The Architecture of Hasmukh C. Patel

The Architecture of

Hasmukh C. Patel Selected Projects 1963–2003 Catherine Desai Bimal Patel

The Architecture of

Hasmukh C. Patel Selected Projects 1963–2003 Hasmukh Patel’s architectural practice spanned the transformative latter decades of the 20th century. Patel navigated the political and economic changes of his time and brought his talents to bear equally on institutional, private and speculative development projects in a way that was rare amongst his contemporaries. He recognised that with every commission, regardless of budget, scale or type, came opportunities to further architecture’s formal, civic and social agendas.

Patel rarely spoke about his approach to design. And yet, each of his projects is a built manifesto, an exploration of how architecture might enrich the lives of India’s modernising citizens. His buildings are the result of profoundly practical deliberations combined with an intuitive appreciation for the power of form and space. They belong to a deep tradition of 20th-century modernist thinking, where the legibility of the architectural diagram is a primary concern.

Included here are 51 of Patel’s buildings, many published for the first time. Each project has been meticulously redrawn from material in Patel’s archive and is accompanied by photographs and text informed by his recollections from practice.

This book is both a tribute to Hasmukh Patel and a contribution to the ongoing documentation of modern Indian architecture, the gathering of a canon of works to inspire and inform the next generation.

With 264 photographs and 150 drawings.

The Architecture of

Hasmukh C. Patel Selected Projects 1963–2003

Catherine Desai Bimal Patel

The Architecture of

Hasmukh C. Patel Selected Projects 1963–2003

Mapin Publishing

First published in India in 2017 by Mapin Publishing 706, Kaivanna, Panchvati, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad-380006, INDIA Simultaneously published in the United States of America in 2017 by Grantha Corporation 77 Daniele Drive, Hidden Meadows, Ocean Township, NJ 07712 E: mapin@mapinpub.com DISTRIBUTORS North America Antique Collectors’ Club T: +1800 252 5231 • F: 413 529 0862 E: sales@antiquecc.com www.accdistribution.com/us United Kingdom and Europe Gazelle Book Services Ltd. T: +44 1 5246 8765 • F: 44 1524 63232 E: sales@gazellebookservices.co.uk www.gazellebookservices.co.uk

Text, Images and Drawings © HCPDPM The project dates in this book are taken from the earliest archival drawings of each building.

All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-93-85360-07-7 (Mapin) ISBN: 978-1-935677-65-9 (Grantha) LCCN: 2016951186 Design: HCP Design, Planning & Management Pvt. Ltd. Copyediting: Vinutha Mallya/Mapin Editorial Proofreading: Neha Manke/Mapin Editorial Production: Gopal Limbad/Mapin Design Studio Production Assistance: Rakesh Manger, Darshit Mori and Himanshu Patel/Mapin Design Studio Printed at Parksons Graphics, Mumbai

Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar Paragon Asia Co. Ltd. T: +66 2877 7755 • F: 66 2468 9636 E: info@paragonasia.com Malaysia Areca Books T: + 604 2610307 E: arecabooks@gmail.com Rest of the World Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd T: +91 79 40 228 228 • F: +91 79 40 228 201 E: mapin@mapinpub.com www.mapinpub.com

On back cover and facing page: Hasmukh Patel, quoted in “Deft Designer” by Miki and Madhavi Desai, Architecture + Design, Vol. II No. 1, Nov–Dec 1985, p.14

“I don’t think I have in mind a particular theory or philosophy that helps me design buildings. The human being is at the centre of my creative efforts. I only believe that my designs must create humane environments that generate vitality and the joy of being. This is the only thing I understand and the only thing I practice.�

Hasmukh Patel

Newman Hall, Ahmedabad, 1963 Front facade

Contents Foreword The Making of a Master Architect: Hasmukh C. Patel Christopher Charles Benninger

11

Introduction The Architecture of Hasmukh Patel Bimal Patel

15

Selected Projects 1. Houses 2. Schools 3. Offices and Mixed-use Developments 4. Row Houses 5. Apartments 6. Hostels 7. Banks 8. Educational Institutions 9. Religious Institutions 10. Theatres and Auditoriums 11. Stadiums 12. Urban Development Essays The Turn at CEPT Rahul Mehrotra in conversation with Catherine Desai

24 62 96 126 148 166 190 228 254 296 314 334

347

Mixed Signals: A Research Mandate Arindam Dutta

355

Purpose and Integrity: The Architectural Practice of Hasmukh C. Patel Bobby Desai

363

Biographical Essay Ismet Khambatta

377

Design Collaborators 383 Bibliography 391 Credits 393 Authors and Contributors 394

