Madake : Reimagining Bengaluru’s Pottery Town

Final year thesis

Urban masterplan integrating housing, public spaces and craft-based livelihoods

Jan - July 2018

Nominated at the zonal level for the Council of Architecture National Awards for Excellence in Architectural Thesis, 2018

Pottery Town, established in the early 1900s to serve the Mysore royal family’s need for terracotta ware, remains one of Bengaluru’s few surviving craft-based neighbourhoods. Over the years, its once cohesive community of potters has dispersed, and the settlement now faces issues of congestion, poor sanitation and deteriorating living and working conditions. This design thesis reimagines Pottery Town as a revived urban craft precinct, one that strengthens livelihoods, improves housing and infrastructure, and preserves its cultural vibrancy. Drawing from site analysis, demographic surveys, existing spatial patterns and case studies, the design proposes sensitive reorganisation rather than replacement or displacement, balancing new housing, markets and shared studios, while maintaining the neighbourhood’s organic fabric & sense of place.

Old map of Bangalore showing the location of Pottery Town (Source: British Library)

Present-day Pottery Town

Sale areas in the front, studios in the back

Home with informal outdoor interaction space

Residential area - inter-street connections

Residential area - street as a celebration space

Informal housing and lack of proper pedestrian pathways

Site and user analyses

Masterplan

Design concepts

Built spaces - commons

The entrance to the exhibition/visitors’ centre is through an open-air amphitheatre that begins at ground level and gradually steps down such that the stage is directly beneath the front façade of the block (like a balcony). Entry into the block is along the sides of the amphitheatre. Designed based on a visual axis, derived from the sequential door feature found in traditional south Indian homes, as well as the courtyard concept.

VISITORS’ CENTRE AND EXHIBITION SPACE

LEARNING CENTRE

Includes classrooms, studios, glass and wood workshop and seminar/activity halls, for formal training and lectures/demonstrations, by potters from various parts of the country for the potter community of Pottery Town, as well as students. It has been planned using the courtyard concept, as well as the verandah concept, with a thinnai or seating platform in the verandah.

POTTERY WALK

The process of pottery is represented using spaces, in the Pottery Walk. It includes space for live demonstrations, storage, drying, baking, etc. A feature wall separates it from Pottery Street. This wall has cutouts for displaying pottery work.

STUDIO-SHOPS

Single-potter studios/workshops with sale areas in the same space, the architecture and system following the existing Pottery Town workshop-shop pattern. This zone also includes old restored workshops.

The interior is divided into two spaces vertically using an attic (used for storage). The rear portions are connected through an alley, used by potters. Passageways provided between shops allow access to the backyards and baking, glazing and drying spaces

MARKET SQUARE SHOPS

Space allocated for shops; prototype designed as a representation. The plaza gradually increases in level through the use of steps, according to the slope of the site. Thus, the walk along the shops is a gradual incline with steps as well as a ramp. Shops have access from the front (for shoppers) and from the back (for potters/shopkeepers). Skylights provide natural light to the interiors. The rear of the shops is linked by an arched alleyway, allowing shade cloths to be stretched across on sunny days for protection from the southern sun.

Jump to renders

Built spaces - workshops and studios

STUDIO TYPE A

(4 POTTERS)

Planned around a central court, which is also used as a drying area by the two blocks facing it. Spaces are sequentially arranged, according to the pottery process (materials > throwing > baking).

Each block has two workshops, accommodating four potters each. Design cues were taken from existing potters’ workshops, like an attic accessed using ladders, for storage.

STUDIO TYPE B

(2 POTTERS)

Also planned around a central court, used as a drying area by the two blocks facing it. Each block has two workshops, accommodating four potters each. Design cues taken from existing potters’ workshops.

Jump to renders

Built spaces - housing

Number of existing houses: 180

Number of houses designed: 270 (1.5x increase)

Total number of potters: 120

Number of homes, type A: 192

Number of homes, type B: 54

Number of homes, type C: 24

HOUSE TYPE A

(single bedroom)

Four storey houses (G + 3)

The ground floor modules have an attached potter’s studio- houses for potters.

The upper floors have a balcony to replace the studio- houses for non-potters and potters working in the production areas.

House planned based on the sequential door concept derived from traditional south Indian residences: doorways through the main part of the house (front door, back door) line up to form a visual axis, with a view into the backyard street.