Matt Lau Design Report 2021

M A S T E R

O F

A R C H I T E C T U R E

PARA-situation

2 0 1 9 - 2 0 2 1

[Ahmedabad]:

“Past,

Present

and

Possible“

F OREGR OUNDIN G AHMEDABAD Disa ss em b l y a n d R e a s s e m b l y o f t h e O l d a n d N e w W a lls

DESIGN REPORT MATT Man Chun LAU

THESIS

AGENCIES

PARA-SITUATION MEASURED INTENSITY SITES OF INQUIRY AUTHORS TUTORS:

FOREGROUNDING AHMEDABAD Disassembly and Reassembly of the Old and New Walls

Indoor Facilities:

Outdoor Facilities:

Gallery Library Textile Museum Youth Centre

Amphitheatre Football Court Frisbee Court Riverfront Market

Sabarmati Riverfront, Ahmedabad Old Town Panchkuva Darwaja - Sarangpur Darwaja Matthew Lau Dorian Wiszniewski Kevin Adams

CONSULTANTS:

Andrew Leiper Jonathan Narro

GUEST CRITICS:

Findlay McFarlane Sam Barclay

MEASURED INTENSITY GROUP MEMBERS:

Yabing Liu Xuyao Zhao

ABSTRACT Foregrounding Ahmedabad is a project of reuniting the Sabarmati River and the Ahmedabad old town through water and architecture. A Hindu mythological notion suggests the goddess Ganga fell on the Himalaya Mountains; she became rivers and other forms of water body to bring fertility to the land. The existing Sabarmati Riverfront has been segregated from the city by a sharp-edged concrete retaining wall, isolating folk from the Descent of Ganga.

The project proposes a series of civic architectures along the Sabarmati Riverfront on the old city bank, creating a range of open spaces and public facilities which the old city is currently lacking. Inspired by the fabric markets in the old town, the lushness and moments within these fabric markets are extracted as gestures and further developed into a new architectural language. The proposed architecture will be erected on the existing concrete retaining wall and recrafted as the Otla1 of the new civic institutions.

The architecture of Foregrounding Ahmedabad is also the Otla1 of the city and the Otla of Ganga. Each building along the New Wall contains a mini water factory, which leads the river into the building as a part of the natural ventilation system, it also supplies the filtered river water into the old city to establish a city scaled irrigation system. Each architecture on this water network serves as the “foreground” of accessing river water and the “foreground” of collecting rainwater, conveying the journey of Ganga meeting Ganga.

1. Otla is the name given to the slightly raised loggias of the Pol houses.

CONTENTS 0. NARRATIVES Glossary Decent of Ganga The Written Thesis The Four Scale

8 12 14 17

1. FOREGROUNDING AHMEDABAD The Fifth City Irrigate the Old Town

18 20

2. DISASSEMBLE - THE OLD WALL Bhadra Plaza Manek Chowk Measured Intensity Gestures

26 30 34 40

3. REASSEMBLE - THE NEW WALL The Civic Zone in Ahmedabad Funnel The New Foreground of Ahmedabad The Textile Museum

50 52 54 64

4. DISASSEMBLE - THE NEW WALL Syntax Drawings Modelling

106 112

5. ASSEMBLE - THE FIFTH CITY The Riverfront Library The Youth Centre The Gallery + Exhibition set up The Fish Market The End [of the Journey] The Film - Foregrounding Ahmedabad Conclusion and Reflection

120 126 132 136 142 144 146

A photo taken in the Central Street of the old town in the morning, two men and a dog were restting on the 'Otla' of shop.

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GLOSSARY

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(Urban) Apparatus

The disposition of architecture elements in TLML.

Agency

An Enzymatic Territory or any part of it.

Agent

That which takes on and represents the operative force of an agency.

Ahmedabad

A past, present and future series of situations in a ground where folk have made and continue to make a multitude of places.

Amenity

That which is available for folk to arrange to suit themselves.

Architecture

That which mediates folk, ground, sky and Ganga's descent.

Biopolis

A city that operates as a biological organism, i.e. where buildings, folk and environment co-operate in symbiotic relations.

Enzymatic Territory

The fluctuating fecund ground on which folk, ground, sky, buildings and Ganga's descent continuously work in parasitically productive relations.

FABB Agency

Specific constituent buildings of enzymatic territories that reciprocally shape and are shaped by the ground and the relations of ground: Factory buildings, Amenity Buildings, Bed buildings and Water Butt buildings.

Folk

The people and "crowd" of the city, made up by the series human subjectivity, inter-subjectivity and human relations.

