Panspiria and the Adisaptagram. The first is a city in West Bengal, 60 kilometers north of Kolkata, and the second is a neighboring village. Between the two are 10 edifices that are a mixture of private homes, a temple, a club, a workshop and a community center. It was built between 2012 and 2021 with the fair participation of the residents of the area. More such projects are on the anvil, including the renovation of the local municipal school, cremation and the temple.
In the August 2021 issue, The Architectural Review, a monthly international architecture magazine, devoted a study on these projects by Abin Design Studio (ADS) in Kolkata. ADS derives its name from its founder, Abin Chaudhuri.
Editor Manon Mollard writes in the study: “The story of post-independence architecture tends to draw heavily on the contributions of Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, who supposedly ‘laid the foundations of modern architecture’ in India. As built monuments, they speak loudly about the individual journeys of these architects. …However, as monopolistic narratives, they prevented a richer set of ideas and practices from unfolding and jeopardized the potential future modernities of the Indian subcontinent.”
It all started with bamboo. Bansberia is known to grow in abundance from the plant, as may be evidenced by the name it took. In 2012, when the neighborhood club approached Chaudhuri to design the Kartik Puja, he created a rainbow made of 1,800 bamboo poles. At night, the structure was lit with halogen lamps. After the puja, the poles were reused to build a fence around the local football field and favorite trespassing ground for stray cattle.
Soon, many businessmen in the area thronged to Chaudhuri. One asked him to convert his ancestors’ property into a modern apartment house, and another asked him to build a new house that would keep the tall tree intact.
Choudary addressed some of these and also managed to convince clients that there is a need to be sensitive to people and surroundings outside of a particular structure. When someone asked him to build a garage and housing accommodations to help with living, he convinced the owner to convert the site into a community building.
So, on the one hand, the structure is what it is set to be, and on the other hand, it also weaves itself into the life of the larger community. It extends into the street by a series of wide steps, which double as galleries for men, women and children who wish to watch the Kartik Puja procession. The structure also sinks in, and stairs go down to the ground floor which is used as a community hall, while another set of steps lead up to the upper floors which are used as classrooms by day and dormitories by night. The structure called Gallery House makes extensive use of terracotta inspired by the nearby temples of Hangseshwari and Ananta Basudeb.
One of Chaudhuri’s creations, Narayantala Thakurdalan is an open platform. It happened when the trustees of the thakurdalan asked Chaudhuri to do something about the crumbling structure. The architect began work and the result was a Jefri structure that allowed ample space to participate in religious rituals. Choudhury says, “Acceptance of exposed concrete as a temple was not easy for them. It came gradually.”
But since then, Choudary has discovered that he can’t please everyone all the time. “My mother was not much influenced by my work at Thakordalan, preferring the more traditional space for dedication,” he says.
To return to Bansberia and Adisaptagram, many other projects, such as the Waterfront Clubhouse and Panchayat Society Hall, are design interventions undertaken in collaboration with local communities. “It is important to get their participation from an early stage,” says Choudhury. “It becomes easier to get the money. In addition, one has to get an idea of how they want to make use of the space.”
For the Adisaptagram club, Choudhury realized they wanted a gallery. “What if they were poor, that was their ambition and I involved them in building one for themselves. The networking work happened at Narayantala Thakurdalan because the trustees told me that the fumes from the house (the fire ritual) needed an outlet,” he explains.
The club and hall are both public property. The money came from the state government and local herders did their part with building materials and labour.
A. Srivathsan, Executive Director of the Center for Architecture and Urbanism Research, CEPT University, writes in the study how ADS projects represent a “fundamental departure from mainstream practices that have lost sight of architecture as a service profession.”
Colombian architect and Leop’s colleague from Harvard University, GSD Alejandro Echeverri, met Chowdhury when he was in Calcutta and visited Panspira and the Adisaptagram. He wrote in the study that he was struck by the combined complexities of Medellín (in Colombia) and Calcutta, the complex realities, the profound inequalities, and difficult political and social issues. “There are undoubtedly many elements, symbols, and messages, all of which reverberate from our cities in the global south,” Echevery says.
Chaudhry couldn’t agree to more than that. “Architecture becomes meaningful when it expands its sphere of influence and transforms not only the surrounding environment but also the lives of its users – becoming an emblem of generosity,” he adds.