Ilma Khan
Class of 2024
Advisors
- - Qurratulain Poonawala
Hamid Market
Can the insertion of public art reform the identity of a host building?
Site:Hamid Market, M.A. Jinnah Rd., Karachi
This thesis investigates the transformative potential of public art within host structures, focusing
on sited installation art that redefines spaces to create single unified experiences. It examines
how these interventions activate and integrate functional and cultural realities, using art as a
trope to forge a new identity and use for the host structures.
Building on this, the thesis employs adaptive reuse and public art to reactivate Hamid Market —
a site uniquely positioned between the bustling chaos of M.A. Jinnah Road and the calm,
slow-paced environment of Zero Carbon Chowk. Recognizing these stark contrasts, the project
leverages this tension to create a meaningful thoroughfare, spatially stitching together two
distinct urban realities through the integrated use of public art and retail.
