It's interesting how all the mill lands want to be secretive about themselves.
If the mills in the city were opened up, how wonderful it would be to understand another kind architecture that pervaded the city, that anchored life in the city. Large volumes, wide column free spaces, huge machines, loud noise, sharp shadows, big steel members - we see none of it today!
What was the industry? What is it to be in an industry (mill)? What is it like to work in a mill - in a place where the roof is 20 times above you, generously and you are handling a big monster - the machine...
Today, we see these houses of 'monsters' only through cracks in the wall, unaligned gaps in the gates and google maps. Why cant these spaces be opened for study? What if these places just became museums and still fetched huge money? Can machines be adapted for malls? Perhaps they could become sculptures - like the follies in Parc De La Vilette (Bernard Tshcumi)...
Anyway, I asked Pranit to construct an imagination of what he thinks is inside - since it is like some other world which one can not enter. Seeing this picture, it feels that this watchman is the guardian of the Garden of Earthly Delights - the Kohinoor! The Kohinoor remains unraveled and hidden for the inhabitants of the city. Makes for a perfect metaphor to the precious stone that remains unclaimed and alien to our place...
1 comment:
I totally agree with you as far as these gorgeous mill lands are concerned. It be also great to study the port lands of Mumbai. The governments had leased these lands to the mill owners at dirt cheap rates even at the rates prevalent during the yester-years. They were built for a purpose to offer employment and create an unique order to the way a city might function around them. The landlocked mill compounds are defunct and for now can be assumed for being big vacuums in the urban context. It is very tragic that these areas are out-of-limits for students and masses. Surely its best to assume that they are worth to be guarded against the wishes of the people who once kept them alive and still wish to!
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