Ecologies of Residue: from the terracotta tile to contemporary building culture

PhD project by Asha Sumra

The project explores reciprocal relationships between environments of production and use/disuse of the Mangalore tile and the Flensburg brick. Seeking to discover how the tile and the brick triggered shifts in building cultures, the research unravels interactions of making and exchange through the terracotta industries on the Malabar Coast and surrounding the Flensburg fjord as parallel ecologies.

Material entanglements of the Mangalore tile and the Flensburg brick are Interpreted through the flows of material and ideas that triggered and resulted from the respective industries. The products serve as vehicles to explore complex interrelationships that have left deep imprints on Indian Ocean and Nordic Architectures respectively. Tracing these interrelationships of constructed materials includes interactions with landscapes of extraction, buildings of production and seascapes of exchange. Particular focus is on understanding specific terracotta factories as architecture, and their role in creating products for building.

Research aims to unearth the remaining residue of these industries in material and consciousnesses, to reveal potential within contemporary building culture. By uncovering the active and inactive residue, the project investigates potential for re-appropriationthrough systems of building and of ideas. Comparative tectonic analogies of products, buildings and environments in Indian and Nordic contexts intends to initiate dialogue in making ‘with’ environments and resources, incorporating material appropriation and meaning; observations of spontaneous transformation as well as intended use.