Lok Katha Museum
Location : Pune, India
Tools: Hand- Drafting, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign
Brief: A museum designed to not only represent the local culture, but also become a landscaping landmark and city hub.
The project brief was to design an interactive museum within Pune. Pune already has 8 other museums, which cover various topics from the Peshwas to miniature trains. What then can be missing in a place so rife with history?
As I pursued this question, I realized that the prominent rulers and dignitaries have already been given a chance to tell their respective stories. The missing narrative, however, was the common man. In a land filled to the brim with epic stories, a simpler form of everyday life is a breath of fresh air. Pune boasts of a mix of people from different parts of the state as well as the country, each bringing in an ingredient- architecture, arts or crafts. An exhibit of these characteristics becomes an exhibit of the customs they come from. While these are much more generalized, I also sought to look at more personal narratives, to make these histories more relatable and in turn, try to answer the question, why should we study the past at all.
Form Development- Site
The landscaping of the surrounding areas of the museum became crucial. While it took me some time to arrive at the form, I was very keen on making the landscape specialized to Pune. Hence, I looked for inspiration in the hillocks and forests around Pune, and most importantly, the various forts built there, exclusively for the way they were built in tandem with their surroundings.
Form Development- Museum
The research into Pune also showed a very strong connection between individual narratives and architectural forms. Each community which came to Pune left its mark through these old and fascinating structures. For the museum, along with the content, I also wanted the interiors to reflect this history. I drew inspiration from the Pataleshwar Temple, various wadas, and colonial structures, to arrive at my final form.
The museum comprises on three different rooms, housing a projection room, a gallery and a library, each designed uniquely.
