VOL 27 (1)
SEPT 2013
` 200
MUMBAI
INDIAN ARCHITECT & BUILDER
IN CONVERSATION J端rgen Mayer, J MAYER H ARCHITECTURE GMS Grande Palladium, Mumbai: MALIK Architecture Murugan House, Chennai: KSM Consultants SUSTAINABILITY (?) MANIFESTOES Jaigopal Rao & Latha Raman Jaigopal: INSPIRATION, Kochi CAMPAIGN: ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION Reforming Architectural Education: A G Krishna Menon SPACE FRAMES The Uncanny Presence of Development: Dinesh Abiram ETHOS Order
VOL 27 (1) | SEPTEMBER 2013 | ` 200 | MUMBAI RNI Registration No. 46976/87, ISSN 0971-5509 INDIAN ARCHITECT AND BUILDER
EXPLORE
30 CURRENT Chairman: Jasu Shah Printer, Publisher & Editor: Maulik Jasubhai Shah Chief Executive Officer: Hemant Shetty EDITORIAL Assistant Editors: Maanasi Hattangadi, Ruturaj Parikh Writers: Rashmi Naicker (Online), Shalmali Wagle Design Team: Mansi Chikani, Prasenjit Bhowmick, Kenneth Menezes Event Management Team: Abhijeet Mirashi Subscription: Dilip Parab Production Team: V Raj Misquitta (Head), Prakash Nerkar, Arun Madye Head Office: JMPL, 210, Taj Building, 3rd Floor, Dr. D. N. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001, Tel: +91 22 4213 6400,+ 91 22 4037 3636, Fax: +91 22 4037 3635
Au courant updates on events, exhibitions, competitions and news.
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POST EVENT
Showcasing the possibilities and potential of virtual technology, HP
HP World Tour, Beijing unveiled their new collection of products and services that enables higher mobility, accessibility and flexibility on June 24 th and 25 th 2013 at Beijing.
36 PRODUCTS
Objects and details designed for architectural settings from across the globe.
SALES Brand Manager: Sudhanshu Nagar E-mail: sudhanshu_nagar@jasubhai.com
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CONSTRUCTION BRIEF
MARKETING TEAM & OFFICES Sales Co-ordinator: Christina D’sa Email: christina_dsa@jasubhai.com
Bengaluru-based Play Architecture designed a complex housing scheme of
Mumbai Parvez Memon 210, Taj Building, 3rd Floor, Dr. D. N. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001, Tel: +91 22 4213 6400,+ 91 22 4037 3636, Fax: +91 22 4037 3635 Email: parvez_memon@jasubhai.com Delhi: Preeti Singh / Manu Raj Singhal 803, Chiranjeev Tower, No 43, Nehru Place, New Delhi – 110 019 Tel: +9111 2623 5332, Fax: 011 2642 7404, Email: preeti_singh@jasubhai.com, manu_singhal@jasubhai.com Gujarat: Parvez Memon Mobile: +91 9769758712, Email: parvez_memon@jasubhai.com Bengaluru/ Hyderabad: Sudhanshu Nagar Mobile: +91 9833104834, Email: sudhanshu_nagar@jasubhai.com
new age serviced apartments that derive from the structural capacity of the
materials to inform the design.
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IN CONVERSATION
Experimenting with Convention
Jürgen Mayer gives us insight into his early inspirations that shaped his drive to continually challenge conventions and experiment with contemporary expressions.
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ARCHITECTURE
Renegotiating a Paradigm
Redefining the precedent for the design of commercial spaces, the GMS
Chennai / Coimbatore: Princebel M Mobile: +91 9444728035, +91 9823410712, Email: princebel_m@jasubhai.com
Grande Palladium in Mumbai by MALIK Architecture encourages a more
Printed & Published by Maulik Jasubhai Shah on behalf of Jasubhai Media Pvt. Ltd (JMPL), 26, Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 Printed at M.B.Graphics, B-28 Shri Ram Industrial Estate, ZG.D.Ambekar Marg, Wadala, Mumbai 400031and Published from Mumbai - 3rd Floor, Taj Building, 210, Dr. D. N. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001. Editor: Maulik Jasubhai Shah, 26, Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 Indian Architect & Builder: (ISSN 0971-5509), RNI No 46976/87, is a JMPL monthly publication. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or part, in English or any other language is strictly prohibited. We welcome articles, but do not accept responsibility for contributions lost in the mail.
inclusive work culture through it parameters of design.
Kolkata: Sudhanshu Nagar Mobile: +91 9833104834, Email: sudhanshu_nagar@jasubhai.com Pune: Parvez Memon Mobile: +91 9769758712, Email: parvez_memon@jasubhai.com
Afallon – Serviced Apartment at Whitefield, Bengaluru
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Juxtaposing Identities
KSM Consultants designs Murugan House in Chennai giving due importance
to quality space while addressing the challenges of space constraints.
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SUSTAINABILITY (?) MANIFESTOES
With a practice focussed on being relevant and insightful in the present
context, Latha Raman Jaigopal and Jaigopal Rao of INSPIRATION, Kochi share
their unique take on sustainability.
Latha Raman Jaigopal & Jaigopal Rao
68 CAMPAIGN Reforming Architectural Education
A G Krishna Menon elucidates on the need for a progressive approach to
architectural education that challenges existing conventions in order to
explore and develop its new positioning.
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BOOK REVIEW
Gert Jan Scholt, Pelle Poiesz and Sanne Vanderkaaij Gandhi recreate the
essence of Mumbai by analysing its historicity and current architectural
paradigms to give a wholesome overview of the architectural scenario in
the city.
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SPACE FRAMES
The Uncanny Presence of Development
Learning from Mumbai, Practising Architecture in Urban India
In this edition of Space Frames, Dinesh Abiram analyses the conflict of
identity in the urbanising town of Siddhpur, through a series of unsettling
images showcasing its development.
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ETHOS
Order
Elements of space-making in indian architecture are integral to the notions of circulation, proportion, movement, interaction, vision, comfort and delight. The fifth edition of Ethos discusses the models of order employed in making powerful compositions.
Printed & Published by Maulik Jasubhai Shah on behalf of Jasubhai Media Pvt. Ltd (JMPL), 26, Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021. Printed at M.B.Graphics, B-28, Shri Ram Industrial Estate, ZG.D.Ambekar Marg, Wadala, Mumbai 400031and Published from Mumbai - 3rd Floor, Taj Building, 210, Dr. D. N. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001. Editor: Maulik Jasubhai Shah, 26, Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021. Indian Architect & Builder: (ISSN 0971-5509), RNI No 46976/87, is a JMPL monthly publication. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or part, in English or any other language is strictly prohibited. We welcome articles, but do not accept responsibility for contributions lost in the mail.
EXPLORE
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Category Type Deadline
: : :
International Open to all September 10, 2013
Thinking in Process (TiP) announces an open competition for professionals and students who are interested in an inquiry into art, architecture, design or science. The submitted articles will be judged by a panel including TiP Editor, Sarah Gormley and members from Balmond Studio, London. The articles must not exceed 600 words. The participants are free to choose the topic within the disciplines of architecture, art and science. The article can be in the form of an interview (written or podcast), essay, photo-essay or special report and may include images. There shall be one grand winner and three runner-up winners. All the winners would get an opportunity to have their work published in the forthcoming issue of TiP and receive a signed copy of Cecil Balmond`s new book ‘Crossover’. For further information, log on to: www.thinking-in-practice.com
Lexus Design Award 2014 Category Type Deadline
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International Open to all October 15, 2013
Designboom in collaboration with Lexus has opened registrations for the second edition of the Lexus Design Award 2014. The jury consists of Paola Antonelli (Curator), Aric Chen (Curator), Alice Rawsthorn (Design Commentator), Toyo Ito (Architect), Birgit Lohmann (Chief Editor of Designboom), Tokuo Fukuichi (Lexus International). Two prize winners will each receive a mentorship by an acknowledged professional to develop a prototype of his/her submitted work. The sponsor will cover the prototype production costs up to 5 million Yen. For further information, log on to: www.lexus-int.com/design/lda
2013 INTACH Heritage Photo Contest
COMPETITIONS
Category Type Deadline
: : :
National Open to all November 07, 2013.
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Chennai Chapter announces the 2013 INTACH Heritage Photo Contest to commemorate the illustrious history of Chennai. The contest is classified under various topics such as Nature and Building, Neglect & Disrepair, Buildings during the Day & Night, People & Places. The contest will be judged in three categories; Group A: School children in the age group of 5 to 18 years; Group B: College students in the age group of 18 to 25 years, Group C: Members of the public. The photographs submitted should have been taken within a timeframe starting from August till November 7, 2013. For further information, contact: 13, Janaki Avenue, Off Abhirampuram 4th street, Abhirampuram, Chennai – 18. Tel: +91 (0) 44 24983619, +91 (0) 44 24991696 Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
Robert ‘Fellowes’ Chisholm Biennial Colloquium 2013: 2nd Edition Date Venue
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September 07, 2013 C C Mehta Auditorium, Vadodara
The Indian Institute of Architects (IIA), Vadodara has collaborated with Indian Architect and Builder for the second edition of Robert ‘Fellowes’ Chisholm Biennial Memorial Lecture on Saturday, September 7, 2013. The lecture series was commenced in 2010-2011, to honour the contribution of British Architect Robert Fellowes Chisholm, who has resided and worked extensively in India. For this year`s Biennial event themed ‘Robert Fellowes Chisolm - An Architecture that Changes Cities’, the keynote lecture would be addressed by Architect Gurjit Singh Matharoo from Ahmedabad, who has been recently conferred with the designation of FRIBA. The Robert Fellowes Chisholm Technology Lecture would be presented by Engineer Dhananjay Dake from Pune. An inter-college photography competition has also been announced as part of the Colloquium. For further information, contact: E mail: iiabaroda@yahoo.com
Conference on ‘The Need and The Future of Journalism in Architecture’ Date Venue
: :
September 21, 2013 Chandigarh College of Architecture
The Art, Architecture and Aesthetics (A3) Foundation has organised a conference on ‘The need and the future of journalism in Architecture’. The Conference aims to bring together professionals, architects, students and journalists under one roof and is going to deliberate on various aspects connected to Architectural Journalism. It will also include an awards ceremony for various awards such as A3f Journalism Award and Best Teacher Award constituted by the Foundation. Eight eminent speakers at the Conference will include the likes of Architect S S Bhatti, AGK Menon, Apurva Bose Dutta, the first awardee of the A3 Foundation and Sangeet Sharma, Founder Chairman of the Foundation. The registrations will take place on the spot with the registration fee of `250 per person. For further information, log on to: www.a3foundation.com
Conference on ‘Design as Social Capital’ Date Venue
: :
October 11-12, 2013 India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
India Under Construction organises a conference on ‘Design as Social Capital’, on October 11-12, 2013 for professionals to display projects and share design values as a social currency. The two day Conference also includes an award ceremony for an outstanding contribution to the construction industry, a showcase for projects that have aided in the social development and several dialogues on consequential ideas, inferences and projects that have engaged the community committed to urban growth. For further information, log on to: www.indiaunderconstruction.com
EVENTS
Thinking in Process (TiP) Research Competition
current The Draft Master Plan for Chandigarh 2031 has been Approved
Year of Swiss Architecture, Design and Engineering in India 2013-14 Announced
In response to the report by the Expert Heritage Committee on the Preservation of Heritage of Chandigarh, accepted by the Government of India and with an imperative of maintaining the original character of the city, a draft Master Plan for Chandigarh (CMP) 2031 was prepared. The Master Plan Committee approved the draft CMP 2031 and objections from the general public have been invited. The Chandigarh Administration shall consider the draft CMP 2031 through a board of inquiry after thirty days of publication. Suggestions from Sumit Kaur, Chief Architect at the Department of Urban Planning, Chandigarh Administration will also be taken into account. The comprehensive document, a result of detailed studies of the existing ground realities including a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat) analysis, active engagements with various stakeholders, site visits, feedback from various departments of the Chandigarh Administration, presentations to the Administrator’s Advisory Council, High Powered Co-ordination Committee in New Delhi, provides a good vision of the manner in which the development and future planning of Chandigarh should be undertaken.
The building of the Embassy of Switzerland, designed by Swiss architect Hans Hofmann and realised posthumously by his young collaborator Walter Rüegg, completed 50 years on July 04, 2013. The building, inaugurated by the late Prime Minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Nehru on July 04, 1963, located in the Diplomatic Enclave in Chanakyapuri, stands to symbolise in material, the strong bond between India and Switzerland. To commemorate the 50 years of this edifice, a series of major events around architecture, design and engineering are being organised in India. Planned from September 2013 to April 2014 in the framework of the Year of Swiss architecture, design and engineering in India, these events aim at initiating and enhancing collaborations between India and Switzerland by reaching out to architects, urban planners, designers, engineers, builders, artists, scholars, students as well as the general audience. These events will be organised by the Swiss Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulate Generals in Mumbai and Bengaluru, in partnership with Presence Switzerland, Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, Swiss Business Hub, Swissnex India and Switzerland Tourism.
Hindustan-Tibet Road Built by British Raj to be Partially Revived
Jean Nouvel to Design National Art Museum of China
The Hindustan-Tibet road in Himachal Pradesh is to be revived to serve as a reliable alternative to National Highway-22 and boost the local economy. The road that once connected Rampur, the seat of the erstwhile princely state of Bushair, was abandoned following years of disuse. Now the Hindustan-Tibet road, first laid by the British India in the 19th century to connect with Tibet for trade through Shipki La border post, on the Indo-China border is to be revived. The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh said “The reconstruction of the Hindustan-Tibet road will be a better alternative as its strata is more stable.” The road was laid scientifically and it was hardly swept away by the floods. The National Highway, which connects the trans-Himalayan Buddhist area of Kinnaur and neighbouring Spiti to the rest of Himachal Pradesh, travels largely parallel to a flood-prone Satluj river in Kinnaur district. It remains disrupted between a 100km stretch from Wangtoo and Khab at one point or another, owing to flooding of the river. The decision on relaying the Hindustan-Tibet road is significant as it comes as another lifeline for scores of villages, dotted with apple orchards, which otherwise remain cut off when the highway is flooded.
Jean Nouvel has been selected as the official winner of the highly acclaimed National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) competition in Beijing. The early reports about the winning design have described it as a ‘vast structure’ based on the simplicity of a single line – ‘a single brush stroke.’ In an interview with Financial Times, Nouvel quoted the Chinese artist Shi Tao: “A single line is the source of everything in existence. [...] We started with calligraphy. [...] Pupils used to spend half a year just on that first line with a brush. That first line contains all of Chinese culture – painting, writing and the energy of Chi.” Once complete, the 20 th century art and calligraphy museum will become the centrepiece of a new cultural district at Olympic Park. The building will be dedicated to displaying 20 th century art and calligraphy both from China and from around the world. The competition to design NAMOC was conducted over three rounds, from December 2010 to July 2012.
Owing to an overwhelming response to the first edition of the Dhaka Art Summit, the Samdani Art Foundation (SAF) has announced the second edition from February 7-9, 2014. The first edition that was held in 2012 was a ground-breaking initiative, which showcased more than 240 artists. The event will be organised by the Samdani Art Foundation (SAF) in collaboration with Bangladesh National Academy of Fine and Performing Arts. The upcoming summit intends to get international focus on South Asian contemporary art practices and includes six curated exhibitions which will focus on cutting edge practices. It will bring together over 250 established and emerging South Asian artists like Jitish Kallat, Shilpa Gupta, Rashid Rana, Shahzia Sikander, Tayeba Begum Lipi, Naeem Mohaiemen and many more.
Three Projects Shortlisted For 2013 RIBA Lubetkin Prize The RIBA has announced three projects - two located in Asia and one in the United States - for the shortlist of the RIBA’s Lubetkin Prize. Titled after Berthold Lubetkin, a Georgian-born architect, the prize celebrates the work of RIBA members building outside of the UK. Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy Soho, Grimshaw’s Via Verde and Wilkinson Eyre’s Cooled Conservatories will face off for the honour; the winner of this year’s Lubetkin Prize will be announced (along with the winner of the prestigious Stirling Prize) on September 26th in London. Angela Brady, RIBA President, said,”The 2013 RIBA Lubetkin Prize shortlist features three exceptionally innovative projects that meet three very different urban challenges. From the blueprint for New York affordable housing and the creation of an impressive new shopping district in central Beijing to Singapore’s new sustainable gardens, these are all extremely clever solutions. These cutting edge schemes show the leading role that architects play in delivering visionary new thinking about urban issues, and illustrate why UK creative talent has such recognition around the world.” Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
NEWS
Dhaka Art Summit Announces Its Second Edition
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HP World Tour, Beijing Virtualisation has touched every corner of the world and intuitive technologies are breaking down barriers for sharing information, and creating better experiences and business values. Harnessing and leveraging the opportunities, possibilities and potential of these transitions, HP unveiled a set of products and services that enables value creation of mobility, accessibility and flexibility for each individual as a consumer or professional, on June 24 th and 25 th 2013 in Beijing. Images: courtesy HP
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HP unveils new devices, solutions and services that power productivity and deliver new, connected experiences at the HP World Tour on June 24th and 25th 2013.
