Ignored-Framed: Revitalising Mumbai Mills

[Preetika Balasubramanian]

Ignored- framed is about the forgotten textile mills of Mumbai, that became disused and non-functional after the Great Bombay Mill Strikes of the 1980s. Occupying more than 6 acres in the heart if the city, Shakti Mills was allowed to degenerate for more than 35 years, a span of time that devolved it into a house for informal activities like the taxi wallas drawing water front he underground baoris (wells) to clean their cars, to other morning errands of the surrounding community, and other illicit drug activities that questioned the very image and position of the important mill within the city. The government as a result covered every possible entrance to the mill compound, leaving 6 acres of land dysfunctional, completely vacant- a dead spot in the city.

Context and Methodology of Design:​

This design attempts to counter the capitalism driven redevelopment of other textile mills in the area.

Understanding the needs of the city, for a sensitive contextual redevelopment.

The crux of the project was to create a free, democratic, inclusive design for Shakti Mills to redefine its identity in the urban fabric.

Various democratic uses of the Mill compound

While other textile mills in Mumbai have undergone a capitalistic re-development to suit the commercial needs of the city and the real-estate developer, this design strives to stay away from such models. A critical analysis of the area and mapping of the tactical responses of the city to the mills was done to understand the needs of the people and the existing urban mesh around Shakti Mills. A stand was taken to derive new Development Control Rules, specific to the nature of the mills, making it possible to target micro issues along with the macro-response of the mills to the city.

The design process was initiated by forming a geometrical orientation between the built and the unbuilt to scale and align with the existing Shakti Mill compound wall. Architectural built design was planned in phases to let the mills grow along with the growth and evolution of the city’s needs.

Frameworks and Masterplan:​

The masterplanning of the mills compound saw the division of the built into three bays – Access, Serving and the Served. Access became a common passage which would connect all the spaces. Serving became the service bay with service cores and supported the sunk slab. The Serving Space facilitated multiple functional take overs in the Served space.

View of the Mill compound showing the relationship between built and the unbuilt.

Each built housed “Kiosk like structures” on its ground floor making it possible to create an interaction of the built with its un-built. This would make it possible for the streets to be vibrant throughout, satisfying “eyes on the street” criteria. Where as the above floors could be given out for consumption space for functional takeovers like Shops, Houses, Restaurants, Music and Film Studios, Corporate offices, Workshops, Co-working spaces etc. These would evolve in coherence to the existing prevalent functions of the Mills. The existing facade was animated with a continuous walking passage that acted as an interface with the urban edge of the Mills, initaing the user to the central open space with a platform for multiple events of the city to take place.These events could be then be supported by event based kiosks on the right. Above these kiosks is an entrepreneurial co-working space and workshops.

Conclusion:​

The compound wall of the Mill was retained as a collective memory of the people who commute through the place daily., with new programmatic inserts that prompted the creation of a new geometry and therefore, a hybrid identity, amalgamating the past and the present identities of the textile Mill.

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Institution: Rachana Sansad’s Academy of Architecture, Mumbai

Thesis guide: Ar. Rohit Shinkre, Ar. Swati Choskhi

Review Members: Ar. Mandar Parab

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Aditya Mandlik, a recent graduate from Rachana Sansad’s Academy of Architecture, believes in “utopia” making him passionately work towards it. Intrigued by Cities, he is a realist within the envelope of a dreamer, and hopes to make a difference to the urban fabric of Mumbai.

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