Philanthropy and the Built Form + Towards a New City Manifesto by The Busride Design Studio + The BusrideLAB

PHILANTHROPY & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT + TOWARDS A NEW CITY MANIFESTO

WHY DO OUR CITIES LOOK THE WAY THEY DO ?

MUMBAI

LONDON

FLORENCE

NEW YORK

HONG KONG

What we see when we look out at our city are Social, Political and Economical frameworks at play, physically sculpting the city experience. All cities reflect their Politics, and to be aware of this is to be enabled to contribute.

It is our contention that an active culture of Philanthropy can solve many city issues we are faced with today.

WHO DESIGNS OUR CITIES?

The profession of Architecture self-lends to the Architect a certain hubris and self-importance, of a creator and self-assertive visionary. The Truth is far from this. The architect is equally a cog in the system, mistaken with the belief that he is sovereign and in control of the process. We are increasingly surrounded by a constellation of experts and consultants, playing roles far more impactful to the evolution of cities. To be aware is to be able to contribute.

Structural Engineers

Mechanical Engineers

Planning Consultants

Consultation / Communication Agents

Master-planners

Architect

Lighting Designers

Urban Design / Townscape Consultants

Land Surveyors

Acoustic Consultants

Vertical Circulation Specialists

Transport Planners

Project Managers

Landscape Architects

Wind Surveyors

BREEAM Consultants ( Sustainability )

Real Estate Advisors

Graphic Designers

Party Wall Surveyors

Interior Designers

Quantity Surveyors / Cost Consultants

Public Art / Culture Consultants

Heritage Consultants

Food Service Consultants

CDM Co-ordinators

Archaeology Consultants

3D Visualization Consultants

Facade Specialists

Ecology Specialists

Security Consultants

THE LONDON EXPERIENCE : FINN @ THE UNBOX LAB 2015

The Architect is primarily involved with “How it should look, which is a tragic trickle-down in the eco-system from “What is needed”.

THE LONDON EXPERIENCE : FINN @ THE UNBOX LAB 2015

5% OF THE WORLDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BUILDINGS ARE DESIGNED BY ARCHITECTS Kenneth Graham estimated this at 1-2%, the AIA at an optimistic 10%.

HOW ARE CITIES COMMISSIONED?

We can understand Cities in two distinct ways, one using Modes of Governance, namely Autonomous, Socialist, Tribal or Democratic. We can also look at Cities as categories of structures, Military, Industrial, Domestic, Artsrelated, Religious and Public, amongst others. These ways of studying cities created interesting matrices, here presented in the works of Finn Williams, UNBOX Mentor in the follow up to the UNBOX Lab 2013 in Ahmedabad.

A Categorised matrix of European built form

THE LONDON EXPERIENCE : FINN @ THE UNBOX LAB 2015

Geographical dispersion of Category of Structure

THE LONDON EXPERIENCE : FINN @ THE UNBOX LAB 2015

Percentages of Significant Structures + type of Governance

THE LONDON EXPERIENCE : FINN @ THE UNBOX LAB 2015

Through Finnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visualisations we are oďŹ&#x20AC;ered an interesting insight into the politics of cities and architectural intent. Absolute monarchies have created over 66% of the significant built landscape of modern Europe. Benevolent dictatorships make up an overwhelming majority of progressive architectural commissions today, and points to a way of understanding the building boom of the Middle-East. Does Democracy produce mediocrity ?

TO EXPERIENCE A CITY IS TO EXPERIENCE ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S POLITICS

THE LONDON EXPERIENCE : FINN @ THE UNBOX LAB 2015

A CASE FOR VISIONARIES 5 CASE-STUDIES

THE BASILICA DI SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE THE MEDICI FAMILY

THE HAUZ KHAS SULTAN FIROZ SHAH TUGHLAQ

DUBAI SHEIKH MOHAMMED

VARIOUS PROJECTS THE BRIHANMUMBAI METROPOLITAN CORPORATION

INTERPLANETARY HABITATION ELON MUSK

THE THE BASILICA BASILICA DI DI SAN SAN LORENZO, LORENZO, FLORENCE FLORENCE THE THE MEDICI MEDICI FAMILY FAMILY

San Lorenzo was consecrated in 393 AD and is one of the many churches that claims to be the oldest in Florence. For 300 years it was Florence's cathedral before it lost that status to Santa Reparata ( now the Duomo of Florence ) Considered one of Florence's most harmonious examples of Renaissance architecture, this unfinished basilica was the Medici parish church and mausoleum. Designed by Brunelleschi in 1425 for Cosimo the Elder it was built over an earlier 4th-century church.

