a way of seeing

the Marigold courtyards

2011-11-06T01:33:00.000-07:00

I had this beautiful dream last night, I thought it was just before I woke up, it was a morning dream. And, they come true, they say. How could such a dream come true?

It was a dream filled with orange and yellow marigolds, and courtyards, and doors that I opened before me and doors that shut behind me as I walked into yet another courtyard. There were many courtyards I entered that day. The courtyards were small, I could feel the walls and the doors everywhere. It was so bright. Was it the light of the sun or the light of the marigolds that I saw?

There was a ritual in every courtyard and there were one or two serene people sitting in front of the endless strings of marigold and everything else, waiting for the ritual to begin. In no courtyard, had the ritual begun. It was always just about to begin. It was the marigolds, taking up the entire courtyard, the entire dream. I went into one courtyard and walked upto the door and then out of it, coming in straight into the next courtyard. The courtyards were so close, and so many.

As I woke up, I thought of the plan of the dream – a series of courtyards, like the chinese interlinked courtyards I had once read about. Was this dream from that remembrance? Was it from the marigolds outside our home that I had tried to capture so hard a fortnight ago on my camera? But, not quite. The gentle breeze that made the marigolds sway had kept the phenomenon quite beyond any capture. Could this be real and not a dream, just for once? Or, was it a reality already there before it became a silent, beautiful dream?

IIMB in Bangalore

2011-10-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

The shy shadow in the garden
loves the sun in silence

Flowers guess the secret, and smile,
while the leaves whisper.

Rabindranath Tagore
in FIREFLIES

Identifying Building Artisans

2010-12-21T20:46:00.000-08:00

The ecosystem for Vernacular architecture has become fragmented. It is important to analyse the existing artisan networks because it helps to identify expertise; to guage connectivity; to access existing knowledge assets and to understand the lost knowledge problem. The matching process through which artisans may be linked with projects depends crucially on the availability of information and how this information is shared. There is a need for a search mechanism and the markets that it will serve.

In a research paper 'Improving the Search Mechanisms for identifying Building Artisans to support the Vernacular type in India' I explain further a few of these issues. This paper was presented at the International Conference on Vernacular Settlements held at CEPT Ahmedabad in Feb 2008.

It is available in its full pdf version at : http://203.77.194.71:83/isvs-4-1/paper-dump/full-papers/36.pdf

Antique market in Mumbai

2010-10-05T23:27:00.001-07:00

If you are looking for antique furniture in Mumbai, there is a large market for teakwood and rosewood furniture at Jogeshwari in north suburban Bombay. It is a market where a few shops selling old furniture started business forty years ago. Over the last decade, the antique market here at the Oshiwara bridge on S.V.Road has grown with more number of shops dealing in antique furniture.

Each of these shops is actually a linear space less than 15 feet wide and upto 80 feet long. There is no formal entrance or a shopfront. As you stand on the street, you see an unending passage. You enter and there are teakwood cabinets and rosewood chairs stacked up on one side. You inspect them as you walk along and go deeper into the shop. The linear dark space in the front opens up into an open-to-sky backyard that has natural sunlight streaming in and which is mostly the workshop area. Often, this is where the mending and the polishing of the furniture happens. This area has tools and implements that hang from its walls.

‘Mohd.Idris Khan & Sons’ is one of the older shops here. Idris Khan explains that he has 6-7 artisans at a time, working in his warehouse, where they mend antique pieces and also make new furniture based on old, traditional designs. He pays each of them Rs.350 per day. When you look around at the pieces in the shop that have been newly created, you know that Idris Khan has some very good craftsmen. They are from Nepal and West Bengal mostly.

The shop has an album of photographs of furniture that have been made in the past or from what clients have sent them. One can order from this collection or give them other designs and they can deliver what you need. Idris Khan’s son, Mohamed Ahmed Khan explains that they are very careful in their choice of wood. They use Old Burma teak and Rosewood as much as possible, which is sourced from Mustafa Bazaar in South Bombay. The superior quality rosewood comes from Cochin where old, traditional constructions are continually being demolished.

Ahmed Khan gives us further insights into their sourcing efforts. They have identified that the carrom boards made in India more than 40-50 years ago were made of rosewood that did not have knots. It was important to use a knotless rosewood frame so that the striker would bounce off well. Now, this is the rosewood section (almost 2ft x 2ft) that is used by Mohd.Idris Khan & Sons’ for sculpting out a curved arm for a chair. They had a sample on display and it was a beautifully executed piece of craftsmanship. Presently, they have 12 carrom boards in stock for such use. They presume that it was the same company that manufactured these carrom boards.

Ahmed Khan is the liason between the customer and the artisan. He understands the needs of the customer, adapts from the resources available and generates the design for the artisan. Ahmed Khan has no fear of their innovative ideas of sourcing and designing being replicated elsewhere. He affirms that it is the skill of the artisan that ultimately creates an exquisite piece and that is not easily replicable or easily found.

A planter’s chair, with long armrests, found in many traditional kerala houses is on sale for Rs.8000. An ornately carved four-poster bed is priced at Rs.1,00,000 (a hundred thousand). Ahmed Khan explains sadly that although he will find a buyer for this piece, it is most likely to be someone from outside India. He wishes that more people in India would be interested in the antique furniture. He says that it is only the Parsis and the Christians who still aspire to have antique furniture to decorate their homes. The Parsis are not only the people to sell furniture to, but are also the ones to buy good pieces from. Ahmed Khan believes that no one cares for his antique furniture as much as the Parsis do and that the most delicate pieces have been preserved well only in the Parsi homes in Bombay and elsewhere. In many Indian cities now, people seem to be interested in buying Italian or Malaysian furniture. These are made of particle board or synthetic boards and are neither functionally or aesthetically close to the traditional Indian pieces that are available here. Mohd.Idris Khan & Sons can be contacted at 022-26781339 or emailed at khansons786@yahoo.com

As I chat in Hindi with a taxi driver while travelling in Mumbai, he tells me that he is building a house for his family in Muzaffarpur in Bihar and plans to buy good solid wooden doors from the Jogeshwari antique market. I ask if his town continues to have indigenous architecture or buildings made with local materials. He says most traditional houses have been replaced by modern concrete constructions. Naseer also adds that their prophet has written that “Jab sab ghar pakke hoh jayenge, toh samajh lena ki pralay ah gaya hai”

I have written earlier about the Chor Bazaar in Mumbai. Here is the link to it : Bazaar Tour 2: Antiques Mumbai

And, you can read more about the 'canal bazaar in Kerala' or the 'flower market in Madurai' & other bazaars at my blog Indian Bazaars

the Bamboo grove

2010-07-11T04:46:00.000-07:00

Its the first time I've ever filmed something and this is only an experiment with not so much meaning, more an experience for me which I was lost in completely. It did begin to have a purpose as I started to think about it.

I had been sitting for a while now in this bamboo grove. As the sun rose higher in the morning sky, the bamboo stalks and the ground in front of me shimmered with changing light.

I thought to myself, it's so difficult to create something and to create something this beautiful. I just sat there watching it all and gradually was deeper into this phenomenon as if it was the first time that I had noticed anything at all about nature.

As I listened, I started to think about architecture as we know it, architecture that uses materials such as brick and concrete, an architecture that has a structure so real and permanent that it stands there in front of us, for many years, totally unchanging.

And here, in front of me, was this natural environment that was gently moving as the breeze entered the grove, that was allowing some light and not allowing some. I asked myself then : "If I were to believe that this was architecture, what was I to learn?"

For me, it was more the process of being there and simply filming without thought that was a learning experience. It was time spent just to look at a branch, to look at the many leaves, to look at one leaf, to look at the ant that climbed up the bamboo stem, to pretend that this was a habitat where I was as small as that insect that stopped here for a moment and then left, to know another of nature's many worlds.

Design Inspiration at Lalbaug gardens

2010-06-07T04:40:00.000-07:00

We had heard from some of our friends that the 'Green Heritage walk' organised by the group 'Bangalore Walks' was an extremely good one and something we must do. We took the walk this weekend. It is a walk conducted by Mr.Vijay Thiruvady every Sunday from 7am to 10am at the Lalbaug gardens in Bangalore. Mr.Vijay Thiruvady has immense knowledge about trees, is a great storyteller and you are bound to have a wonderful experience!

While at the walk, I realised that being there amidst nature was inspiring and generated some thoughts about design. I thought it would be nice to share this.

You come across these framed pictures of deities and you wonder who put them there? Does that person or group come back here to worship? Whose place of worship is this now? There's a fresh flower on the top of the frame. Is it from a passer-by? The frames themselves are partially covered with termites. There is not much it takes to create a place of worship. Life is sometimes both simple and beautiful at the same time.

This leaf we learnt is from the tree called Ficus Krishane. The tree gets its name from the shape of its leaves which form two cups or sometimes one cup. The Legend says that Lord Krishna is supposed to have collected butter in this leaf cup. Many of us have picked up a dried leaf. Others go closer to the branches of the tree to observe the green leaves that are cupped. Apart from being a cup leaf, I find the form of the leaf very interesting. If one were to make a paper lantern using this form and use an LED light within it, could it be interesting enough?

We then came across a tree commonly known as the 'Elephant apple'. Its botanical name is Dillenia Indica. For a description of the tree, I am linking here to Mr.Vijay's notes on this tree, which is a part of Vijay's musings about trees at Lalbaug. What was also interesting to know is that the leaves of this tree have been used traditionally to polish ivory. Here is a picture of the dried leaves of the tree. There's something nice about the dried leaf. It seems to have another aesthetic quality after it is dried up. If one were to study this leaf in detail for the design of a tensile structure, it may have some lessons for us. There is an increasing transparency to the leaf material as it ages.

