Jan 2012 by Indian Architect & Builder Magazine

` 200 JAN 2012 VOL 25 (5)

Architecture Safdie Architects Modarch Consultants TypeFORM Architectural Consultants Cannon Design

Heritage Ainsley Lewis

Interiors Dipen Gada Associates

International Hugo Kaici and Felix de Montesquiou

IA&B - JAN 2012

let’s partner

Architecture of Spontaneity Dr. Cecil Balmond talks about his work and his philosophy of a non-controlled, programmatic architecture that develops from a deep understanding of natural systems, in conversation with IA&B Photograph: courtesy Balmond Studio

Dr. Cecil Balmond is a Sri Lankan-British designer, engineer, artist, architect, and writer. He has been hailed as “One of the most important forces in contemporary architecture today,” and in 2003, received the prestigious RIBA Charles Jencks award for Theory in Practice. He is also the recipient of the Gengo Matsui prize, one of the highest prizes for engineering given in Japan. He teaches extensively and currently holds the Paul Philippe Cret chair at Penn Design as Professor of Architecture where he is also the Founding Director of the Non-Linear Systems Organization, a material and structural research unit. Cecil Balmond has worked with almost all influential designers in the past century and continues to work with the most versatile designers in diverse fields. His practice – the Balmond Studio is one of the most experimental multi-disciplinary design practices in contemporary architecture.

IA&B: Can you elaborate on your practice? What can we identify as your core design philosophy? CB: An inclusive approach gives work a full three-dimensionality. Toyo Ito once said about a room in my Tokyo exhibition called ‘Element’ that, “In this room, I can smell and hear the abstraction”. That, for me, is what design is about. You enter a building and the configuration and connectivity does something to you without you having to understand. But when you then try to understand (because we will try to find the pattern to it) your eye is taken on a narrative, which underpins making of the form. Somehow you experience some other dimension, but you are willing to accept and intellectualise then, only after you emotionally accept it. That for me is most important.

For a long time, we have been blinded by a classical mode of thinking - methodically planning and strictly controlling invention. In doing that, designers can override the relationship between form and connectivity arising from that and appropriate material for that scale wedded to a structural system. They neglect the innate logic of certain forms that have their own radiance. Instead, from a formal sense of order, they subdivide everything so much that they chop it into a non-entity with no meaning at all. The basic thing is to make people smile and feel better. For me, that is achieved by allowing an informal approach. Now I feel that we are beginning to recognise more flux into our design and that complexity is irreducible. That means, admitting algorithms to the

making of form and allowing ideas like ‘slip’ and ‘jump’ and ‘overlap’ to come into design, not strict compartmentalisation as we do now. The answers are not predictable. At some moment we have to accept we want more layers to architecture than a stripped-out minimalism. The challenge to the designer is to let go for a while, but control the balance and tensions between forms and textures. It is more the process of guiding outcomes to designs than trusting on planning everything from the outset. The approach is informal. IA&B: Can you elaborate on ‘non-linearity’ of geometry and architectural form? CB: In practice, non-linear architectural form is in the art of compiling space, designing in motives that are not periodic but a-periodic and generated by algorithm or sequences of overlap. On a conceptual level, it’s a belief that ‘seriality’ matters, and leads to surprise, variety, and adaptability, more than traditional thinking. Take the ‘Arcelor Mittal Orbit’ for example, which I designed with Anish Kapoor. A tower is seen as a continuously connected vertical. Instead, in the Orbit, a scatter of points is the structure and a network of stability. The points arise from promoting the idea of a generating line that moves up and down in space and at moments of overlap connect; the connections produce stability out of the instability of the idea. In a way it is like a lot of my work, it uses standard materials, but in a very new kind of geometry. An orbit can pass by itself and connect which gives enough points to take a load down to the ground without being restricted.

sub-atomic right up to the macroscopic. If the initial starting conditions aren’t quite right then the form does not survive, it dies, or, if it was right, it succeeds and flourishes. These very simple natural processes intrigue me and I studied them. In particular, I looked at the structure of chemical bonds, protein chains and DNA. So in a way, yes, I am influenced by nature, but it is a focus on nature not in the romantic sense. When we think of nature in architecture we think of copying a tree, a leaf or a river motif, but for me it’s not that, it is what nature processes at its source. And at that source point, it is also geometry, and arithmetic. Not complex mathematical equations, just little things being put together. Between the structures of the inorganic world and the templates/processes of biology, lies architectural form. The Serpentine Pavilion that Toyo Ito and I did in 2002 is one of the best examples of this as it demonstrates pure algorithm in form-making. By simply drawing a line from half the side of a square to a third of the adjacent side, a web of great complexity is created. It is not complicated mathematics or natural forms that I am ultimately interested in, but simply how can we create the artificial of architectural forms with processes that resonate in nature? And that means us, because we are made by nature and have all nature’s patterns and structures embedded in us. We enjoy the work better. There is a bond with our reading of the form.

This gives a narrative to space and elaborates a process of making that is serial and multiple sequenced – very different to the straight extruded vertical of a tower.

IA&B: Can you explain the absence of scale in your conceptual work? Is it essential? CB: Patterns are scale-less. We find meaning by how we connect them up. Then, we choose a scale for the work. Then, given the configuration of the pattern in relation to the chosen scale, a material can be chosen. Out of that comes the design of the elements of architecture and structure. The notion of line and its connection are dimensionless. We give scale by choice. A particular configuration related to scale dictates material choice. At large scale, such a pattern can be the structure for a large stadium roof, a net of massive steelwork.