The basilica's rough front facade is still incomplete. Michelangelo created a marble design for the facade but it was never implemented. The Renaissance style interior however is elegant with white walls and gray columned arcades. Near the altar are two bronze pulpits, created by Donatello. It was his last work.

COSIMO DI MEDICI ( 27 SEPTEMBER 1389 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1 AUGUST 1464 )

Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici called 'the Elder' and posthumously â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Father of the Nation' was an Italian banker and politician, the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his great wealth as a banker, and he was a great patron of learning, the arts and architecture.

Cosimo's power over Florence stemmed from his wealth, which he used to control votes. As Florence was proud of its "democracy", he pretended to have little political ambition, and did not often hold public oﬃce. Enea Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II, said of him: “Political questions are settled in his [Cosimo's] house. The man he chooses holds oﬃce... He it is who decides peace and war... He is king in all but name.” Cosimo de' Medici used his vast fortune to control the Florentine political system and sponsor a series of artistic accomplishments

Cosimo was also noted for his patronage of culture and the arts during the Renaissance, liberally spending the family fortune ( which his business sense considerably increased ) to enrich Florence. For fifty years, I have done nothing else but earn money and spend money; and it became clear that spending money gives me greater pleasure than earning it.â&#x20AC;? Cosimo's patronage enabled the eccentric and bankrupt architect Brunelleschi to complete the famous Duomo of Florence which was perhaps his crowning achievement as sponsor.

In 1444, Cosimo de' Medici also founded the first public library in Florence, at San Marco. Cosimo contributed the funds necessary to repair the library and provide it with a book collection, which people were allowed to use at no charge. That Cosimo de'Medici was able to finance the construction of such a site placed him in a privileged position of leadership in the city. Cosimo had grown up with only three books, but by the time he was thirty his collection had grown to 70 volumes. "Heartened by the romantic wanderlust of a true bibliophile, the austere banker even embarked on several journeys in the hunt for books, while guaranteeing just about any undertaking that involved books. He financed trips to nearly every European town as well as to Syria, Egypt, and Greece organised by Poggio Bracciolini, his chief book scout

#1 The Medici maintained close ties with almost all the Renaissance Artists. This allowed them to work their way into the Art of the time, most notably Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi that captures the transfiguration of finance that the Medici had achieved. On close inspection, the three wise men are all Medici: the older man washing the feet of the baby Jesus is Cosimo the Elder; below him, slightly to the right, are his two sons Piero (in red) and Giovanni (in white). Also in the picture are Lorenzo (in a pale blue robe) and, clasping his sword, Giuliano. and his grandsons Giuliano and Lorenzo. The three Medici portrayed as Magi were all dead at the time the picture was painted, and Florence was eďŹ&#x20AC;ectively ruled by Lorenzo.

The Adoration of the Magi Botticelli

#2 The Medici were not great innovators in their methods. But they used the techniques newly developed in Italy to their fullest advantage: things like double-entry bookkeeping, bills of exchange and book transfers. The bank, like any modern one, held deposits and made loans, dealt in bills of exchange, changed money and conducted business abroad. Each of its branches was a partnership, under (until 1455) a central holding company. This seems to have been a Medici innovation. It was this decentralisation that helped make the Medici bank so profitable. To gain maximum benefit, banks tended to finance international trade rather than investing locally, which had a major impact on the development of the European economy. At the same time, the international spread of bills of exchange reinforced the banksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; role in gathering funds for the Church.

#3 The Medici created a culture where wealth was no longer something to be ashamed of, rather it was an acceptable thing to have and spend, as long as the Florentines were wise about it. Cosimo was never a man who spent lavishly on himself. He reserved his wealth for large acts of patronage both for the city and for his family. â&#x20AC;&#x153;While spending money in a princely manner on works of art, public libraries and buildings, Cosimo lived as simply as any other citizen. Though for twenty-five years he was practically the ruler of Florence, he remained the merchant, the plain man, the agriculturist. Rather than flaunting his wealth and spending the majority of it on himself and his family, Cosimo tended to use it for larger projects that would have a greater impact on society in general. In doing so, Cosimo attempted to create an image of himself as a benefactor of Florence, and he used his many roles as patron to support the image he created.

