A Vacant Revolution

Mill Lands are preserved vacant parcels of a city's History.

Ahmedabad went through a very specific journey through time, with various changes of power structures and events which shaped it geographically, economically and directed its growth in a particular direction.

The History of Mill lands, their rise to power, the peak of the industry and its down-fall.

This Project investigates and maps the mill land vacancy phenomenon in Ahmedabad, India for a speculative scenario of how 'People-led' Urbanism can help shape public spaces and 'publicness' in a city. These large chunks of public land which are no-longer public due to certain state processes and negligence can be better utilized by the people of the city. 'A Vacant Revolution' is a space building project which rationalizes public space making through an anarchical and bottom-up approach of establishing structures of power and public spaces for a city and its residents.

Manifesto of 'Vacancy'

The GIF. shows the type of vacant lands which started coming up as the city evolved and their contextual and geographical relationship with the city. The Phenomenon of Vacancy has long existed as the city made the conscious decision of building or not building at strategic locations for many various reasons.

From the Extreme East of the Sabarmati River is the Industrial area of the city, with Rakhiyal being located at a centralized part of the city. The Rakhiyal Mill compound has 6 Vacant Plots with dense development around them. The Vacant Mill compounds are Plots where Mills existed, but later were demolished in 2004 - 2005 and currently are under liquidation by the High Court.

Rakhiyal Mill Area is situated in the far East side of the Ahmedabad city. The vacant plots are residues of the demolished mills which came up during the Industrial growth of the city in the 20’s.

Various Vacant Mill Lands within the Rakhiyal Compound

The surrounding fabric is presented as an archipelago of architectural islands floating around the post architectural landscape of erased mass. Where whatsoever once was Urban have become a highly congested vacuum. The fragmented patches are the resultant due to change in landforms since 2005. After demolition of mills the plots went to the government which is walled in present and made exclusive for any public activity. With increasing density in the surrounding context, the vacant plots are pressurized with activities at the edges of the wall, henceforth creating future scenario which requires space to be developed for future growth.

The Rakhiyal Mill Compound is taken as a ideal example for the project.

The concern here lies in what can be the possible way the current underutilized space can be used.

The design statement here guides towards preserving history of the site i.e. current landscape here which eventually will be future asset with land getting developed. Also create relationship between open and built addressing the high density faced by fabric in near future.