AeroSouls

We are a bunch of cool enthusiasts from Space & Materiality foundation batch of 2016 section A

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Project two by Tanushi Shah and Anamika Anil

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Project-3

Mount Mary church

A visit through church

The Final Model

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Project-2

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Pagoda Final.

Further ahead we decided the material that we are going to use for the holy water bowl. Initially we decided on terracotta clay bit because of the shortage of time we decided not to use it. Later we came onto POP(Plaster of Paris) as it is mouldable and will form a solid structure after it dries up. The carvings on the pillar and on the bowl are inspired from the carvings on the Pagoda and are made from eco-friendly clay which is also used to make Ganpati idols. Also, we painted our whole model with gold colour as gold is the element that dominated Pagoda. Originally there is water in the bowl but we put a mirror sheet so that you can see your reflection in it and that’s the whole point of our installation- ‘Self attainment’. (as Buddha followers don’t believe in worshipping idol but in self attainment)

The experience-

One would experience a transition from a chaotic surrounding to a calm one (exactly what we experienced when we visited the place). To support the chaotic space we added train track sounds and played it on the speaker as to disturb the person, we also pointed flash lights onto the persons face to put a strain on their eyes. After going through this the person enters a dark, calm room which has the installation, this will help him/her to experience the space through all the senses as there are no disturbances around. This space will soothe the eyes, ears and we also put eco-friendly clay beneath the mirror so that when one leans to look into it, he/ she will smell the clay which is dewy and calming, just like the smell of soil when it’s raining. This will refresh the person experiencing it and calm him/her down.

Experiencing the installation video-

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Neha Raut

Mitali Borkar

Suhani Lotlikar

Manas Shete

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PROJECT 3 

TEAM : AKSHI, MEHAK, TANSHU, SONALI.

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PROJECT 2

PROTOTYPE

TEAM  : SONALI NAGANE 

             AKSHI SHAH 

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Student Reflection

Getting inspired by the book ShadowFolds by Jeffery Rutzky and Chris K. Palmer. We discovered and worked with new materials such as canvas cloth, gold tissue, pocket cloth and elements like lace, ghungroo and the curtain mechanism. The best part about this course is that things don’t always go right or work out for us in the first go, we’re forced to brainstorm which ultimately helps us to ideate more and discover new materials, since there was no boundary or limit we were free to explore as far as we could until we were satisfied.Team work is always a good idea especially this time it helped us to cooperate with one another and work in one union.

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Final Insulation

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Work in progress

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Prototype 1:

Initially we used canvas sheets to cover the sides but then we realised it was opaque and didn’t fit with the idea of light passing through.

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Material exploration

Pocket material for shadow and folds to give an abstracted feel of carvings. We used this material for its stiffness and to get precise pleats and since it is translucent it will give a better light and shadow effect.

Black polyester cloth to block the light and thus, the symbol cut out on the cloth will be visible and amplified.

Gold Tissue since most of the inside of the architecture is gold.

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Ideating

After a brainstorming session we thought of taking the form of the structure similar to the form that is formed when we do ‘pooja’ in the temple,i.e third finger down. Our structure is such where when the person enters the model, he/she will have to bow down and then look up the same way we bow down when we enter a temple and look up to God. We attempted to comprise  four senses which are smell, touch, hear and sight, so that the person who enters the model experiences each of the senses in a way that we did when we entered the temple.

Sense of Sight: The sides and the top of the model consists of shadow folds as the folds on the cloth are an abstraction to the carving on the temple, which are created by folding cloth in patterns based on classic geometric designs. The shapes that we have used for making this pattern are hexagons, squares and triangles. The reason behind using Hexagon is the jharokas that were outside the temple in the shape of a hexagon. Square in Jainism architecture symbolises, the 4 walks of life that is hell, heaven, animal and human. Triangle symbolises positive energy that flows to the top as soon as we enter the temple, pray and bow in front of god. In the front is a black cloth with a cut out of an abstracted symbol of The God. At the bottom is a transparent sheet to show the coolness of the marble flooring of the temple and also the feelings that a person has towards God which is transparent. The curtain in the middle shows the intriguing architecture inside but as we go towards the idol what we can see and feel is only God.

Sense of Smell: The entire model has the smell of sandalwood which is one of the highlights of the temple.

Sense of Hearing: As soon as the curtains are opened, the sound of the gungurus is heard as before going towards the idol in the temple the sound that we can only hear is of the bell.

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Why this temple?

3 out of 4 being jain in the group, we decided to take a jain temple curious about knowing more about our famous and heritage temple at walkeshwar: Babu Amirchandji Panalalji Jain Temple. It’s architecture and history intrigued us wanting us to find out more and more about the temple. And making an insulation on this temple is more than we can ask for.

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Babu Amirchandji Panalalji Jain Temple

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Babu Amirchandji Panalalji Jain Temple

After a great amount of research and looking through various religious places, our group decided to take the Babu Amirchandji Panalalji Jain Temple situated in Walkeshwar.

Mumbai has one of the largest populations of Jains among all the cities in India. So there are numerous jain temples in the city where the best known is Babu Amirchandji Panalalji Jain Temple built in 1904.

The temple is dedicated to lord Adishwar also known as Adinath or Rishabdev the !st of 24 Jain tirthankaras. The temple is currently used by thousands of devotees of the jain religion for their daily worship.

The entrance is artistically sculptured giving the whole place an aesthetic richness. Two elephants brilliantly made out of stone are placed on both the sides of the main gate in the Jain temple. The temple is adorned with colourful paintings which have been painted very diligently. It is an absolute pleasure to observe and enjoy these paintings. Compared to most Jain temples the building is very large.  In addition to the main ideal of Adinath, it contains ideals of several other Arihants.

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Project 3:Social-Ecological Space and Materiality

Building on the first two projects, Social-Ecological Space and Materiality focuses on the experience of our bodies as a collective in public places in everyday life… Using the city of Mumbai as a rich and ever-changing area of study, we had to select a “Religious space” around the city. This space could be of various scales and significance. Researching into the historic background, architecture around them, people, culture, and businesses, we constructed a temporary multimedia/visual installation for that space, where the space around and the people become an active component of the work. The final outcome will be experienced by the visitors . The model is scaled down and experiences are formed through the play of light, shadows, music and projections.

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Final Wearable

Our entire model is based on a person patting another, by means of appreciating, transferring the positive vibes through and by making the other feel confident.

We have constructed a wearable for the person appreciating, made of triangular 3-D structures that starts from the cerebellum and ends on the finger tip of the right hand. The reason behind the triangular bright structures is to show how the energy flows from one person to another; from the bottom to a singular tip. A point up triangle represents a strong foundation or stability, as it is routed to the ground through a solid base.

The wearable for the person being appreciated is a black cloth under which is a pillar of positivity. On being patted, the cloth falls down revealing the true self confidence of the person, the pillar depicting the hidden positivity in terms of colour that flows out as soon as the dark drape unveils.

The entire idea shows the direction of positivity flowing from one person to another and how on being appreciated the person feels recognised strengthening the bond between two people.