St Xavier’s Primary School, Ahmedabad, 1967 Water courtyard

Selected Projects 1963–2003 Houses House for Bhakti and Hasmukh Patel Six Houses for Six Brothers House for Mahendrabhai Patel House for Manibhai Patel and Family House for Indubhai Sheth House for Vinobhai Parikh House for Hussainbhai Barodawala House for Canna and Mukesh Patel

27 44 46 48 50 52 54 56

Schools St. Xavier’s Primary School Diwan Ballubhai School St. Xavier’s Technical Institute St. Xavier’s High School

65 84 86 94

Offices and Mixed-Use Developments Chinubhai Centre & Patang Restaurant 99 H.K. House 108 Chinubhai Towers 110 Medicare 114 Chinubhai Market (Proposed) 116 Gujarat Tourism Bhavan (Proposed) 118 Paritosh Building 120 Commercial Centre (Proposed) 122 Ahmedabad Electricity Company 124 Row Houses Shyamal Row Houses Readers’ Quarters Staff Quarters Maitry Row Houses

129 142 144 146

Apartments Center Point Apartments Puja Abhishek Apartments

151 164

Hostels Sir Sayajirao Hostels Ladies’ Hostel St. Xavier’s Teachers’ Hostel Sardar Patel Institute Hostel

169 178 182 184

Banks Dena Bank State Bank of India Reserve Bank of India

198 212 218

Educational Institutions Reading Centre St. Xavier’s Library (Proposed) Trust Bhavan, Microbiology Laboratory Central Laboratorary Gurunanak Bhavan Bal Bhawan

231 240 244 246 248 250 252

Religious Institutions Newman Hall Medical & Social Welfare Centre Church at Cambay Carmel Convent Hostel

257 282 290 294

Theatres and Auditoriums Usha Theatre Devi Theatre Bhaikaka Bhavan

299 308 310

Stadiums Eden Gardens Stadium International Stadium

317 332

Urban Development Sabarmati River Front Development

337

Dena Bank, Ahmedabad, 1974 Side facade

10

Foreword The Making of a Master Architect: Hasmukh C. Patel Christopher Charles Benninger When Hasmukh C. Patel returned to India from his postgraduate studies at Cornell in 1959 the architectural profession in the subcontinent was just establishing itself as a respected occupation.

The educated public assumed only engineers designed buildings of any magnitude or importance.

To many people architects were foreign artists who created public monuments, capitol complexes and large campuses. Architects were thought to be a whimsical tribe of people whom only princes, governments, and industrialists could afford to engage. In fact, in those days of newly independent India most buildings were indeed laid out and constructed by traditional craftsmen, and anything a bit complicated was given to a civil engineer, who could draft the plans, clear them with local authorities and see that the plans were used to construct buildings in a sturdy and waterproof manner.

Famous foreign architects were, in fact, engaged to create iconic, public buildings and campuses.

In this milieu the newly set up, post-Independence architectural studios had a great deal of leeway as to how they would position and brand themselves. In large cities young architects were looking at the huge mercantile opportunities that building a new nation would offer, and some of the more flamboyant personalities saw a path toward being charismatic gurus, who knew the secret magic of creativity.

Perhaps it was the ethos of hardworking Charotar Patels that moulded Hasmukhbhai’s character, or the demeanour of his engineer father, Chandubhai, who instilled working values into Hasmukhbhai as he visited his father’s construction sites. Cornell University surely helped him put those values into an applicable pattern of thinking. While Cornell was an elite, Ivy League institution, its professional schools of medicine, engineering, hotel management and architecture were very pragmatic in their approaches to serving the public good. Instead of returning from abroad wanting to ape international models, Hasmukhbhai returned with a strong work ethic, a desire to evolve new professional standards and and a drive to employ rational working procedures.

Working with Atmaram Gajjar, an early practitioner of architecture in Ahmedabad, and then facing circumstances wherein he was forced to take over the firm at a young age, surely tempered his character further.

Hasmukhbhai clearly wanted to be a great architect, but he had a vision and a path toward that dream, that was steeped in professional principles and working processes. He saw the meaning of greatness as gifting the entire profession a role model of what an architect should be. He knew the word professional meant to profess values unique to the practice of architecture. Illustrating those values through work, writing down those professional processes, and practising them in a role that would become a model, seemed to be clear objectives that tempered his every move.

Studying his early work one sees threads of ideas and principles that evolved and matured into a sophisticated weave of distinct themes and agendas. It became clear that Hasmukhbhai was not trying to create high drama, attracting attention. It became clear that Hasmukhbhai was not out to establish off-the-shelf templates that could be employed as quick turnover commercial prototypes! On the other hand, he was surely cognisant of being original and of standing on his own feet financially.

11

House for Bhakti and Hasmukh Patel, Ahmedabad, 1966 Master bedroom

12

He was aware of the need to create intricate spaces that stimulate the mind, and he knew the evolution of rational prototypes could lead to the creation of better urban patterns. He had clear ideas of sustainability and of integrating the exteriors and interiors of buildings into holistic environments.