“I
nvention and innovation are heritage values at HewlettPackard,” Meg Whitman said in a keynote at the HP World Tour conducted during June 24 th to June 25 th 2013 in Beijing. Over a span of two days, HP created a world of possibilities with its extensive portfolio inclusive of solutions for printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. The event witnessed the presence of HP leaders such as Meg Whitman, Chief Executive Officer and Bill Veghte, Chief Operating Officer, and industry analysts and its partners from all over the world. Pairing values of HP with a breadth of solutions, the World Tour with a diversity of perspectives and ideas for modern enterprises Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
and SMBs made Beijing an ultimate inspiration hub for two days. The slew of announcements included dedicated breakout sessions relative to Cloud Print Solutions, PPS Solutions, Commercial and Consumer Solutions and many more. The offerings were channelled through various mediums and experiences, enhanced through unveilings by the leaders that are driving HP’s progress and presenting innovative solutions for better business models in the region. Amongst its new solutions for mobility and unified communications, HP announced its collaboration with Imagi International Holdings Limited, that manages the popular Chinese
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Gido van Praag, Vice President and General Manager, Graphics Solutions Business, HP Asia Pacific and Japan elaborates on how HP’s digital graphics printing portfolio is creating new opportunities for businesses.
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Yam Su Yin, Senior Director, Consumer PCs & Media Tablets, PPS, HP APJ, presenting the HP Slatebook x2 at HP World Tour.
The new HP Officejet 7610 Wide Format e-All-in-One can print up to A3 size and deliver high-quality, water-resistant prints.
animation series ‘Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf’, to deliver educational activity sheets through HP print app. Further, HP launched two new education print apps with Singapore’s leading education publisher, Singapore Asia Publishers Pte Ltd (SAP), and proprietary brand owner of renowned Primary Math programme in Singapore, onSponge Pte Ltd. HP identified efficiency, accessibility and mobility as one of the key focuses of the tech-savvy consumers, and referentially, has customised a range of offerings such as the ElitePad Mobile Point of Sale (POS) Solution, a new POS device that helps retail and hospitality businesses enhance the customer experience and maximise staff productivity. The latest hardware portfolio is an array of all-in-one PCs, notebooks, tablets, detachables, and storage systems which calibrates an evolved and resourceful approach through affordable touch technology, multi-operating system (OS) options and forms. The new consumer products usher in a promise of change in the ways that people engage with and consume content by providing new connected experiences.
fundamental importance of latex to the HP Large Format Graphics portfolio. “The new large format printing technologies that we are announcing will give our customers a unique advantage to cost-effectively address the challenges and expand on their business with new levels of productivity, quality and application versatility,“ said Gido van Praag, Vice President and General Manager, Graphic Solutions Business at HP Asia Pacific and Japan.
The graphics and technology’s strategic improvisation in industrial printing included two state-of-the-art digital printers, the HP Latex 3000 Printer and the HP Scitex FB10000 Industrial Press driven by HP Scitex High Dynamic Range (HDR) Printing Technology. The new sub-brand for these offerings is HP Latex, demonstrating the
With its capability of delivering fast, high-quality prints, the new HP Designjet T920 and T1500 ePrinter series is committed to contribute in devising more efficient, productive work ethics and better collaborations. Gunjan Sahni, Category Manager Asia Pacific & Japan, Large Format Printing, HP elaborated on
The rebranding also involved the HP Designjet printers which are designed to help organisations save time and resources. The culture of work is changing. It demands faster, more intuitive technology, uninterrupted services and the freedom to work and collaborate from anywhere, anytime and on a variety of devices. Meeting the unique needs and styles of individuals especially considering that the representational professional as an architect/ engineer/designer, HP has launched two web-connected printers designed to transform the large-format printing process, allowing users to access, view and print projects from the cloud.
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Gunjan Sahni, Category Manager, Large Format Printing Design – Graphics Solutions Business, HP Asia Pacific and Japan shares how the new ergonomically designed HP Designjet ePrinters are improving the user experience for architecture, engineering, construction and design professionals.
its characteristics in the PPS breakout session. Ergonomically designed, the designs of the new range account for an intense involvement process with the user that HP underwent to understand their predicaments and enhance its workability. HP designed the 36-inch devices based on extensive engagement with users early in the development process. Based on the propositions received from the users, the HP ePrinter series readdressed a multitude of issues, and derived an output tray and true front-roll media loading as key areas for enhancement.“Our customers constantly seek more efficient and user-friendly tools to bring their ideas to life,” said Gido van Praag, Vice president and General Manager, Graphics Solutions Business, HP Asia Pacific and Japan. “More than two decades after the launch of the first Designjet printer, HP continues to bring design, architecture, engineering and construction professionals large format printing solutions with innovative features, such as the integrated stacking tray and true front-roll loading, that transform the in-house printing process as well as allow users more time for creativity.”
Ideal for multiuser environments, the HP Designjet T1500 ePrinter is equipped with 64GB of virtual memory, two paper rolls, and features automatic alignment and smart switching capabilities to handle multiple jobs on different media types and sizes. Doubling the processing power over its predecessor, the HP Designjet T1500 ePrinter comes with a 320GB hard drive and uses a parallel processor that allows the printer to handle multiple files simultaneously. Also, with six Original HP inks and the new HP printhead, ePrinters can produce dark blacks, true neutral greys, vivid colours and sharp lines.
The HP Designjet T920 and T1500 ePrinters feature an intuitive, full-colour touch screen that gives users added control with the ability to manage job queues, track print costs and view true print previews. The integrated output stacking tray on the devices are aligned to the anticipated ways in which the users collect and organise large format output. Capable of collating up to 50 sheets of A4- to A0-size media, the integrated output stacking tray is retrofitted on top of the device and delivers flat, collated prints. This new output system improves productivity by reducing time spent searching through and organising printouts, and it eliminates the need for users to bend down to collect prints.
Complementing the products, the HP Designjet ePrinter portfolio features HP Designjet ePrint & Share, a free web service that effectively manages, accesses, views and prints large format documents using an Android or Apple tablet, a smartphone, a notebook or an ePrinter touch screen and empowers users to
Moreover, the improvised features accommodate a flat surface on top of the devices, creating a media review table for easy and quick checking of printed plans. Contrived operationally as an against-the-wall device, the true front-roll loading feature allows users to load media easily, even while seated. True front-roll loading and automatic paper roll alignment allows for a simplified media handling. The operational advantages include speeds up to 21 seconds per A1/D print and 32GB of virtual memory that processes complex files easily and delivers faster prints relative to any other in the market. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
“It is of extraordinary value in our field to achieve very precise, high-quality large format print output. We refuse to work with technologies that fail to give us optimum output,” said Tom Kovac, director, 2112Ai 100YC and Professor of Architecture, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University. “The innovation and performance of the HP Designjet T1500 ePrinter safeguards the integrity of the original images.”
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Jeff de Kleijn, Category Manager, Sign and Display - Graphics Solutions Business, HP Asia Pacific and Japan shares how HP’s two next-generation digital printers – the HP Latex 3000 Printer and the HP Scitex FB10000 Industrial Press deliver new levels of print quality, industrial productivity and application versatility.
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HP Designjet T920: The HP ePrinter series readdresses a multitude of issues and derives an output tray and true front-roll media loading as key areas for enhancement.
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HP Designjet T920: The ePrinters’ flat panel surface creates a media review table for easy checking of printed plans.
HP Designjet T1500: Designed as a device resting against the wall, the true front-roll loading feature allows users to load media easily, even while they are seated.
automatically save copies of projects to the cloud when printing or in emailing projects to print by attaching a PDF or other print-ready file via the ePrinter’s dedicated address. HP as a convergence point for these varied solutions elevates dynamic experiences in today’s technological era and brings powerful alternatives and flexibility for the future. As Meg Whitman said, “Believe me, HP is here to stay.”
For further information: Additional information about the HP Designjet portfolio is available at www.hp.com/go/DesignjetSpring2013 and www.hp.com/go/designjet. Product videos and updates are available on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HPdesigners, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ hpgraphicarts and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/hpgraphicarts. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.
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HP Designjet T1500: Featuring an intuitive, full colour touch screen that gives users added control with the ability to manage job queues, track print costs and view true print previews.
Contact: Seema Dawar, HP Tel: +91 124 4561400 Email: seema.dawar@hp.com Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Designed by Min Chen, the Hangzhou Stool is as much a depiction of the culture of Hangzhou as the design acumen of present-day Chinese designers.
THE HANGZHOU STOOL Text: Anusha Narayanan Images: courtesy Atelier Chen Min
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esigned to encapsulate the leisurely lifestyle of Hangzhou city, the Stool is a simple composition of arched bamboo veneers. Hangzhou, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty in the 12 th Century AD, still remains a significant metropolitan of today’s China. Celebrated in history, literature and art, its picturesque landscapes, and water that has been centrifugal to its fame with the West Lake, are the main tourist attractions. The Hangzhou Stool is a namesake of the city. The Stool is composed of 16 layers of bamboo veneers, all of varying lengths and 0.9mm thickness. These veneers are bent into an arch and glued together at the two ends till a length of about 25cm. They are further pinned at the bottom by a singular raw bamboo stick piercing through all 16 surfaces. The flexed veneers are a physical manifestation of the two elements identifiable with Hangzhou; water and ‘flexibility’ or ‘adaptability’. The layers of bamboo, seen in profile, resemble ripples on the surface of water. When one sits on the Stool, the surfaces bend as a response to the pressure exerted. This elasticity renders the Stool adaptable to varying weights. Designed by Min Chen, it embodies the sensibilities of its creator, who believes in exploring ‘design as a language’ seeded in the history of its birthplace. An industrial designer by training, Min Chen’s journey treads on evolving an indigenous philosophy poised between the tradition, convention and logic of language and the amorphous fluidity of design.
Designer: Min Chen Contact: Atelier Chen Min Huajiadi Nanjie 8, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China Tel: info@chen-min.com Web: www.chen-min.com Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
products
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CRATER LAKE
The winning entry at the Shitsurai Art International Competition, Kobe Biennale 2011 – the Crater Lake installation by 24° Studio is a versatile model that induces activity by design and not by imposition.
Images & Drawings: courtesy 24° Studio
Disasters have a relentless impact on human life. Irrefutably, they make us rethink our principles of habitation. The Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake of 1995 in Japan, left an indelible impact on the city of Kobe sparing only the natural landscapes. Inherently a persistent society, the city overcame these losses due to the resilience of their closely knit community. Once normalcy was restored, however this quintessential bond was felt to be waning. The Kobe Biennale 2011 organised by the city of Kobe provided 24° Studio an ideal platform to mull over this concern; thus, Crater Lake - a wooden installation which won the Shitsurai Art International Competition - was conceptualised. The Crater Lake is intended to capitalise on the scenic location of Shiosai Park - a man-made Port Island overlooking the Kobe urban centre, with mountains and sea in the backdrop. It can be used in its entirety by children to play, people to sit, lie down leisurely, stretch out in the sun or in shade, face the breeze or be shielded from it, or gather in groups with the additional seating stools, providing options to move around.
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The design is hypothesised with an intricacy that could only be achieved in wood. It is fragmented into 20 buildable parts, based on the overall surface expression. Each fragment is a radial section made of cross-braced freeform ribs and horizontal supports. Each section is made of 64 wooden planks laid on three structural ribs wherein the spacing is based on the anticipated traffic and usage of the section. For instance, in areas where the activities anticipated are of high agility and footfall, the planks are tied much closer together. The installation employs studs as structural members and 30mm x 60mm treated cedar wood for the surface.
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APPLICATION DIAGRAM
Designer: 24° Studio Contact: 5-2-21 Sakaguchi Dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe 651-0062 Japan Tel: +81 78 242 6611 Email: info@24d-studio.com Web: www.24d-studio.com Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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A 3D rendition of the finished building.
Afallon - Serviced A par tment Whitef ield, Bengaluru
Afallon, a complex housing composed of new age serviced apartments in Whitefield, Bengaluru, designed by Play Architecture manages to create a distinct vocabulary in the context of contemporary Indian architecture, by harnessing the structural capacity of the materials to configure the design. Text: Archa Desai Images & Drawings: courtesy Play Architecture
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ituated in a constantly evolving IT suburb of Whitefield, Afallon was missioned originally as a collection of studio apartments. Addressing the insistence on easily accessible furnished living spaces in Bengaluru, it was transformed to deliver as premium serviced apartments. Referential to the burgeoning context, the programme demanded an aesthetic which would reflect its cosmopolitan demeanour. Elaborating on the conception of the project, the designers explained,�Multiple schemes were worked in order to achieve the best possible configuration of units and the project was assigned to Play Architecture on the basis of having satisfied both qualitative and quantitative demands of the client. The design had accommodated three residential blocks with Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
120 single bedroom units, a reception block dedicated for some commercial activities and three presidential suites also serving as a reception cum entry block for the entire complex.� The four floors, housing the 120 units, constitute a total built-up of 6967.7sqm (75,000sqft) of which the 480sqm earmarked for the reception blocks was distributed equally among four floors and120sqm was allotted for the main reception on stilt level. It accomodates the lift, staircase and toilet blocks continuing throughout all the levels. The planning is conventionally refined with the entrance leading one to a reception block, and unto the 120 units retrofitted above. The stilt floor is devised as a lotus
construction brief
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The façade, part of the initial design process transcended into actuality - the Ferro-concrete balconies under construction.
pond that mesmerises and counterbalances an embodied sense of visual aesthetics. The floor plates are divided into two by a corridor which is enhanced by slits on the sides, to keep the interiors well illuminated and ventilated through the day. The overall articulation of the spaces is approached with simplicity to counter the introduced complexity of the form. With the programmatic possibilities evolving with each phase in design, there were numerous variations in the initial form of the design which was improvised upon for the final conceptual framework. The architects deliberated on various iterations before actualising the final structural system. The basic structure was to be a Cartesian grid in RCC and the semi-structural balconies in Ferro concrete clung on to it with a web like structure, breaking the rigidity of a formal grid. These webs are detailed out to hold the aluminium mesh, which would help keep the interiors cool. Explaining the feature, the architects said, “The mesh in isolation creates a visual treat through its shimmer as the morning and evening sun falls on the southern surface making the fluid screen vibrant.” Zeroing on a novel concept, the architects repurposed the monotonic functionality, and initiated their design process with the decision to redefine the character of a façade. Instead of an exclusive element that solely wraps around the building, it is composed to be a part of the structural system. The balconies penetrate into various parts of the building as a semi-structural
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The edge of the balcony holds the aluminium mesh, which contributes to the elevation.
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THE INITIAL SKETCHES OF THE PLACEMENT AND FORM OF THE COLUMN. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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A stable structure, governed solely by the requirements of the programme, is now raised above the ground to allow uninterrupted movement of people and automobiles. The reception block reflects this exploration into the structural possibilities. Its influence on concurrent levels of spatial organisation was recognised, and it was constituted as a space to reinforce the relationship between the structure and the forces that prevail across all elements of building. A curved concrete wall to sustain partial load of the first two floors is introduced. The wall converges seamlessly into the second floor slab, creating a dynamic double height entry at the stilt level. The second slab culminates into a network of steel sections, grounding the building.
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The execution of the waffle slab on site.
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SECTION.
