CCA Workshop Report

8/8/2019 CCA Workshop Report

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cca-workshop-report 1/31

Does the Global Meet the Local in Chandigarh?

The possible interaction between local and global

communities, economies and environments

Workshop by Henrik Valeur

Chandigarh College of Architecture

4 - 8 Oct 2010

Report



Content

Organizer 2

Intro 3

Brief 4

Task 4Timeschedule 5

Site 5-6

People 7

Results 8

Group1(1stpr ize) 9-12

Group2 13

Group3(2ndprize) 14-17

Group4 18

Group5 19

Group6(3rdprize) 20

Group7 21

Group8 22

Group9 23

Group10 24

Group11(3rdprize) 25

Group12 26

Process 27-29

Participatingstudents 30

Press 31

Organizer

HenrikValeur,UiD

Chandigarh College of Architecture

PradeepKumarBhagat,Principal

GauravGangwar,Coordinator SujaySengupta,Coordinator

AnuSingh,Tutor

JanbadePrafullaTarchand,Tutor

KDSMankota,Tutor

MallikaJain,Tutor

ManojKumar,Tutor

SamdeepNandwani,Tutor

WithspecialthankstoMelissaKSmith(Berkeley)

Copyrights©HenrikValeur2010



“We have to pay attention to the urban developments taking place on the

fringes of existing cities. Outside the planned city of Chandigarh a new kind

of city is rapidly developing. The Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park is located

next to existing villages and informal settlements. This juxtaposition of two

separate “worlds”, a local and a global, can be observed all over the world today. And it is, in many ways, here, in the interface between the local

and the global, our common future is being decided. If we don’t know and

understand each other how can we be expected to take care of and feel

responsible for each other? Thus the task of the students in this workshop

was to propose interventions that may enable or provoke interaction

between the two “worlds”.

HenrikValeur,CreativeDirectorofUiD

RajivGhandiTechnologyPark Informalsettlement

Intro

“I am satisfed that such a workshop is being conducted by an architect

of Mr. Henrik Valeur’s stature, which exposes the college students to an

unbiased interpretation of the contemporary development underway in

the area of study. It further allows the students to analyse and design a

very appropriate and site responsive answer to the current manifestationsbrought in by globalization.”

PradeepK.Bhagat,PrincipalofCCA



Brief

Focus area

ThefocusareaislocatedbetweenChandigarhandPanchkula.It

consistsoftwoseparate“worlds”:“theglobalworld”tothenorthofthe

railroadconsistingoftheRajivGandhiTechnologyParkandanupscale,

internationalshoppingmalland“thelocalworld”tothesouthoftherailroadconsistingofexisting,historicalvillagesandinformalsettlements.

Task

Understanding

Observeandanalyseproblemsandpossibilitiesrelatedtotheeconomic,

environmentalandsocialdevelopmentofthearea,throughempirical

studiesandinterviewswithdifferentpeopleonsite.

Intervention

Proposeoneinterventionthatcanmakethelocalandtheglobalmeet.

Theinterventioncanbebigorsmall,physicalornon-physical,butitmust

provide economic, environmental and social benets to the area.

Presentation

Presenttheunderstandingandtheinterventioninawaythatis

understandableforlayman.Thepresentationshouldconsistof2A2panels,

5powerpointslidesandoneA4essay.

Challenges

1. Can we make the ‘global’ and the ‘local’ interact in a mutually benecial

way?

2.Canwethinkofthesiteasanecologyinwhicheverythingandeveryone

dependoneachother?

3.Canwemakearchitecturemoredemocratic?

4.Canweimprovethelivingandeconomicconditionsfordisadvantaged

people?

5.Canweimprovetheimageforthetechnologypark?

6.Canweimproveaccessibilityandconnectivity?

YinYang:thisChinesesymboldescribeshowpolarorseeminglycontraryforcesare

interconnectedandinterdependentinthenaturalworld,andhowtheygiveriseto

eachotherinturn.