So one can observe a young professional, with a mature mind, who quickly assessed the societal environment he was entering, and drew a personal road map that would navigate him around perilous paths of pitfalls and potential wrong turns. Early on he had a clear vision of how he would serve the community for the public good: he would transform both the charismatic and the mercantile architectural personas into a single persona that was highly committed to professional values, which would become the public label of what a professional architect is.

The seeds of a great architect were sown in his soul! They sprouted and unfolded almost naturally through the application of principles to practice. Through quiet demonstration he created an identity of what professionalism is and means.

One can decipher from Hasmukhbhai’s early work formative elements that have persisted throughout his lifetime as a charter of values and principles. These principles include working within the limits of clients’ briefs, respecting their budgets; devising a practical and contextually appropriate architectural style, expressing an emerging sustainable society; building with local materials, craftspeople and appropriate technologies, while improving the culture of construction; being sensitive to human scale and proportion; integrating exterior landscapes with interior spaces; clearly defining deliverables and schedules and openly monitoring those with all team members; creating spaces that gift user groups new and meaningful emotional experiences, without creating hyperbolic stunts at the cost of clients for his own celebrity status; having clear commitments to a triad of professional contracts between: (a) himself and his clients; (b) himself as a businessman in a hurry, and himself as a creator giving himself time to strive for perfection; (c) and, himself, an architect, with the public at large, seeing his professional responsibilities as working within the public realm. These three “contracts” clearly grounded the way Hasmukhbhai worked, designed, built and lived.

Through his extensive commitment to teaching and institution-building he amplified this model into the public imagination. He grounded this model into the work culture of the students he taught, into the minds of the hundreds of young colleagues who passed through his studio, into the working habits of his contractors, construction managers and into the spirits of those of us who are his friends, observing him over decades. In his own lifetime he has become a celebrity architect and famous professional. He mastered the integration of nature, function, structure, light, space, mechanical equipment and building form to create truly iconic spaces, campuses and work places.

His creations are important and remarkably beautiful places, yet they do so without blatant attempts yearning to appear in books about great architecture. That was never Hasmukhbhai’s objective. His career has not been about fame or fortune or what is called “signature architecture”. It has been about how you make good cities by getting the small things right, in the urban fabric, that adds up to a greater whole. In today’s context that is the important benchmark in architecture. It is the founding principle of regional modernism in India.

13

St. Xavier’s Primary School, Ahmedabad, 1967 Courtyard adjoining the multi-purpose hall

14

Introduction The Architecture of Hasmukh Patel Bimal Patel

Hasmukh Patel’s architectural practice spanned four decades, from the early 1960s to the mid-2000s.

During this period, he designed over 300 buildings of many types: private bungalows, theatres, speculative office buildings, apartments, banks, schools, religious buildings, factories and many others. Many of his buildings are well known and deeply admired, and Patel’s architecture is widely acknowledged to have helped define modern architecture in post-Independence India.

This book presents 51 of Patel’s most significant projects. The drawings, photographs, project descriptions, contextual information, essays and his own recollections are intended, first of all, to provide a record of this work. They also help elucidate his architectural style, situate his work in the social and economic context in which it was produced, and assist in interpreting its meanings and significance.

Patel did not often speak about his architectural philosophy. When he did speak, he preferred to focus on how his buildings pragmatically solved the practical problems that client requirements or the technicalities of building construction posed. Perhaps as a consequence of this, he is admired first and foremost as a conscientious and skilful professional, and his architecture is applauded for being deeply pragmatic and well constructed. As the projects presented here show, Patel relished exploring how the many programmatic and technological challenges that his widely differing projects posed to him could be creatively, deftly and economically tackled. In his designs he explored how, by providing the right facilities and appropriate layouts, traditional Gujarati families could be made comfortable in their new modern houses. In his banks and office buildings he explored how they could be functionally and logically organised, how the movement of people within them could be made most efficient and their layouts most coherent, and how the use of space could be best economised.

When designing mixed-use developments for real estate developers, he explored how newly emergent needs for commercial and retail spaces could be met in a functional and commercially viable manner. In his row houses and apartments, he explored how developers could supply comfortable housing that met the aspirational needs of middle-class households at an affordable cost.

In all his projects, he kept in mind how good construction, climatically correct building orientation, adequate natural light and ventilation and other such features could be used to make buildings comfortable and economical. Skillful resolution of practical problems was at the heart of Patel’s architectural endeavour.

Patel rarely, if ever, discussed his aesthetic quest or his architectural style. Yet, his designs, besides being explorations in pragmatic problem solving, were also investigations in aesthetics and style.

