustration by Zehra Nawab about Female Victims of Violence
Fig 1.14 Illustration of Krishna stealing cloths of Gopis.
CHAPTER 1
Fig 1.15 Illustration of Gandharva Marraige
Source: herald.dawn.com/news/1153688/crimes-against-women-the-stories-we-all-forgot
Fig 1.01 Collage of Articles about Female Victims of Violence in India. Source: Author
Fig 1.02 Illustration of Dowry Death
Source: https://blog.ipleaders.in/dowry-deaths-india-legal-study/
Fig 1.03 Infanticide in the Ganges
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Infanticide-ganges.jpg
Fig 1.04 Illustration of Female Foeticide
Source: https://tamil.samayam.com/topics/madurai-theni-female-infanticide
Fig 1.05 Illustration of Candle March for Justice for Nirbhaya
Source: https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/its-been-7-years-since-the-gruesome-nirbhayarape-case-but-nothing-much-has-changed/
Fig 1.06 Illustration of Rape Victims
Source: http://harekrsna.de/stealing-cloth.htm
Source: https://blog.saralmarriage.com/what-is-gandharva-marriage/
Fig 1.16 Illustration of Razia Sultan
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/503066220854835615/razia sultan
Fig 1.17 Illustration of Durgavati - Gond queen
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.in/deeba-abedi/5-hidden-heroines-of-indian-historywhose-names-we-should-honour_a_21903769/
Fig 1.18 Illustration of Widow Burning, Sati.
Source: http://endehoy.com/hindu-widow-burning-sati.html
Fig 1.19 Illustration of Jauhar.
Source: https://www.thequint.com/explainers/padmavati-jauhar-sati-rajput-royalty-explainer
Fig 1.20 Illustration of Rani Laxmi Bai.
Source: https://www.hindujagruti.org/articles/29_rani-lakshmi-bai.html
Source: https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/two-schoolgirls-gang-raped-ninepersons-in-police-custody-english-news-1.730919
Fig 1.21 Women Indian Freedom Fighters
Fig 1.07 Illustration of Gang Rape Victim
Fig 1.22 Protests for Justice for Mathura Rape Case
Fig 1.08 Illustration of Gang Rape Victim
Fig 1.23 Illustration of Domestic Violence
Source: https://kalingatv.com/state/police-arrest-2-more-in-puri-minor-girl-gang-rape-case/ Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/American-alleges-rape-by-guide-4others-in-city-5-star/articleshow/55763019.cms
Fig 1.09 Goddess Tulsi got raped by the Lord Vishnu, whom she used to worship. Source: http://www.bhagwanbhajan.com/stories/read-story.php?my-story=tulsi-vivahsignificance-rituals-973825
Fig 1.10 Goddess Lakshmi having bruises, depicting violence done to women.
Source: http://desinema.com/25-indian-freedom-fighters-probably-never-heard/ Source: https://feminisminindia.com/2017/06/22/historical-journey-rape-laws-india/ Source: https://www.naaree.com/domestic-violence-laws-india/
Fig 1.24 Illustration to Make India Safe for Women
Source: https://sunnydfreak.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/women-safety-laws-a-gimmick/
Fig 1.25 Clocking Violence against Women in India, 2005 and 2012 Source: National Crime Records Bureau.
Source: https://ashishbiswas.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/indians-turn-to-hindu-goddesses-tohelp-fight-sexual-predators-thestar-com/
CHAPTER 2
Fig 1.11 Illustration of Sita doing Agnipariksha to prove her purity.
