Houses of Belgao started as a project by Cicada to document heritage homes in Belgaum. The project came into being as a reaction to the rapid transformation the city is experiencing in its urban fabric. The city is on its way towards major urbanisation and is grappling to make terms with its fading identity. These heritage homes, their surroundings and neighbourhoods, we feel, are what make up a large part of this identity. The project aims to be a record of these houses and their surroundings before they make way for development and urbanisation.

The attempt through this project was to create visual art pieces which are not merely technical drawings of the houses, but also atmospheric ones where we present the landscape, surroundings, objects and stories that tie them as a whole.

The premise of the house presented above, is a long narrow plot with shared walls on both sides, recused with light and ventilation from a courtyard. Through a series of doors and different rooms the axis leads to the hidden courtyard which forms the hub of the house where most of the daily activities take place, away from the street. In this particular drawing, we wanted to present this linearity and the volume of its roof through a section splitting through the house. Also, the dark volumes of the rooms in the attic which get lit by small glass tiled skylights.

Medium: Ink, watercolour and pastel. Put together digitally as a collage.
Credits: Cicada