They explored how complex programmatic requirements could be cleverly met by plans that were strikingly clear, highly rational, aesthetically spare and geometrically elegant diagrams. They investigated how form, proportion, placement, colour and other such devices could be used to make the austere and abstract language of modern architecture intuitively understandable and aesthetically pleasing. Like many architects of his generation, Patel was highly committed to the rationalism and 15

Hasmukh Patel and Jayant Gunjaria at work in the 1970s

16

abstraction of modern architecture and preferred to stay away from the use of vernacular idioms.

They all seemed to want to develop a locally rooted but secular, universal, modern and internationally recognisable architectural lingua franca that could replace the many historical, vernacular or formal architectural languages of India’s numerous aesthetically insular communities. And, as the projects presented here show, his designs were a major contribution in this direction. Patel’s designs also explored how architectural features such as double height spaces or verandahs, or art, could enrich life in his buildings. When designing public buildings, he attempted to expand the public realm by providing publicly accessible plazas and many community facilities in his buildings.

Regardless of whether resources were ample or constrained, or, whether he faced unforgiving commercial considerations or enjoyed the freedom that typical public sector commissions of that time allowed, formal rigour and restrained aesthetic play remained the mainstays of his architecture. Patel’s unspoken commitment to architecture’s formal and civic ambitions was central to his work.

Patel also never articulated his social or political philosophy. Even now, when he looks back, he does not speak of his work in such terms. Yet, when one views his body of work it is clear that his practice was undergirded by a strong social commitment and guided by a clear mission—that of helping people in India’s emerging middle class to invent a new, modern, cosmopolitan, urban way of life. His practice was not a boutique pursuit and his architecture was not meant to enhance elite pleasures. Neither was architecture, for him, an indulgent, self-absorbed artistic pursuit. It was also not an instrument of state policy meant to aggrandise the state and to further its cultural or political missions. As the projects presented here show, Patel’s architecture was an enthusiastic and empathetic response to the needs of the gradually prospering, urbanising and modernising middlecaste and middle-class Indians. These were people like him, who came from a background similar to his. Often, they were first-generation city dwellers, people who had experienced hard or harsh living conditions. Patel’s architecture was a part of the project of gradually transforming India to be a more comfortable, secure, industrial, modern, secular and confident society. Almost all his projects dealt with enriching life for them: their houses, row houses and apartments; their schools; and the places where they would work, shop, entertain and relax. It is perhaps this aspect of his practice that makes it particularly relevant to the architectural profession in India today as it continues to grapple with the urgent and important problem of inventing a new way of life for millions of people who are moving into cities.

The modernising zeal implicit in the social and political orientation of Patel’s practice went hand in hand with his enthusiasm for technology. He viewed technology as a force for good. It could liberate people from drudgery and discomfort and therefore it was a force to be harnessed for solving problems and enriching life. He was not averse to letting technology lead architectural decisionmaking. Many of his projects explored the use of new technologies such as precast concrete, slipform construction, advanced theatre projection systems, advanced acoustic systems and space frames.

However, the advancements in technology that his projects explored were made in the context of India’s considerable technological backwardness. The problem of technological backwardness was compounded, throughout a large period of his practice, by the government’s autarchic trade polices 17

and India’s stagnating growth, which practically halted the technological development of India’s construction industry. One can only wonder what turn Patel’s architecture would have taken had the context in which he practiced been more favourable for technological advancement.

Because of his social and political orientation, Patel’s practice was also not narrowly dependent on elite or state patronage and it successfully weathered many shifts in India’s political economy. When the practice commenced in the early ’60s the fervour of building a new nation was still palpable, and India was bubbling with innovations and open to new ideas, trade and technology from across the world. Like many architects of his generation, Patel was able to find sophisticated clients with international outlook. But he also relished working on commissions for clients who required small additions and alterations, small houses and offices, sheds and factories, and the like. This was just as well since, soon after this period, for almost two decades, the Indian government attempted to tightly regulate the economy and control it through public investments. This was a period of debilitating economic and technological stagnation and commissions from the public sector began to dominate the building industry. Though Patel obtained some important commissions among them, his practice never overly depended on them. He continued to build many different types of buildings—houses, offices, guesthouses, religious facilities, theatres, schools, industrial buildings and so on—for a wide range of small entrepreneurs and institutions.

When liberalisation silently and unofficially commenced in the early 1980s, real estate development came to the fore as the primary way of organising building production. Commissions for designing real estate projects came to dominate the building world. Unlike many architects who high-mindedly refused to engage with this new mode of building production, Patel enthusiastically tackled many real estate projects. He seemed to realise that by working with developers, architects could extend the reach of design to improve the lives of middle-class Indians.

From the mid ’90s onwards, the sweeping changes unleashed by explicit and official liberalisation of the Indian economy began rapidly transforming and modernising the world of building and architecture. Patel’s practice quickly adapted to this shift as well. Through the four decades that he was active, Patel not only successfully navigated the challenges that the many shifts in India’s political economy posed but he also made good use of the opportunities that they created.

