chettinad heritage conservation

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Creativity & Heritage Conservation

Kiran Keswani

architect

[email protected]

Seminar on Heritage conservation & management

Anna University, ChennaiJan 2008


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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 skilled artisan

and

a greater number of a r c h i t e c t s with a concern for heritage

design vs.conservation

the Ecosystem for Heritage Conservation lies fragmented


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in India, the indigenous building artisan and his skillscan still be traced in some parts of the country

the artisan and skill will sustain

if there is a constant flow of projects to execute


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a design 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 buta collective phenomenon


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h o w e v e r

a design professional

is also someone who creates ways of thinkingthat have never been experienced before

a conservation professional

is someone who wants to understand processesrather than products


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Codifying indigenous knowledgeor documenting the skill

Enhancing artisan networksor how an artisan sources work

knowing the processes

a way of thinking . . .

contemporary architecture & the need for an indian identity

aspirations of the urban indianour present system of architectural education

its impact on urban architecture

on how to learn from tradition

and, therefore

Contemporary design and heritage

planning

opportunities to design, to think

creatively and to conserve & readapt

heritage buildings


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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

Codifying indigenous knowledge


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today, with the change in design education

we do not have hands-on skill programs or design-build 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 o c u m e n t i n g a r t i s a n n e t w o r k s

documenting a w a y o f l i v i n g & of building


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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.

Mahabubnagar


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Cuddappah

Documentation in the districts of andhra pradesh by the students of College of architecture JNTU hyderabad with support from Madras Craft Foundation


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Often, there is a small open-to-sky space in the large

interior. This is where the dyes are made or where theyarn 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.

Pochampalli


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the need to design spaces for a contemporary contextand

contemporarise the skills of the traditional artisan

what we can do with a contemporary design education


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what are the existing networks?

why are they not enough?

how much more is needed?

how to generate that?

Enhancing artisan networks


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why analyse a network

To identify expertise

To guage the connectivity

To access existing knowledge assets

To understand the lost knowledge problem


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Node

Strong tie

Weak tie (Acquaintance)

Social Networks

consist of interconnected relationshipswhere

nodes may be people, groups or organizationsand

lines are ties

In 1983, Mark Granovetterresearched on how people found their jobs

Strong ties are your family, friends and other people you have strong bonds to

Weak ties are relationships that transcend local relationship boundaries both socially and geographically


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Mapping the word of mouth phenomenon

Every architect has a network of artisans he connects to

a houseowner may have his own network of masons and carpenters

an architects 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

architect

artisanhouseowner

house ownerAarchitect C

architect A

architect B

house owner

B

Weak ties provide bridges between densely knit

clusters of social structure they are critical whenever

information is diffused through interaction


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Artisan Networks

In ChennaiIn Mahabalipuram

In Pondicherry

In towns in Tamil Nadu & Kerala


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There are a few master artisans involved in restoration projectswith 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 hadthe opportunity to train themselves on-the-job in a restoration project

The mRmRm foundation in Chennai has held workshops in lime plasterand

in attangudi tiles which have been attended by artisans and engineers

In Chennai


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one of the stone artisans, Durairaj, came to Chennai from Karaikudi, a town in Sivaganga district

He established a small shop which has now grown into a large establishment with 200 artisansReferrals from satisified clients led to further work

Today, he also takes orders from foreign clients by email

They can craft in stone - statues, columns, benches, bird feeders and lanterns

a bronze craftsman, Muthuvel studied at the College of Arts & Crafts

in Kumbakkonam

Most of Muthuvels 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

In Mahabalipuram


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For the people of Pondicherry, the sourcing of artisans has been primarily through

INTACH and its team of architects and engineers

The first point of contact for most houseowners is the architect

The architects work through a contractorwho appoints a team of artisans

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, 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

In Pondicherry


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Many architects in Chennai source their artisansfrom 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 inChennai have contacted contractors and artisansfrom towns or villages in Kerala for the construction

of a Kerala style roof

For projects executed by INTACH Pondicherry,

artisans were sourced from Kumbakonam for themetalwork, such as brackets for the roof overhangs

In towns in Tamil Nadu & Kerala


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Mapping the artisan network that influences CHENNAI

TRANQUEBAR

KERALA

The solid line indicates a strong tie and the dashed line indicates a weak tie

architect

artisan

AUROVILLE

CHENNAI

PONDICHERRY

MAHABALIPURAM

CHETTINAD


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The word of mouth phenomenon will continue to link the artisan and the project

Today, there is a possibility to strengthen this system

with new software technology available to us

MapUnity, the Bangalore-based social entrepreneurial companyis 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


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This platform combines :

1. areas of interest to a community

2. spatial data

3. Membership levels

The three together are known as a mapunity

or

M a p s f o r C o m m u n i t i e s

G o o g l e for

mapunity


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S e a r c h

artisans


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G o o g l e for

mapunity

S e a r c h

artisans

S h a r e information on artisans, indigenous building skills and heritage houses


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to generate continual work for the artisan

programs that involve

restoration of heritage buildings

andencourage a contemporary vernacular language

heritage

conservation

tourism

planning

Conservingthe

Processes . . .

contemporary

vernacular buildings


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natural heritage

Contemporary design

and

heritage planning

buddhist heritageshared heritagecrafts heritage

Coastal Tourism Plan

Maharashtra

Weavers village

Pochampally

Dutch & Indian heritage

Bimilipatnam, AP

Buddhist sites

Orissa

Few of the Tourism Planning projects wherein lies the potential for involving traditional building artisans


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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 that encourages training

and

to identify or create marketsthat bring in continuous flow of work for the artisan

C o n c l u s i o n s

chettinad heritage conservation

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