IA&B: Your works have been inspired and have a close relationship with nature. Do you find it essential to engage with natural elements to understand design? CB: I have always been intrigued by the abstract - the root of form making: nature at its beginnings is a wonderful abstract. At the start point, it’s totally a puzzle. It is not mystical and it is not prescriptive, but you could almost say that there seems to be a will in the universe for things to grow, multiply and take shape out of processes of chance and probability, from the

My prime concern is not about the systems, but about injecting a new humanism into the work through pattern. I engage with patterns that emerge through a complex view of the world and I believe that there are deep structures that are archetypal within us. They are huge reservoirs inside us to do with branching, folding, rocking, and if we just tap it, there is a deeper resonance in the forms and in the spaces you enter and be part of. My exhibitions have been vital in confirming this to me, the effect of a serial aspect of form, seeing how positive the responses are. Starved by the limited

It just builds itself. There is no scaffolding. When connected up into an orbiting form, not only does it strengthen itself, but also creates a different sort of map in space - a scatter instead of a framework.

boxes we keep designing, that are formulaic and have no meaning anymore. I believe people want to engage with more complex forms, that are rich in layers of interpretation. The challenge is always to somehow show spatial effect, and my concern is for space to be seen, to be made, in time, as it were. Architectural space is full of time and not timeless as the traditionalists think. IA&B: You have worked with a kaleidoscope of mediums and materials. Is there a common method to approach all design challenges, or does every challenge require a development method? CB: Every challenge needs a development method as architecture essentially is a testing of prototypes. Parts can be standardised, but the overall design is a proposal for a particular site, not a final answer for all sites and outcomes. And, the emphasis in relation to what one makes for a site is important. It need not be in context to what is around (because good work creates its own context) but must give a rhetoric of mass, volume and texture in relation to the programme within and orientation of placement. IA&B: You have collaborated with many architects and artists. Which encounter of yours has left the deepest impression? CB: It is hard to pick a favourite. Each person I collaborated with has left impressions on me for how they think; and I hope I have done the same to them. With Alvaro Siza, Daniel Libeskind, Toyo Ito, Rem Koolhaas, they may all have different views of what architecture is, but they agree with me that every site needs a unique effort; to solve a building in its urban context and programme sensibilities related to elements of architecture and structure. The longest collaboration I have had is with Rem Koolhaas and OMA over many years and many iconic buildings. In a few years we looked at new typologies for several ground-breaking projects, Agadir, Zeebrugge, Jussieu, Grande Bibliotheque, Kunsthal, etc. The work continued with Seattle public library, CCTV most recently. They are one of the most interesting practices. My studio does its own designs on architecture and product design but I would also still collaborate with my friends because two creative minds can jump their respective limitations, to produce new work. There are tensions, but they are positive. IA&B: Which project of yours do you recognise as your most challenging commission. Why? CB: Most challenging has always been ‘the next one’. When you make a piece of work you want it to hit a certain agenda, to break new ground and so each project pushes one to face and try to invent new horizons. Even if small, or

big, the same rush is there to find a unique solution. There is always room for looking anew at things. In my Bridge in Coimbra the deck shifts in plan and out of that side step at mid-span comes a strong equilibrium from arch forms placed on each half, at the extreme edge but displaced to give a left and right handedness. Depending on the sun’s angle, one half of the bridge support is revealed the other retreats, so that the bridge changes its shape in elevation during the day. The new sculpture I won for the landmark between England and Scotland recently sets a new challenge of having an earth form change into a dynamic of steel curves and rods. I have to find a way to convert the potential energy of the mound into the kinetic of the sculpture. IA&B: There is a lot of curiosity on your Teesside’s Landscape project. Can you elucidate on the project? CB: The Teesside project with Anish Kapoor is the largest public art project in the world. We are commissioned to design five very large sculptures, in five different cities in that region. The first one built is at Middlesborough and is a steel net stretched between two rings up in the air, to give a strong anti-gravity feel to the work against the tough industrial background of the area. Despite the financial crisis, I hope as art brings regeneration to the region, the projects will happen. IA&B: You have been closely working with students. What is your take on current methods of teaching architecture? What according to you does it lack? CB: Teaching in architecture is poor, essentially looking back on the legacy and to classical ideas, and to breed intellectual cleverness. That is very limiting. I see an arrogance that is not justified against other professional training. The world is changing its conceptual models from certainties to more informal ways of organisation and the focus on past modes of thinking stunts architecture from being a contemporary positive discipline in our society. The curriculum needs to adjust to embrace new ideas of technology and be alive to new organisation of ideas in the sciences. There also needs to be a better understanding of procurement methods of projects and economics of scale. More exposure to multi-disciplinary thinking is essential. The teaching of architecture generally hides behind old ideas from the Bellas Artes period and is not robust to face the future. There needs to be a more humble approach, open to modern methods and thought. Architecture fundamentally affects our urban lives and our cities are accumulating many problems. Handling this for the future needs a wider view on the participation of the built form as a catalyst within our environment, leading to more adaptive ideas of design.

LET’S PARTNER Architecture of Spontaneity In a discussion with IA&B, Dr. Cecil Balmond elaborates on the notions of a pragmatic understanding of architecture that is programmatic and non-controlled, and of natural systems.

CURRENT Au courant updates on competitions, news and events.

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SIS Acrople Classical elements of Greek architecture will adorn the thematic formulation of

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Island City Centre (ICC) as a luxurious gated community.

Signia High Situated in one of the fanciest addresses along the western suburbs of Mumbai, Signia High by Sunteck Realty is a careful curation of sophistication, ultra-modern lifestyle amenities and promises of luxury.

New Integrated Terminal Building Arising as a symbol of modernity in the laid-back heritage context of Vadodara, the plan for the New Integrated Terminal Building at Vadodara Airport brings cost-effectiveness and energy-efficiency in its truest form.

Serene Pragati Serene Pragati by The Pragati Group in association with Serene Retirement Community has evolved as a specialty villa project with herbal healing gardens on the lines of retirement homes for senior citizens.

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TECHNOLOGY Urban Percepts The proposal of Bastide Niel by MVRDV, an architectural firm based in

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arises magnificently as a physical manifestation of culture, time and traditions

Khalsa Heritage Centre, Anandpur Sahib by Boston-based Safdie Architects, of the Khalsa Panth.

Impressive Efficiency Embodying aesthetics, energy efficiency and an inventive approach, Chennai-based Modarch Consultants have realised Jayanth Tech Park as a striking construct.