We are almost at the end of our walk, the three hours have just flown by! The tree we are now looking at is a Silk Cotton tree many, many years old. It has these buttress-like parts of its trunk that spread out at the base. What is amazing here is that there are quite a few branches that go out almost horizontally for a distance of almost forty to forty-five feet! How does this happen? How can there be a cantilever this long? Would we have achieved this in steel? At what cost?

As you now look back again at the buttresses, you notice that there are thick roots also above the ground at some places that go out for long distances towards each of the long branches. Could it be then that the branch is able to cantilever itself because the root goes out in a similar fashion, more horizontally than the roots of other trees, that the vertical distance between the branch and the root are lesser than usual, creating a C-shaped homogenous form, of branch and root working together and giving it the stability to make possible this cantilever?

As we walk along a bit more, you can't help thinking that what you see on the ground is as inspiring as what you see in front of you everywhere at the gardens. Every step of the way, you see a beautiful composition. Sometimes, its the grass, flowers and the natural stone. Sometimes, its the patterns from the leaves of the tree just above and at some places, its the silk cotton that has travelled with the breeze to now rest with the dried leaves of a Juniper or a Candle Tree.

I link here to another blogpost that came about after this lovely nature walk. This is Mangoes for sale and is at my other blog : Indian Bazaars

Documenting a Vernacular house

2010-04-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

There are so many ways in which one can document a vernacular house. It is good to observe, to analyse and most importantly, to interact with the people who have built these houses and who live in them. Discussions with old masons and carpenters can bring out interesting revelations. One has to remind oneself to not assume answers to what we observe but to ask many questions as we walk through these houses and streets.
a street in Georgetown in Chennai, India

One can study the following :

1. Forms & Proportions
2. Building materials & their source
3. Techniques of construction
4. Structural concepts
5. Detailing
6. Doors & Windows
7. Spatial hierarchy
8. Building elements – Foundation, Wall, Floor, & Roof
9. Lighting
10.Natural systems of ventilation
11.Storage spaces
12.Rituals related to house construction & sustainability
13.Finishes
14.Hardware
15.House decoration

Its just good to hope that there will be an ever-expanding fraternity that will want to study, document, learn and evolve from within this built-environment heritage. The more we study it, the more we will want not to lose it.

Mud house - 4

2010-03-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation from the blogpost, Mud house - 3 where we looked at 'The site' and 'The walls'. We now go on to discussing the next steps.

3. Plastering & Flooring
Preparation of the floor and plastering of the walls is carried out at the same time. It is a task usually undertaken by women. A mud floor is usually 4 cm thk. The plinth comprises of earth that has been excavated from the foundation trench. To obtain a 30cm high plinth, more earth may be acquired from the surrounding areas.

In order to avoid cracks on drying, sand is mixed with the mud in the proportion of 1:5 i.e. 1 part sand to 5 parts earth for plastering as well as for the flooring mix. For plastering and flooring together, no.of persons required are 8 women for completing the work in 1 day. The mud floor is allowed to dry for a day and then cowdung is spread on the mud floor. The walls are whitewashed from the inside and the outside. The whitewash may be available in packets of 3 kg. The walls of a 3.0m diameter house usually require 4 packets of whitewash.

4. Roof
Whilst the wall is being constructed, the wooden members that make up the loft are placed on the wall before the last 60cm of wall is raised so that these palmyra members get embedded in the wall. As soon as the wall upto 1.8m height is completed, the midhi or loft may be constructed. This comprises of 4 beams in palmyra placed across the room with battens spanning across the beams. The battens rest side by side so as to leave minimum gaps between them. This is then covered with 8cm of mud layer. Over the midhi, a support system is built in order that the palmyra members forming the core may rest on it.

The roof frame uses Palmyra, Sarvi and Ruvvala wood. Near Haripuram, the village in Visakhapatnam district where this mud house was built, Ruvvala was freely available but the charge for carrying each bundle to the site of construction had to be paid. The roof frame used 6 bundles of Ruvvala. The number of palmyra trees that were used for the pitched conical roof structure were four. It is preferable to buy the wood in wholesale i.e. to purchase the trees and have them cut as per requirements.

Does your building make business sense?

2010-03-11T01:38:00.000-08:00

This is from an article that I wrote for Business Gyan :

The origin of your business or entrepreneurial venture has been a creative idea. Some years have been spent in developing that idea, in seeking capital, in marketing the idea, in learning to focus and in making the idea a long-term goal. Through all this, your business has nested itself in one, or more than one physical environment. This may have been a garage to begin with, an office in a commercial building, two floors in an expensive location in town and today, you may be a company with its own building or about to occupy its own premises. If you have the time, it may be worthwhile today to do a Post-Occupancy Evaluation of the building and to ask yourself and your team – Does our building make business sense?

Here is a link to the full article

Mud house - 3

2010-03-03T00:40:00.000-08:00

This part of the Mud house series focuses on the following :
1. The Site
The site is selected and then cleaned. Construction work begins with digging a 30cm deep trench as per the required circular plan. This layout is marked at site by placing a pole in timber at a point which may be the centre of the circle. This is fixed temporarily. A thread tied to it, the other end of it holds an iron rod. This end is moved around to mark the circle on the ground. A 45cm wide trench is dug. The earth excavated is thrown into the circle and this becomes the filling for the required 30cm high plinth of the house. The trench is only 30cm deep since here at Haripuram village, the soil is rocky. The number of persons required for this task are four and the duration of work is one day.

2. The Walls
The walls are built in mud by the cob wall technique i.e. earth is mixed with water thoroughly with hands and also feet to form the right consistency. Next, balls of mud are placed into the trench to build up the wall. At a time i.e. in one day, only 60cm height of wall may be erected. It is allowed to dry, before the next 60cm of wall is built on the following day.

Since no further construction takes place that day, the time is utilised for the mixing of the earth and water to be used for subsequent construction. The soil mix must be sufficiently clayey. In case of difficulty in obtaining clayey soil, it is carted from the neighbouring areas. However, such a need occurs rarely.

Institute for Revival of Traditional Building Arts

2010-02-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

Some years ago, I was documenting the Restoration efforts made by the West Zone Cultural Centre towards conserving the Bagore-ki-Haveli at Udaipur. Whilst doing the study, I came across a document that contained guidelines for setting up an ‘Institute for Revival of Traditional Building Arts’. Such an Institute had been initiated at Jaipur but it had closed down eventually. Maybe, elsewhere in India, there will be efforts to put up an Institute such as this one at another time. I reproduce here some key points from that document :

The work strategy for the institute will be :

- To document old traditional building art forms through a survey of buildings of historical and architectural importance
- To extensively photograph work done in such buildings. The cataloguing will be done building-wise and building art formwise.
- To locate master craftsmen of traditional building art forms in the various districts and to catalogue them including their addresses and other particulars
- To select old heritage precincts and buildings which need restoration, reconstruction, revival etc. and to make these available to the Institute for conducting training on actual working conditions
- Selection of artisans / trainees for receiving training and to lay down minimum educational or experience standards for a particular art form
- To prepare the curriculum indicating the period of training, theoretical and practical classes to be conducted and to identify faculty for imparting training
- To document the trainees skills and addresses, on completion of the training, so that this talent pool is available for being called upon whenever work is needed to be executed on a commercial basis and also to provide employment to them, wherever possible, through the efforts of the Institute
- To prepare films, videos, slides and literature for use as training material. This will need to be done separately for each building art form
- Brochures and technical literature to be prepared for dissemination of information to the prospective customers of such work
- To find avenues of work for the trained artisans in the public and private sector
- To evolve new patterns, new designs and improvements in old designs so as to make future work both time-effective and cost-effective
- To conduct research and development in traditional building materials
- To make traditional building art forms more economical and acceptable to the public

Mud house - 2

2010-02-17T22:30:00.001-08:00

The layout of the round mud house was always the same. It comprised of a circular inner room which was used mainly for storage of grain and all the main belongings of the household. During winter, this room was also used for sleeping. In the summer, the family slept outdoors or on the spactious verandah that was a part of every house. Enveloping this inner room, in plan, was another circle which served on the left as the kitchen and on the right as a store room or a sitting/sleeping area. The circular house was based on the concept of a verandah and again verandah.

The inner room received light only through the door to the room. Because of the extremely low overhang of the thatch roof, it was better not to have windows. And the low overhang was to protect the mud walls from the rains. The roads leading into a hamlet were the usual narrow mud paths, opening into large open spaces, around which mud and thatch huts lay strewn.

The children were always outdoors unless they were at school, which was a basic one, and yet not all families could afford to send their children to school. Some children continued to play in their verandahs or just outside their homes waiting for the school bell to ring when the other children would join them.

While the children played in the sun, the mother cooked on the common chulahs (stoves) built by them in the open spaces. These had been made in the same earth that had built their homes. Wood was used as fuel.

While the rice cooked, some women were busy within the house, cleaning, or putting a little one to sleep. They moved back and forth from indoors to outdoors, making transitions through spaces and making similar transitions through the day from family responsibilities to social intermingling.

The design principles that had been followed in the layout of the coastal andhra houses allowed these interactions amongst families. It was a way of life that they had always followed. Often, roof overhangs of adjoining houses touched, but one bent a little to go beyond, on the mud path that lead between them.

