Portfolio
Ephemeral Spaces of Today
2020
Architectural study | Illustration | Investigative learning
This project was my undergraduate thesis in university where I researched and understood learnings on how to revitalize public spaces in Triplicane, an old neighborhood in Chennai, India.
Public spaces make cities. They are the spaces of visibility and sociability. Citizens recognize themselves as members of a community only when they can equally access and use the public “place”, which also presents the result of evolution and growing up of the urban fabric.
Capitalism and Privatization have led to defensive and hostile Architecture where private parties dictate the dos and don’ts in a supposedly public space. This proves problematic by promoting limited access, exclusion to the poor and entry to an elitist group of people.
Intent
Revitalizing public spaces, reclaiming the lost spaces, particularly looking at non-negotiable spaces such as the Wallajah Mosque that once, belonged to the public.
Site: Wallajah Mosque, Triplicane
Big Mosque is the largest and considered the principal mosque in the city of Chennai. A mosque is an active place of interaction whilst being a symbol of the community's growth in religion and trade.
Design Intervention
A hub for trade and commerce symbolizing the growth of the community and their livelihoods. Interventions include:
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Defining the precinct
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Multi-functional foreground for the Mosque
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Programs to establish as a Business and Trade landmark
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Designate set space for parking to minimalize haphazard use of the area.
Programs and Circulation
Zoning of the above programs in the site
