Foreword

It is with great pride that the Wadiyar Centre for Architecture (WCFA) community welcomes you to the inaugural volume of kaṭṭe, our academic journal, that seeks to chronicle the vibrant journeys of individuals and communities who reimagine, reclaim and reinvent public spaces.

Having completed a transformative decade, WCFA is distinguished by its ethos of holistic architectural education rooted deeply in social understanding, culture and reflective engagement with our context. The launch of kaṭṭe marks a significant moment as a platform that invites reflection, dialogue and critical thinking at a time when there is a need to reimagine our habitation spaces and landscapes.

I extend heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the Editorial Team, whose dedication and passion have realised this publication. Their work inspires us all to engage more deeply and creatively with the built environment to celebrate the diversity of experiences in our communities.

We envision kaṭṭe, not merely as a journal but as a vibrant gathering space where ideas and voices are amplified and a pursuit of inclusive and meaningful environments is celebrated. As we embark on this journey, we eagerly look forward to the continued evolution of this platform, and to the rich nourishing conversations that kaṭṭe will inspire.

Anand Krishnamurthy
Principal, WCFA Mysuru

Editor's Note

Shreyas Baindur, Managing Editor

A kaṭṭe is a simple, primal, structure. The word comes from kannada denoting a raised platform or plinth, usually found around large peepal or banyan trees or at the entrances of homes that are associated with a public space open to all to use. They are relatively easy to build and consume little material but come in all shapes and sizes, with or without idols and can be found at even temples and palaces. Their primary purpose is for resting, for leisure.

In rural areas, disputes among villagers are resolved by an elder sitting on a kaṭṭe, the village all gathered around. They are also places where you go to meet your friends or loved ones in the afternoons or evenings, to loiter and relax, to take a nap or play a game. A kaṭṭe does not belong to anyone, yet everyone has an equal right to assert their ownership over it. The kaṭṭe, thus, lends itself to all who wish to use it becoming the social epicentre of the village. Though they are simple structures, kaṭṭes make a place that goes far beyond what they are built for.

In our urban areas, kaṭṭes are few and far between. They are usually found near small eateries offering a place for the patrons to sit and have a beverage extending the eatery onto the already scarce pavement. They are not used in the multitude of ways they are in rural areas owing to the faster pace of life in urban areas that does not leave room in the day for leisure. Yet, as objects that are associated with rest, they are instantly recognisable, often claimed by the vagrants and flaneurs of the urban environment.

WCFA, as an institution, has always been home to multiple voices, be it among the students or the teachers. Learning has never been sequestered to a particular place and the campus lends itself to endeavours of teaching/learning beyond the four walls of a classroom or studio. The beating heart of the campus is the courtyard that is home to many kaṭṭes where students, teachers and guests meet in groups of varying numbers to discuss topics pertaining to and beyond the scope of the syllabi. These kaṭṭes form the boundary that holds the courtyard together.

To name WCFA's journal 'kaṭṭe' seemed only apt. As a kaṭṭe provides space to those who choose to use it, be it as a place of refuge, deliberation, gathering or even loitering, our journal hopes to provide a platform to collect multiple voices as they all try to speak creating a melodious cacophony of ideas. We hope that our kaṭṭe yields a place that becomes home to fascinating thoughts and ideas that can be shared with one and all.

Editor's Note

Salila Vanka, Managing Editor

The theme for the first volume of kaṭṭe is 'making place'. While this theme connotes "placemaking" which refers to the collective making of user-centred spaces, it also declares the journal's intent to "make place" for diverse and distinct voices, disciplines and research outside conventional formats of academic publication. The twenty-four entries in this edition are invited contributions from a varied group of practitioners, researchers and academics studying built and unbuilt milieus. The contents are presented in the form of research articles, photo essays, illustrated essays, illustrations, an interview and a feature based on a masterclass in WCFA. The journal's contents cover different geographies in India, even crossing the border at times, to bring different accounts and viewpoints of place and space to the reader.

Beyond an overarching theme, the organisation of contents in a publication which is premised on diversity in forms and formats of knowledge-production and readership, cannot be clearcut or fixed. There are blurred boundaries and overlaps (and outliers) that complicate the Editor's efforts to create an orderly list of contents. Nevertheless, five subthemes eventually emerged. These subthemes traverse between the private and public realms of society and space, and resonate with concepts of Home, Identity, Conviviality, Adaptation and Construct.

Where Home refers to a place of origin or belonging (and by that token, also the idea of 'otherness'), Identity refers to the distinguishing character of an individual, experience or a place. Conviviality is the spontaneous gathering of friends or strangers for purposive activities that range from community festivities to political protests and everything in between, as defined by urban anthropologist Lisa Peattie (1998). Adaptation can be interpreted as adjustment to different uses, conditions or situations, while Construct refers to an ideology or concept put forth that may not be provable. Each subtheme presents a different perspective of placemaking that is further differentiated not only by context but also by each author's unique voice and approach.

On this trellis of five subthemes, we have carefully woven twenty-four narratives of placemaking. As the different narratives wind their way across the trellis - converging here, diverging there, creating new connections here, weaving threads of discourse there - they encourage the reader to make place for different imaginaries of the world and their place in it. As we embark on this new venture of academic dialogue and discovery on a shared platform, we again thank our contributors, colleagues, and readers for their participation in making the first volume of WCFA's journal kaṭṭe.