Mapping Kolkata

Oh dear.

For the past few weeks we’ve been working on creating a modifiable and interchangeable atlas for Kolkata. It is probable that what we are mapping now will change once we visit site conditions so we need a platform to record that data.

We’re mapping everything from soils, land use and typologies, “digestive” processes, transects, “calendars”, “diurnal rhythms”, the phenomenological to the land and built interface, “human capital”/”symbiosis” and “human movement”. With these data sets we hope to paint an accurate picture of all interfaces, typologies and conditions that would influence and direct any designed intervention to our site.

As you might be able to see in the image above, we also need to think about how we are going to transport this and open, rearrange and present this once we get to Kolkata. After many discussions, an individual unit of 8.5x11 was chosen. Each of these units would house a map, or a part of a map depending on the scale. These maps are not just maps you might find in your standard atlas in a bookstore, they're diagrams, sections, transects, and, of course plans and maps. The collection of these 8.5x11 units would packaged together for transport and presentation.

We're going to have two presentations: one at the US Consulate with the Kolkata Muncipal Corporation, West Bengal Tourism Development Corp., Centre for the Built Environment (CBE), US Consul General, Indian Institute of Management, Students from local Architecture programs (Jadavpur University, etc) and reporters from Times of India and the Telegraph. In other words, it's a serious presentation to Kolkata. The other presentation is to the CBE.

In any case, we have to finish our mapping for tomorrow and then need to construct our atlas this weekend so that it's ready for Tuesday. We leave for Kolkata on Wednesday, March 18th.