Day One – Arrival and Adjusting

It was first the musty old book fragrance that met us as soon as we left the plane. Then a pungent cigarette texture was added. When we left the airport, the oppressive heat and high humidity enveloped us like a tight fitting glove, only seeming to tighten its hold as the day progressed. We arrived at the Lytton Hotel before 10am and arranged to meet as a group once more at 1pm after room assignments were established. Atisha arrived sometime thereafter (she went to India a bit before us to visit her family in Jaipur) and I went with her to get a SIM card for my cell phone. What was until then a relatively simple affair turned into a complex merry-go-round of identification verification and activation for service. Atisha, ever so patient, explained later that the shop owner wanted to feel self-important as to having a foreigner on his doorstep and thus made the process a lot more complicated.

After meeting as a group with Papi, our guide for the day, we went on a walking tour towards the Park Street Cemetery (The East India Trading Company Mausoleums). Coupled with the heat and 30 hours of travel, what made the walk all the more tiring was the incessant honking of street traffic – everywhere from the tiniest scooter to taxi on the most unimportant side street to the major arteries of the city. In fact, the street traffic seemed to be a chaotic mess – there were discernible patterns and a vague sense of order – but even on the streets that had lights (and that's very few indeed) pedestrians and vehicles alike fought each other for right of way. There was this one crossing near a flyover (a raised “highway”) that had a recurring message on a loudspeaker asking people not to cross the street but after a minute of this and a helpless? Traffic police officer attempting to direct traffic, the message stopped for 5 seconds and then started up again. Frustrated, people ignored the message and tried crossing anyway.

Arriving at the Cemetery, we had half an hour to explore the site. The site wasn't significantly large by any means, but the structures built on top of it were. The majority of men who worked for the East India Trading Company died in their twenties, succumbing to malaria, typhoid and a host of other terrible diseases that would accompany workers in the tropics.
It was decided soon after this that because everyone was so tired, we would cut the day short. So we all went to this rooftop restaurant to drink beer and eat food. We then had the evening to ourselves, but, not before being told that we would need to meet at 6:20am in the hotel lobby to go on a walking tour that starts at 7am (i.e, the tour doesn't start until we get to the location at 7am). Sorry if I don't quite remember where that location is. I suppose you can look at the itinerary – since we didn't make it everywhere today anyway. I hope to have more provocative pictures soon; Jonathon has been generously taking photos especially for the blog. Everyone also has their own digital camera; some even brought their D-SLRs, so at the end of the trip we're going to have copious amounts of photos that hopefully will, for the lack of a better phrase, paint the picture of Kolkata very well.

Stars in the Ceiling

Dubai Int'l Airport - We almost didn't make it off the ground. There was an electrical problem and they had to shut down the entire plane. No lights save for flashlights and because the JFK power unit failed, no AC either. After an hour and a half, problem fixed, we began our flight on the Airbus 380 – billed as the largest passenger plane in the world. And was it amazing. I felt like I was flying business class! I could finally cross my legs, we had our own personal movie screens with movies on demand (free), and there were 110V outlets built right into the seats!

Emirates, as an airline, treated us like hotel guests. We received an actual dinner and breakfast menu! They gave out stickers that you could put on the top of your seat to let them know to wake you for a meal, for example. We had dinner, snacks (twice sandwiches and fruits/snack bars once) thrice and breakfast. Not to mention the half-dozen? times they served us soft drinks. Yep, all free. Free headphones too (and not those annoying ones that go into your ears).

For dinner I had 'Lamb korma': 'tender pieces of lamb cooked in a fragrant and creamy sauce, served with steamed basmati rice and assorted vegetable korma'. It was excellent and did not taste dehydrated at all. They also had smoked salmon available and grilled chicken breast. Vegetarians had the option of the aforementioned sandwiches, though I noticed that vegetarians also received some of kind of salad. The desert was quite good as well: “Bluberry crumble”: 'served with vanilla sauce'.

For breakfast you had the option of either scrambled eggs or paneer bhaji (they pronounced it pah-NEAR bunGEE). I chose the latter. It's Indian fare, and it most closely resembles an American food that you'd find at brunch. The description was 'with filled paratha and aloo bhaji'. Don't know what that means but it was good.

Other things of note: the bathrooms were really nice – something you'd find on at least a 40' sailing vessel. They had wood trim! You could have literally spent the entire flight glued to your movie screen – it also had games, TV (The Simpsons, The Office) and radio. We flew over Iraq at 41,000 feet. Thought that was interesting. The Flight Information feature was unique – it was much like Google Earth showing where you are in 3D as well as whether you're flying in night or day. You also had live feeds to the front, bottom (no more jostling for window seats!) and tail cameras.

Oh, and when they turn the lights off at night, you can see stars in the ceiling... :)

Go East, Young People!