Moreover, all throughout, his practice was steadfastly committed to being relevant to the needs of ordinary Indians.

Architecture gains its power from being replete with ethical meaning, and Patel’s architecture is also rich in this regard. Patel himself never explicitly articulated what his architecture’s ethical stance was.

Words were simply not his currency. He believed that words, too often, were used to deceive—he mistrusted them. He also did not have a way with them. As a consequence, he refused to interpret his architecture for others and preferred that his practice and buildings do the talking. Nonetheless, it is certain that he was acutely aware that aesthetic decisions are simultaneously ethical decisions, and he was clear about the ethic he wanted his architecture to silently promote. We know this from those who worked with him and to whom he often justified his design decisions. The description 18

that accompanies the design of his house, attempts to decipher this ethical stance. The ethical stance embedded in his style, it seems to me, is all about finding balance—between meanness and profligacy, between reason and passion, between the arrogance of the artist and the self-abnegation of the craftsman, and between the practical and the aesthetic.

Patel obtained his undergraduate degree in architecture from the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda (now Vadodara). The programme he attended was one of the best among the handful of architecture courses available in India during the 1950s. It was located within the Faculty of Technology at the university. The programme provided solid professional training but only limited exposure to new developments in architecture. What expanded Patel’s vision, and inspired him for life, was the graduate education he received at Cornell University in the United States, and the buildings of many modern masters that he visited across America and Europe after completing his studies. Despite his fascination with the work of modern masters, such as Mies, Gropius and Saarinen, he did not apprentice with any of them. Temperamentally, he was averse to submitting himself as a disciple to a guru and was eager to return to India and apply what he had learnt. As a consequence, as his projects show, he developed his own architectural style, very much modern but also uniquely his own. He also never presented himself as a guru nor spoke of architecture as if it were a mysterious or mystical art. Instead, as his words, quoted at various places in this book, make clear, he talked of it as a practical art that could be learned and effectively taught.

Patel started teaching architecture soon after he retuned to the India. He first taught at his alma mater in Baroda. Later, in the early ’60s he was invited to teach at the newly established School of Architecture in Ahmedabad. In 1972, he was appointed its Director and he headed the school until 1982. Between 1978 and 1983 he also led the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), the entity that then included the School of Architecture and the School of Planning.

During his tenure at CEPT, Patel was instrumental in the establishment of the School of Building Science and Technology. Clearly, he understood that the creation of meaningful environments does not stop at designing them well but extends into building and managing them well. Patel was deeply committed to teaching and institution building. He nurtured and inspired many students who admired him as a plainspoken and conscientious professional and a generous and supportive teacher. As Rahul Mehrotra’s observations published in this volume note, Patel’s approach was remarkably open and inclusive. He was able to broaden CEPT’s vistas by opening it to a wider variety of people and ideas.

Patel was able to build a robust practice which continues to thrive. Many features of his philosophy and style, highlighted in Bobby Desai’s essay in the book, enabled him to build such a practice. Patel’s enthusiasm for tackling ordinary problems and his non-ideological approach allowed his practice to have a wide scope, free from dependence on elite clients or the state. His focus on problem solving and his view of architecture as a practical art, subject to norms of efficacy, affordability and efficiency, gave his practice a professional edge. His temperamental reluctance to set himself up as a guru and his willingness to allow his designs to be rationally scrutinised allowed his practice to have a relatively open discursive space, to harness diverse talent and to foster 19

Hasmukh Patel was awarded the Baburao Mhatre Gold Medal by the Indian Institute of Architects in 1998

20

teamwork. In short, his commitment to modern architecture extended to a commitment to building a modern architectural practice.

This book, by Catherine Desai and myself, is structured in two parts. The first, a catalogue of Patel’s architectural oeuvre, presents his most significant projects. The drawings, photographs, archival material and text provide factual, analytical and contextual information about Patel’s work. The text is based on conversations with Hasmukh Patel and visits to many of his buildings. The drawings have been redrawn from archival construction drawings catalogued in Patel’s practice, and most of the photographs have been selected from there. Priyanka Parmar painstakingly coordinated this effort. The essays in the second part of this book explore the many dimensions of Patel’s architecture.

The interview with Rahul Mehrotra outlines the significance of Patel’s architecture for India and throws light on his contribution to architectural education. The essay by Arindam Dutta probes the meanings of Patel’s work and calls for more research to better understand Patel’s work, and, more generally, the work of Patel’s generation of architects. Bobby Desai focuses on how Patel was viewed by his collaborators and how his practice evolved. Ismet Khambatta’s biographical sketch of Patel reviews Hasmukh Patel’s journey in life.