Experiencing space….Through a journey of quest Designing his own workplace, architect Shailesh Devi negotiates experiential elements, notions of timeless architecture with traces of Indian concepts.

Lights,Camera…Awesomeness! Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design aims to complete the being of Bollywood in Mumbai with its proposal of a Bollywood Museum.

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TRAVELOGUE Exploring new horizons…

HERITAGE Resurrecting Relics

Extending the peripheries of architectural education towards experiential ideations, Dr. B.N. College of Architecture, Pune, travels to Scandinavia.

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INTERNATIONAL The Brutal Concrete

120

SPACE FRAMES Frozen in Time Lost somewhere in the cycle of time where monuments are created and destroyed, the unrivalled beauty of a ruin is frozen and forgotten, says Ruturaj Parikh in this issue of Space Frames curated by Dr. Deepak John Mathew.

NEMO by Hugo Kaici and Felix de Montesquiou begins to define an architecture probability of an illegal immigration centre with robust sensibility in form and exploratory sensitivity to address real issues.

108

BOOK REVIEW Rethinking Modernity Himanshu Burte reads Prof. Jaimini Mehta’s recently published book and finds it expressive and multidimensional, while being rational and illuminating.

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36 IA&B - JAN 2012

current Writing about Architecture

Core77 Design Awards 2012

Category Type Deadline

: : :

International Open to all March 12, 2012

International Open to all April 10, 2012

Photos, drawings and texts challenge architecture. The Henning Larsen Foundation established in 2001 is launching an international competition on writing about architecture - the third in a row of architecture competitions. The competition believes that an old photo, a sketch or a piece of writing can sometimes evoke thoughts and images stronger and more fascinating than those found in today’s architecture projects. Texts have the ability to evoke images inside us. The hope of the competition is that an essay, a poem, a fairytale or another kind of text will provide inspiration for architecture that creates dreams about the time and space that could be. The entries will be evaluated on the basis of their description of space and spatiality and whether they offer something new to the genre: writing about architecture.

After a successful inaugural launch in 2011, Core77 - the world’s first online design resource - is now accepting entries for the Core77 2012 Design Awards. With progressive categories, professional and student entry fields, globally distributed juries, in-depth video testimonials, live jury announcements and a trophy that honours teamwork, the Core77 Design Awards intend to be one of the most inclusive, transparent and web-savvy award platform in the design industry. The full list of categories of the Core77 2012 Design Awards encompasses consumer products, furniture & lighting and interiors & exhibitions, and others.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.henninglarsen.com

HOf – Horizontal Farm in New Delhi

Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards Category Type Deadline

: : :

International Open to professionals March 31, 2012

Throughout Asia and the Pacific, cultural heritage sites are under threat. As heritage buildings and properties are largely in private ownership, the role of private individuals and institutions in protecting these vulnerable sites is paramount. Recognising this, UNESCO seeks to encourage private-sector involvement and public-private collaboration in conserving the region’s cultural heritage for the benefit of current and future generations. Entries are now being accepted for the 2012 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. In addition to the conservation awards, the ‘Jury Commendation for Innovation’ will also be considered for newly built structures which demonstrate outstanding response to historic contexts. For further information, log on to: Web: www.portal.unesco.org

Dizining Innovative Design Competition Category Type Deadline

COMPETITIONS

: : :

International Open to all April 06, 2012

For further information, log on to: Web: www.core77.com

Category Type Deadline

: : :

International Open to all May 31, 2012

Architecture Workshop in Rome (AWR) has announced the HOf – Horizontal Farm in New Delhi Competition, inviting ideas that will help mitigate the glaring urban concerns arising due to the fast, continued growth of Delhi’s population and the resulting economic and social imbalance. The focus of the competition would be on finding a multifunctional structure that integrates the culture and traditions of the Indian society with improved living conditions of slum inhabitants, while allowing for different types of emergency situations. The entries would be required to propose a Horizontal Farm, which contains a range of services and functions that improve the quality of life of residents without affecting the customs, traditions and cultural roots of people who have lived in this way for hundreds of years. For further information, log on to: Web: www.awrcompetitions.com

d3 Natural Systems 2012 Category Type Deadline

: : :

International Open to all July 01, 2012

Dizining invites architects, students, engineers, designers, and architecture fans to take part in the Dizining Spring 2012 Innovative Competition. It recognises exceptional ideas that redefine the relationship between the ecological vs. functional combination and the natural world, architectural design and the community, and the building and its relationship to the city and citizens. The competition is an investigation on the public and private space and the role of the individual and the collective in the creation of a dynamic and adaptive vertical/horizontal community. It is also a response to the investigation and adaptation of new habitats and territories based on a dynamic equilibrium between man and nature.

Calling for sustainable residential design proposals envisioned for worldwide site locations, the annual d3 Natural Systems competition for 2012 invites architects, designers, engineers, and students to explore the potential of analysing, documenting and deploying nature-based influences in architecture, interiors and designed objects. The competition calls for innovative proposals that advance sustainable thought and performance through the study of intrinsic environmental geometries, behaviours and flows. Exploration of natural systems, from the microscopic to the universal, unearths vast design potential for overlaying cultural, ecological, and life-cycle flows toward determining new architectonic strategies. The design submissions should be environmentally responsible while advancing inventive conceptual solutions.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.dizining.com

For further information, log on to: Web: www.d3space.org

IA&B - JAN 2012

current India Design Forum (IDF)

ROOF INDIA 2012

Date Venue

March 02-10, 2012 New Delhi, India

: :

May 25-27, 2012 Chennai, India

India Design Forum is a pioneering nine-day celebration of India’s distinctive design aesthetic and the ways in which it continues its conversation with the international design world. Created and conceptualised by the Coimbatore Centre for Contemporary Arts (CoCCA), IDF 2012 is the first of its kind. This inaugural forum starts with an extensive Design Week (2-8 March, 2012) which features movie screenings, exhibitions and workshops hosted in New Delhi. The trail ends with a Design Forum; two days of talks by design virtuosos (9-10 March, 2012). Shuffling through a rich legacy to a thriving present-day scene to an even more promising future, experts and key players will examine how design informs our world and changes our lives every day.

