New SPA Campus as Open Source Urbanism

(my doodle with words)


Manifesto/ Preamble/ Big idea?

New SPA Campus as Open Source Urbanism

There are many definitions of Open Source and maybe we need to create our own for this competition but the idea is to embrace the spirit of the open/ free/ democratic/ collaborative/ 21st century/ sustainable/ self-replicating/ jugardu and use it as a manifesto/ model to create a new Open Source Urbanism for Delhi (India’s political capital- here I am thinking about Right to Information and recent controversies).

Let Open Source be how this New Campus is created. Let it be the germ that could one day then creep into the very heart of the SPA, into how education is delivered in SPA, how it is managed and run. Let Open Source be the Preamble that we use to create the masterplan/ constitution of the New Campus and to test our scheme. Let Open Source transform SPA into the ‘beacon of education’ in the built environment that it promises to be.


The wiki definition of open source (the wiki itself is in the spirit of Open Source):

"Open source is an approach to design, development, and distribution offering practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge). Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, which provided access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.

The open source model of operation and decision making allows concurrent input of different agendas, approaches and priorities, and differs from the more closed, centralized models of development.[1] The principles and practices are commonly applied to the peer production development of source code for software that is made available for public collaboration. The result of this peer-based collaboration is usually released as open-source software, however open source methods are increasingly being applied in other fields of endeavor, such as Biotechnology."


If this is an ‘ideas only competition’ and will be delivered by a team already in place (MaKi A / CPWD) then maybe all we need to do is create a preamble/ structure/ ideas that these guys in consultation with the users/ public (and I have faith in M and some other guys) can then appropriate, add and develop during the course of design. The campus can then be habitated and transformed by generations of students/ faculty during the life of the campus. The codes/ information/ script/ architecture/ rules would be available in the public domain forever to ALL.


If we decide to take this post seriously then probably what we need to do probably is:

a) work out the Preamble- our definition of Open Source
b) articulate our main aims/ objectives (words)
c) develop a zoning/ masterplan from all the options we have (diagram)
d) wherever there is a conflict between diagram and words we test it against the Preamble.


Sentiaaps-

[I think the main reason SPA failed to deliver its promise because it was run by a restrictive/ old boys club with no one to question them. The mode of operation was ‘absolute control by restricting information flow’. Information was secretive; even attendance lists were considered as classified information. We were never aware of our rights. We had no clue about budgets and about fuses. The lecturer read out his obsolete notes and the crit room was the lion’s den. There was little we could do to question things except go on the quinquennial strike And by the time we got enlightened it was time to pass out.......]



(apologies, once again, I am pathetic with words…)