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
LIVING
The services are well concealed in the circular shear walls that also assist structurally in the load transfer. After appropriate analysis, certain parts of the cores are carved out to give entry points. The space around these cores houses restaurants and bars at the lower level and the presidential suites above. The first floor is the spine that connects the entire serviced apartment complex. Sketches by the architects, defining the forces that pertain to the structural system, inspired the structural team to design the structure on the similar lines, and it was decided that the slab system would be a ‘voronoi’ waffle. It strengthens the architects’ initial concept of integrating the structure with the building elements and aesthetics so as to develop a distinct language. A cost verification at this point resulted in letting go of the partial external skin, which braced the cantilevered structure. This wronged all the previous structural calculations. The architects added, “This skin was developed in coherence with the voronoi-like slab and losing it was a very sad moment of the complete process. The eccentrically rested cantilever of six meters seemed to develop more bending than expected. The hogging resulted in unrealistic beam depths hindering the process of other services.” The idea had to be resolved and reworked to attain essential structural strength of the building. The designers along with the structural engineer took upon the challenge of designing a safe and stable support member that would work in accordance with their concept. Describing this process, they mentioned, “Sketches were attempted to ground the point as we interpreted series of arches in steel converging at a single point to counter the tension. This evolved slowly to form a branching tree-like structure resting on the doubly curved concrete wall creating an interlock and behaving
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The form work in mud and brick, to get the shear walls with desired cut outs for the entry points.
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The cut outs in the shear walls.
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SKETCH: THE ‘VORONOI’ WAFFLE SLAB SYSTEM FROM THE PREVAILING FORCES.
as one system. This support in combination with some steel hangers at cardinal intersections at the upper level solved the structural requirements.” Though there was a certain degree of compromise, the intention of evolving the design without veering from the original concept was preserved. The intuitive patterns and decisions headed the design process. Placed amidst a plethora of formal architecture, the building associates the façade to the internal spaces and the structure and illustrates the ongoing transformation in contemporary architecture.
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3D view from the entry point, exhibiting the working of the structure in totality.
FACT FILE: Project : Location : Architect : Design Team : Client : Structural Engineer : Civil Contractors : Carpentary Contractors : Project Estimate : Initiation of Project : Completion of project :
Afallon Serviced Apartments Whitefield, Bengaluru Play Architecture Senthil Kumar Doss, Deepak Ramadasan, Poonam Sachdev, Pandian SM, Sanal Suresh, Sarfraz, Balashanmugam, Ayeesha Patel Mr Vijay Jadhav and Nikhil Jadhav Akruti Developers, Bengaluru Manjunath and Co, Bengaluru Gunashekar and Co, Akruti Developers Rahul Associates `15 Cr 2009 2013
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Study model detailing out the curved wall that converges into the second floor slab. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Experimenting with Convention
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
in conversation
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Jürgen Mayer gives an overview of inspirations that shaped his career out of challenging stereotypes and, a continued experimentation with material applications. His commissions, though diverse in scale, always push boundaries of wonted norms and delight the contemporary eye. Images: courtesy J Mayer H Architects
Jürgen Mayer H is the founder and owner of J MAYER H Architects, a cross-disciplinary studio based in Berlin, focusing on architecture and spatial practices. He has studied at Stuttgart University, The Cooper Union and Princeton University. His work has been published and exhibited worldwide and is part of numerous collections including MoMA, New York and SFMoMA. J Mayer H has won numerous national and international awards, some of which include the Mies van der Rohe Award as an Emerging Architect, Special Mention in 2003, winner of Holcim Award Bronze in 2005 and winner of Audi Urban Future Award in 2010. IA&B: You have studied at the Stuttgart University, Princeton and The Cooper Union. How, would you say, have these different schools shaped your architecture and the processes involved in practice? JM: I was impressed by the pedagogical concept of The Cooper Union and wanted to extend my studies at Stuttgart Universities in that academic context. Later on, I went to Princeton University to add a critical discourse to my educational experience. Since then teaching is an extremely important element in my discourse on architecture. I am mainly interested in how cultural phenomena condensate on architecture, frame new challenges in how we produce and look at architecture and how we can speculate about the future role of architecture. Columbia University, where I was teaching last, has recently developed into a breeding ground of intense enquiries toward that uncertainty of what architecture is. Students become scouts and specialists, or even better ‘speculationists’. What can be tested in a semester as a theoretical thesis is what, in parallel, concerns us in our practice.
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IA&B: How does your work address a particular site or context? Can you describe your process of conceiving a form and developing it to realisation? JM: We try to establish parameters as a skeleton or framework for the project. These are conceptual conditions rather than design driven compositions, based on a client’s brief, contextual references and programmatic logistics. Houses and larger buildings focus on an overall atmosphere, including light, sound, noise, colour and texture. The way we detail and select material is based on the specific requirements for each part of the building, a complex patchwork of material selection with a homogeneous appearance. IA&B: Town Hall Ostfildern was one of the initial projects where you explored interactive technology. What is its scope and relevance in our present context? JM: Winning the Stadthaus Scharnhauser Park competition was an inspiring success and building this special town hall as our first project was an important step to test earlier speculations
Akhalkalaki Railway Station, Georgia. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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and concepts in real space. In the last few years we have had about 20 projects in the office, besides competitions, art work and exhibitions. Some projects go on full speed, others need some patience. Every project is unique and in different locations. Sometimes we do collaborate with the same companies, but most of the times we prefer the fresh input of different partners in terms of what can be done and what should be done. IA&B: Your practice uses cutting edge technology to shape low-tech old materials. Can you comment on how the relationship between the two works? JM: Part of the research that we do is with companies at the forefront of material development. New programmes, new requirements like sustainability, atmospheric demands and even duration and lifetimes, ask for new construction methods and a more complex performance of materials. For me it is interesting to see what happens if you use new materials and traditional ones to challenge conventional understanding of space. IA&B: The Metropol Parasol in Seville, renegotiates the belief that urban centres need to blend in with the cityscape to generate activity. Do you believe that iconic architecture can act as a catalyst for cultural and economic revitalisation of an urban space? JM: Metropol Parasol is a magic project. Based on an archaeological window into the history of Seville, the parasols Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
cover the very heart of the city for a new urban place for the 21 st century. Metropol Parasol covers history, hosts the everyday life in the food market or in commercial spaces, offers open public space for events and contemplation, and it refers to a ‘visionary’ culture with rising structures to elevate visitors onto a panoramic Seville city view on the roof-scape. All these different programmes are open and active at various times of day and night. Actually Seville, as with most Spanish cities, is very close to a 24 hour urban space. Whenever you walk around in the city, there is a lively, energetic atmosphere. As much as the parasols provide shadow during the day, night-time becomes even more important when Metropol Parasol creates an atmospheric cover for various forms of public activities still to be invented. IA&B: In Joseph Cory’s article, ‘Realising the Endless’, many parallels have been drawn between you and Kiesler. Do you relate to the avant-garde tag? JM: Looking back, we can see how society’s idea of how we should live and with whom we should live has constantly changed. Family structures have evolved, new forms of cohabitation have emerged and increasing numbers of singles are settling in cities. I am mainly interested in how cultural phenomena condensate on architecture, frame new challenges in how we produce and look at architecture, and how we can speculate about the future role of architecture. But when I get asked to speculate what the
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passive mode of expectation to an involved level of participation and attention. The book ‘Arium’, realised in co-operation with Neeraj Bhatia, is a guidebook to Weather and Architecture. Examining the relationship between the atmosphere, built environment, culture, and politics, this comprehensive research project offers an in-depth look at our contemporary understanding of weather through critical examinations of design and architecture.
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Metropol Parasol – Redevelopment of Plaza de la Encarnacion, Seville, Spain.
future of architecture would be, I have to tell that I am not able to do that, because I am still trying to figure out what it means today. When we try to make assumptions of the future, it is mostly our projections of what we see today. IA&B: You work on product design, graphic and art as well. How do they work in tandem with one another and how do they supplement your architecture? JM: I do not see much of a difference between art, product design and architecture. Architecture tends to be more complex because it involves so many layers of creation and getting things done, which can be equally painful and joyful. There are rules, clients, a political dimension, even, such as when projects fall within election schedules, which often occurs with the public projects that we are involved in. They make it the art of negotiation more so than the art of creation.
IA&B: Among your contemporaries, whose work or process of design do you admire? What aspects of their work do you find intriguing? JM: One designer, artist, theoretician and architect that I admire is Frederick Kiesler (1890-1965). Kiesler sought to dissolve the visual, the built reality, image and environment into an interconnected multidisciplinary space. He stands out as a role model for a spatial practice that puts programmatic and material innovation in the centre of design research. Since the advent of digitalisation and a broader international education these aspects explored by Kiesler support a more complex design and production process with many young international architects today.
IA&B: You have described your project Cumulus, in Danfoss Universe, as a ‘communication between ground and sky’. You have always been interested in the relationship between nature and building. Do we see an extension of this in your book ‘Arium’? JM: Danfoss Universe is a science park dedicated to opening eyes and raising curiosity to explore the world. With our buildings, architecture becomes a major component in the educational and pedagogical landscape of Danfoss Universe. Architecture should work as an activator to move people from a
IA&B: What types of projects is your firm currently working on? What other novel innovations can we look forward to in them? JM: I am very happy with the way we generate work, the way the J Mayer H team creates a lively discourse. The satisfaction is first about the team spirit that is the basis of these projects; the result of our process then becomes the basis of our designs. At this point, we have projects all over Germany and abroad, international projects like a court-house in Belgium, some infrastructural projects in Georgia like a train station and rest stops, two high-rise projects and a new building for a private university in Duesseldorf, Germany, just to name some here. Many more projects are under development right now. Additionally we work on exhibitions in Germany or abroad presenting our art and architecture works to the public. I am very curious to see how our speculations about communications and public space might transform once they are handed over and begin their own life.
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FOM University, Dusseldorf, Germany.
Danfoss Universe - Extension (Phase II) Food Factory and Curiosity Center, Nordborg, Denmark. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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GMS Grande Palladium: Setting a new paradigm for commercial design.
Renegotiating a Paradigm Redefining the parameters of commercial spaces by challenging their usually efficient yet rigid functionality, the GMS Grande Palladium in Mumbai by MALIK Architecture bridges both commercial and social considerations in the recreation of a new paradigm of design. Text: Chandrima Padmanabhan Images & Drawings: courtesy MALIK Architecture Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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SKETCH OF THE FACADE.
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he growing commercialisation in Mumbai is apparent in the skyline of the city which is crowded with towers of varying heights. The planning of these offices, however, does not reflect the evolution of work culture over the years. By designing a way of life that disallows any room for flexibility or development of programmes, these only serve as sterile landmarks in a disconnected world. In contention to this, the GMS Grande Palladium, by MALIK Architecture, which houses the client’s office and four levels of commercial space for sale, sets a precedent for iconic yet responsible design. Located in Kalina, a newly developing business district, the resultant six-storeyed office building built over 180,000sqft, does not provide all the answers to the complex issues of the day, but it raises valid questions on the prevalent generic process of design. In refutation of the soulless glass box, which has proliferated through much of the city including the neighbouring Bandra Kurla Complex, the Palladium makes a deliberate attempt to visually illustrate its design considerations. The design of the building was influenced largely by external factors and as a gated corporate space it can only be experienced by the public through its imposing visual mass. This volume, shaped by the diurnal cycles of the sun that is evident in the placement and angle of the fenestrations, and by the desire to visually lengthen the proportion of the structure, is contiguous to the façade which was conceptually derived by the architects from their perception of the context. According to them, the road-facing edge of Dharavi which consists of a mélange of recycled metal, patched together, formed the motivation behind the similarly stitched aluminium
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Raising the building by 8 meters frees up space for a landscaped court, activating the intermediary space as a social one, rather than just a transitory one. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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strips of ‘Kalzip’ on the façade of the building. While the planes break down the otherwise heavy monolithic veneer of the façade, the conflicting angles appear alternately deliberate and random, in contrast to the adjoining street. Though fraught with a visual dissonance that sets the building apart from the cityscape, it does, however, bridge the usual disjunct in most corporate environments between the user and his place of work, which occurs due to the lack of a meaningful organisation of spaces. In a generic rhetoric, the designs of corporate offices today do not have a vision for its users beyond accessibility and efficient functionality, wherein a distinct detachment is observed from the moment a user steps off the sidewalk and into the building complex. The GMS Grande Palladium challenges what has now become a thoughtless norm, creating a more responsive environment for its users. Their interaction with the building is gradually orchestrated as they move from the street and into the landscaped courtyard, up the ramp and into the raised building, gradually increasing the scale of relation.
this was theoretically sound, this way of design formed a distinct barrier between the two worlds of functionality for its users. Lifting the building off the ground proved to be a viable alternate, as it does not encroach on the visual experience of the pedestrian, and also activates the intermediary area between the street and the corporate offices, transforming it into a social space, as opposed to just a transitory one. This is possible because of the consequently reduced footprint of the building, which makes it more ecologically viable by freeing up the land to accommodate numerous trees, a water body and a cafe which dot the landscape; a reprieve from the otherwise suffocating corporate edifices. The scaled lobby spaces with the landscaped court beyond, and its visibility from the office space above, constantly draw the eye, by imparting a human scale to the built fabric and allowing users to interact with it. Amidst this, a cafe with canted glass walls and a dining area that opens out into the surrounding foliage, allows its users to indulge in its natural ambience. The Clubhouse emerges from this landscape, built to a relatable scale, housing a well-lit gym with a double-storey, open-to-sky court, a juice bar and a spa. The mezzanine above, which is accessed through the landscaped court, serves as a yoga room or is open for other events. While these spaces are usually designed in the upper levels of the building, it was decided to make these spaces more inclusive by locating them on a commonly accessible floor. This provides better access and usage, encouraging tenants to use the area by its continuing visual presence, thereby only adding to its multifunctional character.
This easy flow of space was possible by lifting the building off the ground by eight meters, instead of creating a three storey podium as mandated by the official planning authority of the Bandra Kurla Complex. The basic premise behind the imposed planning restriction of the BKC by the government authority was to impart a desirable street interface to the business district, for pedestrians walking past the building. While the idea behind
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Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
1. GMS Lobby 2. Common Lobby 3. Cafe 4. Gym 5. Security Cabin
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In refutation of the soulless glass box, which has proliferated through much of the city including the neighbouring Bandra Kurla Complex, the Palladium makes a deliberate attempt to visually illustrate its design considerations.
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There is an easy flow of space through the gate and up the ramp to the raised building, gradually increasing the scale of relation.
The ramp is flanked on one side by a landscaped garden, which slopes alongside it. The Clubhouse emerges from this landscape, activating the space.
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The functional spaces are organised around the central lift core with continued views across the space.
While the interspersing of social space as an activator was one of the main premises of the design, the architects also aimed to restructure the rigid plans of office spaces. Both these considerations were possible due to the unique feat of engineering by WSP. The steel superstructure has deflected shear skins that transfer the cantilevered loads to the angled members below, allowing a 16 meter central column grid in the interiors. The structural skins are expressed internally by recessing the internal membranes between the structural members. The flexibility it allows is apt for the four levels of commercial space, allowing the offices to be planned according to the functional requirements. This makes the design of the spaces less rigid. Each floor, that can be leased out, is divided into two wings, separated by a common lobby space. This is workable even as
one large office occupying the entire floor by doing away with the dividing wall in between the wings. The fragmented office of the client is situated on the northern end of the top two floors that are internally connected, tied together by a double height space. This is visually disconnected from the rest of the floors, the only visual link being the structural membrane that turns over to form the roof and the wall. Long cantilevers, 25 meters in length housing the directors’ suites soar out north-east and south-west into space from the ninth storey. The projected roof from the East and the West facade allow large, magnanimous floor-to-ceiling windows that flood the office with natural light. The high ceilings and double height spaces are the architects’ way of alluding to the old industrial buildings of South Bombay that were characteristically linear, open, naturally lit and brought with them their own unique sense of space.
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NORTHERN ELEVATION.
SKETCH OF THE STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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A cantilevered north-facing tube punctures the upper level of the double height office of the client. The client and his son occupy suites on either end of the tube.
WESTERN ELEVATION.
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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The fragmented office of the client on the two topmost floors is visually disconnected from the rest of the floors, the only visual link being the structural membrane that turns over to form the roof and the wall. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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The structural shear skins transmit cantilever loads to the ground. The structural skins are expressed internally by recessing the internal membranes between the structural members.
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Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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The light is brought into the four storeys of commercial space through the design of fenestrations pertinent to the orientation of each façade and the amount of light it receives. The North façade which garners the most natural light is made up of pieces of laminated glass that are interspersed between the truss members. The façade is raked back on the upper levels, which together with the laminated glass allows maximum penetration of natural light, thereby transforming the spaces. The southern façade, which begets the harshest glare, also abuts the rear of the Trade Center building. As this does not offer any desirable view either, the building’s services are housed in this area, with a minimum number of horizontal openings to allow natural light to moderately filter through. The western façade similarly looks to cut out glare though small sun-shaded fenestrations on the corrugated aluminium façade. These project towards the south to cut the glare, and are raked back on the northern side to maximise exposure to the cool northern light. These small elements that accommodate a responsive sustainability, further allow its users a technologically sound design that optimises the climatic conditions and provides outdoor spaces that can be enjoyed in the rain due to the suspended form of the building as well as indoor, naturally-lit spaces that can be comfortably enjoyed in the harshest summer.
