Qila Tatarpur

'''The Place, people and past'''
Located in the fringes of the Aravali ravines of the Rajasthan desert, is a 450 year old fort, Qila Tatarpur. Sitting atop a thirty meter high plateau rising from the midst of the historic and still bustling settlement of Tatarpur village, the fort commands majestic views of the undulating landscape of the Thar Desert. The quarried hillsides (an activity which has been banned recently) offer a stark contrast against the green carpets of surrounding agricultural land. But it is the beauty within the fort that is the real spectacle.
The many courtyards, staircases, dungeons, secret passageways give the fort a character right of out of a mystery novel. Legend has it, that the fort extends as much inside the ground, as outside it. Though this is something difficult to be seen presently, what can be seen is enough to underline the uniqueness of the structure and its design. The building is a complex matrix of courtyards connected both vertically and horizontally via various passageways. The innermost core of the fort houses the famed Rajasthani style “Sheesh Mahal” or Palace of Mirrors, probably to house ladies of the household. The outer courtyard is flanked by a set of twin temples, which is also connected separately to the women’s quarter via a covered passageway, probably as a response to the “purdah” system prevalent at the time. The local village women would pay their respects at the temple annually on the festival of Teej. The fort was also seen as a place of reverence by the villagers, sitting higher than the rest of them, always maintaining a distance but never out of bounds.

'''The Present'''
Today the fort lies abandoned, most of the building in disrepair. Despite prolonged neglect, the inherent beauty of the building still shines through in places. Many artefacts from the time the fort was occupied can be seen today lying strewn carelessly around the premises. Except for the lone village priest who still continues to offer daily prayers at the temple inside, the village has lost its connection with the fort. The present owners of the building approached arch i Platform, a Delhi based non profit Foundation, wishing to reverse this and, develop the fort and village together to usher in a new era of prosperity for both.

'''The Task at Hand'''
Transforming Qila Tatarpur into a heritage hotel via a participatory community based approach.

'''The Method'''
The fort and the surrounding village are seen as a single ecosystem. The development and prosperity of one is inextricably linked with that of the other. Keeping this in mind, an overall village development models will be developed at the macro scale, parallel to restoration and transformation of the fort into a hotel at a micro scale.
At the same time the existing relationship between the fort and the surrounding village needs to be preserved and strengthened. It is crucial to not design the fort as a separate entity sealed from the village, but to create controlled layers of penetration within the fort itself to solve the duality of privacy of living spaces and public responsibility of an iconic heritage structure.
Extensive research into the place and its people has been done to get into the skin of Tatarpur before doing an intervention on this sensitive site. In the process, familiarisation with the community, and garnering their opinion, a two way relationship with them is already established before any site actions even begin.
The exhaustive research and groundwork revealed to the team also the rich intangible heritage of the place. The hints of once flourishing indigenous crafts and skills can be seen in Tatarpur. These will be brought to the fore via the “Crafts Street” within the fort building, where the local crafts people will be given a workspace, and visitor can catch a glimpse of the process, and also buy they products later if they wish. Besides creating a new income stream, this will also facilitate a two-way dialogue between the fort and the village. For the same reason areas with sentimental value, like the twin temples, or architectural value like the Sheesh Mahal will remain completely public.
But it needs to be understood that the method and strategy are ever-changing, constantly evolving with continuous dialogue and sharing information. It is only through this holistic participatory approach that a sense of ownership can be re-established for their largely neglected heritage.

OBJECTIVES
Transforming Qila Tatarpur into a heritage hotel via a participatory community based approach.

See also:
[mailto:archi.iplatform@gmail.com arch i Platform] (Expert)

arch i Platform (Organisation)

Anne Feenstra (Expert)
Tanvi Maheshwari (Expert)
Himanshu Lal (Expert)
Kushal Lachhwani (Expert)
Aditya Ghosh (Expert)
Jai Prakash Prasad (Expert)
Shivali Jainer (Expert)
Sewara Hospitality (Expert)
Inder Kochhar, Anil Sharma (Expert)
Sher Singh, Site Project Office (Expert)
Bhoop Singh, Security Guard (Expert)