An Information Center, Vasai Fort
Year 3, Semester 5
Brief: To design an information and cultural center for the Vasai Fort
Concept: Intangibility: The perception of space
Site: Vasai Fort, Mumbai
Documentation of the remnants of the fort
The easiest way to define space is through tangible means: mass and void. These two factors interact with each other and influence how we perceive a certain area. We think of solid as space and voids as the lack of it, but can void, the absolute empty space, create a space that’s intangible in nature, through interaction with the solid?
Space is associated with our interaction with surroundings through instinct senses, which allow us to view our world the way we do daily. When in the fort, I never felt enclosed in a space, while still being able to distinguish between one space and another.
Concept visualisation: Abstraction
Can space be manipulated in such a way, that it is visually perceived, outside its typical boundaries?
Concept Analysis
By aligning the openings and ruins, there is a visual connect created, that surpasses the physical boundaries of the ‘space’. Since most of the solid mass is in ruins, the boundaries that we perceive may not even be physical, they may exist only in our minds. This is drawn from the Gestalt theory, in which the mind instinctively joins the gaps between objects, viewing them as a ‘wholes’, instead of as individual parts.
While the fort can be seen as layers of spaces, I tried to think of it in terms of layers of history as well. The gradual changed in how the spaces are perceived through time only reaffirms the tangibility of it all.
Chosen site analysis and documentation
User analysis for circulation through the structure
The term I gave the space was Heterotopia, which means a ‘placeless place’. It is used to describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or relationships to other places than immediately meet the eye. They are certain cultural, institutional and discursive spaces that are somehow ‘other’: disturbing, intense, incompatible, contradictory or transforming.
Design sheet
Physical model