Foreground

The entrance or the otla of a city or a place.

Gesture

The element that generates architecture.

Ground

The which is both literally and metaphorically the ground upon which architecture is figured out as an apparatus.

New Visualisation

A visualisation newly conceptualised and visualised in representational techniques appropriate to its conceptual status as it breaches into reality and vice versa.

The Sabarmati Riverfront. The current foreground of the city that segragate the river and folk.

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Ocean of Wetness

A (new) visualisation of the ground from the priority of wetness rather than dryness, from the opening provided by an understanding of "Ganga's descent" as well as a critical review of the priorities focussed through "Alexander's eye."

Otla

The name given to the slightly raised loggias of the Pol houses, a communication zone between inside and outside.

Parasite

An unfamiliar co-existent "other" that necessitates a different appreciation of a host.

Parasituation

An unfamiliar co-existent "other" situation that necessitates a different appreciation of a host situation.

Place

Somewhere people find meaningful.

Pol

The traditional housing cluster in Gujarat.

Rain

That which is literally and metaphorically rain within which architecture is figured out as an apparutus.

TLML

The Loving Metropolitan Landscape holds a non-risk-averse speculative impulse that situates enzymatic territories in a Biopolis in networks across the Metropolitan scale.

Glossary reference to Wiszniewski, Dorian. “Project Brief 1: Wall-Wells and Well Walls, the Index Museum”. September, 2019

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The Pols in Ahmedabad Old town.

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DESCENT OF GANGA "The Goddess is appreciated as a manifestation of the river. "Narrative myths come and go in history. They may shape the cosmos and convey meaning for many generations, and then they may gradually lose their hold upon the imagination and finally be forgotten. But the river remains, even when the stories are no longer repeated. The river flows on, bring life and conveying the living tradition, even to those of this age for whom everything is demythologized."1 In Hinduism, rivers are described as the descent of Ganga. It is believed that the King Bhagiratha convinced the river goddess Ganga to descend and purge the cursed souls of his ancestors, but the force of Ganga descent might shatter the land. Therefore, Shiva offers Ganga to fall on his head to mediate the force. Ganga flowed along with Shiva’s matted hair and became the rivers on the land.2 The rivers have always played an essential role in Indian civilisation. The Hindus believe rivers are sacred, as all rivers are the parts of Ganga which brings fertility to the land. The cities on the river always host various cultural events at the riverside, such as the festival Ganga Dussehra3, the International Kite Festival4 and Sunday market5 etc.

The diagram shows the journey of Ganga from the Himalayan mountain in the North, bringing wetness and fertility to the land through rivers. Folk were congregate along the rivers and developed into cities and towns, Ahmedabad is the biggest city sits on the Sabarmati river.

In Foregrounding Ahmedabad, the Himalayan mountain is interpreted as the foreground of Ganga meeting the land, the terrain of the ground determines the journey of rivers. However, the Sabarmati Riverfront project creates a hard edge for the city that segregates folk and Ganga.

1 Hawley, John Stratton, and Donna Marie Wulff, editors. The Divine Consort, Radaha and the Goddesses of India. Graduate Theological Union, 1982. p.182 2 Cunha, Dilip da. The Invention of Rivers: Alexanders Eye and Gangas Descent. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. p.39 3 Astrology, TOI. “Ganga Dussehra 2019.” The Times of India, Astrology, 12 June 2019, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/astrology/rituals-puja/gangadussehra-2019-rituals-auspicious-timings-and-things-to-know/articleshow/69736349.cms.

4 Kite Festival 2020, Tourism Corporation Of Gujarat Limited, 2019, http://ikf.gujarattourism.com/about.html.

5 “Ravivari / Sunday Market - SABARMATI.” Sabarmati Riverfront, AHMEDABAD MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, 2019, http://sabarmatiriverfront.com/event/ ravivari-sunday-market.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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WRITTEN THESIS The Sabarmati Riverfront project was considered an unsuccessful Development Project with little architectural value. Its concrete retaining walls on the city edge create a hard relationship between the city and the river edge. The 11km long RC retaining walls also provide lands for potential real-estate development. Most of the riverfront area is still underdeveloped, but the entire Project appears to hinder the great architectural potential of the entire Sabarmati Riverfront.

The extreme seasonal changes of Ahmedabad’s weather is the key consideration in Foregrounding Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad’s annual rainfall is accumulated during the summer monsoon period, causing floods in the Gujarat area every year. The locals have developed a habit of storing rainwater during the monsoon period. When the city has a limited water supply during the dry season, the folk can use the rainwater for household use, such as showering and flushing.

