Page 124 - HUDCO DESIGN AWARDS 2023-24

ORIGINAL ROOF RECONSTRUCTED

During condition inspection in 2020, the library
reading room had been leaking profusely and the
roof slab was in deteriorated. For the past half
a century, visitors to the library had seen the
reading room roofed over by a flat Reinforced
Cement Concrete (RCC) slab. This slab had been
introduced into the building as a later intervention,
in the late 1960s, when the original historic
pitched roof was demolished to make way for a
reinforced concrete slab.

The team of conservation architects at Abha
Narain Lambah Associates appointed for the
restoration, found interesting evidence that was
to inform and guide the conservation approach for
the project. Archival photographs from the 19th
century showed the reading room roofed by a
pitched gable roof, covered in terracotta tiles
and with a cresting at the ridge.

Members of the David Sassoon Library and
Principal Conservation Architect Ms. Abha
Narain approached Mrs. Sangita Jindal of JSW
Foundation to seek support and she pledged to
support the restoration of the Grade I heritage
Victorian Library and cover the expenses required.
JSW Foundation partnered with ICICI Foundation,
Hermès, Kala Ghoda Association, The Consulate
General of Israel, Mumbai and others to raise the
needed funds for the restoration project. This
mammoth task has only been possible through such
a collective partnership and unrelenting support
of corporates, citizen groups, local associations
and consuls in restoring the building. Original high pitched hammer beam truss profile roof reconstructed
based on archival evidence

RESTORATION OF DAVID SASSOON LIBRARY AND READING ROOM, MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA

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