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PATRIK SCHUMACHER CECIL BALMOND JULIAN TREASURE
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Architectural Revolution Presented by
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361 DEGREE CONFERENCE 2017 Architectural Revolution Exploration and meeting of ideas through practices seen from all over the world speakers at the 361 Degree Conference 2017 analyse-synthesise-evaluate the subjects for professionals and student participants.
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An overview of 361 Degree Conference 2017, which was held at The Nehru Centre, Mumbai on 24 th and 25 th February 2017.
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LECTURE SYNOPSES Patrik Schumacher , Zaha Hadid Architects, UK Cecil Balmond , Balmond Studio, UK Manit Rastogi, Morphogenesis, India Gokhan Avcioglu, GAD Architects, Turkey Nicola Saladino , reMIX studio, China Julian Treasure, The Sound Agency, USA Scott Kilbourn, Perkins Eastman, USA Vikas Dilawari, VDA, India Anne Cécile Comar , Atelier duPont, France
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CRITICAL REVIEW Samira Rathod, SRDA Arjun Malik, Malik Architecture Soumitro Ghosh, MGA Moderator: Aniket Bhagwat
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Architectural Revolution Presented by
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he 361 Degree Conference 2017 - Architectural Revolution raised concerns of over population, suburban sprawls, ecology, and temporality within the fields of architecture, planning and urban designing. The world is seeing an insurgent change in societal, economical and territorial values and designers are increasingly being supported by growing technology and innovations trying to keep up with the advances of the world. During such times the conference focused on emerging developments as a reaction to the diversity of needs, culture, climate, landscape and economies and an invariable part of modern day existence. At the right time to comprehend the paradigm shift in the role of the architect in this Revolution. 361 Degree Conference 2017‘Architectural Revolution’, discussed these reactions to the challenges of designing in the digital century. From digitally enhanced designs, to invisible architecture, to the latest 3-D Printed modules, the digital era has served as an impetus to several untried design processes. Architecture and Urban planning act as practical catalysts for building resilient lives, to exist in harmony with the ecosystem and local resources. The theme catalysed to create discourses about
the ‘Architecture of the Future’ which entailed to develop and realise experimental processes to encourage constant engagement as well as permanence. The two tracks through which the theme was explored were: Digitised Design: This track analysed the impact of advances in technology towards enhancing digital design solutions. With an unavoidable need to create fast and interactive architecture, new material innovation in architecture is imperative while exploring innovation and technology in architecture. Responses in Architecture: This track emphasised on architecture being an immediate response to its contexts of world situations. It is eminent that architects comprehend the ‘contexts’ of response to location, environment, political and social settings, and their evolvement through time. This track discussed the evolution and advancements of these responses to design as we approach towards revolutionising processes. Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
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361 Degrees Design Conference 2017:
“Architectural Revolution” 24th and 25th February 2017, Nehru Centre, Mumbai.
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Lighting of the lamp ceremony.
Enveloping the theme of ‘Architectural Revolution’, the 361° Conference 2017 was a thought-provoking and esoteric platform. 361° Conference in its tenth edition continues to celebrate the power of thoughts and ideas, and initiates an invigorating dialogue on architecture and design.
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he tenth edition of the 361° Conference 2017, titled ‘Architectural Revolution’ presented the opportunity for several prominent architects from around the world to set a stage for thought-provoking dialogue on the reactions to the challenges of designing in the digital century. Relying extensively on computer modelling, simulation, and imaging to create visual as well as physical models and structures, ‘Digitised Design’ has now extended beyond the realm of “ideated spaces” and ventured into virtual interfaces which serve as “spaces” of human interactions. The two day event was an intensive affair and saw the eminence of the architecture fraternity from around the globe in the city of Mumbai. The theme revolved around architects and designers, who have created ground breaking forms and structures Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
with the aid of computer algorithms, extending to “scripted, iterative and indexical architecture”. This method of form generation re-aligns the role of the architect, which is limited to selection of a pragmatic form, from the multiple choices made available through the iterations. Over the years, the 361° Conference has been able to establish a close working relationship with its Partners who believe in the spirit of the Conference and its cause, especially this year with Title PartnerArmstrong World Industries (India) Pvt Ltd. QUEO Bathware, UltraTech, HP, J K Cements, Hindustan Steelworks Construction Ltd, Nitco, Outokumpu, CREDAI- MCHI, Worldarchitects.com, Indianarchitects. com, Zingy Homes & ArchPhoto India also amplified the scale of the
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Icon speaker Patrik Schumacher.