Ahmedabad Old city is a vibrant but crowded area. It consists of various cultural activities within heavy traffic-congested and air-polluted environments. As the only civic zone of the old town that has been recently redeveloped, the Bhadra Plaza is once again overoccupied by vehicles and vendors. In extreme contrast with the New Riverfront, the concrete walkway appears vast, empty and quiet on the city edge. Therefore, the idea of redesigning the riverfront as a new civic area is initiated.

Foregrounding Ahmedabad proposes a series of leisure areas and civic facilities on the Old City bank to revitalise the riverfront. It makes use of the river by providing an irrigation system for greening the entire walled city. Foregrounding Ahmedabad responds to the Manifesto Ocean of Wetness. The Sabarmati River is imagined to immerse into the old city in the form of an irrigation system. The wetness provided by the system brings freshness and amenities to the old city. This water distribution network provides water for plants and building architecture. The water supply system starts from the riverfront on the west of the old city, heading inland towards the east. Each proposed riverfront architecture contains a small-scaled water treatment room and a pump room. They deliver river water into the old city through the underground water pipes.

In the old city, the architecture along the water pipe route are served as the water pump substations.

The architecture in Foregrounding Ahmedabad are the apparatuses of water. The entire riverfront is the foreground of the city, where folk interact with the river or communicate with Ganga. The proposed riverfront buildings attempt to recraft the hard city edge into many Otlas that lead the river into the buildings and into the city. Coupling with the rainwater collection system from the roofs, Foregrounding Ahmedabad conveys the journey of Ganga meeting Ganga.

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Foregrounding Ahmedabad is proposal of developing the fifth city in Ahmedabad as a biopolis base on the water distribution system. The Architectures in the project are considered and represented through 4 scales of drawings:

THE LOVING METROPOLITAN LANDSCAPE (TLML) The city scale drawings. They show the overall layout of the water distributing project.

SET OF ENZYMATIC TERRITORIES (SET) The 1:800 to 1:400 drawings that show the relatoinships amoung buildings, sites and landscape.

BUILDING (BLG) The 1:200, 1:100 or 1:50 drawings.

BODY (BLG) The 1:100, 1:50 and 1:20 scale drawings that explain the thesis in human body scale.

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Chapter 01 F O RE GROUNDI NG

AHMEDABAD Ahmedabad, the former capital of the Indian state of Gujarat, consists of a rich historical background and a diverse social culture. The city can be classified into four distinctive districts: the Old City, the Outer City, the City of Post-Independence Modernity and the New Walled City. Also known as the The Fourth City, the New Walled City is a Neo-Liberal City as defined by the Sabarmati Riverfront project completed in 2012 and the new subway network currently under construction.1 The Fifth City of Ahmedabad is the river water distribution network of the city, taking the failure of the fourth city (the riverfront project) as the start up point. The sharp concrete retaining wall is recrafted as a Foreground of the city. Meanwhile, the Sabarmati river is led and immersed into the city as a city scale irrigation system; providing the opportunity to develop architecture as water apparatuses along this network.

The riverfront buildings are the starting point of the journey. Since each of the Riverfront buildings has a small water plant room to suck water from the river, each riverfront building will supply water to a route in the old city. The water will pass through several water pump substations and reach the end points along the Old Wall. Apart from tree irrigation, the filtered river water can also provide different daily uses of water in the city. The red knots on the city plan show the proposed positions of water pump substations, each knot is located in a different area and can provide various usage of water.

1 Wiszniewski, Dorian. "Project Brief 2 2019-2021, Wall-Wells and Well Walls in Series of Agency" January 2020, p.4

BODY BUILDING SET TLML THE FIFTH CITY PLAN Original Scale 1:10000

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F O REGR OUNDIN G AHME DABAD

BODY BUILDING SET TLML IRRIGATE THE OLD CITY Original Scale 1:5000

The central route in the old town is selected as the main study area in the project. The route penetrates the old city from East to West, starting from the bus terminal next to the new wall and ending at the Panchkuva Gate on the Old Wall. The pathway contains a significant amount of unique urban fabrics and moments of Ahmedabad, e.g. the pols, the vendors, the co-existence of historical and modern daily life, religions, humans and animals.

