Godhavi, a village in peri-urban Ahmedabad, India, is sandwiched between two talavs (lakes) to its north and south. My chosen site of intervention is a small water body separated from the talav to its south by the village’s primary road, hinting at its intermediary nature; it serves as a mediator between the two talavs, connecting them via underground pipes. Over the past few decades, patterns of development have encroached on this region of exception.
My proposal is a network of linear pier-like platforms constructed on the southern alcove of this water body, meant to host market stalls that are already found on the existing site. Areas of informal commerce tend to emerge at “bends” on this primary road, essentially widening the road’s region of human occupation; my intervention aims to extend this rule in a novel way, amplifying the site’s existing forces in a beneficial manner. The mass of land directly beneath the primary road will be excavated, allowing free flow of water and re-establishing the mini-talav as a natural, continuous extension to the talav to its south.