Soumitro Ghosh In conversation with Patrik Schumacher.
Conference. Combined with initiatives such as the ‘Young Designers 2017’ competition, the Conference marked the enunciation of conscious architectural discourse addressing pressing issues in the community, as intended.
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Icon speaker Dr Cecil Balmond OBE.
Brinda Somaya In conversation with Dr Cecil Balmond OBE.
The 24 th of February saw the inaugural of the Conference with an auditorium filled with over 850 professionals and students. To mark the commencement of the Conference, Maulik Jasubhai, Chairman and Chief Executive of Jasubhai Group & ChemTech Foundation, addressed the gathering throwing light on the founding principles of Indian Architect & Builder and the core values of the Conference. This was followed by the lighting of the lamp with Mr. Maulik, Mr. I. M Kadri, Mr Partrick Schumacher, Mr O C Karnaney ,Mr Yatinder Suri and Mr Hemant Shetty to mark the ceremonial beginning of the Conference.
to the problems and questions that characterise the digital revolution and its counteractions. Reviving various thoughts and visions on these questions were Patrik Schumacher (ZHA Architects, UK), Dr Cecil Balmond OBE (Balmond Studios, UK), Sushant Verma (rat[LAB], India), Manit Rastogi (Morphogenesis, India), Gokhan Avcioglu(GAD Architects, Turkey), Nicola Saladino (reMIX Studio, China), Aniket Bhagwat (Prabhakar B Bhagwat, India), Arjun Malik (Malik Architecture, India), Samira Rathod (SRDA, India), Soumitro Ghosh (Mathew and Ghosh Architects, India), Brinda Somaya (Somaya and Kalappa Consultants, India), J Scott Kilbourn (Perkins Eastman, USA), Vikas Dilawari (Vikas Dilawari Architects), Anne-Cécil Comar (Atelier du Pont, France), and Julian Treasure (The Sound Agency, UK). The diverse issues exposed the limitations of prevailing practices to inform the audience into rethinking the architect’s role in the field of design.
The discourse elaborates the assessment on ‘Architectural Revolution’ which channels the dialogue to achieve an innovative and radical understanding of the discipline of architecture in an analytical way
The inaugural lecture was presented by the icon speaker Patrik Schumacher. Patrik Schumacher’s presentation shared works of Zaha Hadid Architects and their processes in digital technology, design and Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
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PATRIK SCHUMACHER
Towards a Parametric Future Patrik Schumacher has been a designer at Zaha Hadid Architects since 1988. He is a company director and senior designer of the practice as well as a co-author and project partner on seminal projects such as the MAXXI: National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, the BMW Central Building in Leipzig and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. He is registered with the Architect’s Registration Board, and a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Day 1, Lecture 1: Synopsis: Meghna Mehta Images: courtesy ArchPhoto India & Zaha Hadid Architects
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arametricism 2.0 focuses on social responsibility. The empowerment of computational design has allowed us to be at the frontier of structural and environmental optimisation and fabrication technologies to develop complex geometries. It is also important to think ‘What do we need the complexity for?’ We need it for a new form of social functionality to build complexity within our urban centres for the interdisciplinary integration of research, development and innovation which brings us together. While our urban centres are converging we need a new architecture which is delivered by the new digital techniques of design and fabrication but also to find solutions for what he calls the Post- Fordist network society. The kind of innovation in Frei Otto’s design had a new high performance morphology which called for aesthetic revolutions to push architecture to never appear to be the same for many years. Apart from Frei Otto’s innovation in the technological side, due to constant Urban agglomeration in the city architects were looking for new unfamiliar forms and rationality. The ability of Parametricism to adapt to a global cultural sensitivity, regionalism will enable it to thrive.
There is a chance for radical Avant Garde vision which can be materialised. An Avant Garde nucleus can anticipate the future and actually make it happen. ↑
Daxing New Airport, Beijing.
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Heydar Aliyev Center, Azerbaijan.
