GURUTHU HUDUKI HORATAGA

R.V.College of Architecture

Project idea

GURUTHU HUDUKI HORATAGA
(The title of the project means “In the search of an identity” in Kannada language)

This thesis will explore the relevant systems in architecture that emerge from the juxtaposition of practices and lifestyles in a context with spatial design.

The present-day society presents itself as a platter of varied cultures with multiple customs and principles. With the ever-changing dynamics of the place and time, these practices become an anchor for people, eventually adopted as a way of living. When given a physical dimension to this way of living, it crafts spaces that reciprocate the actions and habits of the same.

This project aims to study the process of sculpting these perceptive spaces through multiple layers of the context and society in which they thrive. These layers range across tangible and intangible facets and could associate with physical, economic, or political aspects. Nevertheless, when the users appear in the picture, we need to expand our perspective to recognize the cognitive elements, such as social, emotional, and intellectual characteristics. The amalgamation of these factors acts as driving guides to go beyond and shape an experiential story through spaces. While these factors behave as a constant, time and place still stand as variables as they are apt to evolve. This evolution in time and place can waver the affinity towards one's rootedness to their lifestyle. Thus, this directs toward transitions and the need to adapt to an alternative way to accommodate these transitions. One such community which has gone through these multiple transitions in time and place is the Siddi community, whose origin is associated with the Bantu tribe of Africa. Their identity associations have been brief due to their long past of being displaced under slavery by their colonizers. Consequently, their lifestyles reflect a temporary nature and the necessity to adapt to any upcoming change. This project attempts to understand the diasporic timeline and lifestyle of the Siddis through their methods of space-making, defining its functionality.

Project description

This project is positioned in a village named Mainalli at the border of Mundgod taluk of Uttara Kannada district, along the State Highway 6 connecting Uttara Kannada, Haveri, Gadag and Bagalkot districts in the state of Karnataka, India. Presently, the proposed site harbors government offices which are the Women & Children Empowerment Office and the Gram Panchayat Office. These offices are included in the project program as associative attributes.

The context of the presented site holds a mix of varied social markers across public, semi-public, and private layers. As Mainalli shelters two predominant communities, namely, Siddis and Gaulis, their coexistence adds to the cultural mix of the society. While their occupations are diverse, agriculture and animal husbandry remain the principal occupations. Considering the moderate climate condition of the village, the crops grown are rice and maize at a large scale. Due to seasonal changes, these crops are also grown in a changing cycle suiting to the weather conditions. Another generational occupation indigenous to the Siddis is the skill of quilt-making. The quilts are crafted with fabric pieces of varied colors, textures, and patterns stitched together. The method and craft remain unique to the community's ancestry as they connect to an emotional aspect of generational ideologies passed on through the art of fabric from the ancestors to future generations.

Their settlements are an amalgamation of layers attributing to social and cultural practices. These layers transform along the graphs of space, time, and function it performs. Hence, the proposed program for the project serves as a community collective that links the social, cultural, and occupational aspects to the larger network of economic and political layers. This interconnect of multiple recognised cycles of the Siddis and their social associative elements grow into a larger notion of Circular Economy. This concept allows them to connect to the plural society while holding a social stand and identity for themselves.

As an entirety, this project studies and embodies the intricate network of cycles and patterns through the meld of acts and practices of communities into holistic social identities.

Technical information

The project is designed with systems derived by taking inspiration from the transitional lifestyle of the community. The recognised layers of this lifestyle direct the design language of the project. The fenestrations are inspired by the patchwork method of the quilt-making and developed into a working model through the square twist fold practiced in origami.

The material palette delineated for the project works across the ideology of circular economy. The comprehensively rich setting the project sits within, proposes an extensive set of local items/products/materials, which are obtained directly from nature or as by-products of various actions and processes within the settlements. It ranges across common wastes and agricultural by-products to rice and maize processing by-products. On expanding the radius, we gather more raw materials from the harvest of various other crops around the settlements, adding to our material collection. Certain materials like coconut operate in versatility by performing as coir fabric or building the strength of conventional mud bricks with its coir. Indistinguishably, these acquired materials present themselves with great potential to be integrated into the construction system of the project This solidifies the indigenous notion of the project allowing it to be localized as a built entity, further building the circular economy network derived for this project.