Mud house -1

2010-02-11T04:23:00.000-08:00

This is the first part of a series of blogposts on an experiment in mud construction that was carried out in the village of Haripuram, near Visakhapatnam. The traditional coastal andhra village was typically a cluster of round mud houses. The houses were built close to each other in a circular formation so that the cyclonic winds that often hit the coast bounced off tangentially away from the cluster. Houses with two family units were often roofed and walled in rectangular form.

The old houses in Haripuram were more than thirty years old and they had mud walls and palmyra thatch roofs. However, the new constructions being built used reinforced cement concrete slabs and burnt brick walls. Initially, the possibility of constructing a two-storeyed mud house was discussed to bring back mud as a viable building material. For this, a manual block-making machine would have to be purchased. This required a higher budget for our first experiment. Also, the local masons would need to undergo special training. It was then decided that a single-storeyed mud and thatch house with a few of its drawbacks eliminated would perhaps be a better way to begin.

It was hoped that such a model house would evoke confidence in the people to learn to improvise on their ways of building. It would be clear that the new house which didnot have the disadvantages of the old houses had only incorporated a few simple changes, but was in all other respects like their earlier houses which they knew how to build anyway. I started to sketch the mud houses in the village.

Architecture & Representation

2010-02-04T20:07:00.000-08:00

In beginning to understand architecture, to study it from drawings and images, you realise that such a study would be looking at architecture from a distance. It does not involve us in a living environment.

In India, architecture has had spiritual meaning that may relate to the time of day, in the way light enters the sanctum sanctorum of a temple at a particular time on a particular day in a given year. The architecture of water in the stepped wells of ahmedabad is an experience of shade from the sun for a traveller. How do you represent these experiences?

This question brings us to studying art and how it has been represented. Perhaps a study of finding meaning in art would bring us closer to finding meaning in architecture and understanding how to represent it before its creation and after.

I reproduce below an exercise I undertook as a student, to study a painting, to walk through it as if I saw nothing else, to be inside the painting and not outside it.

I looked at the painting `ANNUNCIATION´
by Crivelli

And then,
My eyes tired of the rapid translation
Of visual images into geometry
I heard the applause

I could not help seeing
The Geometry in its composition
And, for a while
Nothing else.

The second act had begun.
My mind switched
From `spatial analysis´to the `meaning´
Of this drama

Now, I had to `see´and `listen´
Listen to the murmur
Of the hands and the eyes
To later interpret their meaning

I must therefore divide this story into two parts
the first dealing with Meaning
and the second with Geometry

On MEANING

This painting exposes the difference between the level of curiosity of a child‘s mind as compared to that of an adult. The scene involves several characters of which only one is a child. Only this child seems to look outside of himself. He is not aware that he is being seen. The others know that they are being seen. Perhaps, they view themselves as participants of a drama. They must play their part and play it well.

The child would like to have his presence acknowledged. He could direct the world, he thinks, because he knows what‘s going on, if only they would listen to him. But, he has decided to take refuge behind the parapet, to act naive, only of course, till he is Big.

One wonders if instead of Crivelli, any one of us were painting this picture, would we have represented the little child as seated on the steps... instead of standing behind the parapet. Would it have altered the meaning of the image if instead of being concealed in part behind the parapet, the child had instead been painted as hiding himself in the folds of the robe of one of the men...

Or, what would happen to our interpretation of the composition if the child stood beside the kneeling saint and lifted a building block from the model held in the hands of the saint. Would it be a sacrilege to treat the representation of an important event in so light a manner? And, could this then be the starting point of caricature?

Besides, is the child accompanying one of the three men? Or, has he climbed the steps on his own to get away from the street and the strange happenings there? The apple and the peanut. Are they his playthings left behind on the street in his haste to get to the head of the stairs?

Have the three men gathered at the steps because a programme they were participants of within the building has just ended? Are they on their way out... Or did they hear of an extraordinary event happening in the street and therefore hurried outside to watch? Or, is this simply their favourite rendezvous after work hours? They are not plotting against enemies, are they...Is the curtain shown in Virgin Mary‘s chamber, a mere representation of a circumstantial object or is it meant to be a symbolic barrier between the duality in the life of the Virgin Mary – separating her divinity from her mortal existence and its implications, as drawn from the objects shown beyond this curtain.

Anyway, are all those objects, curtain and bed and books actually to the right of her or is that a mirror wall by her side reflection the room space to her left, hidden from our point of view behind the column...

On GEOMETRY

The painting ANNUNCIATION by Crivelli confirms at the outset the presence of a spatial datum.

The vanishing point of the painting is held at the furthest end of this datum, appearing, however, at the centre of the vertical axis of this two-dimensional representation and with respect to the horizontal axis at its first quarterly division. It is a one-point perspective drawing with all the object lines directed towards and converging at this vanishing point.

One notices instantly the beam of light from the sky directed at Virgin Mary in the lower right half of the picture. It is especially conspicuous since it is the only line in the painting that does not converge or that is not directed towards the vanishing point. This divergence from the rule gives it a special quality to make it a symbol of power. It is presumably a very important feature of the act being represented. As one looks at the rug hang out on the parapet near the peacock, one may not think about what length hangs on the other side, for, one knows.

We can see in its design a symmetry about its width and from our prior exposure to such designs know that the design would be symmetrical about its length. This establishes its length to be twice as much as is visible to us on our side of the parapet. However, if the rug design were instead a small motif repeated unevenly, we would be quizzical about the length of rug that hangs on the other side of parapet.

The painting is composed so that more than one-half of its right side is occupied by a solid mass and another one-quarter of its left side, leaving a quarter-width for displaying the spatial outlay. The spaces show various forms of human behavioural patterns within the different planes. The Virgin Mary is encased within the GOLDEN RECTANGLE. Thus, the proportion of the Golden Section seems to have determined the position of the different objects within her chamber. In a reconstruction of this part of the painting, one may derive a series of golden rectangles which result in the appearance of the logarithmic spiral.

Thus,
“the dichotomy of individuality and universality may be seen as
Art for art‘s sake against Art as a system
Geometry for art‘s sake and Order as a system”

Athangudi tiles

2010-01-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

I had an opportunity to visit the village of Attangudi, near Madurai where traditional artisans continue to make colourful floor tiles that are similar to the red oxide floor but with geometrical and floral motifs. The tiles looked beautiful. As you watch the tiles being made, and go back and forth from looking at the process to the finished product, you know that this is something you want to use, simply because the colours, the designs and the sheen look great.

The question is “Would this only work in a traditional house plan?” Many of us are keen on a contemporary house and you wonder if a beige vitrified tile floor would be more in tune with your non-ethnic tastes? Luckily for us, there are immense possibilities, if we do decide to go with the attangudi tile floor. Its possible to order tiles with just a single colour and no motifs; its possible to order floor tiles that are plain and skirting tiles that have a simple geometric design, with colours that complement each other. Besides, I do believe that its possible to include elements with traditional motifs in a contemporary setting. Its just about knowing how much of the traditional and how much of the modern.

Here is a YouTube film on the making of Athangudi tiles :

Source : www.youtube.com

Most of us in the cities would buy tiles for our house from the biggest brands in ceramic tiles such as Kajaria or Johnson tiles. Kajaria Ceramics which is a 700 crore company has a European collection. They import tiles from Italy and Spain for the Indian market. While we source from Europe, can we also source from a village in Tamil Nadu? Kajaria has a distribution network of about 600 dealers and about 6000 sub-dealers all over the country. What if the display division of the marketing department at Kajaria or Johnson focused on promoting Athangudi tiles as well?

If the curricula in architecture schools in India would encourage its students to document vernacular ways of building and traditional building materials and their processes, we could create a database that Kajaria could use. If the curricula in management schools would encourage its students to document the supply-chain systems in rural economies and analyse how these could be made more efficient, we could perhaps make it attractive for Kajaria to seek out and support the artisan of Athangudi while making great profits in their business.

In the meanwhile, if you want to khow how to visit the Athangudi village, you can contact Karthick Gopal at tourism.karaikudi@gmail.com. He is part of the DHAN foundation, an NGO that works in several villages of Tamil Nadu. Here are their contact details : DHAN Foundation, 18, Pillaiyar Koil Street, S.S. Colony, Madurai - 625 016, Tamil Nadu.
Tel: +91-452-2610794, 2610805 and the link to their website : www.dhan.org

In case you would just like to order the tiles, you can still contact DHAN since they know the artisans well and will be able to give you their contact details. Here is a link to their blog: Explore Chettinad

City Design in India

2010-01-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

It may be useful to establish a Research unit to support a Municipal Corporation or Urban Development Authority in every Indian city.

This unit is required to develop further design concepts that will benefit the city in the long-term. There would be research activities conducted here (both by the Unit Staff & external Consultants) without the pressures of time and the urgency of constantly executing projects and “making a visible difference”. Projects would be allowed time from 6 months to 2 years before implementation takes place. Short-term deadlines and handling of the day-to-day problems of the city would be carried out by the other departments of Municipal Corporation or UDA. A Research unit of this kind will maintain consistency of vision for the city’s development over the years.

