Photographs by Massimo Sordi
Architectures to collect water in India express a search for spatiality that ventures beyond functional prerequisites to reveal a deep bond with water’s spiritual value, and rituals and practices related to water.
Built from the 6th to the 20th centuries, they exemplify the crystallisation of models mainly attributable to the well and the cistern that today give back an architectural heritage as vast as it is singular, unfortunately largely abandoned. This book seeks to address a series of questions: though largely abandoned, can water structures continue to ensure the identitarian image of each environment and community?
Furthermore, is there harmony between specific configurations—baoli, kund, and tank—and a architectural form, aimed at celebrating the void at the origin of everything?
