Club Mahindra valley resort, Binsar
Architecture, like civilization, is dynamic and evolving. While exciting architecture is being built all over the world and thus expanding the vocabulary of contemporary architecture, we architects in India have to find our balance in design enabling us to be part of the new and creative experiments ahead as well as be part of what has gone before. We work in a world of computer aided design with its digital design technology. We need to include all new creative ideas in our practices. ‘Creativity’ flourishes when new ways of looking at the same problem are brought together, when people with different backgrounds, training and experiences bring together their perspectives. There must be very few countries in the world where architects have such varied challenges as we have in South Asia today. Our involvement ranges from up gradation of slums to large corporate and public buildings, from low income housing to the restoration of magnificent vernacular and colonial buildings. We are hi-tech professionals but also bare-foot architects. South Asia has a multiplicity of civilizations. This cultural heritage and our traditions are a source of inspiration to us architects as we attempt to infuse meaning into our work. I am an Indian and all what I am comes from my heritage. It is an intrinsic part of my being and will naturally reflect in my work in many ways. But I do also believe I am a citizen of our world. I believe that an inclusive practice that spans India’s diverse population, be it economic or cultural, provides us architects with great satisfaction. Therefore the motivation for inclusion and diversity should come not only from the desire to create a just society, but also because it leads to better and more powerful creative processes and solutions. The architect’s role is that of guardian, he or she is the conscience of the built and unbuilt environment. The relationship between the built form and the environment continues to be a complex interaction of site, climate, technology and other natural forces, building materials and the human presence. I believe my buildings speak for themselves and I have never believed in their analysis or contorting them to fit into the past for their inspiration. The diversity of my work is what I have enjoyed the most. I have built from the Himalayas to the south of India, from Bengal to Kutch and through the central plains and heart of our country, from Jharkhand to Indore and from
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