Bauhaus as a movement was a rebellion of the commons against conventions, be it; social, cultural, industrial, traditional or national. The expression of this revolt, “Bauhaus school of thought” left its mark on every possible industry. Bold, simple, geometric, exclusively became stark attributes of this style. The spark leading to Bauhaus was essentially the dying culture of arts and crafts in Germany. Industrialization had left a degenerative society behind it. Bauhaus brilliantly eliminated this disintegration of art and design in daily life. This ideology brought back life to households through design. Introspection of the same parameters in an Indian context shines light on an array of gaps needing to be bridged in our society, but not necessarily the same issue that plagued Germany.

The rich cultural and traditional heritage of India is a manifesto of the thriving vernacular even today. There is an eclectic display of local craft as far as the eye can see but unfortunately limited to only a miniscule scale that is households. Indian households feature a vibrant variety through both decorative and functional household goods starting from microscopic needlework to macroscopic graffiti art. Madhubani paintings, Warli art, Khavda pottery, Pattachitra , Banjara art, Bidriwork are some of the salient artworks which are flourishing in the streets and hearts of every rural community. Shifting our pivot to the urban cities, there are many common amenities catering to the neighbourhoods which are arid in terms of functionality. Neighbourhood parks, bus stations, public toilets etc. are always left as just infrastructure component with no design intervention. The idea here is to breathe life on the existing layer of public amenities of the city, by the subject of arts and crafts of India.

The main objective is to “Indian-ize the Bauhaus and globalize the Indian culture”. It aims at harbouring the living traditions of today by intertwining it with the contemporary urban fabric, helping people to connect back to their memories. Associating ourselves to the ideologies of Bauhaus namely, functional, affordable, simple, economical, technology and mass production, this line of thought helps us to build the socio economic status of the city by reinforcing the varied artforms. It extends into the existing urban fabric of the city by giving opportunities to local craftsmen to showcase their skills aiding them with employment opportunities. It aims at becoming a breathing space which is functionally designed and affordable to common public.

SOCIAL MARKER
We looked around our office and figured that the bus-stand next to it is a good possibility to experiment with this notion of creating a ‘Social Marker’, with handful of indigenous art forms which will energise the daily life of the neighbourhood and bring art as a part of daily life in some-way. Hence the premise will transform into a ‘Social Marker’ with an economic connotation by ‘globalising the local’.

It plugs itself in the living urban loop growing to build as the landmark by reconstructing the regional history of art and culture. The main aspect of technology and mass production glides in its way to achieve the versatility where the built space is flexibly adapted to inconstant factors.

So we extrapolated the premise of the existing bus stand and brought in many other possibilities in to it- multifunctional waiting pods, toilet, water point, dustbins, bicycle stand, electric bike charging station, artisans’ exhibition space, an overhead carrel which is doubled up as a pedestrian foot bridge, reflective 3 dimensional glow signs on the road surface through art forms, solar powered digital information display etc. with the help of local arts and crafts, highlighting the image of the city on every streets and neighbourhoods.