– A critique by the Meghalaya Architects Forum
By Bari Juban Kharwanlang
The Meghalaya Architects Forum (MAF) was formed in 1997 with the intention to bring architects together and work towards elevating the architectural practice in Meghalaya.
The MAF is currently working on a number of issues including reviewing the recently released Meghalaya Building Byelaws 2011, preserving architectural heritage, promoting architectural education in the region, amongst others. As a Forum we have discussed at length the issue of demolition of Tara Ghar with respect to location of the new Meghalaya Legislative Assembly. This article presents the MAF’s stand on the issue and its significance for the future development of Meghalaya. As architects and building professionals of varied experiences, this issue has been carefully evaluated and the article represents our sincere thoughts and suggestion.
Tara Ghar was constructed in 1875 and at that time stood as the only residence owned by an Indian amidst those in an area occupied by Europeans. This is the relevance of this building as it stands as a testament to this legacy of equality. It is buildings and monuments like these that make up the cultural richness of a city. These precious artefacts define us in history and gives direction to where we are headed in the future. Can one imagine living in a city without culture or heritage? Can you imagine a Meghalaya where all the old buildings including prominent structures like the All Saints Cathedral, the Governor’s House, the Iing Sad at Smit and all those exquisite homes in Sohra are lost forever? Our heritage has been given to us. It is our moral duty to protect and preserve it so that we can give the same and an even richer heritage to future generations. Tara Ghar is an architectural heritage and must be preserved and protected.
We now have this great opportunity as a society to redefine our city. We have this opportunity to rise beyond our indifferences and arrive at a solution that will pave our future development and leave behind a positive legacy. It is not every day that a Legislative Assembly Building is constructed and in all essences, it should reflect the history, culture, aspirations and sentiment of the people it represents.
The location of the Assembly Building per se is a most critical issue in this context. A building of this importance has to manifest the democratic ideals of the country and its people and it must encourage transparency. But we also live in an uncertain world with threats from terrorism and vandalism, and hence utmost importance should be given to security while maintaining transparency.
Let us go down the vista of history about public buildings and the events that shook the world. On 5 November 1605, a man by the name of Guy Fawkes and eight others packed 36 barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the House of Lords with the plan to blow it up to dust and rubble. However, the plan was discovered and Fawkes was caught red-handed. This event became so popular in Britain that, besides the celebration of Bonfire Night, there is a joke that ‘Guy Fawkes was the only person to have entered Parliament with honest intentions’. But humour aside and coming closer to home, we cannot forget what happened in our very own Parliament in 2001.
So, is Tara Ghar with 6.4acres of area a suitable site for a function of such importance?
The answer is in no.
So why not Tara Ghar?
1. Tara Ghar is a 137 year old heritage building that must be protected and preserved.
2. The Tara Ghar and its immediate vicinity which comprises of the Governor’s House, Ward’s Lake, Botanical Garden, Hotel Pinewood and other bungalows around are unique to the architectural history and heritage of Shillong. The old trees around them also serve as the much needed green lungs in the middle of the city. The carbon footprint of a five-storeyed legislative assembly building will only overpower everything else around it and in the process destroy that identity and the greenness that the entire estate is offering Shillong.
3. The Meghalaya Government Construction Company (MGCC), on a presentation on March 16, announced that the building would only cover 28 percent of the plot and leave the rest of 72 percent for vehicular parking and landscape (http://manipurhub.com/ne-news/meghalaya/new-assembly-at-tara-ghar-awaits-central-fund/ & http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110406/jsp/northeast /story_13813931.jsp). So, we can assume that all the parking is outside the building footprint and hopefully far enough from the building for stated reasons and/or any other. But, it also stated that the Building has five floors and stands 41ft high. Since the the minimum permissible floor height is 10ft, that in itself is self-contradictory. It indicates the presence of a fully sunken and out-of-view basement in the Building. But then again for a basement to be habitable (i.e., for light and air), it should be one-third above ground level. We can make further comments only until we have seen the proposed design. For now, we can assume that this basement would only be used for services and mostly for parking, since services do not take up as much space.
Overall, the Tara Ghar complex of 6.4 acres has insufficient space to house the Assembly Building with its support services while ensuring that appropriate security levels are maintained throughout the entire complex. It is for this same reason that the old Assembly site at Khyndai Lad is no longer viable to house our new Legislative Assembly Building.
4. It is common knowledge that the District Administration always promulgates section 144 for an area of 200 metres from the periphery of the Assembly Complex for smooth functioning of the sessions. The Tara Ghar complex is flanked by Pinewood Hotel on one side and Ward’s Lake on the other. So won’t the proposed Assembly Complex have an adverse effect on the productivity of these assets in any way? Shall the two assets of the state be shutdown during the Assembly Sessions or will the security issue be compromised?
5. Traffic is one of the most difficult problems that the city is encountering. Shillong has evolved and developed organically and because of this, it currently does not have the bearing capacity or the means of expansion to absorb more traffic which a new Assembly Building will invariably bring about.
This leads us to the next logical step of finding an appropriate site for the new Assembly Building. The Meghalaya Architects Forum strongly feels that the new Legislative Assembly be constructed in New Shillong which subsequently shall set in motion the inevitable expansion of the city and set precedent for future development. By doing so, we can look forward to a New Shillong with tremendous opportunity for overall growth.
Why in New Shillong?
1. New Shillong is a new township that is currently housing and will house a number of large institutions in the future. Based on recent news reports (The Shillong Times, dated 07 August 2011), the Central Government has apparently promised to sanction Rs.540.30crore as fund for the first phase of the Rs.1028.30crore for the Shillong Satellite township project. The State Government has already provided space for the Indian Institute of Management, the National Institute of Fashion Technology, the Institute of Hotel Management, the University of English & Foreign Languages, the Forensic Science Laboratory and of course the North-Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Medical Science. The Assembly Building shall therefore not be alone in New Shillong and can be sited on ample space for a building of its size and stature, where the building infrastructure as well as other services such as assembly staff, roads, security and energy can be well supported.
2. The Assembly Building can be built as a high-class facility and through best-practice planning and design, issues of infrastructure design, traffic, green-design, waste and water management can be correctly addressed and visually set precedent for new buildings in the area.
3. New Shillong is a clean slate and a direct government initiative to expand to this area will only support future development. Currently Shillong is still the centre of focus and because it is an unplanned city, the current path of development in Shillong is very unsustainable. Shillong has deep-rooted problems which range from rampant construction, loss of heritage and identity, deforestation and deeply congested traffic and pollution and an alarming increase in crime rate.
We have a vision for Shillong where it is a city which is safe, clean, unpolluted, resourceful and green. But as much as we can envision, we also have to collectively work as a society to ensure that we make the right decisions to secure our future. Winston Churchill once said that, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us”; how we shape our Assembly Building will determine how it will shape us in the future.
(The author is President, Meghalaya Architects Forum)