For Zaha Hadid Architects, Parametricism like Modernism is the universal language of the built environment all the way to artefacts to transform the totality of it all as an interface of communication following the new language which is also able to adapt itself to different materials. A competition entry for a History and War Museum in Delhi responds to the context by creating multiple courtyard spaces, with cultural sensitivity, simple and austere with many open public spaces. The exhibition of MetaUtopia still in artistic stages, is working towards optimisation of material and product to make it light weight using robotic 3d printing and other fabrication techniques of Parametricism. The style becomes a communication technique to use to respond to various buildings and spaces. The research centre in Riyadh shows a solidity of volumes and inclusion of courtyards and shading elements oriented towards the sun and capturing the wind. These methods demonstrate the various forms of Parametric Regionalism in terms of parametric as well cultural adaptation which respond to the climate as well as to local materials. If closely related to historical works of Gothic and Baroque architecture, Patrik believes, we can further towards the development of a new architecture quickly. A regional character to these historical works was given but is only logical because when looked back to the vernaculars, they have developed those using aspects of morphological engagement with climates; material mostly used was stone while gravity and forces were responded to in a more conscious way. Hence there is congeniality in the parametrises of these vernacular approaches. However today, we can back them up with science, scale them up and give more variety to them. What drives contemporary urban concentration, according to him, is the era of Post Fordism, which is moving further ahead of Fordism, an era in which we continuously network 24x7. Fordism was the paradigm of mechanical mass production, where modernism is perfectly adaptive to and in the translation of. Cities of today are the hub of interaction and having one Iconic building would give it its identity, however, now there are multiple and hence they cancel each other out. If one works with algorithms and rules, there comes a sense of continuity and the Urban environment then weaves into fabric of the city even as there are subtractions and additions, the rules remain and hence the harmony remains. “We should make ‘Life process modelling’ as a driver for Architecture, that’s what I call parametric social functionality research.” Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
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DR CECILE BALMOND
Of Research, Processes and Data Dr Cecil Balmond OBE, is an internationally renowned artist, architect and engineer, known to transcend the conventional boundaries of the discipline, working in the crossover between art and science. Before setting up Balmond Studio in 2011, Balmond was Deputy Chairman of Arup. He was also Chairman of Arup’s European Building Division, and ran the critically acclaimed design group, AGU (Advanced Geometry Unit). Balmond currently holds the Paul Philippe Cret Chair at University of Pennsylvania. He has also been Visiting Saarinen Professor at Yale University School of Architecture, Professor at LSE Urban Cities Programme, and Visiting Kenzo Tange critic, Harvard Graduate School of Architecture. Day 2, Lecture 1: Synopsis: Meghna Mehta Images: courtesy ArchPhoto India & Balmond studio
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rchitectural Design can be divided into three conceptual models; the Classical architectural theory, the Deconstructive theory and the Emergent theory. The traditional architectural model evolves from the Greek theory where a boundary is set around the work with a centre following a grid, which has been followed for over 2000 years with an emphasis on balance, symmetry and harmony we have an inherited legacy. In the deconstruction theory, the model is of a distorted form that displaces the centre, metaphorically, and leads to irregular spacing of structure and form to break the legacy of the box. Emergent theory or methods, where the centre metaphorically is no more within the restrain and organises itself as you go along. This theory opens ways for algorithmic design where information is fed to create new modules. The traditional design spaces the gaps while the emergent model compiles the interval. The structural system for each of these methods is unique. The classical theory requires a simple post and beam structure, the deconstructed theory requires a distorted understanding of architecture while the Emergent theory which is more indeterminate requires a complicated study of the structure in synchronisation with the algorithms. The design of the Serpentine pavilion built in collaboration with Toyo Ito demonstrates a broken box structure. Here the structure is made up of lines of different thicknesses where the cladding is also spaced from the façade materials almost appearing like free standing lines of velocity. The structure may seem imbalanced; however, it works very well due to the holistic nature of the emergent theory. The building is an abstract form almost like a sculpture which breaks the limitations of the legacy of the box. The same patterns alternatively give openness as well as opacity due to the characteristics of aluminium as well as glass. The great Japanese architect Arata Isozaki stated for this project, “Architecture, ornamentation and structure all in one.” “This project for me is a meditation on a mobile sense of geometry, a moving sense of space. Geometry we all understand is static but actually in Greek theory, geometry is a lively proportion, a ratio, an embedded harmony, which in time we have lost,” quotes Dr Cecil Balmond. Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
Nothing is certain in nature, nothing is certain in what we do, we think we know what we do but we really don’t, at the bottom of it, are all assumptions.
