Time Capsule, the latest project proposal by Mekano Studio based in Alexandria, Egypt, recently won 1st Runner-up prize in the international competition The Black Taj. The studio stated with their design, “The present is the outcome of our past, eventually both the past and the present together form our future”. 

This statement is modeled in their design featuring a pixelated box made of glass, which reflects the state of preservation and restoration in India’s Mughal architecture. The pixelated effect serves as a reminder that historical building will exist only through images if not properly preserved. The project proposes different colored panels indicating the current status of Mughal buildings:

Green = safe or in need of minor restoration

Yellow = in danger

Orange = only ruins left

Red = disappeared completely

The colored acrylic panels would make up the inner shell creating an updatable status of Mughal architecture’s preservation and restoration. The team’s goal would be to have a green Taj reflected back to the real Taj Mahal signifying the preservation of this architecture history.

Project Facts:

Location:  Agra, India

Program: monument

Architecture firm/ Architects: Mekano Studio

Type: competition

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Rupali Gupte

Rupali Gupte is an architect and urbanist based in Mumbai, Professor at the School of Environment and Architecture (SEA) and a partner at BARDStudio. Her work often crosses disciplinary boundaries and takes different forms – writings, drawings, mixed-media works, story telling, teaching, curation, walks and spatial interventions.

Her works include extensive research on contemporary Indian urbanism with a focus on architecture and built environment; tactical practices; housing; and urban form. In 2013, she co-founded the School of Environment and Architecture (sea.edu.in). SEA is envisaged as an experimental academic space for research and education in architecture and urbanism. She has a wide range of publications, has delivered lectures and been on juries across the world. Her works in collaboration with her partner Prasad Shetty, have been shown in several exhibitions including the 56th Venice Biennale, X Sao Paolo Architecture Biennale, Seoul Biennale of Art and Architecture, at Manifesta 7 in Bolzano, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona and at galleries such as Project 88, Devi Art Foundation and the Mumbai Art Room. She has recently curated an exhibition involving artists and architects titled ‘When is Space? Conversations in Contemporary Architecture’ at the Jawahar Kala Kendra.

Rupali Gupte