THESIS

ARCHITECTURE AS A PRODUCT OF TECHNIQUE OF CONSTRUCTIONA CASE OF SHIMLA

Introduction

The technique of construction of a place is a generator of architectural form and space. Architecture of a place and time can be deciphered by looking into the construction practices that prevailed which in turn characterizes the details. Also, the society which is involved in its construction influences the built form. Thus, the technique of construction is an important parameter for understanding architecture of a place.

Aim

This study aims to examine the architectural attitudes of institutional buildings in Shimla during colonial era as a product of techniques of construction.

Objectives

1. To overview the technique of construction during the colonial era to understand its implication on the architecture of institutional buildings in Shimla.

2. To study evolution of details as a result of technique of construction.

3. To study evolution of elements of architecture.

Shimla ofers a wide range of buildings and each tells a diferent story about the British rule in India and a wider range of stories about the architecture and movements that were prevalent at that time in England and elsewhere. Three buildings- Railway Board Building, Himachal state library and the Viceregal lodge are chosen on this basis to inquire into the attitudes that were followed in its design and construction.

Inferences

Evolution by application of a foregoing technique: The intuitive response of applying the characteristics of the foregoing material to new material is a common point of start of exploration.

Change in architecture: Industrialization sowed seeds of an architectural attitude supporting the technical developments which led to mass production and prefabrication by evolution of new elements in architecture considerably changing the language of architecture.

Schism between architecture and engineering: The characteristics and the constructional explorations of new material insisted that the scientific techniques had an important role to play in architecture which allowed much more influence upon the character of a building. The new materials demanded an inquiry into science and this understanding converted into aesthetic value generated by the material itself.

Migration of technique: The new technique and material was absorbed by the natives in India and the local use and exploration led to the further evolution of elements, referring to Indian context in this case study.

Recreating the home: This study demonstrates that architecture plays a very important role in the desire to recreate ‘home’. The colonizers made the resemblance compelling by radically reshaping the habitat of the hill stations thereby imposing the aesthetic preferences on the physical environment. This led to emergence of new plan forms and use in the same technique of construction.

A new practice: Architecture was a means of expression of a society’s identity and their purpose in India. In copying the architecture that was in fashion in their mother country, they brought in the method of construction and architecture as an institution on the whole. The British created a symbol of their attitudes in India. The struggle was both in architecture as a profession and its ideologies. The Indian precedent system of master craftsman was a small organization to handle the development that was aimed by the British and hence, a larger organization- PWD was introduced. Hill stations, especially Shimla, were also not spared of their attempt to combine the feeling of home and the political and economic goals, in other words, to build permanence.

Chapter I. Architecture of Industrialization

The first part traces the evolution of the architectural language in cast-iron, taking a case of Railway Board Building, Shimla. A set of typical cast-iron elements emerge by documentation of the Railway Board Building which have a specific history of development..

Chapter III. Colonial architecture of half-timber framing Chapter II. Victorian Architecture in India

This part the factors afecting the Victorian architecture in India, taking a case of the Viceregal lodge, Shimla. It leads an inquiry into the Victorian movement in architecture in the mother country and its transfer to India along with the whole system of architecture that was transferred to India.

This part analyses the material culture of timber frame architecture of colonial India, in association with the traditional English timber framed buildings. Houses and other buildings in Shimla showcase timber framing, reflecting the long European heritage of building in timber. In documentation of the timber-frame library of Shimla (supported with visual references of other such buildings of Shimla), a typical framing tradition emerge.

for / EDW CHELTENHAM area / 1200 SQFT year / 2018 site / CHELTENHAM isometric drawing / HARSHA

MISTRY