“Remaining Common(s)” addresses the urgent need to redefine the last remaining commons that find themselves sitting within a landscape of increasingly codified property regimes today. Private Property, a concept that surrounds us today, attempts to abstract everything into either 'private' or 'public' relying on forms of absolute ownership. Commons, on the other hand, rely on a constant negotiation of rights by its participants, determined by 'use' rather than 'ownership'. This type of self-management that is inherent to a commons threatens the very idea of private property, and this is where the conflict arises.

The Little Rann of Kutch in India is one such commons. This seasonal salt marsh is often mistakenly perceived as a void, it is in fact a working landscape used as a factory by inhabitants of its surrounds to produce salt. In recent years however its possibility of use is being threatened by attempts to turn it into a "Protected Area".

This project in the Little Rann of Kutch seeks to strengthen the claim of salt farmers to use the desert as a working landscape. The landmark, a simple reference point, is a cornerstone to a larger masterplan. It is a way to give a logic to exiting clusters or communities of salt farmers within this factory, and to make their practices of organising and negotiating more visible. The Rann floods each year, washing away the salt pans and this landmark. The project makes the act of constructing this simple architecture every year into a ritual for social change.

This project was developed under the tutorship of Pier Vittorio Aureli and Maria Giudici at the Architectural Association.

KOOZ What prompted the project?

SP The project started with a curiosity about the Little Rann of Kutch. The desert is a 2-hour drive from my home in Ahmedabad. It has an incredible spatial quality of being completely flat as far as the eye can see. Venturing through it gives one a very eerie feeling. It has always been a popular destination for wildlife tourism. It is home to the Indian Wild Ass and many species of migratory birds. There is usually very little regard given to the salt farming that goes on in the desert. These independent salt pans look rather unimpressive from the ground, it is only when one sees them from the sky, that you truly appreciate their magnificent scale.

The project also tapped into my underlying interest in the conversations around law and legislation. I was always interested in instances of emergent order, and the effects of codifying. The arrangement of salt pans after every annual flood is the result of an emergent order. It is a fascinating process and it happens in spite of a complete absence of any kind of cartography. It is purely a result of traditions and negotiation. And while it isn't recognised by a higher governmental authority, it still seems to work.

KOOZ What questions does the project raise and which does it address?

SP The formal character of this project was equally, if not more, interesting than its social context. One question that the project raises is about what is considered acceptable as a piece of institutional architecture. The project is essentially a set of very basic community centres for salt farmers to meet and unionise. In a way the project attempts to challenge this notion that institutional architecture needs to have all the formal elements traditionally associated with such a building. It attempts to offer an alternative that is a lot simpler and from some vantage points even invisible. But it is uncompromising in it scale and sense of grandeur. This gives these meeting places a kind of integrity that a conventional building would just not give in that landscape.

KOOZ How does the project approach and redefine the notion of "commons"?

SP There are two features of commons or self-regulating resources that were interesting to me for the project. The first is that commons are inherently exclusive systems. This is counter intuitive. Commons are usually celebrated for not having rigid notions of property. But this is very dependent on a strong sense of community and a clear boundary between those who are in and those who are out. In the case of the Little Rann of Kutch, this sense of community between salt farmers has weakened over time and is difficult to maintain given the scale of their activity. This makes them very susceptible to being exploited by independent traders that buy salt directly from independent salt pans.
The second is that, as property rights developed around the Little Rann of Kutch, it became increasingly difficult for salt farmers to better their situation while still depending on a common resource. This can be illustrated through a simple example. Unlike regular agricultural farmers, salt farmers cannot leverage their land for loans from financial institutions. This means that they cannot invest and scale their work in the same way a farmer who owns his own land can. It becomes a very precarious situation to be in.
The project tries to accept both these things and approaches the question of how remaining commons can remain common in today’s world. It essentially says that commons like this one need its members to strengthen their sense of community and find ways to integrate themselves into the modern economy without losing this unique form of self-organisation. And architecture and rituals have a part to play in that process.

KOOZ You talk about the site being threatened by the designation of this "protected area", could you expand on this further?

SP Protected areas are seen as inherently good things. They prevent excessive overuse or exploitation of a landscape. They also protect these resources to supposedly make them accessible to the wider public. However this is at the expense of the current users of these resources. In this case it would deny the salt farmers the right to use this land; a right they have had for generations.

KOOZ How does the project explore the fine line between landscape, labour and community?

SP The project proposes that groups of 3 or 4 salt farmers build these landmarks every year at the beginning of the farming season. This is a way of complementing their exiting practice of rebuilding their individual salt pans every year. So the project is just as much about the ritual of building as it is about the land form itself.

The process of constructing these landmarks takes no longer than a couple of hours, with tools and devices that these salt farmers already have with them. However, it is a form that is specifically designed to be something that takes at least 3 people to draw and carve into the ground. This process also requires a thorough understanding of the subtle changes in topography. The landmark needs to sit in the centre of a cluster of salt pans. An easy way to establish a position is to see of all the salt pans in that cluster are visible from the point a point in the middle. This is easier said can done.
So the ritual part of the project constantly dealing with themes of landscape, labour and community, without being very explicit about it.

KOOZ How does the project play and adapt to the greater force of nature as one which is overarching compared to the built envrionment?

SP The project draws a lot of inspiration from the work of artists like Richard Long, Robert Smithson and Richard Serra. It was really important that the architecture would work with the materials of the site. It tries to impose as little as possible from the outside. In fact the only thing that is alien to the desert in this project is the tools used to make it. The architecture comes out of reshaping what is already there. This wasn't about making a statement about nature versus the built environment. It came out of an impulse to propose something that seemed appropriate to the context with the hope that it would be a language the salt farmers could identify with as their own. One can think of the mounds and troughs as elements of their vernacular architecture. This project is a natural extension of that language.

KOOZ What is for you the power of the architectural imaginary?

SP Architecture is propositional by its very nature. So in spite of being imaginary, unbuilt projects are making a claim about the world through these propositions. The most powerful versions of the architectural imaginary are ones that, while being fantastical, are responding to tangible issues.