THE MIST CITY: BLURRING CASTE BOUNDARIES AND EMPOWERING UNTOUCHABLES

by Hemali Rathod

The Mist City' investigates how structural forces shape the urban experience and influence problems such as segregation, questioning how this identification and social status of the Indian Caste System dictates an individual’s right and authority to their city.

‘The Mist City’ creates a subversive oasis within the fractured landscape of the city of Varanasi in order to propose new socio-cultural typologies for people of all castes to come together. The city becomes a city of canals branching from the Ganga river to create a softer city, operated by the low castes. The city becomes an architectural of atmosphere of a mist mass from natural and man-made typologies. This suggests a subversive medium in which resolving caste boundaries is solved by literally using mist to blur the boundaries of caste. Thus, creating ambiguity between the identity of people occupying the space and creating opportunities to co-mingle.