Infusing the Void: A Reconciliation Center for the Diverse Cultural Heritage of Saidpur

Project idea

Saidpur City has always been a culturally diverse place in the context of the Indian Sub-continent. It was such a strategic & crucial location to the British Crown that they established the Largest & one of the most significant Railway workshops of the Assam-Bengal Railway in 1870. This workshop opened a new door to this city for the Railway officers, service holders, workers, and traders from around the Indian Sub-continent. Soon, this place was thriving with people of diverse cultures & ethnicities from places namely Marwar, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Kabul, Kashmir, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh. It had become so prosperous & burgeoning that it became the third-largest city in East Pakistan before 1971. Life standards in Saidpur were as good as in any big city in the country. It had all the modern amenities that were available at that moment.
Saidpur became prominent, drawing in skilled workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam, railway officers from Britain and Bengal, merchants and traders from Marwar, Kabul, Sindh, and Kashmir, service workers from Orissa and Andhra Pradesh and British missionaries, preachers from Cooch Bihar to Persia, as well as doctors for the Anglican Church. Prominent ethnic groups were Bihari, Marwari, and Bengali settlers—both "local" and "Ghotis" (Bengali migrants from India). The distinguished languages found in Saidpur were Bengali, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Marwari, and Bahe.
Saidpur was the third largest city before 1971, after Dhaka and Chittagong in the former East Pakistan. Saidpur has been compared to other five cities, e.g., Rajshahi, Khulna, Mymensingh, Comilla, and Narayanganj in Bangladesh. From there, it is found that the growth of the city was hampered in aspects of spatial and non-spatial attributes after Independence due to political intervention and social exclusion. Before 1971, all these cities were less developed than Saidpur. But they are now all significant divisions and city corporations of Bangladesh in comparison with Saidpur, which is still not even a zila now. People have migrated from Saidpur to other cities because of the conflicting interests of diverse cultures. Saidpur even generates significant tax revenue for the country, but it is still underdeveloped in comparison to the other cities on the list. The non-Bengalis are the major contributors behind this economy in Saidpur, and they are also the reason that this city is not looked upon favorably.

Since 1971, Saidpur has been facing a decline in growth due to conflicts in post-partition British India, the Independence War of Bangladesh & post-war problems. These incidents left deep scars in people's hearts and generated misguided hatred. It had resulted in uneasy interaction & irrational mistrust among the diverse ethnic group of people living there for more than one & a half centuries. ["Non-Bengalis" here in the context of Syedpur refers to the overall combination of all non-Bengalis who were sympathetic and supportive of the Bengalis and others who supported the Pakistanis. Although the percentage of the former is larger than the latter.] This city lacks dedicated public gathering spaces in the city core for community interaction. The absence of a cultural platform to foster and celebrate diverse cultural heritage is also a major issue. In addition to that, Saidpur has no interactive learning mediums that can help the younger generations to learn and understand the historic background to shape a better future for the city.

Project description

This thesis explores whether architectural spaces can reconcile the ethnic tensions among different beliefs or not. It intends to find the built environmental solutions that make the local people recognize their true history & identity and open up to the differences in beliefs & cultures. It will help the people to realize what the city already has in order to help re-identify the city in the future. The purpose of this project is to promote social interaction of diverse groups which will eventually help the city to grow more prominently. This project also aims to find the architectural space that can encourage people to understand their culture, and identity and also tell the narrative of the city's history which gives the space for people to learn new things from the past.

Technical information

The conceptual thought process revolves around social divisiveness, historical uneasiness, and hope for a shared future. The primary idea was to bring people to the same shared pathway that people will use daily to pass the site. The site belonged to the built forms of a water reservoir surrounded by numerous trees that the residents of the neighborhood enjoyed. It has been demolished and the trees were cut down to just 600+ trees. Therefore, the shared pathway is drawn in between the site's memories. This pathway has been made sunken to resemble social segregation and is inspired by the philosophy of "kintsugi". Following the pathway as the datum, the functions, and functional nodes are arranged in the void spaces between the dense vegetation. The built form's vertical arrangement of the functions represents the city's past, present, and future. Additionally, the sunken pathway will collect rainwater, which will be treated in the small plant that will support the project's various programs.

Documentation

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