This book is of course a tribute to Hasmukh Patel and his architecture. For me, his son and lifelong student, it is particularly so. But that is not all. The book is also compiled with the intention to nourish the architectural profession in India. For a profession to flourish, its practitioners must see themselves as bearers of a tradition. They must also have recourse to a canon of works that they can hold in high esteem and that can inspire them to excel. Teachers of architecture must be able to use examples of significant works in their teaching. In today’s interconnected world, our canon has to include works from across the world; our frame of reference cannot be simply local. But, if it is to have resonance and be truly useful, it cannot also be entirely foreign. It must include exemplary works that are rooted in the local cultural, social and economic context. Indian architects have to be able to see and be inspired by how the best amongst them have dealt with issues that they themselves face in their works. Without such examples, it is impossible to teach architecture, build a professional tradition and to excel in its context. Unfortunately, in India, despite there being many great works

by Indian architects from the recent past, we are yet to document, research and publish enough to provide adequate materials for teachers to use, and for the profession to be nourished by. This book, then, is not just a tribute to Hasmukh Patel, it is also a contribution to the nourishment of Indian architecture.

21

Selected Projects

1963–2003

1 | HOUSES Ahmedabad’s domestic architecture was transformed in the 20th century as industrialisation led to rapid growth in the city’s population and its wealth.

and modernity. The houses, while built in the modern language of his generation, incorporate many features which facilitated the habits of Gujarati life. Each has a double height volume, which facilitates the noisy communality of a traditional home; a washbasin placed near the dining area, as Gujaratis—like all Indians —eat with their hands; a well-positioned swing on the verandah and a place to stack mattresses which could easily be pulled out to accommodate live-in guests.

As the expansion of textile mills made the old walled city an increasingly crowded place in which to live, the wealthy mill-owning families began to build new houses on the outskirts.

These families had to confront the problem of designing stand-alone homes that met their needs and taste, helped establish their social status and made sense in the climate of Ahmedabad. They initially built in the prevalent colonial style, but as independence from colonial rule approached, tastes began to change. By the 1950s, modern houses were under construction in the city. Amongst these were the houses designed by Le Corbusier for the Sarabhai and Shodhan families.

Patel also understood the climate and this knowledge influenced the development of his modern architectural language and detailing.

A house in Gujarat needed to allow the ingress of shade rather than of light. Patel’s verandahs are invariably deep and have exaggeratedly low ceilings; the windows of his houses are narrow and sharply recessed. These details remained constant even as he explored the variety of formal and organisational strategies illustrated on the following pages.

By the time Hasmukh Patel commenced practice in the early 1960s, middle-class families had also begun to move out of the walled city and to migrate to Ahmedabad from other places.

They formed cooperative housing societies and built housing colonies in Ahmedabad’s suburbs.

Patel’s generation of architects was the first to confront the problems and opportunities of building houses for these middle-class families.

When Hasmukh Patel set up practice in Ahmedabad, the unadorned materials and modern language of his architecture resonated with the prevailing Gandhian values of the city, which celebrated austerity and looked down upon ostentatious displays of wealth. This happy alignment, together with his understanding of the culture and climate, allowed Patel to create houses which are gems of modernist architecture of a uniquely Indian kind.

Patel was particularly successful at meeting the needs and aspirations of these new clients.

This was a time when “being modern” was as important for many middle-class families as it was for the industrialists. Patel had a deep, empathetic understanding of both, the desire to modernise and the anxieties that this process generated. This knowledge was born of personal experience and he brought it to bear on all of his private houses, creating an architectural idiom which effectively bridged tradition 25

On p. 24: House for Bhakti and Hasmukh Patel, Ahmedabad Entrance verandah; Above: The house, seen from the back garden 26

1.1 | House for Bhakti and Hasmukh Patel, Ahmedabad, 1966 (By Bimal Patel, from “Hasmukhbhai and Bhaktiben’s House”, Hasmukh C. Patel, Architect, monograph, 2008)

How should one live in order to live a genuinely good life? What values should one espouse?

What tastes should one cultivate? Philosophers write books to propound their views on these questions. Architects design houses to do the same.

The architecture of my father Hasmukh Patel’s house speaks of his views on these very important questions. I grew up in Hasmukhbhai and Bhaktiben’s house.1 I continue to go there every day for lunch. The lunch that my mother makes for us is delightful and nourishing. But so is the architecture of the house. It continues to educate and nourish me on those most important questions.

My first hazy memories are of the house being constructed on a distant and barren plot surrounded by open fields. I was eight years old. As the house neared completion, Sundays became site visit days. I remember sitting and watching the carpenters at work on the dark and hard rosewood, waiting for my father to finish giving instruction to all the different people at work. The rosewood was a subject of much discussion. The carpenters, while admiring its dark beauty, kept complaining about how hard and difficult it was to work on. It was also an unusually rich and luxurious material—in a fairly modest house.

