STIR Publication - mondo*arc india issue#19

An Indian Sthapati has to be a YOGI He must feel the vibrations in the cosmos including the materials and user of that place - Doshi

FRONT COVER specially conceived and drawn for mondo*arc india by Balkrishna V Doshi, 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate

3

rd

Anniversary Issue

the artistic narrative of design IDEA & THE PRACTICE SKETCH & THE ARCHITECT NOTEBOOK & THE COLLECTION

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FIND INSIDE

018 Director’s Note Amit Gupta 020 Guest Editor’s Note Gautam Bhatia 022 Editor’s Note Mrinalini Ghadiok

024 The Known & Unknown

IDEA & THE PRACTICE

P 026

ISMET KHAMBATTA TDW FURNITURE

P 036 FUMIHIKO MAKI MAKI & ASSOCIATES

The Cover has been derived from a conversation between BV Doshi and mondo*arc india, conceived and drawn exclusively to celebrate the 3rd Anniversary Special Edition.

P 050 Rajeev Kathpalia Vāstu Shilpā Consultants

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P 068 Winy Maas MVRDV 9

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Prof. M Shaheer SHAHEER ASSOCIATES

RAHUL KUMAR Parthiv Shah

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P 060 RAHUL GORE SONAL SANCHETI _OPOLIS

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David Chipperfield David Chipperfield Architects

P 076 Photo Credits 1. Niki Shah 2. Courtesy of Rahul Kumar 3. Courtesy of Parthiv Shah 4, 5, 6. Courtesy of _OPOLIS 7. Courtesy of Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC 8. Courtesy of Shaheer Associates 9. Barbra Verbij 10. Ingrid von Kruse

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FIND INSIDE SKETCH & THE ARCHITECT

P 096 the Architecture Drawing Prize, berlin

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Charles Correa Charles Correa Associates 4

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Sanjay Puri SANJAY PURI ARCHITECTS

Dan Hogman 6 1

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Narinder Sagoo Foster + Partners

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David Chipperfield David Chipperfield Architects Daniel Libeskind Studio Libeskind

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P 118 Shimul Javeri kadri Vaishali shankar SJK architects

P 128 Photo Credits 1. Tay Othman/Dan Hogman 2. Jinita Sagoo 3. Stefan Ruiz 4. Courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation 5. Ingrid von Kruse 6. Mayur Tekchandani 7, 8. Sana Javeri Kadri

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FIND INSIDE SKETCH & THE ARCHITECT

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Abhishek Ray MATRIKA DESIGN COLLABORATIVE

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Dipen Gada Dipen Gada and Associates

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Sumit Ghosh S. GHOSH & ASSOCIATES

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Sandeep Khosla & amaresh anand Khosla Associates

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6 4

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Verendra Wakhloo matra architects Dean D’Cruz MOZAIC

P 134

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Rajeev Kathpalia Vāstu Shilpā Consultants

Manish Gulati M:OFA Studios

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Photo Credits 1. Sudipto Ghosh 2. Dinesh Mehta 3. Darshit Ringwala 4. Courtesy of Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC 5. Courtesy of Dipen Gada and Associates 6. Courtesy of matra architects 7. Shamanth Patil J 8. Unknown

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FIND INSIDE SKETCH & THE ARCHITECT

P 166 P 156

Sameep Padora Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a)

Soumitro Ghosh Nisha Mathew Ghosh Mathew & Ghosh Architects

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SHIRISH BERI SHIRISH BERI & ASSOCIATES

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Shubhrajit Das neeta shubhrajit das associates 8

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Bijoy Ramachandran HUNDREDHANDS

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A G Krishna Menon A G K Menon Associates

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Riyaz Tayyibji Anthill design

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Balkrishna V Doshi Vāstu Shilpā Consultants

NOTEBOOK & THE COLLECTION Photo Credits 1. Courtesy of Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a) 2. Jayaram Raju 3. Pallon Daruwala 4. Mallikarjun Katakol 5. Jon Page 6. Courtesy of Shirish Beri & Associates 7. Courtesy of Riyaz Tayyibji 8. Neeta Das 9. Courtesy of Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC

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FIND INSIDE NOTE BOOK COLLECTION

P 208

Gautam Bhatia 3

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Anant Raje anant raje foundation

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Laurie Baker laurie baker centre for habitat studies

Verendra Wakhloo matra architects

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Narendra Dengle Narendra Dengle and AssociateS

Roger Connah

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Durganand Balsavar ARTES

P 214 Photo Credits 1. Courtesy of Gautam Bhatia 2. Nadezna Connah 3. Courtesy of Gautam Bhatia 4. Courtesy of ARTES 5. Unknown 6. Vidya Dengle 7. Courtesy of matra architects 8. Courtesy of Nachiket Patwardhan

P 224 240 244 245 246 250 252 256 262

Nachiket Patwardhan

P 234

W hen is Space, Jawahar Kala Kendra W here do you see the Beauty Death of Architecture FICCI - Smart Cities Art Cities FOAID, Mumbai Book Listings & Book Review Event Calender mondo*moment

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AMI T G U P TA | DIRECTOR The other side of dreams “Each man should frame life so that at some future hour fact and his dreaming meet,” said Victor Hugo. Do dreams ever meet reality? My daughter at the age of seven wrote, “Dreams can never become reality because if they do, you have stopped dreaming” 20 years ago, in the middle of comfortable corporate careers, a dream made us restless and vis a vis was born. It was conceived as a platform that showcased Indian talent fostering creativity and innovation, enabled collaborations between the talent and the industry, facilitated an exchange of ideas in the realm of architecture and design, within India and internationally.

This was the time of dial-up connections, and social community networks like Facebook or LinkedIn did not exist. We wanted to promote design and design professionals in and from a country that had an inherited tradition of arts and crafts. On one hand, art and craft were one of the powerful contributors to the GDP - a large number of SMEs were surviving on exporting craft-based products. On the other, institutes like NID, NIFT and SPA were producing creative professionals who could further boost the contributions of design to the country’s growth. We could foresee the potential and decided to play catalyst.

We saw how the West capitalized on its design culture; families marking their calendars with museum visits and design festivals. Bilbao, that was once a small town had transformed into a popular destination, all due to a single museum.

Our gallery, the first of its kind, dedicated to architecture and design, aimed to create this opportunity in its humble capacity by curating varied events, conferences, talks and shows, furthering international collaborations to echo ‘India’ on the global circuit.

Twenty years later, it is heartening to see that many such platforms, forums and events are being organized in various parts of the country, and over 30,000 students graduate every year from more than 400 institutes of design and architecture. And yet, India struggles to create its own language of design and put herself on the global map. What next? How does one reach out to a much larger community and a consistently growing design-discerning audience? Is there a differentiator amongst the many platforms that are thinking the same way?

Walter Lippmann an American writer once said, “When all think alike, then no one is thinking.”

During our recent conversation with Pritzker Prize laureate, Mr. B V Doshi, some pertinent questions were raised - what are we doing for the next generation? What part of the world are we making them see? A world driven by markets and full of shortcuts to name, fame and gain or a world that does not exist, but can! “Are we pushing them enough to see the other side?” asks Mr. Doshi.

In our current avatar, STIR is a new way of seeing, thinking, inspiring and reflecting in the format of exhibitions, talks, conferences, dialogues and discourse that ensure larger outreach, wider engagement and deeper involvement. We work towards connecting the great minds of our times - artists, architects and designers with the new generation.

Realizing the dire need for a content-driven publication, STIR launched mondo*arc india 3 years ago. With no experience in publishing, it was pure passion, grit and hard work, supported by contributors from within the Indian and international communities that the magazine has garnered much critical acclaim, and has come to be known today as the ‘well-read design magazine’. Every issue has been born out of an anxiety, curiosity and willingness to bear the pain to deliver what we believe is not just pure design news but content that the community at large can study, acknowledge and collect, even for future reference.

Today we are delighted to present to you our 3rd Anniversary issue that is dedicated to the genesis of an idea - The Artistic Narrative of Design. While this issue of mondo*arc india addresses the beginning, with STIR we look ahead to newer formats for keeping pace with the current digital environment and young talent that is hungry to make a difference - the changing physiological and psychological pattern as well as our own social and geographical relevance.

Thank you for being a part of the STIR world, and watch out for much more as we endeavour to enable creativity and expression for the generations of today and tomorrow.

I can make myself invisible or small.

I can become gigantic and reach the farthest things.

I can change the course of nature.

I can place myself anywhere in space or time.

I can summon the dead.

I can perceive events on other worlds, in my deepest inner mind, and in the minds of others.

I can. I am.

- Power by Jim Morrison Amit Gupta Director - STIR, mondo*arc india, vis a vis, lightandyou.com, Dextra | amit@stirdesign.in

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Gautam B h atia | guest editor Why Drawing?

Today there are two kinds of architectural drawings: messy unreadable working drawings produced on the computer and printer, full of lines, numbers and professional notations drawings that architects make for the building contractor; or presentation drawings - deep shaded houses set in lush landscapes or glass malls and apartment complexes set on wide parking tarmacs, drawings that architects make for their clients. Although both carry similar information, one represents what the client would like to see built, the other, what the contractor actually builds. Drawings to sell an idea and drawings to build the sold idea - the two have come to be viewed as separate entities; and so, perhaps for that very reason, the architectural idea is today rarely compatible with the built reality.

A third type of drawing is often the mediating truth between the two. The hand sketch, the free hand drawing, the scribble of note and idea, is prelude to a construction - the moment of thought and rumination that is often only expressed as a private affair, recorded in notebooks, in private sketchpads and iPads. In the life of architecture, the architect uses many mediums to justify his or her professional actions. If the photograph is a record of built space, the drawing becomes a medium for space yet un-built – a test of things to come, like writing lyrics for a song, yet unsung.

Obviously, through the course of building, in the long span of a career, the architect uses these mediums for private outbursts and sustained reactions so as to give coherence to a mind at play. Too often, the quickness of the application onto paper is itself a sign of the fleeting irretrievability of imaginative thought. Drawing is essential play before any serious work can begin. The architect knows that the final resolution of building is too detailed and structured a task to be conceived wholesale in a single leap; therefore, the process takes laboured steps towards that singular goal.

Drawing and architecture however do not always have an easy correlation. Not all great architects produce interesting drawings. Conversely, not all good drawings produce great architecture. Piranesi was a great architect; he sketched a prodigious and endless folio of imaginative Roman drawings, but built few buildings; Laurie Baker on the other hand, took up a pencil only to define a simple method to construct, nothing else - often doing a quick drawing while being driven to a building site; then, once instruction had been given, forgetting the sketch under a brick on the site. Only the architect could tell the difference between a drawing used as a tool of the trade and drawing intended as a work of art. Still, that the drawing is the most potent form of architectural communication, would not be disputed by either Piranesi or Baker.

The liberating aspect of drawing is in fact its most valuable attribute. Architectural drawing without the explicit purpose of construction may be irrelevant in real terms, but it does achieve a critical end: setting our sights on oblique and un-tested ideas, even kindling the hope that one day architecture may tell a wholly different story. Drawing was once an instrument of faith; its power to unleash on paper the fertile terrain of the mind was not held in quiet reserve to be extracted and placed in the open at will. No, instead it produced in its makers maniacal urges and dependencies. The need to draw was a basic instinct, kept alive through continual practice. Vast historical repositories on reams of parchment still exist in museums throughout the world. Like surgery, drawing skill required sustained application – a daily chore of time, patience, chalk, charcoal and paper yardage, in a continual overlay of lines, smudges and ideas. 16th century Italy for example had no explicit need for a flying machine, yet Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings for his model came from his own mental mappings. Similarly, a glass dome over New York City was one of Buckminster Fuller’s many farfetched ideas that predicted something of the ecological problems he foresaw in the place. Both were ahead of their time. Having achieved some notoriety in official circles for their inventiveness, and a social label that varied from genius to crank, both enjoyed immunity from the conventions of the time.

Sadly, today architecture has become an automated brain-wash that neatly cleanses the conceived idea into a private package – a package that emerges sparkling and sanitized on the site. In a visually descriptive profession the need for the canvas to reveal more than mere final product is a heavy burden that falls squarely on drawing. Obviously the exploratory nature of drawing only emerges from a break with conventional architecture practice itself. This is not to deride the serious practicality and intent of the eventual construction as irrelevant, but to seek the storyline of its unformed memory – a narrative that begins in some imprecise forgotten layer in the mind, and communicates through the hand in piece-meal ways: the early pencil sketch studies that translate into the building of a recreation complex, the pen and ink series that transform into a factory, or another that is rejected outright; yet another that develops into formless fantasy. Subjects can spring anywhere from realism to private paranoia, to grappling with a farsighted idea at the remote edges of possibility.

Gautam Bhatia www.gautambhatia.com

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M r inalini G h adio k | editor 3 is the first number to signify a ‘whole’, one that has a beginning, middle and end. As the Triad, it holds the universal power of heaven, earth and water, and as human, that of the body, spirit and soul. Therefore, 3 is a significant milestone. mondo*arc india turns 3 with this issue! And to celebrate this benchmark, we couldn’t but include the body, spirit and soul of architecture, represented through an ‘Artistic Narrative of Design’. While the body and spirit of the issue were conceived in-house, the soul was injected by our very special Guest-Editor, eminent architect, author, artist and one who manages so effortlessly to teeter satire with insight, Gautam Bhatia.

Reminiscing the ‘beginning’ we went back to the drawing board (literally) to evaluate the inception of ideas and how they are translated into experiential modalities. Bhatia thus classified the intention of drawing into 3 broad avenues – Idea & The Practice, Sketch & The Architect, Notebook & The Collection, through which we showcase a series of on-going and completed projects, working concepts and unrealised ideas, as well as leaves from the personal sketchbooks of designers who have chronicled passing thoughts, scribbled whims and articulated sometimes a collective memory, or even projected endeavours.

While concept sketches of Fumihiko Maki take shape of the Bihar Museum, hieroglyphic reinterpretations translate into a meticulously designed Nalanda University by Vāstu Shilpā Consultants, and 10 extensive years of work by Prof. Shaheer blossoms into the Sunder Nursery, MVRDV fast tracks their construction to deliver the spectacular Tianjin Binhai Library, draped in dreamy layers of creamy white.

A building is born when the nib of a pencil first touches paper. The thought that once formed precedence in the mind is manifested in a series of lines, dots or dashes. This is the beginning of the evolution from the construct of an idea to the idea constructed. Addressing the premise, we bring to you the works of international and Indian architects such as David Chipperfield, Charles Correa, Narinder Sagoo (Foster + Partners), Shirish Beri, Dean D’Cruz, Shimul Javeri, Sanjay Puri, Sandeep Khosla and many more, who share their transformative processes through sketches, drawings and diagrams, illustrating in-depth analysis, persistent inquiry and detailed reasoning to offer unique experiences.

However, the conversation between the mind and paper, the thought and its manifestation is presented through a series of hand-drawn ‘artworks’ – some casual, others deliberate, some textual, others abstract – but all expressions of a design oriented mind. Turning the pages you will find instances from the archives of Laurie Baker, Anant Raje, Gautam Bhatia and even Balkrishna V Doshi.

This issue of course would have been incomplete without the venerable, spirited and most inspirational BV Doshi – we extend our heartiest congratulations to him for the immense honour of bringing home the 2018 Pritzker Prize. Having had a chance to visit him at Sangath and immerse ourselves in thought-provoking conversation, we parted with the greatest gift we could ever had sought – an exclusive sketch for the cover of the 3rd Anniversary issue of mondo*arc india!

When one collaborates with the brilliance and intrigue of Bhatia, works with of over 40 designers from the world over, and is honoured with a personal note from the legendary BV Doshi, the soul, body and spirit meld into the celebration of a milestone that is the 3rd Anniversary Special Edition. And yet I can not help but quote Rose Kennedy here, “Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments;” and we hope you cherish these moments as we have in bringing them to you.

Mrinalini Ghadiok

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BETWEEN THE KNOWN & UNKNOWN Mrinalini Ghadiok and Amit Gupta of mondo*arc india in conversation with the 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna V Doshi

“We are always talking about the world, which we don’t have, because the other world has no market. When are we going to touch the other side - that is the concern of the 50 years of my work.” – Balkrishna V Doshi

Pics: Kavan Solanki

A warm April afternoon saw us approaching Sangath, a most welcoming respite from sunsoaked and construction-laden Ahmedabad.

The iconic vaulted structure peered cheerily from behind verdant foliage as soft music filled the air. We made our way to meet the most venerable and admired architects of our time – Dr. BV Doshi.

Over two hours later, as we made our way back up the pebbled pathway, the arched construction offered a different view – one not only of iconic imagery but a glimpse of the treasure it held, the expertise it housed and the story it unfolded.

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“We celebrate childbirth, but do we realise that before that there is pain, and before that there is anxiety, of different levels and kinds…So we need to look not only at the visible, but also look at the voice that is low, which is hardly ever heard.”

– Balkrishna V Doshi

Our conversation with Dr. Doshi was enlightening on many levels – of architecture, creation, movement and conviction. It was animated and lively, yet deliberate and intriguing. It meandered through spontaneity but most definitely dwelled on the imperative.

The most enthralling was that it provoked an underlying intention to explore ‘the other side’.

While we left with the hope to explore the chasm that we so comfortably straddle and engage more with the unexplored, Dr. Doshi took pen to paper to express the dawning of this debate.

The cover of this issue was a manifestation of this conversation; a conversation that has not only led to deeper thought but in a manner, ingrained in our conscience the need for reflection, attention and anticipation of greater architecture.

We congratulate Dr. Doshi for being conferred the 2018 Pritzker Prize, but also thank him for his incredible insight and being an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Mrinalini Ghadiok (Editor, mondo*arc india), Balkrishna V Doshi (2018 Pritzker Prize laureate and Director, Vāstu Shilpā Consultants), Rajeev Kathpalia (Director, Vāstu Shilpā Consultants), Amit Gupta (Director, STIR Design and mondo*arc india)

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tribute / HASMUKH c PATEL

IN MEMORY OF HASMUKH c PATEL 07 December 1933 – 20 January 2018

Pic: Courtesy of HCP

Architect and educator Hasmukh C Patel passed away in Ahmedabad, on the 20th of January 2018, at the age of 84 years.

His story is the story of a generation of professionals who grew up in the midst of the independence struggle and who dreamt of a modern and progressive India.

Patel was born in a village in rural Gujarat, grew up in the inner city lanes of Vadodara and Ahmedabad and studied architecture at M.S. University (Vadodara), at a time when there were only two schools of architecture in the country. His father, who had studied civil engineering (a rarity in those days) and ran a small construction company in Vadodara, was keen that Patel study architecture and earn a post-graduate degree. He graduated with a Masters in Architecture from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York in 1959.

This early emphasis on education and the realization that it has the power to transform people’s lives is something that stayed with Patel and was evident in the way he would mentor and encourage young people to follow their dreams and exceed their own expectations. It may be that he

Architect, urban designer and furniture designer, Ismet Khambatta pens a heartfelt tribute to Hasmukh C Patel, who inspired not only her but generations of designers across the country and beyond with his sensitive yet pragmatic repertoire of enthralling works. saw in some of them his own struggles as a young boy with a physical handicap, who did not do well at school but found his calling in architecture and eventually through hard work, made a name for himself in the professional world.

Hasmukh Patel returned to India and moved to Ahmedabad to practice and teach.

His architectural works that span the period from 1960 to 1990 demonstrate a profound understanding of the aspirations; not just of his clients but of those who would use the buildings and spaces he designed.

He used his craft to bridge the deep divide between the rarefied world of the architect, intellectual and the working professional.

His practice inspired a generation of students at the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad, which he led as Director and Dean from 1972 to 1983, and where his empathy and spontaneous humor endeared him to students and colleagues alike.

The firm of M/s Hasmukh C Patel was held in high regard. Over thirty years the firm gradually built up a reputation for delivering high quality design services and superior construction within budget and on time!

Hasmukhbhai (as he was called by those who knew him) was always conscious of the huge responsibility placed on him as a professional, to ensure transparency and fairness and to uphold the highest standards of practice. Many were the small contractors who were happy to give their best to HCP, because they knew Hasmukhbhai would ensure they received their dues. They also knew that no compromises in quality would be tolerated and this is what earned him their admiration and respect.

Hasmukhbhai was equally demanding and uncompromising when it came to the work produced by his own design studio.

He would be there working late into the night to resolve that one last detail that could make the plan perfect, or to re-build the model because the proportions were not quite right. If his team was working and there was nothing for him to do, he would still come in at midnight with ice cream for everyone! His absolute focus on producing the best has fostered a culture of commitment and hard work within the firm that continues to serve it well today.

His children, Bimal and Canna Patel joined

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tribute / HASMUKH c PATEL

the firm in 1990, bringing in new expertise in city planning, urban design, and interior design. The practice became more multidisciplinary, and almost naturally led to the creation of HCPIA, EPC, Geographis and TDW Furniture, all sister concerns of HCPDPM as the firm was later called. As a parent and mentor, Hasmukhbhai was ever aware of the need to offer support, but more importantly to step aside and give room for growth. He used his experience and vision to create the conditions for growth without being overbearing.

Hasmukhbhai remained a student all his life.

He learnt to swim at the age of 40, and his early morning swim was a daily ritual. He started learning to play the piano at the age of 70 alongside his grandchildren, and took up sketching and painting again as he gradually withdrew from active practice.

Technology fascinated him and since his mobility was severely limited, in his later years he used the Internet to explore the world and make new friends.

He was a frequent visitor to many of the art galleries in the city and befriended many a young artist who looked up to him for encouragement and support.

In the days following his passing, much has been written and said about him by those who knew him well, and also by those he had met only briefly but whose lives he had touched deeply in some way.

What comes through in every memory and anecdote re-told is that he was always a positive, happy and forward looking individual who lived life to the fullest and with no regrets! His was a life well lived. www.hcp.co.in Drawing: Hasmukh C Patel

In the new collection “The Structural Light” of SIMES, light integrates into the architecture so as to become itself a live material. Architecture becomes thus a shell of “dynamic” surfaces that directly derives from the material, following the creative path the lighting designer had imagined.

The structural light Brick light Design P. Rizzatto

“The structural light” leaflet

The Brick Light project originates from the composition of these two elements, the material of glass and the shape of the brick. Brick light makes light becoming a structural element. It is endlessly declinable and talks together with the rythm of the surfaces and appropriate lighting needs designed for integration with exposed brick surfaces.

Ghost

Design Marc Sadler The Ghost range originates from a simple but revolutionary idea: to create out-and-out luminous cavities inside the material and to conceal the lighting body as to make the light the only and unique player in the architecture. This concept is conceived and engineered for cast concrete walls and erected walls in place in breeze blocks or other materials to be plastered.

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tribute / ram kumar

IN MEMORY OF

Ram Kumar 23 September 1923 – 14 April 2018 While Rahul Kumar, himself an artist, writer and curator reflects on the master strokes of Ram Kumar, photographer Parthiv Shah shares a few candid glimpses of the master artist caught in his lens.

Pic: Parthiv Shah

Ram Kumar, the last of the three living associates of the Progressive Artist Group passed away in Delhi on April 14, 2018.

Born in Shimla in a middle-class family in 1924, Kumar studied Economics at Delhi’s St. Stephen’s College. As a child he had interest in art and joined evening classes under the guidance of Sailoz Mukherjea, an early modernist and one of the nine masters on the list of Archaeological Survey of India.

Kumar’s art depicts the angst and pain of the society originating from the freedom struggle and partition that he was himself witness to. Later, struggles of the common man of newly independent India took over his expression. Kumar left for Paris in 1950 to study under Cubist painter Fernand Léger and sculptor André Lhote. The stay in France at the time had influenced his ideology towards communalism and he ended up joining the French Communist Party. The experience lead to heightened compassion for the marginalised and suppressed members of the society. In his inexhaustible and long career, Kumar developed a unique style of renditioning, that of short blocks of strokes and bold lines. The initial works had an evident influence of western modern art. The paintings were monochromatic with dark shades in browns and greys. His palette changed to include brighter tones after he visited Benaras with MF Husain in early sixties, though the emotion at core of the works remained to depict sorrow and pain, of life and of death. Like other artists and colleagues of his times, the works had a strong reference to the homeland and concerns of the contemporary Indian society.

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tribute / ram kumar

MF Hussain with Ram Kumar Pic: Parthiv Shah

Pic: Courtesy of Vadehra Art Gallery

Pic: Courtesy of Vadehra Art Gallery

I happened to be at the residence of Krishen Khanna on the morning of Ram Kumar’s passing away. A close friend and also an associate of the Progressive Artist Group, Khanna was extremely disturbed with the news. “My father fondly narrates stories of the friendship he had with Ram Kumar. In the mid 1950s, Kumar was not selling a lot of his work. By way of support, my parents invited him to hold a home-show at 115, Loyd’s Road, (then) Madras. It was the house where they lived when my father was serving at the Grindlays Bank. While the show was well attended, nothing sold.

Distressed as he was, Kumar stepped out of the house to get fresh air. On his return my mother doled out Rs. 350/- telling him that someone came and bought a work.

Many years later Ram Kumar got to know that it was my mother who actually bought the work, and we still have it with us,” shares Krishen Khanna’s son.

A humble man and gentle soul, Ram Kumar was a man of few words. He will be remembered by generations for his contributions to the modern Indian art and will live on through his paintings for all times to come.

idea & the practice In the sustained setting of designing public buildings, the search for the larger projects often requires a sequential elaboration of the design process. The institutional building, the school, the museum or even a new city is rarely a simplistic statement of a singular idea, but is often developed stage by stage, from sketch to sketch, from free hand to detailed drawing, till the conception is realized. This section examines specific larger public projects and the conceptual framework of drawings developed by the architect.

