The Big Picture Contextualization – by Thumbimpressions


Thumbimpressions is a collaborative practice focused on architecture, construction and active research on materials viz. earth and bamboo. The collaborative’s diverse team includes architects, urban designers, planners, civil engineers, photographers and an in-house team of skilled artisans.

With a nuanced sense of understanding of urban contexts and human needs, the team has been proactively formulating the way forward for architects, engineers, planners and programmers. Through a series of deliberate discussions on the possible scenarios of the effects as well as aftermaths of the pandemic, the team has put together a cohesive proposal that spans systems level integrations to the minutest details of execution and implementation of some design ideas catering to the growing needs of the healthcare sector.

The primary proposal is that of temporary hospital infrastructure that can help increase the efficiency and ease of the medical professionals and government bodies. The proposal covers multiple scenarios – of setting up temporary structures to adapting existing buildings to be converted into medical care facilities.


        



They have gone the length to articulate what the end-to-end process of this exercise would be like – mapping all the resources required, hence being very conscious and pragmatic about the current circumstances. 
For example, they realized that with all the construction sites halted in cities, specially tier 2 cities having many such construction sites, a quick survey revealed a ready availability of scaffolding material – bamboo and metal pipes. Thus, the designs were appropriated with these in mind, and also flexible so that a different material could easily replace the suggested one without any changes to the overall design.
Readily and cheaply available materials were identified. The judicious and well thought out design ensured that there was minimum material wastage, hence the size of the plywood for a bed is calibrated such that a small stool can also be made out from the residue material.

The other careful choice was to design details that could easily be assembled by non-skilled workers, so as to rope in many volunteers and any and every available resource in building of these emergency units.

Thirdly, they ensured that the details were designed such that all the material used could actually be dismantled and after thorough sanitation, could be sent back to the original sources for reuse.

Thus, choosing to be contextual rather than being standardized, the team made each design decision with absolute awareness of needs and resources.




Further speculating about the post pandemic world, Thumbimpressions has been engaging in deep discussions around the role of architects and planners in designing urban pockets, neighborhoods, new typologies of buildings that are self-sustaining, catering to the essential needs and lifestyle of the people with better connectivity.  
They envision new ways of living, re-imaging the inter-dependencies and interrelationships within the urban fabric.


While they do bemoan their current inability to conduct on-site work and exploration, working closely with artisans which is a large part of their process, they are working towards better preparedness for when the world opens up, honing on their drawing and representational skills, improving their quality of work. They have ensured that their artisans are all taken care of and provided for in the current pressing times.


While many are clambering to make profitability out of the disaster, this team has put out their ideas as open source documents, urging anyone who can execute to adapt their designs and produce as many numbers as they wish. 


Please connect with them on mail@thumbimpression.org for any suggestions, feedback, collaborations as well as for detailed drawings and measurements.



Project Details:
Project - COVID -19 _ Ideation & Response : Design of Temporary Hospital
Design Team - Jugal Naik, Manish Mandaviya, Shalabh Bhatnagar, Sparsh Punamiya, Manu Narendran, Milind Jhaveri, Nikhil Patel, Sankalpa, Vihar Sangani


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