Creativity & Heritage Conservation Seminar on Heritage conservation & management Anna University, Chennai Jan 2008
Kiran Keswani architect
[email protected]
the Ecosystem for Heritage Conservation Conservation lies fragmented
the need for m a s t e r a r t i s a n s to restore traditional buildings the financial and human resources to preserve heritage buildings innovative ways to readapt heritage houses for contemporary use
creating continual work for the skille skilled d artisan and a greater number of a r c h i t e c t s with a concern for heritage
design vs.conservation 2
in India, the indigenous building artisan and his can still be traced in some parts of the country
skills
the artisan and skill will sustain if there is a constant flow of projects to execute 3
a design d esign professional (in conventional terms)
is one who creates spaces that have never been experienced before
a conservation professional (in conventional terms)
is one who can restore what another has created
but someone who knows that creativity is not an individual effort but a collective phenomenon
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h o w e v e r … a design professiona professionall is also someone who creates ways of thinking that have never been experienced before
a conservation professional is someone who wants to understand “processes” rather than “products”
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knowing the “processes” Codifying indigenous knowledge or documenting the skill
Enhancing artisan networks or how an artisan sources work
a way of thinking . . . and, therefore contemporary architecture & the need for an indian identity identity aspirations of the urban indian our present system of architectural education its impact on urban architecture on how to learn from tradition
Contemporary design and heritage planning opportunities to design, to think creatively and to conserve & readapt heritage buildings 6
Codifying indigenous knowledge
If the crafts processes in India were never documented, does it mean that they were never meant to? the skill of the artisan was a hands-on process where “learning by doing” was of prime importance
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today, with the change in design education we do not have hands-on skill programs or design-build schools schools the only way now in the current system is to codify the skills that belong to tradition so that we can incorporate these into our learning and into our built environment
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what to document
documenting skills
documenting buildings
d ocu me nt in g a rt is an n et wor ks
documenting
a way of living
& of building 9
Mahabubnagar The house has a hierarchy of spaces from open to enclosed spaces. The kitchen has a small water tank, a wash area, cooking area and shelves for keeping vessels.
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Cuddappah
Documentation in the districts of andhra pradesh by the the students of College of architecture architecture JNTU hyderabad with with support from Madras Craft Foundation Foundation
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Pochampalli
Often, there is a small open-to-sky space in the large interior. This is where the dyes are made or where the yarn is dipped into the dye. Being a wet area, it must necessarily allow sunlight to come in so that no water is allowed to stagnate inside the house. The tiled roof slopes in from four sides into this open-to-sky space with a small overhang.
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what we can do with a contemporary design education
the need to design spaces for a contemporary context and contemporarise the skills of the traditional artisan
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Enhancing artisan networks
what are the existing networks?
why are they not enough? how much more is needed? how to generate that?
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why analyse a network To identify expertise To guage the connectivity connectivity To access existing knowledge assets To understand the lost knowledge problem 15
In 1983, Mark Granovetter researched on how people found their jobs
Social Networks consist of interconnected relationships where
nodes may be people, groups or organizations and
lines are ties
Node
Weak tie (Acquaintance)
Strong tie
Strong ties are your family, friends friends and other people people you have strong strong bonds to Weak ties are relationships that transcend local relationship boundaries both socially and geographically 16
Mapping Mapping the ‘word ‘word of mouth’ phenomenon phenomenon Weak ties provide bridges between densely knit clusters of social structure they are critical whenever information is diffused through interaction
architect
architect A
artisan houseowner
house owner
B architect B architect C
house owner A
Every architect has a network of artisans he connects to a houseowner may have his own network of masons and carpenters an architect’s network may be linked to that of another architect or another houseowner Sometimes, a skill may lie within the artisans own environment in tacit form, without being known to others 17
Artisan Networks
In Chennai In Mahabalipuram Mahabalipuram In Pondicherry In towns in Tamil Nadu & Kerala
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In Chennai
