An architect couple lends support to Mangalore's crumbling sunset industry

As time takes its toll, the centre of a bustling city surreptitiously turns into a ghost town, rich palaces resemble decrepit relics and images etched into the citizenry’s consciousness disappear into oblivion. This is the predicament of Mangalore’s terracotta tile-manufacturing industry, a nagging reminder of the city’s lost glory and pride. 

Terracotta production was started in India’s Malabar coast by the German missionaries in 1865. As the tile industry remained rooted in tradition, with stubborn resistance to change, over the time, it couldn’t match the real estate industry’s rapid strides. The Mangalore terracotta roofs began to be replaced by other more practical and cheaper alternatives. Also ban on clay mining in the region, that ensured that the primary raw material dried up, led to their gradual decline. 

As things stand now, out of over 300 factories in the region, including some parts of neighbouring Kerala, there are only two left in Mangalore that produced tiles, while two others make bricks and hollow clay blocks. Demolition of factories – now halted due to Covid-19 pandemic – has been steadily happening over the years. The tile factory owners too seem to be resigned to the eventual demise of the remaining factories. Lacking willingness or funds to diversify production or convert the factories for alternative uses, the owners increasingly see lease or sale of their complexes as a looming inevitability.

The disappearing industry, however, has caught the imagination of a number of people, including filmmakers, conservationists, architects, and even the sundry residents of Mangalore. Among them are architect couple Arijit Chatterjee and Asha Sumra.

UK-born Sumra, who is an alumni of Cambridge University, is looking at possible ways for revival of the industry with adaptive reuse of the factories and production of new products with the help of a grant from Intach, UK. She has subsequently collaborated with her husband, who is an architect from Ahmedabad’s CEPT University, for the project.

“Referred to as a sunset industry, Mangalore tile-manufacturing is deteriorating in line with the factory buildings. There is an urgent need for conservation of the complexes and a plan for their future use. An injection of vision, energy and funds is necessary to counter this defeatist mood,” says Sumra. 

Chatterjee adds that almost all industries need to diversify, reimagine and keep up with the times, something the terracotta tile industry failed to do. It is paying the price now.
 

In 2018-19, the couple who live between UK, India and South America produced a film on the Mangalore tile industry – Unfired -- in collaboration with UK filmmaker and photographer Patrick Shanahan. It was shown at the latest Art in Clay festival at Farnham, UK. 

Besides drawing the attention of the world towards the dwindling industry, they have also created a range of prototypes for new products that could be designed and created using the existing kilns and resources. To go ahead with the work, a 2,080-square-feet office complex has been built by CoreClay on a leased space on the premises of Commonwealth Tile Factory, Feroke, in Kerala. 

The architect couple say the idea is to explore repurposing through a sensitive process of adaptive reuse to revive the factories as civic destinations. The generous unused bungalows would make ideal homestays next to waterways and within reach of cities, they feel. The duo paints a vivid, throbbing picture of the sites and argues that it is possible if the right people put their might behind it. “With so many buildings and so much of unused space, any proposal must be economically as well as functionally viable,” says Chatterjee. A report submitted by Sumra to the UK Intach elaborates on a grander plan in the hope that it will be adopted.

However, nobody denies it’s easier said than done. Putting in place a structured plan — especially post pandemic — would need collaboration among the industry (commonwealth trust and private owners), conservation bodies working in this direction (Intach, Basel Mission, Calicut Heritage society), professionals (architects, designers, engineers) and the local community. Besides a massive fund injection, it would need committed government support, tying up with the plans of making Mangalore a smart city. 

But above all, it would need a sharp nudge from the despondent factory owners, workers and the dependent community. Unless their mood changes, the environment and air around them is unlikely to.