IDEA & THE PRACTICE / THE BIHAR MUSEUM, PATNA, bihar

IDEA & THE PRACTICE

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Location Patna, Bihar, India Client Department of Art, Culture, and Youth (DACY), Government of Bihar, India Architects Maki and Associates (Tokyo) in association with _Opolis (Mumbai) Design Team Maki and Associates Fumihiko Maki (Principal), Tomoyoshi Fukunaga (Director), Michel van Ackere (Associate), Tatsutomo Hasegawa (Associate), Hisashi Nakai, Yoshihiko Taira, Issei Horikoshi, Kiwon Kim _Opolis Rahul Gore (Principal), Sonal Sancheti (Principal), Tejesh Patil (Project Architect), Rahul Lawhare, Swapnil Kangankar, Akul Modi Programming / Master Planning / Exhibition Design Consultant Lord Cultural Resources (Mumbai / Toronto)

Structural Consultants Mahendra Raj Consultants Private Limited (New Delhi) MEP Consultants Design Bureau (Mumbai) Landscape Consultants Ohtori Consultants Inc. Environmental Design Institute (Osaka), Forethought Design Consultants (Pune) Lighting Consultants AWA Lighting Designers (Mumbai / New York) General Contractor Larsen & Toubro Construction Museum Branding, Wayfinding, Signage Design Lopez Design, New Delhi Site area 53,480 sqm.

Roof area 19,716 sqm.

Built-up area 25,410 sqm.

Time for ideation 1.5 years Time for construction 4 years Projected completion Building – 2017, Exhibitions – 2018

M A K I & A S S O C I AT E S + _ O P O L I S

THE BIHAR MUSEUM

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Sketch: Fumihiko Maki

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IDEA & THE PRACTICE / THE BIHAR MUSEUM, PATNA, bihar

“In a sense, our studio was a continuation of the Maki studio and it was one studio executing the project…we knew the methodologies, precision and importance to certain aspects which were required.

Maki and Associates have done projects across the world, and here had to adapt their systems to the Indian system. The processes were in place and we latched onto that through right documentation standards, working with packages from concept to schematic to design development. It was a structured development of the project.”

– Rahul Gore

When the uncluttered minimalism of a world renowned Japanese architect combines forces with the artistic vision of a multidisciplinary, Mumbai-based design practice to determine the fate of a gargantuan public institutional building in the heart of the otherwise chaotic and cacophonous Patna, one would probably only expect the unexpected. And what we see is quite right - a quiet, elegant and stoic series of buildings that replace the commonality of a single iconic structure, coming together to form the new Bihar Museum.

Maki and Associates collaborated with Opolis to design the winning entry for the competition of this museum, which also saw options being proposed by some of the most eminent names in international and Indian architecture Coop Himmelb(l)au with Archohm; Foster + Partners with CP Kukreja Architects; Snøhetta with SpaceMatters, and Studio Libeskind with Morphogenesis.

Built over a period of only 5 years with an escalation of less than 2% from the stipulated project cost, this museum was a dream realised from beginning to end, without much wavering, conflict or trouble. Credit is due to Lord Cultural Resources whose program brief was so precise and thorough that it enabled a process that was streamlined, focused and therefore true to its very intention.

Sketches: Courtesy of Maki and Associates

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The success of the project can be ascribed to two prominent aspects as Michel van Ackere, Associate Architect at Maki and Associates shares – a very strong, detailed, thoroughly structured and complete building program prepared by Lord Cultural Resources; and a very transparent relationship with their partners at Opolis, owing to a long standing association of comfort, trust and faith.

The thought is seconded by the Principal architects of Opolis, Rahul Gore and Sonal Sancheti who reference their working stint at Maki and Associates’ Tokyo office close to 15 years ago.

Add to this mix the unfaltering design brief and outright support of the clients, and the result is a smooth transition of the competition into the development of the competition scheme and further to the eventual building. The continuity from the initial concept sketches to the drawing and to the final built construct is evident in the communication between the agencies and extends itself beyond the expected to a rewarding collaboration at the Bihar Museum.

“The building program never really changed from the competition phase - as it was well researched, designed for the Indian context and based on a lot of experience. There was never a need to go back and revisit these initial assuptions, and therefore there were very few changes or problems with the client.”

– Michel van Ackere

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IDEA & THE PRACTICE / THE BIHAR MUSEUM, PATNA, bihar

“In the age of the media and image dominated world, this building attempts to stress on the quality of the experiential architecture rather than that of an iconic or imageoriented building.” – Rahul Gore

Elevation Studies — The main gallery space has an additional level to house the multifarious sections of collections and artefacts, while the remaining parts of the museum are single-storeyed structures.

— The administration block plays the role of a control room, which demanded a denser impression and thus, has 4 different levels.

Sketches: Courtesy of Maki and Associates

Aerial View Pic: Courtesy of _Opolis

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DESIGN INTENT Moving away from the convention of a large, singular, iconic building, the basic design intent was to approach the large, complex program as a group of discreet volumes interconnected via a series of courtyards and landscape elements.

This was done in order to better accommodate the varied programs and to fit better into the surroundings and the unusually shaped site.

Plan study - overall

DRAWINGS AND SKETCHES AS TOOLS OF COMMUNICATION Sketches were used heavily by Mr. Maki to work through ideas at all scales and levels of the project. They provided clues and references for the Opolis team to understand the fundamentally important elements of the design, even if they did not always have direct access to the master architect. Because the two working offices in Tokyo and Mumbai shared the same conceptual base, the understanding of the design was clear and decision-making efficient.

Plan area study - Children’s Museum

A CAMPUS AS A COLLECTION OF BUILDINGS Situated within a low-lying urban-scape, the elongated triangular site was sprawled along Patna’s busy Bailey Road and dotted with grand old trees. Therefore, the scheme of a campus layout was plotted across the 5.3 hectare area to create an interconnected landscape of buildings and exterior spaces that conformed to the prevalent conditions and yet conversed with one other to offer a dynamic engagement through open courtyards and sheltered walkways.

Its proximity to River Ganga resulted in a highly elevated water table, eliminating the possibility for constructing basements.

A restricted timeline further pushed for the museum program to be stretched across the site, enabling simultaneous construction of the entire foot-print, and facilitating phased building openings.

“The Opolis site team, in fact, printed out many of Mr. Maki’s early sketches and had them displayed in their construction site office. This showed to us that they clearly understood the importance of this communication tool.” – Michel van Ackere

Entrance Courtyard Pic: Ariel Huber, Lausanne

A COHERENT URBAN REALM RESPONDS TO THE CHAOS OF AN INDIAN CITY

Sketch: Courtesy of Maki and Associates

Embracing the heavily-trafficked street that is pinned by two significant intersections, the entrance to the museum was strategically placed between the two nodes.

This urban design gesture ensures the least implications on the flow of traffic, while enabling a grand entrance capped by a sweeping canopy befitting the public nature of the complex.

— Each program zone (entrance / event, museum exhibition, administration, children / educational) has been given a distinct presence and recognizable form within the complex.

North Elevation Drawing: Courtesy of Maki and Associates / _Opolis

Longitudinal Section Drawing: Courtesy of Maki and Associates / _Opolis

SECTION S= 1/1200

043 — Galleries A & B showcase artefacts from the Mauryan and Gandharva Dynasty - 6th Cent. BC to 1st Cent. AD — Upper Level: Other history galleries, Coin storage, Art Gallery — Lower Level: regional art gallery, Islamic art gallery, large contemporary art gallery, temporary gallery with rotating exhibitions

Fourth Floor

Program Zoning:

Third Floor

Public Exhibition Administration Back of House

Second Floor

Courtyards: 1. Water feature courtyard at the entrance 2. Children’s lunch patio 3. Elliptical courtyard 4. Open-air amphitheatre 5. Buddha courtyard 6. Sculpture courtyard 7. Triangular courtyard 8. Water Feature Courtyard

First Floor

Gallery B

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Exploded Plan showing Progra Allocation Drawing: Courtesy of Maki and Associates / _Opolis

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Buddha Courtyard Pic: Ariel Huber, Lausanne

CHOREOGRAPHING AN EXPERIENCE THROUGH COURTYARDS The museum is a coming together of various built and open forms derived from the geometries of the existing site and new construction. Seven courtyards find their place in the scheme, often becoming critical nodes around which the museum is organised.

While the courtyards help orient the visitors, they also offer an ever-changing canvas of experiences at each visit. Altering seasons display dynamic hues of landscapes, and a compelling calendar of events presents the opportunity to interact with the spaces in multifarious ways.

The open voids also function to control the quality of light within the building, sometimes enticing, at times thwarting, and in others filtering it through square windows and linear slits to deliver dramatic moods and ambiences. The architecture itself becomes a response to the quality of light that exists and how it can be controlled in the public experience through these courtyards.

Landscaped Garden Pic: Ariel Huber, Lausanne

LOOKING INWARDS The seven courtyards are enclosed within a network of buildings that create deep, dense and formidable buffers to these spaces from the clamour and the chaos of the world outside.

The Amphitheatre is open and accessible to the public at all times while others such as the Buddha Courtyard are exclusive for paid visitors. Hosting a slew of exhibitions and artworks, the venue demands a calmness, which is delivered by the deep corridors and vast gallery spaces that surround it.

Children’s Museum Pic: Ariel Huber, Lausanne

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Corten steel facade of Exhibition Galleries Pic: Ariel Huber, Lausanne

A FUNCTION OF MATERIAL As a centre for history of the state of Bihar, the museum references its milestones in various ways. The muted colours and restrained material palette includes stone, terracotta and glass held together with an extensive use of weathering steel.

Celebrating India’s historical feats in metallurgy, the prominence of its current position and a promising future within the international steel industry, enormous panels of Corten steel were seasoned on site before encasing the building facades.

Children’s Museum drum under construction Pic: Courtesy of _Opolis

Corten Weathering Yard Pic: Courtesy of Maki and Associates

Main Entrance Foyer Pics: Ariel Huber, Lausanne

Stairwell in GF Lounge

Cloister

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Children’s Museum

Exhibition Gallery

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IDEA & THE PRACTICE / THE BIHAR MUSEUM, PATNA, bihar

Children’s Museum Pic: Courtesy of _Opolis

Bailey Road view Pic: Courtesy of _Opolis

“It has been interesting to see the urban scape of Patna change through the five year duration of the project, some of it due to the sheer impact of such a large project for a city like Patna and some of it due to the aspirational nature of a tier 3 city in India. It is here that the mature and sensitive response of our scheme to the immediate surroundings was most important to mitigate any adverse impact yet maintain its stature – that of a significant institutional public building.”

– Rahul Gore

Rahul Gore and Maki discuss at site Pic:Courtesy of _Opolis

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North Elevation - volume study Drawing: Courtesy of Maki and Associates

North Elevation - proposed drawing Drawing: Courtesy of Maki and Associates / _Opolis

North Elevation - site model Pic: Courtesy of Maki and Associates

ELEVATION S= 1/1500

North Elevation - street view Pic: Ariel Huber, Lausanne

THE EASE OF CONTINUITY “The continuity between the sketches, drawings, and final built form in this case is very strong. This was made possible because of the strength of the original Master Planning / Program, because of the support of the Government and continuity of Government officials in key positions, and because of the Opolis team’s dedication in faithfully executing Mr. Maki’s original vision.” – Michel van Ackere www.maki-and-associates.co.jp www.opolis.in

IDEA & THE PRACTICE

Location Rajgir, Patna, Bihar, India Client Nalanda University Architectural Practice Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC Architect Rajeev Kathpalia Design Team Piyas Choudhuri, Janardhan K. S., Dhruv Gusain, Sinali Ratanlal, Namrata Sahm, Divya Gunnam, Vikas Mittal, Rajesh Suthar, Micky Solanki, Purshottam Bakrania, Natubhai Panchal, Kiritbhai Panchasara, Anish Pillai, Ranish Trivedi Structural Consultants Vinod Shah Consulting Engineering Pvt. Ltd. Net Zero and MEP Consultants DBHMS India Raods and Pathways Consultants Arhmm Infra Consultants LLP Landscape Consultants Earthscape Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. Road Contractor M/s MGCPL Non Residential Contractor M/s NCCL Site area 3,66,811 sq.m.

Ideation May 2013 Construction February 2017 (Phase I) – Ongoing

V ā st u S hilp ā

C ons u ltants

NALANDA UNIVERSITY

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Sketch: Rajeev Kathpalia

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / NALANDA UNIVERSITY, Rajgir, Bihar

“At the cusp of water and land, life begins! When the land is flat how does water flow? What you excavate for holding the waters, can it become the material to build our buildings?”

Sketches: Rajeev Kathpalia

Only during the heady days of independence did the architecture profession benefit from large institutional commissions. A new country freed from Colonial rule embarked on the construction of college campuses, business schools and even a new city. More than half a century later the opportunity to build at similarly vast scales comes to few. The award of the new Nalanda Campus to Vāstu Shilpā Consultants was the result of an international competition in 2013, and it drew the winning architects into a rigorous examination of the ruined site, linked as it was to ancient Buddhist ideals of learning, meditation, and teaching. The need to reflect both, the new methods of institutional life, as well as something of the deeper refrain of an archaic mysterious ruin, was a challenge that led to a crossreferential design process. What, asked the architects would constitute an appropriate replacement, rather a reinforcement, of the remaining archaeology?

“Nalanda is an enigma. You don’t know anything about the original architecture – the sizes, shapes or form of the buildings, nor the spaces in between, or anything of the life that took place. But the excavations

suggest imaginative possibilities for all of these. They allow us to trace diverse interpretations and meanings; they engage our thoughts and make that time and place as vivid as ours.”

For the architect, it becomes an exercise in the historic recall – a contemplation of archaic space itself as if a new architecture was being made to spring from the old ruins. A challenge they faced was to adopt a contemporary language to the building, whose formal weight should be interpreted as belonging to the place. Thematically the architecture needed to be identified with Nalanda, without obviously replicating its shape. The new university was to be in effect an addition to the ancient site.

“On our many visits to the ruins of Nalanda Mahavihara, we observed the serrated edges of the brick walls, the different kinds of corbelled brick openings, the light that fell on these and the shadows cast by this construction. Could we incorporate this memory into our buildings?”

A region of heavy rainfall with high subsoil water levels, the foundations had to be designed to counter the upward thrust.

It was also observed that local villages

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“What will happen to the villages and the farmers surrounding our site once the university campus is cast as the veritable pebble in the pond? Will the villagers with their marginal land holdings have a say in their future or will the pressures of land speculation fuelled by developers uproot them?”

Harvesting rainwater run off and recharging aquifers on the site

Venial network of water bodies

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / NALANDA UNIVERSITY, Rajgir, Bihar

“Our ancient temple towns were conceived around large water tanks! How did they manage water?

The Rajgir hills are sacred, both the Buddha and Mahavir meditated here! Will they define our campus and remind its inhabitants that they are part of this continuum.”

Sketches: Rajeev Kathpalia

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“The beauty about the Nalanda ruins is their enigma. One never knows the exact size, shape or form of the buildings or the spaces in between or even the life that took place. But the excavations suggest possibilities and potentials for all of these. They allow our individual imagination, to trace diverse interpretations and meanings. They engage our thoughts and dreams and make that time and place ours. They allow us to transcend time and space. Could the ruins be the key to the architectural expression fragments of walls re-inhabited, the archaic and the contemporary coexisting.”

were built on high plinths and mounds. In the flat landscape of Bihar, this afforded great visibility and the villages stood out as independent entities, connected as it were by an informal latticework of pathways. The high humidity, the moisture-laden ground and the flat plain, and the sacred spirit of the ruins became a starting point for the master plan.

“Like the veins of the body, we have a network of streams and lakes, retention ponds and wetlands that occupies approximately 20 percent of our site. We did not wish to be dependent or mining water and depleting precious ground-water sources further, nor burdening the city of Rajgir for our water demand.”

The primary concern in the architectural design related to setting up places where students and teachers could engage outside the formal classroom. Between the designed and the peripheral, the architects made a conscious decision to create accidental overlaps and moments of surprise. Called ‘Bazaar of Knowledge’ the nomenclature of

Pic: Courtesy of Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / NALANDA UNIVERSITY, Rajgir, Bihar

The gopuram, the inverted stupa and the meditating Buddha

“The quest for knowledge is about the discovery of the world and yet it is as much about self-discovery and the search within for the intangible and the infinite. Should our buildings then be predictable and finite or confound the eye and the body to give new meanings with the passage of time? Should they not age and take on patinas of decay to mark the passage of time?”

Sketches: Rajeev Kathpalia

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“A major challenge we faced as architects was the invention of an architectural language that is contemporary and of today’s times, in technology and convenience and yet, inspires memories of the past, to connect us to our legacy of the ruins of the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara. Something, that works with our aspirations of a carbon neutral footprint, which does not damage our ecosystem and is sustainable over time.”

— “On our many visits to the ruins of the Nalanda Mahavihara we observed the serrated edges of the brick walls, the different kinds of corbelled brick openings, the light that fell on these and the shadows cast by this construction. This phenomenon on these silent forms fascinated us. Could we incorporate this memory into our buildings without necessarily replicating the past?“ — “Imagine, a wall with many large openings, for the breeze to blow through on all four sides of a space. Now imagine this space with a roof on top, essentially we now have a verandah.

Obviously, because of the breeze and the shade this space will be cooler than the outside in the hot summers. If you now place buildings within these verandahs, the insides of these would be even cooler, and require much less energy to cool them to comfort levels!”

the classroom itself reflected the potential for friendly encounters. Stretching away from the bazaar atmosphere, the design also stated diametrically opposite positions, placing quieter private courtyards termed ‘cloisters of contemplation’ within the scheme. Laboratories and places for experimentation became the contemporary component of the facility, attaching like cellular accretions to the ends of the plan.

Before construction began in 2017, the vastness of the site called for deliberate architectural intervention. In a place of such yawning emptiness, the architects sought an idea that could mediate the impossible dimensions and bring the structure to human scale. Within the larger scheme, the overall construction is therefore marked by a purposeful

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / NALANDA UNIVERSITY, Rajgir, Bihar

“But, interestingly along the way another facet was revealed. If you look at this section through the classrooms within the verandah the empty space between two elements looks like a stupa. The stupa as you know is a representation of the Buddha sitting in meditation. These practical forms are also symbolic and connect us in subtle ways to our ancient legacy.”

Gopurams, stupas, chhatri Sketches: Rajeev Kathpalia

“These thick peripheral walls with large openings are actually rooms which contain all our service areas like stairs, lifts, air handling units, toilets and vestibules, none of, which are permanently occupied so their comfort levels can be entirely different from spaces which are more frequently occupied, thus we save hugely on energy for cooling.”

1. Classroom/PHD Cubicles 2. 75 Seater Classroom 3. Academic Wing 4. Nalanda Porch 5. Controller of Examination 6. Services 7. Classroom 8. Campus Inn

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Setting the Hieroglyphics of the academic spine

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Site Section showing gopurams, stupas and parasols

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quest for humanizing the emptiness – an architectural reference to high airy verandahs within which the campus buildings withdraw. “These thick peripheral walls with large openings are actually rooms which contain all service areas like stairs, lifts, air handling units, toilets and vestibules, none of which are permanently occupied, so their comfort levels can be entirely different from spaces which are more frequently occupied, thus we also save hugely on energy for cooling.”

View of the ghats from the Kamal Sagar Pic: Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC

www.sangath.org

Ongoing site work Pic: Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC

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Drawing: Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC

IDEA & THE PRACTICE

Location New Delhi, India Client Aga Khan Trust for Culture Landscape Architects Shaheer Associates Design Team Prof. M Shaheer Site area 25.66 Hectare Time for Ideation 18 months Time for Completion 9 years

S H A H E E R A S S O C I AT E S

SUNDER NURSERY

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Sketch: Prof. M Shaheer

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / Sunder nursery, new delhi

Structuring, Programme, Brief

Existing vegetation

Conceptual Spaces suggested by existing site features

Tree Lined Routes Drawings, Sketches: Prof. M Shaheer, Courtesy of Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Shaheer Associates

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Integrative Spatial Structure: suggested by existing location of heritage and archaeology

Concept Development Sketch: Areas Defined

Concept Development Sketch: Access and Circulation

Sunder Nursery was originally established at the southern edge of Lutyens’ New Delhi in the early 20th century when Imperial Delhi was being planned and constructed.

It was used as a place for propagating trees and local plants to be used in the new capital city. Within the nursery precinct there existed a number of protected and unprotected monuments, comprising Humayun’s Tomb World Heritage Site, Khan-i-Khanan’s Tomb as well as Nizamuddin Basti. Topographically the site has a flat appearance with imperceptibly gentle slopes towards the north and towards the northeast, with some low-lying areas near the boundaries. The Landscape Master Plan aimed to creatively combine the existing monuments, forest type vegetation and nursery functions within one interactive experience. The idea was to address first, the requirements of a productive landscape, including horticulture and forest nursery; second, the needs of cultural activity and tourism arising out of its heritage character; and finally, the protection and enhancement of the site’s natural and botanical assets along with experiential opportunities for recreation and education.

With the distinct possibility of creating a major landscape space of truly urban scale, the plan sought inspiration from the traditional Indian concept of congruence between nature, garden, utility and environmental conservation. Given the nature of the city’s public recreation, functions and patterns of urban behaviour, the proposal was directed towards designing for three inter-related domains: firstly, that of nature, as represented by foresttype vegetation and micro-habitats; secondly, of the built heritage and archaeological remains, and thirdly, the domain of utility and cultivation pertaining to nursery functions. The broad aim of the Landscape Master Plan is to establish design relationships between these three major uses by weaving a meaningful visitor experience, traversing the site in a way that encourages and enables appreciation of all three aspects and also offers opportunities for recreation, education and discovery.

Continuing the idea of domains, each aspect – heritage, nursery, forest and recreational experience would require

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / Sunder nursery, new delhi

An interpretative representation of ways for developing spatial and movement linkages and relationships between the historical structures.

The strong visual presence of the protected monuments suggests the alignment of a core zone or heritage axis as shown. A notional arc of movement falls into place as a secondary route connecting the other archaeological sites.

Core heritage space Consolidating linkages between major monuments & the main entrance Dispersed spaces around minor structures, remains & archaeology Secondary links to minor structures, remains & archaeology

Possibilities for spatial structure suggested by existing location of heritage buildings and archaeology.

Drawing: Courtesy of The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Shaheer Associates

Central elements of the network proposed are: A pedestrian spine aligned east-west along the inner side of the southern face of the site, from which the three main experiences of the project are directly accessible, as a squential arrangement, heritage and forest arboretum respectively.

Supplementing and intersecting with these are other experiences of recreation and archaeology: a sequence of gardens on the western edge, and on the eastern side an ‘are of discrovery’ directing acesss to the scattered heritage sites and also into the main body of the forest arboretum which partially conceals them.

Heritage Arboretum, Botanical Forest Nursery Gardens Interpretation Centre, Cafeterias Souvenir Outlets, Museum, Crafts, Administration, etc., Nursery Offices Services / Parking

Concept access and Circulation Drawing: Courtesy of The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Shaheer Associates

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Azimganj Sarai

Humayun’s Tomb

Master Plan 2018 Drawing: Courtesy of The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Shaheer Associates

a different and distinctive landscape design strategy, addressing its particular needs whilst protecting and enhancing site assets.

A geographical identification of these areas is presented in the concept (Access and Circulation) together with their connection to the proposed entrance zone and visitor facilities. Central elements of the spaces and circulation network proposed are: a pedestrian spine aligned east-west along the inner side of the southern face of the site from which the three main experiences of the project are directly accessible as a sequential arrangement of spaces relating to the functions of nursery, heritage and forest arboretum. The movement through the nursery is consciously designed to carry the visitor through a range of garden experiences.

Owned by the Central Public Works Department, the nursery has several monuments of national importance in the

care and protection of the Archaeological Survey of India. While the proposal was prepared by Prof. Mohammad Shaheer, the landscape and conservation works were undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

The Central Axis The idea of a central axis emerged from the alignment of the existing gate with the centre-line of Sunderwala Burj and the extension of the same line to the significantly large enclosure of the Azimgunj Serai just beyond the northern boundary, presently inside the Zoo premises.

The axis is conceived in four parts, as a progression of formally arranged gardens around the heritage structures, merging at its end with the naturalistic informality with the proposed Forest Arboretum, the Water Gardens and the Formal Flower Garden adjacent to Azimganj Serai.

The Grand Vista The view at the Entrance is directed by a central grass sward punctuated with small seating and garden areas anchored by the tomb at its northern end and to the south by the proposed sunken entrance square which will connect it to the Interpretation Centre and thence to Humayun’s Tomb.

On the left of the vista are the dense existing trees and on the right are filtered views to Sunderwala Mahal, the raised land-form of the Tree Garden, a series of intimate sunken gardens and spaces integrating the historical lotus pond and the existing large trees.

Sunderwala Gardens and the ‘Arc of Discovery’ The garden around Sunderwala Mahal provides a glimpse of the open area, the lake beyond and the scattered monuments in the arboretum area to the east. The

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / Sunder nursery, new delhi

The Central Axis, inspired by Persian garden design, serves as the heart of the new garden.

Pics: Courtesy of The Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Spatial Arrangement Attempting a contemporary expression of the traditional Mughal garden aesthetic, this basic arrangement of a linear water body flanked by areas of plating is adopted as the main device for organising the garden spaces of the central axis

BEFORE | The Carpet Garden - North of Sunderwala Burj

AFTER | The Carpet Garden - North of Sunderwala Burj

Plan of Central Axial Garden A - Narrow Channel B - Water Jali C - Orchard Planting Drawing: Courtesy of The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Shaheer Associates

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Azimgang Serai - The Formal Flower Garden Pics: Courtesy of The Aga Khan Trust for Culture

“There has been a very conscious emphasis in the design and execution of this garden, to maintain an identity rooted in Indian tradition.

Part of that tradition is the use of craft and symmetry - the creation of an axis. So at the planning, design spatial level, we have this idea of symmetry associated with the built structures and at the construction, execution and detail level, we have this very conscious attempt to create designs, patterns and elements which involves a great deal of craftsmanship.”

– Prof. M. Shaheer

Prof. Shaheer explaining the construction of stone elements to craftsmen

North of Sunderwala Burj

latter are approached by means of a path sweeping in a gentle curve, ‘the arc of discovery’ into the forest. The arc is meant to create a sequential encounter with a group of scattered unprotected monuments. Discovering them in a forest is quite different than merely seeing them from a distance as prominent objects on a flat landscape.

