Life In-between Death | Vinay Agrawal

Different kinds of deaths surround us-
Some deaths are SLOW—– while some are FAST
Some are TANGIBLE—– while some are INTANGIBLE
Some of them are PREDICTABLE—– while some of them are UNPREDICTABLE

This project attempts to play an In-between role in the concept of life and death, where the toxicities of river Yamuna are referred to death around which so many lives, characters and habits are attracted to on a daily basis.

Eduwik Architecture Excellence Awards 2022 (Students)
Third Award | Public Building

Project Name: Life In-Between Death
Project Category: Public building/Space
Studio Name: The Art of Poetic Environmental Architecture
Design Team: Vinay Agrawal
Area: 1 Acre Year:2021(Academic/Conceptual)
Location: New Delhi
Consultants:-
Photography Credits:-
Other Credits:-Mentor-Yussef Agbo-Ola

The project attempts to make people aware of these kinds of deaths and tries to reinforce life in it. The site is in the capital city of India, i.e., New Delhi. It suffers from a high level of air and water pollution, making it difficult for 20 million people to survive in this city.

The idea is to design an apparatus on the theme of ‘Silence’ which is interpreted here as ‘heal.’ Heal- from ‘within and outside’ and ‘also to self and environment’. Life is surrounded by death, predictable and also unpredictable, tangible and also intangible, slow and also fast. My project tries to shed light on this kind of death and reinforce life in it. Death here refers to the pollution in the Yamuna River that flows through India’s capital, New Delhi. The sacredness and interdependence of people on rivers have converted the holy river into a massive sewer without life. This interdependence affects both people and the ecosystem.

The context of the project lies at the inter-junction of Najafgarh Drain with the river which is responsible for seventy percent of the pollution to entire stretch and continues to be the source of contamination spreading into the sacred river. The proposal starts with the sacred Parikrama, or circulation, located above the junction. This site is proposed as an in-between public space/bridge/pavilion, where people can become more aware of these toxicities and see it through the changing colors of water from black to brown to shades of green and finally clean water.

Movement is reinforced with a water-healing mechanism through a network of natural means consisting of a perforated wall, aeration, sedimentation, constructed wetlands, and micro-algae photo bio-reactors.

The sewer water is cleaned through bio-remediation process and finally offered back to the sacred Yamuna through the trajectory of this movement. People can visualize healing through their journey and consequently become aware of the importance of water and river’s sacredness.