INDUS VILLAGE - An Ancient Acropolis

Abstract"As I grew up and became engaged in activities which promised to lead to India's freedom, I became obsessed with the thought of India. What was this India that possessed me and beckoned me continually, urging me to action so that we might realize some vague but deeply felt desire of our hearts" - Jawaharlal Nehru This project is an ongoing quest; a personal discovery of India, which Ihave been passionate about ever since I was a child. Growing up inIndia exposed me to its glorious diversity and led me to reflect - how thisdiverse system works? How have our origins influenced us? Where arewe going? I also realized that "India's extraordinary history is intimatelytied to its geography". This project is an attempt to showcase India'sconnection to its roots and its continuity through recent times through adesign solution.India is replete with ancient monuments and historic sites - however,most of them lack well planned and managed information centers,which can provide information and assist the visitor. The lack of suchcenters has made it challenging for visitors, both Indians and foreignvisitors, to grasp and appreciate India's culture and history - a historythat is fascinatingly modern and "sustainable" from its ancient days. Asa result, visitors usually do not appreciate the relevance andsignificance of an historic site, or are given incorrect and misleadinginformation.As part of my research, I will use a number of resources, includingmovies, documentaries, books, journals and personal experiences offamily and friends to explore the act of experiencing India's culturalsites. I also intend to use the Internet for preliminary research, coupledwith journals for more in-depth analysis.The research will be complemented with research from organizationswith a similar focus and interest, such as UNESCO, Global Heritage Fund,Archeological Survey of India and others. Finally, it will be supplementedwith field studies and personal interviews as I plan to visit India, as part of a data gathering exercise.Through design and with the help of new and advanced technology, Iwant to create a program that acts as an interface between the historyand people to educate and promote an interactive experience of thehistoric site. This research program will also help me in studying historicsites and their fundamental elements.The design will be developed to bring out the philosophical andhistorical elements of the site and integrate the site's connection to itsusers. The tangible nature of the space (given the ability for users tointeract with the space) will make the user's experience so natural andartistic causing one to wonder where reality begins and where historyends.

Author

• Sukumar, Dipti

Language

• en

Date created

• 2010

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Interior Design

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Gavin, Carissa
• Armour, Catherine

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/j38607057