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Model for Hotel in Srilanka.
If four waves with different wavelengths and the same amplitude are discretised, a fantastic set of data with inbuilt symmetries is achieved. This data can be further used to generate interesting forms. “In Emergent theory, you jump into the data set and you don’t know where you are, go forward, look at it from a cone of your vision, if you like what to see, add it to what you have and keep going.” It will create infinite variations to whoever tries to work on it with simple data much like how biologists work on cell genesis. We are all made up of energy and waves and these energy traces are trepid and achieve astonishing results. About Emergent theory, something they say in physics the uncertainty principle, “Nothing is certain in nature, nothing is certain in what we do, we think we know what we do but we really don’t, at the bottom of it, are all assumptions. If you know the speed of the electron, you don’t know where you are, if you know where you are, you don’t know the speed of the electron. If we see all the data, we know what we are going to get, but if we jump in we will get the organic forms.” Working with materials using tools will give a definite product, while emergent theories understand environmental data and research and then algorithms come into play, the resultant product will be a partial. In emergent theory, the decision to stop the research and take decisions depends on the materials, skill and aesthetics of the designer. “I love the idea that forms out of Emergent theory were primitive forms and not highly sophisticated.”
I love the idea that forms out of Emergent theory were primitive forms and not highly sophisticated.
A lot of ideas of Emergent theory can be discussed under the bigger subject of information and its theory run by processes that give data. Architecture has been about 50 years behind the pace of science of technology however it is catching up and being embedded into the conceptual model of information, through processes translating to data. Newton wanted the world to be understood with his equation, while Einstein believed it’s all relative to whatever you want do. It appears Einstein’s way of thinking is the way forward. Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
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JULIAN TREASURE
Designing with Ears Julian Treasure is founder and chairman of The Sound Agency, a UK-based audio branding consultancy. Julian’s book Sound Business is the seminal work on creating intentional, effective business sound; he is regularly featured as a sound and communication expert in the world’s radio, print and web media. Julian is also a sought-after and top-rated international speaker. He collaborated with Armstrong World Industries for the introduction of Total Acoustics Ceilings. Day 2, Lecture 3: Synopsis: Sahiba Gulati Images: courtesy ArchPhoto India
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he built environment dominates every cityscape today. As such it becomes extremely important for architects, designers and professionals concerned with the same to become aware of the everyday experiences of the people in order to design efficient places. Magazines, books, presentations, drawings, pictures- everywhere we seek with our eyes, we experience and taste the visual and spatial. So what about the experiences that lie beyond the visual? Julian Treasure elucidated the power of our eyes and ears, explaining that we hear ten times the frequency that we see; hearing is a sphere, while vision is a cone in front of us. Even while we sleep, our ears are at work and keep us alert; there are no ear-lids. We have the ability to direct our vision as we desire, but it is far easier to get disturbed and influenced with hearing. If we don’t consciously listen to the sounds around us, they become noise. “When was the last time you really thought about sound?” asked Treasure. If one were to take away music from our favourite movies or TV series, would we have the same experiences? Perhaps, the power of the visual to affect an experience would itself be negated. Music and sound are powerful tools to bring out the emotions within us. Sound has a physiological and psychological power over us. Our mind and body respond and react to alarming and alerting sounds; sound manifests in our heart rate, our breathing, even brain waves. It also affects behaviour at an unconscious level. Julian shared experiments done with introducing a natural and restful soundscape in airports and an open public space, reporting an increase in sales and decrease in crime rate in each of the areas respectively. There is a social impact of noise, of sound, on us. Our cognitive abilities are affected when different sounds overlap. Overlapping sounds resonate with the experience of open plan offices, where it becomes difficult to block out the background noise and concentrate on what is being said. The foremost complaint of modern offices is noise, and not air quality, light or space. The open plan office had been the result of applying the strategy of an industrial economy to the corporate economy in 1906, wherein people work in a line, like cogs in a machine. The plan has stayed with us after more than 100 Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
Julian Treasure elucidated the power of our eyes and ears, explaining that we hear ten times the frequency that we see; hearing is a sphere, while vision is a cone in front of us. Even while we sleep, our ears are at work and keep us alert; there are no ear-lids. We have the ability to direct our vision as we desire, but it is far easier to get disturbed and influenced with hearing. If we don’t consciously listen to the sounds around us, they become noise. “When was the last time you really thought about sound?” asked Treasure.