At the West end of the route, the old wall survey named Measured Intensities is conducted in the area between Panchkuva Darwaja and Sarangpur Darwaja. The Sindhi Market has replaced the Ahmedabad old wall; it became the new edge between the Old City and the Outer City of Ahmedabad. The construction of the market demonstrates the local culture, living patterns and their wits in responding to the weather. The architectural languages of the project was inspired by the gestures investigated from Sindhi Market.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML THE TEXTILE MUSEUM Worm’s-Eye View

Chapter 02 D IS A S S EMB L E

THE OLD WALL

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D IS ASSEMBLE - T HE OL D WAL L

BHADRA PLAZA In November 2014, the Bhadra Plaza redevelopment project was completed by Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi to improve overcrowded conditions while protecting the livelihood of poorer citizens.

By rearranging the traffic routes and the locations for hawkers, the Project provided a more organised open space such as a pedestrian area, a leisure space, and the heart of the old town.

By January 2020, as observed during the Ahmedabad field trip, the Bhadra Plaza was overoccupied by the vendors again. The police confiscated many vendors’ equipment and goods, while the BYThe AN overcrowded AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION central garden was locked andPRODUCED not in use. situation of the Bhadra plaza contrasts the quiet Riverfront area despite being only a few hundred meters away from the river bank.

Bhadra Fort Azam Khan Sarai & Masjid Premabhai Hall Karanj Baug Bhadra Post Office Karanj Police Stations Himabhai Institute

8 Central Telephone Office 9 Government Office 10 Central Bank of India & Khwaja Market 11 Shah Khoob Masjid 12 Central Plaza 13 Teen Darwaza 14 Fish Market 15 Alif Masjid & Paramount Hotel

SECTIONS Original Scale 1:400

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML PLAN Scale 1:2000

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

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A Vendor was escaping from the police confiscation in Bhadra Plaza.

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MANEK CHOWK Scale 1:2000

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Manek Chowk is another public space in the city with a unique urban pattern, creating many moments. The Manek Chowk is a street located between two historical sites, with different functions depending on the time of the day.

This area serves as a vegetable market and an open area for feeding cattle in the early morning. In the late morning and afternoon, jewellery shops open along the street and the space in between becomes a carpark. At night, the Manek Chowk would transform into a night food market.

SECTION Original Scale 1:400

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML NIGHT FOOD MARKET

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Jama Masjid Ahmedshah Badshah's Tomb Manek Chowk Rani no Hajiro

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Original Scale 1:800

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A vegetable vendor in Manek Chowk in the morning

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D IS ASSEMBLE - T HE OL D WAL L

MEASURED INTENSITIES - THE OLD WALL SURVEY The Measured Intensities survey was taken on the Sindhi Market as it sits on the demolished part of the Old Wall between Punchkuva and Sarangpur Gate. The market consists of around 300 clothing shops, two rows of concrete huts formed a 180 metres long aisle in between. The fabrics, metalworks, and local people’s living habits created a unique architectural language, while the Green Marble floor is the surface that contains these gestures.

MEASURED INTENSITIES - PLAN - BETWEEN PANCHKUVA AND SARANGPUR GATE

Sarangpur Gate

MI-E02

MI-S01

MEASURED INTENSITIES - ELEVATION 01 - BETWEEN PANCHKUVA AND SARANGPUR GATE

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Measured Intensities drawings produced as a group with Yabing Liu and Xuyao Zhou

MI-S02

MI-S03

MI-S04

BODY BUILDING SET TLML

Panchuva Gate

MI-S05

MI-S06

MI-S07

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SINDHI MARKET

GESTURES DRAWINGS

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MEASURED INTENSITIES - SECTIONS Original scale 1:200

MI-ELEVATION 02

MI-SECTION 02

MI-SECTION 04 38

Measured Intensities drawings produced as a group with Yabing Liu and Xuyao Zhou

BODY BUILDING SET TLML

MI-SECTION 01

MI-SECTION 03

MI-SECTION 05

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10m

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GESTURE DRAWINGS

The idea of creating a series of architecture on riverfront was triggered during the investigating gestures from the Measured Intensities drawings.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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GESTURE DRAWINGS

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML THE RIVERFRONT LIBRARY Worm’s-Eye View

Chapter 03 R E A S S E M B L E

THE NEW WALL

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

CRAFTING RIVERFRONT

RIVERFRONT PLANNING Model Scale 1:2000

Mixed-use Housing Compound -

Low-rise residential Clubhouse Swimming pool School Campus Restaurants Commercial Temple

Healthcare Zone - Hospital - Children Hospital - Psychiatric Centre

Leisure Zone -

Museum Library Gallery Youth Centre Amphitheatre Football Court Frisbee Court Garden

Cultural Zone -

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Fabric Market Wet Market Sunday Market Temples Dancing School Theatre Museum Park

BODY BUILDING SET TLML CIVIC SPACES

Existing Existing Proposed Proposed

civic buildings Open spaces civic buildings Open spaces

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THE CIVIC ZONE DEVELOPING PROCESS The middle part (Leisure Zone) of the Foregrounding project has been selected to demonstrate how the thesis operate in architecture scale.