The Carpet Garden The area north of Sunderwala Burj is designed as an elaborate garden, contemporary in layout but evocative of Mughal geometry, scale and irrigation practices. Centred on a long water body the garden is elevated from the surroundings with narrow water channels along the edges, each culminating in a pool at a lower elevation. This pool, which is in the form of a Mughal jali, is the central feature of a miniature orchard.

The Formal Flower Garden (Azimganj) The formal flower garden marks the termination of the central axis at its

northern end, next to the boundary of Sunder Nursery on this side. Its main feature, a small pavilion at the head of a decorative cascade, is sited on a raised grass terrace; its high elevation allows the visitor to glance back at an unobstructed view of the long walk just completed.

Heritage Gardens In the absence of specific information about the original surroundings or enclosures around the protected and unprotected monuments, the surrounding space was developed with simple non-obtrusive formality as gardens with axial paths centred to the openings of the monuments.

Given their scattered nature, a slightly looser, less formal arrangement is proposed around the unprotected monument clusters.

Nursery Gardens The primary intent of the plan was to develop the site as a productive nursery landscape, in the form of forest trees, fruit orchards, rose-beds, propagation fields, and nursery gardens. The idea was to combine the use of the functional nature of a nursery

with aesthetic qualities and offer the visitor space for quiet recreation and contemplation in a botanically interesting setting.

Arboretum In addition to the conservation of existing vegetation, forest groves and mature trees, the position of this valuable and rare resource as the core of the nursery makes it critical to the surrounding landscape. The arboretum exhibits the flora of the Delhi region.

References: • Mohammad Shaheer; Sunder Nursery, Studies and Proposal, 2008 • Ratish Nanda and Mohammad Shaheer; Sunder Nursery: Conservation and Landscape; Heritage of the Mughal World, The Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme; edited by Philip Jodidio, 2015 • Late Prof. Shaheer was landscape architectural consultant to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture for the works at Sunder Nursery describe here.

IDEA & THE PRACTICE

Location Tianjin Binhai, China Client: Tianjin Binhai Government Architects MVRDV - Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries Design Team Winy Maas, Wenchian Shi, María López Calleja with Chi Li, Ángel Sánchez Navarro, Daehee Suk, Guang Ruey Tan, Xichen Sun, Michael Zhang, Kyosuk Lee, Mariya Gyaurova, Jaime Dominguez Bálgoma Concept Design Winy Maas, Renske van der Stoep, Martine Vledder with Kyosuk Lee, Gerard Heerink, Chi Li, Francisco Pomares, Nicolas Lee, Claudia Bode, Sharon Sin, Jaap Baselmans, Herman Gaarman, Hui Hsin Liao Visualization: Antonio Luca Coco, Costanza Cuccato, Matteo Artico, Tomaso Maschietti Co-Architect Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI), Tianjin, China

Lighting Designer Huayi Jianyuan Lighting Design Movie Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI) Built Area 33,700 sqm.

Time for Ideation 1 year Time for Construction 2 years

& D esi g n I nstit u te ( T U P D I )

M V R D V + T ian j in Urban P lannin g

Tianjin Binhai Library

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Sketch: Winy Maas, MVRDV

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / tianjin binhai library, tianjin, china

00 Site

01 Extrude

02 Encounter

03 Push Into

04 Connect

05 Terrace

06 Louvres

07 Skylight

07 Tianjin Binhai Library

Step Diagram Drawing: MVRDV

Working Schematic Ideas Sketch: Winy Maas, MVRDV

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Structure

Circulation

Program

Roof

Roof

Roof

F5

F5

F5

F4

F4

F4

F3

F3

F3

F2

Access From F1 to F2

F2

Atrium

Access From Entrance to F1

Atrium

F1

F1

F1

B1

B1

B1 Stairs Elevator + Stairs Drawing: MVRDV

Watch Zone

Think Zone

Interact Zone Book Mountain Activities - Perspective Drawing: MVRDV

MVRDV collaborated with Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI) for the recently completed Tianjin Binhai Library as part of a larger masterplan to provide a cultural district for the city.

The library not only serves the purpose of an educational centre but also a social congregational space and a connector between the park in front and public corridor behind.

The large blanched box is punctured by an oval aperture, which is created by a luminous sphere that nudges through the building volume to give space to a generous public atrium. The ‘Eye’ takes centre stage to house a 110 capacity spherical screen auditorium in this cave-like space and becomes the protagonist around which the library wraps itself.

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / tianjin binhai library, tianjin, china

Longitudinal Section

Longitudinal Section

Cross Section Drawing: MVRDV Pic: Ossip van Duivenbode

The cave itself becomes a continuous bookshelf; the architecture lending itself to striated levels that emerge from the internal façade and gracefully cascade down from ceiling to floor in undulating contours. Each level houses innumerable books, but the variable angles and depths also offer space for sitting, reading and walking – travelling from one floor to another in search of a good read.

Clambering upwards, the projections transform into a dramatic landscape of illuminated topography. Extending along the two full glass facades that connect the library to the park outside and the public corridor inside, they double up as louvres to protect the interior against excessive sunlight whilst also creating a bright and evenly lit space.

The five-storeyed building contains a host of educational facilities located along its inside edges and is supported by subterranean service spaces, book storage, and a large archive. From the ground floor, visitors can easily reach reading areas for children and the elderly, the auditorium, the main entrance, terraced access to the floors above and connections to the cultural complex. The first and second floors consist primarily of reading rooms, books and lounge areas, whereas the upper floors also include meeting rooms, offices, computer and audio rooms and two rooftop patios.

The original intent of the design designated the main atrium space as a congregational as well as reading zone, wherein the entire atrium was to be enveloped with bookshelves; lower levels having direct

“The Tianjin Binhai Library interior is almost cave-like, a continuous bookshelf. Not being able to touch the building’s volume we ‘rolled’ the ball-shaped auditorium demanded by the brief into the building and the building simply made space for it, as a ‘hug’ between media and knowledge.” – Winy Maas

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Pic: Ossip van Duivenbode

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IDEA & THE PRACTicE / tianjin binhai library, tianjin, china

Pic: Ossip van Duivenbode

Pic: Ossip van Duivenbode

Pic: Ossip van Duivenbode

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“We opened the building by creating a beautiful public space inside, a new urban living room is its centre. The bookshelves are great spaces to sit and at the same time allow for access to the upper floors. The angles and curves are meant to stimulate different uses of the space, such as reading, walking, meeting and discussing. Together they form the ‘eye’ of the building: to see and be seen.” – Winy Maas

access from the main central volume, while upper floors were to be approached through office and reading spaces behind. However, due to an extremely tight construction schedule, the architects were compelled to compromise on this essential value in their proposed design.

Against the recommendation of MVRDV, construction was continued in a manner that the upper levels of the library were rendered inaccessible. While hope lingers that the initial intent is fulfilled in the future, till then perforated aluminium plates printed to represent books have been placed on the upper shelves.

MVRDV attempts to create a design that

is ambitious and rethinks the typology for a library so it is no longer a dull and depressing environment but becomes a social space that also promotes reading and inspiration.

“A library like Tianjin certainly is a step in the direction for making libraries a more all-in-one space for learning, consuming, sharing, creating, and experiencing, whilst at the same time, still retaining their core as spaces for knowledge exchange. Gone are the days of musty, carpeted rooms with out-dated technology. Libraries provide a public means of accessing knowledge and can also be places of inspiration,” says Winy Maas, Co-founder of MVRDV.

www.mvrdv.com

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idea & the practice / comment - david chipperfield

Making Space for Architecture Pic: Ingrid von Kruse

Known for his cutting edge designs that are as avant-garde as contextually sensitive, renowned architect, David Chipperfield shares his thoughts on the process of envisioning architecture.

It is a common misconception to think that architecture originates from a sketch on a napkin. The design process of architecture, in particular of built architecture, differs significantly from the prevalent perception of how art is produced. Just like an artist tries to cross boundaries, the architect tries to love boundaries. Architectural design is to project what the existing could be. The existing is many things: the place, its boundaries, the architectural task, the building regulations, the money, the people who design, the people who build, the people who use and reside in the building and those who own it. The idea of what might be does not only have to consider the possibilities and boundaries of the place and the budget, but also the notions of all these people. It is extremely difficult to build a house that the client cannot imagine. Architecture does not originate from a sketch on a napkin, but within a collective space of imagination, which in some sense represents a section of our society and culture. In order for an architectural practice to produce good architecture, a design culture must exist, which encompasses both the office culture and the project culture. In our experience we have found that whoever wants to build good architecture, must acknowledge above all a cultural sphere of imagination, in which the people involved can concertedly unfold their power of imagination. Designing architecture means first and foremost making space for architecture. Architectural design means building space for the people, for their life and their thoughts. www.davidchipperfield.com

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Country Manager India · Gurjit Singh · 403, Tower 10 · The Close North · Nirvana Country, Sector 50 · Gurgaon Haryana 122018 · Mobile +91 844 7849 990 · gurjit.singh@bega.com Regional Manager Asia Pacic · International Projects · André Ng · 10 Raeburn Park #02-08 Singapore 088702 · Mobile +65 9631 6043 · Phone +65 6692 8029 · andre.ng@bega.com www.bega.com

Das gute Licht.

For better architecture.

TAVA2018

Architectural Lighting and Light Art Festival in Tartu/Estonia

25.-28.10.

2018 Side program: 20 October 2018 – 20 November

City light installations "Radical Light", curated by Varvara & Mar 25-28 October Artists: Immanuel Pax, Taavi Suisalu, Mónica Ruiz Loyola, Timo Toots, Mischa Kuball, Jackob Tækker.

Lighting design conference, curated by Johan Moritz & Tina Wikström 25 October “Resilient design in a changing world” Speakers: Dr. Amardeep M. Dugar, Claire Tomara, Emre Güneş, Johan Röklander, Lina Färje and Darío Nuñez Salazar.

Light Art conference and Artist TALK 26 October Speakers: Immanuel Pax, Mónica Ruiz Loyola, Mischa Kuball, Jackob Tækker, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Taavi Suisalu, Timo Toots, Liisa Hirsch, Tammo Sumer, Kristel Saan, Johannes Luik and Aivar Tõnso.

IALD Architectural Lighting Design Workshop, curated by Sabine De Schutter 20-24 October Workshop heads: Dr. Amardeep M. Dugar, Johan Röklander and Simas Rinkevicus & Ruta Palionyte.

Open call for workshop participants!

Register for the Architectural Lighting Design Workshop and Conference now as early bird prices until 30 May 2018.

For the full program and registration visit:

www.tartuvalgus.ee/en

sketch & the architect Architectural drawings are rarely of any interest to people without a specialized background in architecture. Yet history is brimming with artists and architects – Leonardo da Vinci, Buckminster Fuller among them – who have drawn buildings without building them; even architects like Piranesi and Carlos Scarpa whose drawings have influenced generations on how architecture is to be viewed.

For the architect, whether in Europe or in India, architecture begins in the realm of ideas, and ends in a physical tangible structure. And the complex process of transformation becomes a testing ground for the imagination, for the first private perception of design, and further along, an interpretation of materials, techniques and historical associations. What the architect sees, imagines and draws is as crucial to the process as the finished building, and provides substantial clues to what is finally built. This section looks at the development of individual projects - where architects contribute sketches defining a thought process towards a specific building end.

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Sketch & THE Architect / dan hogman

the perspective of drawing Dan Hogman believes that a good eye and good hand are essential skills of a good architectural designer; but as an avid architectural and urban sketcher, a sharp eye for material and form and a passion for documentary and space, is what makes his work exceptional. With a focus on ‘capturing the essence’ of the subject, Hogman is drawing perspectives as Mrinalini Ghadiok observes his perspective of drawing.

Drawings: Dan Hogman

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Pic: Tay Othman/Dan Hogman

“While a photo is a direct representation of a subject, a sketch looks deeper into the author’s feeling and state of mind, at that time and place. The process of freehand sketching today is more relevant than ever. It’s not just a way to ‘interpret’ a subject. It’s a way of seeing, observing, understanding the space.”

- Dan Hogman

What is your preferred medium of expression – art, architecture or photography?

I think that creating architecture is a goal in itself. Art and photography are just ways to dissect, represent, illustrate architecture.

They are representational of the greater goal that is architecture.

As an artist, you sketch the built environment, as an architect you design the built environment. How does one aspect of your work inform the other?

Ideally, they would. Architecture is a form of art, or at least this is how it looks from the outside; but from the inside, we know that architects are becoming more and more building technicians, really… Art is in a way meant to compensate for the lack of art in the architecture that we do. The ultimate goal remains to combine the two. This might be a lifelong search though…

As an avid sketcher as well as a photographer, how does one medium differ from the other? Is there a stark difference in how you perceive architecture with a pen in hand versus through a camera lens?

I remember what Le Corbusier said - “I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies.” This is partially true. Drawing offers a way to selectively illustrate what fits and the way it fits what we want to show. In other words, sketching is an interpretation. Photography, on the other hand, is not. It’s really a true representation of the reality, except some relatively minor input from the photographer.

Does drawing come naturally to you, or did you have to put yourself through a rigorous training process?

Good drawing comes with training. It’s 90% effort, 10% skill (maybe…). I train myself on a daily basis. I look at the drawings that I did

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Sketch & THE Architect / dan hogman

a few years ago and I see the progress I’ve made. I am still only a fraction of my way in…

How do you choose your subjects and frame your compositions?

My subjects have to be visually interesting to me. This is one thing that my photography and illustration have in common – they start from a common, dynamic subject, that I might find inspiring. Sometimes I both photograph and sketch the subject, as a way to better understand what I am looking at.

I really don’t have a theory on how to frame the subject – I just need to see some inspiring vanishing lines as a starting point. The rest just follows…

Could you identify the fundamental steps of creating a simple sketch of a building?

One thing that every single good sketch has in common – it has to ‘sit’ correctly. Basically, the correct vanishing lines are key as a start. This is why I pencil out the main lines before inking them. Pencilling the main lines is under 5% of the effort, but a critical step that I never skip. Once this is done correctly, everything falls into place. The rest is just personal style.

Is there a given framework that you follow religiously or does the process alter with respect to the subject at hand?

We all develop a personal style, routine,

process when developing these sketches.

The important thing is keeping the process flexible and adjustable to what the subject dictates. That is the only way to learn and evolve.

Why do you never use a sketchbook?

Do loose sheets of paper enable a sense of freedom for your sketches?

I think sketchbooks are confining. You are forced to keep sketches in one bind, simply because you did them within the same period. Sometimes you fail, but it’s part of a sketchbook, so you keep it, unless you rip it apart. Loose sheets offer the freedom I need, whether in the studio or in the field.

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When sketching in ink, do you attempt to erase mistakes, incorporate them into the drawing or ignore them and continue your process?

I never erase ink. I never try to do the perfect sketch. I make the mistake look as part of the sketch. My sketches are loose, so every line looks like a mistake. It’s part of the process.

Your signature style is pen and ink on Bristol paper – why the refrain from using colour in your works?

I believe there is a level of purity that I can only achieve in black ink. I feel very strongly about this. And when I say ‘ink’ I really mean

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Sketch & THE Architect / dan hogman

Heidelberg

liquid ink, applied with a steel or gold nib.

Fluid ink is inspiring. Cartridge(d) ink is weak, confined. Much like bottled water versus free-flowing water in a stream.

Do you ever feel that your drawings romanticise the subjects at hand? Have you ever finished a work and looked up to realise that your sketch is perhaps more appealing than the subject before you?

I would not say that the sketch is more appealing than the subject. It’s just a personal interpretation of the subject in front of me. This is like saying that a sketch is more appealing than a photo. It might be, to some. To others, it’s just another way of looking at the same subject. I do think that the sketch brings a personal flavour to the representation that a photo or the real subject is sometimes lacking.

Arc de Triomphe

Is sketching an iconic building any different from sketching a commonplace site? Is there an unspoken pressure in ‘getting it right’?

It does offer a better interaction on social media. My followers might recognize the subject and might be intrigued in commenting on it; but from what I do, it’s just another subject that made the cut in my selection.

When you revisit a subject to sketch it again after years, are your observations any different from when you first drew it?

Yes, definitely. I believe that my style is changing for the better. Better in being more and more particular, less and less accurate.

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Binghatti

To me, this is gain. The style is evolving; tools are changing. I still need to have a larger body of work to really observe this, but I learn as I go…

What makes your drawing style unique from other artists’ works?

Probably not being at all preoccupied with accuracy or cleanliness. I think I am cleaner in tool selection, worse in precision.

But ‘worse’ is not really worse in my mind.

It’s all about that level of calculated imperfection that I continue to perfect…

How much time do you typically spend on each drawing? Given that they are mostly completed ‘on-site’, does the changing nature of daylight play a determining factor in the final render?

I keep most of my drawings to under one hour. Yes, the light does change, even within one hour. It might not be noticeable unless you are particularly following the light/sun angle. This is why I keep the light as the last thing I want to represent, for consistent angles.

Light and shadow seem to play a critical role in bringing the drawing to life.

Would you consider this to be the final layer of the sketch or an integrated part addressed as you proceed?

Absolutely. I prefer deep shadows and strong bright surfaces. This adds depth to any subject. I do add strong darks in areas that fit me, mostly for the purpose of stronger contrast or deeper depth. It’s a personal choice that might/might not

always reflect the true shadow values in the field. As always, what I look at is a mere ‘interpretation’ of the subject.

What is the relevance of darkness in understanding and subsequently drawing an object?

Darkness has many feelings. I use it as the basic shadow. Many times, if reflects depth. Some other times, it represents cold, distant, foreign. I believe that my work is improved by limitations. Using black, exclusively, forces me to re-use the darkness of ink for various purposes.

Besides drawing realised and realistic forms, do your sketches manifest abstracted visions?

I used to. That was before the social media took off. Nothing of that is public. I still need to re-perfect that field before talking about it…

How does your practice of sketching enable you to articulate your own architectural ideas and proposals onto paper?

It does and it does not… The daily architectural work has little connection with my architectural sketching. I work on large-scale projects, in teams of dozens of professionals. It tends to be quite technical.

Besides sketching a quick detail on occasions, I have little use for it. However, my conceptual work and architectural sketch go together perfectly. This is a longterm project. I will go public with it once I am more comfortable with it.

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Sketch & THE Architect / dan hogman

Binghatti

How critical is it to define a scale to your work? What are your go-to tools to determine the same?

If we are talking about the physical size of the drawing and the scale that goes with it, I rely on many items – the scale of the subject and amount of detail I want to represent, tools I want to use and the amount of time I have. Fat ink-nibs fill the page quickly but would not work on a small-scale paper. This is a decision I make on a case by case.

In this age of digital media, do you take your sketches to the computer to refine or edit them? How much would you rely on digital media to finalise your work?

I rely very little on digital media. I think that the more we get into digital media, the more we appreciate hand-made pieces.

I don’t think I spend more than 5 minutes per sketch, for a quick touch-up, before publishing it.

Why is it important for you to continue to sketch when digital photography and computer graphics offer a plethora of options to capture the built environment?

I think computer-produced visualizations are cold and more and more distant from human touch. We do accept them and take them for granted, as the way to illustrate our designs. It offers a level of accuracy that we can’t deal without.

Do you think drawing/sketching should be given increased importance in design and architectural study?

Yes, I do. I think drawing and sketching have a double purpose. It’s not just about being able to represent a subject. It’s really about ‘seeing’… You don’t just develop the hand, but really, the eye, through the act of sketching. So yes, this is just as relevant as ever.

What are the biggest challenges of sketching by hand?

I think the bottom line is, you need to enjoy what you do. Once you reach that stage, nothing is a challenge, really… Not to say sketching is easy, but you start seeing challenges as a provocation, as an incentive to try harder and do more. Sometimes you fail, sometimes you do well; it’s a part of the process.

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Besides creating drawings on paper, you also undertake larger projects and private comisions such as from wall murals . How does the approach differ from smaller scale drawings to larger expanses?

I occasionally receive commissions to decorate larger space and use the wall as the medium. The only downside – you can’t fail. Everything is immediately public.

There is a certain amount of pressure that comes with it, but I see it as an incentive to do well.

You use social media actively to share your work and processes with the public.

When exhibiting in a formal environment, do you prefer print or digital media?

I think that electronic format is only suitable when paper is not accessible, such as social media. When there is a choice, paper always wins. This is true for my portfolio, job interviews or any presentation I need to make. I think print offers a more personal dialogue with the audience. It is true to the original medium of the work as well. www.danhogman.com

Heidelberg

it’’s A matter of preference Dan Hogman, the artist, architect or photographer?

Architect always comes first. But not in the way defined by the California Architects Board for instance. The way I see it, art and architecture are one and the same.

Sketching buildings, streetscapes or landscapes?

Buildings.

Drawing historic, contemporary or imaginary buildings?

Historic - probably because they were drawn and designed with the same medium that I use.

Using fine tip pens, fountain pens or pencils?

Fountain pens with free-flowing ink (not cartridges).

Sketching at dawn, midday or dusk?

Midday when indoors – light temperature is more consistent with video capture. When outside, then later in the day, ideally one hour before sunset for lower light angles.

Outreach through Facebook, YouTube, Instagram?

Instagram.

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Sketch & the Architect / Narinder sagoo, foster + partners

DRAWING-E-SCAPES Architect by training but artist by heart, Narinder Sagoo, Art Director and Partner at Foster + Partners discusses the critical aspects that are the core of the process of drawing and sketching. Taken by the stoic discipline that drives his practice, Mrinalini Ghadiok of mondo*arc india delves into personal references that keep his passion astir.

Pic: Aaron Hargreaves / Foster + Partners

Have you ever just closed your eyes holding a pencil to paper? You must try it. Pull away slowly and you will feel the semblance of the graphite melt into the embrace of its open-armed partner, or, your hand might drag its weight as the stubborn metallic head resists against the fine ridges of its perpetrator. The delicate purr of a soft lead stands in deep contrast to the deafening screech of a hardened nib; but either way, they both leave their mark in manners unforgiving.

“Drawing”, he says, “was in a way a form of escapism for me – a way of exploring the world.” I believe it still is.

I am in conversation with an artist and trained architect, whose expression is most lucid through drawing, who began his career at giving form to the thoughts of others, and who is now seeking to fill a single position in his very coveted team for a studio that is world renowned and applications to which crossed 25,000 last year. I am speaking with Narinder Sagoo, Pic:London.

Jinita Sagoo Partner with Foster + Partners in

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Drawing of Gran (at age 7 or 8) Pic: Narinder Sagoo

Sagoo is energetic and enthused and the first thing he expresses is gratitude for this opportunity to connect ‘back home’ and inspire people here in India. A part of me wonders – do you really not know how much of an inspiration you already are? I have been following his work online and have been struck by his clarity, attention to detail, understanding and agility to depict the unreal so realistically. The skill, I imagine would have been passed through generations of artists.

What I learn is a tad different – born and brought up in northern England, Sagoo comes from a traditional Sikh family in Leeds. His early years were spent in the vicinity of close family and friends, not travelling too far from home. But his imagination would not be sequestered as he took pen to paper and drawing became his vehicle to explore.

“Drawing became in a way a form of escapism for me. It became a way to connect, see dreams, see the world and record it,” he says. Sagoo would draw his grandmother as she cooked; his grandfather, a carpenter as he tinkered with his tools; his father, a metal worker as he built forms; and all the apparatus and equipment that he was surrounded and rather captivated by.

He adds candidly, “So, my passion for drawing started as early as I can remember, perhaps at the same time as my passion

Rome site visit 1996, Leeds Architecture School Pic: Narinder Sagoo

for making. The two were inseparable.

And while it allowed me to have fun, the discipline of drawing fascinated me. I really enjoyed the dance between the pen or pencil and paper. And when I draw now I still try to reconnect with that childhood curiosity that I felt then.”

Sagoo’s inquisition took him on a long, illustrated journey - from a young boy who drew out Maths, Chemistry and Physics lessons in school (for that was the only way for him to understand the subjects), drew his way through architectural studies in Leeds and then found a placement at Foster + Partners before heading to The Bartlett at UCL for a Master’s degree.

Sagoo was soon back doing what he loved most – drawing. The pre-computer-graphicera had him draw free-hand perspectives for nearly all the projects in the studio. The sheer passion for what he did, also shared

by Lord Foster himself, became the catalyst for a fond friendship. 22 years later, Sagoo is still behind that desk but now backed by a team of almost 20 people. A diverse group of drawing enthusiasts hailing from architecture, interior design, automotive design and some, not from design at all, work together to illustrate and bring to life the projects in the studio, unscrambling complex, often scientific as well as creative stories into simple drawings.

Sagoo tells me with a shy honesty, “I still remember my first day here. And every day after that has been as exciting.” I learn that in this time he has made over 15,000 drawings professionally (and I can not even begin to imagine how many more outside of his workplace). Yet he claims that he is happy with probably just a few!

Though this is not something that saddens him, instead he is exhilarated. He sees it as a learning process, where one has to do something more than 10,000 times to get good at it. I would say that he is pretty darn good already; but he just says, “It has taken me a long time to get so comfortable with drawing with various tools. I now can draw in any environment and with anyone around, but what is of essence is that I still reconnect with that childhood freedom of making marks on paper.”

I am taken by Sagoo’s fascination for the discipline required to draw, and the discipline with which he practices.

Diligently and rather patiently working to master the art, I assume the repertoire at hand is not just large but immensely diverse. To this Sagoo responds quite flatly, “For almost a decade, I drew with the same kind of pen on the same kind of tracing paper because I was learning the language of drawing!” I have to admit, I am taken aback by this seemingly ascetic approach,

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Sketch & the Architect / Narinder sagoo, foster + partners

Bartlett School of Architecture Pic: Narinder Sagoo

but I learn soon that the process enabled many more inquiries of a different kind.

“Instinctively, I have a tireless pursuit of new ways of doing things, seeing things, and beyond those 10,000 drawings, I started to explore many different things with my team,” says Sagoo. He realised the delicateness as well as the relevance of each of the ingredients that go into making a drawing – be it the tool, the surface, the mood or even the requirement. While a quick sketch would best be achieved with a roller ball pen that glides swiftly, a felt-tip, on the other hand, would slow not only his movement but also thoughts, permitting deeper care and detail to be infiltrated into the illustration. If the paper were crisp, it would invite careful consideration of making marks, whereas a roll of cheap tracing paper would enjoy a carefree, perhaps even careless demeanour.

