A study on adaptive reuse in Ahmedabad by KERNING DESIGN CO.

Mangaldas ni Haveli is a boutique hotel nestled in Gangadhya ni Pol, a street in the UNESCO World Heritage City of Ahmedabad. It is a 150-year-old pol house restored, redesigned and repurposed into a hotel to give the user a rich, authentic yet contemporary cultural experience of the city.

The hand-made 3D sketch captures the restored elements of the elaborate façade which is a peculiar feature of the traditional architecture of the region with significant influence from the British era. The mix-media sketch tries to capture the spatial quality and tactility of the Pol Kholi café which is a contemporary representation of a chowk(courtyard), the central atrium of any pol house, usually a double-height or open-to-sky space which serves as a gathering space for the residents. The redesign is made using elements and materials which are contemporary yet local such as a jali, bricks and bamboo.

The drawings were made as a part of a research project looking into the adaptive reuse of pol houses into hospitality projects.