Concern 

In a cyclic, finite and limited world of ours, the idea of perpetual economic growth gives humans hopes of eternal structures. In a cyclic, finite and limited world as ours, the idea gives humans hopes of eternal structures, of unyielding economic systems, of unlimited resources, of weather proof wall finishes, of the anti-aging creams and of perennially available mangoes. Mountains are being carved out to harvest the steel on which our ‘immortal’ civilization is being built. With 30 to 50% of the existent species heading toward extinction by the mid-century (1), we now are on the brink of a mass extinction, as we dig out hills for extraction of limestone for the cement that helps us build tall skyscrapers. Ancient forests are being destroyed to make way for a monoculture of timber trees to generate wood to aid the race towards eternity. The breathing thatch is now being replaced by the cancer inducing Asbestos sheet and the mud wall is being replaced by burnt brick, for the production of which 350 million tonnes of cultivable soil is consumed in India annually and burns 24 million tonnes of coal(2). The rush of the idea of the immortal civilization blinds the ecological and cultural limits that have bound our Indian civilization for centuries and have helped us actually attain a state of permanent evolution rather than a pseudo-permanent existence.

The thesis is an address towards a crisis, described by author and economist E F Schumacher as a “meta – economic crisis” (3). It aims at elimination of ethics from the world order, an act of material reduction and standardization so strong, that global oppression seems a positive aspect.

In such a crisis, architecture seems to be unlimited. Exponential growth seems to be a good thing, even though it  leads to exponential death. Economic growth, reduced to the only figure GDP, has become the touchstone of a progress of a country. In front of GDP, a production based figure, and its growth; nothing holds weightage. The virtual economy comes with its virtual predictions and false promises of positivity. Speculation like these along with the glorified prestige associated in the economic “growth” is what makes people “produce” architecture without any ethical, environmental or creative concerns, only to lead the world a step ahead in the crisis.

The crisis leads to the architect finding himself in an environment where creativity is a quality that cannot be invested upon. In an atmosphere where is a quality that does not yield monetary gains, and the practice of creativity, like the practice of environmental ethics, is a depreciative activity; the thesis is a question to the economy itself, and while it questions it also finds alternatives in a hidden and a silent civilization of the tribals.

The tribal economy is that of a dynamic exchange with nature, where having a standard would have been disastrous. It is an economy based on reciprocity more than a one-time exchange. Exchange then becomes an act of community sustenance rather than an individualistic survival ritual. Its growth patterns are sinusoidal rather than exponential and decay is accepted as a natural and a nourishing phenomenon and not something which needs to be exterminated from the system of the earth. This hidden, silent exchange; like the many vital exchanges in nature, has helped the tribals survive and evolve even when civilizations grew and fell around it.

Architecture is a humble representation of the biosphere around it.  Housing in these settlements is a continuous process and a house is a ‘homegrown’ entity (4), something which grows with you and supports your daily activities. Maintaining a house is an act of engaging with it, knowing it and understanding the systems that run it. A house is a part of the ecology that surrounds it and houses within itself the biodiversity that abounds the region.

The thesis is an exploration of the possibilities of such an architecture and economic system.

Bank towards a Meta – Economic reconstruction

The thesis is an address towards a crisis, described by author and economist E F Schumacher as a “meta – economic crisis”. It aims at elimination of ethics from the world order, an act of material reduction and standardization so strong, that global oppression seems a positive aspect. The rush of the idea of the immortal civilization blinds the ecological and cultural limits that have bound our Indian civilization for centuries and have helped us actually attain a state of permanent evolution rather than a pseudo-permanent existence. Thus the ecological foundation on which centuries of human civilization has developed and flourished now is in danger, inturn threatening not only the human civilization but the entire biosphere towards extinction. Architecture has a key role to play in this economically, rather monetarily driven development modal. Architecture is now mass produced in offices totally detached from materiality, it has undergone a change in attitude from a science that ensured a humble abode to a practice that satiates hunger of exponentially greedy, production based capitalist economies.