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Julian Treasure speaking at the 361 Degree Conference 2017.
years of its inception, despite not having any basis in scientific data for its efficiency. There is however ample scientific evidence that proves otherwise. Job satisfaction is hampered. Productivity decreases by 66% and organisations suffer costs as a result, despite the belief that by increasing density money is being saved. Inappropriate soundscapes in retail spaces have been shown to decrease sales by 28%, while appropriate sounds can influence sales positively. The cacophony of noises in cafes, malls and airports makes us want to leave as we struggle to have a conversation. Our various senses are related to and influence each other. We taste less well in environments with too much noise. It is called cognitive overload. With too much coming through the ears, we are unable to pay attention to what we are eating. Therefore, we are unconsciously designing behaviours for the people who occupy those spaces. “Where are the soft surfaces?” asks Julian Treasure. For all the environments designed with hard surfaces, noise is a massive problem. Focussing on the materiality, Treasure pointed out the problems of having only hard surfaces for offices, conference rooms, or social gathering spaces. Classrooms are affected by bad design in terms of proportions and surfaces; the losers are the children who sit further from their teachers as they are unable to listen to and grasp effectively, what is being taught. The health of teachers is adversely affected due to the noise. The noise levels at hospitals are alarmingly higher than what is permitted, and as they are intended to be places for patients to recover, this is important to be considered. Space planning targeted towards managing noise, acoustically efficient surfaces, and sound system and sound content design are prerogatives. “We need to move from designing appearance to designing experience in all five senses. We need to listen consciously in order to live fully.” Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
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CRITICAL REVIEW
Truth, Truces and Fair Opinions
Critical discourses in architecture are conversations arising from the desire to enhance the discourses in the field and amongst its proponents. They are analytical discussions over one’s project with one’s peers, in order to understand what one cannot experience as the creator, to understand how other people view and experience their work, discussions that professionals the world over are waiting for. Each person holds a certain set of beliefs, viewpoints and interests, along with a background and experience that is unique only to them. The Critical Review session at the 361 Degree Conference 2017 acted like a springboard as a fresh departure from mundane discourses to develop and become a part of everyday dialogues in the future. With unique standpoints, each architect offered a critique that is refreshing, fascinating and engaging, a mini-model of the kind of democratic, liberal and empowering architectural discourses we desire globally. The Face off “It is surprising how many people are willing to be destroyed by flattery and praise, when they can be rescued by criticism.”- Vincent Norman Peale. As each architect offers one of their projects towards critical analysis, the other two proceed to explain and put forth view points and ideas that could have elevated the quality of its architecture or speak with the intent to understand and expand the arena of architectural thinking. Day 1: Synopsis: Sahiba Gulati Images: courtesy ArchPhoto India, SRDA, Malik Architecture, MGA and M/S Prabhakar B Bhagwat
GMS Grande Palladium, Mumbai | Malik Architecture The project expresses a dual intent; the balance between specific responses to the situational context and the articulation of generic devices generates a dialogue between creating a microenvironment for the end-user, while building a physical and visual connection with the urban street. Through these gestures it is also an attempt to position itself as a critical construct, evaluating devices and spaces that have established themselves as part of the design language of the contemporary commercial building typology. The site located in Kalina BKC is part of a former industrial zone. The previous building on the site was a warehouse that has been converted into a car service centre. Like most warehouses, it expresses a low horizontal Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
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GMS Grande Palladium, Mumbai.
