Building Practices
Communicating Designs
By Shreya Mittal and Eesha Pethe
The process of building has different stages, from the concept to the drawings, and finally to the executions. In order to communicate to the contractor or the person who is actually going to build, the architect needs to communicate the design details to that person. Colonially, the method of such communication is termed as the “Working Drawing”. This method involves a set of drawings that explain the entire process of constructing a building, using certain symbols,dimensions,material hatches,annotations,etc. that help derive the actual form of the specific structure. However,the reading of this method is limited to people who are trained in that profession, but not everyone can easily comprehend this method. Historically, there have been similar methodologies that were used in order to build. In the Ottoman empire, master architects like Mimar Sinan, communicated their craftsmen by collapsing the plan,section and elevation into one single drawing with notes for them. The craftsmen were called so, as their skill was an inheritance, having acquired the knowledge for very specific detail, thus the drawings too were made at a large scale to communicate only that detail.
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Traditionally, there have been methods that do not necessarily involve drawing as their method of communication, making them almost universal. For example, Architect Anant Raje used to communicate the heights of a certain wall through the number of brick courses, so the masons knew when a certain height was reached. Similarly, step- wells were constructed deciding a certain height, and marking and numbering the stone blocks and then the stones were laid accordingly.
SEALAB
Referring to two projects of Sealab, “The community housing project for Leprosy patients” and the “Blind School”.
In the community housing project, the task was to redesign the houses as the area is a flood prone zone. The prototype designs for the community project were implemented on some houses in the community. They were designed according to the needs of the people living in that particular house. The contractors or the people who were going to build were from the community itself. They were not aware of the method of the traditional working drawing and also weren’t versed with the English language. One of the experiences shared by the architect was that when they sent an order out for the required material, the contractor responded with an estimate with a note of his own in his own language, thus further on the architect had to use a similar method to respond. In order to explain how to build, the architect and his team had to make smaller scaled models and write the dimensions on the model itself and then give it to the contractors to build.
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For the Blind School, the method of communication was developed further so that it can be understood by blind and partially sighted people as well. The spaces in the models were textured using different 3D patterns. These patterns become a legend to understand the spaces of the building in the model. The interior and exterior spaces were read and felt through these textures. The models were detailed with furniture as well so that the people understand and experience through touch, the movement through the spaces For partially sighted people, these patterns were made using combinations of bright and contrasting colors, and then drawings were made using these patterns. This method becomes a language of communication not only for the blind and partially sighted but these patterns can also be read as legends and be understood universally.
The plan of the building was also made on 1:1 and the people walked through this drawing of the building, so people understand the flow through the number of their footsteps too.
To conclude, such practices aid the building agency, the community and the clientele relationship. This thus gives rise to different ideas and also continuous mobilization of design thinking. The drawing methodology does not become stringent and rigid, in turn making sensitive architecture.
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