In spite of the global economic slowdown, India today is still the second fastest growing economy in the world. This booming economy has ignited the prospects of all industry sectors including the construction & infrastructure industry. ‘ROOF INDIA’ is the pioneering event for roofing, cladding, pre-engineered buildings, metal building systems, tensile architecture, steel structures & space-frames, green roofs & roof landscaping, roof waterproofing, roof insulation, roofing machinery as well as roof fastening systems in Asia. The eleventh edition of the ‘ROOF INDIA’ exhibition series will prove to be a one-stop shop for customers as well as an informative platform wherein one can witness new innovations and designs in the roofing segment.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.indiadesignforum.com

For further information, log on to: Web: www.roofindia.com

361° - The Design Conference

CAADRIA 2012

Date Venue

EVENTS

: :

March 17-19, 2012 Mumbai, India

Date Venue

: :

May 25-28, 2012 Chennai, India

The 361° - The Conference series aims to capture practices with “one-degree of difference”. The objective of the conference is to create a multi-directional showcase of ideas and innovations that have, and had, a significant impact on the habitat around us. The conference will be spread over three days with a host of design-related professional talks under the theme ‘New Spirit in Architecture’. 23 eminent speakers from across the globe will speak on the specific tracks namely, Systems & Technology, Objects & Experiences, Paracentric Practices and Innovating @ Grassroots. The package will also include icon lectures apart from these tracks which would bring the crème de la crème of the architecture and design circle to the podium, contributing immensely to the development of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry.

Inviting digitally enabled thinkers to help rethink and recast building blocks, perceptive lenses, expressive features and analytical frames of architectural design, CAADRIA 2012 conference aims to investigate the future role of computer aided architectural design (CAAD) research in this context. CAADRIA 2012 invites submissions of original research papers, posters and exhibitions on architectural design research in the following categories: Design Intelligence & Automation, Digital Fabrication & Construction, Generative, Parametric & Evolutionary Design, Digital Documentation & Design Documentation, Simulation & Visualisation, Animation & Virtualisation, Human-Computer Interaction, Collaborative Design, Education in CAAD, Ubiquitous & Mobile Design Computing, Practice-based & Interdisciplinary CAAD and Theory, Philosophy & Methodology of CAAD.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.361degrees.net.in

For further information, log on to: Web: www.caadria2012.org

Tall Buildings Summit

Earth Summit 2012

Date Venue

: :

March 29-30, 2012 Mumbai, India

: :

June 20-22, 2012 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Vertical development is the current trend in the land-starved Indian metros that are witnessing an increased demand for high-end residential and niche mixed-use properties. The Tall Buildings Summit aims to discuss with the key decision makers, innovators, market and thought leaders to gain insight into the industry’s best practices, latest technologies, architectural designs and much more. The discussion would mainly revolve around ideas and initiatives being taken up by government, the construction industry, architects and developers to transform the urban landscapes - a new emergent middle class, a steady and growing market size, abundant availability of natural resources for manufacturing, cost attractiveness, a reliable business community, high levels of intellectual manpower, engineering expertise and a reformed process that has brought about impressive economic liberalisation, to name a few.

The recent combination of global financial crisis, food crisis, volatile oil prices, accelerating ecosystem degradation and an increasing number of climate-induced extreme weather events have compelled international efforts to address the issue of sustainability, demanding urgent attention from governments and citizens around the world. The Earth Summit 2012 will be the fourth of its kind to track sustainable global development. With objectives such as securing renewed political commitment to sustainable development, assessing progress towards internationally agreed goals on sustainable development and addressing new and emerging challenges, the Earth Summit 2012 promises to be insightful. The themes for this year’s summit are: a green economy in the context of poverty eradication and sustainable development, and an institutional framework for sustainable development.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.conference.tavess.com

For further information, log on to: Web: www.earthsummit2012.org

40 IA&B - JAN 2012

current Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei Selected for Serpentine Pavilion 2012

Mies van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat Restored in Czech Republic

The Serpentine Gallery has announced that the Swiss architect duo Herzog & de Meuron and Chinese designer and artist Ai Weiwei are to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012. The 12 th pavilion in the yearly series commissioned by the gallery, the structure is to be used as a public space in London’s Hyde Park, as well as a venue to host talks and events. The gallery which chooses designers who have never built in the UK, has previously assigned the project to architects like Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry and Peter Zumthor. The duo, formerly awarded the prestigious RIBA Lubetkin Prize for their Beijing National Stadium, hope to represent the previous pavilions on the site with eleven columns by uncovering foundations of the former structures still remaining underground. The concept identifies the remains of the eleven pavilions built previously. These remain testimony to the existence of the former pavilions and their greater or lesser intervention in the natural environment of the park. The pavilion will be open from June to October 2012.

Completed in 1930, a Modernist masterpiece by the legendary German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Villa Tugendhat in Brno had suffered severe damage during the turbulence of World War II. Now, a two-year renovation that cost £5.7m is almost complete. The glass-fronted building that features a thick, honey-coloured onyx wall, floor-to-ceiling windows, winter garden and clean white lines throughout will be open to the public in March. Almost 80 per cent of the villa’s original features have been preserved, making it one of the most authentic Mies van der Rohe building on the European continent. Combining a design of pure geometric forms with advanced technologies and exotic materials, van der Rohe satisfied the owners’ wish for innovation and originality. The villa allows a magnificent view of Brno’s historical monuments and effortlessly connects the building with the garden. Czech officials are confident that it will become one of the most popular tourism venues in the region.