The following projects may be initiated at the Research Unit for City Design (RUCD) :
- Socio-economic and physical surveys of specific areas within the city
- Documentation of Streets & Public spaces
- How to utilise Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Infrastructure planning, such as water supply, telephone cables, sewerage system, drainage system, etc.
- Developing Urban Design guidelines
- Development of Urban spaces – squares /plazas and spaces between buildings -Improving Traffic sense and Civic sense amongst the Public (through awareness campaigns & educational packages for schools)
- Renewable energy systems – implications for the city, e.g. solar energy for street lighting
- Street design & Art in Public plazas
- Exploring the use of Rain-water harvesting on the city scale
- Environmental planning
- Fellowship programme for design & planning studies
- Exposure lectures / programs/ visits for the town planning staff
- Maintaining a network of Resource persons / professionals for projects to be undertaken
- Evaluating Building & Planning norms and making them more realistic and designed to make a better city
- Evolving strategies for the sustenance and future development of old, historic parts of the city
- Building and maintaining a Public library of City Design & Planning (with books on Urban architecture, Street development, Landscape Planning, Squares & Plazas, Lighting, Outdoor Environment, City Planning, etc.)
- Questionnaire Survey of Residents in the city regarding the day-to-day problems and facilities required.
- Questionnaire Survey of Visitors to the city (this may be carried out particularly at Professionals’Conferences being held in the city)

Dutch windows

2009-10-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

Time and again, I have remembered the presentation by Sverre Fehn at Cornell, where he showed a project he had completed in the Netherlands and talked about how he had been pleasantly surprised with how much glass one could use in a dutch residential project.

So many years later, as I walk the streets of Amsterdam, I recollect that talk and wonder at how the Dutch keep the interface between their houses and their streets both transparent and beautiful.

John Berger's "Seeing comes before words"

2009-05-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

“Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak. But, there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled”.

“We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice. As a result of this act, what we see is brought within our reach – though not necessarily within arm’s reach. To touch something is to situate oneself in relation to it. We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves. Our vision is continually active, continually moving, continually holding things in a circle around itself, constituting what is present to us as we are.

Soon after we can see, we are aware that we can also be seen. The eye of the other combines with our own eye to make it fully credible that we are part of the visible world.

If we accept that we can see that hill over there, we propose that from that hill we can be seen. The reciprocal nature of vision is more fundamental than that of spoken dialogue. And, often dialogue is an attempt to visualise this – an attempt to explain how, either metaphorically or literally, ‘you see things’ and an attempt to discover how ‘he sees things’. ”*

*Berger, John Ways of Seeing, British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972

Photo : Dhuba Ati Gaon in Assam

the morning light

2009-05-07T08:50:00.001-07:00

Design and Nature in Mauritius - Photo essay

2009-04-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Besides being a splendid and breathtaking landscape, Le Morne holds great importance in the history and memory of Mauritius and has been declared as one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites for its natural environment that is increasingly becoming rare.

Le Morne has become a focal point for commemorating the Abolition of slavery in Mauritius.

Ganapati Karkhanas

2009-03-31T01:52:00.000-07:00

The men worked quietly on the plaster of paris idols. They let us come in, let us watch them at work. It was so unusual to be in a place with so many ganeshas. The streets around Shivaji Chowk in Pen, 45 min.from Panvel, in Maharashtra are lined with Karkhanas or workshops that create the Ganapati statues that are sent to Bombay and to towns all over Maharashtra. It is said that more than 70% of the statues that are sold in Bombay are made in Pen.

Each of these ganeshas are destined to have a life of their own, in street corners in Bombay and elsewhere that are preparing themselves to celebrate the arrival of the elephant god - the megastar of the ganesha festival.

These are not the most ideal conditions for the artisans to work in and yet the work goes on. Can tourism not bring in the funds that can also upgrade working environments within the ganapati karkhanas?

There was natural light falling on the quiet ganesha in waiting. The men who were skilled with their hands and had made these gorgeous idols from ordinary clay were men to be admired.

A ganesha tour could indeed be a beautiful experience for many of us. It could be a one-day trip that would begin with the ganesh darshan at the karkhanas, then, a walk down few of the streets in Pen, to know the still prevalent vernacular architecture of the konkan region, a lunch and then, some looking around in the local bazaar and interacting with the local people.

A vernacular house could be identified for lease to be managed by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation or as a Private sector enterprise in the vicinity of Shivaji Chowk, similar to the heritage houses developed by Pondicherry tourism as boutiques, restaurants & coffee shops.

A traditional street that could be developed as part of the walking tour in Pen in addition to the visits to the Ganapati Kharkhanas.

Infrastructure such as roads, water supply and drainage systems may need upgradation if a floating tourist population is expected. The tourist facilities that could be provided here are:

Restaurant with local cuisine
Tea shop that is clean and with a ganesha storyline for the theme
Rest rooms/Toilets
ATM
Ganapati Souvenir shop
Ganesha Museum

There are an increasing number of craft tours and textile tours that allow us to explore the world of the artisans in India. "One day in the life of a silent Ganesha" could be one such fulfilling experience for the discerning tourist.

One of the karkhanas visited was the : Wadke Bandhu Kala Mandir, Kasar Ali, Pen - Raigad. ph: 02143- 254237 & 93707-17877

Architecture Design process

2009-03-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

This is something i wrote whilst travelling in Europe more than 12 years ago. It was the first time ever in Europe. Everything around was fascinating and intriguing and made me contemplate about experiencing life, experiencing architecture and about how these have shaped my thinking on the architecture design process.

Before asking people to share their experiences, I begin to think about the experiences within different environments that I have had. How do my surroundings affect me? What are the thought patterns that these environments generate? There are images reproduced here in the form of sketches, that my mind captured, at the plaza, on the street, within a building, on the train or in the cathedral.

Experiences in life make us think the way we do. Although two people could see the same things at the same time, they might not always do so. If I walk through a busy street, I see and remember. I walked through the street with you. What I saw is different from what you did. We walk towards the Eiffel Tower. I see the caricaturists on my right. You enjoy the river Seine on your left. I feel the arch above us, that holds the bridge. You see the ornament on the bridge. We walk to the Pompidou centre. I see the pipes and railings. You see the people on the escalators.

If you see the river Seine, you may also see the caricaturists the next moment. If you see the ornament on the bridge, you may also soon feel the arch above us. If you see people on the Pompidou escalators, you may not miss the pipes and railings. Time is a dimension to be considered too, is it not? Whilst walking, what might be within the range of vision one moment, might not be, in the next. If you don't feel the arch above us at this moment, in the next moment, we are not below the arch anymore. Experiences are linked with time, aren't they? Especially it is, when two people walk along a street, you experience in one moment the ornament on the bridge, and I, the arch above. In the next moment, you cant feel the arch and I cant see the ornament. It was only for the moment and that moment is now gone.

Here is a link to some of my poems & sketches of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

a way of seeing Review - March 2009

2009-03-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

Over the years, I have opened several times John Berger's book 'Ways of Seeing' and been entranced by its words and its images. This blog had to be called 'a way of seeing architecture' because so much learning has always come to me from the book.

So far, this blog has had posts about architectural design and heritage conservation in India that have ranged from questioning what is good design, to understanding why Codifying Indigenous Building skills is important to contemporary architectural design and some observations on the vernacular architecture of the Konkan houses. The blogpost on Bimilipatnam documents the process of people's participation in a conservation effort on the east coast of India. There are some thoughts on the Chettinad houses of Tamil Nadu and the heritage conservation at Hampi.

The search for meaning in architecture and heritage goes on...so, what IS good design? HOW do we create an ecosystem for heritage conservation?

"But suppose there IS no meaning! Suppose life is fundamentally absurd! Or suppose EVERYTHING matters, which would be worse??" - Calvin, in 'Its a Magical World' Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Waterson

Hampi Conservation

2009-01-23T21:49:00.000-08:00

The 'Hampi Conference' was held at the Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore from 16th to 18th January 2009. It was a way for some of us to learn that Hampi means so much to so many people. There were scholars both from India and from abroad who have lived in Hampi and researched its many complexities for more than a quarter of a century. People who have spent so many years of their lives to document, to analyse and to share the history of the societies that have lived in the Vijayanagara region. There were the local residents from the Hampi area who shared knowledge of the indigenous ways of living that have been responsible for the survival of the Hampi Ecosystem.

An Ecosystem has been defined as "a living community along with its physical environment, considered as an integrated unit". The many layers that were uncovered at the Hampi conference affirmed that the way to approach Heritage Conservation at Hampi had to be simple in thought so that it could flow in and out of all the complexities and bind them together once again. An "ecosystem approach" recognises that humans with their cultural diversity are an integral component of many ecosystems. How could we strengthen the involvement of the local community in the process of revival?

Hampi has been declared as a 'World Heritage site'. The 'Hampi World Heritage Development Authority' has been formed. There will be teams of professionals in various disciplines who will work towards a Master Plan for Hampi. However, the objective is not something that lies at the end of this road. The objective is to respect substantially the human component of this ecosystem and that lies in the "process". In a Biological ecosystem, energy transfer takes place through the food chain which makes its beginning from the sun. In a Conservation ecosystem, it is a similar transformation of energy that must happen and this makes the 'process of conservation' a key element in the Hampi efforts.

Is it possible to establish a small space/cell within Hampi where any passer-by can walk in to know about the current happenings on the 'World Heritage Project'. This could be similar to the Information Cell, for instance that the 'City of Rotterdam authorities' set up for its citizens in The Netherlands, where information leaflets, books, fact sheets and films were available on what had been documented of the past and what was being proposed for the future. It was a glass-fronted shop with large, wooden models of the existing urban fabric and of the new developments being designed for its people.

