in state of becoming
Prarthana Murali
Reimagined works started from a research project collaboration between Ania Chorzepa and Prarthana Murali. Ania has been practicing as an architectural designer for the past seven years. Passionate about working with regenerative materials, learning from vernacular knowledge to create new ways of building for a post-carbon future. During her time at the postgraduate course in BASEhabitat school of architecture, where she met with Prarthana, together they gained hands-on and technical experience in working with bio and geo based materials, co-designing with communities, as well as social economy. Prarthana Murali is an architect based in Chennai in India and practicing architect since 2015. After her experience with Didi Contractor, she focused on hands-on building with earth alongside her clay pottery practice. She is passionate about finding natural alternatives in building materials, food and medicine.
The "in state of becoming" project is advocating for a new system where architects consider material impermanence from the strategic definition of a project and take on a caring role for the materiality of their buildings. Following the desktop study of the collected existing architectural design systems supporting cradle to cradle material lifecycles, we identified gaps that we would like to address in forming a holistic practice for material reuse or return to earth. The focus of our process has been on relating the technical definitions of the circular design, to the emotional values, which could connect users to the material changes through their memories, and atmospheric associations formed since childhood. We came together for this project with strong conviction that emotional connections could allow designers to overcome one of the main struggles in advocating for natural materials, which often is the user’s fear of maintenance and care for the less durable matter. To bring this perception towards buildings to the forefront, this project puts forward a prototype of a digital ''in state of becoming'' tool kit of material narratives and design process that also focuses on re-establishing the culture of care for the built environment. In attempting to develop a design process, which considers the user’s relationship with the ever-changing materiality, we acknowledged the need for this system to be continuously reviewed and revised to allow for the changes to happen on multiple levels, from technical performance to body knowledge and memory. Our intent has been to ensure that the tools developed ask pertinent questions, provoke a dialogue in this field while being interactive and engaging. The project is in the preliminary stage of development and we have been continuously testing it for feedback from practitioners to improve the interface and develop it further.