Zine: Atelier + or -

+ or -

AR 17-61 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN IV

Semester 06 I March – August 2022

Tutor : Ar. Aditya Nambissan

Aadila V Abhay MJ

Albert Ben Kose

Anagha Ammathur

Fiza Afreen Jayanth Padmanabhan Jishnu Kr

Mohammed Nihal Kuruppam Thodi Sneha Ajith

‘+ or - ‘ is an architectural design studio developed on the idea of semiotics as an approach to develop a design methodology and a thinking process; which involves exploring different interpretations of these symbols ‘+ or -’ and various applications of it in the field of architecture and design. We try to understand, analyze and trace the course of issues and interpret ideas of subtractive forces involved in extracting resources and materials from mother earth; and thereafter the additive process in the act of building and constructing.

“IT IS ALL GONE”

“It is all gone. Now a handful timber merchants are operating here. Getting the raw materials and transportation has been a problem. Now the load comes in trucks and the costs have escalated in comparison to the age old river-rafting of woods,” Kunjumon, a local resident said. Till the late 1970s, over 300 saw mills were operating on the banks of Kallai river employing over 20,000 workers. The evergreen forests of Wayanad and Nilambur provided them the raw material and Indian Railways brought wooden sleepers from Kallai. So did the European and Arab businessmen to build and repair their wooden boats when they came to Beypore for trade. However, stricter laws against deforestation and the government’s own interest in timber business through forest timber depots have killed the timber industry in Kallai. Octogenarians and non-agenar ans now idle on the banks of the river, ruminating on those days when labourers worked in three shifts and still could not meet the deadlines for the delivery of timber, how the timber industry in Kallai fuelled the development of Calicut and how it actually played a part in Kerala having the most eco-friendly constructions during that era.