“I realised then that I could exercise speed, details and various tempos in drawing, respective to the story we are telling,” West Kowloon City Park 2010, detailed sketch and tone Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Foster + Partners

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Dharavi Masterplan Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Foster + Partners

explains Sagoo. “This is why I relate drawing to language – if I was having a brief chat with someone, I could storyboard that conversation and draw it in quick thumbnails. If we had a very long, detailed conversation, that for me would be the equivalent of a larger sheet of paper that slows me down, allows me to deliberate and detail more.”

I can relate fairly well having dabbled in the realm of art over the years, but what strikes home is the speed of transference of thought. Long, lingering ideas that demand to be articulated at leisure will always find their medium in handwritten notes, preferably in fluid ink or graphite; while cold precision that is arduous and concise can only be achieved through a meticulously choreographed dance on perfectly positioned keys attached to a luminous screen. What effects my practice and I am curious to know if it does Sagoo’s, is the rhythm of the work. I am pleased to hear, “I often listen to music while drawing.

If I have very little time and want to control pressure, I will listen to something that slows down my tempo. If I want to draw faster, I increase the tempo of the music.”

Exchanging notes on favourites, Sagoo turns out to have quite diverse interests, ranging from Talvin Singh to Zakir Hussain, Chopin to Maria Callas, Philip Glass to movie scores, and even the occasional Metallica thrown in. Since my work predominantly involves weaving words, I usually stick to lyric-less harmonies.

Having trained as an architect and working in an architectural practice, Sagoo’s primary role is actually drawing, and he uses this as the most effective means to communicate. He believes that architects tend to get too close to their architecture and the process of design. “What I bring to that process, which is of a huge benefit and quite unique within the profession is the idea of beginning with drawing first, finding the right tools and the right way to express the architecture, helping the way

Sketching in the notebook Pics: Narinder Sagoo

“I have a very visual mind and I like to visualize things almost immediately. I like to simplify them and tell complex stories in the simplest ways possible. This started off at school – when I found things difficult, I would draw.”

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Sketch & the Architect / Narinder sagoo, foster + partners

Artwork research and storyboarding Pic: Courtesy of Foster + Partners

of problem-solving…Most stories begin with a basic idea, and most drawings start with a conversation,” he says.

In the beginning, Sagoo sits with the design team to talk about the architecture, its process, its clients and the outcomes. Not always are the outcomes statements, but more often are questions. Recalling a storyboard for a recent project, Sagoo explains, “The charrette with the design team resulted in a large question mark being drawn in the centre of the page, and under it read – ‘We would like to question everything, even the question’. This became a very powerful tool to engage with the client and state honestly that we are not going to take anything for granted.”

Having worked on an extensive portfolio that spans airports to buildings, homes, yachts, furniture, details and public spaces, Sagoo’s perspective on architecture is refreshing – “As architects, we create sets for people’s lives, giving their theatre a backdrop, be it a momentary experience or wholly encompassing, such as the workplace. Therefore, when we draw, we create storyboards, much like those for films, to which we can add emotion and complexity, or innocence and simplicity.”

In fact, these drawings become a gateway for the client into their future. While they can help deconstruct a brief and develop a concept, they can also offer a window into what is to be realised and therefore present the eventuality. Clients, though, vary in their understanding and expectations across the world. Sagoo explains, “No two projects are the same. They all have their own journey – geographically, culturally, socially and financially – and the formal representation has to be flexible to conform to varying needs.” While in the US or Europe, a quick drawing of the project is adequate to tell the clients its story, in the Middle-East a sketch does not have the same impact; instead, a photo-realistic

Prado section Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Foster + Partners

Apartment design, on iPad Pic: Courtesy of Foster + Partners

Beijing Airport competition drawing, on paper Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Foster + Partners

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Lab design, on iPad Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Courtesy of Foster + Partners

Sketch to render Pic: Courtesy of Foster + Partners

Aerial vision for London, on paper Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Foster + Partners

Render from sketch Pic: Courtesy of Foster + Partners

rendition of the proposal needs to be presented much earlier on in the design process, which is often made by the same team always starting out as a sketch first.

Given that the political decision-making process is very different, and the people making those decisions perhaps have only minutes to do so, a realistic vision fits the bill better and is definitely more impressive.

The diversity of requirements today is fulfilled by a plethora of tools at the disposal of Sagoo and his team. The customary pencil no longer bears the entire load of their work but is supported, complemented and supplemented by a large array of digital tools as well. “We are at a very fortunate time when tools such as the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil have come so close to the act of drawing with pen on paper. I feel very little difference between the two. I have, in fact, customised some of my traditional tools for digital platforms as well. I can now start a drawing on paper, scan it and work on my iPad, then print it and paint over it by hand again. I can switch between paper and digital as I please.”

There are a host of advantages that emerge from waltzing between sheets and screens – of which the ability to work simultaneously on the same drawing comes to mind first; and zooming into details and the ‘undo’ command follow close behind. Sagoo claims it has relieved him from thinking and planning, “Giving me the freedom to draw as the thought process is taking place or imagination is firing up, whenever, wherever, is quite liberating.” Added to these, of

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Sketch & the Architect / Narinder sagoo, foster + partners

course, are higher resolutions, greater storage, and being able to work remotely, with team members who may be sitting in different corners of the globe.

However, what really catches my attention is when Sagoo mentions the ‘record and share’ option. “Earlier, I would glue myself to my desk, draw, and once done, present my work to the team, Norman or the client.

They would see the image before them, but never the process of drawing or the impact of storytelling. They did not see the performance, they only saw a photograph of the performance.”

“Today, through an app on my iPad, I can record the development of the drawing, even add a musical score and present it as a movie.” Now, if that is not making the most of technological advances, I do not know what is?! Sagoo admits as well, “this is a great device in the art of winning projects and ‘seducing clients’”.

I suppose, as times get demanding, our means to keep up with them have to evolve as well. And the evolution of the drawing process thus follows suit. While earlier having to dedicate time before a drawing board to create visuals, today Sagoo carries his studio in his pocket, sketching in bed, on flights, buses and trains, or anywhere he would want to. The iPad Pro and Apple Pencil or even his smartphone have not replaced pen and ink, but have carved their own niche in his palette.

Snowdon Aviary Bridge approach view, on iPad Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Foster + Partners

Jaipur street study Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Foster + Partners

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“Freedom (between the digital and traditional medium of drawing) doesn’t mean that we use whatever we feel like using frivolously; we need to use the right tools at the right time for the right client in the right project.”

Narinder Sagoo draws out his chat with Mrinalini Ghadiok Pic: Narinder Sagoo / Foster + Partners

Sketching in the train, on paper Pics: Narinder Sagoo

“Technology has given me a lot more freedom, but I have never reached a fork in the road where I felt the need to choose.

On the other hand, if I paint a canvas with oil or acrylic, that influences my digital work the next day, and if I draw on the screen, it informs my personal explorations.

The two ideas have always correlated for me,” Sagoo adds.

Going by the adage that Foster believes in, “The only constant is change,” Sagoo welcomes change and evolution. He reflects on childhood memories of watching clouds and trying to make sense of their shapes, turning them into dinosaurs or cities or cars, and then as they moved, they change into something entirely else.

Sagoo is not easily bored, neither is he fazed by change; he is efficient, earnest and industrious, with a fierce passion for drawing, thirst for exploration, and candour in his practice. While he aspires to be inspirational, he undoubtedly inspires aspiration. I was surprised to find myself doodling through this conversation, and was rather happy with the result too. When asked if he happened to draw while we spoke, Sagoo was ever so kind to send over his stunning rendition of our conversation.

Meanwhile, I transcribe my thoughts onto an illuminated screen in the dead of the night. The mechanical rhythm is infused with the sublime calmness of Miles Davis’ trumpet, but eventually transforms to a recording of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s concert, and I end with a brilliant crescendo, all the while wondering how Sagoo would interpret this in visuals. Maybe I should ask… www.fosterandpartners.com/studio/people/ partners/narinder-sagoo

Sketching on the phone Pics: Narinder Sagoo

#DrawtoMake Make, Sir John Soane’s Museum and the World Architecture Festival came together to curate The Architecture Drawing Prize initiated as part of WAF last year. We take a look at the commended and winning entrants that are also currently exhibited at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.

“A great drawing is the first step from beauty to immortality. The importance of drawing can’t be exaggerated because it evidences aesthetic and conceptual perception at the most fundamental level,” remarked artists Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell, part of the eminent jury at the inaugural Architectural Drawing Prize, hosted for the first time by Make Architects, Sir John Soane’s Museum and World Architecture Festival. The Prize was introduced to recognize not only the continuing importance of hand drawing but also to embracing the creative use of digitally produced rendering.

Having received 166 entries from architects, designers and students across 15 countries, 38 of the most remarkable drawings were selected within three categories; Hybrid, Digital and Hand-drawn and announced during the event. Each category saw a winner and a list of commendations, while the year’s best drawing was awarded the inaugural Architecture Drawing Prize. Submissions were evaluated on the basis of their technical skill, originality in approach and ability to convey an architectural idea, whether for a conceptual or actual building project. Along with Langlands and Bell, the illustrious jury included Narinder Singh Sagoo, Art Director and Partner, Foster + Partners; Ken Shuttleworth, Founder, Make Architects; Owen Hopkins of Sir John Soane’s Museum; and Jeremy Melvin of WAF. The Hybrid as well as the overall winner was conferred to Momento Mori: a Peckham Hospice Care Home by Jerome Xin Hao Ng, produced as part of Ng’s final diploma project at The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.

Jeremy Melvin, Curator of WAF lauded the work as, “A superbly conceived and executed perspectival view looking down through the building from roof level, praised for its technical skill and sensitivity with which it depicted the spaces found in such institutions as settings for multi-generation social interaction.”

The award for the Digital category was won by Christopher Wijanto’s Deepwater Purgatory that judges felt “evoked Piranesi and Dante” through its rendition of a prison moored like an oil rig in deep water. Dimitrios Grozopoulis’ Scenarios for a Post-Crisis Landscape awarded the hand-drawn category winner intrigued them for reflecting a “haunting quality beyond most images of post-industrial landscape portrayed with an extraordinary control of line.”

Celebrating drawing as the essence of architecture, the first of its kind Drawing Prize was a great success and continues to aim to further the critical imperativeness of the medium by collating ideas, which when backed by intuition and technological advancements, frame the future of our built environment. www.thedrawingprize.worldarchitecturefestival.com

SCENARIOS for a Post-Crisis Landscape | Jerome Xin Hao Ng Final Diploma proect, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, UK

Sketch & the Architect / the Architecture Drawing Prize, berlin, germany

Winner: Hybrid and Overall

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Winner: Hand-drawn

SCENARIOS for a Post-Crisis Landscape | Dimitrios Grozopoulis

“So few drawings are realised as actual buildings, but this is a chance to celebrate the drawing as its own creation, its own piece of art.”

- Ken Shuttleworth | Founder, Make Architects; Co-curator, The Architecture Drawing Prize

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Winner: Digital

Deepwater Purgatory | Christopher Wijanto, WOHA, Singapore

Commendation: Hybrid

Hydrological Cluster | Anna Budnikova, Strojproject CB, Russia

Commendation: Hybrid

Knowledge Hub and Community Support Spaces - Studying Seasons and Community Interactions Emily Seden-Fowler, Scott Brownrigg, UK

Commendation: Hybrid

Reconstruct with Drawing. Hand drawing for Graphic Analysis Mariapia Di Lecce, Università degli Studi di Parma, Facoltà di Architettura

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Commendation: Digital

Publicly Accessible Spaces in St. Paul’s Cathedral | Chris Raven, DRDH Architects, UK

Commendation: Digital

Renovation of Denggao Village | Xinyuan Cao, Mahlum, USA

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Sketch & the Architect / the Architecture Drawing Prize, berlin, germany

Commendation: Hand-drawn

360 Degrees Panorama of the Dam Square | Elles Middelians, Studio Ellessi, Netherlands

Commendation: Hand-drawn

utopia | Ubaldo Occhinegro, Mua Studio, Italy

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Commendation: Hand-drawn

new entry 5 | Sergei Tchoban, Tchoban Voss Architekten, Germany

Commendation: Hand-drawn

Portuguese Street | Anna Budnikova, Strojproject CB, Russia

“A great drawing is the first step from beauty to immortality.

The importance of drawing can’t be exaggerated because it evidences aesthetic and conceptual perception at the most fundamental level.”

- Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell.

Commendation: Hand-drawn

100 | Reza Aliabadi, rzlbd, Canada

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sketch & the architect / Daniel Libeskind

Sketches/Pics: Studio Daniel Libeskind

THE CRUCIBLE OF DESIGN How much of a role does the initial sketch by the architect play in moulding the final built form?

In the case of Daniel Libeskind, the answer may veer towards “Quite a big one.” Take a look at his initial sketches for some of his now iconic buildings…it doesn’t take a very sharp eye to discern that for Libeskind, the sketch is not only a primary but almost a conclusive mediator between thought and reality, as Devyani Jayakar of mondo*arc india finds out.

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From the beginning of architecture, sketches as a preliminary manifestation of the vision of an architect have been an indispensable tool in design. To express the visualised thought, drawing on paper has been foundational. Employed by architects from Antonio Pisanello in the 14th century, Francesco Borromini in the 17th century, Hubert Robert in the 18th century, to Hans Hollein and Zaha Hadid more recently, drawing has flourished as a thinking process. royal ontario museum, toronto

However, do sketches necessarily translate into the final built form? It depends on which architect you are talking about. In the case of Daniel Libeskind the connection between sketch and built form is an almost uncanny one. The dramatic marriage of jagged glass lunging outwards from the side of a heritage structure in Libeskind’s extension of the Royal Ontario Museum was first conceived by the architect on a paper napkin. The bold dark strokes convey the restless energy and movement of the deconstructivist addition. No feathery strokes here, no detailing. Just the big statement, much like the finished building - visceral, unabashed, grabbing your attention.

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sketch & the architect / Daniel Libeskind

jewish museum, berlin

For the acclaimed Jewish Museum in Berlin, which traces and documents the angstridden history of the Jewish community during the Holocaust, Libeskind’s sketch has many more filler strokes, together with the use of a rust colour to emphasise the snaking form of his design. Lighter strokes in pencil denote the more conventional preexisting structures in its immediate vicinity.

Once again, the connection between the initial thought and the finished form is unmistakable. The sketch is busy, like the neighbourhood in which the building is located and places the structure within its context. Did Libeskind have an overhead photo of the vicinity when he made this sketch, or did he just approximate the surroundings? We don’t know.

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reflections at keppel bay, singapore

The sketch for Reflections, a housing complex at Keppel Bay, Singapore, is a minimal, calm one. Like the property itself, which is sited on a waterfront, the sketch conveys the mood of the location in its six towers of different heights, each gently curving off perpendicular as they take inspiration from the billowing sails of a boat. That Libeskind got it all right at the time that the thought was conceived, indicates a strong connection between the progression of his initial thought, right through to the end stage of the construction of the structure.

zlotta 44, warsaw Similar in simplicity, is Libeskind’s sketch for Zlota 44, although this high-end housing structure is located in the midst of a bustling urban context in Warsaw, Poland.

The 52-storey tower soars above the adjacent structures, its simple lines derived from the original sketch itself.

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sketch & the architect / Daniel Libeskind

world trade centre masterplan, new york Libeskind’s drawing for the World Trade Centre Master Plan is perhaps the most complex of the ones reviewed here, with many fine strokes and detailing, including text to caption some of the structures. The emotion-laden site covers 16 acres, with Libeskind detailing a very recognisable representation of the Statue of Liberty in one corner, and also indicating the angle of the sun on September 11th, called the ‘Wedge of Light’.

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While these five examples of sketches have different levels of detailing, all of them can clearly be matched with the final structure.

Does Libeskind have the ‘big picture’ all thought out in his mind at the inception of the design process itself? His sketches would seem to bear out that conclusion. Although some of them are clearly impromptu – executed even on paper napkins – others appear to have been drawn at a later stage in the thought process; the choices he makes with regard to the kind of strokes and the complexity of the drawing (as well as what he excludes) indicate the degree of detail and thought behind the design of his project.

There is a contention that architectural drawings do not seek to be an imitation of reality, but are instead a unique form of expression to find the essence of things, what our eyes don’t see. They can focus on the details as well as emphasise or hide certain elements. Moreover, there is a series of decisions to be made. Drawing instrument, paper type, line style, hand versus digital…all are a matter of choice.

To innovate, to speculate – all can happen at this stage, at minimum cost. The intensity of the lines is made through the pressure on the paper, stronger or darker, lighter or thinner as desired. But with the rise of digital representation in architecture, has the computer superseded the hand in the exploration of ideas? Seemingly contradictorily, many software have been designed that attempt to save the act of sketching, while others complement it.

The plethora of choices offers to patrons innovative media and means. So far from dying out with the advent of computers, drawings and sketches – whether on paper or digital – are here to stay. www.libeskind.com

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jawahar kala kendra c h a r le s co r r ea a s s ociate s

LOCATION

CLIENT

Architect

charles correa

BUILT AREA

9.5 ACRES

construction

jaipur, rajasthan GOVERNMENT OF RAJASTHAN

5 YEARS (1986 - 1991)

Idea Explorations Sketch: Charles Correa / Courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation

Symbols Sketch: Courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation

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“The primordial has become a fecund source of the mythic. This is why Picasso and Matisse in their paintings, Stravinsky in his music, and Le Corbusier in his architecture intuitively searched out the primitive.”

– Charles Correa

Layout plan Drawing: Courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation

At the Jawahar Kala Kendra, Correa uses the Navagraha, the 9-square mandala based on the mythological offerings of the Hindu Vedic texts to define the enclosure of the museum. The squares correspond to real and imaginary planets, such that each becomes the symbolic representation of the setting. Externally, the planets appear on the red sand stone facades as symbols inlayed in white marble and granite, while the plan configuration of nine squares corresponds internally to the mythical qualities associated with each planet.

Mars signifies power, so the place of Mars, or Mangal Mahal, houses the offices of

Isometric drawing of layout Drawing: Courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation

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sketch & the architect / Jawahar kala kendra, jaipur, Rajasthan

Ketu

Budh (Mercury)

Chandra (Moon)

Shani (Saturn)

Surya (Sun)

Mangal (Mars)

Rahu

Guru (Jupiter)

Shukra (Venus)

The Nine Planets

Drawing: Courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation

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Pic: Mehendra Sinh

Pic: Mehendra Sinh

administration; Guru represents knowledge, and so forms the museum library; Venus as the artistic sign encloses the theater complex, and so on. At the very center of the universe, and imparting to the planets its creative energy, the sun manifests in the stepped tank, a reservoir of knowledge and confluence, of meeting and reflection.

The journey through the building, the movement through its celestial divisions is marked by a diversity of spatial densities.

Individual buildings inside coalesce into a kind of cellular reordering – random accretions of requirements, that either lean against the surrounding high walls like architectural parasites, or group and regroup in independent formations. Such accretions create their own peculiar definitions of court, suggesting the qualities and scales intrinsic to the functions housed within. The actual experience of the museum – unstructured though it may be –

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sketch & the architect / Jawahar kala kendra, jaipur, Rajasthan

Section Sketch: Courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation

Pic Mehendra Sinh

Pic: Courtesy of Charles Correa Associates

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“The design of JKK comes from the city (of Jaipur) itself, which was based on the nine squares each representing nine planets.”

– Charles Correa

Pic: Courtesy of Charles Correa Associates

begins to redefine the very act of cultural display. Heritage, as the design conveys, is a matter of accidental encounter and discovery – a process that relies on the natural instincts and inclinations of a person moving through space, between the stage set of walls, past recreated incidents and rituals of art and craft. Such a design conception - suggesting perhaps a multitude of internal variations - questions the very conventions of museum design and presents a physical rethink of the idea.

“The primordial has become a fecund source of the mythic,” says Correa, “This is why Picasso and Matisse in their paintings, Stravinsky in his music, and Le Corbusier in his architecture intuitively searched out the primitive.”

It is easy to accept the inherent arbitrariness of this internal occupation because the external confinement is formed by so reductive, so severe a delineation.

Within the setting of the nine squares is an architecture of wit and whimsy, as singularly playful in its creation as it is specific to the functions demanded of it. Enclosed by high parapets, life goes on inside in the numerous demolitions, insertions or reorganizations. But the exterior, irresolute in its material joining – like the wall of the old city - remains undisturbed. Like Jaipur, enclosed by high sandstone walls and approached through framing portals, the Jawahar Kala Kendra too relives a more contemporary historical destiny. www.charlescorrea.net

Pic: mondo*arc india

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NEUES MUSEUM

Dav i d C h ippe r fiel d A r c h itect s + Julian Ha r r ap

LOCATION

CLIENT

User

architect

Berlin, Germany Stiftung PreuSSischer Kulturbesitz represented by the Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung Staatliche Museen zu Berlin David Chipperfield Architects london & berlin in collaboration with jullian harrap

Partners/directors Harald Müller, Martin Reichert Eva Schad, Alexander Schwarz (design lead)

Project architects Jamie Fobert, Mark Randel Martin Reichert, Eva Schad

restoration cons.

Structural Engineer

pro denkmal Gmbh, berlin / bamberg igb ingenieurgruppe bauen, karlsruhe / berlin

Services engineer Jaeger, Mornhinweg+Partner Ingenieurgesellschaft, berlin

Acoustics Ingenieurbüro Axel C. Rahn GmbH, Berlin

Lighting ConsULTANT

Kardorff Ingenieure Lichtplanung, Berlin

Exhibition Planning

architetto Michele de Lucchi S.r.L., Milan

Landscape Architect

Levin Monsigny Landschaftsarchitekten, Berlin

ProjECT controlling

Ernst & Young Real Estate GmbH

Site supervision Lubic & Woehrlin GmbH

GROSS FLOOR AREA

20,500 sqm.

Competition

1993 – 1994 (Phase 1), 1994 – 1997 (Phase 2 and 3)

IDEATION

5 years (1998 – 2003)

6 years (2003 – 2009)

construction

Re-establishment of form and figure Sketches: David Chipperfield

The museum before WW II Pic: bpk/Zentralarchiv

The museum left in ruins after the war Pic: Wolfgang Wolters

Model depicting proposed renovation Pic: Roman Maerz

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Top Site Plan Drawing: David Chipperfield Architects Middle Left East Facade Pic: Ute Zscharnt for David Chipperfield Architects Middle Right Colonade Main Entrance Pic: Ute Zscharnt for David Chipperfield Architects

Staircase Hall Pic: SPK/David Chipperfield Architecs, photo Jorg von Bruchhausen

The Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island was designed by Friedrich August Stüler and built between 1841 and 1859.

Extensive bombing during the Second World War left the building in ruins, with entire sections missing completely and others severely damaged. Few attempts at repair were made after the war, and the structure was left exposed to nature. In 1997, David Chipperfield Architects won the international competition for the rebuilding of the Neues Museum in collaboration with Julian Harrap.

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the sketch & the architect / NEUES MUSEUM, Berlin, Germany

Staircase Hall Pic: SMB/David Chipperfield Architecs, photo Ute Zscharnt

Staircase Hall Pic: SPK/David Chipperfield Architecs, photo Jorg von Bruchhausen

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Staircase hall Pic: Bartosz Haduch

Detail main staircase Pic: Bartosz Haduch

The key aim of the project was to recomplete the original volume, and encompassed the repair and restoration of the parts that remained after the destruction of the Second World War. The original sequence of rooms was restored with new building sections that create continuity with the existing structure.

The archaeological restoration followed the guidelines of the Charter of Venice, respecting the historical structure in its different states of preservation. All the gaps in the existing structure were filled in without competing with it in terms of brightness and surface. The restoration and repair of the prevalent was driven by the idea that the original structure should be emphasized in its spatial context and original materiality – the new reflects the lost without imitating it.

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the sketch & the architect / NEUES MUSEUM, Berlin, Germany

West Elevation

Section through the West Wing

Section through the Courtyards

Section through the East Wing Drawings: David Chipperfield Architects

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Top Egyptian Courtyard Pic: SMB/David Chipperfield Architecs, photo Ute Zscharnt

Bottom Left Platform above Egyptian Courtyard Pic: SMB/David Chipperfield Architecs, photo Ute Zscharnt Bottom Right Roman Room, View into South Dome Room Pic: SMB/David Chipperfield Architecs, photo Ute Zscharnt

The new exhibition rooms are built of large format pre-fabricated concrete elements consisting of white cement mixed with Saxonian marble chips. Formed from the same concrete elements, the new main staircase repeats the original without replicating it, and sits within a majestic hall that is preserved only as a brick volume, devoid of its original ornamentation. Other new volumes – the Northwest wing, with the Egyptian court and the Apollo risalit, the apse in the Greek courtyard, and the South Dome – are built of recycled handmade

bricks, complementing the preserved zones.

With the reinstatement and completion of the mostly preserved colonnade at the Eastern and Southern side of the museum, the pre-war urban situation was reestablished to the East.

In October 2009, after more than sixty years as a ruin, the Neues Museum reopened to the public as the third restored building on Museum Island, exhibiting the collections of the Egyptian Museum and the Museum of Pre and Early History. www.davidchipperfield.com

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The Crescent S A N J AY P U R I A R C H I T E C T S

LOCATION

Surat, Gujarat, India

CLIENT HAPPY HOMES GROUP ARCHITECT SANJAY PURI ARCHITECTS DESIGN TEAM

SANJAY PURI

4905 sqft.

BUILT AREA

IDEATION

1 WEEK

completion

3 months (August 2015 to October 2015)

Sketches / Drawings : Sanjay Puri Architects

N

N 1. Volume required by the office

N

2. Opening up maximum surface to the north using C - configuration

N

3. Optimising utility of the corners by curving the form, making it more efficient

N 4. Mass further refined by adding vertical north facing incisions to light the internal office spaces and reduce heat gain

Built-mass Evolution

5. Courtyard with shallow waterbody and an additional internally accessed courtyard

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Concept Sections

reflected light through clere-story

workspace courtyard

Unfolded section showing use of clerestory windows for workscape lighting and courtyard for cooling and recreation

incident southern rays

northlight

building Workspace

setback

Section showing north facing orientation of building around a waterbody

0

Ground Floor Plan (plan cut at 1.2 mts)

2

5

The client’s brief called for a small, single level office fitted with the basic amenities of a reception, cabins, pantry, dining area and a conference room, which also needed to be sustainable, sympathetic to its climatic conditions and have a sculptural identity.