This cell, could have a meeting room where local residents could discuss with the authorities on how they could participate in the project. It could provide access for scholars and experts to old historical maps and to the new 'Digital Elevation Models (DEM)' or the scientifically prepared georeferenced basemaps that are being now generated for Hampi. It would house a comprehensive library with books, documents, newspaper clippings on Hampi's heritage efforts and current development plans, on the Hampi Utsav & how to contribute meaningfully to it, correspondence on hampi's conservation efforts and much else. It is possible that more people from Hampi will begin to have a reverence for their architectural and natural heritage.

The main purpose of this cell would be to create enthusiastic teams of people all over Hampi who want to be a part of the Conservation effort and to bring back the indigenous ways of sustainable development back into our lives.

-------------------------

Based on a comment on this blogpost, i am adding this note. Here, a Conservation ecosystem for Hampi is seen as a long-term vision in which local residents play an important role. It would be essential to understand and influence positively their thoughts, ideas and actions towards the Hampi region.

Secondly, an ecosystem approach would focus on a revival of the indigenous skills that made Hampi a world heritage site. Perhaps, the traditional building artisan and his skill will sustain if there is a continuous flow of projects to execute. Therefore, we may want to work towards enhancing artisan networks and connect them to on-going traditional and contemporary architectural work.

We may want to document or codify traditional knowledge so that it becomes a part of the present design and conservation education programs in India. At the Hampi conference, Dr.Cheluvaraju from Kannada University had observed that "In the past, myths and rituals made local people preserve natural and built heritage"

Bamboo building

2009-01-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

In the villages of Assam, bamboo building is common even today. The houses are detailed out to combat the heavy monsoons. The floor of the house is a bamboo weave that allows the water of a flood to flow in, rather than keep it out. This is an important principle of sustainable development. During this time, the inhabitants of the houses get into the canoe that every house stores in the stilt area below the bamboo floor. When the flood waters recede, the assamese people occupy their house again. The belongings are protected by putting them up on the bamboo loft. The roof of the house is built with local grass and can last upto 10 years before it is replaced again.

The houses shown here are from Dhuba Ati Gaon, a village about 30 km from Kaziranga, the wild life santuary in Assam well-known for its one-horned rhinoceros. The people in this village originally belonged to the Miri tribe from Agartala and chose to settle near the Brahmaputra river. Today, they are called the Mising community.

The bamboo weave makes both walls and floors breathe allowing a cross-ventilation all over. There is natural light that comes in from this weave as well.

The woven bamboo loft allows the clay pots and pans to be held easily.

An earth plastering is often done over a close-knit bamboo wall for further protection.

There are several innovative details to learn from in the assamese house.

The stilted part of the house is for protection against a gentle flood. It is for the canoe that belongs to the house and for the children of the village. Here is a link to : Crafts in Bazaars

Chettinad Columns

2008-12-09T22:19:00.001-08:00

Some of the places where "chettinad columns" are for sale :

Karaikudi

Arasu Arts, Govindarajan, 40, MM Street, Karaikudi – 630 001, Sivaganga Dist. Tamilnadu

ph : 04565-4334020, 4338570, 4396790

Senthil Arts, 90/2, Ve.Vr.St. (Near Sathian Theatre) Karaikudi 630 001

ph : 04565-420030, 8550065

Venkateswara Furniture & Timber merchant, 65, MM Street, Karaikudi 630 001

ph : 04565-2421706, 2436238

Karaikal

Mr.Idris

He has an old house where he displays everything.

Mr.Ramanan

ph : 09842533046.

He knows several dealers in Karaikal and can suggest places where these columns are available.

Pondicherry

Ms.Kali Borg, Sharnga, Auroville. ph : 0413-2622337
mob : 94430-90114
kaliborg@hotmail.com
Kali deals in "antique furniture & building materials"

She is a stained glass artist too and also runs a guesthouse at auroville called 'Sharnga'. One can also check out the auroville website.

Chennai

1. Rani Arts
They make new furniture that looks like antique. (They also have chettinad columns, brackets, and so on). Located at McNicholas road, near Egah Theatre ph : 044-26422948/8843

2. Murray & Co.
Auctioneers, with a separate exclusive section of rosewood and teakwood antique furniture. One has to ask about it, not open to all walk-in customers. Since they are always on the look out for houses in Tamilnadu which are being dismantled, they may be able to acquire chettinad columns. ph : 044-28600880/55872437 . They are behind LIC building, on Mount road. Well-known and easy to find. But, best to call them first to see if they can get the columns, what price and when.

Bhimili

2008-04-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

In India, there are mainly two kinds of architectural heritage that receive attention, the “Indian” heritage and the “Colonial” heritage, the latter mostly in the form of public buildings. There are government agencies, professional bodies, and concerned individuals working to conserve some of this urban heritage. On the other hand, there are many, many small towns spread all over the vast country that have quaint and historic streets which remain obscure and neglected. These are streets lined with hundred-year-old, tile-roofed houses that hold a record of the history of the place.

The houses are also a record of the indigenous building skills that have evolved over time, but they are now being demolished to be replaced by modern concrete constructions. The price of the land is now higher and more important than the price or the historic value of the house that sits on it.

Bimilipatnam is one such town near Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India. It was a historical trading town, whose importance diminished as a new port was developed in Visakhapatnam, 25 km away. Bimili is the second oldest municipality in the country. It has some English, some Dutch, and some Indian heritage.

Bimilipatnam having once been a Dutch settlement, the Netherlands embassy was willing to be part of an initiative which would involve the residents of the town, the Andhra Pradesh government, and local non-governmental organizations for its development with a view to restore and preserve the architectural and natural heritage of the town.

Built-heritage inTranquebar

2008-02-29T01:50:00.000-08:00

Tranquebar is an old danish settlement, 100 km south of Pondicherry, in Tamil Nadu. It is now called Tharangambadi. Today, much heritage conservation work goes on here. The Neemrana group of hotels began to restore a dilapidated house some years ago. The 'Bungalow on the Beach' is now a heritage hotel.

The Bungalow, the Fort Dansborg and the waters of the sea in the serene environment of Tranquebar create together a very special experience.

The old bungalow facing the sea & the fort was adapted for re-use as a hotel by the INTACH pondicherry team . This has become the starting point for more restoration work also by a Danish foundation. Now, several more houses have been restored in Tranquebar.

Francis Wacziarg, Co-founder of Neemrana hotels believes that the interest in restoring heritage properties has been steadily increasing in different parts of the country. Earlier, people built a new house where the old one crumbled. Today, they want to consider converting it into a hotel. "We get about three proposals a week.” (Ramakrishnan, The Hindu Metroplus 2006)

Amongst the old maps of Tranquebar, Peter Anker's map gives a vivid picture of the Fort and the street patterns that were originally planned. Here is a link to the Old maps of Tranquebar and to the history of this town on the Coromandel coast.

Indigenous skills

2008-01-28T06:40:00.000-08:00

A Temple restoration in Tranquebar needs skills in brickwork of a high order; a Heritage conservation plan for Chettinad needs skills in lime work, wood work and much more; a revitalisation of the Buddhist sites in Orissa needs stone workmanship of excellent quality.

The master artisan is the one who can make meaningful contributions having spent years of apprenticeship to acquire these skills.

In contemporary India, this tacit knowledge of building skills needs to be codified or transformed into explicit knowledge in order for it to become a part of the formal architectural education system.

In a recent article in 'India Together' i discuss the importance of Codifying indigenous ways of building and the directions we can take in documenting skills and vernacular buildings.

IIMB campus

2008-01-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

Architecture is about the choices we make. In India, as elsewhere, there has often been a disparity between what architects value as good design and what the public perceives as design that is appropriate for them.

Architects often speak of their need for an “ideal client” This client is one who would not interfere with the planning of the aesthetically perfect building that the architect is trying to create. The client emphasizes at every meeting with the architect, his need for more user-friendly spaces; for finishes that are maintenance-free; for a building that will cost much less than what it is estimated to cost or at least not more. Architects find it difficult sometimes to have the same priorities.

On the other hand, users sometimes ask for a building that uses glass and steel facades, although the architect may be able to offer a better solution in terms of climate-responsiveness that uses brick or stone.

The design of the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore is the result of years of effort by the architect Balkrishna Doshi and his team to develop a contemporary architectural language with an indian identity. It is based on extensive research of the Indian architectural planning principles conducted by Prof.Kurula Varkey especially for this project.

There is a need for a platform that generates a dialogue between architects and non-architects about the various issues that influence design in architecture.

P.S. Recently, the film 'Doshi' was screened at the IIMB auditorium. Dr.Balkrishna Doshi was invited for the screening. There was a Q&A session after the film. Someone asked : "And, what about the aesthetic of frugality?" At IIMB, the Central Pergola is a beautiful space - spatially as well as in the way light enters the space and often people have asked if the expenses incurred and the absence of functionality can justify its existence. And, Doshi's reply " Must one take away from aesthetics to achieve frugality? I think the use of stone masonry for the walls has made sure that plastering is not required for the next 40 years. That is also a way to bring frugality into the architecture"

Another interesting part of the life of the IIMB campus has been the shooting for Rajkumar Hirani's latest film 'Three Idiots'. Over a period of six months, the film was shot at various locations within the campus and starred Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor & Boman Irani. One morning, there was a new clock tower at the main gate of IIMB. It was part of the film set. It looked real but more importantly, it looked like it belonged. Had the architect thought of a clock tower for the original design of the IIMB campus? Made one think about the role of the clock tower in american campuses. Cornell University's Clock tower had been an important point of reference for students and others.