AIA & Architecture for Humanity Partnership for Disaster Relief and Rebuilding Efforts

New Platforms for Discussions, Debates and Critique

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Architecture for Humanity have announced their new strategic partnership to coordinate advocacy, education and training that will allow architects to become more involved in helping communities prepare, respond and rebuild after a disaster. The new partnership aims to build upon the well-established, volunteer-led disaster response programmes of each organisation, allowing for more resources, programmes and education to reach out to a larger group of members, professionals and the public. The partnership acknowledges that communities struggle after a disaster with issues related to the ongoing safety and viability of their built environment and intend to help architects everywhere acquire the tools, training, and leadership skills to make meaningful contributions when their community needs them the most. First on the agenda for the new partnership will be the development of a grant programme that will be offered to local components and chapters. The grants will help fund members to work with local government agencies on planning, training and other critical initiatives that will better prepare communities for disasters.

The Morpholio Project, founded in 2011, began when a group of architects and academics came together to research the ways in which the proliferation of device culture, the development of the cloud, and the ubiquity of social networking, are collectively shaping the creative process. Morpholio now seeks to create a new platform for presentation, dialogue, and collaboration relevant to all designers, artists and members of any image-driven culture. Their interest is in advancing the ways that we discuss, debate, and critique our work with a global community. The mission is to explore ways of harnessing thoughtful feedback about a set of ideas, and to enable members to easily convene meaningful discussion around their work in new kinds of public and private forums. It draws representation from a wide range of studios, and universities worldwide including both students and professors from Columbia, Harvard, London’s Architectural Association, MIT, Princeton, and the School of Visual Arts.

NEWS

Portuguese Architect Paulo David Announced Alvar Aalto Medal Recipient 2012 Portuguese architect Paulo David has been announced as the eleventh recipient of the Alvar Aalto Medal - a prestigious honour awarded to an architect or architectural firm that has provided significant contributions to the field of architecture. The award believes that in an era where the profession is obsessed with computer-generated patterns, ‘design’ in many practices has become greatly interested in manipulating forms rather than place-making and the making of architecture. The award honours David for his ability to create timeless architecture that plays a significant role in his hometown island of Madeira. David’s respect for history, time, place, culture and technology has allowed him to stand out from the current trend of ‘desperately interesting architecture’ and create a new, meaningful layer within the historic volcanic landscapes of Madeira.

Proposed Delhi-Jaipur Expressway Turns into Fast Growth Corridor The proposed Delhi-Jaipur Expressway is expected to push large residential and commercial developments along the corridor in Haryana and Rajasthan. The proposed six-lane expressway would pass close to the airport and connect important locations such as Manesar, Rewari and Kotputli. The newly master-planned Gurgaon comprises of new sectors strategically located near the National Highway-8, IGI Airport, Reliance SEZ, proposed metro and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway. A large number of property options such as residential villas and independent houses, apart from multi-storey apartments, are coming up along this route, which is well connected to both Delhi and Jaipur. With the growing number of lifestyle townships, commercial centres and retail hubs, and an added advantage of the location and pollution-free environment, the destination is definite to attract prospective buyers, developers and investors. The upcoming sectors seem to have huge potential and infrastructure facilities.

IA&B - JAN 2012

products Gravity Stool In dialogue with a natural phenomenon, the Gravity Stool designed by J贸lan van der Wiel owes its unique shape and character to the cooperative relationship between magnetic field and gravity. Departing from the idea that everything is influenced by gravitational force, the design manipulates the natural phenomenon by exploiting its own power of magnetism. The mixture of iron filings with components of plastic, developed especially for this purpose, enables a small but efficient chain of production. The forms of the products are characterised by awkward, unexpected and organic shapes, typical of nature itself. The design sees a future potential in the joined forces combining technology and natural phenomena, wherein the designer only creates a circumstance and nature patterns the shape. Designer: J贸lan van der Wiel Contact: Tel: +31 (0) 6 33974751 Email: info@jolanvanderwiel.com Website: www.jolanvanderwiel.com

Volna Table

technology

Functional and unique, the Volna Table by Nuvist is shaped like a wave and features an incessant flow. New technology and modern materials form the main ingredients of its continuous, unbroken form. The creation can be considered as a sculptural, artistic piece that can fit into any modern interior and can be arranged in a variety of design styles. The singular flowing design of the monochromatic Volna Table energises the interior, making it dynamic and bold.

Designer: Nuvist Contact: Tel: +90 532 667 55 00 Email: info@nuvist.com Website: www.nuvist.com

Coracle The ‘Coracle’ designed by Benjamin Hubert for the London-based furniture manufacturer De La Espada, is a hand-woven lounge chair with stitched automotive leather and a leather-wrapped steel frame. Its design is inspired by the small ‘coracle’ boats traditionally used in Wales since the Bronze Age. The woven construction seen on the chair is the same as the pattern found on the vessel. The product utilises the skills of local craftsmen, ensuring that each piece possesses a unique quality only handmade objects can deliver. The timber joinery detailing and the hand-stitching further accentuate its industrial aesthetic.

Pebble

seating

‘Pebble’ is a series of seating (one chair and two stools) by Benjamin Hubert for Dutch furniture company De Vorm. Inspired by the form of beach pebbles found washed up by the sea, the furniture collection is a combination of rotational moulding, solid oak and CNC-formed metal. Pebble has a low carbon footprint with seats manufactured using recyclable polyethylene and a knock-down construction containing no additional fixings. The legs locate into the moulded top and are held together under tension by the powder-coated steel band. Pebble is designed with ambitions of high comfort, broad applications and minimal environmental impact.

Designer: Benjamin Hubert Contact: Studio 106 Regent House, 1 Thane Villas, London, N7 7PH, UK Tel: +44 (0) 207 5613658 Email: studio@benjaminhubert.co.uk Website: www.benjaminhubert.co.uk

Low Cost In this installation for MODAFAD, cardboard has been used as an allegory to ‘Low Cost’, thereby becoming the single element for the construction of the whole setup. The repetition of the box type represents a central lineal volume exclusively made of cardboard, supplemented with additional elements such as fitting rooms and shelves. Each of the designers has three types of boxes available for use; Fitting Room Box, Counter Box and Shelving Box. The use of a recycled and recycling material for the proposal makes this project 100 per cent ephemeral and sustainable.

