‘Ghar ki Baat’ loosely translates to - matters of a household.
Our recent exhibition at 241 Diwan Bishandas Street in Jammu provided a platform for people to come together and discuss what it means to live in a house designed like the one they were standing in. We were very interested in knowing what ‘matters of household’ would forefront discussions in the courtyard venue. This is the second exhibition of our Nani House Project.
The exhibition was a culmination of a 5-day photogrammetry and documentation workshop. As a method, it allowed for elongated engagement with the building that revealed its many histories and lives. While we could very carefully study the structural faults, we also captured various changes that must have been made to the almost 100-year-old building at different points in time. A horse stable was converted into an open dining space, an open kitchen was covered, a timber ceiling was replaced with concrete in parts as the residents’ response to the earthquake, lime was replaced by synthetic paint only to be reintroduced, and much more.
‘Ghar ki Baat’ was curated to highlight many of these histories through photogrammetric prints and drawings. The courtyard of the same house was set up as a temporary museum with these prints and some historical objects which told the story of a regular household in the region. The space facilitated people to share quite a few stories. Many people exclaimed that they missed having courtyards in their houses and had forgotten how cool they keep the houses despite the scorching heat in the city. People claimed it was during a similar period when most households converted their timber roofs to concrete. They discussed the pros and cons of various changes they had made to their house and ways of maintaining them in the past 100 years.
As designers, we were both intrigued and humbled. Our exhibition turned out to be a collection of prompts for some intriguing neighbourhood discussions on the needs from a house and a city. Once a building is built, it gets maintained within socio-ecological scenarios that might be unpredictable, and are often neglected by designers. What does that mean for us as design professionals? How do we create methods of tuning in and listening? Is advocacy a hat that some of us must wear?
Project Team: Anindya Raina, Bhavya Jain, Chintan Mewada
Workshop Participants: Anav Sharma, Jivika Sachdev, Sharl Pear
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