This project, located in Sanganer town in Jaipur, India, falls in Zone- IIIA-semi-arid eastern plains where have a monsoon-influenced climate with long, extremely hot summers and short, mild to warm winters. The city experiences the problems of water shortage and environmental pollution. In general, this project proposes three prototypes which are mainly handicraft workshops and try to save, treat, and reuse industrial water. Each prototype has different types of buildings, including stores, outdoor markets, working spaces, and accommodations, together with water sharing, recreational, and educational structures. For the three pilot prototype projects, the gross square footage together is about 179,418sqft.
The site is located in Sanganer town, which is the textile and paper industry center of Jaipur, India. Jaipur has long been famous for its textile and paper products. However, this production led to three main problems – environmental pollution, insufficient water supply, and the non-effective sewage treatment plant. Farmers using the contaminated water to irrigate the crops result in cancers and phocomelia. Workers who directly touch the chemical dyes will have skin diseases.
This project tries to understand the current relationship between economy, environment, and textile industry in Jaipur, and proposes a working and water treatment cycle network to alleviate Environmental Pollution and preserve water, reconnect handicraft tradition, and stimulate tourism.
Manufacturing process & Space
A detailed manufacturing process is studied for both textile and paper industries, to understand the water consumed and effluent generated by different steps. In the textile printing process, washing and dyeing consume the most water. The current printing method is screen printing, which uses chemical dyes to print and uses acid to fix the color. It is faster and high-yield. However, it resulted in pollution. The traditional technique – block printing – which uses natural dye to print and hot water to fix the color is avoided by the units owners because of time-consuming and high cost.
In the handmade paper process, making pulp, dipping and dyeing consume most of the water. In the final step, the paper is cut to a specific size and generates a lot of solid waste which could also be used as raw material in the first step.
These two industries are related. The waste generated in the yarn making and garment making process could be used as raw material for paper making.
Zoom into the working space, textile units use washing bathes to dye and wash the fabric, and use the ground, wall, and wooden rack to dry. While the paper units use the ground to dry white paper, and use shed to dry colored paper.
Based on these analyses, strategies are generated to deal with these environmental problems, revitalize the handicraft culture and stimulate tourism. The general strategy is to unify these fabrication processes to save water and at the same time reduce contamination.
In the first stage, vacant agricultural land which has already been used as paper working is selected for textile factories relocation areas. And these factories will be asked if they want to relocate here.
Then, the treated wastewater which has been recharged to Amanishah Nala done by the Dravayati project will be used as the industrial water source. The reserved site area will be divided into three prototypes – tourism showcase, constructed wetland, and working space. The wastewater will be treated decentrally. Water will be harvested from the dam, and firstly be used in the tourism showcase, then treated in the constructed wetland, reused again in the working space, and finally flow into the STP. After being treated in the STP, the water will meet the standard of irrigation use and recharge to the canal.
In the third stage, these prototypes are further planned to connect to the existing tourist interest area. Infrastructures like rickshaw stations and hotels will link the showcase area and existing commercial streets. Finally, the whole Sanganer town will be activated.
In each prototype, a barcode spatial strategy will be fit in. Household factory buildings, shared structures, and water bathes will be arranged along with the barcode. The structures, covered with traditional fabric, will provide working, educational and recreational functions. The groundwater tanks will separate the water and reuse it in different fabrication processes and treat the wastewater.
Prototype 1: Tourism Showcase
For the water layer, greywater from the dam is the main source, and rainwater collected from the roof in the monsoon season is the supplementary source. Water flows out from the storage structure and is separated for fabric washing and dyeing. The colored water then will be reused in the paper dyeing. This water then drains into an anaerobic baffled reactor to pretreat and finally flow to the constructed wetland.
For the program layer, the buildings here will mainly serve for shop and storage use. Multifunction structures will function as outdoor markets in the tourism season. Then without the fabric cover, they will change into drying structures for both paper and fabric.
Tourists will enter from the plaza or the showing tunnel. They will first see the various handicraft products made by paper and textile, then will experience different making processes. They can also take part in the fabrication process to fully feel the traditional handicraft culture.
Prototype 2: Constructed wetland & Raw material garden
The pre-treated water will then flow into the constructed wetland to further treatment. Species that could fix heavy metals will be planted here. The treated water then will be stored in the reservoir. Farmers could harvest the water to irrigate the raw material garden or the nearby farmland.
Traditional natural dye species will be planted here to provide the raw material for dye-making to replace the chemical dye. Trees that are suitable for block making will be also planted here.
Buildings here will be used for natural dye making, raw material storage, and water storage. Educational and recreational structures will be built to let residents and workers view the treatment process.
Prototype 3: Shared Working Space
The treated water will then flow to the shared working space, water will be separated again into different ponds for dyeing and washing use, and then reused by paper making process.
Different Paper and textile manufacturing processes will entangle and dialogue with each other in different layers. Buildings here will mainly serve as factory, accommodation, and storage use.
Cotton waste generated by textile making will be stored in the material storage structure for paper making. Plant material coming from the constructed wetland will also be stored here. The climbable structure will allow workers to bring the fabrics and put them into the second-floor storage space.