Abin Design Studio has designed a clubhouse in Bansberia, West Bengal, using crowdfunding, local craftsmen and personal contacts to turn a modest government grant into a community gathering place that punches above its weight.

Words
Ayan Sen
Photos
Edmund Sumner

The project’s principal designer Abin Chaudhuri talks to architect Ayan Sen about developing a new vernacular and putting architecture back at the heart of public life.

Abin Chaudhuri I’ll start with a little background. The government of Bengal has donated 2 lakh rupees (£1,950) to various football clubs to develop their infrastructure. The club owners came to us and asked about helping to create a small club or arena. It’s a very small amount of money. So they asked us to find solutions to raise funds. So we become a crowdfunding agency for that particular project.

We involved some of our clients who gave monetary support and found people to donate things like cement and tiles. We were trying to figure out the programme. Is the only activity sports? Or can we create something that changes the whole village? The location is by a Gaht, a large pond, where the villagers go to clean their utensils or to shower. We thought: we cannot just restrict ourselves to creating an area, we should develop that. So the ground floor includes a gathering space that connects with the outside. There is a toilet block and showers. The upper-level box is twisted so that you can see the whole playing field.

Ayan Sen This project not only manages to sort of put together all these functions, it represents the aspirations of the community. What is fantastic about this project is that, because the architect was a leader of the community from among the community, he was able to craft a simple profound project from the smallest programme.

People like Abin and myself lead sensitive, creative practices. We always attempt to do something spectacular at the scale at which we work. Often, in these nondescript opportunities where there are not so many expectations, something fantastic can be delivered because there are people who put their heart and soul into crafting something. It’s much more interesting that all the architectural elements are expressed in the local character.

The project treads lightly in response to its picturesque context by a Gaht, a large pond, where the villagers go to clean utensils or to shower

Abin Chaudhuri These are the local masons who do our Bengali houses. These crafts are disappearing here. We tried to make it as cost-effective as possible and as easy to maintain as possible. It’s pigmented cement. Not paint. Paint has to be done again after maybe five years. We want something permanent, with no need for any maintenance. Even the red colour is not paint. It’s cement mixed with oxide.

When we were designing this building we didn’t think we should make it red but somehow the red glowing inside created a vibrancy within the village. Because it’s not just a sports arena, it’s the epicentre for cultural activity. Today Bengal is going into a month of elections and all the candidates of the various political parties are taking a selfie against the background of this building. So I’m smiling and I feel this is the joy of architecture –that people take so much pride in being part of that place.

After seeing this building, many clubs that are getting funds from the government are approaching us and saying “Can you help us to create something like this in a different context?” I was born and brought up in this area so it’s easy for me to use my influence in terms of clients and friends. So I say: “This is the model. If you can generate a little bit of funding, you can really have the courage to do something.” Football is huge in Bengal and Goa and throughout India there are a lot of clubs. If just 20 clubs take help from us and create such beautiful infrastructure, that is a good starting point of what we are trying to achieve.

Form-finish concrete and pigmented cement flooring reduced construction costs as well as the amount of ongoing maintenance.

Ayan Sen I feel that it’s the architect’s responsibility to establish a design character or paradigm; to showcase quality work that expresses regionalism and makes a statement. In this particular case, the process is unique but the output also is very sculptural and stunning. So it’s a masterpiece not only in its process, but also its output. When it comes to larger projects, obviously more people are involved and I’m afraid there tends to be more opportunity for dilution. That doesn’t mean that quality projects are not happening in our city.

I think some professionals like ourselves are really trying to represent a more regional character. I think one can actually see that it is very rooted to the ground as opposed to being implanted from somewhere else. And I think it’s a counterpoint to globalisation at some level. I think the international direction is moving more towards a uniqueness of a local expression. Colonial Calcutta is a very important context at one level. And the regional vernacular is a sort of modern tropical layering that one can see in some of our contemporary practices. This is really making a sense of place, as opposed to having a ‘one size fits all’ copy and paste approach.

Abin Chaudhuri There is a lack of respect for the architectural profession in the global South. Especially in India. People don’t understand our role. Our role isn’t just making one single house or a retreat or a corporate office. There is no awareness of what architecture can do and how we can add value to the public realm. Government agencies appoint a chief architect, but although his designation is chief architect, he is actually an engineer. So he doesn’t have any idea of architectural expression. This is a really big struggle for us. We set up the foundation [The Kolkata Architecture Foundation] to create a kind of platform where architecture can be more participatory and to establish awareness about our profession and what we can bring to public life.

Ayan Sen I don’t want to totally blame it on the Communist regime necessarily, but there was this whole postcolonial hangover of neglecting anything that is articulate. We have the legacy of Louis Kahn, and Charles Correa and Balkrishna Doshi. Some of us are really trying to build on that story, to re-establish this whole connection to regional architecture and demonstrate the fact that there is a lot of sensitivity involved in good design. And the message is obviously spreading much wider than just a few of us, and that’s the biggest success. We are getting national recognition where Kolkata used to be seen as the back of beyond. There’s a sense that you don’t always have to import architects from other parts of the world.

Abin Chaudhuri One good thing that’s happening is that after making these small projects, I’m getting very positive reactions from clients who used to believe the best architects come from Singapore or London or the USA, not this part of the global south. When you start re-establishing that architecture must be meaningful and contextual, and the client has this in the back of his mind, you have an opportunity to educate and lead the show.

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