Fig 2.01 Illustration of Memorials
Source: https://www.dailyo.in/politics/indian-mythology-rape-women-patriarchy/ story/1/17120.html
Fig 1.12 Illustration of Drapaudi’s Vastraharan
Source: https://www.bhagavad-gita.us/the-bhagavad-gita-in-pictures/
Fig 1.13 Illustration of Ahalya
Source: https://www.tell-a-tale.com/deliverance-the-story-of-ahalya/
128
Source: Author
Fig 2.02 Painting of Picasso- Guernica
Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Guernica-by-Picasso
Fig 2.03 Newspaper Article of Gandhi’s Death, a Tragedy.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/research/gandhi-death-anniversary-30th-januarywhen-newspapers-across-the-world-mourned-the-loss-of-mahatma-gandhi-4498819/
LIST OF FIGURES Fig 2.04 Great Fire of London, a Tragedy.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12109005/great-fire-of-london-origin.html
Fig 2.05 Hiroshima Bombing, A Manamde Tragedy
Source: https://time.com/4346336/atomic-bombs-1945-history/
Fig 2.06 Anne Frank, depicting the Jewish Genocide, an autobiographical memory Source: Anne Frank Book
Fig 2.07 Tribute in Light for 9/11 Victims
Source: https://blog.refineryhotelnewyork.com/whats-happening-in-nyc-in-september/
Fig 2.08 Memorial History: Western Context, Before World War One
Fig 3.08 Statue of Liberty, Studio Libeskind Skyline View
Source: 911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2003%20april.28%20LMDC%20 Memorial%20Guidelines.pdf
Fig 3.09 Memorial Site Boundary Plan
Source: 911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2003%20april.28%20LMDC%20 Memorial%20Guidelines.pdf
Fig 3.10 Site View Render - Northeast
Source: 911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2003%20april.28%20LMDC%20 Memorial%20Guidelines.pdf
Fig 3.11 Site View Render - Northwest
Source: Author
Source: 911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2003%20april.28%20LMDC%20 Memorial%20Guidelines.pdf
Fig 2.09 Memorial History: Western Context, After World War One
Fig 3.12 Site View Render - Aerial view
Source: Author
Fig 2.10 Memorial History: Western Context, After 1980’s Source: Author
Fig 2.11 Memorial History: Indian Context Source: Author
CHAPTER 3 Fig 3.01 Illustration of Selected Built Memorials for Case Study Source: Author
Fig 3.02 New York Skyline Before the Attack
Source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-TWIN-TOWERS-NEW-YORK-A3-POSTERPRINT-/171140904334
Fig 3.03 New York Skyline Durning the attack
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/movies/9-11-twin-towers-tv-movies.html
Fig 3.04 New York Skyline after the attack (Tribute by light)
Source: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-9-11-tribute-lights-dj-photography-nyc.html
Fig 3.05 The Twin Towers
Source: https://wallpapercave.com/twin-towers-wallpaper
Fig 3.06 9/11 Memorial Competition Brief
Source: 911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2003%20april.28%20LMDC%20 Memorial%20Guidelines.pdf
Fig 3.07 Map of Lower Manhattan & Plan of World Trade Center Site
Source: 911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2003%20april.28%20LMDC%20 Memorial%20Guidelines.pdf
Source: 911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/2003%20april.28%20LMDC%20 Memorial%20Guidelines.pdf
Fig 3.13 Architect Micheal Arad Reflecting Absence Design Model Source: https://coolhunting.com/design/reflecting-abse/
Fig 3.14 9/11 Site and Surrounding Source: Author
Fig 3.15 9/11 Pool, the voids. Source: Author
Fig 3.16 9/11 Memorial: Aerial View
Source: www.pwpla.com/projects/reflecting-absence-national-september-11th-memorial/
Fig 3.17 Landscape. The Trees in different seasons
Source: www.pwpla.com/projects/reflecting-absence-national-september-11th-memorial/
Fig 3.18 Sections of 9/11 Memorial
Source: www.pwpla.com/projects/reflecting-absence-national-september-11th-memorial/
Fig 3.19 The Memorial Tree
Source: www.pwpla.com/projects/reflecting-absence-national-september-11th-memorial/
Fig 3.20 Abstract form of Tree in the Facade of Original Twin Tower
Source: www.pwpla.com/projects/reflecting-absence-national-september-11th-memorial/
Fig 3.21 Plans and Model of 9/11 Memorial and Museum
Source: https://www.archdaily.com/488508/davis-brody-bond-releases-new-details-of-the-911-memorial-museum?ad_medium=gallery
Fig 3.22 Interiors of 9/11 Memorial Museum- The Last Column Source: 911memorial.org/
129
LIST OF FIGURES Fig 3.23 Interiors of 9/11 Memorial Museum- Survivors Staicase
Fig 3.40 Emotional and Physical Experience inside the Museum
Fig 3.24 Interiors of 9/11 Memorial Museum- Historical Exihibition
Fig 3.41 Organization of Jewish Museum
Fig 3.25 Interiors of 9/11 Memorial Museum- Memorial Exihibition
Fig 3.42 Exterior View of Zinc Facade
Fig 3.26 Interiors of 9/11 Memorial Museum- K9 Courage Exhibition
Fig 3.43 The Narrow Passages of the Jewish Museum
Fig 3.27 Interiors of 9/11 Memorial Museum- Twin Towers Tridents
Fig 3.44 The Holocaust Memorial Site (a)Locating the city (b)Locating the Museum
Source: 911memorial.org/ Source: 911memorial.org/ Source: 911memorial.org/ Source: 911memorial.org/ Source: 911memorial.org/
Fig 3.28 Exonometric View of Layout of 9/11 Museum
Source: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig 3.29 Interior View of Jewish Museum
Source: https://issuu.com/margotshafran/docs/jewish_museum_berlin_analysis
Fig 3.30 Site Model and Location of Jewish Museum, Berlin
Source: https://issuu.com/margotshafran/docs/jewish_museum_berlin_analysis Source: https://issuu.com/margotshafran/docs/jewish_museum_berlin_analysis Source: https://libeskind.com/work/jewish-museum-berlin/ Source: https://libeskind.com/work/jewish-museum-berlin/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Source: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:HarvardX+GSD1x+1T2020/ courseware/49eba7440f614ae5858af07c3468a45d/b730d225c7a84201a4a6001eeff1f2a4/
Fig 3.45 Aerial View of Holocaust Memorial
Source: https://eisenmanarchitects.com/Berlin-Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Jews-of Europe-2005
Fig 3.46 Plan of Holocaust Memorial
Source: Author
Source: https://eisenmanarchitects.com/Berlin-Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Jews-ofEurope-2005
Fig 3.31 Illustration of Existing Building and its Extension.
