Thesis (M.Arch (Professional)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2016. / India is currently undergoing a rapid transformation
economically, consciously and spatially.
A layout of national infrastructure is happening
at a pace which may be ungovernable,
in its current state and India’s historical and
natural landscapes are in jeopardy. One such
ecological resource is the Ganga (colonialised
as the Ganges), which through continued
pollution is reaching a point of irreversible
damage. There is, however, still hope.
Accordingly, this thesis moves from an
overview of India in the globalised world,
through a rephrasing of how “development”
is understood and manifests itself to the
suggestion of an overall plan to understand
and implement it in a way that is co-ordinated
in intention but regionally and contextually
responsive in application. Through Homi
Bhabha’s theoretical perspective of cultural
hybridisation the discourse of creating a new
infrastructural identity for India is introduced.
The current political focus on the Ganga, created
by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,
through a renewed and trending agenda for
cleaning the holy river, acts as a platform
to explore the possibilities of infrastructure
within this context
.
The Ganga River has been a religious symbol
for millennia and the life force to approximately
500 million people. Through continued
and increased pollution the quality of its
water now radically exceeds the minimum requirements
for safe drinking, bathing or even
agricultural use. The Ganga River symbolises
a cosmological relationship between people
and the ecological environment, which requires
that pollution be approached from a holistic
viewpoint responding to the weight of its cultural
value. This contextualized approach has
the potential to become a catalyst for new
innovative approaches to the integration of
infrastructure throughout the river network
.
By using the political momentum created in
the city, by the national project, this thesis
is realised through a multiplicity of conflicting
lenses inherent to Varanasi, one of
India’s holiest cities. The city itself is growing
economically but at the price of its prized
ancient heritage. It possesses a cosmological
value unparalleled by any other city in the
country thus making it an emotionally powerful
tool to mobilise a cleaning project for
the river. If infrastructure is not implemented
correctly the threat to the city’s unique
character becomes real. This challenge created
the Meta question for my research:
How do you implement infrastructure into
the sacred landscape?
Through various degrees of research, both
intuitive and informed, a system to clean water
is designed in a way that truly integrates
into a cultural landscape. The proposed design
establishes itself as the first intervention
in a national network for cleaning the River.
By taking into account the infrastructural,
ecological and sociological requirements of the
city and its daily life the water purification
sanctuary mediates the conflicting programmatic
requirements between spirituality and
science.
Through an understanding that purity of
water has a number of connotations within
the site context the building utilises various
treatment methods to reinforce the sanctity
ABSTRACT
of water through a hybrid mediation of heritage,
nature, science and infrastructures (both
vernacular and modern). This new typology
enables the interaction of people with water
cleaning infrastructure at a local scale and
offers a way forward in redefining a national
identity that is bound up in these currently conflicting imperatives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/20567 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Maharaj, Vedhant |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (325 pages), application/pdf |
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