The Pathway for the Passersby | UX, Experiential Design, Educational and Architectural Design

The Pathway for the Passersby | Fall 2021 | CEPT Excellence Award Winner

CEPT University

“Chaos”

has evolved over time from its literal meaning shifting from an immeasurable space to utter confusion, which led me to question the very notion of how people have perceived the word. Right from mental chaos to social chaos, the word has been used extensively to express man emotions, most of which take a more negative tone.

Having associated the word often with a variety of choices, a multiplicity of emotions and an array of possibilities, an attempt was then made to draw comparison between these two contrasting approaches towards the same word. Looking at the etymology and the synonyms of the word resulted in an interesting observation, and this led to a shift in the perception of these terms, from a very negative to a more positive meaning.

Tools: SketchUp, Adobe Creative Suite, Keynote, Procreate, Figma

This idea of Freedom and natural led me to question the current urban environment that exists, which lacks identity, familiarity and a sense of collaboration, owing to strict rules on how to behave, perform daily activities and functions, resulting in an individualistic approach. This also extended my concerns regarding the basic development of children, as higher levels of safety and low level of risk factors, imperative for their overall development were being taken away in this process. These included their introduction to the real materials and environments, at an early age, overwhelming them when introduced all of a sudden later on, lack of exposure to various textures, depriving them of their sensory learning, as well as shunning them away from bright or extremely dark environments or noisy surroundings, limiting their hearing abilities and that of vision.

Mandvi Ni Pol

is an amalgamation of 40 smaller Pols. With one of its mouth opening up at the busy Astodia BRTS station, and the other at the main food center Manek Chowk, the Pol has often been used as more of a path to commute between the two major hubs, depriving its residents of the basic pedestrian experiences. Owing to this, the majority of the main street has converted itself into smaller commercial stores, dealing mainly in Steel ware, with the residences tucked inside of the smaller tributaries of the Pol.

About the Site

The site taken up is presently in a state of cleared up ruins, of what once used to be a nursing home, destroyed in an earthquake. Surrounded by one of the two major open spaces that’s left in the Pol, it poses great potential for the revival of the community engagement, as well as a chance to provide the various age groups a chance for encounters, exploration and movement while still retaining the experience of the busy ambiance.

Function(need) + Tradition(culture) + History(Significance) + Movement(circulation)

The program aims at creating a Spontaneous Order, which would be the result of human actions, and not of using designs. It would rather use these human designs as catalysts to create such an environment. With a lot of its structures being over 500 years old, the Pol calls for ways to remodel these spaces, while still being mindful of its cultural history and significance. The program aims to provide a very tactile, functional yet immersive solution to this, bridging the gap between the old and the new, while allowing for flexibility and a possibility of manipulating itself, in order to fi t the changing times and needs of the community.

With a deep rooted memory of the earthquake that left the site in ruins, the plot in its current state remains a void: both metaphorically as well as literally. Embracing the ever-changing fabric of the Pol, a scaffolding system would not only structurally tie the building to each other, strengthening the structure and its stability, but would also allow for new memories to be made,while still respecting the older structure and its historic signifi cance, catering to the memorial void.

Grid - erations

The design explores the possibility of having a large palette of materials for the assembly. With a majority of its residents dealing in metal, it explores techniques of using familiar and light weight materials to add an essence of personalization as well as familiarity. Along with this, as a lot of its residents are also in the construction industry, it allows the community to contribute to the structure by reusing shuttering boards, old doors and windows, metal sheets and so on, making it not only affordable, but also sustainable.

The design aimed at allowing for a multiplicity of pathways for the users to choose from: something that was long lost in terms of the pedestrian movement. Opening up the back entrance which was once used by the nurse to enter the hospital, the project allows the user the option of paths with completely contrasting qualities, in terms of its privacy, scale, safety and accessibility. Taking up the inherent quality of temporariness that is deeply embedded into both, the residential activities as well as the spatial forms, the program weaves both the concepts of the pol and that of the word chaos, translating into a scaffolding, a world of shifting, changing activities, posing as a tool for both: civic engagement, as well as the infusion of the old into the new.

Taking the idea of an incremental ever-changing flexible environment, the design takes inspiration from the principles of the Chaos Theory. It adopts the concept of atoms, molecules and compounds as an incremental scheme which allows for a plethora of possibilities in terms of the spatial and experiential organization.

The Atom: A 1m*1m unit, which can be used as a single unit, as well as a combination to form a larger structure.

The Molecule: The molecules explore various combinations of the horizontal and vertical atoms to create larger structures catering to various functional demands.

The Compound: The compound explores larger spatial layouts to cater to different functions, accommodating the smaller molecules and atoms to form a larger structure.

The design explores the incremental growth of two parallel projects overtime, along with a poetic narrative as the user progresses within the space, as an example of the implementation of the organization system. These programs are a result of surveys, conversations and meeting conducted on site with the residents to understand the current needs of the hour.

“Here you go, Beta! I’ve added an extra touch!
Do you like it?”, He said as I sipped the fresh pudina chai,” Oh yes dada! Very much!”
“You remind me of my daughter! We might meet her at the gate
She brings me here in the morning and we leave at night, often late.
She swings by here during lunchtime, we all eat together, family and friends”
He chuckled, “Funny how a place can connect two ends.”

The Pathway of the Past: Maintaining a meter’s distance from all existing walls by establishing it as a walkway, the design simply supports the adjacent built forms, respecting their existence, while also celebrating the amalgamation of the old sentiments and history, with the new structure and memories.

The Pathway of the Present: Allowing the people to constantly change and modify the structure, the project aims at embracing the idea of chaos arising from order, with simple configurations which would come alive when used and interacted with.

The Pathway of the People: Allowing for constant manipulation and flexibility, the design allows for a sense of temporariness, while maintaining the permanence of memories and ownership, with the possibility of contributing to not just its experience, but also its construction.

Ruminations:

Taking clues from the various realms of chaos, the design translates this word into an underlaying order, a simplistic, minimal intervention which isn’t much in itself, but comes to life and thrives on the chaos it brings when interacted with/within by the masses. It juggles with the inversely proportional qualities of structure to human exposure, crowding the site with structures in places less explored, allowing for curiosity to flourish, while leaving spaces as untouched as possible with minimum intervention at areas brimming with human movement and social interaction, to maintain an overall balance, thus establishing a controlled chaos.

The project can be seen as a strand of the mathematical Chaos Theory, as: Dynamical systems whose apparently random states of disorder and irregularities are actually governed by underlying patterns and deterministic laws that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. Within the apparent randomness of which there are underlying patterns, interconnectedness, constant feedback loops, repetition, self-similarity, fractals, and self-organization.