HOW TO BUILD, WITHOUT COMPETING, WITHIN A FORT?

Building within a historical context is a challenging task especially, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, as history is a living, daily reality. The building fabric has developed over multiple centuries and continues to interact and grow with the contemporary needs of society.

The project is a new intervention within the Mehrangarh fort, a 15th-century palace turned museum and one of the most visited tourist destinations. To facilitate the contemporary role of the fort, an ambitious ‘Knowledge Center’, containing an art conservation facility, research library, and conference hall, was proposed.

Since available land within the fort walls is becoming scarce over the years, the proposed building was located in a ‘ditch’ between the fort walls and the adjoining Chokelao palace. The design was envisioned as an extension of the ground plane and instead of building above, was imagined to be a labyrinth below the ground - merging within the fort instead of competing against it.

Initially a competition, I joined the project right after the commission was won and was involved in the design development of the proposal. Synthesizing site conditions, changing public programs and services alongside design, was a great learning in translating ideas into built form within a sensitive context.

Project Role

Design development and detailing | Presentations | Construction drawings

Project Team

Studio Lotus : Ansel Colaco | Adil Hussain

Status

Under Construction

Inverted Building

Instead of building ground up, the new intervention was designed within a ditch, to minimize the visual interference, allowing for seamless integration with the existing ground and creation of an extended public plaza.

Site specific Design Guides

An important mandate was matching the datum lines of the existing fort wall adjacent to the conference block. Since the intervention was visible from the main fort, the rooftop became another visible & vital experience.

Hybrid Structural System

The conference block was built as adaptive reuse of the existing garage structure, abutting the fort wall, and thus designed in RCC. To keep the additional foundations shallow, lightweight metal framework was used for designing the new labs.

1. 100 x 100 mm MS Box sections

2. Connecting Plate forming a 300mm column

3. MS beams welded to form connectors

4. Half-lap cut MS beam with bolted connection