By Pari Syal
Photography:
Courtesy MARS Architects
Water Bench |
A seat for
four is also a storage tank for 500 litres of water – will the Water Bench help
ease the water woes of Mumbai? Find out in a discussion with the architect at
Studio X…
Six months ago, in a bid to
question the status quo of Mumbai as a complete city, the touring initiative - the
BMW Guggenheim Lab project, brought to light many a discrepancy and
shortcomings of a city crippled
by pollution, poverty and urban fragmentation, bypassing a planning system
defined by political inertness and skewed public funding.
. |
Addressing its manifold issues, Ar. Neville Mars from Shanghai, a
participant of the project, developed ecology of solutions that address the
most urgent issues from access to drinking water, to public space and
transportation.
As part of a comprehensive and radical urban
vision, these pilot projects have become the new planning principles of a ‘Manifesto United
Mumbai’.
. |
The
first outcome of this progressive exchange – the Water Bench – the prototype of
which is to be launched tomorrow at Studio X in Mumbai, introduces a new way of
thinking that combines different functionalities and objectives within a single
design. The Water Bench aims to bring costs down by combining standard outdoor
furniture with water storage functionality. With each bench, parks and public
spaces can become more water independent.
Attempting to provide a holistic
solution, it is conceptualized in three variations - Double unit, single-fixed
and single-movable units that propose to cater to parks, urban landscapes and street
solutions as well as terrace gardens and private yards, providing a 360 degree
solution. Approximately 2.1 metres long and 0.9 metres wide, each bench is a
water harvesting capsule made of partially recycled polyethylene with a
chesterfield pattern and inlet buttons. Rainwater can trickle into the
capsule-bottomed bench through these button inlets and accessed through a tap
at the base of one of its legs. Here the water is simply collected and reused,
while the bench does not get wet.
. |
With a 500
litre capacity that can be stretched to 1,800 litres by connecting it to a similar
bench unit below the ground, the bench requires no special installation.
. |
Shipped into
the city from China, two benches will be installed at Horniman Circle garden
and two at Cross Maidan garden out of the eight benches to be installed in Mumbai
on a one-year trial period. Mars Architects also propose to implement the
experiment in other parts of the city and in other cities across the globe.
Prototypes of
change for BMW Guggenheim in Mumbai. This page is dedicated to the proposals
developed by MARS
Architects for the the BMW Guggenheim Lab Mumbai, a mobile
laboratory traveling to cities worldwide.
Nice concept
ReplyDeleteit's a great.....but what about its maintenance...u know in India we have lots of things like this , for ex few years ago gov. installed those yellow toilet blocks which r now are noting but dumping places they doesn't work @ all ......so..i think some 1 should also think about maintenance issue.
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