The response was a C-shaped building facing north and enclosing a water body in its hollow, wrapping the program around it in layers. Draped in Corten steel, the robust outer walls appear as if peeling away delicately to reveal moments of internal function within.

The shallow pool forms a semi-open courtyard that infuses the inner spaces with indirect light, also facilitated with the vertical incisions between the soaring walls, which help in reducing heat gain substantially. Inside, a continuous passageway distances the office spaces

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the sketch & the architect / The Crescent, Surat, Gujarat

Pics: Vinesh Gandhi

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from the periphery, moving them away from direct sources of heat and light.

Tall volumes with ceiling heights varying between 6 and 9 metres further help cool the office spaces, besides adding a dramatic touch to the volumetric expanse.

The stepped roof offered an opportunity for clerestory windows, which sit at varied angles along the length of the structure filtering in reflected light.

A south-facing courtyard towards the rear end is scooped out of the building function to once again curtail heat gain and present a space for recreation.

These design gestures play a critical role in abating the heat passively, minimizing cooling loads on the air conditioning systems and controlling energy consumption.

The structure made entirely of steel framework, clad in Corten sheets and capped with a metal sheet roof was designed to be a temporary site office for the adjacent textile market under construction. Built in a span of 3 months, the building is a modular form that will eventually be dismantled and re-used as a community centre. www.sanjaypuriarchitects.com

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ADMINISTRATIVE & TRAINING CENTER S J K a r c h itect s

LOCATION

CLIENT

Latur, Maharashtra undisclosed

architect SHIMUL JAVERI KADRI, vaishali shankar

BUILT AREA

1,50,000 sqft.

IDEATION

6 months

construction

ongoing

Sketch: Vaishali Shankar

Masterplan/Rough Sketch Sketch: Shimul Javeri Kadri Masterplan/Design Strategies 1: The vertical axis is defined by an existing access road into the property 2: The building is located such that it forms a backdrop to an existing statue pedestal, and is further pushed back in order to create a public plaza 3/4: Basic massing of the three blocks 5: Creating a secondary axis through the three blocks in order to maintain connectivity and retain the element of shaded streets 6: Courtyards are introduced, to break the built mass 7/8a/8b: Further developments in order to achieve basic mass-void relationships in plan

Ground Floor Plan

Masterplan/Mass and Void - The built mass surrounds the courtyards and streets Sketch: Vaishali Shankar

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan Drawings: SJK Architects

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Regional influence of arches translated to the built mass in the form of triple-heighted steel arched columns that support the roof overhang.

Sketches: Shimul Javeri Kadri

Administrative block - View of the street

- Stone and brick are commonly available materials in this region. They are used in combination to create thick load bearing walls in order to increase thermal insulation.

- For additional protection from the harsh heat, corridors are provided towards the courtyard.

- The building mass is punctured by chamfered openings, double-height terraces and smaller slit windows.

- These terraces give the opportunity to have full height glass windows that are well protected from the sun.

- Openings being angled and recessed, keep away the harsh south and west sun, thus maintaining the inner spaces cooler.

- The angle of chamfer in the window detail was carefully studied in order to ensure reduction in the harshness of the direct sun.

Administrative block - View of the street Model: SJK Architects

Courtyard view Visual: SJK Architects

The brief called to create a highly sustainable workspace and training centre, which would include administrative, academic, dining and residential blocks. The vision of the project was to demonstrate local pride through intelligent, sensitive and contemporary solutions to the climate, geology and culture of Latur, summed up as ‘demonstration of intelligent sensibility and sensitivity for life’.

Latur, located in the parched, hot innards of Maharashtra is famous for its sugarproduction and more recently infamous for the drought. The clients, a sugar production facility, desires to build a research and training centre for better agricultural practices and better facilities for their staff. The project requires to be entirely environmentally sustainable – utilizing the

best practices for building in these climatic and soil conditions. Latur being hot and dry, the design proposes for the openings to be small, walls thick, small courtyards that create convection currents and stone and brick as building materials for high thermal mass. With the soil being largely black cotton and the cost of stone construction being too high, the first quest in the process was to identify the correct building materials that could provide adequate insulation and be procured locally. Thus, the use of locally made flyash bricks, an industry born out of waste generated by thermal power plants around Latur, as infill in an RCC framed structure seemed contextually most appropriate. Through collaborations with vendors, experiments with local materials were carried out in order to achieve the

right texture and tone, aesthetically.

Following that came the search for a design language, which also evolved from the solid facades with small shaded openings.

However, the historical use of the arch, the scale of shaded courtyards, and streets were also researched in great depth and aided in generating a master plan for a set of buildings that will eventually become the core or the magnet for the 100-acre industrial campus of the sugar factory.

The resultant design replete with passive and active energy resources, water harvesting methods and a very careful use of resources relies on form, light and scale to create an environment worthy of the possibilities of building in hot and arid Latur. www.sjkarchitect.com

URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION FOR NEW CAMPUS FOR

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SCHOOL OF PLANNING & ARCHITECTURE S . G hosh & A ssociates

LOCATION

New Delhi

CLIENT ARCHITECTS

School of Planning & Architecture, NEW DELHI S GHOSH & ASSOCIATES

DESIGN TEAM

Sumit GHOSH, SUCHITRA GHOSH, Sudipto Ghosh

BUILT AREA

IDEATION

47,500 sqm.

45 days (competition proposal)

The congregation hall straddles the deep gorge left over by sand quarries and creates a dialogue between the natural and man-made interventions.

The accumulated water at the base of the quarry has been augmented to create a recreational water body.

Sketches / Drawings: Sumit Ghosh

Design Development

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Preservation of natural elements: The gorge is seen as the unique feature of the site providing an idal microclimate at its base, where the rainwater creates a seasonal water body. The scheme proposes to enhance this asset.

“The axis of reverie is conceived as a trail that defines the lyrical urbanity that the architects dream and create in the scheme.”

– Sumit Ghosh

The cascading structures retaining the land on one side are so laid out that facilitates drawing of the cool breeze from the lake.

The open international competition for this premier design institute garnered over 130 entries from across the world. It was especially significant for SGA given that senior partners of the firm, Sumit Ghosh and Suchitra Ghosh, had completed their Bachelors in Architecture from this institute several decades ago.

The brief presented a rather clear mandate - an urban design strategy including system design of all constituent parts covering each aspect of built and open environments; the relationship between the campus and its surroundings as also with the larger city network; a comprehensive set of development guidelines and controls for the architectural project; innovation in technology and communication; sustainability in the built environment.

The site, on the other hand, offered its own set of parameters – located on the edge of the undulating Ridge Zone in a highly sensitive ecological corridor, flanked by a luxury hotel, high end plotted developments, institutional buildings and a biodiversity park. The design found its feet in three basic design attitudes concerning geology, history and the city, to create

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sketch & the architect / NEW CAMPUS FOR SPA, new delhi

Final model of the proposed design

Eastern Ghats view

“The sketches attempt to integrate and evolve the diverse functions of the school in a manner that becomes a cohesive whole depicting the system of movement, the built forms and the strong natural attributes of the site.”

– Sumit Ghosh Bird’s eye view

Section through gorge Sketches / Drawings: Sumit Ghosh

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The school of architecture is where one learns the art of immeasurable through the language of measurable. The created spaces have a mystery in their solids and voids and the complexity created by the orthogonal and the oblique. The sketch describes the sense of enclosed spaces created by a wall that parts to leave the columns behind.

a realm of ‘places’ rather than abstract geometrical configurations.

Two axes become cardinal - the axis of reverie along the prominent ravine, which becomes the soul of the campus; and the axis of unity, that binds the proposed development with the existing spatial parameters of the site and with the larger city fabric and network.

The canyon becomes the primary organising element used as a central court around which the academic campus rises. The students and the faculty have a direct access from their studios, workshops, cafés and the student’s centre, turning the large courtyard into a space for a pleasant and stimulating experience. As the site

drops towards the west, the hostels are strategically placed in concurrence with the adjoining residential neighbourhood.

The auditorium and more public areas like the exhibition galleries and administrative offices are planned closer to the main street, and a large pedestrian entrance plaza and convocation lawns open out towards the more institutional edge of the plot.

The axis of reverie is conceived as a trail that defines the lyrical urbanity that the architects dream and create in the scheme.

An elaborate sketch conjures up vibrant students scampering down their large sky-lit studios onto the banks of the gorge, while the deck connecting the library, the cascading terrace café and the extended

terraces of the workshops become other spectators.

The scheme further identifies the loss associated with shifting the campus from its original site to its present location, and now further to a new spot. It endeavours to answer the important query of how urban design can deal with the loss of spatial history and lived memories. The scheme thus begins its morphological advancements with the placement of a trapezoidal court of the same geometrical configuration as the court of the first campus. Nomenclature further reinforces the association of the new campus with the nostalgia of its past, keeping alive and vivid its old memories. www.sghosh.com

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NILAYA M OZ A I C

LOCATION

Arpora, Goa

ARCHITECT MOZAIC - dean d’cruz

BUILT AREA

IDEATION

800 sqm.

2 years

COMPLETION 1993

Concept Sketches / Drawings: Courtesy of Mozaic

Approach Elevation

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Built on top of the hill overlooking the wide stretch of beach, Nilaya spreads it arms towards the panoramic view below.

Layout Plans

Sections

Built on top of a hill and overlooking a wide stretch of beach, Nilaya graciously embraces the panoramic view below.

Conceived as an informal hotel where guests interact and share their day and meals with the owners, the house enables the residents to come together in single spaces or spread themselves in the many private hideaways across the plot.

The central core of the building, which contains an informal sitting area, generates four arms, from two of which sprout the dining and living and from the other two, four guest rooms each. While one arm

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sketch & the architect / nilaya, Arpora, Goa

Details

Detail Explorations Sketches / Drawings: Courtesy of Mozaic

Sectional Plan View

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Pics: Dinesh Mehta

envelops the garden court, the other defines the swimming pool.

The design is an organic interpretation of the traditional architecture of Goa employing locally available laterite stone for its walls, traditional coconut wood and pot tiles for its roof, and cast in-situ cement floors. While the stone is left exposed, the roof it is allowed to twist and turn owing to its flexibility, and the vibrant flooring is extended beyond its bounds to clamber onto walls and furniture.

Incorporated into the building are old artefacts like temple columns and grinding stones that stand against vernacular elements such as stone arches, brick domes and wooden columns.

The project denounces the idea of spatial hierarchy, stepping away from a sequence of outside to inside, but rather one move directly into the core and then outwards.

The rooms are accessed not from corridors but from gardens, and while some spaces are strictly bounded like the Star domed room, others spill out freely like the Sunroom, while others still are fully open pavilions like the dining room.

The interiors of the rooms embody strong cosmic themes of air, fire, stars, moon, earth, and the sun; each theme realised through its colour schemes, fittings, lamps, windows, and spilling onto the tiles and floor.

While the residents explore the extent of the property, the owners’ bedroom sitting atop the core room of the house has a 360 degree view of the land enabling them to monitor and offer their personalised service to their guests, all of whom come to experience what the name of the inn has to offer - Nilaya - Place in the Blue - Heaven. www.mozaic.in

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SHRUJAN LLDC MUSEUM GALLERY ONE M atri k a D esign C ollaborati v e

LOCATION

ARCHITECT

Paddar, Kutch, Gujarat MATRIKA DESIGN COLLABORATIVE

DESIGN TEAM Abhishek Ray, VIKAS PAWAR, ASHWINI GOKHALE, SANTOSH SONAR, ARUNAVA NANDY, DEEPAK LOHAR

BUILT AREA

8000 sqft.

IDEATION

9 months

completion

12 months

The brief comprised the development of museum galleries at the Living and Learning Design Centre campus aimed at introducing the communities of Kutch practising embroidery art. The intention was to encourage engagement in the cross-pollination of art forms within the communities and for the gallery to create an ambience and context for the visitor to explore LLDC and Shrujan’s role in establishing income generation and livelihood programs for them. This was achieved through the display of the diverse collection put together by Shrujan since 1970 that forms an integral part of the embroidery heritage of the region.

The project was designed with a participatory approach - involving the

Section Sketches / Drawings: Vikas Pawar, Abhishek Ray

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Circulation Plan

“The challenge was to juxtapose the old and new, the intangible and the tangible and the palpable versus the abstract all in one spatial expanse.” – Abhishek Ray

Pics: Darshit Ringwala, Shrujan Trust

client and the craftspeople, which not only led to a rich and engaging experience in the gallery but also instilled pride and promoted their practice. Thematically the museum spans the collection with an ethnological connect wherein community profiles are exhibited alongside their works. Focal points are created under the prevalent light wells for special exhibits that display their lifestyle and material cultures. The entire visitor flow is planned to be conventional, sinuous and sequential, allowing for a guided experience for groups and individuals.

The design focused on exhibiting the creations on panels, clothing and as textile art. Given the delicate nature of work being displayed, technical considerations were critical, carefully managing micro and macro environments of the museum space, with special emphasis on the selection of appropriate materials. The design of the exhibition cases was intrinsically based on simulations created to map the microclimatic conditions within them and their impact on the collection on display.

Light became an essential tool in the scheme – employed meticulously to address an added sensitivity of artefacts owing to the fragility of textiles under incident light radiation. A major setback was avoided by controlling sunlight pouring through the light wells by installing light control membranes that diffused the incoming illumination. The collections were rendered with precise fixtures that facilitated the design to be addressable based on colour, form and type of textile displayed. Overall, the ideal scenario for a textile gallery was aspired – a darkened space with controlled spillage. www.matrika.in

FOUNDATION FOR LIBERAL ARTS & MANAGEMENT EDUCATION FOR KNOWLEDGECITY

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Vā stu S hil pā C onsultants

LOCATION

CLIENT

Lavale, Pune, Maharashtra FOUNDATION FOR LIBERAL AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATION FOR KNOWLEDGECITY EDU. PVT. LTD.

ARCHITECT Rajeev Kathpalia - Vāstu Shilpā Consultants DESIGN TEAM Vijay Patel, Aarti Gandhi, Suketu Shah, Sejal Patel, Jose Benoy, Vishal Havel, Hardik Jagad, Pushkar Joshi, Lata Patel

BUILT AREA

70,000 sqm.

IDEATION

2 years (2004 – 2006)

completion

2006 to present, on-going

The spine revives the spirit of learning through informal spaces

The Campus overlooks the hills over the lake

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Climbing a hill, one gradually disassociates oneself from the hustle and bustle of the exploding city of Pune. The crest of the hill reveals a hidden valley rolling towards a man-made lake. A road gently traverses along the valley, embracing a splendid golf course that eventually ends at the Flame University Campus.

The hill, with the valley 200m at the lowest point near the lake, holds a temple at its foothill. A few earthen check dams previously functional were left dry owing to the fierce summer heat. The challenge faced was to build a route to the 25 acres reserved near the end of the valley for the campus that would grow into a Liberal Education University over time. Land, therefore, would have to be acquired in parts and may not necessarily be contiguous.

There was always the uncertainty of a fixed site so the plan required to be adaptable to changing circumstances. Over a period of 13 years, the campus increased from 25 to 53 and now to 80 acres.

Being a centre for liberal education meant that it was important to mix things rather than have distinctions between departments

The Library

Sketches: Rajeev Kathpalia

Pics: Courtesy of Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC

or disciplines. The classroom was to be considered only part of the learning process, assuming that learning would happen everywhere. This also enabled an opportunity for chance encounters between students of varying disciplines and between faculty and students, which was necessary to be created.

“Most importantly, it was necessary for the design to be planned such that as the campus grew, the natural beauty within which the campus was placed remained visible. This was not an aesthetic requirement alone but part of the university’s philosophy of being in harmony with its surroundings, Nature acting as the place of reflection and solace. From this has emerged a loose collection of buildings

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SKETCH & THE ARCHITECT / FLAME UNIVERSITY, PUNE, MAHARASHTRA

Sketches: Rajeev Kathpalia

along a central spine, called the Bazaar of Knowledge,” says lead architect, Rajeev Kathpalia This spine is intersected with a series of plazas, the University Plaza being the largest. It is the primary place of arrival and is flanked by the library, visual and performing art blocks as well as the dining hall and two cafes. Rising by 17m along the hill, the spine has various facilities dotted along its length.

One enters a structure through a gateway in the traditional sense of the wadas in Pune.

These gateways act as the service blocks for the facilities within. At the south end,

the spine terminates at an amphitheatre, which cuts through the administration and student amenities building and links to the hills beyond. In the opposite direction, the spine ends at the plaza of the Executive Education Centre near the lake. The sports facilities are located in the west with the lake beyond the sports complex.

The construction of a network of diverse buildings across the campus is by means of a simple portal system, which is designed to span from 7m to 20m, changing only in its steel reinforcement. www.sangath.org

35 M

25 M

15M

1 5M

Site Section

3 2

4

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Owing to the scale, Portals “touch the sky’ forming a connectivity from the land to sky

Faculty offices look up forming a visual connection between the land and the sky

1. Library 2. Dining Block 3. Department of Performing Arts 4. Classroom-70 Seater 5. Laboratory 6. Faculty Block 7. Classroom-40 Seater 8. Administration The Visual and Performing Arts block Pics: Courtesy of Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC

7 5

6

8

5

Drawing: Vāstu Shilpā Consultants - VSC

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MANGALA OFFICE

D ipen G ada and A ssociates

LOCATION

CLIENT

Architect

Vadodara, Gujarat, India Mangala Developers Dipen Gada and Associates

DESIGN TEAM Principal DESIGNER Dipen Gada Arpit Jain, Manav Patel

BUILT AREA

8150 sqft.

IDEATION

9 months

completion

6 months

Exploration of ideas Sketches / Drawings: Dipen Gada, Parthi Kotak, Kajol Bhatia

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Cutout in the Slab

Acrylic Fins IPS Flooring

Planters

Deck

Pics: Tejas Shah Photography

“The moment we think of a developer’s office, we think of cubicles, lots of computers, cabins, tables, chairs, papers, documents and what not!

Here we wanted to break the conventional boundaries for a working space to create the experience where work becomes fun.” – Dipen Gada

Designing an office space for a developer on the top floor of a building designed by the architect for the said developer had its own advantages – to begin with, an open hand to experiment with architectural elements of the building.

Wanting to steer away from the conventional understanding of an office environment, the architects aspired for fun, where the working mind is exposed to interactive spaces for a quantum of productive work.

This gave rise to the idea of developing outdoor areas concurrent to each workspace.

Therefore, the spatial planning sorted itself with an open central zone available for interactions and a multitude of common activities, while the cabins were pushed towards the periphery and allotted a balcony each for further spill out.

Two critical features emerged from within the central void – a profile of a large eucalyptus leaf was traced and cut out from the slab overhead, exposing the volume to an influx of harsh sunlight; and the highly activated central court needed to be acoustically buffered from the working zone. The pergola emerged as a design element to address both concerns as well as add aesthetic value to the space.

Made of aluminium sections laminated in a wooden finish, the skylight was fitted with a series of these slats and sealed with an acrylic sheet. However, to control the reflected light further, the expanse of the floor was rendered in indigo oxide, giving it a seamless notion of fluidity. Thus, the pergola above casts varied patterns not only on the ceiling but a dynamic of light and shadow across the cool and calming floor, changing constantly through the day and the year as well. www.dipengada.com

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AURO INTEGRAL SCHOOL

matra architects

LOCATION

Surat, Gujarat

CLIENT AURO UNIVERSITY Architect

Matra Architects

DESIGN TEAM

Verendra Wakhloo, SattAveesa Sahu, Paritosh Yadav Shweta Garg, Mukesh Jangir

2,00,550 sqft.

BUILT AREA

IDEATION

2 years 3 months (April 2015 - July 2017)

Generative idea of the spatial orbit reflecting the 4 stages of learning - explore, discover, posses, know Sketches / Drawings / Pics: matra architects

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Spatial diagram and adaptation to context/site

The concept and design of the Integral School is based on the pedagogical and curricular principles of integral education referencing the writings of Partho Sanyal in ‘Integral Education: A Foundation for the Future’.

The aim is to make learning an adventure and a delight, and to make life a dynamic aspiration for the highest and the best.

Learning is through enquiry, exploration, research and discovery, and the quality of the built environment is essential to this vision.

“We are here to open the way of the Future to children who belong to the Future.”

- The Mother Organ, organic, organism, organized, organization, over-organized

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sketch & the architect / AURO INTEGRAL SCHOOL, Surat, gujarat

12

2a

1a

11 1c 2

2a

3

1b

5

9

4

6a

10a

13

10

6

1a. Bus Parking 1b. Car Parking 1c. Bus/Car Drop-off 2. Entrance Orchard 2a. Sunlit Path 3. Block on hold 4. C luster 1 - Pre-school, Grades K1, K2, Facilitator’s Room 5. P lay Area 6. Sculpting/Pottery Studio 6a. Sculpting/Pottery Court 7. Cluster

2 - Grades 2, 3, Facilitator’s Room, Science Labs

8. Library 9. Cluster 3 - Grade 8, 9, Facilitator’s Room, Computer Lab 10. Dance/Music Studios 10a.Open Air Theatre itchen/dining, 11. K Carpentry studio 12. Existing Football Ground 13. Toilet

7 8 13

Ground Floor Plan

Roof landscape and classrooms at cluster level

Model, roof view of a community of 3 modules

“We are here to open the way of the Future to children who belong to the Future.” – The Mother

Elevation of the community

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View of internal courtyard

The nature of spaces in the initial typological studies attempted to respond to the key ideas of integral education that center around the holistic growth of children at different stages of their development.

1. explore – activity in outdoor spaces and within nature 2. discover – activity along transitional spaces such as paths, corridors etc.

3. possess – activity within enclosed spaces 4. know – focusing on ‘being within oneself’

Roof landscape of the entire school community

Natural elements, i.e. earth, space, water, air, fire/light are an integral part of the architectural environment and need to be experienced by children as a part of their free progressive learning program.

The school is planned as a community of diverse qualities of open/enclosed spaces, created by organically arranged modules/ cells. Sketches and models draw a synthesis of this dialectic engagement. www.matra.co.in

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RETREAT IN THE SAHYADRIS K hosla A ssociates

LOCATION CLIENT

Maharashtra Undisclosed

DESIGN TEAM Sandeep Khosla, Amaresh Anand, Oommen Thomas Pratyusha Suryakanth and Moiz Faizulla

Civil Contractor

Structural Engineer

AREA

Canwill Constructions Pvt. Ltd. S & S Associates PAVILION 195 sqm.

Built up Area 650 sqm. ideation

Construction

6 months 4 years

A

C

B

A - Schematic Plan B - Site Section C - Skylights Sketches / Drawings: Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand

Pics: Shamanth Patil J.

Top Introverted and Extroverted Zones Bottom North Light and Stack Effect

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Skylight Forms

Existing Road

Axonometric Showing Skylights Admitting North Light

Lake

Perched within the picturesque Sahyadri range of the Western Ghats, sprawling across a 2-acre site, the house overlooks a large placid lake. The client’s requirements were modest - a single level pavilion as a weekend retreat to escape the frenetic pace of Mumbai life and to reinvigorate the senses. The focus remained on engaging with the natural surroundings and exploiting panoramic views that are offered by the imposing mountain ranges that form a dramatic backdrop to the water bowl below.

A 65ft. x 110ft. rectangular plinth forms the base of the structure, spatially subdivided into two primary zones – one to afford the magnificent vistas and the other as a quiet retreat at night. While the former zone is more public, housing to the west the living, dining and an open kitchen that spills out onto a large deck with a sunken seating, infinity pool and view beyond; the private

Site Plan

Road

Site Section

Lake

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sketch & the architect / RETREAT IN THE SAHYADRIS, Maharashtra

Longitudinal Section Showing Stack Effect Drawings: Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand

Pics: Shamanth Patil J.

zone to the east contains two bedrooms and opens into an intimate sunken court.

The extroverted and permeable section that allows nature to penetrate its envelope functions in a manner opposing the other that is rather introverted and protected.

An interesting challenge was to admit the right quality of natural light not only from the periphery but also into the internal volumes of the house. Thus, a series of dramatically angular skylights, inspired by the looming peaks of the local mountains were created to illuminate the internal spaces evenly. These punctures in the ceiling admit a soft quality of north light into the living, kitchen, foyer, and bathrooms.

The contoured land presented the opportunity to experiment with the longitudinal section along the natural topography of the site. Shying from the obvious multi-levelled approach, the

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1. Swimming Pool 2. Open Seating 3. Deck 4. Living Kitchen 5. Open Kitchen 6. Bar Counter 7. Dining 8. Store 9. Entrance Portico 10. Foyer 11. Lounge 12. Kid’s Space 13. Toilet 14. Bedroom 15. Powder Room Plan Showing Extroverted and Introverted Zones

Plan Showing Skylights

design granted a retaining wall enclosure and a ramp alongside it to arrive at the entrance 3’-6” below. This wall further created a small, intimate garden in the east that became accessible from the bedrooms.

Rendered in a meticulously selected material palette, the house is constructed with black basalt stone available approximately 6 feet beneath the local ground cover, used as random dry pack cladding along the entire extent of the exterior walls and on a few internal accent walls as well.

The materiality of the rest of the shell is natural and monochromatic – walls and ceilings rendered in polished cement plaster, flooring composed of polished brown Kota stone, windows crafted in Accoya wood and fanciful elements of Corten steel. www.khoslaassociates.com

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A HOUSE ON GWALPAHARI M : O FA S tudios

LOCATION Gwal Pahari, Satbari, New Delhi

CLIENT

undisclosed

ARCHITECT M:OFA Studios DESIGN TEAM

manish gulati

10,000 sqft.

BUILT AREA

IDEATION

6 months

Imbibing the nature of the land – drawing axial connections with respect to drafted spaces and corresponding natural features

First hand impression of the house to evaluate and understand spatial divisions and their relationship with the land.

The house as an object in nature - drawing a theatrical relationship between stone walls and gliding roofs against the engulfing drama between the sky, earth and trees.