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Alpa Adria Centre by Thom Mayne (referenced by Samira Rathod)
language with a pitched roof and a clerestory window, bringing north light into the space. The building was hoisted 8 m above ground, thus liberating the street level to be inhabited by trees, water and judicially scaled lobbies and a common cafe, thus eliminating the presence of a massive built up form at the street level. This represents an inversion of the Bandra Kurla Complex typology by creating a solution that looks to funnel urban space inwards. The high podium is designed to address functional issues as well as theoretical inconsistencies that we have observed in the design of commercial and corporate properties in the vicinity. This large open space has the potential to be re-appropriated for public and semi-public activities through the creation of temporary structures for display, performance, art and discourse. A conflict of positions and the creation –Critique by Samira Rathod The architect has expressed certain ideas that are the foundation of the project’s conception. Rathod sees a contradiction in these positions taken by the architect and the building, its nature. She questions Malik’s denouncement of the atrium. As the project seeks to embrace the public at the level of street, the absence of this essential space of pause and the gatherer of light and ventilation is in conflict with its public position. It is also important to analyse the nature and the kind of space that a high podium, as the one in this project, develops. Does it actually become an approachable place for people on the street? Samira explains that in essence the raised level deters people from spilling in from the street, disconnecting them from the building. As the structure becomes the skin, it also hinders light flowing in and views looking out; with the introduction of partitions, one is far removed from the window. The position of sustainability is in contradiction with the amount of steel used in the building. “Could the building have been designed to be recycled?” The landscape spaces have been pushed to the setback areas and leftover spaces, not becoming an integral part of the building. The interstitial spaces, the essential journey to a space, seem to be absent, leaving one with only two kinds of experiences- inside the building and outside it. Again seeking the public nature of the building Rathod brings out the importance of the availability of the best part of the building to be experienced and enjoyed by the public. The best part, the cantilever, remains restricted for use by the owner. Eschewment of ornamentation can also be seen as eschement of shadows, and potential connections to the human mind. Ornamentation may not be manifested as decoration, but as beautifully detailed structures. Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
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Illustrations by Soumitro Ghosh.
The moulding of building volumes to perform multiple functions simultaneously entails according to Rathod, “moulding of different shaped volumes, putting them together, stacking them up. Sometimes in this great pursuit we really tend to ignore any sensorial experience.” The Process of Becoming - Critique by Soumitro Ghosh Cities change. Mumbai has also changed over time. The story of transformation of a city is reflected in its various contradictions. The building is placed in the midst of this contradiction. Garages and low rise structures flank the site. On the other hand there is increased traffic and an inflow of multi-national companies. “Post-liberalisation there is a beginning of desire and desirability.” Nothing in the city seems to be special, and almost everything starts to look the same as buildings start copying themselves. The project is a reflection of the contradictions of the desire of the client and the desire of the architect. The architect has tried to strike a balance by addressing the desire of the developer to get the right clients in that area, which is apparent in its statement architecture as a deconstructivist building; at the same time he has merged the architecture with the common man, the street at the public level. “I see the project as something which is between the world above and between the world below.”
The Steely Fins House, Ahmedabad | SRDA It is an extension project, conceived as an outhouse for a young newly wedded couple. It is built such that a new identity of a new generation is expressed in the contemporary aesthetics of its architecture without alienating the building from its main home. The contemporary layers create a playful and whimsical air conceived through the spaces between the house in three layers and lie between two courtyards, one on its outside, the other that marries and blends within the courtyard of the existing house. The spaces follow hierarchal order, flowing from big to small, broad to narrow, tall to short, thus creating contrast in spaces which create a meandering spine. It is laden with numerous details, each of which add and engage its inhabitants with quirky intrigue. Experiments in pigmented concrete and acrylic panels, a wall of metal louvers, delicate hung staircase with skylights are perhaps some of its stark features. Metal, glass and concrete make the primary elements of its tectonic constitution. Disjuncture with the Intent- Critique by Arjun Malik Ahmedabad has been the sacred ground of experimentation for contemporary architecture time and again. From Modernist times to contemporary architecture today, there are certain themes that remain constants with respect to the city’s context and climate. The ideas of thermal mass, of deep shading, orientation, semi-shaded spaces, and a strong coherence of a language between structure and space have been seen in venerated residential projects throughout time. Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
© Soumitro Ghosh
Arjun Malik obtained his Bachelors in Architecture from the Rachana Sansad Academy of Architecture and went on to receive a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from the Columbia University in New York. He then returned to join his father’s 30 year old firm in 2005. The practice focuses more on generic metaphors rather than specific analogs, relying on the intuitive reading of context, allegory and functional parameters to generate typological shifts.