Gallery

Pavilion Garden

Library

Amphitheatre

The top view of Firminy Vert

Textile Museum

Football Court

Youth Centre

Munster Library

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

FUNNEL The Munster Library employed a similar architectural language to the Gestures extracted from Measured Intensities. The building form and the metal roofs suggest the notion of ‘funneling’ rainwater and pedestrian circulation.

This concept has been imitated on the New Wall redesign project.

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RIVERFRONT AXONOMETRIC

THE NEW FOREGROUND OF OLD CITY By referencing the scale of the Bhadra Plaza, a new civic centre is proposed on the New Wall as the Foreground of Ahmedabad. The buildings sit perpendicular to the Sabarmati River and create a series of open spaces as well as funneling water, wind and folk into the same area. The river edge is also altered to be more accessible to the water whilst maintaining its function as a retaining wall against flooding.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

RIVERFRONT - ROOF PLAN [DRY SEASON] Original Scale 1:800

1a a

e 6

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML The orientation of the buildings respond to the sun path in Ahmedabad. The facades facing to South will be exposed under the sun during daytime. Therefore the South facades are always haveing thicker envelopes to block the heat or make use of the heat. While the North sides are the ligher metal roofing or canopies system to provide shading for the semi-open zones at the ground level.

c d

2

Indoor

Outdoor

1-

Textile Museum

a-

Riverfront Entrance

1a-

Museum Extention

b-

Amphitheater

2-

Youth Centre

c-

Football Court

3-

Library

d-

Ultimate Frisbee Court

4-

Garden Pavilion

e-

Garden

5-

Gallery

f-

Riverfront Market

6-

Cafe

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

RIVERFRONT - ROOF PLAN [MONSOON SEASON] Original Scale 1:800

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

On the flooding occasion, the river’s water level is expected to rise above the lower ground level of the riverfront and reshape the river edge as shown in this drawing.

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

RIVERFRONT - ELEVATION Original Scale 1:800

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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THE YOUTH CENTRE

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - AXONOMETRIC A

THE OTLA FOR RAINFALL MEETING GANGA FROM SKY The design of the buildings' roofing system responds to Gujarat’s local weather. The roofs are extended to provide a shading area under the buildings and serve as a rainwater collection system. The metal roofing layers guiding the rainfall to a rainwater collection point. The ground of the site is also designed to guide the rainwater to the water tank underneath the Amphitheatre.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

THE TEXTILE MUSEUM Exterior Perspective toward Textile Market The reflective roof surfaces used are trying to respond to the Sabarmati River. The roof layout is designed to guide the rainwater to collection planter next to the building (under the tree). The extended part of the roof also become a shelter for the Textile Market at ground level.

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

RIVERFRONT - AXONOMETRIC [VENTILATION SYSTEM]

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

THE OTLA OF CITY LEADING GANGA INTO AHMEDABAD Foregrounding Ahemdabad employs an underground system for ventilating the buildings by making use of the river. Each building on site has a water treatment room and a pump room in the basement to draw river water from the bottom of Sabarmati River. The water is then filtered and stored in the water chambers to cool down the incoming air. The air flowed into the upper floors through the Air Inlet Cores.

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THE APPARATUS OF WETNESS THE JOURNEY OF GANGA MEETING GANGA This drawing explains the rainwater collection system and the river water supply system in section. The water is guided from the roof downard to reach the rainwater points. The rainwater is filtered and collected in the water storage below the planters and the amphitheatre.

The dotted line here shows the route of the river water supply system.

The water pump in the museum sucks the water from the bottom of Sabarmati River and pumps it towards the old city after filtering for irrigation.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - ELEVATION / SITE SECTION

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - SECTION C [AIR FLOW DIAGRAM] THE BREATHING ARCHITECTURE

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

RIVERFRONT - GROUND LEVEL PLAN Original Scale 1:500

B

A

C

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

C

B

A

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

RIVERFRONT - BASEMENT LEVEL PLAN Original Scale 1:500 Each riverfront building contains a water treatment room and a water pump room at the basement floor. These equipments lead the river into the building and store the water at the water chambers to cool down the incoming air from the Otla at this level as well as pumping the filtered water into the old city.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - GROUND FLOOR PLAN Original Scale 1:200

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Museum Entrances

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Entrance Lobby

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Lift Lobby

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Fabric Market

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Storage under Auditorium

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Old wall Entrance from Old City

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Stair to Riverfront walkway

The building scale floor plans show how the spatial arrangement responds to the local weather in detail.