Fig 3.47 The Grid Layout of Holocaust Memorial
Source: https://issuu.com/margotshafran/docs/jewish_museum_berlin_analysis
Fig 3.32 Aerial View of Jewish Museum
Source: https://libeskind.com/work/jewish-museum-berlin/
Fig 3.33 Jewish Cemetry in Weissensee Source:
Fig 3.34 Viods that run through the New Extension Source: Author
Fig 3.35 People viewing the city through voids
Source: https://libeskind.com/work/jewish-museum-berlin/
Fig 3.36 The Viods as seen from interiors of the building Source: Author
Fig 3.37 The Inaccessible Void Source: Author
Fig 3.38 Between the Lines as seen from Exterior of the building
Source: https://eisenmanarchitects.com/Berlin-Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Jews-ofEurope-2005
Fig 3.48 Sections of Holocaust Memorial
Source: https://eisenmanarchitects.com/Berlin-Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Jews-ofEurope-2005
Fig 3.49 The Interiors of the Ort Source: Author
Fig 3.50 The Memorial and the Landscape around it Source: Author
Fig 3.51 The Repetition of the stelaes Source: Author
Fig 3.52 The Consistency of same material, Concrete. Source: Author
Fig 3.53 The Undulating Ground of the Holocaust Memorial
Source: Author
Source: https://eisenmanarchitects.com/Berlin-Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Jews-ofEurope-2005
Fig 3.39 The Three Underground Roads and Voids
Fig 3.54 No symbols or names inscripted in memorial
Source: Author 130
Source: eisenmanarchitects.com/Berlin-Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Jews-of-Europe-2005
LIST OF FIGURES Fig 3.55 Physical Model of Holocaust Memorial
Fig 3.69 Rendered Views of the First Runner Up.
Fig 3.56 Kids Playing at Holocaust Memorial
Fig 3.70 Conceptual Idea of the Second Runner Up.
Source: https://eisenmanarchitects.com/Berlin-Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Jews-ofEurope-2005 Source: Author
Fig 3.57 Interiors of the Ort (Exhibition Space below the Memorial) Source: Author
Fig 3.58 Sketches of the Holocaust Memorial
Source: Author -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig 3.59 The Taj Hotel where 26/11 Attacks Happened
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.71 Rendered Views of the Second Runner Up.
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.72 Plan of Third Runner Up.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/mumbai/taj-mahal-palace-and-tower/
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.60 Site for the Competition near the Gateway of India.
Fig 3.73 Conceptual Idea of the Third Runner Up.
Source: theculturetrip.com/asia/india/articles/7-beautiful-perspectives-of-gateway-of-india/
Fig 3.61 Six Sites where 26/11 attacks happened
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJun48bWhM0
Fig 3.62 Concept :Three main experiences of 26/11 Victims Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJun48bWhM0
Fig 3.63 Process 1- Site and its Immediate Context
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.64 Process 2- Mapping Points of Attack Locations on the Site
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.74 Rendered Views of the Third Runner Up.