Sketches / Drawings / Visuals / Pics: Manish Gulati

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Front Elevation

A detailed virtual model with material texture mapping used to understand structural systems, real time sun-shading in various seasons and wind flow through the house.

“Gwal Pahari, the site - its introduction to us was complete it is not a piece of land, it is not a land to be worked on but a land to be in love with. The house was meant to such to complement the bejewelled land, not rip it open.”

– Manish Gulati

Studying spaces and volumes against the texture of the local stone, the interplay of light and shadows against the tactility of carved spaces.

When the site presented its multi-layered topography and rocky strata, along with the drops and levels also came multifarious challenges and opportunities alike. The linear, 2 acre stretch of land in the outskirts of Delhi was meant to accommodate for its owner, two daughters, a governess and many visiting guests, a private section that would include three bedrooms and a family dining area, and for the semi-private functions, two guest bedrooms, a formal dining room, drawing room with a bar, and a separate living room for the guests. A service kitchen for both private and public occasions and a swimming pool were

introduced to tie these elements together.

Negotiating a difference of over 3 metres between two distinct levels on the site, the design proposed to use the natural rock as a retaining wall, to which the house was carefully clung onto. Drops were created along the rock wall so that during the monsoons water would flow over the cliff, collect in these depressions and subsequently be channelized throughout the house.

Constructed in locally available stone masonry, the roof structure was designed to emulate a hovering cloud to create a harmony between the earth below and

the starlit sky above. Working with the prevalent natural conditions of the site, the house was to imbibe in its design and function, natural resources and alternative energy – harvesting solar energy and water to become self sufficient. The design was also a response to the historical context of its surrounding – a draw-bridge from the British era, a lake that had been sitting dry for over a decade and the fact that the Gwal Pahari stood the test of time. www.mofastudio.com

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JETVANA

S ameep Padora & A ssociates ( s P + a )

LOCATION

Maharashtra

CLIENT

Somaiya Trust

ARCHITECT

DESIGN TEAM

Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a) Sameep Padora, Aparna Dhareshwar, Kriti Veerappan, Karan Bhatt

Artisan Consultants Hunnarshala

& Coordinators

DESIGN TEAM

Kiran Vaghela, Tejas Kotak

Structural Design Rajiv Shah

construction Team

Soudagar Kulal, Atul Kulkarni

20000 SQFT.

BUILT AREA

IDEATION 10 months

COMPLETION

8 months

Planning Process Sketches/Drawings: Courtesy of Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a)

1. Administration 2. Pantry 3. Store

4. Restroom 5. Prayer Hall 6. Workshop Block

7. Guest Room 8. Bathroom

8 7

7

8

5

7 8

6

1 4

2 4

Layout Plan

3

Site Plan

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“Our approach to the Jetvana project looks to extend the idea of the regional paradigm whilst separating it from the pervasive ‘image’ of what defines the local.” – Sameep Padora

Concept Explorations

Sections

“In Buddhist mythology, Jetvana is the name of one the Buddha’s most important spatial edifice which when literally translated means: the grove of Jeta, land donated to the sangha for founding a monastery.

It was of semiotic significance that the site offered by Samir Somaiya, the owner of the neighbouring sugar factory, for the Buddhist Learning Centre was thickly forested, an idyllic grove of sorts,” says Sameep Padora.

Designed as a spiritual and skill development centre for but not restricted to the native Dalit Baudh Ambedkar Buddhist community, the institute incorporated in its depth the mandate of Jetvana - to provide a spiritual anchor for the practice of Buddhist thought through meditation and yoga, while also imparting training and skill development for members of the community.

Working with a site that was heavily forested and a philosophy to avoid any harm to the trees, it was imperative to approach the design in a sensitive manner and tread

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sketch & the architect / JETVANA, Maharashtra

Pic: Courtesy of Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a)

Pic: Courtesy of Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a)

Pic: Edmund Sumner

Pic: Edmund Sumner

lightly. The building program was divided into administration, training, prayer and residential facilities; each program housed in a structure that was carefully positioned in the voids between the heavy planting.

Two significant courtyards thus held the 6 buildings in a singular identity.

The architecture derived its identity from the context as well. The edge profiles of the building roofs were raised on wooden struss structures with the centres lowered to form valleys along their lengths, opening up to the surrounding tree foliage, and thereby softening the bounds between the interiors and exterior. Thus, views and functions spill outward, while light filters in and air passage is encouraged. The insides melt effortlessly into the outside, with a lightness that belies the heavy programs on site.

The architects worked closely with Hunnarshala, an institution looking to revive and resuscitate local building traditions.

The material palette for the project was determined from various components procured from the vicinity and was led by the use of rammed loadbearing walls of basalt stone dust. The stone dust was collected as waste from a nearby quarry,

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Pics: Edmund Sumner

Pics: Edmund Sumner

Pics: Edmund Sumner

and mixed with fly-ash, a by-product from an adjoining factory that was paying people to dispose of it.

The roof structure was composed of repurposed wood from old ships and fitted with clay tiles taken from buildings demolished nearby. The under-structure was layered with mud-rolls to gain high levels of insulation, while the floor was finished with the traditional practice of mud and dung, applied by members of the local community. Besides low on cost and efficient in installation, this method is believed to also harbour antiseptic values.

Utmost care and consideration was taken to shape this complex, offering to its patrons a space that is not only conducive to learning and imparting knowledge, but also sensitive and sensitizing at the same time.

“Our approach to the Jetvana project looks to extend the idea of the regional paradigm whilst separating it from the pervasive ‘image’ of what defines the local.

The construction process also sets out an approach that looks to further construction techniques based on local materiality not necessarily used natively, but appropriate for its context,” adds Padora. www.sp-arc.net

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INDIAN MUSIC EXPERIENCE MUSEUM HUNDREDHANDS

LOCATION CLIENT

BENGALURU, KARNATAKA BRIGADE GROUP

ARCHITECT HUNDREDHANDS DESIGN TEAM

PRAMOD JAISWAL, DIVYA E.

POOJA DESHPANDE, BIJOY RAMACHANDRAN

40,000 SQFT.

BUILT AREA

IDEATION

4 WEEKS

Connections The location of the lobby and atrium are a direct response to the neighboring school which is to be accessed through the Museum. It forms a natural extension to the series of open and closed spaces that form the arrival narrative.

Sketches / Drawings: Bijoy Ramachandran

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13 1. Drop-Off 2. Arrival Plaza 3. Lobby 4. Ticketing 5. Restrooms 6. A dministration 7. Curator’s Office 8. Museum Shop 9. Cafe

10. Ticket Check 11. Galleries 12. Loading Dock / Service Lift 13. Security 14. Bus Bays 15. Access way to School

11 X

8 10 3 5 7 15

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4 6

The proposal makes references to its neighbouring buildings.

The service elevator shaft is aligned axially to the entrance to the club and the cafeteria terrace could serve as a performance platform to be viewed from the football field. We were also concerned about how the roof-scape would appear to the apartment residents. In terms of the language of the building we consciously alluded to the geometry of the club, and the portals and terraces of the convention centre.

A

B

E D C Site Plan

A - Woodrose Club B - Millennium Park C - MLR Convention Conter D - Playground E - Magnolia

Deriving inspiration from the rich culture and heritage of music in India, this competition entry for the Indian Music Experience Museum was designed keeping a set of strict prerequisites in mind. It needed to be a low rise structure of 15m, maintain stipulated setbacks, 4m clear heights for all galleries, controlled lighting, maximized space utilisation, conforming to the highest certification levels of energy efficiency, using local materials, solar energy, preserving its immediate microclimate, and of course cost effectiveness.

Fulfilling this tall order, the design scheme choreographs a patron’s visit keeping a highly sensorial experience in mind.

The first element of engagement is the Arrival Plaza - a music park with musical

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sketch & the architect / INDIAN MUSIC EXPERIENCE MUSEUM, BENGALURU, karnataka

The three drums that house the galleries are made in a metal framework and are externally completed with black ‘leather’-finished Granite on the ground floor, exposed concrete on the first and second floors, and clad with timber on the third floor.

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The termination of the drum went through a few iterations – from a pure cylinder to a sliced cone, to what was finally proposed - a combination of the two. Keeping the height restrictions in mind and yet wanting to give the drums sufficient scale, the enclosed part of these rooms were terminated at 15m and the timber wrapping was taken higher.

Aerial View from North East

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sketch & the architect / INDIAN MUSIC EXPERIENCE MUSEUM, BENGALURU, karnataka

Roof

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installations such as wind chimes made of natural materials like bamboo. Stepping into the Entrance Pavilion, one is faced with the ticketing booth and gift store that houses innumerable memorabilia. Before going further, one goes through a neutral space, almost to cleanse the palette to prepare for the upcoming flavours of music.

Three drums containing galleries over three floors offer the story of Indian music and its intimate connection with dance through a variety of media such as photographs, text, instrument installations, audio clippings, video installations, and also interactive installations. A mini theatre presents the opportunity for film and documentary screenings as well as chamber concerts. Larger gatherings for seminars, workshops and concerts can be had at the MLR Convention Centre Auditorium, while educational classes are held in the adjoining school. Research and archival work are located in the Research Centre, as are the collections of rare books, journals and recordings.

A large café on the first floor has indoor and outdoor seating that can be accessed from within the museum, as well as directly from the street below – thus making it open to the public at all times. www.hundredhands.com

Galleries Gallery / Holding Room Screening room (50 seats) Outdoor Theatre Ticket Check Resource Center Administration Store Terrace Garden

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Galleries Ticket Check Museum Food Court Outdoor Seating Restrooms Store

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Layout Plans

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“The profile of the site suggests a composition of a linear mass along the south-western boundary as the ‘ground’ and an assembly of primary objects in the foreground as the ‘figure’. This analogy of ‘figure’ and ‘ground’ works well as a device by which one could organize the program - the linear mass houses the primary circulation, and services, the ‘servant’, and the objects house the galleries, the ‘served’.”

– Bijoy Ramachandran c

d b

a

Facade Materials a. black leather finished Granite b. exposed concrete c. timber cladding d. metal framework

1. Arrival Plaza 2. Museum Shop 3. Gallery 4. Terrace

4

3 3 3

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Site Elevation (North)

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House of Stories M athew & G hosh A rchitects

LOCATION

Bengaluru

CLIENT USHA & TV RAMASWAMY

ARCHITECT Mathew & Ghosh Architects Nisha Mathew Ghosh, Soumitro Ghosh (Principal Designers)

DESIGN TEAM DEVELOPMENT / EXECUTION Soumitro Ghosh, Sahana, Joby

CONTRIBUTORS Asha, Arjun, Upasana, Micky, SAPNA, Raksha, Saikat, AMOD, SIDDHARTH

INTERIM TEAM Aishwarya, Jincy, Esha, Justin, Khusboo

Structural Cruthi Consultants Consultant

Civil Contractor

Interior Works

Zinc Works

Steel + Glass Interior Works

Electricals

Anantharamu H K Melange Interiors & Oakwood Jean Marc Moreno Excel Altech

Aluminium Windows

Schueco

Light Fixture production

Derick Arujah

Furniture Imports

design details

Project Area

The initial sketch captured the essence of the clients’ 4 requests, and the built became a gradual development of the sketch. The volumes were explored through cardboard study models before they began to create volumes within with a fragmented and uneven silhouette.

Pornima Electricals

Priyank Sojatia Soumitro Ghosh 6000 sqft.

ideation 1 year (2012-13) completion

4 years (2013-17)

Elements Axonometric Visual: Soumitro Ghosh, Mathew and Ghosh Architects

To capture the essence of the process of its imagination this drawing was developed as an alternative to the hand-drawn sketch over about a month, till it was adequately fulfilling. It captures the organs of the building that though dispersed and sometimes of much smaller and intimate size, occupies great cognitive import due to the memories they create - architecturally due to their position and disposition.

Concept Plan Sketch: Nisha Mathew Ghosh

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Forms defying gravity in a Magritte/ Dali like fashion – propped on stainless steel tubes and concealed screw fixing to a raw mild steel base plate. It captures the idea of the fragments, the stray disposition of the volumes, the silhouette, the gaps and the promise of light.

Model Visual: Mathew and Ghosh Architects

Hangar Detail Sketch: Soumitro Ghosh Having marvelled at the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci, Jangarh Singh Shyam and miniature artist Nainsukh’s work, the intrigue is about the imagination of detail as a tool for making something work/perform/recording a moment/the aesthetic of the process and the end. This detail was modified over time to become finer and lighter in the usage of the optimum amount of steel so that the space with the suspended bridge would go unnoticed.

Sequential Section Axxonometric Visual: Soumitro Ghosh, Mathew and Ghosh Architects

To capture the essence of the process of its imagination this drawing was developed as an alternative to the hand-drawn sketch over about a month, till it was adequately fulfilling. It captures the organs of the building that though dispersed and sometimes of much smaller and intimate size, occupies great cognitive import due to the memories they create architecturally due to their position and disposition.

The home for the Ramaswamy’s was to be a humble and ambitious one - humble in its choices of material and ambitious in its qualities of space.

Request 1: The manner of entry distancing the central living space was imagined by the client as a cavernous path that would conceal the heart of the home and prepare one to accustom oneself through the transition space before arriving within the home, for guests and residents alike.

Request 2: The garden spaces were to be fragmented and revolve around the house - so that each space could have a unique view in order to make each space feel special and in command of its own green.

This created the opportunity to know each view and the green intimately through seasons and over time.

Request 3: The house would be neutral in its colour palette to represent the nonexistence of any aspiration to be noticed for any other qualities than that of what it created for living through its architecture of light and space.

Request 4: To address the coexistence of the orthogonal and the asymmetric/angular spaces and volumes.

The design intended the house to become a realisation of the notion of traversing pauses, private spaces and deeper extensions of even more private niches. It reveals itself to the visitor at times as a contemplative monolith of mottled concrete and at others of intimate domestic comfort.

The space is fractured to include green spaces that extend from varying interior zones to the outside, coming together as

Pic: Pallon Daruwala

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sketch & the architect / House of Stories, Bengaluru, karnataka

Capturing the movement of the human eye looking from the ground up to the top of the varying profile of the roof. The light changes perhaps to be captured at another chance as time lapses. The movement of the sun brings changing conditions of what becomes lit, rough, dark, mellow and many other virtues of personal experience.

Pic: Pallon Daruwala

Pics: Pallon Daruwala, Mathew and Ghosh

short stories with interlinked lives within.

Dialectically, it presents the seamless melting together of zinc-plated modernity and hand poured concrete on site casting basked in benevolent light; imposing yet unequivocally accepting. The house transfigures visitors as each niche exposes itself differently - with openness and reckless abandon entrenched within structured walls. It embodies an expanding necessity for a tentative equilibrium between the monastic and the exuberant – the latter tucked carefully into the privacy of the master bedroom and the study spaces.

From the outset, the initial proposition had been intriguing, not merely considering the status of the client as an Indian fiction author, but rather a result of the seductive challenge to design for a former architect turned writer.

In creating a home as entwined with cryptic enigmas - strokes of tenebrosity punctuated with flashes of warmth, as the mind of the wordsmith within. The house unravelled gradually through modulated darkness, prolonging the journey of moving inwards, never revealing its inner spaces in their entirety, with pauses and distances.

Like the client, the design now had to make the arduously promising journey from architecture, towards the transportative literary arts. www.mathewghosh.com

1. ( Witold Rybczynski, How Architecture Works, A Humanist’s Toolkit, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2013. P.17).

There is a hoary tradition among older architects to preserve the early sketches of buildings they have designed. Fewer among the younger generation, however, seem to be doing it, and that has to do with the nature of the evolving culture of building. Preliminary sketches are preserved as much as evidence of the designer’s artistic skills as to demonstrate their ability to conceive the image of the completed building before they engage with its programmatic details. This tradition, as Witold Rybczynski explained, had its roots in the education imparted in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, where students were isolated in cubicles for twelve hours to produce a preliminary design sketch that they turned into a detailed design over the next two months. These conceptual sketches enabled the architect “to take an attitude toward a solution in the hope that a building developed on the lines indicated by it will give the best solution to the problem”. 1Along with the Bauhaus pedagogy, the Beaux Arts pre-design sketching tradition has seeped deep into the way architects think. But the culture of building has changed over the last couple of decades and so architects need to relook at how buildings need to be designed and re-evaluate the veneration they accord preliminary sketches.

Of course, the ability to pre-conceive the image of the finished product is an enviable skill and it remains a seductive ideal in the architectural imagination. But it was an imaginative process that was relevant when the building processes were less complex and amenable to intuitive ordering by individual architects. It was also an appropriate tool when architectural designs were worked out on drafting tables with pencil and paper. Perhaps, it is still an asset in what one might term boutique architectural practices. Such practices are usually controlled by individuals who seek to consciously inflect the buildings image with a personal stamp as an identity marker but they are becoming rarer. Many clients, for example owners of individual residences, the promoters of museums or other buildings that seek the status of works of art, still value this aggrandizing objective of architects because they too seek iconic status for their buildings. But today, while the demand for iconic imagery still exists, the process of branding is different and like the bulk of contemporary architectural production it aims at achieving pragmatic ends.

Architectural Sketches

On Preliminary

170 sketch & the architect / comment - A g Krishna Menon

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Eminent architect, urban planner, conservation consultant and educationist, AG Krishna Menon comments on the relevance of sketching in architecture today.

Contemporary architectural production now demands different skills. This is not surprising because architectural production – and practice – has become more complex. The intuitive vision of the completed building is a simplistic ideal that can no longer guide the process of designing complex buildings.

While architecture is still branded, it now demands the contributions of a diverse technical team that seldom works under the directions of the architect. Building designs are often dictated by developers – who assess market demands, or by technology – as for example, parametric design. Cost and management efficiency is valued over painstaking architectural detailing and refinement. Technology, both in the office and at the building site is replacing the craft of building. The imperatives of unique singularity are giving way to needs of mass production. One could perhaps even argue, under the circumstances, that architecture is finally coming to terms with Walter Benjamin thesis propounded over a century ago in his essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. This renders the process of creating visionary pre-production sketches of architects an anachronism. It has become irrelevant to conceive the image of the completed building before engaging with the the technological processes necessary to define its spatial or technical parameters, either as a demonstration of artistic skills or as a strategy to design better buildings.

Not surprisingly, when a project is completed, architects now throw away everything but the final set of drawings of the building. This practice of cleansing the office of drawings that have been superseded is as much on account of storage constraints as it is the absence of historical value attributed to the evolution of the development of architectural imagination. If the completed buildings have something to state, then its physical presence is considered to have sufficient evidence to make the case: explaining its genealogy by archiving conceptual sketches has become a self-promoting indulgence that the new architectural practice abjures.

The future prospects of such hoary traditions are starkly evident in Schools of Architecture. Students of architecture seldom learn to wield the pencil or use the drafting table to develop their designs.

Newer drafting programmes for computer-aided designing ensure that new age architects will never have to use a pencil or tracing paper. Just as the new generation wonders how earlier generations lived without mobiles and the internet, they think of sketching as an antediluvian tradition not compatible with the demands of contemporary building technologies.

Therefore, I wonder if the celebration of architect’s early sketches of their finished buildings is analogous to conserving heritage buildings? Quite often its authenticity is in doubt because they are often post-construction sketches to create a romantic genealogy of the design process. Are these sketches a new category of heritage, which need to be valued and listed as we list historic buildings? Will its viewing evoke the same sense of wonder and admiration as one feels when one sees Brunelleschi’s construction drawings of the Duomo in Florence? In any case, let us for the present enjoy them as works of art if not architecture.

Bolshoi Theatre

Metropolitan Opera

Prague Estates Theatre

Palais Garnier

La Scala

The Neverending Glory Lighting Collection. Inspired by the silhouettes of historic chandeliers from world's five grandest theatres. Hand-blown glass on the edge of possibilities.

Designed by Jan Plechac and Henry Wielgus.

lasvit.com

notebook & the collection In the historic understanding of architecture, drawing figured as the dominant medium of expression.

Before any practical work was undertaken, architects were encouraged to make the historic pilgrimage to Rome, to seek out the ruins, to sketch, draw, interpret and imbibe. In the Renaissance for instance, Andrea Palladio methodically reconstructed many Roman ruins, even providing a kind of imaginative interpretation of an entire building from a mere fragment; so much so, that even his own constructed work began to draw inspiration from the imaginary reconstructions. Closer to our own time, Le Corbusier, Alvar Alto and Louis Kahn produced numerous freehand travel sketches and imaginary studies of an intensely personal nature that had little to do with their architecture. The drawing’s lack of application to building makes many architects avoid

drawing altogether; however many professionals use drawing to delve into the world of ideas and ideals. The ideal building cannot be built unless it is first examined in the private imagination. Its deliberate masking of function, and devoid of the urgency to build, gives vent to the innately human tendency to explore the inexplicable and find some private meaning through drawing. We explore here the imaginary capacity of the medium itself - the drawing as a fluid unrealized statement of possibility.

Against the background of a practice, the individual artist/architect pulls and elaborates ideas from the depths of remoteness and thought and retains them as jottings in a private notebook, or elaborations in the file drawer. Such thought processes and concerns relate less to specific buildings than to expressions of attitude and mindscape.

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notebook & THE collection / Acropolis

sketched reflections The Acropolis over centuries has presented to architects, historians, theorists and artists alike magnanimous learnings. Meghna Mehta of mondo*arc india enquires into what architects of the past and present have distinguishingly identified through their individual perceptions and drawings of the monument.

The Acropolis has been an example of one of the most inspirational learnings of classical and modern times, where a lot has been talked about its architectural, social as well as political history. From the time it was first built until progressing centuries, the monuments of the Acropolis complex including the Parthenon and Erechtheion underwent innumerable changes due to multiple human interventions as well as natural causes. Architecturally, in-depth discussions have taken place in literature, research and theory about various aspects including its axial movement, visual perception, panoramic views and optical emphasis to govern the visitors’ perspective leaving a benevolent impression.

It is believed that many great architects have been influenced by these visual and analytical chronicles, their comprehension often expressed through sketches and seemingly enquiring, “How would they have designed it?” or “What would the structure have originally looked like?”

One master architect of the modern movement who has vividly and constantly through his lifetime delved, investigated

and mentioned the importance of the Acropolis on various accounts is CharlesÉdouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier. Young Jeanneret first travelled to Greece in 1911 and is believed to have maintained a travel diary, which was modified in 1914 and what happened to be the last book he published in 1967 right before his death, Le Voyage d’Orient (The Journey to the East). The book accounts his first encounter with the Parthenon as, “The first shock was the strongest. Admiration, adoration and the annihilation.”

Architect and urban designer, Christopher Benninger shares his insights about Corbusier’s visit, “In 1911, Le Corbusier and a young friend named August Klipdtein made the ‘journey to the east’ over a six month period. Their highlights were Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and the Acropolis Vin Athens, where they spent three weeks almost in meditation, moving about in different lighting conditions, late at night and at sunrise. It was like a scientific study in which Le Corbusier learned that architecture and poetry have a basis in mathematics and the logic of

proportion. This visit was articulated by Le Corbusier through sketching and in the form of carefully framed black and white photo images. What he internalized re-emerged throughout his life, years later in his writings and theories of place of buildings in space, linking the landscape with sculptured forms, and the kinetic experience of spatial arrangements to illicit human responses. Through this experience, he gained an understanding of the links between the past and the future; between classical knowledge and futuristic thinking.”

Corbusier’s first book, Vers Une Architecture (1923) shows multiple references to the Parthenon, perhaps suggesting that the architect thought of it as the ultimate exemplar of architectural beauty and related it to something much larger, possibly transcendent.

Kulbhushan Jain, architect, educator, author and publisher based in Ahmedabad notes, “As early as 1923, in his first book, Corbusier professed that the ‘house is a machine to live in’. He titles a chapter in the same book as ‘Architecture, Pure Creation of the Mind’, where he elaborates

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Le Corbusier’s sketch of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 1911 Pic: © F.L.C / ADAGP, Paris, 2018

“The steep slope of the hill and the higher elevation of the temple above the stone slabs of the Propylaea conceal from view all traces of modern life, and all of a sudden, two thousand years are obliterated, a harsh poetry seizes you. Dropping down onto one of those steps of time, head sunk in the hollow of your hand, you are stunned and shaken.”

– Le Corbusier

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notebook & THE collection / Acropolis

Sketches: Riyaz Tayyibji

on the Acropolis and the beauty of the Parthenon… learning much from history without ever imitating it.” The perception of the ‘picturesque’ through movement of people in the complex is discussed by him in the book through four illustrations adapted from Auguste Choisy depicting the views one envisages while maneuvering right from the entry until the exit of the complex.

William Curtis in an article for the Architectural Review, ‘The Classical Ideals of Le Corbusier’, 21 September 2011, re-affirms the impact the visit to Athens had on the father of Modernism, where Corbusier also compares the temple to a machine. Curtis mentions, “Refusing to trap the building in the dry categories of structural rationalists, he rather saw it as the sculptural embodiment of an idea: a sublime expression transcending all simplified notions of the Classical.”

In Le Voyage d’Orient, Corbusier discusses how the axes mattered, “If we stop in front of the Parthenon, that is because the sight of it makes the inner chord sound; the axis is touched.”

Le Corbusier’s sketches illustrate various ideas of movement, axes, symmetry,

asymmetry, depths of fields, connections between architecture, base and ground, emphasis on perspective, the element of surprise, however rarely mentioning dimensions. They communicate a keen interest in the relation between temple and ground, especially in the degree of separation or integration between the two and what effect this may have on the perception of the temple in its context. He approximates the actual scale, which differs from the description in his book, probably due to an inevitable realization or perhaps the constant search for the ‘ineffable’.

Le Corbusier’s drawings are a testament that he used his sketches as a structured method for his own personal investigation of the Acropolis and not to illustrate preformed or borrowed concepts.

Architect Soumitro Ghosh from Bangalore investigates the sketches mentioning three deductions, ”1) The ground as geological, the sky as ethereal (especially in this historical context), the horizon as a space rather than a line and the architectural edifice as the expanded silhouette of the ground; 2) Disposition of forms as a negotiation with the ground; 3) Elemental

architecture, mathematically precise; here the columns make referential visual frames that bridge the sky and ground. Cognitively invisible, it remains a reference plane for seeing the other - becoming the new manmade vertical horizon.”