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The northern facade which receives the most light is angled back on the upper levels allowing maximum penetration of natural light through the laminated glass.
The GMS Grande Palladium is a constant negotiation of references. From its allusion to Dharavi to being acontextual in its immediate surrounding, it stands as a gated complex, endeavouring to be just as inclusive from an urban standpoint in a future discourse, as the spaces inside are today. The plan of the building not only addresses the smaller issues of internal functionality and ambient space but also the larger ones of interstitial multifunctional spaces that generate activity and transform otherwise rigid zoned spaces into an active dialogue between the building and its users. Providing a sensible discourse on the requisites of planning commercial spaces today, it sets a precedent that encourages a more inclusive work culture, inspiring and evolving spaces as it renegotiates a paradigm of multifunctionality.
FACT FILE:
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Project : Location : Architect : Design Team : Client : Structural Engineer : MEP Consultant : Feasibility Study for Green Building Rating : Energy Efficiency Studies : Landscape Consultant : Civil and Structural Contractor : Glazing : Cladding : Cost of Project : Completion of Project : The western façade is clad with seamless corrugated aluminium, punctured by small shaded fenestrations. These project towards the south to cut the glare, and are raked back on the northern side to maximise exposure to the cool northern light.
GMS Grande Palladium Kalina, Mumbai MALIK Architecture Arjun Malik, Ketan Chaudhary, Jay Jani, Ketan Seta GMS Group WSP, UK WSP MEP, Delhi Confederation of Indian Industries - CII Hyderabad Environment Design Solutions - EDS Delhi The Gardeners, Pune Pratibha Industries Pvt Ltd Mumbai Chiniwalas Pvt Ltd, Pune Vijaynath Interior and Exteriors Pvt Ltd Mumbai. `60 Crores 2011 Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Juxtaposing Identities
A dense row of houses eases out into an independent, compact & introvert dwelling at the corner. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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The staircase concealed under corrugated metal sheet is a formative component of the identity of the house.
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The southern face of the house is shielded with teak wood louvers, to mitigate the heat but allow the southern breeze into the built.
Murugan House in Chennai by KSM Consultants imbibes architectural elements to formulate identity into a habitat, addressing the conventional dilemma of space constraints without compromising on the quality of spaces. Text: Archa Desai Images & Drawings: courtesy KSM Consultants
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n one of the quiet suburban bylanes of Chennai, a modest little house layered with wooden louvers on one side and a staircase extrusion concealed in corrugated metal on the other, punctuates the well-knit fabric of row houses. Rising aloft in a 12m X 9m cornered site, the Murugan House designed by Chennai-based KSM Consultants, intrigues one with its individualistic charisma. Bound on the west and the north by three-storied structures, the site opens out to 6m wide roads on the southern and the eastern sides. Looking easterly towards a children’s park across the road, the house liberates itself from the typology of row houses. Essaying the client`s aspiration for a domestic haven that would echo with their spirit and singularity, the architects programmed a 110sqm house with a living room, kitchen, dining space, utility and two bedrooms in an inset of 5.5m x 9m - a remainder after deducting 1.5m on the southern, eastern and northern sides as required by the zonal regulations. The eastern and the southern
road-facing edges lead to a small gated entrance and a parking entrance respectively, serving as a walkthrough to a striking red door levelled above the raised plinth. The planning in the interiors spans out in a fragmented approach wherein the functionality is derived from an interplay of levels. The minimalistic white interiors stand in complete contrast to the dynamic exterior. A shaft of light streaming through the linear triad of windows greets one at the narrow stretch of the foyer. Unrestricted overlooking spaces confine the functions without segregating the territories. Descending two steps below, on the right one enters the kitchen, which accompanied by an L- shaped dining space and utility, further extends out into the family seating. A powder room juts out in the adjacent parking space. To the left, a staircase in its warm wooden hue confronts the door. The staircase has an intermittence presence which divides as well as connects the staggered levels of the house. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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SITE DENSITY.
SITE + 2 LEVEL STRUCTURE.
INTRODUCTION OF A WIND CATCHER.
UNITS AT SPLIT LEVELS.
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The series of 3D models, done by the architects in the initial stages of the design process, elaborates on the underlying sensibility with which the massing was decided.
The spaces are superimposed on the massing to configure a plan that opens out to manipulate the accessible façades.
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Utility 2.30x1.35
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+0.75m lvl.
Pump room 0.9x0.75m
Dining+Kitchen 5.10x4.575 +0.75m lvl. +0.30m FGL.
Terrace-2
+9.100m level Unfinished Terrace 2 level
+0.75m lvl.
Dn +1.1m lvl.
1 2 10 9
7
8
6 5 4
LEVEL 3
10.67 As per site
12.19 As per site
10.65
Up
+1.075m lvl.
Bedroom-2
Terrace-1 37
+7.000m level Unfinished Terrace 1 level
33
+6.175m level Finished Bedroom 2 level
31 29 27
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LEVEL 2
Bedroom-1
25 23
Living Room
Up
Balcony
21 19 17 15
14 13 11
Toilet 1.52x3.05
+3.200m level Finished Living Room level
9 7 5 3
Garage
+0.55m lvl. Up
Utility
Dining+Kitchen
LEVEL 1 +0.750m level Dining + Kitchen level
+1.100m lvl.
+0.30m FGL.
+4.075m level Finished Bedroom 1 level
+0.300m FGL ±0.000m level
↑ Garage +0.30m lvl.
s 6A
SECTION
ite
rs
pe
2.1 5.49 As per site 20'0" Road
↑
PLAN AT LEVEL-1 Duct O.T.S.
O.T.S.
Sunshade & pergola in form finished concrete
Balcony
Toilet 1.50x2.25 +7.225m 37
Open Terrace-1
Bed room-1 3.45x3.50
36 35
+7.0m lvl.
+4.075m lvl.
34
Dress 1.50x1.10
33 32 31 30
15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Dn
Up
27 28 29 30 31
14 13 12 11
Dress 1.60x1.375
Living 5.10x3.00
Bedroom-2 3.35x3.975
Toilet 1.60x2.45
Duct
PLAN AT LEVEL-2
Duct
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Up
+6.175m
+6.175m
+3.2m lvl.
↑
Up
Dn +5.825m
Balcony 2.645x0.90
Parapet wall in Form finished concrete
PLAN AT LEVEL-3 Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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The transparency of overlooking spaces is enhanced by exploiting the usage of materials and elements. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Owing to the sleek wooden treads anchored to cantilevered 12mm steel rods, as a central element, it threads the spaces suffusing the atmosphere with unobstructed eastern light. The ordered flow of the house stems from the living room, allocated above the parking and internally attached to the main entry through this staircase. It is embodied as an individual entity overlooking all the levels of the house enclosed beyond its glass balustrade. The circulatory core pauses frequently hereon, to intervene as an entry for the two bedrooms placed above the kitchen and the living room respectively, and for the terraces situated on the levels above. The bedrooms are secluded from an otherwise open plan.
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The buoyant central staircase greets the entry and advances up to the living room at the next level.
The living room and the bedroom located above it, is protected from the harsh southern sunlight coming through the full height sliding windows, with the centrally pivoted 0.30m wide adjustable horizontal teak wood louvers. Besides the window, the bedroom also opens out into a step out balcony on the south. The bedroom placed above the kitchen too opens into a semi-covered step out balcony. Due to its alignment with an existent neighbouring wall, the neutrality of the north light could not be harboured into the building completely. Hence,the small extension in form of a balcony between the two built spaces forges the connection with the outside and provides the much needed respite from the summer heat in the dense arrangement of row houses. An external metal staircase, which advances to the second bedroom and the terrace, detaches itelf from the internal narrative and is affixed on the external surface of the eastern façade of the house underlined with the purpose to shade the main entrance.
The staircase punctuates its flow to create an entry point for the bedroom placed above the kitchen. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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The staircase block in its entirety connects all the consequent levels of the house.
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
0.295
0.010
↑
0.020
0.020 0.040 0.020
20x20mm Square rod
0.010
0.175
0.275
0.020
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20mm thk. Wooden steps
0.020
0.010
0.003mm overlapping
The house is choreographed for everyday comfort wherein each design aspect corresponds in tactile ways to create a warm synthesis of wind and light. Elaborating on this, the architects mentioned, “The underlying design strategy of the two bedroom house was to provide maximum light and cross ventilation using the ambient south breeze prevalent in Chennai all year round. The rectangular plan form is split in the middle by a staircase bay that rises above the house as a wind catcher and skylight. The best way to get breeze into the house in a densely packed neighbourhood is to raise the building up, especially on the windward southern side, as the chances of harnessing the breeze is better since the wind velocities are higher at a greater height. The wind catcher roof slopes up towards the south breeze thereby funnelling the breeze into the house through the staircase volume. This volume has a large glass front facing east that ensures that the house is naturally lit throughout the day, as all the rooms feed off this central volume.” The internal walls of the bedrooms lining the central staircase bay are interrupted with a traversing slant,
Ø0 . 020
“The underlying design strategy of the two bedroom house was to provide maximum light and cross ventilation using the ambient south breeze prevalent in Chennai all year round.” - Sriram Ganapathi
ENLARGED DETAIL OUT OF THE STAIRCASE SECTION.
The linearity of the internal bedroom walls is perturbed with the intrusion of a slanting element that directs the southern breeze from the wind catcher into the bedrooms.
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Duct
PLAN
Centrally Pivoted Wooden Louvers
50x50mm Metal Frame
50x50mm Metal Frame
+6.175m lvl Finished (Bedroom-2) lvl
50x50mm Metal Frame
0.260 0.260
to detail Centrally Pivoted
Wooden Louvers
Wooden Louvers
↑
00
0.300
Ø0.3
0.207
200x500mm upstanding beam
ELEVATION
0.150 0.520
0.260
0.260
Centrally Pivoted
2.225
UPVC Sliding Window
0.260 0.260
to detail
0.260
2.741
UPVC Sliding Window
0.207
0.260 0.150
4.600
20x20mm Metal Pergola
0.450
0.450
CW 5.55 x 2.125
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DETAIL OF THE TEAK WOOD LOUVERS.
+3.200m lvl Finished Living Room lvl
which opens out the bedrooms to the third side in addition to the windows and balcony. The southern breeze from the wind catcher permeates into the bedroom through this element. The architects have reconfigured the house with disparate elements that alleviate the plan of the compactness. Superimposed with these principles, the design reinterprets architectural vernaculars and physical readings of the context to form a distinctive character. Placed in the midst of a typical residential realm, the dwelling exudes an abundance of humility. Every gesture layered in the identity of the abode is utilitarian. The introverted assembly of spaces and openings converge to recover from the density of the houses and fabricates its association with the outside. Lifting itself above the basic complexity of residential structure, the plan operates on a visceral scale, with generous openness, a muted materiality that defiantly contrasts in moments, amplified details and a subliminal porosity; a plan that reveals as much as it conceals.
FACT FILE: Project : Location : Architect : Design Team : Client : Contractor : Estimate of Project : Completion of Project :
Murugan House K K Nagar, Chennai KSM Consultants Sriram Ganapathi, K S Money, Siddarth Money, S Seran, P Ragini, M Sathya Murugan & Ekta Sara Construction, Chennai `40 lakhs 2012
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Centrally pivoted louvers that line the openings on the south. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Extracted from a rigorous understanding of need for design, from the complexities appertaining to the Indian subcontinent, Jaigopal Rao and Latha Raman Jaigopal`s practice focuses on being insightful and relevant.
Jaigopal Rao & Latha Raman Jaigopal INSPIRATION, Kochi Architects Latha Raman Jaigopal & Jaigopal Rao, Principals at INSPIRATION - a team that constitutes of architects, interior and product designers, landscape designers, planners, trained artisans and technicians, horticulturists, project managers, infrastructure engineers and structural engineers - incorporate ecologically, socially, culturally and economically sustainable design concepts into their projects. The well rounded team at INSPIRATION has pioneered in programming the highly viable and cost effective concept models such as Total Water Management and Bamboo Prefabricated Structures. Their proposal for Vision Kochi 2030 to Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and the Sustainable Development Zone (SDZ) model at the Global Investors’ Meet (GIM), Karnataka has received international recognition for their perceptive and pragmatic solutions. Images & Text: courtesy INSPIRATION Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
sustainability (?) manifestoes A ‘Sensitive’ approach to built environment The present ‘Green Building’ movement in India has been taken off from the ‘Green Building’ movements in US and Europe. Most such countries have extreme climate conditions, ranging from -40°C to +40°C, which result in buildings that consume huge amount of energy to keep the temperature comfortable. India is predominantly a tropical zone, where outside temperature hardly ever drops below +5°C. So its energy requirement for temperature control is considerably lesser. Further, if new buildings are designed and existing buildings are improved to be sensitive to energy use, together with sufficient sensitising to the public, it can be easily reduced to insignificant levels. In most Western countries, over 75 to 80 per cent of the population live in urban areas, where they have become over-dependent on a lifestyle which takes a very heavy toll on use of non-renewable, finite material resources; often sourced from different parts of the world, whereas, less than 30 per cent of Indian population, stay in large cities. A gradual shift towards urbanisation is happening in India too. However, this can be taken as an opportunity to drastically redesign and simplify our settlement patterns such that, regionally, each such settlement is self-sufficient in water, energy, food it grows, and more or less self-sufficient in all bulk raw materials that it uses for its constructions and industries. Thus regional self-sufficiency in water, energy, waste assimilation, food and bulk raw materials in constructions and industry (as far as possible) should become the new and perhaps the only ‘mantra’ for green. A simple analysis will show us that for achieving this self-sufficiency, the most important factor is proper land use planning, as self-sufficiency in water, food, raw material, waste
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assimilation capability within a region, and even energy are all factors of proper land use planning. This will perhaps mean a complete overhauling of our present ‘green rating’ systems, as its very fundamental assumptions and over emphasis on energy consumption seem misplaced, especially in Indian context. The present rating system is dangerous as it misleads people that by installing some gadgets and gizmos, the environmental problems are resolved, and then they can afford to be complacent in the belief that they have done their share. The first big challenge will be in addressing squarely the problem of speculation in land prices and holding of ‘land banks’ by the big and powerful - so that sufficient land is available to public good at the required places. However, indiscriminate land grab or ‘land freeze’ by the government can become counterproductive too. A sensitive, participatory and democratic land use planning is perhaps the only way forward. INSPIRATION and a network of associates are in the process of initiating WISH (World Institute for Sustainable Habitats), with this comprehensive clear vision on land use planning - both at the regional level and in an urban context. In the regional level, it means comprehensive zoning regulations, defining relevant regional modules for self-sufficiency in water, energy, resources, food and assimilation of wastes; and well designed rural villages, and self-sufficient rural institutional buildings and campuses. All our buildings here make optimum use of locally available bulk materials, are bio-climatically designed, is attempting a fusion of vernacular and contemporarily crafted ambience; and will try and make optimum use of renewable sources of energy. ‘Total Water Management‘, and decentralised waste management too becomes very important. Buildings making use of renewable material like bamboo, mud and even thatch and local grass become relevant.
The four hundred year old summer palace of the Maharaja of Kochi was restored by INSPIRATION as an experience hotel. The project was nominated for the Aga Khan Architecture Award in the year 2010.
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Excavation and profile contouring for lake.
Total Water Management
Laying of lake liner.
Water is a resource that is getting scarcer by the day. Total Water Management for a region or a project area involves: a) Guidance in conserved use of water for varied applications such as for drinking and cooking, for washing and bathing, for irrigation, for flushing wastes, etc. b) Waste water treatment, disposal or recycling c) Rain water Harvesting and d) Recharge/ Drainage of storm water.
Pitching with natural local stones.
We have pioneered in construction of several medium and large scale rain water harvesting reservoirs. Carefully channelising rain water falling on every part of land, conveying it through well designed network of subsurface filter drains or open drains into recharge pits or catchment lakes, have become part of many of INSPIRATION`s landscape projects.
Subsurface filter drain.
For sewage and domestic waste water treatment, INSPIRATION, with our associates has come to conclude that, in a number of tropical countries, decentralisation in situ, predominantly an aerobic treatment systems have definite advantages over traditional centralised aerobic systems. INSPIRATION has an in-house expertise in designing of small, medium and large scale DEWATS (Decentralised Waste Water Treatment System) for domestic sewage and waste water treatment. ↑
Planted gravel filter for waste water treatment.
