The creeks reaching the Sunday Market are boundaries of transition. They separate the axes of North-South, East-West, river-roof, yet they bridge them together, establishing a system that conditions the transition. The two main narratives at play are the one of neo-liberal global economy and the Satyagraha that stands for the benefit of local economy and community.
Amdavad’s narrative of the current Riverfront creates a separation of classes, spaces and positions on the landfill site as an exclusive premium, resting above all as a fortress. By contrast, the Sunday Market seems more like a political compromise between the folk and the government, to prevent losing voters. Its past condition was a situational space emerging as traders and folk gather each Sunday to the dried riverbed. Its new condition is a massive concrete infill restrained by two walls.
The Salt March narrative brings the language of the older fortification of Delhi Gate in order to create the liminal condition of the two territories and relieve the boundary. The posture of the gate in the narrative imagined to be a relief as Gandhi passed through it on the day of the March, gathering the Walled City dwellers to join. Yet, the in-between architecture of the creeks does not try to undermine the importance of high-value land for corporations and administration, but rather establish a mutual parasitation as a new urban condition of the Sabarmati City.
Ahmedabad water department
In the Business Garden, the building, through which the Hauntology of In-Between can be better grasped is the Ahmedabad Water Department. Positioned on the central creek and connected with the Delhi Gate Market, the building hosts multiple relationships between the city and the water, the government and the public, the market and the garden, and so on. In the further chapters the relationships are to be dissected to reveal, how the narrative of the in-between hosts the narratologies of Ahmedabad.
As a water department, the building also plays a role in the Sabarmati City.
1.First level is the average Sabarmati height.
2.Then comes the breathing promenade (a). This is the level of an open public space that allows the transmission between the Sunday Market on one side and the Riverfront on the other.
3.This is the level to which Sabarmati rises during Monsooon.
4.The next level is the level of public spaces, such as Delhi Gate River Market (b). This level is positioned on the edge of rising monsoon wetness and is occupied in relation to seasonal and social cycles.
5.The next level is the Business Garden. Pools (e) and trees ensure a cool environment. As this level is divided by the creeks, it bridges across them with a series of circulation paths (c).
6.The last level is the offices themselves, this chapter will look closely into the office for Ahmedabad Water Department (d).
2.Then comes the breathing promenade (a). This is the level of an open public space that allows the transmission between the Sunday Market on one side and the Riverfront on the other.
3.This is the level to which Sabarmati rises during Monsooon.
4.The next level is the level of public spaces, such as Delhi Gate River Market (b). This level is positioned on the edge of rising monsoon wetness and is occupied in relation to seasonal and social cycles.
5.The next level is the Business Garden. Pools (e) and trees ensure a cool environment. As this level is divided by the creeks, it bridges across them with a series of circulation paths (c).
6.The last level is the offices themselves, this chapter will look closely into the office for Ahmedabad Water Department (d).
department structure
Ahmedabad Water Department roles and hierarchy are presented on the right. The department has two branches: water project and water production. The former branch deals with new projects such as construction of new plants and development of strategies, while the latter is responsible for operation on the existing water plants. As such, it is only the water project branch, that would be permanently residing in the building together with department head. The hierarchy is maintained by the allocation of head offices (on the right). In turn, keeping the rest of the layout open to possibilities of splitting it by project teams, providing different arrangements. The public part of the building allows for meetings with members of public as well as with other members of the department.
Public Interaction Spaces:
a. circulation passage
b. market storage
c. entrance
d. public bathroom
e. reception office
f. public meeting room
a. circulation passage
b. market storage
c. entrance
d. public bathroom
e. reception office
f. public meeting room
Office space hierarchy:
g. cooling circulation
h. archive
i. regular office
j. head office
g. cooling circulation
h. archive
i. regular office
j. head office
public reception
This is the space that one first encounters when entering the building. It starts from the road, directing one through the pathway among the trees. The assembly of the space takes reference from Gandhi’s terrace, where he used to receive visitors. Water Department policy states that any visitor is welcome from 3 to 6pm on working days. This space tries to facilitate such policy. While the reception space or the office of the person allocated to the area can be used for smaller discussions, there is a provision of an additional platform, which can be opened up to the reception area with sliding timber screens.
The space also provides a public bathroom to be operated during the operation of the office. Transparency of the circulation aims to facilitate a safer environment, however, is screened enough to offer relative privacy.