It was clear from the beginning that this was a “modern” house—unlike conventional houses.

To start with, the choice of exposed brick and fair face concrete on the exterior as well as interior surfaces was an unusual deviation from the plastered norm. The space planning

confounded many—particularly my paternal grandfather. He was a civil engineer who had worked with many architects and supervised the construction of many buildings and houses.

But he simply couldn’t understand how we were going to live in a house that lacked a proper living room or a dining room. Instead, there was this large double height space in the middle of the house with a staircase in one corner, a bridge spanning the width, and the whole space spilling out onto a large verandah. In comparison with this large unwieldy space, the kitchen was absurdly small—just 7 feet wide.

The look of the house from the outside, with its hard lines and interlocking cubic forms added to the unconventional character of the house.

Right from the beginning then, the architecture of our house seemed to proclaim that life was meant to be an open-ended venture—not bound by the confines of tradition but an opportunity to explore and experiment. Once you have decided how you want to live, it seemed to say, don’t worry about what the norm is. But only after you have decided how you want to live! Do not deviate from the norm merely for the sake of it—do so because you have a well-considered and meaningful reason to deviate.

As we watched our father explain the design to visitors, my sister Canna and I understood early that every bit of the architecture was deliberate and considered. Everything had a reason, nothing was done on a whim and almost nothing was left to chance. Very soon, we became adept at explaining the design to visitors or to our father’s prospective clients: how the display tack board next to the dining table was actually a shutter for the crockery cupboard;

1. In the Gujarati language, ‘bhai’ and ‘ben’ are honorifics, used as mark of respect for men and women

how the crockery cupboard was conveniently located right next to the dining table; how backed up to it, and opening onto the verandah, was the gardening cupboard; how it was just the right size to store our old folding chairs; how easy it was to pull out the chairs and put them out in the garden or the verandah; how the swing was positioned to divide the verandah into two unequal parts—one for more intimate sitting and the other for larger groups; how the south facing verandah was well located to catch the southwest breeze; how the low cabinet on the bridge, which had a small library cupboard and laundry store, served as both a railing and a display for painting and prints; how the slightly lowered ceiling of the central hall gave an appropriate scale to that space and gave a clear storey window to bedrooms.

designed simply to appeal to spectators but they were integrally connected with the interiors and designed to make the interior function adequately. The front and back facades were more or less the consequence of how cupboards, alcoves, windows and balconies were arranged within the bedrooms on the first floor—with a view to making them work well from the inside.

The resulting elevation was hardly a spectator’s delight. This, I guess, was the architect’s way of saying: no masks! How others see you is of consequence, but not so important as to compromise the life inside.

The house was designed to make the daily rituals of life pleasurable. The large verandah and the exquisite garden that envelops it (a garden that my mother has lovingly tended for more than forty years now) provide a beautiful setting for morning tea. The pleasant sounds of birds, the fresh morning air, the scents of the garden, and the light of the morning sun allow for a gentle beginning to the day. For many years, summer dinners were in the garden—four of us at a low slatted table with reclining chairs, that made it possible to quietly take in the starry night after dinner. On entering the house, the large glass doors along the length of the living space provide a spectacularly arresting view of the garden—erasing the memory of any outside unpleasantness. The view, gradually altering through the day, also provides a delightful backdrop to the living room and is something to fleetingly acknowledge as one moves around the house. The architecture makes it very clear: weave your pleasures into the ordinary rituals of life and you won’t have to spend your life searching for them high and low.

There was a clear reason for almost every aspect of the design. In fact, there were at least two reasons, and sometimes three. I say two or three because one reason was taken for granted. Every feature of the house had to look beautiful and provide sensuous delight. But taking delight or titillating the senses was never sufficient reason for making a design decision. To make the decision right, there had to be another reason that was anchored in solving some ordinary functional problem; and if there were two such reasons, even better. The architecture of the house clearly rejected wastefulness, extravagance and licentiousness. In its place, it advocated parsimony and prudence. It was not a house to show off with. The front facade looked like the back and both of them were no more elegant than the sides. It was not that the facade had not been carefully designed. In fact, it was clear that they had been carefully ordered. Canna and I were even childishly delighted when a new house in the neighbourhood copied our elevation! But it was also clear that the elevations were not

In so many ways the architecture of the house makes one attentive and mindful of beauty: the view from the dining table, of the myriad 28