Polishing pond.
LAKE CONSTRUCTION.
In urban contexts too, it means defining networks of small self-sufficient neighbourhood regions. Each such region can have small dense township centres, absorbing migration into city cores, well connected by efficient mass transit systems. We have termed this concept region ‘Sustainable Development Zones’ (SDZs). A comfortable coexistence and participative land, water and other resource sharing of urban areas and its rural hinterland has to be defined in a participatory manner from time to time. Research, activism, advocacy all has to happen together, all at the same time, while designs, meeting budgets, project timelines, and all needs of the clients too have to atleast be satisfactory, if not excellent. Often, INSPIRATION takes fairly large projects on a ‘turnkey’ basis so that we can actually demonstrate that integration of these concepts is possible, as far as the present rules and circumstances allow us to. In other words, in our professional practice, we try to ‘walk the talk‘.
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SwaSwara, a resort in Gokarna, adopts the sustainable concept of Total Water Management system along with the simple and local building materials and techniques.
Sustainable Development Zone (SDZ) Concept for Global Investor`s Meet (GIM) - Karnataka Cities across the world are grappling with negative consequences of the urban sprawl, long commutes and high dependence on the private car. Cities in the developing world are also struggling to balance the equally important imperatives of economic development, social equity and environmental sustainability. In our own country, projects that are important for promoting economic development are becoming unviable in the face of increasing resistance to land acquisition and other forms of inequity. The SDZ is an innovative land use cum financial model which attempts to create a balanced solution for urban growth. SDZs can be configured based on expected investment opportunity, present land use, population density, and carrying capacity of the land. A typical SDZ of 1,000 acres can be optimally designed to cater to the population of about 30,000 and a 40 to 50 per cent growth over the years.
LEGEND RED - HIGH DENSITY ZONE YELLOW - LOW DENSITY ZONE GREEN - NO DEVELOPMENT ZONE
-44.5 ACRES (4%) -778 ACRES (70%) -233.5 ACRES (21%)
RIVER BANK PADDY FIELDS BLUE - SERVICE AREAS -34 ACRES (3%) WHITE - SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE ZONE -22 ACRES (2%) TOTAL AREA -1112 ACRES
In a project prioritised by the Government of Karnataka, INSPIRATION along with project partners Mirah group - Mumbai, has offered to set up a pilot SDZ in the outskirts of Bengaluru Municipal region, provided the Government of Karnataka fulfills their part of commitments.
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Network of SDZ (Sustainable Development Zone) – Vision Kochi 2030 • • • • •
red - high density zone yellow - low density zone green - no development zone blue - service areas white - social infrastructure zone
Presented as a consensus choice of environmentalists and concerned citizens of Kochi, INSPIRATION’s concept presented to GCDA (Greater Cochin Development Authority) for Vision Kochi 2030 involves developing network of small self-sufficient townships, interconnected by mass transit systems, such as metro roads, water transport systems, efficient bus networks and suburban rail systems wherever appropriate, along the periphery outside the CBD (Central Business District) area. Once the peripheries are properly designed, they will attract excess population from the inner city`s unplanned areas too. The role of GCDA in developing such self-sufficient townships / SDZs can be that of a facilitator on behalf of state government and local bodies. GCDA also needs to develop trunk roads, mass transit systems, water transport systems, water supply mains, electric supply mains and other vital infrastructural facilities. In the next 18 to 20 years, there will be a lot of scope to develop around 50 such SDZs, as each SDZ is expected to absorb migration of around 20,000 people. This can have a revenue stream of over `1.6 lac crores (at 2012 prices) and will boost investment in the manufacturing sectors and in core infrastructure areas. And all this is possible, causing least damage to the environment, at the same time ensuring social equity.
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Sky Rocca in Yercaud is an exploration, where the locally available stone is used to shape contemporary spaces and construction. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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REFORMING ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION By A G Krishna Menon
Emphasising on the relevance of progressive notions required in architectural profession, its pedagogical approaches and in challenging established conventions, A G Krishna Menon’s essay explores reasons beyond and within the discipline itself and aims to benchmark a new positioning in the idea of architectural education.
A
I have structured the essay in two parts: first, to explain the meaning and significance of inducting a new pedagogy to teach architecture, and second, briefly, the structure of a new syllabus for our times.
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
nyone who has studied the story of architectural education in India would inevitably conclude that the protagonists were not serious about its role or relevance in contributing to the welfare of the society. That is a sad commentary on the state of the professional imagination. Education has invariably been treated as a routine activity by its regulators, merely to produce architects to join the ranks of the profession. The indifference towards developing an appropriate educational agenda for the country becomes clearer when one realises that the educational system has hardly changed since colonial times, when the imperatives to educate Indian architects were different to what they are today. Tremendous social and economic changes have taken place in the society but its narrative appears to be silent about responding and adapting to those momentous events or showing concern for the degraded condition of the habitat which have resulted as a consequence. What the story, in fact, is highlighting is the systemic stasis that prevails in matters related to architectural education, which has contributed in no small measure to the continued irrelevance of the profession in matters related to the habitat. While the systemic stasis is a source of some obvious problems faced by the academic community, there are other problems, of a more complex social, cultural and economic nature, which are of more serious consequence to the profession, which also remain unaddressed; for example, Schools are still geared to largely produce ‘design architects’ who aspire to serve the needs of the elite in the society. Such morally insidious characteristics of the profession are rooted in the kind of education that is imparted to students. Thus, the issues related to architectural education are critical to the profession as a whole. Nevertheless, there have been some changes in the education
scene that must be acknowledged, but these may only have exacerbated the problems; for example, the dramatic increase in the number of Schools, or the sporadic, knee-jerk attempts at reform which has left intact the original objectives of the educational enterprise. Each new generation of ‘dramatis personae’ in the story has merely replicated what it inherited, both by way of pedagogy and course content. Seen in this light, one could conclude from the narrative that architectural education in India is ripe for reform. Most critics would agree with that diagnosis even if they differed on the prescriptions to resuscitate it: indeed there are many ways to view this complex subject. The campaign initiated by the Indian Architect & Builder, in which they have invited different experts to critically examine the issues relating to architectural education is therefore appropriate and to be welcomed. My essay is the third in the series and many of the issues I may have drawn upon have already been competently analysed and explicated by the earlier interlocutors, so there is little more that I want to add in that vein. In this essay, therefore, I will attempt to present another perspective, one based on our experience of trying to actually undertake reform by establishing an alternate School of Architecture, which I hope may yield deeper insights into the issues we are discussing. The School, we started, was the TVB School of Habitat Studies in New Delhi (TVBSHS). It was set up in 1990, but was prematurely shut down due to the strenuous efforts of the Council of Architecture, in 2007. This too, is part of the narrative of architectural education in India that should be evaluated. To begin with, here is an adumbrated story of that experiment. In the 1970s, some of us who had studied in the US and the UK in the late 1960s, returned to India to
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architectural education teach and practice, and hopefully make a difference. The late 1960s were interesting times to study in the West. Campuses were in ferment and at Columbia University, New York, where I studied, the spring semester of 1968 saw the campus transformed into a battleground. The issues being contested had to do with defining the larger role of the University, on the social and political concerns of society: the US was engaged in an unpopular war in Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement had brought to the forefront the inequities that existed in the country. The Architecture Department was at the forefront of these radical engagements that took place, focussing on issues of a more local nature. One of the precursors to the events that took place at Columbia, was the plan of the University to expand its physical infrastructure into the degraded neighbourhood of Harlem where it was located; without any concern for the welfare of the local community, students protested the self-serving elitism inherent in this proposal. The point to be noted is that greater inequities in our society have not provoked our Schools to respond with a similar twinge of conscience. Education, nevertheless, did take place during that semester at Columbia, but what I imbibed outside the classroom was of greater significance to what I did inside, which was to understand the absolute necessity and efficacy of disciplinary self-reflexivity to interrogate the status quo. On my return, some of us who had experienced similar epiphanies during the course of our studies, gravitated together to interrogate the Indian architectural scene. In 1974, we edited an issue on The Indian Architect for the Seminar magazine (August 1974; log on to www.india-seminar.com). Thereafter, we formed a group, GREHA, to undertake several research projects for various institutions, including HUDCO and INTACH, which enabled us to explore a diverse range of habitat related issues. These projects inevitably led us to confront the problems of architectural education. In 1988, we prepared a paper for HUDCO to set up new habitat focussed Schools to tackle the enormous problems of our burgeoning cities and deteriorating rural habitats. A national seminar was held in Delhi to flesh out the ideas we had explored, which laid the foundations for establishing a privately sponsored school of architecture, the TVBSHS in 1990. In this venture the reformist ideals we had imbibed
while studying abroad in the late 1960s and the almost two decades of teaching and research we had undertaken in India after our return, conflated to create the new pedagogy and curriculum we formulated for TVBSHS, which I will discuss in this essay. I have structured the essay in two parts: first, to explain the meaning and significance of inducting a new pedagogy to teach architecture, and second, briefly, the structure of a new syllabus for our times. A new pedagogy A recent newspaper report stated that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) intended to seek foreign help for constructing lowcost housing in Delhi (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, July 25, 2013). The decision was taken after the usual ‘study visit’ to USA and UK and highlighted, yet again, the inability of our administrators, architects and engineers to formulate appropriate habitat policies and designs relying on local expertise. Perhaps, it is the persistence of our colonial legacy (or the lure of a foreign trip) that encourages them to invariably seek external advice and validation to solve local habitat problems. Nevertheless, one needs to protest these processes not only because the exercise is dispiriting to the local professional, but also because such quick fix solutions fail to take into account the complex social, economic and cultural realities of the local contexts. Whatever its merits are, such strategies do not get integrated into the local building culture. Let me explain. There are many ways to deconstruct such complex narratives of continued professional dependencies on foreign advice, but in the context of the imperatives of architectural education, it highlights the need to critically examine the relationship between architectural pedagogy and architectural practice. A desirable objective of architectural education must be that it should be able to influence how we imagine and plan our habitats and its architecture. But as the DDA example illustrates, our education system has failed in this regard and it is the reverse that is the norm in India, where it is the market – the market of goods and of ideas – that determines the nature of our habitat and architecture and the educational strategies in turn, flow from it. The foundational ideology of architectural education in India is that it must follow
the dictates of architectural practice: otherwise how will the graduate find employment? This rationale is followed unquestioningly by the teacher in the classroom and the professional on the field has come to demand it. Not surprisingly, architectural education has become a debased activity generating such commonly voiced pejorative statements like, ‘actual learning takes place outside the School’, and ‘those who cannot practice, teach’. Such perceptions translate into professional dependencies both in the classroom and on the field, and explain DDA’s reliance on foreign expertise to build low cost housing in Delhi. Architecture and architectural education are not value-neutral activities; both are deeply embedded in local cultures. Thus, there is something intrinsically wrong when we solve our local problems by importing solutions from other cultures. Its repercussions manifest themselves beyond the immediate sphere of the decision taken. For example, many of us have been concerned about the open-door policy of the government, which enables foreign architects to practice in India without imposing conditions of reciprocity. This policy is the result of the negotiations conducted by our government under the aegis of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), where they found it necessary to concede such professional concessions as a trade-off to obtain protection for our agricultural economy and its products. However, its unintended consequences are being felt beyond the negotiating table, because it has profoundly distorted local architectural culture and values. For example, it has had a strong impact on the vulnerable imagination of students in the classroom – aided and abetted by the communications revolution that makes what they access on the Web more alluring than local realities, an attitude that is, of course, spilling over into the field. Many would argue, however, that such external influences are necessary to modernise architecture and the building profession in India, but the fact is that in the process the objectives of professional practice are being subverted and decisively reoriented to serve the needs of the elite. Surely, such morally insidious consequences could not have been the objective of the Indian team at the WTO negotiations, or any sensible reformist’s preferred vision for modernising the profession. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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A G Krishna Menon is an architect, urban planner and conservation consultant practicing in Delhi since 1972. He has been simultaneously teaching in Delhi and co-founded the TVB School of Habitat Studies in 1990 in New Delhi. He is actively engaged in research and his contributions have been extensively published in professional journals and several academic books. He also has been actively involved in urban conservation and in 2004, drafted the INTACH Charter for the Conservation of Unprotected Architectural Heritage and Sites in India. In the past, he has been associated with the formulation of The Delhi Master Plan–2021, The National Capital Region Master Plan–2021 and continues to be a Member of several statutory Committees set up by the Government of India to manage the city. Currently, in addition to his professional consultancy work, as the Convenor of INTACH’s Delhi Chapter, he is advocating the case for inscribing Delhi as a World Heritage City. The focus on serving the needs of the elite has been intrinsic to the values of the profession for a long time, but it has accelerated with the liberalisation of the Indian economy. One can almost make a case for a pre-1990s ideology and a post-1990s ideology at work in the architecture of the country. It has also influenced educational strategies because, as I have pointed out, the profession dictates educational objectives. Even in its incipient stages, at the cusp of the process of economic liberalisation, it had become a matter of grave concern to us while we were crafting the educational ideology for the TVBSHS. We sought to induct a pedagogy that was more broadly inclusive in its intent while simultaneously addressing the complex characteristics of our local habitat. We felt that as academics, we still possessed agency to offer an alternate model of education which could at least mediate and, perhaps, actually mitigate the adverse impact of the transformations taking place in our society and thus contribute to creating a larger and more diverse vision for professional practice. Our efforts were a drop in the ocean. In today’s scenario of proliferating architectural schools this seems a more difficult task, not the least because both the profession and the academic institutions have become more deeply complicit in fulfilling the neo-liberal economic agenda. To put it bluntly, what we are witnessing today is the co-option of educational strategy to serve the ends of the elite. Thus, current policies are more concerned with making education ‘cost-effective’ and to ‘catching up with the West’ than to deracinate the local problems Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
of architecture or architectural education. Such strategic choices do not bode well for the welfare of our society as a whole. In its incipient stage, this was the challenge we confronted at the TVBSHS. Let me clarify at the outset, however, that it is not my point to rail against the emergence of the ‘flat world’, but, as an academic, to advocate the important role of academic institutions to mediate, if not determine, habitat policies under any circumstances. Therefore, what should we strive for in formulating appropriate educational strategies in India? To begin with, at the TVBSHS, we cultivated a profound belief that architectural education can make a difference to contribute to the welfare of our society. It must, of course, work in partnership with the profession, but not as its handmaiden as it had in the past. Ideally, architectural education must connect the education, the profession and the social system and it is the evolving social system – and not market forces - that must determine the changing priorities of education and the profession. To achieve this objective, architectural education must be treated as a discipline and a profession in its own right with its own knowledge base. This belief undergirded the pedagogy we put in place at the TVBSHS. The pedagogy we followed was based on the concept of ‘learning by doing’. This was the only way we felt we could break the cycle of repeating how the earlier generation had been taught. The problems of the habitat were looked at afresh, both by the student and the teacher, and through such collaborative viewing and analysing
the problems to be tackled in the classroom were identified. Research was fundamental to this process for producing new teaching material. The syllabus had to be periodically re-structured to ensure that more effective learning of its components was taking place and this entailed frequent self-reflexive discussions among the teachers. Teaching therefore became a dynamic activity, both inside and outside the classroom. It engaged the teachers intellectually. They were challenged to work on the city or the local habitats as a laboratory and the complex social, cultural, political and economic issues of the real world were replicated in classroom exercises from the first year on, to ground the learning of the student in the environments they lived in. In this way, the School became a site for learning and the teacher had credible professional objectives to pursue: both education and practice benefitted from this strategy. Admittedly, these are not new ideas. Reading the Journal of Architectural Education, for example, one realises that the idea of treating architectural education as a discipline has been articulated by many academics for a long time all over the world, but not in India. Only a few Schools in India have tried to address the disciplinary potential of architectural education, while the majority are content to follow well-worn paths laid by their predecessors and the dictates of the Council of Architecture (CoA), which prescribed minimum standards to be followed by all Schools. It is on the basis of conformity to these ‘minimum’ standards that the CoA permitted the graduates of the approved Schools to register as architects with the license to practice the profession.