Public areas:
1. public bathrooms
2. entrance
3. walkway to the office
4. reception office
5. reception
6. conference extension
1. public bathrooms
2. entrance
3. walkway to the office
4. reception office
5. reception
6. conference extension
liminal programmes
From left to right: the road is faced with the soft layers of vegetation, which blocks the noise of the road and becomes the threshold for the Business Garden. Next boundary is the public reception with the open conference room seen behind the trees on the section above. The permeable pathway runs all the way from the reception to the circulation area, where the building takes advantage of the wetness and lets it in through perforated brick skins. To prevent the sun from hitting the building, the staircase with the pathways that lead to the offices on the upper floors is offset to the right and its structure forms a sun-shading grid of timber layers.
The building remains connected to the city as from the top staircase flight the old city can be observed through the opening in the structure. At the same time, the building is positioned in the garden in such a way, that a series of soft boundaries allows a place of seclusion and concentration in the offices.
office inwardness
The offices are oriented towards the inner microcosm of the department. The circulation shields them from the inside and their windows face inwards towards the pool. The detail drawing shows the perforated skin between the office (1) and the circulation (2), which can be seen under the light rays penetrating the timber walkway, behind the camera.
wetness transmission
The tectonics of wetness of the Business Gardens is formed through the relationship between the office buildings (a), the water pools (b) and the river creeks (c).
The Water Department architecture reaches down to the river through the plant room on the lower level. The room contains a lab for water testing (1) that ties back to the idea of management of the overall economy of the Sabarmati City. To keep the pools clean there is also a water filtration system installed (2). This system operates through the anatomy of the roof, which is angled to gain solar energy with the PV panels system (4). For that reason the third room in the plant room is related to solar power management (3).
Rain water management can be seen here through the series of gutters (5). The gutters collect the water from sloped roofs and channel it into the pool, so that the pool takes advantage of both sky and land water sources.
light and lushness
Drawing investigate the breathing tectonics of the office spaces creating light and lushness. One can see how the perforations and assemblages of material systems affect the quality of space. While brick and timber build up a specific thickness of walls, they maintain the transparency of layers and allow air exchange.
On the higher levels, the lighter blue structures of the timber are absent from under the roof to allow more ventilation. At that stage the PV panels also reach to cantilever over the interiors, while allowing deflected sunlight in.
frame and functions
Through the study of the Sabarmati Ashram’s posture a series of timber structures developed. Each one a superposition of thicker and thinner elements and each taking an appropriate form of function within the building.
Each frame is a breathing space, as the constitution of them allows the air to pass through and the limited scope of view to occasionally look out into the Business Garden or the Creek.
Series of breathing frames:
1. North facing office walls and shelving
2. roof structure
3. market storage shelving
4. external circulation
5. breathing promenade pavement
2. roof structure
3. market storage shelving
4. external circulation
5. breathing promenade pavement
other territories
The Water Department channels other territories through itself. The sections on the right present the different ways, in which the boundary of the office become the envelopes for hosting programmes throughout the creek.
The rotunda footbridge on the right of the Department is the presence of S. Jung Museum from the 35mm films. The building accommodates the uninterrupted wandering through the Business Garden. The Department building makes way for the garden continuity through to the North wall of the creek, while the Delhi Gate haunts the area below, thus creating an opportunity for a performance public ground.
The Department also accommodates the Delhi Gate River Market storage, which is not connected to the main office, but is hosted within its walls and extends the hospitality of the structure.
Territories hosted by the Water Department:
1. entrance
2. reception
3. public conference room
4. Delhi Gate River Market storage
5. passage through to the circulation
2. reception
3. public conference room
4. Delhi Gate River Market storage
5. passage through to the circulation
delhi gate river market
The Market is located on the liminal boundary between the level of the Business Gardens and the level of the Riverfront promenade. The liminal condition of it allows cyclical flooding of two main forces of the Sabarmati City - Ganga and Folk.
The Folk is brought by the original Delhi Gate clothing market and floods the space with fabric and clothing every day, while retreating the ribbon stock to the storage at night. Ganga claims the territory every monsoon, making the folk retreats. The path between the storage and the market is shaded and elevated above the flood level, so that the operation is not interrupted by Monsoon.
Sabarmati Business District Designed by Vsevolod Yurchenko