It's come down to the last 24 hours before leaving for Kolkata. I thought it would be fitting to list our itinerary. The vast majority of the 29 people [this number includes three faculty -- Elizabeth Dean Hermann (Landscape Architecture), Nick DePace (Architecture), and Jonathon Highfield (English, Dept. Head)] are traveling by bus, while a few of us have made other travel arrangements to JFK. The flight leaves at 11pm and with a few hours layover in Dubai, we'll be arriving in Kolkata on the 20th.

This morning we'll be compiling our individual atlases into the atlas-- sorry, THE ATLAS. :) We have the afternoon off to pack.

Schedule updated Wednesday, March 18 @ 12pm:

Mar 20 (F)

Arrive at Lytton Hotel (Sudder Street) mid morning. Walking tour of Park Street, Park Street Cemetery, Nature Park, Shakespeare Sarani, Kansari Lane artisans, Kalighat (overview) with Maitreyi Brahmachari (ISUS)

Mar 21 (S)

Walking tour of Dalhousie Square area (former British city); flower market; Howrah Bridge; Kumartuli artisan area in North Kolkata (in front of the Great Eastern Hotel gate, 7:00am). Walk the Adi Ganga canal (as time allows)

Mar 22 (SU)

Departure 4:30 AM - tour of East Kolkata wetlands and Mudialy wetlands/Fishermen’s Cooperative with Supriyo Nandy (Centre for Built Environment/CBE) and Maitreyi Brahmachari (ISUS). Afternoon return to Kalighat (including Kali Temple, cremation ghats, individual neighborhoods). Walk the Adi Ganga canal (as time allows). Evening work session – document first impressions

Mar 23 (M)

Early morning taxi ride to Dakshinishwar Temple complex and Belur Math complex (North Kolkata). Afternoon visit to Horticultural Society (w/ Mahua Ghosh, landscape architect and member of CBE; Anupama Mitra and Subhojit Lahiri, Agri Horticultural Society), 1A Alipore Road, Kolkata. Late afternoon /evening program (mapping flows – part 1) for New Light NGO, Kalighat. Those not at New Light work on presentation for CBE and American Center/US Consulate

Mar 24 (T)

All-day transect charrette - Kalighat. (Lili meet with Anjan). Evening program (mapping flows - part 2) for New Light NGO, Kalighat. Those not at New Light work on presentation for CBE and American Center/US Consulate

Mar 25 (W)

Morning meeting with Anjan Mitra (The Appropriate Alternative), architect in charge of Kalighat redevelopment effort
4:30-7:30 Seminar: Water & City @ CBE (water resources, ground water, waste water recycling, canals, rainwater harvesting, drainage and flooding in Kolkata). Academy of Fine Arts, Cathedral Road, Kolkata (conference room open from 4.00 to 8.00 p.m.)

Chairman: Prof. Santosh Ghosh, Centre for Built Environment

Sobhanlal Bonnerjee, Secretary General, CBE

dinner with Centre for Built Environment/CBE members

Mar 26 (TH)

river tour of ghats, temples and industrial waterfront, foreign tradingposts and outlying village craft community (led by Calcutta Walks)

evening discussion in preparation for American Center presentation

Mar 27 (F)

10:30 presentation at American Center)

• Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Anindya Karforma)

• West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (TVN Rao)

• Centre for the Built Environment

• US Consulate representatives

• Indian Institute of Management (Public Policy and Management

group; Entrepreneurship and Development group)

• Students from local Architecture and Business programs

(Jadavpur University etc)

• reporters from Times of India and the Telegraph

Mar 28 (S)

tour of Howrah bustees (informal settlements) with Sobhanlal Bonnerjee (CBE)?; tour jute mill

final site documentation through photography and sections

possible afternoon visit to the Weaver’s Studio exhibition

depart Kolkata 8:30 pm

Mar 29 (SU)

arrive JFK 7:45am

Design for Development (D4D)

I've gotten my hands on the powerpoint presentations last Thursday from Design for Development. I'm going to be posting them in order of appearance. These are, as you might imagine, works in progress.

Canning Campus

This group is designing a campus for religious worship and eco-tourism, based in Port Canning, east of Kolkata, which is the launching point for the Sundarbans.

Red Light Rehab

The focus here is the rehabibilitation of the slums -- essentially adding a story on top of existing stories and removing the adjacent building so there's more light.

Kalighat Flows

This group has a substantial range of sub-projects -- rainwater harvesting, constructed wetlands, wastewater management, etc.

Kalighat Recycles

A presentation on the possibilites of sustainable recycling. 

Interwoven Storytelling

Back on Friday night as part of RISD's Open Studios, we had the opportunity to make block prints of stories on cloth that will be presented to the kids of New Light in Kolkata. This presentation details the idea and process.

Local Building Materials

The last group presented on the sustainability and possibility of local building materials --straw bale, bamboo, adobe, etc.

