Recovering a Lost Identity: A Memorial to Scottish Colonialism Part 1 Project 2024 Arun Bhogal Mackintosh School of Architecture | UK Examining Scotland’s colonial legacy in India, the project highlights the impact of colonialism on vernacular architecture and traditional building techniques. Aiming to create a memorial for introspection about Scotland’s colonial past, the aim was to explore the erosion of cultural memory and identity under colonial rule, using the site of Highland peat bogs to parallel the flat landscape of tea plantations in India. The project has culminated in an abstracted and fragmentary design that acts as an observatory of change, inviting viewers to confront these histories and contemplate my connections to identity through architectural work.The story of the creation of tea plantations in Assam is as follows. In 1779, in Assam, no tea was cultivated or traded in India as tea was a Chinese monopoly. British established Indian tea and cultivated it as a commodity. Assamese workers labored in appalling conditions for a pittance, while profits, of course, went to the British (Scottish) firms. The interesting point is that up until that point, drinking tea wasn’t popular in India; the British marketed it to the Indians and so began to sell it back to them. As a result, Indians now drink more black tea than the world combined. Arun Bhogal Tutor(s) Luca Brunelli