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While a few of the members of the Council are academics and private practitioners, the overwhelming majority are architects working for government departments, who, not surprisingly, viewed the issues related to architectural education through the lens of their status as low-level functionaries of the government. Thus, the objective valorising conformity and obedience to achieve ‘minimum’ standards in architectural education finds resonance among the members of the Council: it is rooted deep in the contemporary management system, and its genesis could be traced to the colonial origins of the profession. But challenging the system had its costs: I know, because of our experience running the TVBSHS. We were confronted with constant hostility by the CoA, which magnified our faults and overlooked our strengths. Ultimately, facing closure, the University with whom we were affiliated, The Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi (GGSIPU), took us under its wings in 2007, as a teaching department of the University. Perhaps we were lucky to have survived the wrath of CoA, albeit in an altered state, but the point to be emphasised is that the priority of regulations has invariably been to enforce order, not encourage excellence or difference. The TVBSHS was an experiment in pedagogy to contribute to the architectural discourse in the country. It attempted to challenge the prevalent ideology of architectural education by analysing its problems and formulating alternative strategies, and though relatively short-lived, it generated ideas which continue to be relevant. The new pedagogy was closely linked to, and contingent on, formulating and following a new syllabus that we put in place. A new syllabus The syllabus at the TVBSHS focused on the disjunction between the disciplinary potential of architectural education and its professional objectives. In India, we realised that architectural education was profession-centric and so it was unable to deal with the complex problems of our developing society. Thus, there was need to explore these issues in the classroom in order to advise the profession on how to deal with them: this is the disciplinary potential of architectural education. To put this objective into practice, we
identified three broad areas of disciplinary concerns. First, we articulated the kinds of problems of architecture that were needed to be resolved to contribute to what is called the 'culture of building'. This meant that the School was not merely aiming to produce architects but it tried to focus on the entire web of architectural production. Howard Davis, who coined the term 'culture of building' (Howard Davis: Culture of Building, Oxford University Press, 1999, 2006), pointed out that architects should not be arrogant to consider that they were the sole creators of architecture - they were only part of a long production chain which together resulted in the construction of buildings. Thus, when we say a building is good architecture, it is the result of the contribution of several related professions, trades and associated agents, including material suppliers, masons, contractors, the municipal regulators, financiers, and of course, clients, and so on – who are all connected in a web of relationships to produce architecture. Our approach to problem solving at the TVBSHS therefore, took this broad perspective into account in studio exercises and research projects it conducted. The objective was to create holistic improvements to the living environments. This did not mean that the syllabus had to teach all the related disciplines that constituted the network, but in teaching students to become architects they were made aware of their role in the 'culture of building'. Second, while the TVBSHS syllabus covered the subjects identified by the CoA guidelines, we grouped them and linked them horizontally for effective knowledge transfer. In a recent document brought out by the UNESCO and the International Union of Architects, what we attempted at TVBSHS in a rudimentary manner has been expressed more compellingly, from which I will quote. The document identified the challenges faced by contemporary architectural education as emerging out of the changing contexts that the society is experiencing. They identified three contexts that need to be considered. One, they call, 'nature's revenge' and the new ways in which architects and architectural education will have to learn to respond to its imperatives. The second, the overwhelming challenges of urbanisation which is growing very fast, particularly in developing countries like India, which is creating newer kinds of problems which the architect
and architectural education must learn to confront. The third, is the question of technology which is evolving continuously, necessitating not just tinkering with the old system but creating paradigm shifts in the way architecture is taught and practiced. To take into account these three challenges within a context of constant change is the new challenge facing architectural education. To address these issues at the TVBSHS, three settlement contexts were identified for study: the traditional settlement as a product of local building cultures evolved over time; the modern planned settlements, which were, of course, associated with the modernisation process; and, the proliferating settlements of the poor urban migrants, which were the result of the massive urbanisation transforming the country’s habitat. The syllabus focused on each settlement type to identify and define the issues to be dealt with, using the means at our disposal to do so. Thus, the academic programme attempted to develop three diverse habitat policies and the kind of architecture appropriate for each to meet its specific needs, thus turning the gaze of the student (and the profession), away from the dominating influence of the architecture for the elite to other equally urgent issues that needed to be addressed by the architect. The third area of disciplinary concern was the need to translate the first two points into a pragmatic and effective curricula or syllabi. This was achieved at TVBSHS by addressing three areas of the curriculum. The first was building technology. Here, the focus was on three issues: 1. Construction technology, 2. Design Technology, and 3. Management Technology. The second area of the curriculum we focused on was building sciences. Not many institutions in India teach the design of buildings in scientific terms - in fact, the ‘science’ of architecture has been grossly neglected and perhaps subverted to encourage intuitive design processes. Architectural education in India does not concern itself with how to evaluate the performance of the buildings that architects design and build, so we focused on three attributes of building science: first, energy studies; second, environmental sustainability; and third, performance criteria in order to evaluate whether or not Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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what the architect sets out to achieve had been achieved. In a rudimentary manner, each of these objectives was addressed at TVBSHS. The third area of the curriculum we focused on were the issues related to building arts and social sciences. Within it, the sub-themes were, one, history and theory; two, social sciences in architecture; and three, public policy and city planning: I will flag the last point because many other academicians have already emphasised the need to focus on history/theory and the social sciences in architectural education. As the example of DDA’s proposal illustrates, one of the major tasks of our profession is to develop our capabilities to influence public policy in order to achieve larger professional objectives. A major strategy we adopted to achieve this was to treat the city as a laboratory and deal with real-time problems confronting architects, urban planners and city managers. To explain some of our concerns in developing the syllabus, let me take up the issues related to building technology. There is a widening gap between the advances in technology taking place worldwide and the situation prevailing in India. We are mostly importing materials and construction technologies developed outside the country. There is a constant flow from external markets of obsolete materials and technologies which we accept gratefully, and this is influencing the kind of architecture we produce. In the process, we believe that our architecture is becoming ‘world class’. This approach is leading to economic and intellectual colonisation of the architectural profession, which is evident in DDA’s proposal for constructing low-cost housing with the help of a manufacturer from the UK. In the absence of indigenous research we are unable to mediate the globalising local market, thus resulting in the global market influencing our building decisions. Collaboration between engineers and architects can help in achieving the objective of developing appropriate technologies – high-tech or low-tech. The focus on design technology must also take into account the tremendous development taking place in digital technologies all over the world. In 2005, while preparing for an International Digital Architecture conference we organised at Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
TVBSHS, I was surprised to learn that in the previous ten years over 1200 papers had been presented and only four or five were from India. When the whole world is talking about digital design technology, our architectural schools are not. We only attempt to make our graduates operationally literate in the use of computers so that they can be employed as efficient cyber-coolies in BPO offices being set up in India. To become key players in the development of digital technologies needs big funding, but industry giants like Infosys are not interested in funding development of indigenous research in architectural schools (we tried and failed to get funding for the conference from Infosys). Of course, Infosys and other IT companies are themselves not undertaking research in any significant manner because they are content to remain successful service providers. Our educational strategies must nevertheless engage in research that will develop technologies to serve our social and economic needs. The focus on management technology should develop a strong role for IT to bring order to the disorganised building industry. This is slowly happening in the larger building and infrastructure projects being undertaken in the country, but its benefits need to percolate down to more everyday activities. Building Sciences is an undeveloped area in architectural education. There is only fragmented teaching taking place in this subject area, but there is tremendous opportunity for developing it to a more advanced level because many architectural schools are located in engineering colleges. For example, energy studies of buildings are essential for achieving sustainable use of energy in buildings. It should be a part of basic architectural education and environmental sustainability because responses to climate change are related areas to confront 'nature’s revenge'. There are tremendous opportunities in these areas for future architects in India. Developing performance criteria is another area that we attempted at TVBSHS. Research projects were undertaken in collaboration with foreign universities to establish local parameters to gauge the effectiveness of design intent. This is because green architecture has become a new mantra, and we need to assess the environmental performance of buildings
comprehensively in order to evaluate its benefits in the local context. We need to revise our academic curricula to develop these areas of knowledge and skills to achieve these objectives. Finally, a few words on building art and social sciences in architecture. This is an important component of architectural education but it is neglected in Schools all over the country. We are overstressing the physical sciences which are reflected in the intake characteristic of students wanting to study architecture. Thus, we continue to propagate the colonial tradition of requiring entrants to be proficient in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics (PCM), ignoring the importance of other knowledge streams that architecture can benefit from. Social Sciences are very important to develop responsible architects to meet the varied expectations of our society. For example, if we simply look at our achievement in the area of housing over the past 50 to 60 years, we find how we have failed miserably to meet the expectations of our society. That is one reason why DDA seeks foreign expertise to construct low-cost housing. Sociology, psychology, anthropology, etc., are all important subjects with which architects must be acquainted in order to understand and serve the diverse societal values and expectations of our society in their works. Similarly, we should train architects to influence public policy related to our profession and also in relating architecture to city planning. One of the things implicit in what I have said is that architectural education should try and achieve diversity, not monoculture. All 322 Schools who have been given permission by the CoA to conduct architectural education (so far) do not have to follow the standard prescriptions of its guidelines. What are the conditions necessary to create diversity in academic institutions? First, there should be diversity of students - from different academic backgrounds, from different economic backgrounds, and different cultural backgrounds. Second, there should be diversity of faculty, in terms of fields of specialisations, experiences, etc. to avoid in-breeding and getting trapped into a closed intellectual loop. If an architecture School is tied up with a university there will be opportunities to have a dialogue with other disciplines. For example, at the GGSIPU, where the former TVBSHS is now located, the University is planning to establish an
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interdisciplinary School of Design, a part of which will be the University School of Architecture and Planning. The School will now be able to access scientists or sociologist from other University departments to teach architecture. Third, there should be a diversity of output goals. One of the problems with architectural education in India today is that all Schools try to produce iconic designers who want to establish boutique professional practices. But there is need for academic programmes to teach other kinds of expertise, say, in building sciences and management. At the TVBSHS, we made an honourable attempt to diversify the interests of our graduates. Finally, we need to divorce the process of architectural education from the process of licensing to practice architecture. Because of this link, the CoA was able to close down the TVBSHS and its innovative initiatives. Ideally, the School or University should focus on giving the B Arch degree and the CoA should separately test graduates, if required, for awarding the license to practice. This gives tremendous academic freedom to Schools. The irony is that the guidelines of the CoA only prescribe a broad framework for the syllabus, but most Schools do not take advantage of this freedom to formulate their own syllabi. So, under the same Council umbrella, different schools could, in fact, follow different philosophies or approaches to teach. The erstwhile TVBSHS did that, but we were tripped up on account of infrastructural deficiencies. Many among the 322 Schools of Architecture in the country need to develop similar strategies and thus keep pushing the envelope of architectural education. Conclusions Reform in architectural education will require inputs from a variety of actors – the regulatory authorities, Schools and Universities, students and the profession. Each has a role to play to make architecture an important agency for the betterment of all sections of our society. This essay has only focused on the role of architectural education, but that, according to me, is an important segment of the whole to consider. It becomes all the more important because of the number of Schools of Architecture that have come up (and are coming up) in the country. Perhaps, as it has been pointed out by Indian Architect & Builder while initiating this campaign, many of the Schools lack resources,
including infrastructural facilities, but as we demonstrated running the TVBSHS, such deficiencies can be overcome if the School has a vision and a sense of purpose. That is, again going by the TVBSHS example, if the CoA agrees with the proposition that the kind of reforms we attempted in pedagogy and syllabus are important ingredients to reform architectural education. In our specific case, much of the hostility towards TVBSHS emanated from personal agendas of those in power, but that is no reason to presume that in future other office bearers of that institution will not re-prioritise administrative agendas. So, inspite of our bitter encounter with the CoA, I personally feel that we need the support of the CoA to bring about the reform in architectural education. The ideas that I have discussed were collated more formally almost a decade after the TVBSHS started functioning, at a symposium held in April 1999, by our collective GREHA, who started TVBSHS, and HUDCO, on ‘New Directions in Architectural Education, The necessity of a cultural paradigm responsive to the majority’. The symposium brought together architects, teachers and researchers from different parts of the country and a few from abroad to discuss and formulate new approaches based on a cultural paradigm. Though some of these issues are dated, I would still like to reproduce the recommendations that emanated from the symposium to succinctly recapitulate the agenda for reform: 1. The identity of the architect to be recognised as being distinct and not to be confused with allied professionals such as engineers and other technical disciplines. 2. An increased social awareness necessary for the practice of architecture in our developing world becomes a pre-condition to the delineation of roles and definition of norms for the architectural profession. 3. The Council of Architecture to take up the task of clarifying the autonomy of the architectural profession and to delink it from AICTE. 4. The Architects’ Act of 1972 to form the basis for developing rules for conduct of the profession and for architectural education. 5. The present requirement of affiliation of architecture schools to universities be re-examined in the light of the necessary autonomy of the architectural profession. 6. Studio-based learning practices be recognised as the essence of architectural education and an examination system
appropriate to such practices be put in place as early as possible. The core of such practices being the concept of peer group evaluation. 7. A special effort has to be made to train teachers in architecture. This is an urgent necessity considering that over 100 architecture schools are in operation in India and most of these schools function with hardly any teachers. 8. There is urgent need to produce appropriate teaching material, which would be of relevance to the regional schools of architecture. Such material to include software specially developed for global connectivity through the internet. 9. A small working group to be established immediately to go into the issues and make proposals for the autonomy of the architectural profession, evolve standards of evaluation specific to architectural education, propose guidelines for training of teachers of architecture as well as the production of appropriate teaching material, and to suggest ways of raising finance for these activities. State Governments, Central Government, international institutions, as well as private sector institutions to be included in these efforts.
A G Krishna Menon, September 2013
This column invites eminent academicians, ethical teachers, teaching architects, institution builders and design educationists to comment on architectural education (and design education as an extension) in the context of India. Concerned architects / academicians / educationists / teachers and students are invited to write to us / call us / email us for further discussion. Your deliberations / observations / critique / counter-arguments and agreements will be deeply valued. We must create a meaningful community of like-minded people to negotiate our future as professionals and responsible citizens of a globalising India. We must hold ourselves responsible for the quality of architectural and design thought in the coming decades. Please send your feedback / comments to iabedt@jasubhai.com. IA&B believes that this issue is of prime (and unprecedented) importance at the moment for the future of architecture in India.
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Front Cover.
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Back Cover.
Gert Jan Scholte and Pelle Poiesz, alumnus of the Sir J J College of Architecture in Mumbai, lived in the Bombay of the early nineties, before a major rise in congestion and in the informal sector that we accept as the inevitability of Mumbai today. On their return two decades later, the city had changed paradoxically. Collaborating with Sanne Vanderkaaij Gandhi, for the book ‘Learning from Mumbai, Practising Architecture in Urban India’, they look at the city with a new critical eye that has seen and still sees a better vision for its development.
‘L
earning from Mumbai, Practising Architecture in Urban India’, the first installment of a three-part series on practicing architecture in different Indian cities, recreates the essence of Mumbai through a compelling script. Rigorously structured into three distinct sections, this categorisation rather than impeding the flow, seamlessly ties together the narrative; its strength lying in its ability to navigate the scene through multiple perspectives, and drawing a comprehensive, perceptive portrait of the city, without compromising on the complexity of the subject matter.
Mumbai that was never realised had repercussions that added to the growing congestion in the city. Likewise, the elitist plan for the redevelopment of the prime 600 acres of mill land that benefited only a section of the society and uprooted the homes and networks of the labourers residing there only emphasised the sway of the urban rich over the majority of the city’s population. These seemingly banal instances and their gradual ramifications have been explained and given relevance to in such a way that they come together like the pieces of a jigsaw, to clarify our present predicament. This is further well highlighted by the graphs and figures compiled by Timo Cents, which pictorially depict the physical development of the city. It only reiterates the fact that any decision that alters the physical structure of the city in any way, however small, cause ripples that have a greater reach than we realise and consequently must take responsibility for. Through it all, however, there is an evident thread of deep rooted love and hope for Mumbai in the articles. Charles Correa’s evocation of the original linear organisation of the city along the two rail lines brings to light the heart and soul of the city’s vibrant functioning and its great potential for sensible urban development. Rahul Mehrotra’s article, highlighting his vision for the development of the Eastern waterfront of the city and his hopes for better planning resolutions, is similarly lit by a moral intelligence, at once, fierce and tender. The second part of the book is a compilation of interviews with a diverse team of people involved in the design of the streetscapes and horizons of Mumbai. In a novel structure, the thoughtfully sectioned write-up of the interviews almost reads as a wholesome train of thought. The interviews swing from larger firms in the city that have chief control of the city’s skyline to architects involved with conservation and activists of urban concerns. Also covered are Dutch architects who have set up their practice, or an extension of it, in Mumbai, to give us their differing perspective on the architectural scenario in the city. Steven Beunder of Townland Consultants’ appreciation of the human scale of the built fabric in slums, with their intimate communal areas allows us to look at our urban satire in a new light. As he rightly says, “it is inspiring that we do not need to consciously apply the principles of New Urbanism, and that when people are let free, it is exactly these rules that people naturally follow.” These small anecdotes offer insightful glimpses into an organic city that is at once loved and loathed, messy and modern, chaotic and lyrical, rich and poor, old
The first section of the book, through the course of four articles by Rohan Varma, Charles Correa, Rahul Mehrotra and Timo Cents, establishes the premise by keeping the scope of impending dialogue well grounded. This section traces the history of Mumbai right from the land reclamation projects initiated by the British East India Company, interspersed with glimpses of the political and economic situation that wrought bigger urban changes through the years than expected, to an insightful introspection on the consequent nuances in the current scenario of the city. Rohan Varma, in the opening article, gives the oft-overlooked historicity of Mumbai its due diligence and respect. Both Charles Correa and he showcase how seemingly lackadaisical political and economic decisions, at different stages of Mumbai’s development, shaped its growth, compounding into a catastrophic surge in informal settlements. The consequences of the neglected proposal to move the government buildings from South Bombay to Navi Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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The city as a contested territory, Bas Losekoot.
book review
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Slum Development Scheme, Deodhar Associates.
