Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future Process of Nation Building - Revolutionary rather than evolutionary - Architecture as ‘social science guiding force - ecosystem engaging -‘contemporary Indian sensibility’- effective propagandist toolPost the British Raj - Indian Institute Act, 1961 -Architects Act of 1972-ideologies initiating ‘nationbuilding’- economic policies are the backbone - Stimulus Package-2020 - ‘Smart Village’- rural-tourban migration - Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY)-development of villages and cities is a synergistic process. - aims of globalising- architects following global cues -sustainable development“new normal”-discipline of ‘problem-solving’ - tech-embodied ecosystem-future of architecture -‘Make In India’-‘Design In India’ Introduction: A Frame Of Reference on Nation-Building “It was time when the unthinkable became thinkable, and the impossible really happened.“ -Arundhati Roy, God Of Small Things The world we inhabit is a manifestation of reflections and projection of ideals taking place within space, time and affected by external stimuli. It was only yesterday, times flew by, as our childhoods were often spent in summers by the beach building sandcastles and watching the persistent waves, tearing them down only for us to come back the next day and build them again. Little did we know, the process of doing and getting undone, enriched our childhoods with resilience developed- a memory serving as a metaphor for life. The process of nation-building could be considered a repetitive process, oscillating between visualised ideals of a society and the duality of the built and the unbuilt, shaping the cultural philosophies reflective of its time. Nation-Building, as a proposition, is connected with the evolution of various aspects of modernization, political development, reconstruction and peace-building. Conventional wisdom peddled by nationbuilding advocates many people perceive the process as revolutionary rather than evolutionary. However, in reality, it is an exploration in progress. “This is what nation-building is - building a common dream, rendering that vision to reality.” Sociology In Architecture Architecture considered the artistic representation of ‘social science’, turns values embedded in society's memories into an exhibition of tangible history. The very term ‘social science’ infers that the process of building involves a highly participatory, diverse group of professionals. Thus, designing a social science would require an architect at the helm: armed with education, foresight and building codes that chisel an equitable agency in collaboration with multiple fraternities for all participants alike. As a performance art, in general, the profession gauges its value from the lives it affects. Description of nations and civilizations are often spoken of as a part of the whole, using architecture as the means. The architectural edifice gives an insight into the place and its evolution with time and becomes a canvas on which national identity can be showcased. 1 Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future
Could we really scrutinise a topic as vast as nation-building without understanding its various streams, to isolate how Architecture contributes to the overall framework? For the existence of architecture, there are certain invisible guiding forces. Architecture is not an autonomous entity but exists in subordinate capacity to the policies of the state. Every progressive step taken by a country can be attributed to policy-making, economic and social reforms. As young architects, we feel responsible and committed to shaping the national consciousness and its physical manifestation. (Architect)ure An architect is to architecture, What a surgeon is to health. Scalpel in one and scissor in another, Planning, slicing, replacing and stitching, Tailoring the urban form. Crafting, breathing, enlivening contexts. Transforming plans from projecting dream, Skilful alone, But Building as a team. To consider the profession of architecture in isolation is to consider a building without context. The world we inhabit is a collage of buildings, all participating in the neighbourhood. Each profession needs a guiding force. In architecture, it is the architect. However, architects do not have an autonomous position. They work in an ecosystem engaging with the users and makers of buildings. Omnipresent in this ecosystem is our government with their policies to direct and laws to guide. An architect’s accountability to his/her profession is embedded in exploring design ideologies from micro to macro scales to benefit humanity. While the profession upholds its standard methodologies, architecture is gifted and nurtured by its intellectual tradition. Its practitioners' commitment to the rigours of debate and dialogue with a will to apply and pursue. Looking Back, Looking Ahead And Looking Beyond. ‘’Before transforming a support into a column, a roof into a tympanum1, before placing a stone on a stone, man placed a stone on the ground to recognise the site in the midst of an unknown universe, in order to take account of it and modify it.’’2 -Vittorio Gregotti
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Tympanum (noun) - a recessed triangular space over a door between the lintel and the arch.
Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future
As quoted by the author in 1983, on the origin of architecture being neither a primitive hut nor a cave but evolving from the intrinsic human needs to define a space. At this point, a stark realisation dawned. The past few years of our architectural school taught us the importance of architecture shaping the urbanscape. Were we conscious and aware of the laws and the buildings that influenced our surroundings? Hardly so. The present-day architecture utilizes means of survival but struggles on creating and representing cultural values over the world. “Lastly, in India, the State has more or less given up the responsibility of projecting an "idea of India" through the built and physical environment as it had done in the post-independence era when several state capitals, government and educational campuses were built across the country.”3 - The State of Architecture, 2016. (Dalvi) Today architecture has found itself at a crossroads—the first choices being- to move forward or hold on to the past. After a period of the initial boom, it looked at the aspirational West for cues. The adaptation of new technology crusaded by emerging practices using these opportunities introduced the category ‘contemporary Indian sensibility'- rooted in the Indian ethos but spoke contemporary. Architecture was associated as an effective propagandist tool, often guided by the principles of those who ruled. All over the world, capitals and kingdoms are decorated with buildings that proudly claim to display their victories or parade their national pride or show off their monuments to their glorious dead. “Buildings of an era are the mirrors of a civilization, their architects shaping their future.” Shaping The Architectural Fraternity The ‘First Cabinet’ under Jawaharlal Nehru's leadership was keen on unveiling a new face of independent India. Post the British Raj, the country felt the urgent need to claim itself as a new nation in the world. Independence for India was imbued with enthusiasm which marked the beginning of a new era in all development facets. Adoption of liberal economic policies were attributed to job creation over the years. The Indian Institute Act, 1961 consumed by economic development, propelled the building industry to establish the idea of national importance by encouraging highly skilled personnel. The subsequent years of building necessitated formal bodies who acted as mediators between the government and the architect setting the parameters for practice: such as the Council of Architecture, and its supporting members Institute of Indian Architects and Indian Institute of Interior Designers. The surge in building activities called for an act that recognized and regulated the field and protected the interests of Indian Architects, or those registered under it by the Architects Act of 1972- a bill championed by Ar. Piloo Mody and Ar. Jai Ratan Bhalla. Despite initial resistance faced, they were successful in getting the bill passed. The last two decades, cities and villages underwent unprecedented development.
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Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future
This resulted in a shift of identities in India. The ideologies initiating ‘nation-building’, translated from high visual imagery and cultural representation image-making of the new India, to a developed India with architecture driven by sustainable goals. Opportunities were thus created, allowing the design fraternity to evolve. DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL ∝ : ARCHITECTURE AND ECONOMICS “The economy is the start and end of everything. You can't have successful education reform or any other reform if you do not have a strong economy.” -David Cameron The governing economic policies are the backbone of the nation. Gauging the cause and effect of every transaction, the government introduces suitable policies to protect and benefit both the individual and the state. While we live in a world where the built is visible, the economics of living is often adequate. ECONOMICS GOVERNING VILLAGES : Approximately 70% of India’s population comes from the villages. Urbanisation can occur only when the village sustains itself, and the remaining share can be allocated to the cities. For this, villages need support in regards to economic reforms, tax benefits and infrastructure commitment. The Stimulus Package-2020 in the current COVID scenario, attempts to prioritise the rural sectors by monopolizing their expertise to rebuild the economy. This stimulus package, coupled with the ‘Smart Village’ programme, will enable the villages to maximise their potential to ensure a higher economic impact. Rural communities in India have depopulated and become deprived due to rural-to-urban migration for over half a century. That, however, is now changing as many urban migrants are returning to their home communities4. As young architects, we believe, based on the future needs of the village population, architecture can generate possible construction methods, schools, low-cost housing, sanitation, cottage industries and granaries for agriculture. During the process, it would enable job opportunities for the local villages. Creation of sanitation may bring about change in the mindsets of the rural population as well. The Government Action Plan has laid down policies to support the development of rural India. “Let the villages of the future live in our imagination, so that we might one day come to live in them!” -Mahatma Gandhi