Designer: Josep Muñoz i Pérez Contact: 9, Carrer Salvador Cruxent, Mataro, Barcelona Tel: 00 34 651 350 222 / 00 34 937 573 866 Email: jmp@jmp.cat Website: www.jmp.cat

BEEHIVE BEEHIVE is a range of lights that lie almost bordering the category of installations. The collection is high on visual quality with juxtaposition of shimmering mirror and stainless steel. The light filters through these layers in a dramatic fashion. The product is an interesting combination of traditional Indian crafts with high technology and gold-plating. These simple yet powerful lights are likely to be the accent pieces of any ambience that they are a part of, lending a sculptural quality to the interiors. The collection can be customised to create enticing installations.

installations

Designer: Vibhor Sogani Contact: Studio Vibhor Sogani, Aya Nagar, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, New Delhi, India Tel: 09811903244 Email: studio@vibhorsogani.com Website: www.vibhorsogani.com

RIK Collection The ‘RIK Collection’ is a series of stools and light fixtures that combine wood and plastic in a way that one “confines” the other within it, resulting in form and structure. Having worked with the old-fashioned plastic industry technology known as Vacuum Forming for long, designer Inon Rettig attempts to take the unintentional disadvantages of the process to turn them into an intentional advantage. The process used to create these unique sculptural seats, Vacuum Forming essentially gets plastic so hot that it bends to take the shape of its mould, while being pulled down by vacuum so that it forms itself around the shape it takes. The designer creates an aesthetic that uses the element of chance as a formal language and structurally reinforces the object.

materials

Designer: Inon Rettig Contact: Tel: 0544809021 Email: inon@designgroup.co.il Website: inon.designgroup.co.il

Wood Ring The ‘Wood Ring’ by Dutch designer Chris Kabel is a circular bench crafted out of a 10 metre-long wooden beam for Tent and Witte de With in Rotterdam. The long beam has been cut into trapezium-shaped pieces and then fitted back together to form a ring that retains the grain of the wood. These pieces are held in place by a metal strap. The function, shape and construction of the product connect in a surprising but logical way. The ‘Wood Ring’ also ventures into a unique social function that brings people close together by instigating interaction.

Designer: Chris Kabel Contact: 1e Middellandstraat 103, 3021 BD Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 10 413 39 76 Email: studio@chriskabel.com Website: www.chriskabel.com

PROP ‘PROP’ is a shelf stand which flaunts a stable structure in a casual silhouette. Two bars and a shelf part are jointed to create a solid triangular structure on either side of each of the shelves. All parts support each other from three different directions like the reconciliation of conflicting elements. When a force is applied, the load is concentrated in the joint area and the resultant structure is a stable one.

space savers

Designer: Hiroyuki Ikeuchi + Design Soil Contact: Kobe Design University, 8-1-1 Gakuen-Nishi Machi, Nishi-Ku, Kobe, Hyogo 6512196, Japan Website: www.designsoil.jp

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LEGENDE BATI HORS ZAC EMPRISE CONSTRUCTIBLE ZAC LOGEMENTS BUREAUX ARTISANAT LOURD ARTISANAT LEGER COMMERCES DE DESTINATION COMMERCES DE PROXIMITE EQUIPEMENTS STATIONNEMENT ESPACE DE POCHE

THE PROGRAMMING ON THE GROUND FLOOR

Urban Percepts Netherlands-based architectural firm MVRDV enhances the flexibility, sustainability and suburban outlook of Bordeaux with Bastide Niel, an urban insert that will weave into existing city’s historic spatiality. Text: Maanasi Hattangadi Images: courtesy MVRDV

he ubiquitous persona of progressive urbanism has been seen characterising the cities lately. The streets are organised and energetic albeit with an air of elegant monotony. The efforts going into curating such growth are aspirational but derivative in thoughts – making sense and thinking of cities as spaces rather than places. MVRDV’s proposal for Bastide Niel threads together an extension to the Bordeaux city centre. The platonic planning comprises of a mixed programme of residential, commercial and amenities - a settlement in itself. The extensive master-planning schematises around an area of 35ha to develop 3200 homes, 25.000sqm retail area, 25.000sqm office space, 15.000sqm crafts and 58.000sqm public facilities like a university building, the municipal archives,

a cultural building, a community centre, schools, day-care centres and sport facilities like a skate park. The point of departure of the design was also aligned to relate to the historic UNESCO centre of Bordeaux. The fabric of Bordeaux is antiquated owing to the existing warehouses, redundant barracks and rail embankments. In this dimension of context, the strategy was to fabricate a language that can evolve as an abstraction of both sensibilities. Of this, the architects say, “The question was how to create a vibrant neighbourhood in tradition of, but as well as, an update of the European city: historic, mixed and intimate; light, green and dense.” A different kind of modulation and texture is created considering all public realms. Landmark values are attributed considering the preservation of

technology

The masterplanning is designed while formulating interconnections between the existing city and the new.

heritage structures. The layout of the barracks and rail tracks help shape out the master plan. The delineation of the concept lies in the architectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thoughts that all historic structures, railways, and platforms will be maintained and maximally densified, this new interpretation of the history makes the existing an active part and starting point for the new. The streets embark on a patterned one-way network of 6 to 10-metre narrow streets wherein an equitable distribution has been worked out for cars, public transport, bikes and pedestrians. The one-way streets are serviced from either the riverside or the opposite avenue and the tramway is tucked away in a special lane. The circulatory spine of road, alley and lane network interprets a capsulated environment of 144 city blocks that indicates a transformation of the historic environ to an urbane one. In order to infuse creative inferences inside the urbane dialogue, these 144 city blocks will be commissioned to 144 architectural practices. The series of spaces are edificial in nature expanding as a monolith centre with an organised collection of elements. The framework of the built frontage responds to the natural lighting, accessibility and flexibility; the residences, offices and retail premises are situated accordingly. Pockets are created within these blocks as interconnections for recreational spaces like parks, gardens and squares. A green belt known as Parc aux AngĂŠliques designed by Michel Desvignes embraces the riverside. The contextual proximity of the river gives rise to the innovative aspect of placement of parking above ground level. Driven by technology, the zero-energy ambition is a continual layering of systems and applications. In defining sustainability, the architects have involved

The aerial view of the precinct â&#x20AC;&#x201C; status quo..

