This project aims to highlight the decaying condition of the Meghji Bhagwanji Building located in Narayan Pura, Karachi, Pakistan. Built in the 1930′ the building has been declared a hazard to live in but many still hold on to their homes out of desperation. A book and video have been created to shed light on the ‘Dabba Building’, what it might have been once and the decaying skeleton it has become now.
Typography and Colors
Design Solution
Problem
The Meghji Bhagwanji Building is a KMC Sweepers Quarters located in Narayan Pura and at one time used to have around 80 quarters. In 2011 a part of the building collapsed and a demolition order was put forward by KMC. Now only a few houses are occupied as the people cannot afford to move and live in constant danger and despair.
Video
A video was created to showcase the decay and abandonment of a building. The focus was on still frames depicting the lack of basic amenities like electricity, water, and gas in some areas, with others showing inhabitants remaining in some of the abandoned houses. The video also included a timelapse of Nanditi’s house, emphasizing the risks the occupants face when leaving their homes multiple times a day. The video had no additional sounds, highlighting the silence of the almost abandoned infrastructure.
Book
A book was created based on photography and a comparative commentary about the building and its past. Illustrations were juxtaposed with the photographs, taking a simpler and serious approach focusing on line art to convey the destruction through each page. The illustrations were made on semi-transparent paper to achieve this effect. Along with images, facts about the building and comments from the people living there were included. The Meiji Building was a proposed chapter for a more extensive book that would comment on the similar decaying living quarters of Karachi.
Anain Shaikh 