The thesis is an effort towards an alternative form of development, based on a sound economic and ecological base, which ensures a cyclic, nature oriented and democratic process of growth of human civilization and along with its its buildings. The thesis goes against the standard, money oriented, GDP based modal of economy and development and grounds its rules to the rules of nature. The thesis is a question to the economy itself, and while it questions it also finds alternatives in a hidden and a silent civilization of the tribals of our country.

The tribal economy is that of a dynamic exchange with nature, where having a standard would have been disastrous. It is an economy based on reciprocity more than a one-time exchange. Exchange then becomes an act of community sustenance rather than an individualistic survival ritual. Its growth patterns are sinusoidal rather than exponential and decay is accepted as a natural and a nourishing phenomenon and not something which needs to be exterminated from the system of the earth. This hidden, silent exchange; like the many vital exchanges in nature, has helped the tribals survive and evolve even when civilizations grew and fell around it.

Architecture is a humble representation of the biosphere around it.  Housing in these settlements is a continuous process and a house is a ‘homegrown’ entity, something which grows with you and supports your daily activities. A house is a part of the ecology that surrounds it and houses within itself the biodiversity that abounds the region.

The thesis is an exploration of the possibilities of such an architecture and economic system. It is an experiment towards architectural development of a settlement through the means of sustenance of its resource base, technologies and inturn its indigenous economy through architecture. Thus a bank based on a sustainable economic policy was designed, along with the homogenous design of the economic policy itself.

Experiences from the various Socio – Anarchic experiments in economics like gift economics, time banking, L.E.T.S (Local Exchange Trading Systems), Labour theory of value, participatory planning, microfinance and self-help groups, led to a policy formwork was made for the future of a tribal economy, which in its roots is nature oriented and ecological.

The policy and the architecture then became very decentralized. The watershed for which the architecture is designed for is located in the Dahanu Taluka of Thana District, the chief village being that of Veti Murbad, along with ten other small tribal villages that fall in the watershed. The watershed is the catchment area of a small perennial nalah, which eventually feeds into the Surya River and this nalah is what governs the lifestyle of the people, the ecology and the natural economy.

The multi-tiered economic policy is what gave the programmatic base to the thesis and laid the foundation of architectural strategies. The policy was based on something called as gift economy, where the community exchanges its goods within itself and other communities dynamically. After the watershed is selected the thesis proposes the following chronological, strategic phases to be executed through participatory process as in when the settlement wills it to happen.

Community development – 

The most important, basic requirement of the program is to have a strong, self-reliant and esteemed community. The idea is to thus document the immediate requirements and demands of the community for community buildings like schools, temples, and other social infrastructure and build them.

Resource regeneration –

This stage requires the community to regenerate its natural resources like forests, watershed, soil, fertility, biodiversity, through means and ways as suggested by the organization. The resources determine the strength of the following program.

Documentation –

An important aspect of the bank is that of documentation of the existing skill set and of professions existing within the community, as well as that of the processes which are being followed for resource management and production

Production and processing –

Centers for non-violent, decentralized, non-resource intensive and sustainable have to be established over the settlement based on research and analysis on the production patterns of the settlement, available skill sets, available resources and ecology. As the community matures, more of these can be built with attention being given to the ecological and social needs. The processing centers are a method of providing equity and incentive to people with surplus contribution to the system; by giving them hold over some production.

Transaction and exchange –

The final and most developed state of the village is when it totally bases itself on natural economics, restoring the meta economic awareness. This will need a platform of its own, where goods can be exchanged and also there is exposure to the main stream economic policies.

Like everything else in the program and the policy, architecture of the program is left to the system. The presented architectural manifestation is what the architect, (as a representative of the organization now formed in the settlement) has found suitable. But it is the responsibility of the organization to run the operation of making a construction manual at every step of evolution of the bank. This manual is now being made for the given watershed, and the architectural techniques manifested in the program are a representation of the manual without public participation. Thus the whole scheme might not look like it has presented when it is actually executed.