As mentioned by an older Corbusier, “The essential moment came for me at Athens in 1911. Decisive light. Decisive volume: the Acropolis. My first picture, painted in 1918 was of the Acropolis. My Unité d’Habitation in Marseille? Merely the extension.” [Ott, Randall. “Le Corbusier At The Parthenon.” Transcending Architecture, edited by Julio Bermudez, Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2015, p. 88–110] “…the apotheosis of the theme is surely the roof terrace in the Unité d’Habitation at Marseilles: the abstraction of an Antique ruin in ‘béton brut’ […]” says Curtis. “The Unité embodied a collective ideal and the image of an ocean liner as a floating city but its roof terrace was the architect’s homage to the Acropolis, experienced, drawn and internalized during the Voyage d’Orient 40 years earlier.”

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REALISATIONS Riyaz Tayyibji The sketches are from a series of drawing studies made in August 1995 as an architecture student. Having spent the day at the Acropolis, what I remember most was the light. The entrance creates a sense of the complex growing out of the limestone rock on which it is situated. What struck me first while sketching was the manner in which the buildings are sited, the relationship of the buildings to each other and to the manner in which we were moving. The Parthenon, for example, is a symmetrical building, however, it is rotated framing its first view at an angle, making one see two sides of the building together rather than just its ‘face’. I noticed that ramps and subtle shifts in ground level with respect to the buildings changed the sense of their scale and the effect of their geometry. I believe that a sense of building and earth being one is a very strong image of the Acropolis from the city of Athens.

On my return there was no immediate sense of having learnt any architectural ‘lessons’.

I gradually realized the importance of the experience. It was a slow process of recollecting, studying, drawing over a period of time. I believe this is the hallmark of great architecture - you internalize many different dimensions of their significance, which leach out into your processes from time to time, nourishing your (architectural) imagination. This was not a ‘one-time act’, a case study that one ticks off a bucket list. This is one of those places you keep going back to.

Though not directly, however intuitively, issues of setting, relationship to the ground, movement and building orientations from these realizations have and continue to inform many of our designs. www.anthilldesign.com

“If we stop in front of the Parthenon, that is because the sight of it makes the inner chord sound; the axis is touched.” – Le Corbusier

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notebook & THE collection / Acropolis

THE UNDECIDABILITIES Shubhrajit Das Despite teaching Greek Architecture every other semester, when asked to reflect upon the Acropolis, I was pleasantly surprised to see it in a dramatically new light. A few old photographs of the Parthenon approached from the Propylaea and some sketches of Corbusier suddenly reminded me of the textx of Jacques Derrida that I was reading during the early days of my doctoral studies and the 2 houses we had designed in the late 1980s modelled on the Cardboard Houses of Peter Eisenman.

For one, the Acropolis strangely seemed like Derrida’s undecidable oscillating between the one and the other that I had not noted otherwise. And two, the place also appeared to provide an inbetween character similar to his texts showing how to undo the priorities of one over the other in everyday thought and language. I tried to depict these undecidabilities in the sketch of the Acropolis through layers for ‘sketching’ and ‘writing’, ‘design’ and ‘theory’, ‘memory’ and ‘present’.

The temple, I now realized, is neither ‘architecture’ nor ‘sculpture’, neither ‘frontal’ nor ‘oblique’, neither ‘enclosed’ nor ‘open’, but in between the two.

Similarly, the peristyle is either its ‘structure’ or ‘ornament’. So, in a way, it is neither its ‘structure’ nor ‘ornament’, but in between the two. It is neither ‘light’ nor ‹dark›, neither ‘inside’ nor ‘outside’, but in between the two. The one and the other simply do not take place. What takes place is the in between, which is nothing. It is a place where nothing takes place but the place. www.architectsnsda.in

Sketch: Shubhrajit Das

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THE ACROPOLIS EXPERIENCE Shirish Beri The beautiful, stark, white limestone hill of the Acropolis emerged with stolid grace from the thick vegetation and the town below. Its commanding, strong presence seemed to beckon the young architect in me, way back in 1976. The Acropolis sitting on the steep hillock was a predominant aspect that struck me the most.

The manner in which the Acropolis revealed itself with surprises and views during the ascent has always stayed at the back of my mind. I have tried to capture this idea of exploration, mystery and surprise in

some movement corridors in many campus designs of my own. The transformation of the natural, uncut hill at its base to the man-made fortified walls and further into elaborately crafted buildings was extremely inspiring and this metamorphosis has been the central idea in many of my designs.

I was particularly astonished by the colossal scale of the structures, the columns of the Parthenon as well as the open spaces.

There was a vast difference in what we learned in history class; an isolated example of a complex of imposing buildings, almost

out of context, to what I experienced at the site; a complex that snugly fit in and grew out of the socio-cultural and physical context of the city. I was highly enamoured by the views framed between the pillars.

It was mesmerizing to see the carved out ancient amphitheatre working perfectly even today, different versions of which have found its place in various contextual scales creating varied spatial qualities and experiences. www.shirishberi.com

Sketch: Shirish Beri

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Notebook & The Collection / Balkrishna V Doshi

B alkrishna V D o s h i

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If the architecture of BV Doshi is peppered with a history of influences – Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, and others – his way of observing the world around him comes from an innately personal vision. “I was born into an extended Hindu family in Pune where several generations lived together under one roof. During those years my visits to nearby villages, temples and other houses gave me an opportunity to immerse myself in the constant flux of life,” so records Doshi in his book Paths Unchartered. How these early years influenced the young mind is difficult to say, but something of these impressions is visible in the vast collection of sketches, and the constant outpouring of ideas that the architect maintained for over 60 years in his notebooks. The scribble, as passing reminder of a memory, the line drawing as an incomplete pictorial view, and the finished sketch, worked and reworked into a refined blackness, are all part of a repertoire that engages a

widely disparate set of subjects. Doshi draws buildings and thoughts for buildings, people with faces or as a general mass in the background, animals, abstract and real – work made either as pieces of art or as personal recordings, but everything that falls in and out of his frame of vision. As with any artist, the preferred medium of expression is always visual and not literary.

The limiting condition of words in describing both, a state of reality and a state of mind makes the hand drawn sketch a critical measure of private beliefs. Doshi’s fluency with it is marked by his equal ability to see, and make the ordinary seem special in translation. It is a measure of someone not just adept in the craft but one who also uses the depth of his long experience to good effect. “When I look back and reflect on things now, I realize the whys and wherefores of the acceptance of life. That it stems from constantly sharing living space with many.”

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Notebook & The Collection / Balkrishna V Doshi

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Notebook & The Collection / Balkrishna V Doshi

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Notebook & The Collection / Balkrishna V Doshi

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b al k ris h na v d os h i

| www.sangath.org

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Notebook & The collection / Laurie Baker

L a u rie B a k e r

25 years ago, Gautam Bhatia wrote a short biography on Trivandrum-based architect Laurie Baker. The reason for doing the book was twofold. First, he was intrigued by an approach to architecture that defied all precepts of professional practice. Baker kept no formal record of his projects, no detailed plans or working drawings, no specifications or elaborate perspectives; often the building was directly conceived on the back of an envelope, drawn and discussed with the client while being driven to the construction site. Once built, the building site was simply handed to the client and forgotten by the architect who had moved on to other things – other buildings, ideas for coastal relief housing, a letter to the local minister. The completed architecture was never photographed, it appeared in no journal or coffee table book, no office portfolio; if anything of it was ever visible, a part of it may appear as

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Notebook & The collection / Laurie Baker

accidental backdrop in a photograph of a family immensely proud of it. The second was related to the innately Baker belief clearly expressed throughout his work life, that building served a social rather than artistic function; its originality only meant going back to origins. As a result, Baker took half-forgotten vernacular ideas from historic and rural settings and placed them in urban settings often for his dislocated city residents; working in such close association with the clients, carpenters and masons, it was difficult to separate his contribution from theirs. Never was there ever a suggestion that the design was done because the architect or the client merely ‘liked it’. Building could only be interpretive, all architectural responsibility ended there.

“I learn my architecture from watching what ordinary people do; in any case it is always the cheapest and simplest because ordinary people do it. My feeling is that you

are not often all putting up a monument that will be remembered as a Laurie Baker building, but rather Mohan Singh’s house where he is happy with his family.” Bhatia asked him once to point him in the right direction of the many middleclass houses he had done in the city. Unaware of the number and types of buildings he had built in a small neighborhood of Trivandrum, Baker began by drawing a map of the area from imagination, letting his pen move over the growing map in sudden moments of recall: “There’s a house for an accountant here, another one here for a dancer and bureaucrat husband, ah, right next door is Abu Abraham’s house. And down the road, one for a government watchman with six sons.” Besides the map we reproduce sketches and drawings that he had drawn to convince government clients of structural innovation eventually directed at cost reduction.

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Notebook & The collection / Laurie Baker

‘hand’drawn A deep rooted commitment to a place and context is perhaps the outcome of a professional practice centered in a single city. Evidence of Baker’s rootedness was visible in his intense involvement in political life and the role of the architect in shaping public ideas and policy. Little may be recorded of his private architecture, but Baker kept a diligent notebook of notes and drawings, sketching the type of hospital he visited, the village where he built fishermen’s huts. His comments on the institution of the government, on cultural and private idiosyncrasies, suggest an artistic ability to record with objective faultlessness, as well as often some subjective home truths. Unafraid, he spoke, wrote and drew his thoughts

with unwavering - often humorous - clarity.

Behind the sly smile that said it saw things as they were – without the sheen of money or the duplicity of politics, Baker radiated a genial ease and a caring warmth. His drawings and cartoons, meant for public consumption, lay bare obvious truths, uncovering the cover-ups, and sharing with his enormous following – without Facebook or Twitter - the deceptions of government, the deceit of bureaucrats, and the petty connivance of builders and contractors.

He could be biting and satirical with his interpretations of Indira Gandhi, but could also express meticulous draftsmanship in recording a cathedral, as well as his first home in Pithoragarh, in the Kumaon Himalayas.

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L AU RIE BA K E R

| www.lauriebaker.net

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Notebook & the collection / ROGER CONNAH

R o g er C o n n a h

The Not So Secret Workings of an (Architectural?) Brain The Golden Notebook (ordning och reda) 2002 Roger Connah

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Architects used to rely on drawings as transfers, steps from the idle towards the occupied, from the intuitive towards the framed. Today, perhaps due to time, anxiety, software and social media, the way architects think and draw may be changing. Some go as far as claiming not many are doing it these days thinking and drawing, that is.

These calligraphisms - 5 Easy Pieces started in a 10”x10” Golden Sketchbook (Ordningoch Reda, Sweden) and then began life in real time. By real time I mean there is no advanced planning of the sheet-as-canvas, or where the information and knowledge will be layered. Crucial to the effectiveness, or not, of mapping is the unknown material - the narrative and links that emerge from an event - a lecture, an outline, or a program. Without

agenda or destination. Incomprehensibility is not determined by the layering as how the brain erases and edits as it goes along, but merely demonstrates the workings of the architectural brain in action.

The drawings and maps that emerge erase knowledge and learning as fast as they locate new thinking. The drawing of text is forever thinking through architecture, without harbouring the intention to build anything; thus a drawing of text, and an architecture of words. These drawings rely on a model of knowledge and language that fluctuates continually between fluency, redundancy, absence and infancy. Always, but always, they begin in the middle of something else. Memory, direction, required skill and narrative are all contained in the instant unthinking precision of this downhill drawing.

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Notebook & the collection / ROGER CONNAH

The Rhetoric of the Image An approach to the seminal essay by Roland Barthes (2006)

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The Steven Gerard Circle A non-hierarchical circle sketch for the lecture “Architecture Degree Zero” (2007)

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Notebook & the collection / ROGER CONNAH

The Big Box A real time mapping of a lecture by Christenson on the Big Box (2006)

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Purism vs. Constructivism Le Corbusier & Ozenfant versus Naum Gabo (2004)

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Notebook & the collection / ROGER CONNAH

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Purism v Constructivism: Le Corbusier Enduring & Ozenfant Innocence versus Naum and Special Gabo from Stupidity (2004) A real time mapping of a lecture by Keller Easterling, Texas (2003)

roge r connah

| Roger.Connah@Carleton.ca

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Notebook & the collection / gautam bhatia

g a u tam b h at i a

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Architectural Working Drawing for the Design of a Chief Minister

Plan (Through Head)

Section

I often use art as a wider frame of reference for architecture; its tools can be used to discover tangential realities that afflict daily life. Central to sketching, photography, writing and sculpture is the common idea of elaboration, to set out a frame for yourself, that includes people, private attitudes, city places and incidents, even politics – all things that occupy architecture. Every day I like to surround myself with bits of writing, pencil drawings, fiberglass figures, molded mud and wax. To create a continually changing residue of visible matter around me that lets me know that a process is on towards some unknown end. Like the necessary bits of evidence in a legal battle, they help me build my case in a court where I am the accused,

Side Elevation

Half Section

the plaintiff, the jury and judge. For such a task drawing is a critical experimental medium whose explorative tendency had to be liberally exploited.

Yet it wasn’t easy. Often, I was afraid that if I drew something that was too easy to draw, it wasn’t worth doing. So I chose to err on the side of speculation; to become an architectural astrologer, where I’d lose control of all thought and action on the drawing board. Sometimes when drawing, I would try and imagine what a collaboration between various buildings or parts of building may be like, and indeed how it might be represented in drawing.

Away from conventional representation, drawing became a sort of rebellion against the limits of space. It explored

Front Elevation

Plan (Through Stomach)

possibilities of extreme views: at one end, a confinement so narrow and stifling, it required release and exposure, and at the other, a boundlessness that receded endlessly to the horizon, in which people and buildings were miniscule. As if all human endeavour - defined by people, trees and buildings - was merely an engraving in the vastness - the earth empty and expressionless, without sound or form or shade. The emptiness creates only hints.

A rootless object appears in space - a human being, a tree, a building, a shadow.

The drawing constructs a relationship between them. Sometimes the shadow defuses the space itself, sometimes shadow is used to root things to the earth. Does architecture exist if it casts no shadow?

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Notebook & the collection / gautam bhatia

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Gau tam B h at i a

| www.gautambhatia.com

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Notebook & the collection / DURGANAND Balsavar

D U R G A N A N D B a l s ava r

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‘The act of drawing’ accesses the labyrinth of the mind in unknown ways. Each moment remains open ended, whether its travel sketches or imagining memories of the future. There has been a long tradition of this search. The drawings of cryptographs, cave paintings, the Mohenjadaro seals, cosmic mandalas, manuscripts, Chinese calligraphy, Jaipur Miniatures, Japanese texts, carving in stone, Piranesi - each carries its own sense of manifestation.

Even if they may appear to be a medium of expression, over time they evolve a raison d ‘etre of their very own and transcend representation. They evolve as an amorphous language, open to accepting several mythic meanings.

Travel sketches displace the imagination and the notion of Place and Time.

The Memory series is inspired by the vast tradition of drawing. Each hand-drawn sketch could evoke elements from Piranesi, Kahn, Vesnin, Jaipur and juxtaposes these familiar elements in unfamiliar relationships.

The Epithelio-topia thread of sketches explores vast anthropocene landscapes, future cities and habitat, as well as artefacts that emerge from new biological materials and artificial intelligence. Pencil, pen and ink and charcoal sketches reveal a certain presence.

However, eventually, sketches also emerge and often defy nomenclature. They get relegated to the ‘Random’.

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Notebook & the collection / DURGANAND Balsavar

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Notebook & the collection / DURGANAND Balsavar

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du rganand B A L SAVAR

| artesarchival@gmail.com

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Notebook & the collection / Anant Raje

A nant R a j e

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For Anant Raje, drawing was a critical tool towards a daily personal quest. With or without commissions, his pencil was a steady accomplice, always in hand; with the notebook in front of him his face acquired the quizzical expression of the artist who had lowered himself into a mystical dimension of which only he was aware.

And from that there was no escape; the quest was much too fulfilling, charged with intimate experience. With his sketchbook, there was almost a stern engagement with destiny being played out each day. A sudden but partial revelation of an idea discovered in a model, or held captive in drawing, the goal was however always illusive. Raje moved tirelessly towards it, animated

by his own drive, and the multitude of draftsmen and model makers that promoted every miniscule inclination towards an idea, towards coherence. By adopting a private method to a public practice, he made a studio world which he dominated.

In the large airy room of multiple drafting boards, he was the sole arbiter of power and authority, tolerating only the dictates of his own methods. The students he employed merely acted as the artist’s extra hands. There, the cumulative effort of architecture was assessed in a private collective of thoughts, ideas, sketches and model assemblies – the vigorous imaginative world he created for himself. The drama lay as much in his testing of those ideas in the

studio as on the real construction site. The tireless chipping away, testing, redrawing, correcting was part of a temperament that refused to settle with partial resolutions; that he built much more in his mind was but expected. Raje’s consequent significance in the culture of thought and idea, more than made up for the public insignificance of his actual practice. The daily jottings in the notebook were part of the private artistic urge within which he lodged himself. “All artists have their secrets,” he used to say. “Their process is very precious to them.” The diligence of daily record – diaries, sketches, notebooks – was intense and personal, and as much an attempt to explain life for himself, as himself to life.

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Notebook & the collection / Anant Raje

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An a nt R aj e

| Anant Raje Foundation

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Notebook & the collection / narendra dengle

N arendra D e n g l e

As far back as I can remember I have been drawing. As a child one drew in chalk on the shahbad floor all over the place at home. These were stories like in comics.

As an architect I found it convenient to use a sketch book and pen and ink, not finding enough time to try hand at painting.

Sometimes the drawings outgrew the size of the sketch book craving for larger space

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depending on how the fingers, hand and arm moved using various mediums. I differentiate between sketches and drawings. The former emerges from the world of people, places and events with visual perception dominating all other senses. The latter emerges without any apparent reason or deliberate effort perhaps as a riyaz and a search into newer

territories of imagination and wanderings.

As one draws one becomes aware of the movement and negotiation that happen in the act of drawing as an extension of one’s own self. It seems causeless and without reference to the phenomenal world raising one’s curiosity and sense of wonder to different heights and depths.

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NARE NDRA DE NG LE

| www.narendradengle.in

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Notebook & the collection / VERENDRA WAKHLOO

V E R E N D R A WAKHLOO

A Hungry Dog, Delhi - ink and ball pen

When I sit down to draw, I initially don’t know what will appear on the page. My right hand makes its own decisions, conspires with the secrets of my mind and causes the ego to disappear.

Sketching is an instinctive impulse, an act of the moment, where the hand draws pictures, very often of the ordinary (ref. hungry dog…) but deep impressions, etched apparently into the memory. These passed by observations may only resurface through the act of sketching or in case of a writer through words.

Very often the sketch starts with a strong subject (ref. water buffaloes) but might suddenly discover and emphasize on a distinctive shape, such as the curved horns of the buffaloes that then seemingly force the creation of probably self-similar water ripples and finally end up merging into them. This unintended recognition of patterns reinforced with blue pen strokes open up to a story of “water buffaloes returning home at midnight” or “water buffaloes wading through swamp at midnight”.

Nearly all sketches are tools and yet mediums of exposing the relation between subject, their inherent underlying generative structure(s), captured in an emotive moment.

I read after the sketch is done into my own psychology.

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Water buffaloes returning home at midnight, Delhi - blue ball pen

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Notebook & the collection / VERENDRA WAKHLOO

Rock formations at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka - colour wax crayon on textured paper

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Office courtyard, Delhi - ink on paper

Tall trees along a wall, Delhi - black ball pen

An orchard in Almora, Uttrakand - pencil on textured paper V E RE NDRA WA K H LO O

| www.matra.co.in

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notebook & the collection / Nachiket Patwardhan

N achiket Pat wa r d h a n

I like to record what I see, and I use drawing as a way to see. These are mostly ideas from everyday life, a woman at a railway station, a tree abstracted in light and shadow. For me, drawing is not a formal expression of a carefully thought out idea, but comes out of a need for patterns.

Maybe it has to do with my education as an architect, but the urge to draw is second nature to me, even though I have not been

formally trained in art. When I begin a drawing it seems to take on a life of its own; If I outline something in pen and ink I can loose myself in it, creating shadows and depth; the black on white and its reverse, so there’s a play between positive and negative. Sometimes it becomes important to differentiate the subject from the background, and simplify the elements into precise recognizable entities.

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notebook & the collection / Nachiket Patwardhan

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art & design / When is space, jawahar kala kendra, jaipur, rajasthan

Thinking space mondo*arc india recently visited the much-anticipated exhibition, ‘When is Space?’ held between 21st January to 31st March 2018 at the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur.

‘When is Space?’ discussed contemporary architecture and space making practices in India. The exhibition intended to ask the first question: ‘When is Space?’ which can be translated to: What does it take for space to happen?

Curated by Rupali Gupte and Prasad Shetty, the duo brought a stellar lineup of architects, artists, designers, urbanists, architecture colleges and museums to exhibit their works as a critical inquiry into space-making.

‘When is Space?’ establishes a series of explorations in making space – by mobilizing claims, by constructing narratives, by recalibrating boundaries, by responding to contexts of economy and ecology and by interrogating the conventional processes that have produced space.

Study Folly by Busride Design Studio Drawings: Courtesy of Busride Design Studio

The exhibition conceptually aspired to tie together the visions of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh (the founder of Jaipur), the ideas of Charles Correa (the architect of JKK) and the concerns of contemporary space making practices. A parallel was drawn within these key pursuits by outlining three structural imperatives - computational and mathematical logics that are aided through a variety of devices including digital media; experiments in response towards issues of building-type, craft and environment; and concerns regarding the city and public that produce urbanistic practices of research and advocacy.

As a large part of contemporary practices appear to be built around these principles, these were also one of the many intrinsic aspects in the works of Maharaja Sawai

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Form derived using computer Simulations

Square morphing into circle through the lens

Circle and lens derived from existing roof and mezzanine form respectively

Inscribing a square

Concept Diagram by Sameep Padora Drawings: Sameep Padora

Squaring the Circle by Sameep Padora Pic: mondo*arc india

Drawing in Space by Parul Gupta Pic: mondo*arc india

Pic: Vaishnavi Bhartiya

Pic: mondo*arc india

A Wall as a Room by Samira Rathod Design Atelier Drawing: Courtesy of Samira Rathod Design Atelier

A Wall as a Room by Samira Rathod Design Atelier Pic: Anuj Daga

Antarhit by Vishal K Dar Pic: Vishal K Dar

Jai Singh and Charles Correa. Towards this, three provocations were articulated which the exhibiting artists/architects interpreted as spatial interventions within the JKK: Mathematics of the the Universe - What happens when a mathematical logic is mobilized to (re)invent form and space does it provide a hint to the logic of the universe.

Typologies of Life and Living - What happens when built form typologies are interrogated and transformed – what new forms of living get produced?

Forms of the Collective - Can there be an urban form that can afford the multiplicity of the collective - what are the enabling infrastructures and new logics for exploration of life?

‘When is Space?’ also included the works of Abin Design Studio, Anagram Architects, Architecture Brio, Dhruv Jani, Sir JJ College of Architecture and Mustansir Dalvi, Mathew & Ghosh, Mancini, Randhir Singh, Anthill Design, and Seher Shah to name a few.

The exhibition successfully conducted itself as an effective landscape in fostering a new spatial interrogation of its historic referents. The JKK, seen as a laboratory that experiments with contemporary as well as future architectural ideas, served as an apt context to the complex design interventions. Like an alchemy of shared ideas but individualized trajectories, ‘When is Space?’ charted a new and perhaps, a much-refined realm of understanding one of the very roots of architecture, Space. www.whenisspace.in

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art & design / where do you see the beauty

a Beautiful light

#WhereDoYouSeeTheBeauty A new research led by designer Martina Frattura explores the psychological relationship between beauty and light.

Pic: Courtesy of Martina Frattura

“Light is what can return the beauty” – Martina Frattura | Manchester 2016

Martina Frattura, an architectural lighting designer is seeking the emblem of ‘beauty’ through her human centered project titled, A Beautiful Light. The study addresses vitality as a mesmerising impression which invokes within us when we look at something beautiful.

While considering the ephemeral nature of this feeling and questioning the dichotomy between beauty, space and time, Frattura says, “Being surrounded by beauty can help with feeling vital, but what happens when we are at work, or any given space where we have no control over the environment and we are required to run a task?”

With her research, she brings forward ‘artificial lighting in its highest potential… that will go beyond the wall of studios, offices or universities, to get closer to people.’

It all started when Frattura began noticing the ‘distance between science and design, especially over the effects of light exposure

on the psychological health of a user in a space.’ Further, she went on to explore psychology and neuropsychology by digging into the deeper aspects of light; the most powerful tool to affect daily life.

A Beautiful Light begins with the designer inviting participants where she asks them one simple question: #WhereDoYouSeeTheBeauty This aspect intends to look for the trend in the physiological response of people to beauty. “For example, a person in front of a picture of their favourite town, or a woman staring at the most beautiful item she owns. Would they react the same way?

Would their brain have the same electrical activity, or their body express the same level of arousal? To be able to identify a common ground on the subjective feeling of pleasantness that could later be used for deeper restoration,” explains Frattura.

The second stage evaluates the definition of certain characteristics, such as ‘direction,

intensity, CCT, frequency, position… that a light stimulus, in a certain indoor environment, should have to be able to trigger a similar physiological response.’

People are asked to bring their own reference of beauty, preferably be a physical object, person or a picture of which Frattura takes a picture. Participants are given an hour to look at three images and running a brief fast recall test by wearing EEG and GSR devices which are non-invasive, lightweight and portable.

The study establishes that the idea of beauty is subjective and different societies, cultures, climate and food influences how fascinating something is and how the body reacts to it.

Having hosted across Bulgaria, Portugal and Iceland, this fascinating project of beauty, reflection and introspection will soon be conducting this immersive experiment in India and Canada. www.martinafratturablog.tumblr.com

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Samira Rathod (SRDA) addresses the audience at the exhibition venue.

Pic: Courtesy of Death of Architecture

quest for coherence A group of renowned Indian architects come together to create the Death of Architecture, a travelling exhibition that aims to examine the prevalent and question the eventual.