Innity: In ancient India and Tibet, thissymbolrepresentedperfection,dualism,

andunitybetweenmaleandfemale.Itisalsoassociatedwithbalanceorthe

equilibriumofforces.



Time schedule

04.10 Understanding

10.00–10.45IntroductiontotheworkshopbyHenrikValeur(ALL)

11.00–14.30Sitesurveyandinterviewswithpeoplerepresentinguser

groupswithdifferentneedsandwishes;forinstanceasinglemother,a

retiredcouple,asuccessfulbusinessman,amigrantworker,ayoungstudent,anITprofessional…(GROUPS)

15.00–17.00Discussionofproblemsandpossibilities(ALL)

05.10 Brainstorming

09.00–15.00Brainstormingofintervention(GROUP)

15.00–17.00Presentationofproposals(ALL)

06.10 Focus

09.00-17.00Developmentofintervention(GROUP)

07.10 Presentation

14.00–19.00Presentationandreviewofprojects(ALL)

08.10 Evaluation

11.00–12.00Evaluationofprojects(HenrikVakeurandfaculty)

13.00-14.00Prizes(ALL)

Site

Thesiteisamixedurbanandruralarealocatedoutsidetheplannedcityof

Chandigarh.Itisdividedbyanelevatedrailwaytrack.Ononesideofthe

railwayisatechnologypark,ashoppingmallandprovisionalhousingfor

migrantworkers,andontheothersideisavillage,informalsettlementsand

someagriculturalland.

Thevillage,theIndiraColony,wasconstructedsome20yearsagofor

people who were working in Chandigarh but couldn’t nd housing there.

Itconsistsoftraditionalcourtyardhousingwitheachcourtyardserving12

dwellings.

Evenbeforethevillagewasconstructedslumdwellershadsettledinthis

areaandcontinuetolivetheretillthisday.

ConstructionoftheRajivGandhiTechnologyParkbeganin2004.Before

thattheareawasaforestlandwhichincludedadumpingground,a

vegetablemarket,aplaygroundforkidsandotherfacilitiesforthevillagers.

Themigrantworkersaretemporarilyaccommodatedwithinthetechnology

park,closetotheconstructionsitesonwhichtheywork.

Courtyardhousinginthevillage



Site



People

Architectureisaboutalotofthings,butitisprimarilyaboutpeople.Someof

thepeopleintheareaare:

ThewhitecollarworkersfromITcompaniesinthetechnologypark.

Thestrong,butoftenunemployedwomeninthevillage.

Thehardworkingmigrantswhoarebuildingthetechnologypark.

Thekidswhoaresmiling…eveniftheyarelivinginslum.



Results

Understanding

An important nding of this workshop was the biased perceptions and

misconceptionsbetweenthedifferentgroupsofpeoplelivingandworkingin

thearea.The“globalpeople”wouldseethe“localpeople”asuneducated,

badmanneredandwithoutanyusefulskillswhilethe“localpeople”wouldseethe“globalpeople”asarrogantanduncaring.

TheproblemsofinformalsettlementsarecommoninIndiancities,butthe

juxtapositionofabrandnewtechnologyparkmakestheseproblemsstand

outevenmore.Thesettlementsinhabitedbyslumdwellersandmigrant

workersconstituteabufferzonebetweenthelocalsandtheglobals,along

theelevatedrailroadtrack,whichalsoactsasaphysicalbarrier.

ITcompanies,suchasInfosys,providetheiremployeeswithallthe

necessaryfacilitiesinsideafencedandguardedcompound.Duringwork

hoursemployeesonlycomeoutsidethecomplextosmoke,haveacup

ofteaorgrabsomethingtoeatintheprimitivefoodstallssetupbylocal

villagers.Theseareamongtheonlyexistingpointsofsocialinteraction

betweenthetwo“worlds”,thoughsomeoftheyoungwhitecollarworkers

havealsofoundaccommodationinthevillage.

Inthevillageunemploymentisepidemic,especiallyamongstwomen.The

spillovereffectsfromthenewtechnologyparkhavebeenminimal,though

somenewservicejobshavebeencreated.

