Rising out of the Wrath

Rising out of the Wrath: The Post-Disaster Religious Landscape of Kedarnath valley, Uttarakhand, India

Bharaj, Vanshika (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)

Bobbink, Inge (mentor)
van Bennekom, Henri (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

2018-06-28

In June 2013, Uttarakhand (Northern India) faced unusual heavy rainfall, series of cloud bursts and glacial lake outbursts all within 4 days leaving the sacred valley of Kedarnath completely ravaged. The flooded holy river ‘Ganges’ swept with it pilgrims, inhabitants, houses and flora/fauna creating a havoc in the valley transforming the valley into a construction site with silt, boulders, and dilapidated structures. The 3000-year-old Temple shrine at Kedarnath survived the major event without any damage. The unchecked tourism and unregulated urban sprawl of the valley aggravated the calamity to an apocalypse causing severe damage to infrastructure and completely uprooting the genius loci of the religious landscape of the valley. Therefore, this thesis aims to organize and restructure the valley in order to carve spaces within the fragile landscape while preserving its sacred aura. The dynamic processes of sedimentation and erosion were tapped to strengthen the landscape. The seasonal economy was also a major challenge and therefore the design includes community participation in the construction process as well. The restructured landscape aims to give rise to a generative landscape due to accretion that will help stabilizes the fragility and reinvigorated the cultural, economical and social life of the communities.

Kedarnath
Flood resilience
Sense of Place
Carving
Collaborative participation
Himalayan Landscape

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6811bc45-8ad3-4847-a8ef-2bbb852106c7

Student theses

master thesis

© 2018 Vanshika Bharaj