Aerial view with proposed interventions.

The comparative volumetric scenario of the project in its entirety.

The proposed built environment has been conceived to suit the contemporary lifestyle.

The project strives to retain the ethnic and historic character of Bordeaux while introducing the modern fabric.

The roof heights and envelopes will be created to portray the European character of the district.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The question was how to create a vibrant neighbourhood in tradition of but as well as an update of the European city: historic, mixed and intimate; light, green and dense.â&#x20AC;?

The pilot projects will include the cultural building, a mix-use city block, a restaurant and the first gardens conceived in public participation.

THE OVERALL PROPOSAL OF THE PILOT PROJECTS TO BE INITIATED IN 2014

geothermal and solar merits and design ideologies. The initiation of the project will include pilot projects like the cultural building, a mix-use city block, a restaurant and the first gardens conceived in public participation in 2014 and the former rail embankments will be temporarily actualised as orchards like green interventions for the neighbourhood.

various interventions in the project. A geothermal installation will pump up heat from 1km depth. The roofing of the entire precinct has been designed holistically, with solar panels atop to facilitate electricity. The adjacency of the structures is considered in the process so that ample light is received on each roof. The heights are also manipulated in a way that natural ventilation is provisioned for each building. The design inscribes these roofing facets to elaborate on the expression of a contemporary European city. The planning of zero-energy usage is imbued within this multipurpose zoning of greeneries,

The design palette celebrates the historic character of the original while purposefully asserting its own independence. It revitalises the rhythm of the old architecture by carving out compositions in a united scale. The idea is adaptive and re-inspirational for an ideal city like Bordeaux which has retained its natural settings like Garonne river and architectural heritage. The project acknowledges the passage of time and embodies notions of insertions to preserve a legacy, yet emerging as a multiplicity of urbanism.

FACT FILE: Project Location Architect Initiation of Project

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Bastide Niel Bordeaux MVRDV 2014

58 IA&B - JAN 2012 Khalsa Heritage Centre in its monumental form underlines the commemoration of 500 years of Sikh history and 300 th anniversary celebrations of the Khalsa.

Idylls of Culture An experiential path of movement, an extraordinaire mediation scaling the context, a rhythm that creates unity in the plurality of a worshipped place â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Virasat-e-Khalsa, popularly known as the Khalsa Heritage Centre, by Boston-based Safdie Architects solidifies a remnant of history. Text: Maanasi Hattangadi Images: ÂŠRam Rahman; courtesy Safdie Architects

he weave of culture and religion in India is suited to the world of magical realism; it is present in everyday lives, in trees that you bow down your head to, a stone that you rever or a blessed piece of thread that you hold on to. It is not just culture; it is a way of life. In a way, the intersection of architecture and sacred space that characterises these varieties of experiences occurs at multiple levels in multiple ways. Inward, the everyday of Punjab is similar and familiar, yet the juxtaposition of unimaginable contrasts. It is a matrix that upholds the ethnic ancestries

of the Golden Temple echoing with the faint strains of traditional music on one side, and a city like Chandigarh on the other, built on the progressive aspirations of a new republic. Khalsa Heritage Centre arises from this latter awareness, representing the very boldness of its inception through magnificence of structure and faultless sense of proportions. What does it take to define change? Does the authenticity of tradition serve as the true basis for any place or space? Or is it the multiplicity

architecture

SITE PLAN

The sculptural construct sets aptly into the layered landscape of Anandpur Sahib and the hills beyond.

The building on approach. The materiality is mute, reflecting the nearby terrain.

61 of its existence that invigorates the sentiments of secret wisdoms? Is it about the evocative, the reminiscent or the expressive? An ancestral belief cast in sandstone, the Khalsa Heritage Centre in Anandpur Sahib by Safdie Architects rises against a cultural milieu of the revolutionary history of the “Khalsa” - the scriptures written by the tenth and the last guru, Guru Gobind Singh, founder of the modern Sikh faith. 500 years of Sikh history and the occasion of the 300 th anniversary of the Khalsa seems suited to build up on the realism of Khalsa Heritage Centre, effectively expanding the context of design and enriching its conceptual depth. The making of such idealism lies in the idea of immersing the visitor in a circumambulatory and poignant experience of the living word of the institution of Khalsa Panth. Imbued with political controversies and bureaucracies, the project progressed over a period of 14 years. What Safdie Architects must have encountered, and the issue that was raised to the fore, is the need to recognise the importance of integrated thinking at a more holistic scale, including social and cultural dimensions. Seemingly as discovered, the Khalsa Heritage Centre known in India as ‘Virasat-e-Khalsa’, stolidly lies between scales and naturalistic forms of the nearby sandcliffs and the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. From afar, people associate the form with that of ‘open hands offering prayers’. The entirety shifts strategically in relation to the widespread area of 35 hectares sited at the birthplace of the Khalsa Panth. On approach,

Moshe Safdie worked with Ashok Dhawan, an associate architect from New Delhi and Amardeep Behl, Design Habit, an exhibition designer from New Delhi to put together integral and creative displays depicting the lives of the Gurus and the individualist struggles they led; the gesture of a story within a story.

A water garden is created as a fresh approach within an existing ravine onsite. A pedestrian bridge connects the eastern and the western side of the design.

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Sketch by Moshe Safdie.