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and beams, each according to its specific needs. At the junctions, the pivots, these different volumes start moving into each other and take in light. As the volumes turn, so changes the material, and as one looks out at the adjacent mass, there is an induced psychological extension of space due to it being perceived as a separate structure. Not only is each space structured with light, it is structured with detail, each from a different point in time of history. SRDA has bridged time through different ways of doing and different materials, and thus each space, each room is a different character, a different story being played out, a collage of different conditions and surfaces. © Soumitro Ghosh
She graduated from the Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai in 1986 and completed her Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois, Urbana Campaign in 1988. She founded her solo practice, Sameera Rathode Design Associates, SRDA which has grown over the years. She was involved in furniture design under Transformed Designs until 2003. She is the founder and director of Spade India Research Cell which candidly deliberates, investigates and researches the condition and impact of design in India.
National Martyr’s Museum, Bangalore | Matthew and Ghosh Architects The First Kashmir war, 1947-48; the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965; the Kargil war of 1999, each warrior drove headfirst into the fight; so many lives sacrificed. A walk that descends into the Earth, below numerous walls filled with the names of the sheer lives that were lost. It looks up at the sky, it pulls in light, connecting and grounding each person, taking them on a journey through a museum that eventually concludes with a release into fresh air, meeting from the lower level still, the martyrs above. The Memorial is conceived as place of quiet remembrance and homage. This is a primordial landscape gesture to cut path within the forest. Here, the ceremonial path is cut on the greened tree covered land( whose exact delineation is determined by the movement of the sun and the passion to save every tree), and is cut into the belly of the earth to create an underground museum – display of histories and memorabilia of the Indian Armed Forces. An Intention with a Conviction – Critique by Samira Rathod The project is sited around a large patch of forest, and is built below ground, envisioned as a subterranean primordial walk. What happens to all the soil when a project is built below ground? Could the project have been instead built on stilts if saving trees was the concern? Would the act of excavation have harmed the roots of the trees? Rathod puts forth these questions at the outset. The four features of the project are, namely, the obelisk, the flag, the meditation hall and the courtyards. Also a museum, the project sets the ground for varied expectations in terms Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017
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The Jewish Memorial by Daniel Libeskind.
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Textures in underground structures. (referenced by Samira Rathod)
of spatiality. Hierarchy of spaces, wrapped, and stacked spaces strike Rathod’s imagination. However, one is met with only a single large space lacking any of the qualities. A courtyard is an interstitial space with a life of its own, “a breathing act of space within the building.” In the memorial, one is not pulled into the courtyard as it does not enable one to connect to another space. Despite, the beautiful proportions, the volume, the light and the trees meeting the sky, people would be bereft of its experience.
© Soumitro Ghosh
Educated at CEPT Ahmedabad Soumitro Ghosh has worked with B.V. Doshi, R.J. Vasavada, Neelkanth Chaaya and others before starting this collaborative practice. Soumitro set up ‘Mathew and Ghosh Architects’ partnership in 1995 joining with Nisha Mathew. As an integral part of the professional work and extension of the practice Soumitro has been teaching architectural design, history and technology subjects at architecture schools in Bangalore.
The main programme, the memorial, calls for a focus on the experiential, to feel through all of one’s senses, the pain of the martyrs. A theatrical quality of space, especially that of one that is underground is not brought out. The materiality is also consistent, and not modulated. Referring to the work of Anish Kapoor, Shooting into the Corner, she speaks of the cannon which unexpectedly shoots red wax onto a white wall with a large thud, seeming like human skin and blood split apart, which forces people to think, to experience through their eyes, ears, body and the goosebumps on their skin, the human waste brought out by war. The pain, the experience, the drama, where are they? A dramatic space, a meandering structure, a meandering walk, each of these is missed. Rathod felt that there is a lack of conviction in the intention of the architect. Territory of Encounter- Critique by Arjun Malik As we sit here, consumed by our lives, there is turmoil in our newspapers, and it stays there. It does not reach our hearts, it does not grip us, we are unaffected, we are numb. “A memorial has the potential to arrest that moment into really insert and immerse someone in the exploration of the subject.” A memorial can be a territory of encounter. Like Samira, he felt that Ghosh had the opportunity to face people with the reality of the world they live in, to sensitise them, to tell the story of how war came about, how war comes about now, and not leave the names of the martyrs inscribed on a wall. The memorial is calm, silent, spiritual, soothing, Malik asks about the destruction, the disturbance, the capacity to offend and hurt, as they are part of commemorating the memory of war. Not the creation of an abstract, generic space, a neutral walk, a poetic experience, but a position of antagonism needed to be taken, stated Malik. Indian Architect & Builder - April 2017