Atlas Prep Review [Part 2 of 2]

My notetaking in the afternoon suffered a bit :) but I think I still got relatively accurate picture of the rest of the atlas:

Diurnal Cycle [Sally + Josh]

Comments about the manipulation of representation. An idea of representation at science museum gift shops was brought up – How can we use the metaphor of a game to represent our maps and ideas?

Land/Water Interface: Ghats [Christian]

We had a discussion on the differences between male and female ghats and how they interface with the river (symbolically and physically). The city is very cosmopolitan but our site in Kalighat is very Hindi.

Land/Water Interface: Urban Warp [Boyoung]

Discussion on using the textiles to map the urban warp of the city; the differences between straight roads presumably used for transport to the winding roads presumably used for pedestrian movement.

Built Interface: The Public/Private [Hao-Hsin]

The diagram of the private/public relationship to ground, porosity of wall, shape of roof, etc., needs to be more fully developed. Perhaps cross referencing these qualities to urban patterns would help. We need density numbers. The idea of multiple levels: motivational facts of urban chronology and building typologies. 

‘Spine’/Transect: Land use [Atisha]

Perhaps we need a combo map with water wells? The area of the land use map needs to be expanded to see adjacencies to our site. Look at grounding – of ownership, utility, etc.

Land/Water Interface: Inundation [Erin]

The flood map needs an improvement of legibility and the addition of temple relationships to flooding.

“Human Capital”/”Symbiosis” [Mike + Ji Hyun + Jong]

How do you represent services and educational statistics?

“Diurnal Rhythms”: Religion [Devon+Melissa]

Articulation of measuring device is needed for spheres of influence.

Land/Water Interface: Canal [Morgan]

There needs to be overlap with the slums and canal edge. Is Canal deeper on one side or the other?

Built Interface: Architectural Typologies [Daisuke+Hao-Hsin]

We had a discussion on the transformation of edge and implying elevation with an elevation marker.

Built Interface: Street Typologies [Jeremi]

Representational comments and suggestions as well as identifying the need for an articulated built edge. 

“Digestive”: Resource Collection [Devon+Lizzy]

The mapping of markets, resource collection and distribution for organic product – fish and vegetables and how to map the amount of flow.

Phenomenological [Kelly]

How would a walk in Kalighat be replicable in Providence? Kelly is not going to India and is providing us with a mapping toolset for comparison. How would you map the fragrances of Kolkata?

Transect [Morgan+Josh]

Ah, the challenge of representation: the scaling of a ~300 mile transect from the Himylayas to the delta...

Atlas Prep Review [Part 1 of 2]

We had a long day on Thursday. First, eight hours of review, then three hours (optional) to see the Design for Development (D4D) group presentations. Seeing as how the D4D class parallels the studio and seminar in terms of the work focusing on Kolkata, I figured it’d be a good idea – at this time – to briefly mention the projects. I’ll upload more info on D4D as I get it.

Besides making the atlas, we need to be thinking of questions to ask once we’re there. These are questions that will inform our understanding of Kolkata and environs and questions that will inform any design decisions later on (note: we start design a couple of weeks after we get back). The following summary of those eight hours are based on what I heard and wrote down. This atlas is a process, and, as such, the following does not represent a finalized… ‘anthology of questions’, if you will.

Human Movement: Eco-Tourism

• Has Kolkata strategically taken advantage of eco-tourism?
  
• How well are they prepared?
  
• How can you tap into the global human movement network (note: this was in reference to India giving dual-citizenship to Indians living abroad because of the great amount of wealth that could start funneling into the country if Indians started to heavily travel back and forth to India)?
  

Mapping specific questions: What about a map of migration?

Pollution + Climate Patterns

• What happens to wastewater and how is it handled?
  
• What is the policy of land speculation for water (drilled wells, aquifers, etc)? What are the rules that govern water policy?
  

‘Spine’/Transect: Ecosystem [Stephen]

• What are the preserves around Kolkata?
  
• Are certain animals located where they are because of resources available to feed those animals, or are there discrete places that can accommodate those animals (e.g., a 5,000 acre preserve)?
  
• What is the cultural patchwork to make this possible?
  
• What are the migratory trajectories?
  
• How does the ecosystem change over/across political boundaries?
  

Mapping specific comments: We need a base map that identifies between the developed areas and sanctuaries. Characterize the age of the delta. Figuring out the idiosyncrasies of representing between arid and water areas and density map of animals were the final comments.

Hydrology [Filomena+Erin]

There weren’t specific questions here as were comments about tagging the maps and images. How do you leave a map for someone who lives there? How can you translate monsoon, typically codified as a positive, into a negative? For example, monsoon as “danger” as glacier melt would be dangerous to Kolkata.

Mapping specific comments: We don’t have a deforestation map. Such a map would have an impact on hydrology. Also, we need a map on the anticipation of urban growth.

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.