64 the building sprawls along as a fortressed museum-â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;esqueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mass as the landscape moves forward. The layout carefully balances the architectural elements arriving at a melange of two sets of buildings dissolving depth with the placing of events. The formative stage of the persona evolves at the western complex. The entrance of the Centre extends into an open enclosure in the western complex. The framing sets functionalities like exhibition galleries, a two-storeyed reference library inclusive of a grand reading room, an archival facility and a 400-seat auditorium together; piecing them as smaller components of the overall form and complementing each other such that it lends a quieter presence visually. The language sets up the idea of exploration as one moves towards the eastern complex. It is a fabric of simplicity and balance; neutrally offering epic views across the site. A schism or ravine running through the expanse has been cultivated as a seven-acre network of reflecting pools to create a water garden. A monumental profile of a 540-foot bridge developes as a median crossover, where a restaurant is situated midway.

The anticipation continues at a relaxed pace, gathering momentum at the eastern complex. The symbolism arrives here, suspended and sculptural in the barren context. The solidity and starkness of the architecture overlays the dramatic edge to its being. The sweeping built perspective is pronounced from the bridge and a round memorial building dominates on the side. Deep views cut across the plane comprising of two clusters of galleries. Bringing together characterful compositions, the array of five galleries recalls the flair of the Five Virtues, a central tenet of Sikhism. The concept is not lost in translation, but one has to look for it. Moshe Safdie has captured the intrigue in details. The construct is ambiguous; it merges with the soil, it merges with the sky. The continuity is drawn in the resonance of the themes of earth and sky, mass and lightness and depth and ascension in the exterior shell of sandstone towers and concave receptor roofs. It goes on to be comfortably contained in the interior facets, too. The eastern complex is a volumetric composition of a permanent exhibition space. Moshe Safdie worked with Ashok Dhawan, an

77 65 associate architect from New Delhi and Amardeep Behl, Design Habit, an exhibition designer from New Delhi to put together integral and creative displays depicting the lives of the Gurus and the individualist struggles they led; the gesture of a story within a story. The peripheral nuances are points where the architecture recedes to inset a parallel sequence of events. Water pools and cascades from a series of dams along sloping grassy planes. The rooftops are whimsically clad with stainless steel, reminiscent of crowning domes of Gurudwaras. The upwardly curving stainless steel atop the roof reflects and visually connects to the fort and Gurudwara located in the town. It all comes together as a stately disposition, very much like a building it is projected to be – to be touted as the “8 th wonder” of the world. The raw and brutalist quality suffuses in perception as the wandering network of pools reflects the building, and the building reflects the sky; in tandem with the context through and through. Moments are honed

through the mute materiality. The design is silent in a reverential way; an ambience worthy, an ambience to absorb. Yet, each space offers a measured, changing appreciation of the landscape and its elements, near and far. The depth of the prospect is unusual, the scale more spiritual than urban – as traditional and timeless as spirituality through a building can be. The expression is laid bare in a repository of cultural cacophony. It is the latest in the elongated loop of theological structures and yet, this element of the layered landscape of India expands on culture and belief without any decorative overlay only with the presence of an Indian accent. Spatial, materialistic and atmospheric expressions work their way through the absence of ornate castings and etch the sensibility of time and faith into the aura of the building. The pursuit of meaning through material manifestations is as enigmatic as the building itself. The dynamics of exhibits and principles develop as poetic and pragmatic

A variety of experiences and elements characterise one’s movement through the site.

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The eastern side of the Centre comprises of galleries exhibiting the repository of heritage and history of the Sikh traditions and the Khalsa Panth.

in the wide spectrum of spirituality as a broader intent. The (in)visible prerogative is an agnostic interpretation of the journey undertaken by the Sikh community onwards into a renewed understanding of the heritage of the Khalsa community. The ensemble of surreal objects and spaces demonstrates an engagement with inspiring ideas found in precedents, providing hope and order toward a sense of architecture from paradigm to paradox.

FACT FILE: Project Location Architect Client Area

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Khalsa Heritage Centre Anandpur Sahib, Punjab Safdie Architects Anandpur Sahib Foundation 23,225sqm

The interior spaces of the galleries reciprocate the restrained material palette.

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Reminiscent of open hands offering prayers, the stainless steel-clad roofs of the buildings arc upwards to reflect the sky.

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space frames

Frozen in Time Lost somewhere in the cycle of time where monuments are created and destroyed, the unrivalled beauty of a ruin is frozen and forgotten, says Ruturaj Parikh in this issue of Space Frames curated by Dr. Deepak John Mathew. Text and Photographs: Ruturaj Parikh Curated by: Dr. Deepak J. Mathew

urban villages

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he monuments of Mandu stand silently. The city of happiness has long lost its fabled glory and the social-political power that kept the great monuments of Mandu alive is unplugged from the architecture that it created. The result â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a desolate and seemingly endless ruin. But not all is lost. The grandeur and scale of the slowly decaying structures entrap beauty that dwells in the austere material integrity and built compositions that frame the architecture of the place. Arches, domes, colonnades, passages, vaults, chambers and halls refuse to

succumb to decay, standing with dignity and defiance against the forces of deterioration. An imaginary city of the past - complete with its architecture - refuses to be erased and forgotten. The monuments of Mandu resurrect the lost magnificence of a thriving city through a memory they resemble. It becomes difficult to understand the feeling of nostalgia towards something you have never known. Still, as time and nature try and reclaim the land on which the monuments stand, they peacefully resist the intrusion in an attempt to preserve their dignity.

It becomes difficult to understand the feeling of nostalgia towards something you have never known.

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Ruturaj Parikh Ruturaj Parikh is the Asst. Editor of Indian Architect & Builder. He graduated as an architect from I.E.D (Institute of Environmental Design) in Vidyanagar, Gujarat, and has worked on various architectural projects of varying scales. He presently lives and works in Mumbai.

Dr. Deepak John Mathew can be contacted on dr.djmathew@gmail.com

Space Frames January 2012: ‘Frozen in Time’ by Ruturaj Parikh Indian Architect & Builder Magazine

Dr. Deepak John Mathew can be contacted on dr.djmathew@gmail.com