Meghna Mehta of mondo*arc india enquires further.

The Death of Architecture; Circa 2000 is a traveling exhibition assembled by 13 Indian architecture and design practices. With its first two legs in Mumbai and Baroda in February and March respectively, the exhibition has raised neglected questions and provokes one to demand answers to the onslaught of the existence, if there is any, severed and disrupted meaning of architecture today. The exhibition presents evidence to allow discussions about our present and consolidates the many critical discussions circumambulating around design such as those about the demise of our cities, the meaning of inspirations from the past, ideas of beauty, duplicitous ways of achieving identity or ways of understanding spatiality. This traveling exhibition attempts to raise imperative questions that will allow cities and design communities to structure conversations that are pertinent to their immediate realm and concerns and thus a provocation much needed for the architecture fraternity to start investigating.

Varied ideas through individualistic yet evocative graphical depictions presented, delve deeply and narratively towards the notion of memory and nostalgia as presented by Samira Rathod Design Associates, creating an erotic emotion towards our past by simply celebrating the ‘joy of making’ using discarded elements from a small town of Bhadran in Gujarat,

India. The Busride Studio makes a bold and critical statement questioning the meaning of presumptions in the industry such as the Aga Khan Award and what it really means for us when we attempt to define ‘local’ today. This particular panel daringly critiqued projects that have been at the centre of architectural discourse, such as the Palmyra house designed by Bijoy Jain or an illustration of the METI school designed by Anna Herringer and Eike Roswag which won the Aga Khan Award, further bringing a valid and much discussed debate behind closed doors right to the forefront. Some practices addressed the urban realm, addressing issues within our cities and locales such as Pune, Thiruporur near Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi as well as Mumbai expressing elements of inheritance, collective and reflective value. The exhibit

by Arya architects depicts the loss of our era, attempting to raise rudimentary questions about the state of water and the architecture that surrounds it. Vāstu Shilpā Foundation celebrates ruins and heritage, something that is certainly dying in India today. Anthill Design discusses the impression of time and of creating a sense of place through an analysis of the architects’ works spread across varied typologies, while another practice M/s Prabhakar Bhagwat focuses on the processes to re-flect, re-spond and re-view,

the finiteness of time and timelessness of architecture amongst others.

While there seems to be a grim possibility that the exhibition would summon the laymen, due to the nature of poetic construct and abstraction of drawings even many architects may fail to understand, one will certainly leave the exhibition with a reminiscent array of thoughts about the present, doubts about the future and inquisitiveness of being, the intention of the organisers thus being fulfilled when the batten is passed on. www.deathofarchitecture.com

The participating architects are Arya Architects Vāstu Shilpā Consultants Abaxial Architects M/s Prabhakar B. Bhagwat Anthill Design The BusRide BARD Studio Navkar Architects Design Workshop HundredHands Edifice by Pramod Balakrishnan Samira Rathod Design Atelier Vikas Dilawari Architects

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art & design / FICCI - Smart Cities Art Cities, New delhi

art for tomorrow Smart Cities Art Cities, The Conference highlighting the integral role of art in building smart cities was hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Recounting its critical proceedings, Zohra Khan of mondo*arc india sheds light on some of the ideas discussed.

On 15th February, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi saw the convergence of art, culture and cities in the form of a notable conference titled Smart Cities Art Cities. The event presented an inclusive dialogue between venerated personalities from government and the visual arts industry to deliberate on bridging the two sectors.

More than 100 delegates including students, artists, writers, art historians and curators, gallery and museum representatives, architects, and government officials were a part of this invigorating discourse. Through a series of panel discussions, a plethora of critical issues like Infrastructure, Creative Industries and Tourism, Arts Policy, the State and Law, Developing Skills and Creating Opportunities few were addressed and critically evaluated.

Throwing light on the present economic development of art and its role in the urban landscape, a FICCI-KPMG report was launched by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister for Culture. As a major finding, the report revealed a key growth over the span of the last five years and evaluated a host of challenges springing amidst it. These include the lack of art infrastructure and countrywide awareness, inadequate private sector participation and an absence of art discovery platforms among a list of others.

The minister in his remarks highlighted the critical need for developing art and culture infrastructure to fuel growth and develop India as a ‘soft power’.

In congruence to attending the need of the hour, one of the sessions proposed culture to be recognized as part of the infrastructure on which society could depend. The

panellists comprised of eminent personalities like Mr. N S N Murthy, Partner & Leader – Smart Cities, PwC India; Sanjoy K Roy, CoChair, FICCI Art & Culture Division; Prof. PSN Rao, Chairman, Delhi Urban Arts Commission; Jaya Jaitly, crafts revivalist, writer, activist; Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, Managing Trustee and Honorary Director, BDL Museum; Sunit Tandon, Festival Director, IFFI – 2017 and Raphael Gastebois, Architect and Urban Planner.

While Jaitly emphasized on maintaining our own cultural spaces by bringing useful street art to public platforms, Tandon touched upon the relevance of context and target audience in conceiving large-scale events, essentially, film festivals. Referencing the context of Itanagar and Pondicherry respectively, Murthy delineated citizen’s aspirations as the foundational pre-requisite to creating smart

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art & design / FICCI - Smart Cities Art Cities, New delhi

Sanjoy K Roy

Rajiv Sethi

Pics: Courtesy of FICCI Left to Right Sunit Tandon, Raphel Gastebois, Jaya Jaitly, Sanjoy K Roy, Prof. PSN Rao, Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, N S N Murthy

cities whereas Gastebois highlighted the interconnected nuances of tourism, heritage and education in defining a city’s identity.

Each of the panellists attested to the fact that as India continues to grow with urban spaces becoming magnets for migration, there is a need to develop platforms for diverse cultural forms which can be showcased, preserved and allowed to flourish.

On the other hand, a series of insightful sessions charted a roadmap towards building art driven cities of today and tomorrow. The dialogue alternated between understanding the functioning of art discerning spaces like galleries, museums, libraries and performing art centres to ideating ways of making them avant-garde facilities which fosters engagement and

deliver unique experiences to the visitor.

The need to place art in the education system, government responsibility and providing right opportunities for the skilled were also keenly discussed and debated.

To add to the conversation, some of the prolific minds from the art and culture background presented keynote addresses. An intriguing rhetoric by Rajiv Sethi, Chairman, Asian Heritage Foundation, was put across through his presentation titled ‘In A Dust Heap Of Not So Smart City’. He spoke about the destruction of a colony of itinerant artists (Katputli Colony, Delhi) referencing India’s indifference to indigenous culture. Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President, ICCR elucidated that art is as an instrument of smart power in facilitating knowledge and understanding of the Indian craft and heritage before an

international audience.

Having witnessed a large number of ideas and perspectives, the day was concluded with closing remarks by Jyotsna Suri and Sanjoy K Roy from the FICCI Art and Culture Division.

As a constructive platform to create visible rewards, the event has acknowledged the abundant potential that lies in imbibing art into our urban landscape. In order to create the domain as a self- sustaining industry to the masses, the platform touched upon the need for equally active public - private partnerships. And with FICCI in the front line, incredibly committed to promote creative expression in all its facets, the future speaks for itself. www.ficci.in

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art & design / FOAID, Mumbai, maharashtra

Pics: Courtesy of FOAID

celebrating design mondo*arc india peeks into the ingenious offerings of the Festival of Architecture and Interior Design (FOAID) as it concludes the final leg of its fourth edition.

With this edition, FOAID has embarked upon a new journey of networking, exchange of ideas and knowledge which resulted in attracting more than 2500 delegates from architecture, interior design, arts and other design discerning realms. The encompassing theme, ‘Let’s Uncondition’ which intended to liberate the mind from the web of conditioning, drew immense curiosity and spurred critical thinking among the audience.

Design Manthan, a national conference within FOAID directed this discourse by bringing eminent architectural dignitaries together to discuss critical issues in an openended dialogue. A narrative of interesting propositions pertaining to contemporary architecture was put across to questioning and intensive deliberation. Topics like Perfect Strangers: Design meets Story (moderated by Puran Kumar, Studio PKA),

Architecture Shapes Behaviour (moderated

by Hiten Sethi, Hiten Sethi Architects), Unlearning the Present: Preparing for the Future (Moderated by Ayaz Basrai, The Busride Design Studio) to name a few, were among the most invigorating talks.

Another set of presentations dealt with the creative disposition of architects, their works, journey, inspiration and setbacks.

While Manish Gulati of M:OFA Studios wittingly presented on ‘Style, Do I have Any?’, Anupama Kundoo of Anupama Kundoo Architects spoke on ‘Waiting for Godot: What to do between clients’. Alfaz Miller of ABM Architects, on the other hand articulated on ‘The Engineering of the Art’, referencing the installation, ‘Jaya He’ at GVK New Museum, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.

Interspersed within the program were key note speeches by prominent personalities

like Niranjan Hiranandani of Hiranandani Developers and Boman Irani of Rustomjee Developers.

The agenda also included 4 award competitions - Berger Architecture Ideas 3.0, which acknowledged exemplary works by architects under 35 years of age, and three other student competitions, Expressions, Wood is Good and Everest Design Challenge which had budding architects sculpting their intuitive skills into a series of artistic installations. These were judged by an esteemed jury which included eminent architects, interior designers and artists.

This edition of FOAID asserted that good design is obvious but great design is transparent. Segueing into another chapter of design exploration and creative innovation, the festival will soon hold its 5th edition this year. www.foaid.in

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252

Book listings

PEEK A BOO(K) A quick look into a selection of architectural literature and references that caught our eye over the last year. A special listing by mondo*arc india.

ISBN #: 978-1-138-28142-4 Publisher: Routledge Author: Madhavi Desai Extract from the book: Studies on architecture in South Asia continue to ignore women in canonical histories of the discipline. This book attempts to recover the stories of the women architects whose careers nearly parallel the development of modernism in colonial and postcolonial India.

Writing their experiences into the narrative of mainstream architectural history within the challenge of non-existent archives, it sheds light on seven pioneering women who broke male bastions to go beyond the traditional confines of the era from the 1940s onwards. The author also examines 28 contemporary practices to demonstrate the ways in which architectural modernism in India was shaped by the contribution of women using a format that weaves together social, professional and biographical factor and redefines the idea of ‘work’ of women through a greater range of activities, including pedagogy, mentoring and activism.

ISBN #: 978-81- 906188-1- 6 Publisher: Meenakshi Meyyappan, Graf Media Photography: Bharath Ramamrutham Text: George Michell Design: Fravashi Aga General Editor: Anthony Komer French Translation: Eric Auzoux Extract from the foreword: “Its authors imagined that such a document – the book you are holding – might alert a wider world to the existence of this place and its endangered treasures, those that remain. Better yet, they hoped, as I do, that it would inspire a new generation of travelers to take the lucky detour I made nearly two decades ago into a region of faded grandeur and enduring astonishments.” – Guy Trebay

Extract from the publisher’s note: “While many have been lost, some still remain for future generations to admire. And if we cannot safeguard their survival, we can at least document and record what remains of the once happy homes of my childhood in Chettinad – homes built in a manner and a style seen in no other place in the world.”

– Meenakshi Meyappan Extract from the book: Indeed, many Art Deco mansions built for a younger generation increasingly concerned with privacy are built adjacent to, or directly opposite older parental residences, thereby reconciling newer and older patterns of family life. Some architectural details express a similar blend of new and old, thus preserving longstanding local craft traditions.

Extract from the preface: “The research that underpins Desai’s investigation shows that the profession as a whole can envisage more inclusive, experimental and interventionist approaches, only because an earlier generation of feminist thinkers and activists at a regional as well as global level had insisted that building was a quintessentially social and political act.

Today the growing urgency of the need for a sustainable, flexible and environmentally sensitive architectural culture is a shared concern among women and men, for which an inclusive professional space becomes an important premise. Feminism, a movement grounded on the possibility of change, and with a history of wedding theory to practice, as well as a reservoir of creative strategies based on a fusion of social, environmental and political concerns, could still provide a direction for collective action across the gender divide to meet the challenges of the present.” – Monica Juneja

253

ISBN #: 9781864706628 Publisher: The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd authors: Morphogenesis – Manit Rastogi, Sonali Rastogi Contributors: Manit Rastogi, Sonali Rastogi, Michael Webb, John Frazer Extract from the introduction: “We returned to India from our time at the Architectural Association, London in 1996. At that time, India was at the cusp of globalization, and that presented incredible opportunity, albeit in very challenging conditions. In the midst of a paradigm change in the nascent liberalized economy of the 1990s, this decision to set up Architectural practice was a poignant one. This context of a changing financial and economic environment with deep social implications brought forth many questions: What should a contemporary architecture practice be in this environment of change? What should be

ISBN #: 978-81-908528-2-1 Publisher: AADI Centre Ahmedabad Editor: Kulbhushan Jain Contributors: Abha Narain Lambah, Adam Hardy, Brinda Somaya, Gerard da Cunha, Gurmeet S Rai, Karni Singh Jasol, Ken Marquardt, Amita Baig, Ajay Khare, Ashoke Chatterjee, Marcello Balzani, Meghal Arya, Minakshi Jain, Kulbhushan Jain, Neeta Das, Niels Gutschow, Pietro Davoli, Priyaleen Singh, Rahul Mehrotra, Romeo Farinella, Suchitra Balasubramanyan & Vishakha Kawathekar Extract from the foreword: “I now see Kulbhushan as a ‘conservation philosopher’; he has achieved a level of ‘spirituality’ through his dedicated work in the field of architectural conservation. I am delighted that he is bringing out an edited volume ‘ Conserving Architecture’ with eminent authors contributing to the volume – I am sure, like all his previous publications, it will serve as a great resource for the students and members of the conservation community.” – Gajsingh Maharaja of Jodhpur “Our questions are about heritable architecture-that qualifies it to be heritageand about attributes that can so define

it. Today, by and large, it is monument centric superseding all other considerations.

Despite the fact that such architecture does not represent a people nor their cultural connectivity of the past to the present and into the future. Engaging debates are leading to questions and challenges that defy several well established definitions and therefore conservation policies and practices.

I believe that monuments are not a true representation of a culture though they do form part of a larger cultural diversity of a time. Instead of isolating them can they not play a more pluralistic role and extend their identity beyond tourism?” – Kulbhushan Jain Extract from the book: “The critical question for conservation theory today in India is that when we do not have a vision for conservation, we are restricted to operating in the ‘postcard city’ (landscapes of nostalgia) and our city is a static and a stable entity. And that architecture is the only mechanism by which memory is codified.

While we have embraced the idea of cultural landscapes, intangible heritage etc., the critical question is how these ideas intersect with our ability to spatially imagine the preservation of environments more broadly under these rubrics.” – Rahul Mehrotra

the impact of the region’s strong historical legacy? Morphogenesis sees itself as an institution in perpetuity – a living, thriving ecosystem, a repository of data, information, knowledge and wisdom.” – Sonali Rastogi and Manit Rastogi “Morphogenesis has successfully parlayed its global-local expertise into a forceful strategy for a sustainable architectural design and urban development.” – Dr Vikramaditya Prakash, Univeristy of Washington “By doing the right thing, Morphogenesis may inspire a new generation of architects, business and civic leaders to embrace its vision.” – Michael Webb, architecture writer, co-founder Archigram

254

Book listings

Publisher: Lalwani Books International ISBN #: 9788193440100 Editor: Mamta Upadhyaya curator: Kapil Aggarwal Contributors: Matra Architects & Rurban Planners, Khosla Associates, MMGS Architects, Matharoo Associates, Group Seven Architects + Planners Pvt Ltd, Shatotto Architecture, Malik Architecture, S+PS Architects, Architect Palinda Kannangara, Architecture Paradigm, Coalesce Design Studio, Wallmakers, Architecture & Beyond, Rubber Soul, Design Workshop, Thisara Thanapathy Associates, Spasm Design Timeless Houses showcases 17 exclusive private residences designed by leading architects of four countries -- India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Designed by creative architects with international acclaim, these dwellings represent diverse geographical locations, climatology, cultures, lifestyles of the four South Asian countries

ISBN #: ISBN-13: 978-93-85360-23-7 (Mapin) ISBN-10: 938-53-6023X (The HECAR Foundation) Publisher: Mapin Publishing, in association with The HECAR Foundation author: Curated by Ruturaj Parikh Editor: Nandini Somaya Sampat Contributors: James Polshek, Jon Lang, Mary Norman Woods, Porus Olpadwala, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, Arun Shourie, Saryu Doshi, Kamu Iyer Extract from the introduction: “The majority of Somaya’s buildings continue to stand today, reinforcing the timeless nature of her architecture. Few architects would have the courage to rephotograph their buildings decades later. In this monograph, Somaya shares her work in their current form revealing their age and their use through time. She intertwines her narrative

with selected works and their significance in practice.” – Nandini Somaya Sampat Extract from the foreword: “Distinguished Indian architect Brinda Somaya is both fiercely independent and profoundly idealistic, characteristics that are the foundation of her innovative conceptual approach to architecture, urbanism and preservation. Brinda Somaya’s life and practice, as comprehensively laid out in this monograph, makes clear that she is one of the models for this quiet reformation: one that celebrates service rather than power, and generosity rather than ego gratification.

Brinda Somaya: Works and Continuities is a comprehensive chronicle that will influence and enhance the contributions of future architects, preservationists, designers and planners who share Brinda Somaya’s convictions.” – James Stewart Polshek

and hence different architectural form and styles. However, there are several unifying factors that bring these houses on one platform. Each project is an authentic and honest design that has the capability to remain functional for generations.

Whether it’s an urban house in Karachi or an eco-friendly mud house in Kerala, a concrete house in Chittagong or a climate-friendly house in Colombo, they all stand comfortably in their respective surroundings as if they were always meant to be there. All of them embrace their natural surroundings and offer an insight into architects’ strong design sense, judicious use of space and sensitivity for owner’s plans, needs, desires and budget.

Old and new, tradition and modernity, comfort and simplicity, sustainability and innovation, functionality and diversity, all find unity in these beautiful houses. They belong to their space and environment; they have been created to last, to be timeless.

255

BRINDA SOMAYA

WORKS & CONTINUITIES A four decade repoertoire melded into a monograph by the eminent architect, Brinda Somaya is reviewed by Prof. Durganand Balsavar.

It would be necessary to situate this unique monograph in the larger context of ‘PostIndependent Architecture’ in India, for several reasons. Chronicling the personal and professional journey of architect Brinda Somaya, the document provides a broader insight into the thinking and processes that have produced over 200 diverse projects of architecture, urban design, conservation and rehabilitation. It is the narrative of a practice - Somaya and Kalappa (SNK) - with its successes and challenges, across the last four decades since 1975.

A significant aspect is that it breaks away from conventional formats. It conveys the core values and concerns of Brinda Somaya, importantly through her own voice. The monograph is enriched by several thematic conversations and essays - by Prof. Jon Lang, Mary Woods, Ruturaj Parikh, Porus Olpadwala, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien and several others. The insights of Nandini Somaya Sampath put in perspective, the role of one of the country’s respected architects, who has persistently strived to create a meaningful mainstream practice, in Mumbai, based on her convictions and a professional spirit. It also indicates the travails and challenges, in an otherwise largely maledominated profession.

Brinda Somaya belongs to a generation of architects, born after Independence in 1947, who have experienced the social transformation of India, from its early socialist moorings to the phenomena of globalization. From early influences, to the experiences of travel, Somaya’s projects are situated across India and include diverse

typologies and scales. The projects include a range of homes, campuses, schools, rural rehabilitation, industrial, residential towers and restoration. Importantly, the projects draw from several experiences: the craft traditions, history and culture, community, climate and site, local resources, and the landscape.

Another significant aspect of the practice is restoration and rejuvenation of heritage structures for contemporary needs. Somaya has often collaborated with indigenous craftsmen and artisans, to imbibe building practices that have evolved over centuries.

She believes an architect’s role is that of a guardian – “the conscience” of the built and the un-built environment. The iconic Rajabai Tower in Mumbai and several other heritage buildings, including the Louis Kahn Campus at IIM-Ahmedabad, have been provided a second lease of life through Somaya’s relentless efforts for restoration.

Several core concerns raised in social projects remain persistent to Somaya’s practice. SNK was commissioned to rebuild the Bhadli Village, in the aftermath of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. The monograph chronicles the process that enabled the village to rebuild their own homes and empowered the community. The participatory social engagement enriches the architecture. The core philosophies are constantly articulated in each project judicious utilisation of space, understanding client needs, respecting budgets and schedules, understanding site conditions and soil, local climate and resources. Projects like the Mumbai Esplanade, Colaba Woods,

Pic: Courtesy of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants

and the school campus, reveal the enduring social consciousness of the practice. Despite the strong formal influences of Modernism in Indian Architecture, Somaya has consciously preferred to remain grounded and “nonstylistic”, providing a greater freedom to respond to the unique conditions of each project and building site.

The steadfast professionalism has enabled SNK to build a bond with patrons, who trust the practice over the last four decades.

In recent years, it has also engaged in an international collaboration to design ‘technologically complex’- contemporary high-rise towers in the city of Mumbai.

In summation, Brinda Somaya has been deeply engaged with Community, Conservation and the Contemporary. Each requires creativity in different ways and all three are equally important to the practice.

The steadfast focus has won several accolades, including an Honorary Doctorate from her alma Mater Smith College, USA and the prestigious Baburao Mhatre Gold Medal, by the Indian Institute of Architects 2015.

Somaya is also appointed by Cornell University, U.S.A. as the A.D. White Professor-at-large. The monograph provides a meaningful reference to initiate a broader discourse on the unfolding nature of architecture practice and its Civic and social engagement. Through its honest and open-ended presentation, the document is of interest, not only to architects, but also a much wider range of disciplines, as well as those interested in architecture and civic engagement. www.snkindia.com

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event calendar

Masterpiece London 28 June - 04 July London, UK www.masterpiecefair.com

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Art Cologne 19 – 22 April Cologne, Germany www.artcologne.com

Gallery Weekend 27 – 29 April Berlin, Germany www.gallery-weekend-berlin.de

Arttid’nox................................... 172-173 B&B Italia............................................ 17 Bega................................................... 77 Classic Marble Company.................. 243 Divinity Lights................................... 251 Euroceil............................................... 34 GM Modular....................................... 15 Grandeur............................................ 21

Grohe NDTV DAA............................ 249 Ideal Lux........................................... 237 Intersekt............................................. 4-5 Jaipur Rugs......................................... 19 Jaquar Lighting................................... 33 Jindal School of Art & Architecture.. 169 Lasvit................................................. 174 LED Linear........................................ 105

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Light & You................................ 256-257 Lodha Altamount....................... 263-264 Panchshil Realty.................................... 9 Poltrona Frau...................................... 11 Sandler Seating.................................. 31 Sarita Handa....................................... 13 Seetu Kohli Homes............................. 27 Simes.................................................. 29

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DARC Awards / Decorative 31 May London, UK www.darcawards.com/decorative

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Kyotographie 14 April – 13 May Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan www.kyotographie.jp

Skyboard.................................... 238-239 Tava 2018........................................... 78 Vinshek............................................. 247 Vizion................................................. 6-7 Willow View........................................ 23

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SELECT

A definitive moment in a design process that exemplifies the interaction of light and space, captured in time.

White Steps - Grande Arche de la Défense, Paris “That’s me climbing the stairs. I don’t travel alone, not anymore.

Nowadays, my partner Anna Devís is the better half of my team.

We always think, shoot and edit together. She’s also the main subject of my photography, besides architecture. Unfortunately she could not make it this time, and I had to travel to Paris all by myself. This is exactly how I feel when she’s not around, small and lost in wonder… To the anonymous woman who patiently helped me taking this picture on a cold and windy morning of October: thank you.”

Daniel Rueda, Valencia, Spain Photographer www.instagram.com/drcuerda

A legacy of Aristocracy and power Lodha Altamount by architect Hadi Teherani & interior designer Rajiv Saini

Rajiv Saini, Interior Design

“When I was first asked to design the public spaces at Lodha Altamount, I was immediately struck by its location. Not only was this undeniably the city’s most exclusive address, it also was one of Mumbai’s last bastion of green neighbourhoods. I intuitively knew I wanted the interior spaces to be an urban oasis, a tranquil abode of understated luxury, built with the finest materials,” says Rajiv Saini, the Interior Designer for Lodha Altamount.

The Lobby at Lodha Altamount was conceived as an elegant public living room, offering a much needed moment of pause in a metropolis like Mumbai, while transitioning between a frenetic urban cityscape outside and your private space. Whites and creams were chosen picking three different materials for the flooring - Thasos marble, crystal and white onyx, while walls are panelled in a textured oak boiserie, complemented by leather panelling with bronze details.

Textures of bronze are abound in this space - at times as embellishments in the oak panelling or as large portals leading through the various doorways. One of the challenges in the making, and now a highlight, is the large cast bronze arch, 10 feet in diameter, lending gravitas to the lobby while anchoring its bronze reception.

For a first for Mumbai, an original artwork of Picasso graces the Lobby of Lodha Altamount. This masterpiece was painted by Pablo Picasso on August 13, 1937 at Mougins, where the artist spent a great amount of time at the Juan-les-Pins beach.

One look at the painting and you see the vibrant hues of reds, yellows, greens and blues together with masterstrokes in black that depict the Mediterranean beachfront in epic proportions. Acquired through Christie’s, a renowned British auction house, it speaks volumes about the kind of people who own a home here. So it was no surprise that this historic work of art found a home worthy of its title.

The Club at Lodha Altamount offers a state of the art gym, crèche, meeting room with video conferencing facilities, panelled in bark skin and Wenge timber, an intimate private theatre and a lounge and banqueting space, directly spilling out onto the beautifully landscaped pool side terrace. The lounge, with a wall clad in the French technique of Gesso Panelling, can be booked for private entertaining and can host sit down meals for up to 20 guests.

For more information on the limited heirloom residences, call +91 22 61131123 or visit www.lodhaluxury.com/altamount

“

Every architect refers to a new course of design based on the environment.

In this respect, to prevail within a metropolis, it was necessary to create a contrast. To create in the skyline something that features specific condition of adaptation.

”

– Hadi Teherani, Architect

India’s Finest Address Gets a New Landmark