Amritha Ballal | Norwegian University of Science and Technology (original) (raw)
Amritha Ballal is an architect and urban planner, and a founding partner at Space Matters, an award-winning multidisciplinary design studio. The studio combines design projects with action-research initiatives on emerging habitat challenges including developing one of the first Integrated Development Plans for an urban village in Delhi, mapping the spatiality of urban homelessness in Delhi, designing the memorial for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and working on the revival of traditional rural building crafts in Kumaon. Amritha is the co-editor of the international publication 'Bhopal 2011-Landscapes of Memory' which explores themes of spatial memory through the case of the Union Carbide tragedy site in Bhopal and has written 'The city is our home' on urban homelessness in Delhi. She has been shortlisted for the Rolex Arts Foundation Mentor Protégé Initiative and named in the annual international shortlist of emerging women architects by Architecture Journal, UK. She has lectured and collaborated on urban research projects with the School of Planning and Architecture, Research Council of Norway, University of Tokyo and University of Gothenburg.
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Thesis Chapters by Amritha Ballal
NTNU Masters Thesis, 2011
Urban homelessness is one the fastest growing and paradoxically least studied issues in the devel... more Urban homelessness is one the fastest growing and paradoxically least studied issues in the developing world. Conservative estimates suggest that there are at least 150,000 homeless in Delhi. As of 2010, the existing shelters accommodated only around 10,000 homeless. In 2010 we conducted one of the few instances of research on homeless at Nizamuddin Basti Delhi that looked at the homeless as a rooted group of inhabitants within a specific area rather than as a transient population. The research involved two months of daily field observation of the homeless in Nizamuddin Basti and the impact of the forced dislocation on their lives. The research findings revealed that far from being indifferent to the space they occupied, space was as a critical resource for the homeless. This has implications for how the spatial infrastructure for the homeless needs to go beyond an exclusive focus on monolithic night shelters to a more enabling and integrated mix of urban services. The findings were documented in ' the city is our Home' . We are now in the next stage of the action-research, evolving methods and identifying partners to implement interventions on the field and through policy frameworks.
Papers by Amritha Ballal
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is irrevocably linked to the city of Bhopal in public perception. On the n... more The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is irrevocably linked to the city of Bhopal in public perception. On the night of December 2, 1984, the leak of lethal Methyl Isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India led to one of the world's largest industrial disasters. Yet the city of Bhopal has been ambivalent towards the legacy of the disaster, with the neglected, rapidly deteriorating factory site being one of the only spatial markers of the tragedy in the city. We share here, as architects of the memorial commissioned in 2005 by the government, our experience in engaging with remembering and forgetting in the overwhelming context of sites like Bhopal.
What is Public History Globally? Working with the past in the present, 2019
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is irrevocably linked to the city of Bhopal in public perception. On the n... more The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is irrevocably linked to the city of Bhopal in public perception. On the night of December 2, 1984, the leak of lethal Methyl Isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India led to one of world's worst industrial disasters. Yet the city of Bhopal has been ambivalent towards the legacy of the disaster, with the neglected, rapidly deteriorating factory site being one of the only spatial markers of the tragedy in the city. We share here, as architects of the memorial commissioned in 2005 by the government, our experience in engaging with remembering and forgetting in the overwhelming context of Bhopal.
To Construct Photo Essays, 2005
NTNU Masters Thesis, 2011
Urban homelessness is one the fastest growing and paradoxically least studied issues in the devel... more Urban homelessness is one the fastest growing and paradoxically least studied issues in the developing world. Conservative estimates suggest that there are at least 150,000 homeless in Delhi. As of 2010, the existing shelters accommodated only around 10,000 homeless. In 2010 we conducted one of the few instances of research on homeless at Nizamuddin Basti Delhi that looked at the homeless as a rooted group of inhabitants within a specific area rather than as a transient population. The research involved two months of daily field observation of the homeless in Nizamuddin Basti and the impact of the forced dislocation on their lives. The research findings revealed that far from being indifferent to the space they occupied, space was as a critical resource for the homeless. This has implications for how the spatial infrastructure for the homeless needs to go beyond an exclusive focus on monolithic night shelters to a more enabling and integrated mix of urban services. The findings were documented in ' the city is our Home' . We are now in the next stage of the action-research, evolving methods and identifying partners to implement interventions on the field and through policy frameworks.
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is irrevocably linked to the city of Bhopal in public perception. On the n... more The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is irrevocably linked to the city of Bhopal in public perception. On the night of December 2, 1984, the leak of lethal Methyl Isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India led to one of the world's largest industrial disasters. Yet the city of Bhopal has been ambivalent towards the legacy of the disaster, with the neglected, rapidly deteriorating factory site being one of the only spatial markers of the tragedy in the city. We share here, as architects of the memorial commissioned in 2005 by the government, our experience in engaging with remembering and forgetting in the overwhelming context of sites like Bhopal.
What is Public History Globally? Working with the past in the present, 2019
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is irrevocably linked to the city of Bhopal in public perception. On the n... more The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is irrevocably linked to the city of Bhopal in public perception. On the night of December 2, 1984, the leak of lethal Methyl Isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India led to one of world's worst industrial disasters. Yet the city of Bhopal has been ambivalent towards the legacy of the disaster, with the neglected, rapidly deteriorating factory site being one of the only spatial markers of the tragedy in the city. We share here, as architects of the memorial commissioned in 2005 by the government, our experience in engaging with remembering and forgetting in the overwhelming context of Bhopal.
To Construct Photo Essays, 2005