#4 The Medici bankrupted themselves while running the Florentine state. They had the peculiar “instinct to make money, and the determination to ignore it”. While Cosimo was a patron of the monastery of San Marco, he also had his own cell where he frequently went to pray and reflect. As A. Richard Turner pointed out in his study of Renaissance Florence, “A cell dedicated to a particular layman was rare, as was a chapel in a private palace, which required papal dispensation. But the Medici were no ordinary citizens. Ironically, the greatness of the Medici palazzo was actually less than what it could have been as the original plan, drawn by Brunelleschi, was for a much larger and grander design. As Richard Goldthwaite pointed out, “In rejecting Brunelleschi’s plan for his palace, Cosimo presumably recognised that there was an upper limit to what society would allow a private person to have. So, while the palace that Cosimo built still set the Medici apart from the other citizens of Florence, he realised that the building could not be too grandiose or the Florentines would not accept it.

THE THE HAUZ HAUZ KHAS KHAS

SULTAN SULTAN FIRUZ FIRUZ SHAH SHAH TUGHLAQ TUGHLAQ

The ruins in Hauz Khas village are among the most fascinating in Delhi. The neighbourhood gets its name from the reservoir, ‘Hauz i Alai’ built by Sultan Alauddin Khalji in early 14 century, for his capital city of Siri. About 50 year after Khalji, Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq restored the silted up tank, built a madrasa along its edge and called it the ‘Hauz Khas’. The massive madrasa complex along the lake was among the most important in the Islamic world in the 14 century. th

“The courtyard was soul-animating, and its expanse was lifegiving. Its dusk was musk-scented, and its fragrance possessed the odour of amber…Nightingales, so to say, were singing their melodious songs everywhere. It appeared, as if they had guitars in their talons and flutes in their beaks.”

The madrasa bordering the tank was the largest college of its kind. It welcomed students and teachers from afar, was located along a vast tank with upper storey comprising of halls for study and cell like rooms for students in the lower storey. The complex also has a mosque, a few pavilions on lawns which are tombs probably of teachers associated with the college. The tomb of Firuz Shah himself is located at the junction of the two wings of the madrasa.

SULTAN FIROZ SHAH TUGHLAQ ( 1309 - 1388 )

"Among the gifts which God bestowed upon me, His humble servant, was a desire to erect public buildings. So I built many mosques and colleges and monasteries, that the learned and the elders, the devout and the holy, might worship God in these edifices, and aid the kind builder with their prayers" "I was enabled by God's help to build a Daru-sh shifa, or Hospital, for the benefit of every one of high or low degree, who was suddenly attacked by illness and overcome by suďŹ&#x20AC;ering" "Through God's mercy the lands and property of his servants have been safe and secure, protected and guarded during my reign; and I have not allowed the smallest particle of any man's property to be wrested from himâ&#x20AC;?. (From Futuhat-i Firoz Shahi)

Firoz Shah brought many waste lands into cultivation. Public works constructed during the reign of Firoz Shah include 50 Dams across rivers to promote irrigation, 40 Mosques, 30 Colleges with mosques attached, 20 Palaces, 100 Caravansarais, 200 Towns, 30 Reservoirs or lakes for irrigating lands, 100 Hospitals, 5 Mausolea, 100 Public baths, 10 Monumental pillars, 10 Public wells and 150 bridges. Many wonderful things were invented by Sultan Firoz in the course of his reign, and among the most wonderful was the Tasi ghariyal (a bell to tell the time), which was placed on the top of the darbar of the kushk in Firozabad. He laid out around 1200 at Delhi alone. In Salaura, he made eighty gardens and in Chittor, forty-four.

Firoz Tughlaq was a great patron of historians, poets and scholars. He himself was a man of learning and wrote his biography entitled ‘Fatuhat-i-Firozshah’. He established thirty educational institutions including three colleges. Teachers were liberally paid and stipends were granted to the students. “He indulged in a passion for building which equalled if not surpass that of Roman emperor Augutus.”