There are a few master artisans involved in restoration projects with a large team of masons who work with them They are skilled in limework, woodwork, tile laying, pointing, plastering, stonework and are also involved in modern construction projects Their work also includes farmhouses on the East coast road Some of the artisans in Chennai are the conventional masons who have had the opportunity to train themselves on-the-job in a restoration project The mRmRm foundation in Chennai has held workshops in lime plaster and in attangudi tiles which have been attended by artisans and engineers
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In Mahabalipuram Durairaj, came to Chennai from Karaikudi, a town in Sivaganga district one of the stone artisans, Durairaj, He established a small shop which has now grown into a large establishment with 200 artisans Referrals from satisified clients led to further work Today, he also takes orders from foreign clients by email They can craft in stone - statues, columns, columns, benches, bird feeders and lanterns lanterns
a bronze craftsman, Muthuvel studied at the College of Arts & Crafts in Kumbakkonam Most of Muthuvel’s clients are temple priests He also has a few clients from Belgium and other European countries His completed work includes the bell tower at the Shiva temple in Avadi, metal idols for other temples and metal basins which are being used as decorative landscape elements by farmhouse owners in Chennai
an artisan who works in wood, Murugesan says that woodwork skills have been a family tradition His work comes through recommendations from previous clients He has done wooden mandapas, doors, pillars, entrances for temples, furniture and roofing work
a Contractor, Sarangan who lives near Old Mahabalipuram Road has executed thatch roof work for hotels such as the GRT resort, Mahabalipuram, the Silver sands beach resort, East Coast Road and the Taj Fisherman's Cove at Uthandi 20
In Pondicherry
For the people of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, the sourcing of artisans has been primarily through through INTACH and its team of architects and engineers The first point of contact for most houseowners is the architect contractor who appoints a team of artisans The architects work through a contractor who Contractors have mostly used the same masons and carpenters on the restoration projects that they use on their new constructions In a few cases, a metal bracket has been commissioned to a craftsman from Chidambaram, Chidambaram , a town nearby or a terracotta finial to a local potter from Pondicherry Lime work is learnt at site and is supervised by conservation architects
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In towns in Tamil Nadu & Kerala
Many architects in Chennai source their artisans from Madurai and other places in Tamil nadu Today, there are artisans in Karaikudi, Tirunelveli, Tanjavur, Kancheepuram and Chidambaram who continue to work in wood, stone and metal Often, architects and owners of farmhouses in Chennai have contacted contractors and artisans from towns or villages in Kerala for the construction “Kerala style” style” roof of a “Kerala For projects executed by INTACH Pondicherry, artisans were sourced from Kumbakonam for the metalwork, metalwork, such as brackets for the roof overhangs
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Mapping the artisan network that influences CHENNAI
CHETTINAD
MAHABALIPURAM
TRANQUEBAR
KERALA
CHENNAI AUROVILLE architect artisan PONDICHERRY
The solid line indicates indicates a ‘strong’ ‘strong’ tie and the dashed dashed line indicates indicates a ‘weak’ tie
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The ‘word ‘word of mouth’ phenomenon phenomenon will will continue to link the artisan and the project Today, there is a possibility possibility to strengthen this system with new software technology available to us
MapUnity, the Bangalore-based social entrepreneurial company is an online platform that allows specific communities and groups to geo-spatially create, organise, manage, analyse and share map-linked information that is of interest to them 24
This platform combines : G o o g l e for
mapunity
1. 2. 3.
area areass of inte intere rest st to a comm commun unit ityy spatial data Membership levels
The three together are known as a ‘mapunity’ or
Map s fo r C om mu nitie s
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Search
artisans
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G o o g l e for
mapunity Search
artisans
S h a r e information informati on on artisans, indigenous building skills and heritage houses
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Conserving the
Processes . . .
to generate continual work for the artisan programs that involve restoration of heritage buildings and encourage a contemporary vernacular language
heritage conservation
tourism planning
contemporary vernacular buildings 31
Contemporary design and heritage planning
Coastal Tourism Plan Maharashtra
Weaver’s village Pochampally
Dutch & Indian heritage Bimilipatnam, AP
natural heritage
crafts heritage
shared heritage
Buddhist sites Orissa
buddhist heritage
Few of the Tourism Planning projects wherein lies the potential for involving traditional building artisans 32
Conclusions
It is important
to map linkages between people involved in indigneous building activity to translate as much as we can into codified knowledge to create an environment environment that encourages training and
to identify or create markets that bring in continuous flow of work for the artisan
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