The United States had a history of campus design that could be studied. Amongst the contemporary designers, one could study the work of Michael Dennis who had designed the extension to the University of Virginia and the Syracuse University, amongst other campuses. There were principles of campus design that had evolved over the years. These included developing a primary axis and several secondary axes. At Cornell, this primary axis had led to the Clock Tower. Actually, the secondary axes had too. The Clock tower was a stately structure, but it also had the chimes that every student at Cornell carried memories of for the rest of his life.

Here is a link to an article by William McDonough & Michael Braungart on designing a sustainable campus : A Building like a Tree, a Campus like a Forest

Hampi

2007-12-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

Hampi stands today as a land where Hanuman lived and where the children of tomorrow will continue to be. Conservationists have worked on this World Heritage site for many years now. George Michell, who has spent more than twenty-five years researching Hampi proposes, in 'Reflections on the Conservation of Hampi' Traditional and Vernacular architecture Seminar, Madras Craft Foundation, Jan 2001 that we focus on the following key problems :

"1. Ignoring the Natural Heritage
Hampi-Vijyayanagara occupies one of the most remarkable natural settings to be found anywhere in India. It is this landscape that gives the site its unique personality, and which demands protection from needless road building, quarrying, sign painting and other acts of destruction.

2. The Site versus the Monuments
No adequate legislation, it seems, is available to protect entire Heritage sites in India, only individual monuments.

3. Lack of appropriate Conservation Guidelines
An overall confusion exists among the archaeological agencies on what constitutes a suitable conservation policy for Hampi. Inpite of a long-standing state government order restraining quarrying at the site, boulders and sheetrock continue to be quarried in order to fashion new architectural elements.

4. No mechanism for Coordination or Control
Archaeological deposits uncovered by the excavation branch are threatened by water, piped in to create gardens by the horticultural branch. The village panchayats have permitted unchecked development around the Virupaksha temple. The Jain ashram has erected ugly and intrusive accommodations on the hill overlooking Hampi, without permission from archaeological authorities.

5. How to constitute an Effective authority
A need for a higher authority to negotiate between the different governmental, religious and private agents that are active at the site. Such an authority would have to be both skilled and empowered.

6. How to conceive a New Heritage Management system
Nothing can or must be done until a comprehensive plan for Hampi-Vijayanagara has been conceived."

Here is a link to another article : Hampi - the Bazaar

Chettinad house

2007-11-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Chettinad is a region in Southern Tamil Nadu that is known for its mansions belonging to the Nattukotai Chettiars, a banking community who had businesses in South east Asia and brought in teak from Burma to build a housetype that came to be known as the Chettinad house.

At a recent seminar at Anna University (Chennai) alongwith Ecole de Chaillot (Paris) in collaboration with UNESCO and ArcHe-S, discussions were held on the conservation and management of the Chettinad heritage.

Mr.M.A.Siddique, who had been Collector of the Sivaganga district until recently pointed out that the main challenges at Chettinad are that the owners of these houses, the Nagarthars have deserted their homes and settled in Chennai or abroad, resulting in the lack of maintenance; the houses are under joint ownership and family disputes have led to further neglect; there is a flourishing antiquity market at Karaikudi which entices the local people to sell the burma teak elements from within the house, that gradually depletes what is left and most importantly, there is a need for the Chettiar community to come forward and make conservation of this architectural heritage possible.

While we focus our time and effort on conserving the buildings, we need to also conserve the processes that have made these buildings possible. We need to find out who are the ARTISANS who did the lime plaster work, who laid an oxide flooring or attangudi tile floor and who made the columns and brackets in wood. Are these skills available and in what measure? How do the artisans source work in a changing urban-oriented culture? Can we link these artisans to potential conservation and tourism-related projects, so that they have a continuous flow of work and a reason to encourage their children to carry forward the tradition. Here is a link to an 'Artisans Resource guide' that is being developed by a community of people concerned about heritage. It hopes to link architects and houseowners to traditional artisans. India still has a large number of such artisans in the many towns and villages all over the country.

In Chennai, the IT parks compete in architectural style with what the west has to offer. However, the people still aspire to have houses that belong to tradition. In Chennai, the architect is increasingly being asked "Can you build me a Chettinad house?" Is this fashion? Is this a trend? Why are people today keen on building a house in Chettinad style? and what do they mean? Do they want a Chettinad mansion with all its grandeur? Do they want a conventional, modern house with only Chettinad columns and the Attangudi tiles? And, what do architects think of when clients say "chettinad house"? Recreating a chettinad house in chennai. Is it possible? What does it need? The more people that begin to want houses that hold an indian identity, the greater will be the effort the architectural community will make towards developing a contemporary vernacular language.

In the historical Chettinad region - in Karaikudi and Kanadukathan, the streets lined with mansions are deserted, the houses in neglect. In metropolitan Chennai, people aspire to build a chettinad "vernacular" house on an urban landscape dotted with concrete multi-storeyed apartment buildings and in the Madurai region, amongst the local people, Art is a way of life.

Konkan house clusters

2007-09-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

In Coastal Maharashtra, houses in rural areas are nestled amidst the trees and the paddy fields. There is abundant land available to build upon and yet, the houses lie snugly next to each other.

In India, the people who farmed, who fished and who have built their houses with their highly developed skills of craftsmanship always planned a house that was their own but that also belonged to the village. It was only one unit of the many that made up the village street. One house was built, then the next and the next. Streets that were thus formed were shaded from the afternoon sun.

Here, the roofs are built in timber understructure with mangalore tiles. The walls are in brick and verandahs are created with brick arches that offer structural support. The plan of the house is primarily square. The square tiled roof is seen as a common element throughout the coastal villages of the Konkan region.

In a post-graduate thesis in Landscape architecture, CEPT university, Shruti Bhagwat points out that the villages here are ideal watersheds. The village jungle is treated as common property and preserved. Phenomena like sacred groves and bunded water channels that were maintained traditionally are still common in the konkan.

As one passes by Saplak, near Mhalsa, one notices that entire streets are lined with mangalore-tiled houses. This is a fairly prosperous town which has diamond merchants who have artisans skilled in diamond cutting. Saplak is on the way to Harihareeshwar. It is also interesting to study the houses in Mahad, in Chiplun and other parts of Ratnagiri, Raigad and Sindhudurg districts.

In the contemporary context, environmentally responsible design would require that materials and elements of the building be reuseable, wherever possible. The siting process may include an in-depth understanding of sun orientation, soils, vegetation and water resources. We may want to design landscapes to absorb rainwater runoff (storm water) rather than to carry it off-site in storm sewers. The architecture of the konkan coast is climatically responsive, uses a sustainable approach and has an indian identity. It is important for us to know the indigeneous traditions of these regions and to work towards the continuity of the architecture of the past.

Here is a link to a Bazaar on the Konkan coast

Sculpting the house

2007-08-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

A space within a house is sculpted the moment the plan is conceptualised. It is the sequence of the many small spaces within the house that link with each other that is important. The place to invite guests, the place to eat, the place to rest for the night, the place to study and the place to ponder and to relax are each important and need to be detailed out differently.

These spaces are defined with the position of the walls and how they relate to each other. It then becomes important to decide what openings will puncture these walls, the window openings that will allow natural light to filter in, the openings that will allow a glimpse into the landscape outside and the door openings that will allow movement of people from one room to the other.

A house has an ‘inside aesthetic’ and an ‘outside aesthetic’. Some people like a contemporary outside aesthetic reflecting an international architectural style with an ethnic inside aesthetic with interiors that reflect indian craftsmanship. There are others who would like an indian aesthetic on the outside with sloping terracotta tiled roofs but are comfortable with a modern interior that reflects their contemporary lifestyle.

A design of a house is most appropriate for each of us when it gives us places to be comfortable in our moments of sharing and our moments of solitude.

Indian Coffee shop

2007-08-11T03:40:00.000-07:00

The Indian Coffee House in Bangalore was earlier located on M.G.Road. It is now on Church Street. These pictures were taken before it moved.

Coffee shop, then and now

2007-07-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

The coffee shop one went to in the old days was the ‘Indian Coffee house’ or the ‘Udipi’ restaurant that offered the “filter coffee”. Today, indian cities have a variety in coffee shops – the Café Coffee day, the Barista and so on. These do not sell the indian filter coffee. They sell “cappuchino” and “café au lait” amongst other european coffees. The present-day coffee shop is a new kind of space within our interior architecture needs. And, how does one design such a “place to hang out” where the cup of coffee of western origin is more expensive than the filter coffee of indian origin? What do the young users of these new spaces expect?

‘Pastries,Coffee & Conversations’ was designed as a place for young people in Visakhapatnam. The new HSBC building was being built and there was soon going to be an increase in the demand for an already successful home-based bakery outlet in the vicinity. The client’s brief was - coffee shop that was simple and yet different.

The inspiration for the furniture came from George Nakashima’s work. It was designed with inexpensive curved pieces of teakwood that remain when the sides of a tree trunk are cut to make the clean slices for sale. The butterfly joint was used to link the pieces for the tabletop and the chair seat and back. Wrought iron was used for the support for both the tables and the chairs.

The space was envisaged as all-white textured walls with the richness of the polished teakwood and the lighting being the accent. This was a contemporary space because it belonged to the present. It hoped to link the new with the old. The space and the way the light was nurtured were new, the materials came from the past and the detailing was both old and new.

Understanding our Streets

2007-07-10T03:37:00.000-07:00

What are the origins of a street?
How is a street in a village different from one in the town or in a city?
Where does a street come from?
Where does it go?
How does a street grow?
How many kinds of streets does a city have?

