If there is anything that challenges a discussion about architecture, it would be defining architecture. It is too broad a subject to construct any particular opinion and follow on, even while attempting to create an understanding of it at the level within graduate program. For me, in a way, architecture has constantly re-constructed its character and impression, and that by itself becomes its permanent trait vis-a-vis a given place and time. But, it also subtly shifts its prominence from being an object to being an experience, from being permanent to being ephemeral or from being a summation to being a subtraction. At this moment, my pursuit of understanding architecture lies in its subtraction or absence from a collage of variables that compose everyday life.Revisiting Bombay's busy streets after spending a considerable amount of time in the United States was a familiar experience for me, but it quickly helped me recognize and acknowledge constituents of my everyday living (associated with the events of the city) that were immediately subtracted while living in the West. An everyday experienceassociated with the city, like the vending stalls, convenience stores, songs, noise, people, etc. could not be found in cities I visited in the U.S. All these experiences such as eating at food stalls and having a cup of tea on the street-side, buying electronics and latest music albums from a make-shift stall assembled from pieces of wooden planks; or simply walking on the street-side as if it were never a side walk but a festival of attainable consumerism - collectively form an event that is embedded in Bombay's urbanism. Herein, I chose to get up-close with the actors and their created spaces and interview them in order to gain insights into the totality of making a living on the street-side. Additionally, in order to extend my knowledge of architecture, I designed a vending stall that both acknowledges the worlds of the street-side and vendors, even as it is informed by my training as an architect.I am challenged as a graduate student to consider architecture within the context of my everyday life. A whole new dimension of space (of ad-hoc and tactical nature) that has always been there, gradually and randomly shaping my relationship with the city's streets while challenging the order of the city. Although invisibly present all the time, this study has made me more aware of its influence. Hence, I have tried to readdress everyday life on the street-sides within the local and global settings of Bombay, studying events and people associated with it. Looking for a probable architecture on the street-sides of Bombay within the boundaries of the quotidian and the modem realities becomes my thesis. / Department of Architecture
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/188338 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Sinha, Siddhant |
| Contributors | Janz, Wes |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 143 leaves : ill. (some col.), col. maps ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
| Coverage | a-ii--- |
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