Since the South side of the building will be exposed under the Sunshine in most of the day time, the thicker concrete exterior walls and solar chimneys are located there.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - FIRST FLOOR PLAN Original Scale 1:200

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Fabric Library

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Exhibition Hall

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External Corridor connected to Library

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Cafe

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Lift Lobby

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Reception for Auditorium

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Auditorium

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Storage

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - SECOND FLOOR PLAN Original Scale 1:200

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Workshop

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Resting Area

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Lift Lobby

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Administration

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Observation Deck

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L

THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - SECTION A Original Scale 1:100

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Section cut refer to RF-Ground Level Plan

Underground Wind Tunnel Water Treatment Plant Room Fabric Market Main Exhibition Hall External Corridor Workshop (2/F) Air Inlet core Air Outlet core/ Solar Chimney

BODY BUILDING SET TLML

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - ENLARGED SECTION A Original Scale 1:50 Base on the environmental Strategies adopted on the building orientation, the South elevation of the Museum is supposed to have thicker walls to absorb heat from the sunshine. However, the Main Exhibition Hall is orientated facing Sabarmati River, there is a conflict between avoid sunlight heat and capturing the river view. Therefore a double sun shading layer system is designed in this case. The roof on top is extended to block the southern sunlight and rainwater to get into the building. Timber louvres are installed on the wall opening, the louvres are rotatable so the daylight intake of the building can be adjusted manually. While the Concrete Solar Chimney acts as the air outlet of the building to enhance the airflow within the building.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VER

TIMBER LOUVRE PLAN

Cracked Ceramic Finish

Original Scale 1:50

300mm thick Glass Wool Roof Insulation Water proof membrane Precast Concrete Roof Slab

Steel beam Steel Studs Steel Frame fixed to concrete wall opening

Timber Batten Ceiling hanged on Steel Stud Timber Shading Fins with oil finish Concrete Solar Chimney

Rotatable Timber Louvres, hinges on top and bottom fixed to Steel Frame

Polished concrete floor

Concrete Solar Chimney

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

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EXHIBITION HALL The design of the Textile Museum captured the gestures from Sindhi Market (the market surveyed in Measured Intensities). The floor of the Sindhi Market is the surface holding of fabrics, the local culture and moments. The Textile Museum is trying to reappear the lushness in the Sindhi Market. The steel trusses and the metal roof layers above allow daylight and air to pass through, also responds to the local habit of "hanging" the fabrics.

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - SECTION B Original Scale 1:100

Section cut refer to RF-Ground Level Plan

Section C cuts through the West part of the museum to show the structural and spatial relationships within the museum. The vertical loading of the building is supported by a steel frame. while the Air Inlet Core in the middle is a rammed concrete hollow wall supported by floor slabs. The roof on the Northside (left-hand side) is a metal roofing system sitting on the steel trusses. The roof on the Southside (right) has a thicker concrete roof for blocking the hot sunlight during the daytime.

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - SECTION B [ROOF DETAILS] Original Scale 1:50

Stainless Steel Louvres welded to bespoke roof steel truss

- Stainless Steel Sheet - 100mm deep Painted Steel Studs - 100mm deep Painted Steel Studs (other direction) - 100mm thick aluminum foil epe foam insulation sheet - 25mm timber panel

Bespoke Painted Steel Truss, one end embeded into RC beams.

Steel Columns

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- Cracked Ceramic Finish - 300mm thick Glass Wool Roof Insulation - Concrete Roof Slab

Timber panel false ceiling

Skylight installed in between concrete walls

Timber fins fixed on concrete beam

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - AXONOMETRIC B

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THE CERAMIC ROOF Referencing the Radhika Villa by Doshi, the concrete roof of the Textile Museum is covered in a layer of cracked ceramic finish.

Radhika Villa

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - ENLARGED SECTION B [FACADE DETAILS] Original Scale 1:20

Similar to the facade detail in Section A, the rotatable timber fins are also used in the fabric library. Since the opening of the library is facing to North, it does not require two layers of sun shading, the bigger timber fins would be installed internally here as the partitions for the study desks.