From “The Futuhat I Firuz Shahi”

#1 Firuz Shah oversaw the simultaneous flowering of the Indo-Islamic Architectural style and technique, a unique mix of experimenting with construction and ornament, blending the best of available skill and technique of the time. His own self-image was that of a prolific builder, endowed by the almighty with the unique skill of building architecture for public use and this informed his aggressive building record. No project was looked down on, any contribution to public life was looked at with equal importance.

#2 The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Holy workâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of repairing mosques was accepted as part of a Divine brief, to allocate time and resources to expand and renew the work done before him, and allowed him to see himself as a baton-holder in a long line of accomplished builders. Nonetheless he worked to improve the infrastructure of the empire building canals, rest-houses and hospitals, creating and refurbishing reservoirs and digging wells. He founded several cities around Delhi, including Jaunpur, Ferozpur, Hissar, Firuzabad, Fatehabad. Most of Firozabad was destroyed as subsequent rulers dismantled its buildings and reused them as building materials. [6]

#3 Firuz shah was a great patron of learning, as well as writing his own Biography, from which we know much about his rule over Delhi. The strategic placement of his tomb at the corner of the Madrasa at Hauz khas makes it compulsory for all students to pay their respects to him before entering the Madrasa. Hindu religious works were translated from Sanskrit to Persian and Arabic. He had a large personal library of manuscripts in Persian, Arabic and other languages. He brought 2 Ashokan Pillars, carefully cut and wrapped in silk, to Delhi in bullock cart trains. He re-erected one of them on the roof of his palace at Feroz Shah Kotla.

DUBAI DUBAI

SHEIKH SHEIKH MOHAMMED MOHAMMED

Dubai is the most populous city in the UAE. Dubai has emerged as a global city and business hub of the Middle East. It is also a major transport hub for passengers and cargo. The emirate's Western-style model of business drives its economy with the main revenues now coming from tourism, aviation, real estate, and financial services. Dubai has recently attracted world attention through many innovative large construction projects and sports events. The city has become iconic for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Dubai has been criticised for human rights violations concerning the city's largely South Asian and Filipino workforce. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Try to achieve the impossible and direct your people to ways of achieving it.â&#x20AC;? Sheikh Mohammed

SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUM ( 1949 - PRESENT )

Sheikh Mohammedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Social media feeds portray a selfimage of an adventurer, philanthropist, visionary and animal lover. While carefully curated, his philanthropy seems informed by this selfimage.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A photo of me and my late father in the 1960s at the Empire State, then the tallest skyscraper worldwide. It was a beginning of a dream that turned into a reality in Dubai,â&#x20AC;?

The Sheikh enjoys massive local appeal and a cult following amongst residents, an object of mass adoration. He has constantly curated the image and practice of a Visionary accumulator of talents, in a modern version of the Royal court of gems, curated by the Mughal kings of the Indian sub-continent. His gems are now architects, planners and CEOs.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai. Since his accession in 2006, after the death of his brother Sheikh Maktoum, he has undertaken reforms in the UAE's government, starting with the UAE Federal Government Strategy in April 2007. In 2010 he launched the UAE vision 2021 with the aim of making the UAE one of the best countries in the world by 2021. An equestrian, he is the founder of the Maktoum family-owned Godolphin racing stable and the owner of Darley, the thoroughbred breeding operation with operations in six countries. In 2012, he rode the horse Madji Du Pont 160 km to take the FEI World Endurance Championship. He is a recognised poet in his native Arabic

Under the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, 33 foundations and initiatives implement more than 1,400 development programs, contributing to the support of more than 130 million people in 116 countries over the past years, in collaboration with more than 280 strategic partners, including governmental institutions, private sector companies, as well as regional and international organizations. In 2016, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives' total expenditure amounted to AED 1.5 billion. In this respect, 42 million people in 62 countries around the world benefited from all of the MBRGI initiatives, programs and projects, covering the following five main sectors: Humanitarian Aid and Relief, Healthcare and Disease Control, Spreading Education and Knowledge, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Empowering Communities

MUMBAI

BRIHANMUMBAI BRIHANMUMBAI MUNICIPALITY MUNICIPALITY CORPORATION CORPORATION

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai also known as Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is the civic body that governs Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra and is India's richest and one of Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s richest municipal organizations. The BMC's annual budget is more than that of some of the small states of India. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is headed by a Municipal Commissioner, an IAS oďŹ&#x192;cer. The commissioner wields the executive power of the house. A quinquennial election is held to elect corporators to power. The corporators are responsible for overseeing that their constituencies have the basic civic infrastructure in place, and that there is no lapse on the part of the authorities. The Mayor is the head of the house, who is usually from the majority party.

