Layers: Infrastructure Drawings of the Central Telegraph Office Bengaluru

Layering became a design method of my project. Below you find photos of Bengaluru’s Central Telegraph Office. This place is an important part of the history of telecommunications in India. On May 23rd 1854, Bengaluru became part of a 401 km long telegraph line. Telegrams were sent and received from the CTO for 159 years until the CTO closed its doors forever in 2013. Melissa Arulappan was among the people who sent a last telegram.

Move the sliders below to blend between photos of the CTO and infrastructure drawings that show the many internet cables that cover the CTO today.

This interactive image element consists of two images layered atop one another. A slider below makes it possible to change the transparency of the image on top. The image below is a photo of the Central Telegraph Office in Bangalore, India. This old building has three round archways on the lowest floor, and rectangular windows above, some of which are broken. Another window in a side-wing of the building has a semi-circular shape. The building is nested in between other old and new buildings, and is surrounded by trees and smaller plants such as a banana right in front. When moving the slider, the image above becomes less transparent and more visible: This image is a drawing of all the internet cables that span across the old building and that are visible on the photo in red.

An interactive image element has a slider below that allows a user to change the transparency of an image layered atop a photo. The photo below shows the archways and windows of an old building: The Central Telegraph Office. A banana plant grows right in front of the building, and a palm leaf is visible from the side. The windows are partially open, partially broken or have been taken out. The image atop is a drawing of all the internet cables that span across the ruins of the building. They have been traced with a red pen.