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.75 Matrix of Key Elements of the Three Selected Built Case Studies. Source: Author
CHAPTER 4
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 4.01 Old Picture of Ahmedabad City
Fig 3.65 Process 3- Number of Radiating Lines Represents Deaths at each locations
Fig 4.02 Significance of Water in Hinduism
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.66 Process 4- Interwining Lines Creates a Vortex
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.67 Process 5- Defining movement Paths and Fragmenting lines at equal distances marking the positionof the poles
Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Fig 3.68 Process 6- Gyre Pavillion Engaging Visitors with Different Experiences and Draping the Context with Visual Treat. Source: https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amitypavilion-design-competition-by-archdais.html
Source: Umang Shah Photography
Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book
Fig 4.03 Significance of Water in Islamic Architecture
Source: https://theculturetrip.com/middle-east/articles/water-in-islamic-architecture/
Fig 4.04 Varanasi on the banks of River Ganga
Source: www.trawell.in/blog/places-to-visit-in-september-in-india/varanasi_main
Fig 4.05 Kolkata on the banks of River Hooghly
Source: http://cityvillagenews.com/exploring-kolkata-like-local-trip-remember/
Fig 4.06 Illustration of Ahmedabad by Deepti Pai. Edited for Thesis.
Source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/37798135/Ahmedabad-Cityscape-Urban-Clap
Fig 4.07 Illustration of Ahmedabad Demographics
Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book 131
LIST OF FIGURES Fig 4.08 (a)Number of Inhabitants in Ahmedabad (b)Mobility in Ahmedabad Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book
Fig 4.09 Evolution of Ahmedabad City
Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book
Fig 4.10 Evolution of Ahmedabad Map
Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book
Fig 4.11 Gandhiji at Sabarmati Ashram
Source: https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/sabarmati-ashram-was-established-todayhere-s-everything-about-mahatma-gandhi-s-ultimate-abode-322445.html
Fig 4.12 Sabarmati River Flow From Gujarat
Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book
Fig 4.13 Illustration of the Ahmedabad City Walls in their totality in 1980
CHAPTER 5 Fig 5.01 Conceptual Sketch of Jewish Museum Source:
Fig 5.02 Conceptual Sketches for the Idea of Void Source: Author
Fig 5.03 Conceptual Model for the Idea of Void Source: Author
Fig 5.04 Conceptual Sketches for the Idea of Destruction and Healing Source: Author
Fig 5.05 Conceptual Model for the Idea of Destruction and Healing Source: Author
Source: https://scroll.in/magazine/900418/from-the-skies-an-architect-retraces-a-centuryold-survey-of-ahmedabads-city-walls
Fig 5.06 Conceptual Sketches for the Idea of Shame
Fig 4.14 Land use of Sabarmati River before the Riverfront Developement
Fig 5.07 Conceptual Model for the Idea of Shame
Fig 4.15 Land use of Sabarmati River after the Riverfront Developement
Fig 5.08 Process Models of Initial Concept
Fig 4.16 Locating the landmarks around the Sabarmati Riverfront
Fig 5.09 Process Plans of Initial Concept
Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book Source: Google Earth
Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book
Fig 4.17 Ahmedabad city Aerial view
Source: Author Source: Author Source: Author Source: Author
Source: https://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-special-indias-20-most-livable-cities-mumbai-is-no-1/20140106.htm
CHAPTER 6
Fig 4.18 Aerial view of Kakaria Lake, Ahmedabad .