HOUSE FOR COMMONS Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY), to persuade first-time home-buyers to enter the market, tax benefits on affordable housing loans have been extended until March 2021. 4
Contributing less than half – 48% – of India’s net domestic product in 2015-’16, the rural economy supports 70% of India’s population, according to National Account Statistics from 2017 and the government’s latest labour survey from 2017-18s
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Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future
This move encourages architects to focus efforts on affordable housing with the government opening up the market to accommodate migrants. The exercise of nation-building must not be seen through the lens purely by the economic success and the GDP but where the factors contributing to its success live. The standards of living amongst the middle class and the urban poor can help gauge the efficiency of government policies, in uplifting all sections of the society through basic infrastructure. The development of villages and cities is a synergistic process. Their reliance on one another can mutually benefit them. While the cities develop faster, care needs to be taken of the villages to run parallel. Their interdependence is vital for the nation to move forward, for one cannot exist without the other. “After all, the development of the villages and cities may soon be moving parallel one felicitating the other”. BUILDING THE SKYLINE “We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us.” ― Winston S Churchill The cultural ethos of present-day Indian cities ascribes to globalising aims- It is aspiration looking West. This may confuse a segment of the user as it cloaks into a homogeneous landscape, causing a loss of identity, making all of them look similar. Such architecture development would appear meritorious but has only paved the way for mediocre buildings in many cases. Urban India is neither contextual nor energy efficient with the developers and architects following global cues and creating all-glass buildings. The Rejuvenation of Carter Road at Bandra, Mumbai put in perspective the effects of contextualising the urban form. Architecture as a profession is local. Revival of Indian crafts and natural materials used have led to a need to localise. In the aftermath of cities burdened by the lack of infrastructure, the opportunity to design and make a difference in India has become immense. Will the forthcoming millions of square feet of new construction in India be architecture or merely large volumes of constructed space with no contextual or sustainable design solutions?
AGENDA 2030 Due to increased economic growth, high construction and human development, energy consumption in Indian buildings are expected to increase substantially. There are approximately 375 registered green building projects in India with LEED amounting and 28 registered green building projects for GRIHA. In a nutshell, sustainable buildings use fewer resources and produce less waste than conventional buildings over their entire life cycle. Building rating systems are a popular tool to bring momentum in achieving energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings, using its brand identity to provoke sustainable building.
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Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future
India is at the cusp of transformation. We cannot stop development. However, there is a need for a conscious series of action-oriented programs to empower innovators' efforts with a vision to scale up progress and create meaningful impact. Organizations like LEED, IGBC, GRIHA and SDGs give subsidiaries and award ratings to attract builders. These programs monitor development strategies by crowning them with titles of sustainable development to avoid resource exploitation. However, this development agenda needs to be holistically pursued in tandem with the needs of the environment. GAME CHANGER: HOW BUILDINGS LEARN The world is slowly reinstating, relaxing lockdowns and adapting to new realities. The Coronavirus pandemic has introduced us to the “new normal” by imposing drastic measures which have changed our perceptions and altered our priorities.
