Initial Project Response

Project Brief:

The project brief required that the fringe condition between the two elements of land and water, in an urban coastal setting, like that of Mumbai, be explored, and a response to this condition be developed.

Site Selection:

The site chosen is the land-water fringe at the main entrance to the beach at Juhu. As the edge between land and water at a beach is forever in a state of motion due to both the waves at a micro time scale, and the tides at a macro time scale, the edge condition here has the peculiar characteristic of being very dynamic. Furthermore, Juhu beach being the most densely populated beach in Mumbai, has the unique quality of having a plethora of activities taking place at any given time of the day. These activities are dynamic in nature with respect to both space and time; the type and frequency of activity, as well as the scale and local position, changes both diurnally and annually. The fringe is created by the shift in the water line due to the changes in tide. The fringe is characterized by the human occupancy that keeps altering depending on this fringe; as the water level recedes, the surface area of sand increases and the activities reflect this change by occupying the nascent land, and vice versa. A horizontal connection between land and water is created due to the relative expansion and contraction of the two as the tides ebb and flow.