Source: Google Earth
Source: https://scroll.in/magazine/900418/from-the-skies-an-architect-retraces-a-centuryold-survey-of-ahmedabads-city-walls
Fig 4.19 Landmarks Around Riverfront
Source: https://issuu.com/simonabasile3/docs/sabarmati_w_e_ave__book
Fig 4.20 (a)Gandhi Ashram Plan and Section
Fig 6.01 Satellite Image of the Selected Site Fig 6.02 Locating Ahmedabad city in Gujarat, India Source: Author
Fig 6.03 Road Map of the Context around Riverfront Source: Author
Source: https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/366058275944024917/ (b) Gandhi Ashram Organization Source: i.pinimg.com/originals/e0/e5/07/e0e507980ac181af591aa19139ca3996.png
Fig 6.04 Road Map of the Context around Gandhi Ashram
Fig 4.21 Gandhi Ashram Old Photo
Source: http://sabarmatiriverfront.com/
Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zdRfXykomEE/maxresdefault.jpg
Fig 4.22 Existing Site and its surroundings Source: Author 132
Source: Author
Fig 6.05 Landmarks and Road Network Map of Sabarmati Riverfront Fig 6.06 Detail Section of Sabarmati Riverfront Source: http://sabarmatiriverfront.com/
LIST OF FIGURES Fig 6.07 Plan of the Selected Site
Fig 7.07 First Floor Plan. Scale- 1:500
Fig 6.08 Weather Data of Ahmedabad
Fig 7.08 Exploded Isometric View of First Floor Plan
Fig 6.09 Organization of Place for Awareness, Remembrance and Healing
Fig 7.09 Section AA’ and Front Elevation. Scale- 1:500
Source: Author Source: Author Source: Author
Fig 6.10 Circulation of the Proposed DEsign Source: Author
Fig 6.11 Illustration of Yajnaseni Source: Author
Fig 6.12 Pit of Shame Source: Author
Fig 6.13 Twenty Four LED Poles in Garden of Hope Source: Author
Source: Author Source: Author Source: Author
Fig 7.10 Section BB’, CC’ and Back Elevation. Scale- 1:500 Source: Author
Fig 7.11 Detailed Drawings and Wall Section of the Proposed Design. Source: Author
Fig 7.12 Rendered Views of the Final Proposal Source: Author
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig 6.14 Eighteen Ashok Plants in Garden of Hope Source: Author
Fig 6.15 Landscaping for the Program Source: Author
CHAPTER 7 Fig 7.01 Exterior View of the Proposed Design Source: Author
Fig 7.02 Isometric View of Existing Site with the Proposed Design Source: Author
Fig 7.03 Site Plan. Scale- 1:5000 Source: Author
Fig 7.04 Exploded Isometric View of the Proposed Design Source: Author
Fig 7.05 Ground Floor Plan. Scale- 1:500 Source: Author
Fig 7.06 Exploded Isometric View of Ground Floor Plan Source: Author
133
BIBLIOGRAPHY CONSULTED THESIS:
BOOKS:
- Garga, Apeksha
- Women In India Dr. Tanuja Trivedi, Dr. Kadambari Sharma, Dr. Aaradhana Salpekar, Dr. Samitha R. Natarajan
Envisioning Narrative: Understanding memory in memorials Thesis, CEPT University- School of Interior Design
- David, Puloma
Memorial Museums: An analysis of interpretive and narrative aspects Thesis, CEPT University- School of Interior Design
- Mansoor, Mohammed
- Memorials As Spaces Of Engagement: Design, Use And Meaning Karen A. Franck - The Eyes Of Skin Juhani Pallasmaa. Preface by Steven Holl
City on a Bridge- A conflation of urban fabric across the riverbanks. Thesis, University of Mysore- The university school of design (www.issuu.com)
- The Poetics Of Space Gaston Bachelard
- Basile, Simona
- A Concise History Of Modern Architecture In India Jon Lang
Rediscovering the river: Strategic proposal for regeneration of Ahmedabad’s riverfront. Book, University of Ferrara- Department of Architecture (www.issuu.com)
- Chopra, Jayanti
Yaad-e-Haadsa: Bhopal Gas Tragedy Memorial Thesis, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (www.issuu.com)
- Kanugo, Vignesh
Yadgar-e-Taqseem Memories of the Partition: Museum & memorial Thesis, Hindustan University (www.issuu.com)
- John Paul Swift
Reframing the Dynamics: A case study of the interaction between architectural computing and relationship based procurement at the National Museum of Australia Thesis. School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design University of Adelaide, South Australia
- Lucrezia Levi Morenos
Memory is the Foundation of the Future: Holocaust Museums Memory Construction through Architecture and Narrative, Yad Vashem and the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Master Thesis- Leiden University, Master Arts & Culture
- Elizabeth Wallace
- Written Into The Void: Selected Writings 1990-2004 Eisenman, Peter - No Nation For Women Priyanka Dubey - What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape Abdulali Sohaila - Narrative Architecture Nigel Coates - Jewish Museum Berlin Architect Daniel Libeskind - 1984 George Orwell
FILMS/VIDEOS/DOCUMENTARIES -Making absence Visible: Michael Arad at TEDxWallStreet (www.youtube.com)
The Presence Of Absence: Conceptualizing Absence In The City Through Contemporary Art Practice. Thesis. School of Art,College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University.