“For things to remain the same, everything must change". - Tomasi Di Lampedusa's "Leopard”5 Transformation and adaptability are the binding keys to resilience. The common notion states that architecture is an expression of permanence freezing a specific time in history. The techno-age has resulted in a highly-mobile society, where the ideology of time and space has become more abstract. Architects' ability to manipulate the built fabric to morph becomes more vital in times of emergency responses allowing for rapid actions. The change is often in terms of adaptive re-use of a structure or temporarily altering an existing structure's functionality. Architecture is often considered as a discipline of ‘problem-solving’ where the world’s challenges and uncertainties keep arising. We need to adopt a heterogeneous view of the world, and perhaps showcase its capacity of problem-solving. The way we rethink architecture's role in society evolves parallel to the changes in human nature through time. FUTURE OF ARCHI- TECH -TURE What is the current state, and what might the near future of architecture look like? The deduction that architects are currently designing buildings may seem trivial, but it may stop to surprise us if we perceive that such a state may change in the near future. The architect’s profession may be subjected to a complete revitalization. “Every 15 years, there is a strong sense of purpose. First, it was about nation-building, then housing followed by a search for identity and then building the country as a global village. But now, there is a sameness everywhere,” - Aniket Bhagwat, ‘Future of Architecture in India Discussed’ When we talk about the future in architecture, technologies are bound to get smarter and more efficient making it a tech-embodied ecosystem. As an architect's roles evolve with designs getting more complex in recent times, it has led to suspicions that the technology may take over. The future exists in using the 5
Leopard Tomasi Di Lampedusa- Italian writer 6 Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future
sourcing of parametric, spatial computing, conceptual and algorithmic architecture used as data mining tools to develop the design. With climate change and other unforeseen problems that the world may face, architecture must adapt and evolve with the changes and build for a more resilient and sustainable future. While we cannot foresee the future, we can create plausible analogies based on the current situation's fundamental truth as our first response. CURTAIN CALL We realise that planning a nation is not an individual act but a conglomeration of ideas, strategies, execution, and policies. Experience is knowledge. As is history. The transition of knowledge to wisdom should suggest, mistakes cannot be repeated. “To invent a new future, and to discover the past is one gesture.” -When Is Space Exhibition, 2018 By 2050, around 50% of India’s inhabitants will live in cities. Where would the unified identity of architecture find itself in this rapidly evolving nation? Could we even attempt to look at it from a single lens? Unless we experientially engage with our context or indulge in deep thought, we will lack the ability to articulate our skills to improve them effectively. The methodology of writing on architecture can carefully analyse introspection into the process and problems we thrive in. A new wave of graduates takes positions in their armed battalions year after year with consciousness to challenge conventional reasoning and push the boundaries of architecture empowered by the profession's knowledge. While we may possess the skills, the intellect and the passion for design, a need for a level playing field is urgently felt. The future of architecture facilitated by COA and the government must allow our students to represent the Indian Design Fraternity in developing nations and developed nations. Architecture plays a crucial role in driving innovation- considered as a derivative- ‘Jugaad’. The innovation-driven by ‘Jugaad’ has developed much of the Indian Sensibility and building resilience.
This brings to questionWhy can’t the country develop ‘Design In India’? Six years ago, the ‘Make In India’ initiative was started with the focus to promote locally produced goods. A discussion was carried out at a studio level where an educator encouraged the idea of ‘Design In India’ with ‘Make in India’ as a subset. Aimed at inspiring thought, we asked, Why cannot India design for itself? Why cannot India shift from a production base to a ‘Concept & Developmental’ stage economy? This move could possibly create jobs-for both white-collared and blue-collared sections. ’Design In India’ could range from Design to Research and Development, looking at the process in a genuinely comprehensive sense. 7 Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future
Our evolution for a production-driven country to a patent- the powered economy could showcase our national prowess on a global scale too. For a nation, whose everyday meal is an assortment of dishes, how can design be homogeneous? How can one-design- fit-all? ”Contextual” being our keyword, our USP. The answer we need to hear has been in front of us all along. India is amongst the oldest civilizations and sustenance already ingrained in us. The call of action only demands employment in the collective efforts and knowledge of architecture in cohesion with the government. Would you not think one who has lived a long, experienced life, In whose most profound memory lies culture, Would be able to translate the pursuit of knowledge, of our forefathers to build a better life for the children of the future? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Role of Architecture In Nation Building: Formulating the Image of India’s Built Future