Ahmedabad Palimpsest :
Reading and Reinscribing The Historic City
PAVA Teaching : International Workshop
CEPT University, India and Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
Winter Workshop, Year 3-4 Architecture and Landscape Department, December 2025
Instructors :
Adjunct Associate Professor Smit Yagnesh Vyas (CEPT University)
Associate Professor Waricha Wongphyat, PhD (Chulalongkorn University)
Assistant Professor Kanokwalee Suteethorn, PhD (Chulalongkorn University)
Pacharapan Ratananakorn (PAVA architects)
Varat Limwibul (PAVA architects)
Publication Editor : Waricha Wongphyat
Students and Publication production team : Pukla Klanmalee, Benjaporn Limtragul, Pattaranit Rattakul, Putthisiri Winitpakdeetham, Teerawat Chongsathianrapab, Salin Chanakul, Maieak Potip, Vongsathorn Yuenyonglertsawad, Surada Teantaworn, Kanlayakorn Khrutdang, Reungrawee Boripatkosol, Thanyada Yensamran
The workshop investigates the layered urban structure and unique architectural character of historic Ahmedabad. In collaboration between CEPT University and Chulalongkorn University, the program creates a cross-cultural pedagogical platform for Asian urban contexts. Fieldwork will be anchored along a strategic urban transect from the Sabarmati riverfront to the railway station, cutting through dense historic textures like the Bhadra citadel and Manek Chowk. Through in-situ observations, speculative mappings, and critical lectures, students examine the city's morphology, typological transformations, and the intersections of everyday life.
Moving beyond mere documentation, the final phase mobilizes these insights into acts of design speculation. The students develop reconfigurations of the old city fabric, ranging from micro-interventions to large-scale spatial provocations. Utilizing hybrid modes of representation, the workshop aims not to provide solutions, but to re-inscribe Ahmedabad as a dynamic field of architectural imagination where historic palimpsests inform future possibilities.