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Organic Farming becoming a larger public space project, Adrienne Thadani.
and new, vigorous and corrupt, all of which only further contribute to the growing Indian catalogue. On the same train of thought, we have Hafeez Contractor whose designs are big, magnanimous and a celebration, and we also have Deodhar Associates who work on mass housing schemes to benefit the less privileged section of the population. A place of paradox and opportunity, there is also a silent war being waged for the betterment of public spaces and infrastructure. Adrienne Thadani’s urban farming initiative, ‘Fresh and Local’, started off as a small programme that taught people to grow fresh, organic produce on their own terraces and grew into a large public space project where a previously unused roof was suddenly thronging with activity. It now houses multiple functions that are enjoyed across all sections of the residing society. Likewise, an unprompted plan by four young designers to liven up a compound wall with paint, spiralled into ‘the wall project’. The 2km stretch along Tulsi Pipe Road became the epitome of participatory design that evoked a sense of ownership from its citizens. From being fiercely protective of the wall from misuse, to a spontaneous growth in such projects being taken up by lay people who want to beautify their surroundings, these projects showcase the intrinsic sense of community and the viability of such public space projects. Similarly, P K Das’ constant efforts to collaborate, involve and improve the urban fabric give us an honest insight into the veiled highway between making proposals and having them realised; both of which he has done on numerous occasions. No commentary on architecture is ever complete without touching on the current standard of education. While Rajiv Mishra gives an erudite analytical overview of the triggers that lead to an inadequate education system and what could be done about it, Abhijit Mandrekar’s unbiased comparison of the education system of India and the Netherlands showcase how both places can learn from each other; one in terms of technicality and the other in terms of a deeper meaningfulness. The third section which features Bas Losekoot’s photo essay, placed right in the middle of the compilation of interviews, only adds to the discourse. Unlike one that distracts with the technicalities of photography, this instead truly depicts and engages with the subject in its naked simplicity. Therefore, what rightly comes through are the overlapping hierarchies of public and private spaces where distinctions are easily blurred, yet are still accepted norms; generating, altering, and constantly modifying the urban landscape, creating transitory urbanism with vaguely defined
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The Carter Road Promenade, P K Das.
boundaries. Through his lens, he captures every space as a contested territory, ephemeral yet rooted, and perpetually dynamic. This diversity is also evident in the ‘My Mumbai’ section that succeeds each individual interview, wherein the designers give us their take on Mumbai, from what they find special in the city, what can be improved, demolished and the lesson they take back from Mumbai. A very interesting leveller in the otherwise varied interviews, it allows the reader to understand them better, in relation to their own roots and what they are trying to achieve for the city. The diversity in the interviews themselves is refreshingly honest in its comprehensive treatment of practices that are commercial and social, old and new, urban and rural. Presiding alongside each other, it allows us to understand the megalopolis that is Mumbai without preaching, in all its complexity, by letting us internalise and debate all the perspectives that form a part of its journey.
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Tulsi Pipe Road, ‘The Wall Project’.
FACT FILE: Book : Learning from Mumbai, Practising Architecture in Urban India Edited By : Pelle Poiesz, Gert Jan Scholte, Sanne Vanderkaaij Gandhi Publisher : Mapin Publishing Language : English ISBN : 978-81-89995-81-2 Reviewed By : Chandrima Padmanabhan Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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The Uncanny Presence of Development In this edition of Space Frames, Dinesh Abiram looks at Siddhpur – an urbanising town and finds unsettling images of development that represent a conflict, that we commonly find our old towns in – a conflict of identity. Curated By: Dr Deepak J Mathew (deepakj@nid.edu) Photographs: Dinesh Abiram Text: Dr Deepak J Mathew
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S
iddhpur is famous for its pilgrimage site ‘Muktidham’ where the Hindus come for holy funerals. However, Siddhpur is also known for its mansions in the Hacienda architectural style largely belonging to Dawoodi Bohra (Dawoodi a sub sect of Ismailism Shia, Bohra the Gujarati word ‘vehru’ (trade) in reference to their traditional profession) community and spread over approximately 18 neighbourhoods which are also known as ‘Mohallas’. Bohras are a trading community which has roots in Yemen, Egypt, Africa and India. The Bohras travelled the world for their trade. What they observed in the foreign towns inspired and impressed them so much that they recreated a slice of it in their home town. They built these houses in memory of European opulence as a symbol of prosperity. They invested not only on lavish interiors, but even on the exterior facades that were carefully crafted to leave onlookers awestruck. Their Sui generis family symbols and ornamental columns were intrinsic to the architecture of these Bohra Mohallas. As time passed, this style of building did not spread, therefore, these housing establishments became very unique to Siddhpur. These Mohallas in Siddhpur are now empty and feel like alleys of a vacuous ghost town. Each house is now passed on to the third or
fourth generation of the original owners, most of whom have never visited Siddhpur, unaware of the inestimably rich past slipping out of their possession. Most of them dispose of these houses for a value much lesser than what it is worth, because of lack of knowledge. Many pirates of antiques purchase these houses with pseudo identities, and strip the houses of their intricately crafted colonial elements. Since most of the owners are non-residential, there is very little control over property theft. With people disposing of such beautiful real estate, the new buyer just discards and builds a generic building right on it. The Government of Gujarat does not help the situation because they are pro-Hindus and the Hindus are slowly moving in to the territory of the Mohallas; these Mohallas are shrinking each day. In a few years, this site will be beyond recognition. In this series of photographs Dinesh looks at what is happening to these Dawoodi Mohallas in Siddhpur. Everyday one can see that the houses are getting demolished and sold in the antique market. Lack of preservation and a lack of awareness, is slowly making this an empty place. The rapid urbanisation spreading cancerously into the Bohra Mohallas of Siddhpur is doing the damage to this town.
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Dinesh Abiram Dinesh Abiram was born in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu in 1985. He is a photographer based out of Bengaluru, India. With a bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication, he has worked with various advertising agencies, and magazines before becoming a full time photographer. As a practicing photographer for five years, his interests lie in long-term architectural projects, and documenting typologies. He is especially interested in understanding how changing communities affect the spaces they live in. Dinesh Abiram is currently pursuing his masters in Photography from the National Institute of Design in Gujarat, India. Space Frames investigates issues of architecture and environment through the medium of photography. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Order
Scale, Geometry, and the Paradigms of Organisation Within the fine concepts of form and space and the images of grandeur that is the architecture of India, there is a transcendent understanding of Order. Constantly augmenting, but in principle constant, it remains the continuous transparent underlay, in form and ornament alike; sprouting from an indivisible confluence of the tangible and the abstract. As integral notions of proportion, circulation, interaction, vision, comfort and delight accommodate themselves in the idea, powerful compositions and visionary schemes embody versatile models of thought in the built, the unbuilt and the unbuildable. Sublime atmospheres orchestrate incredibly powerful visions as the nuances of beauty are no longer attributed to the prerogative of the beholder. Thus, emerges an enduring image. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
82 [1] [2] [3] – The ‘Great Stupa’ at Sanchi is a simple hemispherical brick structure. Crowned by a ‘chatra’, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, it has four profusely carved ornamental gateways and a balustrade that encircles the structure to mark the ambulatory path. [4] [5] – The Bagh Caves are a group of nine rock-cut monuments, excavated on a perpendicular rock face of a hill. The ‘vihara’ or the columned monastery has a quadrangular plan with a prayer hall chamber at the back, called the ‘chaitya’. Together, the two represent the preliminary articulation of Buddhist sacred space.
[1]
While our architecture attempts to address its obligation towards the purpose of its conception, it transcends that very purpose to communicate meaning and elicit emotional responses.
Architecture is a tangible embodiment of the abstract and the conceptual. [4]
[5]
In an attempt to compose space, we aspire to achieve harmony.
[2]
[3]
In an attempt to go beyond the confines of its meaning, it employs a conceptual syntax – a language that is structured on ideas of geometry, enclosure, scale, proportion, presence, prominence, approachability, form, space, and organisation, thus...order. And in this attempt, our architecture demands forms and compositions thereof, to represent great resilience towards its contribution to life. Thus, a singular form sometimes contains and is sometimes contained within a multitude of paradigms.
The Great Stupa, Sanchi | Dharmarajika Monastery, Taxila
Bagh Caves, Dhar District
Mauryan
Shunga
Kushan
Gupta Vakataka
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-100
Ashoka and architectural patronage. Buddhist Architecture.
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Pratihar Rashtrakuta
Chalukya
Pallava
Satvahana
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Harsha
Pandya 100
200
300
400
500
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Birth of conscience. Rise of the Guptas in the north. Early Buddhist Style.
800
83 [6] [7] – The Dharmarajika Stupa,15m high and 50m in diameter, is a circular structure with a raised terrace around its base. Around it is a passage for ‘pradakshina’ and a circle of small chapels surround the Great Stupa.
Fundamentally, our built spaces are attributed to human enterprise.
[8] – The structures are a result of reinforcement through centuries, with the addition of rings of smaller stupas and constructions surrounding the original ones. The monasteries, however, are quite identical in their general layout and appearance.
Through effective spatial manipulations, the ideas of scale, volume, enclosure, structure, locus and symmetry are employed. Platonic forms are allowed to interact, respond, collide, compete and stabilise within opposing notions of the apex and the datum, the dominant and the peripheral, the significant and the trivial. [6]
The alphabet of architecture is organised within the grammar of the visual. While there is a consistent endeavour to achieve a meaningful spatial organisation, elements within this organisation respond to a conceptual hierarchy – from the predictable to the sublime – transcending the forces that enable these compositions at the same time exercising great restraint and control within the scheme.
The spaces within the scheme are interrelated, interdependent and inclusive. They have attributes of dimension, measure, direction, orientation, presence and stability.
[7]
The order is understood to be enduring, architecture is deemed transient.
[8] Rajput
Sultanate
Sena
Pala
Yadava
Chalukya
Hoysala
Kakatiya
900
1000
Bahamani Portuguese
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
Dutch Mysore 1700
North British
Maratha
Vijayanagar
Chola
Sikh
Mughal
French
1800
Deccan South
1900
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
84 [9] [10] – The finest examples of Medieval Temples include the Ghateshvara Temple in Baroli, the Khandariya Temple in Khajuraho, the Daitya Sudama Temple in Lonar and the later Mahadeva Temple in Ittagi. The temples show a gradual evolution, but are distinctly characterised by small or medium-sized, intricately ornate structures. [11] [12] – Depicting the microcosm and rituals, both at once, they typically comprised of an inner sanctum, the ‘garbha-griha’ or womb-chamber, the circumambulatory path, a congregation hall, and at times, an antechamber and a porch. The ‘garbha-griha’ is crowned by a tower-like ‘shikhara’.
While architecture is limited by position, ideas permeate through space and time.
[9]
Central to the development of formal concepts of space in the architecture of India, is the potency of the scheme. The scheme, in turn, is a framework of elements within the principles of organisation. Principles of organisation are derivatives of perception, will and meaning. Meaning is articulated in organisation, geometry and detail. Thus, a schematic proposition is manifested in a versatile and ever-changing typology that enables the idea to exist in the most humble as well as the most eloquent of designs. Each is complete and yet, each presents a possibility. While the degrees of flair and finesse of expression depend on the means and intent, the embedded order does not negotiate with the absolutes.
[ 11 ]
Each form is expressed in its finest potential and there is great clarity of intent.
[ 10 ]
[ 12 ] Medieval Hindu Temples
Mauryan
Shunga
Kushan
Gupta Vakataka
-200
-100
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Pratihar
Chalukya Pallava Pandya
Satvahana
-3300
Harsha
100
200
300
400
500
600
Post-Gupta Developments in the north. Princely Dravidian States Hindu Temple Architecture.
700
800
85
And in a rhythm of repetitive elements, there is an agreement between the opposites.
[13] [14]– The Sun Temple at Modhera comprises of three separate, axially aligned and integrated elements: ‘Surya Kund’, ‘Sabha Mandap’ and ‘Guda Mandap’. [15] [16] – The large rectangular stepped tank with 108 miniature shrines is a unique organisation of stone producing a dazzling pattern of art and geometry. Four terraces descend to the bottom of the tank. Two huge ornamental arches form the entrance gateway to the magnificent open pillared hall that leads to the sanctum sanctorum.
Thus, we find that simple ideas of symmetry, axis, balance and hierarchy compose an incredible variety of architectural expressions – each unique and individual yet bound by a common thread.
A positive is balanced by a negative. An addition is balanced by a reduction. Nothing is imagined in isolation – the stone to the step, the step to the ‘Kund’, the ‘Kund’ to the shrine, the shrine to the ‘Mandap’, the ‘Mandap’ to the ‘Garbha’, the ‘Garbha’ to the ‘Shikhar’, the ‘Shikhar’ to the Temple and the Temple to the Cosmos.
[ 13 ]
[ 14 ]
Issues of composition, pattern, ornament, craft, technology and organisation are accommodated in the idea. The theme has an inherent space for variations.
[ 15 ]
[ 16 ]
The Sun Temple, Modhera Rajput Rashtrakuta
Sultanate
Sena
Pala
Yadava Kakatiya Hoysala
Chalukya
900
1000
Bahamani Portuguese
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
Dutch Mysore 1700
North British
Maratha
Vijayanagar
Chola
Sikh
Mughal
French
1800
Deccan South
1900
Islamic intervention and the Solankis in Gujarat. Solanki Style. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
86 [17] – Housed in an impressive high walled enclosure, the entrance to the Chennakesava Temple in Somanathapura is through an elaborate porch with pillars. Fine sculptures and panels on ancillary but equally prominent shrines form a continuous cloister around the temple. [18] [19] [20] – The Temple itself is symmetrical in design, built on a platform with a triple shrine and a superstructure towering above. The whole structure looks like a rhythmic progression of well decorated projections and recesses.
[ 17 ]
A spatial order ensures that there is a definite emphasis on the experience. Spaces are designed to reveal themselves differently at different times and to different individuals. Transitional spaces create a hierarchy of enclosed, semi-open and open volumes as there are no definite boundaries between them.
Eventually, the boundaries between the container and the contained diminish.
[ 18 ]
This intentional lack of clarity has an immense potential – it enables interaction with and understanding of architecture an individual experience – common to all and yet unique for all.
The issues of materiality, composition and detail have a critical bearing on the perception of space and individual reading of the scheme.
[ 19 ]
[ 20 ]
Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai Mauryan
Shunga
Kushan
Gupta Vakataka
-200
-100
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
0
Pratihar Rashtrakuta
Chalukya Pallava
Satvahana
-3300
Harsha
Pandya 100
200
300
400
500
Rise of the Pandya dynasty in the South with Madurai as the capital. Dravidian Temple Complexes.
600
700
800
87 [21] – The Meenakshi Amman Temple complex is divided into a number of concentric quadrangular enclosures contained by high masonary walls, with four entrances facing four directions. The city is laid out in the shape of square with a series of concentric streets culminating from the temple. [22] [23] – The Temple comprises of shrines and halls, a sacred temple tank, the temple portico, a hall of thousand pillars and tall ‘gopurams’, the superstructures towering above the sanctuary that consists of an arrangement of gradually receding stories of miniature shrines in a pyramidal shape.
