Krishna Kakadia
Let’s Get Muddy
Ritualization, Performance, Public Space
Erect – Clean – Occupy – Maintain - Patch up – Fix - Clean
Our buildings are a choreography of creation, habitation, and preservation. As we build with optimistic intentions, additional narratives emerge: the dwellers and fixers who breathe life into inert structures rewrite the builder’s aims. It's an unscripted script; a labor of love concealed behind the scenes. Architects sketch the dreams, yet it's the occupants who inscribe vitality into the blueprint's lines. "Let's Get Muddy" explores a radical notion: an alliance between creator, crafter, and inhabitant. The project emphasizes a communal cadence of renewal, where shared authorship blossoms through the recurring ritual of resurfacing. In “Let’s Get Muddy”, the mundane is profound, and a building's story is rewritten by many hands.
This project is not just about creative expression, it's about community empowerment in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park, also addressed as “the Black Greenwich Village” by former resident and filmmaker John Singleton. In April 2014, Ben Caldwell, founder of the KOAS Network, with support from community members petitioned for the People Street Concept to make a Pedestrian-Only Street. The mud ground on Degnan Boulevard, and the towering mound of dirt on West 43rd Place, all symbolize a return to the very same community stewardship. Vehicular access is intentionally blocked, creating an extended pedestrian space that harmoniously extends the park's essence into the street creating a Pedestrian-Only T. These paths are threads weaving together the stories of yesterday and today, where the community comes together not just for events but for the very act of traversing its streets. Just as the mud blocks symbolize unity, these paths symbolize connection – connecting history to the present, the individual to the collective, and the artistic soul to the vibrant heart of Leimert Park.
The north half of the Degnan Boulevard becomes a stage, blocking the parking lot behind the Vision Theatre. The ground beneath your feet, and the very walls that define your space, all breathe with life as adobe mud blocks blend past and present. A party is held twice a year to resurface the adobe wall and ground with fresh layers of mud. A mighty mud mound forms a playful and towering sentinel blocking vehicular access to W 43rd Place. It is more than just a mound – it’s an invitation to climb, a symbol of reimagined possibilities, and a testament to recycling in its most natural form – good old-fashioned mud. A rammed earth infill building elegantly fills a gap on Leimert Boulevard, consisting of offices for community organization, storage spaces, and restrooms, needing maintenance every two years.
The thesis examines the performance of resurfacing as a practical approach to safeguarding the area's heritage while ensuring the long-term durability of the buildings, protecting them from pollution and dirt.
Stacked Adobe Brick Wall
Resurfaced Adobe Brick Wall
Collaborative Resurfacing