Timber Fins with oil finish fixed internally as partitionins

Steel Cleat embeded in timber fin, fixed to steel frame

Rotatable Timber Louvres, hinges on top and bottom fixed to Steel Frame Steel Frame fixed to concrete wall opening

Water-resistant MDF board sill to paint

MDF skirting to paint

Polished Concrete Floor

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THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - FABRIC LIBRARY

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REASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L Metal Canopies

THE TEXTILE MUSEUM - EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC

External Corridor

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML Metal Roofs

Steel Studs

Concrete Roof

Steel Structural Frame

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML THE YOUTH CENTRE Worm’s-Eye View

Chapter 04 D I S A S S E M B L E

THE NEW WALL

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SYNTAX DRAWINGS [VERTICAL LAYERS] The Textile Museum is re-explored by disassembling it into different layers and gathered as a set of syntax drawings.

The Museum has firstly been cut into Sections A to E. The section drawings are then further disassembled into different elemental layers to fully explore the architectural language contained in this building.

Section E

Section D

E

Section C

D Section B C

B A

Section A

Sections

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Steel Structure

Ventilation Duct

Horizontal Structural member

Roofing system

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SYNTAX DRAWINGS [HORIZONTAL LAYERS] Floor Plans

Roofing Layers

Flooring Layers

Parapet Surface Layers

Furniture Surface Layers

Wall Layers

Ventilation Duct Layers

Brise Soleil Layers

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Ground Level

Level One

Level Tw

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML Roof Level

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D I SASSEMBLE - T HE N E W WAL L A B

C

D SECTION A

SECTION B

SECTION C

SECTION D

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THE KIT OF PARTS The architectural elements extracted in the syntax drawings were crafted into paper pieces and small scaled models

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML THE GALLERY & PAVILION Worm’s-Eye View

THE FISH MARKET

Chapter 05 A S S E M B L E

THE FIFTH CITY

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THE FIFTH CITY THE WATER PUMP STATIONS ON RIVERFRONT

The Gallery

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The Youth Centre

The Library

The Fish Market

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THE WATER PUMP SUBSTATIONS IN THE OLD CITY

The Food Market

The Vegetable Market

The Vendor Shelter

The Pavilion

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML THE RIVERFRONT LIBRARY - AXONOMETRIC

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THE RIVERFRONT LIBRARY - FIRST FLOOR PLAN Scale 1:200

1

4

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1-

Library Stack

2-

Study Area

3-

Lift Lobby

4-

Resting Zone

5-

Gathering Place

6-

IT Lab

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2 3

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THE RIVERFRONT LIBRARY - EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC

Concrete Roof Metal Roof

Metal Canopies

Steel Structural Frame

Concrete Exterior Wall with Timber Louvre installed on wall opening

Air-Outlet Duct/ Solar Chimney Air-Inlet Duct

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THE YOUTH CENTRE - AXONOMETRIC

BODY BUILDING SET TLML

The Youth Centre is another riverfront facility attached to the Textile Museum. The “L-shape” formed by the museum and youth centre creates a space for a football court in between. Under the bridge that connects the two buildings are spacious stairs that lead to the riverfront walkway. It suggests the idea of water funneling into the city, as well as the Foreground of Ahmedabad.

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THE YOUTH CENTRE - FIRST FLOOR PLAN Scale 1:200

6

6

5

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1-

Multifunction Hall

2-

Social Area

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Observation Deck

4-

Table Tennis Area

5-

Office + Reception

6-

Snooker rooms

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2 1

3

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THE YOUTH CENTRE - SECTION Scale 1:200 Referring to the Basement floor plan on pages 7677, the wind tunnel under the Youth Centre is connected to the wind tunnel of the Textile Museum.

Similar to the traditional Otla of pol, the Youth Centre is an Otla of the City, it is a communication zone between “inside” and “outside”.

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THE GALLERY

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EXHIBITION AT RIVERFRONT GALLERY The exhibition of Foregrounding Ahmedabad is imagined to hold at the Sabarmati Riverfront Gallery.

(Please see page 74 for the floor plan of the Gallery)

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THE FISH MARKET - GROUND LEVEL PLAN Scale 1:800

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THE FISH MARKET SECTION A Original Scale 1:100

B

A

G/F plan with section marks

The fish market is an example of the water apparatus on this water distribution network. Located in the Old City centre, the fish market has the same architectural landscape as the riverfront buildings. The rainwater is guided to two water collection planters on two sides of the market. The river water is pumped to the basement water pump room and is pumped into the deeper area in the old city. Apart from irrigation, the river water here is also used for cleaning the fish, equipment, or the ground.