Multiple degrees of enclosure act as a singular organiser of form. And ideas of scale are utilised to establish clear and unquestionable prominence. In our architecture, we come across instances of structured ambiguity – when built environments are designed to diminish individual identity creating multiple centres, diverse meanings and altered realities wherein the concept of scale challenges our perception. The monumental becomes the organiser of space and the dictator of hierarchy. The theme is governed by the variations.
[ 21 ]
[ 22 ]
While form connects the tangible and the rational to the intangible and the irrational, relative scale establishes supremacy and puts all conflicts to rest.
[ 23 ]
Pala
Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura Rajput Sena Chalukya
Sultanate Yadava Kakatiya Hoysala
900
1000
Bahamani Portuguese
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
Dutch Mysore 1700
North British
Maratha
Vijayanagar
Chola
Sikh
Mughal
French
1800
Deccan South
1900
Rise of the Hoysala Empire in Karnataka. Hoysala Style. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
88
[24] [26] – The constructions in the Qutb Complex span layers of history – the Qutb Minar, the Quwwatul-Islam Mosque, the Alai Gate, the Alai Minar and the tombs of Iltutmish, Alauddin Khilji and Imam Zamin from the Sultanate period; the Buddhist Iron pillar dating back to the Mauryans; and colonnades of ancient Hindu and Jain temple ruins. [25] – Built as a victory tower, the Qutb Minar is a 72.5m tall brick minaret, with five distinct storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony carried on corbels, that tapers from 14.3m to 2.7m at the top. It is made with numerous superimposed flanged and cylindrical shafts in the interior and fluted columns on the exterior.
[ 24 ]
Our understanding of geometry influences our fields of perception.
[ 25 ]
Perception is controlled through the fine manipulation of senses and an intricate sequencing of experiences.
A vertical, linear element acts as a singular point of reference and creates a definite equilibrium between contesting spaces. A path defines many transitions and varying experiences designed to enable one to distinguish between these fine changes. Parallel planes, screens, rows of columns, clusters of spaces and configurations of solids with voids articulate a desired experience and an intended understanding. The order of things within a scheme is a primary orchestrator of the experience.
[ 26 ]
Mauryan
Shunga
Kushan
Gupta Vakataka
-200
-100
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
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Pratihar Rashtrakuta
Chalukya Pallava
Satvahana
-3300
Harsha
Pandya 100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
89
[27] [28] [29] – The Jama Masjid Complex is centred on a large rectangular courtyard with three entrances, one at the centre of each side. The courtyard is lined with colonnades on three sides, the prayer hall occupying the fourth (east) side. In the centre of the courtyard is a rectangular basin for abolition. Designed as a part of a major plan, the mosque is located south of the processional axis that runs from the Teen Darwaza. To the west, are the tombs of Ahmed Shah and nearby, are the graves of his queen and other wives.
We consistently look for regularity and continuity while constantly desiring change.
[ 27 ]
[ 28 ]
This conceptual paradox enables us to order our architecture in varying degrees of organisation. On one hand, the structures and elements within are allowed to retain individual identities while on the other, they are always perceived as contributing to a larger whole. The endeavour of our built environment is to establish an agreement: equilibrium between opposites. As the scale shifts from the micro to the macro – from an ornament to the city and back, the principles of composition are understood in a hierarchical relationship between the container and the contained. This relationship – although paradoxical – determines how we employ architecture to promote our endeavours.
[ 29 ] Jama Masjid and the Royal Tombs, Ahmedabad Rajput
Sultanate
Sena
Pala
Yadava
Chalukya
Hoysala
Kakatiya
1000
1100
1200
1300
Sikh
Mughal
Bahamani Portuguese
1400
Early Sultanate in Gujarat and Gujarati craftsmanship. Indo-Saracenic Architecture.
1500
1600
Dutch Mysore 1700
North British
Maratha
Vijayanagar
Chola 900
The Qutb Minar and Complex, New Delhi
French
1800
Deccan South
1900
Islamic Rule and Early Sultanate. Indo-Islamic Architecture. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
90 [30] – The Gol Gumbaz is composed of a cube, 47.5m on each side, capped by a dome that is 44m in external diameter. Eight intersecting arches created by two rotated squares that create interlocking pendentives support the dome. [31] [32] – At each of the four corners of the cube, is a dome-capped octagonal tower seven stories high with a staircase inside. Running around the inside of the dome is a ‘whispering gallery’ where even the softest sound can be heard on the other side of the mausoleum owing to the acoustics.
The act of architecture is the act of establishing a datum.
[ 30 ]
[ 32 ]
[ 31 ]
The attempt at times is to create a reference – a point of stability which will act as a model for everything to come and an embodiment of everything that proceeds. While ideas of regularity, geometry, composition and scale refer constantly to means and technology, the content and meaning in architecture is communicated through gestures. Thus, there are no isolated experiments – every work of architecture, like art, builds upon prevalent notions and techniques at the same time attempting to go beyond the confines of the same.
Mauryan
Shunga
Kushan
Gupta Vakataka
-200
-100
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
0
Pratihar Rashtrakuta
Chalukya Pallava
Satvahana
-3300
Harsha
Pandya 100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
91
[33] – Humayun’s Tomb, the first garden-tomb in India, has a highly geometrical Char Bagh (Garden of Paradise) divided into four squares by paved walkways and two bisecting central water channels that reflect the four rivers that flow in ‘Jannat’. [34] – The symmetrical and simple design on the exterior is in sharp contrast with the complex interior floor plan, of inner chambers, a square ‘ninefold plan’, where eight two-storeyed vaulted chambers radiate from the central, double-height domed chamber. The total assembly of 124 tomb chambers suggests a dynastic mausoleum that reflects the concept of Paradise in Islamic cosmology.
As each structure borrows from the previous, it contributes to the next.
[ 33 ]
And we see grand gestures embellished by refined means of making and transcendental attempts to manifest the conceptual in architecture. At monumental scale, we find humble gestures of articulation of detail, intricate craftsmanship, response to the senses, an understanding of colour, texture, ornament, light and darkness, sensitivity towards sound and silence, and a grasp of the human scale. Emotions of the magnitude of peace, solitude, wonder and delight are composed through images, patterns, symbols and icons.
[ 34 ] Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi Rajput
Sultanate
Sena
Pala
Yadava Kakatiya Hoysala
Chalukya
1000
Portuguese
1200
1300
1400
1500
Mughal Empire after Humayun’s Death. Mughal Architecture.
1600
Dutch Mysore 1700
North British
Maratha
Vijayanagar 1100
Sikh
Mughal Bahamani
Chola 900
Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur
French
1800
Deccan South
1900
Bijapur Sultanate absorbed within the Mughal Empire under Aurangazeb. Indo-Saracenic Architecture. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
92 [35] [36] – The palace city of Fatehpur Sikri, surrounded by a 6km wall on three sides includes the Buland Darwaza, the central portico with three arched entrances, the Jama Masjid, the Tomb of Salim Chishti, the Diwan-i-Aam, Diwan-i-Khas and Ibadat Khana, royal palaces, courts and baths as well as offices, workshops and admistrative buildings like the treasury. [37] – Akbar’s Seat in the Diwan-i-Khas is a central pillar (axis mundi) with a square base and an octagonal shaft, carved with bands of geometric and floral designs. Further, 36 serpentine brackets support a platform, connected to each corner of the building on the level above, by four stone walkways.
[ 35 ]
Scale is the function of intent. Organisation is a deliberate attempt to structure and control experiences. The delight of experiencing architecture is perhaps embedded in the unexpected. Often, we encounter spatial compositions that challenge our conceptions.
[ 36 ]
By structuring conceptual contradictions within a scheme, the system is intentionally deconstructed: multiple axes and multiple centres are established, spatial relationships are taken apart and put together in a juxtaposition of conflicting overlays. But there is no outright disagreement – it is an act of taking an objective order and attributing it to a subjective experience. [ 37 ]
Thus, the subject is re-established as the centre of architecture’s formal order. Mauryan
Shunga
Kushan
Gupta Vakataka
-200
-100
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
0
Pratihar Rashtrakuta
Chalukya Pallava
Satvahana
-3300
Harsha
Pandya 100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
The astronomical observatory of Jantar Mantar consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring time, tracking constellations and, even for, observing the orbits around the sun. Structures within include the ‘Samrat Yantra’ (the world’s largest sundial), the ‘Hindu Chhatri’, the ‘Jaiprakash Yantra’ and various geometric structures with astronomical devices to probe the ‘universe’.
93
[38] [39] [40] – The group of large, modern-looking masonry structures are astronomical instruments capable of measuring local time to an accuracy of a few seconds; the sun’s declination, azimuth, and altitude; the declination of fixed stars and planets; and predicting solar eclipses.
With the established supremacy of reason, architecture becomes our means to understand the concepts that obsess us. We find eloquent examples of our capability of rationalising and our understanding of measure and geometry. Cosmic instruments of architectural scale continue to appeal to our imagination through their finesse and formal articulation even though they resist comprehension. Architecture becomes a tool subservient to the attempts to understand and make sense of the cosmos. And in this attempt, the design continues to appeal to our imagination long after serving its purpose.
[ 38 ]
[ 39 ]
[ 40 ]
Fatehpur Sikri Rajput
Sultanate
Sena
Pala
Yadava
Chalukya
Hoysala
Kakatiya
1000
1100
1200
1300
Sikh
Mughal Bahamani
Mewar & Marwar Portuguese
Vijayanagar
Chola 900
Jantar Mantar, Jaipur
1400
Dutch
North British French
South
Mysore 1500
Expanding Mughal Empire under Akbar. Mughal Architecture.
1600
1700
1800
Deccan
1900
Advent of Reason and Rationality. Rajputs under Sawai Jai Singh in Rajasthan. Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
[41] [42] [43] – Designed with a deliberate symmetry in form and layout, British Administrative Buildings like the Government House in Pondicherry, Mumbai University, the Asiatic Society building and the Military Secretariat, Kolkata incorporate typical colonial features of superimposed arcaded loggias and classical articulations with the mannerisms of 18th century Europe.
94
The two British forts - Fort William in Kolkata and Fort St George in Chennai are built in the shape of irregular octagons. In Kolkata, five sides of the fort face landward, and three of them face the Hooghly River. The star fort has six gates, and is surrounded by a dry moat 9m deep and 15m broad.
We live in a land of ideological confluence.
[ 41 ]
With colonisation, we are introduced to the classical concepts of order, proportion, embellishment and notions of visual harmony and aesthetics. Ideas of symmetry, hierarchy and sequencing of form and space relate to the way an inquisitive eye travels.
[ 42 ]
While perceptions of quality and experience are rationalised into aesthetics and impression, architecture is analysed in the parameters of measure, size, shape, form, and the relationships therein.
[ 43 ]
Mauryan
Shunga
Kushan
Gupta Vakataka
-200
-100
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
0
Pratihar Rashtrakuta
Chalukya Pallava
Satvahana
-3300
Harsha
Pandya 100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
95
Geometry and scale is engaged in expressing supremacy, dominance, strategic interests and the politics of space.
[44] – The central administrative area of the city, Lutyen’s Delhi comprises of government and administrative buildings along a linear axis. At its heart, is the impressive Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Rajpath connects India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan, while Janpath, which crosses it at a right angle, connecting South End Road with Connaught Place. [45] [46] – Other buildings in the vicinity include the Secretariat Building, the Parliament House and other buildings such as the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals.
[ 44 ]
[ 45 ]
Architectural order can substantiate statements of power. And thus, the fundamentals of organisation – axis, symmetry, hierarchy, rhythm and variation become elements of an imposed order. Intended to be unnatural, uncanny and alienating, an understanding of visual dominance, formal supremacy and spatial imposition enables communication of potent social and political statements. The meaning continues to linger long after the departure of the very forces that imposed it. Through order, we realise the potential of architecture to communicate intent.
[ 46 ] Administrative Colonial Buildings, New Delhi Fort William, Kolkata; Fort St George, Chennai Rajput
Sultanate
Sena
Pala
Yadava
Chalukya
Hoysala
Kakatiya
900
1000
Mughal Bahamani Portuguese
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
Dutch Mysore 1700
Deccan
French
1800
British, French & Dutch Colonies in India. Early Colonial Architecture.
North British
Maratha
Vijayanagar
Chola
Lutyen’s Delhi, New Delhi Sikh
South 1900 British Raj in India. Delhi Order.
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
96
The architecture of our subcontinent has an intuitive grasp of the possible. In our context, we find fine examples of articulation of space and form: ideas of physical – structure, shape, volume, material and ideas of the experiential – light, temperature, texture, ambience and atmosphere. Architecture makes magnanimous statements – on one hand, while it distinguishes the domains of everyday life and acts as an embodiment of those distinctions, on the other, it unifies opposites in fine compound of space and activity.
Though powerful examples of this understanding are few and far apart in our contemporary architecture, we respond with immediate recognition and pleasure when we encounter one. Although our forms and means are modern and advanced, our architecture can be enriched through an understanding and assimilations of the principles of order.
Great examples of singularity and multiplicity are balanced impeccably in the composition of elements. At times, forms are structured to represent the realms of the sacred while at times spaces are organised for the banal and the profane. The architecture of India is a result of fine juxtapositions of ideas. Our built realm is sensitive to our realities with different intensities of response. Our environs reflect and represent our milieu constantly negotiating its prominence, role and contribution to the social, economic, political and symbolic realities of its context. Embedded within many historical layers, there is a conceptual continuity. The architecture through our history presents us with powerful compositions of form and space. These compositions have an underlying pattern of physical, perceptual and conceptual paradigms that remain in constant continuity. Our comprehension of the structured and the organic is manipulated by concepts like the axis, the symmetry, the hierarchy, the rule and the exception. At an experiential level, we refer to our built atmosphere with attributes like enclosure, movement, sequence and configuration. Issues of comfort, security, meaning and delight are intrinsic to our reading of architecture. This column is an attempt to decipher and understand the ideas and elements that are sacrosanct to the architecture of India. [A] The Great Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh [B] Bagh Caves, Madhya Pradesh [C] Dharmarajika Monastery of Taxila, Pakistan [D] Ghateshvara Temple, Rajasthan [E] Khandariya Temple, Madhya Pradesh [F] Daitya Sudama Temple, Maharashtra [G] Mahadeva Temple, Karnataka [H] The Sun Temple at Modhera, Gujarat [I] Chennakesava Temple, Karnataka [J] Meenakshi Amman Temple, Tamil Nadu [K] Qutb Minar & Complex, New Delhi [L] Jama Masjid, Gujarat [M] Gol Gumbaz, Karnataka [N] Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi [O] Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh [P] Jantar Mantar, Rajasthan [Q] Government House, Pondicherry [R] Military Secretariat, West Bengal [S] Mumbai University, Maharashtra [T] The Asiatic Society Library, Maharashtra [U] Fort William, West Bengal [V] Lutyen’s Delhi, New Delhi
C
K,N,V O P D H
L
E
A B
R
U
F S,T M G Q
I Authors: Ruturaj Parikh, Shalmali Wagle Drawing Reproductions: Ruturaj Parikh
J
References (Data & Drawings): The History of Architecture In India (Christopher Tadgell), Indian City in the Arid West (Kulbhushan Jain, Minakshi Jain), Thematic Space in Indian Architecture (Kulbhushan Jain), Vistara: The Architecture of India (Catalogue: Festivals of India), Architecture: Conceptual to the Manifest (Kulbhushan Jain). Photographs: IA&B Archives, Various Contributors, Wikimedia Commons. Satellite Images: Google Earth Archival References: C E P T, Ahmedabad; KRVIA, Mumbai; Canterbury School of Architecture, UK; Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi The images, drawings and references in this column are representational only. All drawings are to proportion, not to scale and conceptual reproductions only. The timeline at the bottom of each page is only approximate.
Indian Architect & Builder - September 2013
September 2013: The Uncanny Presence of Development Indian Architect & Builder Magazine
Space Frames investigates issues of architecture and environment through the medium of photography. To contribute, write to us at iabedt@jasubhai.com or to the curator Dr Mathew at dr.djmathew@gmail.com.
Dinesh Abiram Dinesh Abiram was born in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu in 1985. He is a photographer based out of Bengaluru, India. With a bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication, he has worked with various advertising agencies, and magazines before becoming a full time photographer. As a practicing photographer for five years, his interests lie in long-term architectural projects, and documenting typologies. He is especially interested in understanding how changing communities affect the spaces they live in. Dinesh Abiram is currently pursuing his masters in Photography from the National Institute of Design in Gujarat, India.
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