Narratologies of Ahmedabad provides a connective tissue for Sabarmati Pol using the hauntology of The Salt March as a tectonic. While this programme could not previously exist on the temporal Sabarmati, the riverfront wall provides a new space for parasitic intervention of liminality. This proposed architecture is of thickness, thresholds, texture and lushness, antithetical to the current condition. The territory mediates the two adverse infrastructures of the stagnant Sabarmati and polluted road through the programme as a FABB Agency. Sabarmati Pol is a community with an e-rickshaw conversion workshops [factory], market and community space [amenity], contemporary pol dwellings [bed] and systems of wetness [butt].
edge condition
Using the seriality of the Measured Intensities with its unique qualities of territory the site of the riverfront wall is encrusted, stepped, and cut to create relief.
E-Rickshaw Conversion Workshop [FACTORY]
Whether it is inside the dwellings or in an adjacent space pols typically have a productive functionality. With the polluted east bank road next to the site the workshop space is an ideal place to test the possibility of an e-rickshaw conversion workshop and charging stations. Not only is this a unique offering to the city, but fits in with Sabarmati pols environmental strategy of traversing wetness.
public space [Amenity]
While Sabarmati Pol offers private spaces for dwellings and quiet spaces for contemplation there are also plenty of public spaces of amenity. Similar to Measured Intensities there is a stepped area in which kids can play, people can meet and where kite strings can be dyed. In addition to this there are public toilets, cafes and market space. The walkway serves to shelter the amenity spaces from the hot sun, and serves as high ground where kites can be flown and folk can occupy if the promenade is flooded.
Pols [Beds]
Traditional Pol housing has a range of names used for particular rooms, however, these designations are not so much functions of spaces but thresholds of privacy. The experience of entering into the pols should have the perception of increased privacy. This is a key spatial feature, where boundaries aren’t separated by gates and doors but by a tightly connected community.
TAanka [butt]
Taanka is the traditional name given to rainwater collection butts. The tanks were traditional systems of Pols collecting rainwater to use within the dwellings. The surrounding roofscapes were designed to harness the maximum surface area.
POSTURE OF WETNESS
Da Cunha challenges the conception of the line separating land and water in plan. The tidy demarcation of this boundary is in contrast to the ubiquitous reality of wetness. The Riverfront Development is this line that separates land from water. As part of this project an aim is to reconnect the city and the wetness through discontinuations in the line. When illustrated in section wetness regains a new capacity in which precipitation becomes its key manifestation. This shift from bodies of water creates a different dynamic within the four stages of wetness in operation. This sectional understanding of the cycle should be how wetness is conceived within the wetness of Ahmedabad.
TEXTURE
To respond to the environmental thickening, the elevation facing the river front is correspondingly compact and castellated. With brick as the primary vertical construction material the residential elements are rendered with lime to indicate the function and provide a visually concise appearance.
While the building appears monolithic on the west elevation there are still intended to be moments of timber frame that haunt the front, behind and around. This textural appearance is key to delineate the vast expanse of the Riverfront offering shading and amenities.
Traversing Wetness
The two speculative cores of Delhi Gate proved a valuable resource as it re-framed this building thetically. Through the process of scaling and transposing it gave way to an early conception of this building. With the thick walls creating a traversable thickness it created a tectonic device that could be used for the water gutters and courtyard balconies.
Ground HAUNTOLOGY
An 83m stretch of the recently poured reinforced wall will need to be removed to open up the Sabarmati Pol site. With consideration for the volume of these elements, this creates 688m3 of potential material for re-purposing. Unfortunately due to the weight they cannot be moved as whole, however, it does provide the opportunity for it to be broken up and used as fragments.
With consideration during deconstruction the breaking up of the Riverfront wall can be arranged throughout the site to lead like The Salt Mach did. While this may be laborious task there are benefits such as it is an already available resource which, once its laid, will provide a permeable surface that can channel water during the monsoon.
construction hauntology
The primary structural elements and their connections are investigated in the Parts Schedule. The series of drawings are conceived as a translucent sections for each primary construction material
Sabarmati Pol Designed by Jamie Forde