Theplanningofthevillage,especiallythecourtyardhousing,seemquitesensible, but the trafc congestion, litter and the illegal use of buildings for

commercialuseandunauthorizedverticalextensionssuggestotherwise.It

isclearthatpeopledon’tusearchitecturethewaytheyweresupposedto.

Isthatbecausepeopledon’understandthearchitectsorisitbecausethe

architectsdon’tunderstandthepeople?

Interventions

Proposalsforinterventionsincludesmallservicestationsprovidingboth

practicalfacilitiesandeducationalinformation,forinstanceeducationon

hygienecombinedwithashowerandtoiletfacilitiesfortheslumdwellers.

WhitecollarworkersintheITindustry,whowantabreakawayfromthemonotonousroutineinsidetheircompound,mighthelprunningsucha

“station”intheirbreaks.

Otherproposalsincludevocationaltraining,forinstanceintraditional

handicraft,whichcouldbetaughtbywomenfromthevillagetowhite

collarworkersinthetechnologypark,ortraininginnewinformationand

communicationtechnologies,whichcouldbetaughtbythewhitecollar

workerstothewomenfromthevillage.

Interactioncouldalsobeenabledthroughhealthandbodycare,including

yogaandmeditation,butalsothroughsportsevents.

Localfoodcyclescouldbeestablishedinwhichslumdwellersareemployed

tocollectorganicwasteandgrowfood,whilethevillagersprepareandsell

thefoodtowhitecollarandmigrantworkers.

Street-artcouldbeusedtocreateinteractionandafeelingofcontinuity

betweenthetwo“worlds”,whilelandscapingandphysicalstructures,such

as yovers and underpasses, could ensure actual physical connection.

Maybe the different people could even be living together in exible new andmixed-usedhousing.



Group 1 [1st prize]



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Group 1 [1st prize]



Group 1 [1st prize]



Group 1 [1st prize]





Group 3 [2nd prize]



Group 3 [2nd prize]



Group 3 [2nd prize]



Group 3 [2nd prize]







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Group 6 [3rd prize]











Group 11 [3rd prize]





Process

Goingtothesite

Conductinginterviews

Makinganargument

Thinking



Thinking

Thecoordinator

Reviewing

Presentinganidea



Theeditors

Reviewing

Presentation

Diploma



0

Participating students

Arjun AbhishekVerma

Ashutosh AmrapaliDebbrama

Daanish AmritaSabhapandit

Deepanjali AnkitaThakur

Digvijay AnuragSinghDisha ChhaviArya

Gurpal DipankarNath

Jayant EktaKhera

Kamal GhanShyam

Manic HarnoorKaurBoparai

Maninder HarpreetSingh

Meme IshitaBhatnagar

Nishchal JasmineSingh

Renuka KashishThethi

Ridhi KasturikaSaikia

Rimaljit KushaalVirdiSahilK. MashaaraaBhatia

SahilS. MrignayneeBhagat

Saurabh MuskaanSajjad

Shabnam NagmaSharma

Shani PavneetPalSingh

Shantanu PrachiSarna

Shruti PragyaMittal

Shweta PranikaMahajan

Tejasi PranshuDogra

VarunK. PriyankaGoyal

VarunM. PulkitGoyal

VikramJeet RamneekMiglani

Vinay RamyaKuchhal

Anindita SahilBansal

ParthaDas SamanyuBhatnagar

Geetashree ShriyaVerma

Leena SidhantMadan

Nikita SiratToor

Venus SoniaBalyan

Aparna SowmyaSinghArun SumitSingh

Gurinder TanviGrover

Puja GunmeetSingh

Asha SwetabjoMajumdar

TaruniAggarwal

RavinderSingh

Abhey

JasnamKaur

Mohd.Shaiquedin

GagandeepSingh

IndianExpress09.10.2010



Press

AmarUjala05.10.2010

DanikBhaskak10.10.2010

TribuneLifestyle11.10.2010

HindustanTimes12.10.2010

Documents

CCA Workshop Report