In a village . . .
When several houses are built near each other,
The path connecting them becomes the STREET

In a town . . .
A popular trading route makes people settle gradually along it
and slowly this becomes a MAIN LINKAGE or street

In a city . . .
When many streets exist already,
further growth of industry, increase in population
results in planning of additional ROADS or Streets

There will be different streets based on where they start or finish and also based on their inhabitants and on the kind of buildings they have; a street leading to a temple will be different from one leading to a cinema hall.

Can an Indian street be enclosed within two parallel lines?
Where will the cobbler sit?
How to accommodate the roadside shrine?
the Paanshop
or
the Sugarcane juice stall?

Designing a campus

2007-07-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

An urban space at any point in time will have a past and a present and its effect on people will motivate designers to articulate it in order to serve better. A theme ‘Tradition & Modernity’ may not be about ‘Historic Preservation’ nor about ‘Styles’ but about ‘Continuity’, about preventing an encroaching alienation faced by us towards contemporary architectural and urban spaces.

Sometimes, it is the juxtaposition of an old building with a new one on the street and sometimes the co-existence of an old shopfront with a new one, both housed within the same aging building that has been part of the street for several decades. Or shaping a new “village” within a city where signs of the old dilapidated one still exist, the ‘urban village’ serving commercial needs in a modern but quaint fashion, as at the Hauz Khas village in Delhi. Even if one is designing a single new building in an existing campus, it must no doubt express what has been before and also reflect the inherent nature of the buildings around it.

What makes some campuses more spectacular than others? Is it the natural beauty; its landscape and perhaps that it nestles amidst the hills? One wonders whether this built environment without the trees, flowers and lawns could be just as special. And if not, i.e. if the landscape does prove to be a very vital part of the campus, does it then establish the fact that the ‘garden’ or ‘landscape’ ought not to be an entity separate from architecture but that the two be treated as an integrated whole. One must nevertheless make a substantial effort to sustain the relationship of the parts. How does one allow for growth & change and express continuity?

What role do landmarks play within a campus plan? Do they add grandeur physically and with their representation in the institute catalogs? Do they provide a sense of place or, render a feeling of security on a sprawling campus? Do open spaces that belong to a large campus also belong to the city? And, how much of the city may belong to the campus; of the streets that enter it and the open spaces that engulf it?

A campus is seen as a place formed not so much by the buildings as by the spaces in between. Is a campus born out of symmetry more difficult to nurture than one which is randomly planned? How does one grow a campus?

Artisans Resource Guide

2007-07-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

It is hoped that it is possible to generate the small but precise targeted push that will make the difference to rural building artisans in

India

, in the nature of the Tipping point phenomenon, which according to Malcolm Gladwell is “that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire”

There is currently a directory of master artisans for Goa. There is a need to build up a listing for as many states in India as feasible.

Who can use the resource guide?

Private developers, government tourism departments, individual house owners and architects are likely to use the guide. These are going to be the job providers, the people who will create work opportunities for the building artisans.

Related Publication

Hidden hands - Masterbuilders of Goa

by Heta Pandit. Published in 2003 by Heta Pandit & The Heritage Network

(Research conducted under the aegis of the Homi Bhabha Fellowships council)

the need for an artisans' directory

2007-06-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

There is a growing demand for people skilled in traditional building technologies. The need for these indigenous skills is mainly in three areas : building of private “heritage” and “ecotourism” resorts; in the recent government program with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on ‘Endogenous’ or ‘Rural’ Tourism and in private “farmhouses” or independent “ethnic” houses that the elite urbanite has begun to build. Since this trend of building with traditional materials is now substantial, it is felt that this may be an appropriate time to add a catalyst to this development.

The reasons for supporting indigenous craftsmanship are – one, to strengthen livelihoods; two, to fill the increasing void in contemporary architecture in india, which is at present adopting a modern, western architecture and three, indigenous technologies use a sustainable approach to natural resources.

The Endogenous Tourism Program has been initiated in 36 craft-based villages/towns all over India. It is jointly supported by UNDP and the Govt. of India. These projects will showcase traditional arts, culture and heritage at rural and semi-urban locations. The state departments of tourism are being encouraged to provide a built-environment that uses a vernacular vocabulary. Therefore, not only will the employment opportunities increase in crafts and tourism-related activities, but also for people skilled in indigenous technologies.

People in the urban areas are buying small tracts of agricultural land on the outskirts of the city where it is permissible to build a “farmhouse” – a shelter to enable a person to carry out his farm activities. This however is being used by the urban dweller to build for himself a weekend retreat. This urbanite is being influenced by the heritage resort concept and farmhouses are mostly built using local materials and local building skills because the “pucca” structure or permanent house in concrete slab is not allowed.

When there is enough patronage and a market available for indigneous skills, the first step may be to connect the artisan to a project and the second step to train or contemporise his skill and to supplement it with other skills such as marketing and opportunity recognition. If a “pull force” can be generated instead of a “push force” it is anticipated that the artisan will re-skill and re-train himself according to the demand.

Jaisalmer and pre-cast construction

2007-05-21T04:05:00.001-07:00

Jaisalmer as a city, as urban fabric, is in total harmony with its soil, its terrain and the lifestyle of its people. A city in yellow stone, a sculpture that emerges out of the landscape. But, Jaisalmer is a man-made sculpture of small well-designed parts. The parts that make the harmonious whole are the key to the urban fabric that one sees today in Rajasthan.

It is a system of carved elements - stone slabs, beams, columns - pieces put together, the putting together - a carefully pre-planned process. Stone carvers - the artists, the artisans working in groups to deliver the pieces as required, with every piece cut, carved, to make a railing, to turn it to make a junction or to break the monotony of a symmetrical façade.

Stone blocks cut and carved to make an arch, a doorway, a jharokha, brackets that support a circular jharokha, brackets that are radiating out from a point and therefore vary in their sizes, but must be carved to precision to take their place away from the courtyard of the carver's house, in the walls of the palace.

And today, centuries later, can Bombay, Calcutta or Delhi boast of a harmonious city fabric inspite of the progress made in construction technology? Should we not rethink about the city as a whole and apply the technology to the whole rather than to a part, a sole building? We make individual buildings with our technological inputs. Can we not energise our entire city system which may produce a building that reflects the common ideology? Can we use stone again? Can we carve again? We can, but perhaps at greater expense and therefore we may look for a less expensive alternative.

Can precast concrete elements take the place of stone slabs, beams, columns, brackets, railing? If we were to analyse the system of building in Jaisalmer and devise thereon a system for use today, we will perhaps have an answer to a better city fabric woven into the other townscapes and reflecting the current mind structure too.

Urban morphology in India has been studied before. Architects and planners know today how courtyards, streets and built-form come together to make Indian cities. Contemporary Indian architects are designing townships for industrial empires. Many of these reflect the Indian norms for City Planning, yet the built-form is a collection of units that are in concrete, and sometimes alien.

If we could merge the appropriate technology being researched and practised in some parts of India with these early canons of planning to generate urban patterns of relevance and create an aesthetic that one can relate to, we will again have cities and townships that we can be proud of.

It has spices, it has quiet…

2007-05-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

Kumily has places that sell spices, it also has places that sell food and some quietitude. The restaurant at Ambadi is well-frequented by foreigners. Ambadi is a hotel which was built more than 20 years ago and is designed by Laurie Baker. Set amidst the forested area of Kumily, it is built in exposed brickwork and roofed in mangalore tiles.

It is an architecture that knows the culture of Kerala and the people of Kerala. One wall is crafted with brick and stone that make a portraiture of a Kathakali dancer. The rooms have verandahs that are themselves protected by tree canopies. A performing art form that is also now a building art. It lends the façade a textural quality.

Another part of the hotel has a longer verandah that uses for a railing, a mix of unshaped wood from the jungle nearby and a more orderly motif in teakwood. The old trees have been preserved and perhaps more planted. Sunlight filters in through the branches which rest comfortably, sometimes on a wall, sometimes on a window overhang. Here, one does not say, ‘this is building, this is landscape’. They came together and grew together.

Ambadi has also architectural detailing of an exquisite nature. There is the staircase that speaks of the hours of dedication of an artist in wood, there are the carved windows in wood that may have once been part of a tharavad. Laurie Baker often recycled doors and windows into his projects, from houses in Kerala that people chose to demolish to build a lavish, modern home. In this part of Kumily, as in many other parts of Kumily, you see the trees and you hear the birds. You take back with you the smell of spices and the touch of silence.

Café Italiano & the Badam tree

2007-05-21T03:57:00.001-07:00

After you have been in Varkala a few hours, you walk along the cliff wondering which restaurant to have your first cup of coffee. How does one know what place has the best view, the best coffee and the best price? And then, there is the music or the silence to choose from. The first day, you try one place for coffee, another for lunch and yet another for dinner. You begin to savour each cafetaria and each restaurant a little at a time. Some you walk into a second time and yet another time perhaps. You find that a shaded place to sit with a good view of the sea is the most popular combination.

At Café Italiano, the shade comes in plenty, with a badam tree being the centre of place. The floor of the café is covered with sand. The tables are simple wooden ones and the chairs are cane. There is the outdoor eating space, with tables under the badam tree and there is an indoor eating place, with tables at a timber and tile-roofed verandah.

And, is there a design element that is a key to Café Italiano’s success as a space? It is just the badam tree. It is the natural shade from the sun that this ‘God’s own country’ restaurant offers you with your cup of coffee. There are the terracotta murals along one side of the café. The murals do add to the aesthetics of the place. The sign that says ‘Café Italiano’ is a strong element and an important part of the design.