Clockwise from top left: The front facade; The deep, low verandah; Scale model 29

shades of the garden’s green; the contrasting boldness of the yellow, red and blue on the walls; the mild breeze on the verandah swing; the gentle warmth of the winter sun soaked in on the verandah after lunch; the paintings and sculptures that enrich the walls (modern, traditional and those made by Canna and myself ); the patch of sky visible from the upstairs bathroom windows; the diffused morning light coming through the clear storey windows; the intricate textures of the many concrete surfaces; the subtle variations in the exposed brickwork and the ever changing light through the central skylight. The architecture also makes one partake in the sublime delight of geometry. The realisation that the dining bay is exactly three fourths of the living room bay, that the width of the bedrooms is exactly four times the width of the bridge bay, that the rhythm of the aluminium strips in the flooring unfailingly aligns with the measure of the structure, that the shuttering pattern in the concrete is rigorously ordered, all subtly enchant the intellect. “Be subtly appreciative and mindful of beauty and the delights of geometry,” the architecture seems to be saying, for it is central to a life lived well.

element and so does the bridge. Likewise, each of the rooms, large or small, is an integral space. None loses its identity or integrity when assembled together as a house. This aesthetic strategy too echoes an ethical imperative: a part should not be required to subsume its identity to the whole. Any organisation of people—be it as large as a nation or as small as a family— shines all the better if all the individuals in it are able to retain their identity and integrity.

A few years ago, for the first time in his life, my father was forced to stay at home for almost four months because of his health. Never comfortable being idle, his way of recuperating was to renovate the house and to improve it.

By altering the design of the doors between the living room and the verandah and adding more glass shutters, he has now made it possible for us to enjoy the entire stunning vista of the garden throughout the day. It has made the house more beautiful. The long stay at home also gave him time to rethink some aspects of the design and to look at how the house should adapt to changed circumstances. When he could no longer climb to his bedroom on the first floor, he added a studio to the little bedroom on the ground floor which he had started to use as his own. The studio has a verandah and view of the garden. It is a delightful room for him to paint in and, architecturally, a perfect addition.

Anyone who has tried his hand at graphic composition or tried to put a sculptural object together will immediately realise that the formal structure of the architecture has been put together very skillfuly. All the surfaces and forms appear well ordered and deliberately composed. Moreover, individual elements in all the compositions clearly retain their identity and integrity. Take for example, any internal wall; each is a Mondrianesque composition of architectural elements—walls, windows, doors, columns, beams, partitions, and so on. Or take for example, the manner in which the staircase joins the bridge; connected though they are, the stair stands apart as an independent architectural

Anyone who does not know that it was added later would think that the studio was always a part of the house. It is also testimony to the fact that Hasmukhbhai has never made a fetish of design and architecture. When something no longer serves its purpose well, it should be suitably modified. Hasmukhbhai’s views on how one should live, in order to live a genuinely good life, are eloquently expressed in his house.

I continue to be educated by its architecture.

30

Contemporary photographs, clockwise from top left: View from the garden; Dining area; Living room from the entrance 31

mt 0 ft 0

32

2 5

5 15

10

11 13 12 9

14

12

12

11

10

10

F

8 8

3 6

4

2

7

5 1

G mt 0 ft 0

2 5

Basement plan not shown | Ground Floor 1.Entrance 2.Living 3.Dining 4.Kitchen 5.Store 6.Studio (added later) 7.Toilet 8.Verandah First Floor 9.Bridge 10.Bedroom 11.Dress 12.Toilet 13.Utility 14.Terrace

33

5 15

Previous pages: Rear facade at dusk; Hasmukh Patel descending the staircase to the living area; Above: View across living area to the verandah and garden beyond 38

Catherine Outram Desai received a Bachelor of Architecture with honours from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. She has practised in Australia, India and the UK, working on both new and heritage listed buildings. Catherine first visited India to study the country’s modern buildings in the early 1990s and has continued her research with frequent visits.

Her knowledge of modern Indian architecture encompasses both well-known and less visited work, and she is an advocate for the preservation of India’s modern architectural heritage.

ARCHITECTURE

The Architecture of Hasmukh C. Patel

Bimal Patel is an architect, urban planner and academic. He is President of CEPT University and heads HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt. Ltd. Patel received a Diploma in Architecture from the School of Architecture, CEPT, Ahmedabad. He also received a dual Master’s in City Planning and Architecture and a Doctorate in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include land-use planning and management, real estate markets and building regulations. His numerous architecture, urban design and planning projects have won many national and international awards.

Selected Projects 1963-2003

Catherine Desai and Bimal Patel

2016 • World Rights

Mapin Publishing www.mapinpub.com

Printed in India

394 pages, 264 b&w photographs, 150 b&w drawings 8.74 x 10.63” (222 x 270 mm), hc ISBN: 9789385360077 (Mapin) ISBN: 9781935677659 (Grantha) ₹4500 | $70 | £55

“I don’t think I have in mind a particular theory or philosophy that helps me design buildings. The human being is at the centre of my creative efforts. I only believe that my designs must create humane environments that generate vitality and the joy of being. This is the only thing I understand and the only thing I practice.�

Hasmukh Patel