RACHIT RAJ SOMANI
An architectural archive
Settlement studies: Sewri
For the module, we studied the Sewri-Mahul region through the lens of different agencies that constitute its landscape. With the aim of understanding and mapping the topography, climate, routines and various flows of this ecotone, we divided ourselves into groups of students that study the site through the lens of the constituent agencies, which were were the estuary, the wetland & mudflats, salt pans, flora & fauna, the settlements, transport, docks & trade; and sewage. The two week long study was compiled as a website.
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Anuradha Mathur and Dilip de Cunha in the book "Soak", propose Mumbai as an estuary rather than the colonial understanding of Mumbai as a city of 7 islands. They speak about how Mumbai majorly has always focused on the two coasts; seafront on the west and the harbor front on the east. The third coast to the north, between Worli and Sewri, was of a different order.
This part transitions from land to mudflats to sparse mangroves to sea on either side of the creek. This eastern edge of the city was dotted with a line of salt pans. Over the past 85-90 years these salt pans have transitioned into informal settlements, housing buildings, factories, city transport systems along with their supporting infrastructure. The study focused on these transitions so as to narrate the story of the ground and its supporting life forms.
The study was structured through a contemporary lens which questioned the idea of drawing landscapes and lifeforms with hard lines. Over the time we have recurrently strengthened the idea of drawing a hard line between the land and the sea. Land, a rigid and definite entity which fosters and supports human life, practices and aspirations; and sea which is beyond land balances numerous ecosystems. These hard boundaries on maps when translated on ground generate conflicts amongst the inhabitants, their aspirations, nature & its ecosystems and requirements to balance ecosystems for thriving lifeforms. Numerous interventions to support human life are thus curated and constructed to develop and support human aspirations. Environmental flows (biotic and abiotic) if balanced and actuated can support a thriving ecosystem. Dynamic, changing, agile and adaptive flows need to be supported and re constructed to be able to find a middle ground between human aspirations and the environment.
Head over to the website to view the complete documentation.