The “light and no light” that Louis Kahn speaks of is so much a part of this café with badam tree. When ‘Design for Tourism’ follows ‘Designing with Nature’, it creates a built-environment that has serenity and delight – the two elements architecture can bring to our lives.

what is good design

2007-05-21T03:52:00.000-07:00

Is it colour?
Is it the natural light that permeates a space?

There’s the sun, there’s sunlight
There’s the wind and the windsong
What building, what design
Makes them a part of our lives

Is it the inner courtyard?
Is it being in conversation with the landscape?

Is it the spaces inside a building?
The spaces outside the ‘space you live in’?
The spaces between buildings?

Is it less money, more square feet?
Is it available only in Greece?
Is it “what is good for them” is “good for me”?
Is it just white, and some light?

Is it “small house + small garden in posh locality”?
Is it “newly constructed, fully furnished flat with cupboards”?
Is it “house with 24 hours water and good vastu”?
Is it 2 Bedrooms+Hall+Kitchen in 800 sq.ft.?!

Is it Simplicity?
Is it “putting the look together”?
Is it all history now?
“Please give me a good elevation” what can it mean?

Is it detailing?
Is it adding the personal touch?
Is it creating an ambience?
Is it why the newspaper stand is what it is?

Is it the random plan of the vegetable bazaar that “works”?
Is it the roadside shrine that “belongs”?

There are so many answers to our question
Perhaps, good design is . . . an answer to our “needs”

Maybe it is not the elevation, but a good plan, that transforms into space and light
Maybe it is about several families of plan before you arrive at one
And yet, good design is only what you think it is…

Life from its past

2007-05-21T03:42:00.001-07:00

At Varkala, there are two distinct lives that the town leads. It has a life from its past, a life that belongs to the people of Kerala who have lived here for generations. To this life belongs also the 12^th century Janardhana Swamy temple. And then, it has a life of the present, a life that belongs to the tourists. This is the life Varkala inhabits on the cliff. The beach and the bazaar belong to this life. The Sea, however, belongs to Varkala’s past and to its present. The Sea belongs to the fishermen. The Sea also belongs to the tourists. When the tide ebbs, there is a momentary silence. It is a moment in the sea of time, when people see Varkala as they want to see it.

The people of Varkala come to the temple for their daily prayer. Some come from towns nearby to offer their gratitude for prayers already answered. A few tourists visit the temple to know Varkala in its entirety. One climbs a few steps to go up to the temple. There is the sanctum sanctorum where the local priests perform the daily puja. There are the open spaces around it where others wander. There is a tranquillity in the temple grounds. As one walks back to climb down again to the town, you see the town in a different light. The town seems quieter from here. You also see the temple tank and the ‘Sree Padmam Garden restaurant’ that overlooks the water and the coconut palms beyond – a place where tourists become for a while a part of Varkala’s past.

Periyar lake and the morning mist

2007-05-21T03:39:00.000-07:00

It was a long walk to the lake. The sun had just risen. The morning had only just begun. The road winded up and around the jungle trees. It was a wide road. Every once in a while, a car went by. The ‘boat landing’ was 4 km away from Kumily town. There were signboards that said “Tiger land, No horn” The bamboo rustled. You knew the breeze was walking too. The cluster of trees parted and a deer stood there. Only for a moment.

That morning, the lake was there with the mist. Maybe, every morning was the same at Periyar. The boats were there. No people. Slowly, people began to arrive. There was a choice of “upper deck” and “lower deck” tickets. The information centre in stone walls was a nice space to be in. Monkeys sat on the trees and in the cafetaria. There were guards. Nobody spoke. People began to wander around and watch the birds.

It was time to climb the boat. We moved into the waters. There were the trees on either shore. Tree trunks, small and large. It was a sculpture park on the waters. Each sculpture bore the same signature. It was an unknown artist. The dam waters had flooded a once forested land. The trees were very silent. The boat moved. People looked. Periyar lake and its sanctuary had become a part of our memory, of our lives.

CYMA hall in Alleppey

2007-05-21T03:37:00.000-07:00

The CYMA hall is an old, traditional building. It is located in a quiet and peaceful part of Alleppey. It is Kerala’s first public auditorium built for staging dramas.

"This hall was constructed for the common man’s use, without any aid from government agencies. It all began in 1920 when some men came together to form an organisation called the Catholic Young Men’s Association (CYMA). It included writers, scenic designers, costume designers, stage technique experts, make-up and lighting artistes, amateur actors and theatre directors.

The construction was started in 1926 and the hall was completed in 1934. The building has a magnificent arcade. There are twin columns and horizontal mouldings. The arcade has on its either side, two semi-hexagonal rooms that is a style based on Venetian architecture. The roof has mangalore tiles in the Kerala style."

As you begin to walk towards the hall, one cannot but be touched by its serene grandeur. As you continue to look at the sunlight that falls on its walls and the patterns that the carved wooden fascias make, you notice a large newspaper clipping pasted on a wall across the road. As you pass it by on your left, you realise it has a photograph in black and white of the very building you admire on your right. The half page article is written by an architect, George Kochupurackal. It is from here that you get your information on the history of the hall.

India

, when you walk into the Golconda fort or into the Konark temple, there is a standard blue painted board with white text that describes the monument in front of you. It is often about the history of the building or the fort and sometimes about “this is a protected monument” Here, in Alappuzha, there was a building that young men strove to build many years ago, historical events took place here in addition to their dramas and so many years later, someone wrote about it. A few weeks or months later, someone pasted the story about building and people on this very street. As strangers to the city, you see, you read and you become a part of the collective memory of the place.

Looking at the 'everyday'

2007-05-21T03:35:00.000-07:00

April, like a child writes hieroglyphs on dust with flowers,
wipes them away and forgets

Rabindranath Tagore
in 'The Fireflies'

Designing an apartment complex

2007-05-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

Contemporary architecture in the cities in

india

is now a reflection of the needs of the urban indian.

In cities such as Bangalore and Chennai, these needs stem from the development of the IT industry, the large employment it generates, the rise in the standard of living and the growing expectations of a population of young people who are participants in this revolution. As this happens, there is a new architectural typology that is emerging – the Residential complex that consists of apartment units, a clubhouse and a convenience store.

In 2006, residential development in urban india is taking on a new perspective. The search is on for shelter that is not just a place to live but a place to create a new lifestyle. The price of the land is higher than the structures that are constructed on it. Therefore, it is more economical for a developer to build apartment complexes instead of a colony of houses or “villas” as we refer to them today. Each apartment unit sits with many other apartment units in a large complex that also offers a clubhouse, a swimming pool and a central landscaped area.

In chennai, it is the Old Mahabalipuram road where many such “gated communities” have begun to develop. What is a “gated community” and where does this term originate? In America and in some European countries, it is common for the rich city dweller to buy a house in the countryside which is one among a group of houses, sometimes nestled amongst the mountains and which is gated, i.e. provided with high security. People feel the need to have a house that is safe from the crime and violence of the city.

In India, living within a gated community is symbolic of a new lifestyle. It implies that you can afford an apartment that is well-constructed, that is maintained by a good management service that you pay a monthly fee for, that provides your children with a play area, that is private and safe, and that provides you with the amenities you need to counter-balance a work-life that is hectic and harsh on your health.

The design process for one such residential complex began with conceptualising a complex of building volumes that would be an interesting play of masses & voids; where the different planes of the façade would be planes of bright colours from a warm palette; where the light and shadow of a tropical sun would make the architecture a different experience.

What one learnt is that in chennai, the apartments that sell within a residential complex are the ones that get ample south breeze; where the kitchen & puja room are located as per vastu; apartments which overlook the ‘centrally landscaped area’ and which have two car parks. This is what is important for a buyer.

For the builder, that is the one who sells, it is important that the price of the land he purchases or partners on is reasonable; that the infrastructure – road and electric supply are available; that the architectural design is good; that the plan, the elevation & 3D views translate quickly into a brochure that is attractive; that the advertisement in the newspapers is appropriate and timely; that the apartments are booked early so that he recovers the money invested in the land or that which is needed to bring in the material for the construction to begin.

an experience of "seeing"

2007-05-20T23:55:00.000-07:00

The experience of designing this project was such a joyful one. It was one of the few properties in the city that abutted the beautiful waters of the Bay of Bengal. A wall had to be built to ensure security. I wanted to think of a design that would be a wall and yet not be a wall. This is what we did. This blog would like to explore the many ways of seeing and designing that are part of the universe and that we may just discover some day!

All of us "see" in a different way. We make for ourselves each day our own kaleidoscope. A child climbs a wall to seek adventure. He wants to know more. When he sees more, he knows more. One day, he stops climbing the walls. He thinks he knows enough. So, he stops "seeing"

Many of us cannot stop "seeing" more. With a mind to perceive what comes before us, we continue to look and to see, if the grass is green and if the pebble is indeed round. Every day one sees and cannot help seeing.

Who is to decide what architecture can or cannot say? Each of us may read a different story. Why believe in any one story when you know that within each story are wrapped up many, many stories; or that the end of one story is the beginning of the other. That everything in this world has a story to tell, and if we care to listen, we can hear them all.

In a world of people and places, in a world of nature and light, there is much that we may not have seen before. To look within our world for a new story, for the many, many stories that each story has within it. We find a new beginning sometimes, when we think we have reached the end of our imagination. It is for this beginning to a more creative existence, that more stories unfold.