-Daniel Libeskind- Time Space Existence (www.youtube.com)
- Tanovic, Sabina
-The effect of masculine & feminine principals in architecture | Jo Gilles | TEDxUltimo (www.youtube.com)
Memory in Architecture: Contemporary memorial projects and their predecessors Thesis. Delft University of Technology
- Kheni, Himalay
Recreational Bridge, Ahmedabad Thesis. B.arch. Bhagwan College of Architecture. 134
-Architecture 12 of 23 Daniel Libeskind Jewish Museum Berlin (www.youtube.com)
-Can architecture and planning ensure safety for women? | Vania Ceccato | TEDxKTHWomen (www.youtube.com) -Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial and Mine- James Young (www.youtube.com)
BIBLIOGRAPHY RESEARCH PAPERS AND ARTICLES -Memory is not concrete: A Case Study of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Author- Chin-Wei Chang PhD Candidate in Architectural History & Theory, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, United Kingdom -The Effects of Public Memorials on Social Memory and Urban Identity Author- Ebru Erbas Gurler, Basak Ozer ITU Landscape Architecture Department, Taskısla Caddesi, ITU Mimarlık Fakültesi,TaksimIstanbul 34437, Turkey - “Born to die”: Female infanticide and Feticide: an analysis of india Author- Sharqua Noori Ansari Research scholar, Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University. - Macarthur, John. “Experiencing Absence: Eisenman and Derrida, Benjamin and Schwitters.” In Knowledge and/or/of Experience: The Theory of Space in Art and Architecture, Edited by John Macarthur, 99-123. Brisbane: Institute of Modern Art, 1993. -Fagan, Charlotte C., “Empowerment by Design? A Case Study of Women Living in New Urbanist Neighborhoods” (2012). Geography Honors Projects. Paper 31. - Muthe, Sanjana Sanjay, “A Voice for Public Memory: A Comparison Between the Memorial Practices in India and the United States of America to Propose a Suitable Response to the 26/11 Attacks in Mumbai” (2016). Thesis (Historic Preservation). - Dimkovic DM. Memorial Architecture as the Symbol of Remembrance and Memories. SEE J Archit Des. 2016 June 10; 2016:10018.
-https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-behind-indias-rape-problem/a-51739350 - https://www.vox.com/2015/3/5/8156881/india-rape - http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-1373-this-may-be-the-reason-why-desiresfor-lust-and-rapes-are-increasing.html - http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-1363-protection-of-women-againstdomestic-violence-and-maintenance.html - http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-1320-women-empowerment-andconstitutional-provisions.html - http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-93-is-india-ready-for-gender-neutrality.html - https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/depicting-women-inbollywood-222702-2014-10-11 - https://eisenmanarchitects.com/Berlin-Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Jews-of-Europe-2005 - https://libeskind.com/work/jewish-museum-berlin/ - http://www.pwpla.com/national-911-memorial - https://handelarchitects.com/project/national-september-11-memorial?pagi=northamerica - https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/eccve/winners-of-the-taj-amity-paviliondesign-competition-by-archdais.html
- Kitajima, Yuka, “Peace Museums on the Land of Victims and the Land of Perpetrators: Analyses of Curation and Design of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Information Center Under the Field of Stelae in Berlin” (2017). Student research.
WEB SOURCES: -https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/apr/09/india-missing-girls-risinglevels-foeticide -https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/social-identity/prevalence-and-evolution-of-dowry-inindia.html -https://www.thedailybeast.com/whats-really-behind-indias-rape-crisis -https://feminisminindia.com/2019/07/01/victim-blaming-rape-culture/ -https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/09/understanding-indias-rape-crisis/ 135
BIBLIOGRAPHY Quotes/ Words
[1] “I was once happy, content.....................................But not for last” [2] “The world which worships Mother .......... against her daughters.” [3] “Babul pyare sajan sakha re........................kya bechega rupaiya” [4] “You can’t connect the dots.............will make all the difference.” [5] “To call woman the weaker.....heart than woman?” [6] “Phenomenology demonstrated in architecture............observed and perceived.” [7] “There is another world inside this one. No words can describe it” [8] “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” [9] “It took from me. Something was taken from me.” [10] “We don’t heal in isolation, but in community.” [11] “As a man, I apologize for what those evil men did....... life and future.”
136
Source
Page No.
Author
V
Debajani Mohanty, The Curse of Damini
VII
Rupaiya Song, Satyamev Jayate- Star Plus
VII
Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech
1
Mahatma Gandhi
92
Theory of phenomenology
95
Rumi
96
Margaret Atwood (Book - What we Talk About When We Talk About Rape)
96
Alexa (Book - What we Talk About When We Talk About Rape)
97
S. Kelley Harrell, Gift of the Dreamtime-Awakening to the Divinity of Trauma
98
Book - What we Talk About When We Talk About Rape
100