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THE YOUTH CENTRE - SECTION B Original Scale 1:100

filtered river water pumped from The Textile Museum

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Pump towards Old wall

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filtered river water pumped from The Textile Museum and other sub-stations

THE END [OF THE JOURNEY] The river water supply network ends at the old wall next to the Panchkuva gate. A vendor shelter is to be constructed on the old wall. Similar to the Fish Market, this water pump sub-station consists of the same roofing language to direct and collect the rainwater. Moreover, the vendor shelter attempts to make use of the Amrutvarshini Vav (Panchkuva Stepwell) next to it, to reactivate the stepwell as a rainwater collection well.

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BODY BUILDING SET TLML VENDOR SHELTER ON OLD WALL Original Scale 1:100 Location: Amrutvarshini Vav

water pump along the Old Wall and discharge back to Sabarmati River

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THE FILM - FOREGROUNDING AHMEDABAD Click the link below to access YouTube to watch the video. https://youtu.be/U0dDh7PEYDU

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CONCLUSION & REFLECTION Foregrounding Ahmedabad is a thesis based on a city-scale water supply network. The architecture on this network has been explored and presented through TLML, SET, Building and Body Scale in this report. The starting point of the water journey, the riverfront focused on testing how architecture, as the water apparatus, could respond to the social, cultural and environmental conditions of Ahmedabad. The entire Riverfront site is an example of the SET scale studies. The riverfront has been redesigned as a new civic zone for the city, while the city edge was recrafted into a more accessible riverfront while retaining its original function of preventing flooding. In building scale, responding to the local weather and living habits, each building designed to gather water from the layering roofs and the underground ventilation system. However, the thesis concentrated on SET and Building Scale but lacked in Body Scale. Since the primary function of the water distribution system is irrigating the Old City, there is a possibility of developing the smaller architecture in Body Scale relating to tree irrigation. In TLML Scale, the Fifth City could also be extended to the opposite bank to irrigate the New City. Although the New Town has a more organised Urban structure, the town is gradually losing the local and historical features of Ahmedabad. New architecture could be erected in the New Town with the aim of revitalising the lushness of the old Ahmedabad.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Astrology, TOI. “Ganga Dussehra 2019.” The Times of India, Astrology, 12 June 2019, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/astrology/ rituals-puja/ganga-dussehra-2019-rituals-auspicious-timings-and-things-to-know/articleshow/69736349.cms.

Branzi, Andrea, 'Weak Metropolis' and the Projective Potential of an 'Ecological Urbanism', in Ecological Urbanism, ed. Mohsen Mostafavi, Gareth Doherty (Lars Mullers Publishers: Baden, Switzerland, 2010) Da Cunha, Dilip, The Invention of Rivers: Alexanders Eye and Gangas Descent. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019.

“Exclusive: Balkrishna Doshi Unveils the Details of the Revitalisation of Bhadra Fort.” World Architecture Community, India Architecture News, 3 May 2016, https://worldarchitecture.org/articles/cevzg/exclusive_balkrishna_doshi_unveils_the_details_of_the_revitalisation_of_ bhadra_fort.html.

Geddes, Patrick, “The Index Museum.” : chapters from an Unpublished Manuscript, Assemblage, No. 10 (Dec., 1989) pp. 65-69.

Geddes, Patrick. "Note on Ahmedabad", 1915. Environmental Design: Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre, edited

by Attilo Petruccioli. Rome: Libreria Herder, 1984.

Hawley, John Stratton, and Donna Marie Wulff, editors. The Divine Consort, Radaha and the Goddesses of India. Graduate Theological Union, 1982.

Kite Festival 2020, Tourism Corporation Of Gujarat Limited, 2019, http://ikf.gujarattourism.com/about.html.

“Ravivari / Sunday Market - SABARMATI.” Sabarmati Riverfront, AHMEDABAD MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, 2019, http:// sabarmatiriverfront.com/event/ravivari-sunday-market.

Shah, Amrita. “Ahmedabad: A City in the World”, New Delhi: Bloomsberg, 2015.

Wiszniewski, D. Bombay City Wise, Parasituation Mumbai, ed Dorian Wiszniewski (Ampersand, Architecture, University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh, 2016) [ISBN 978-0-9573892-5-00] Wisniewski, Dorian, “Florence: Curating the City”, ed. Dorian Wiszniewski (Architecture, University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh, 2010) Wiszniewski, D. Parasituarion [Calcutta/Kolkata], (Edinburgh: Wedge Publications, 2019)

BODY BUILDING SET TLML THE RIVERFRONT BUILDINGS Worm’s-Eye View

THANK YOU