Source : Wikipedia

Source : BMC projects, various sources

Source: www.rediï¬&#x20AC;.com

Source: thequint

#1 The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has throughout it’s history been rocked by scandals of corruption and mis-appropriation of funds. Since the problem is not restricted to any particular party, the issue seems endemic in the nature of governance. Any committee based decision making lifts oﬀ the burden of individual accountability and responsibility, hence allowing it’s constituent parts to continue business as usual. The BMC’s uninspiring contribution to the city’s skyline and management is systemic in that it is derived from rate cards and tenders, not public open competitions and best-in-class solutioning. Design and build projects are conducted and concluded within often archaic and outdated tender guidelines, that tend to favour the lowest common denominator.

#2 The BMC Projects also follow a limited screening process, with opaque and short public involvement, often from committed watchdog committees and activist groups, which tend to make the involvement confrontational. The open format sharing and constructive discourse falls outside the commonly used formats that the corporation employs. The lack of peer reviews allows projects with city-impacting and revolutionising potential to be executed without due environmental diligence, or true-cost assessment. Potentially disastrous, yet glossy projects like the recent Coastal Road gain importance over simple civic necessities and mass transit infrastructure.

#3 Corporations such as the BMC suďŹ&#x20AC;er from a severe lack of any sense of legacy, or being facilitators of the Future Bombay. This myopia stands in stark contrast to the approach of the legendary philanthropic perspectives of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tiny yet influential and now mostly sidelined Parsi community. The myopia is reinforced by limiting 5 year plans, with hyper-local interests. The committee base for election allows for limited agendas to be formed and implemented, the pressures of governing an over-crowded metropolis keeps the corporation in a constant fire-fighting mode, with very limited bandwidth allotted to creating and building inclusive visions for the future of the city.

INTERPLANETARY INTERPLANETARY HABITATION HABITATION ELON ELON MUSK MUSK

The Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) is SpaceX's privately funded development project to design and build a system of spaceflight technology and remote human settlements on Marsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; including reusable launch vehicles and spacecraft; Earth infrastructure for rapid launch and relaunch; low Earth orbit, zero-gravity propellant transfer technology; and extraterrestrial technology to enable human colonization of Mars. The technology is also envisioned to eventually support exploration missions to other locations in the Solar System including the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Elon Musk stated in a 2011 interview that he hoped to send humans to Mars's surface within 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;20 years, and in late 2012 he stated that he envisioned a Mars colony of tens of thousands with the first colonists arriving no earlier than the middle of the 2020s

3D Printed Habitats on Mars : Source : Mars One

Habitats on Mars : Source : Mars One

The D-Shape Printer

ELON MUSK ( 1971 - PRESENT )

He is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Inc.; co-founder and chairman of SolarCity; co-chairman of OpenAI; cofounder of Zip2; and founder of X.com, which merged with Confinity and took the name PayPal. As of February 2017, he has an estimated net worth of 13.9 billion, making him the 94th wealthiest person in the world. Musk has stated that the goals of SolarCity, Tesla, and SpaceX revolve around his vision to change the world and humanity. His goals include reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and consumption, and reducing the "risk of human extinction" by "making life multi-planetaryâ&#x20AC;? by setting up a human colony on Mars. In addition to his primary business pursuits, he has also envisioned a high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop, and has proposed a VTOL supersonic jet aircraft with electric fan propulsion, known as the Musk electric jet.

"We have essentially no patents in SpaceX. Our primary long-term competition is in Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if we published patents, it would be farcical, because the Chinese would just use them as a recipe book.â&#x20AC;? Elon Musk

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The future of humanity is going to bifurcate in two directions: Either it's going to become multiplanetary, or it's going to remain confined to one planet and eventually there's going to be an extinction event.â&#x20AC;? Elon Musk

#1 The Musk vision has been primarily techno-deterministic, with rapid advances in Technology allowing the visualisation of alternate cultural and human paradigms. His philanthropy stems for a strong outward sense of self preservation in the most base way, carrying the rest of the human race and creating options for the species, which is a special sort of philanthropy. A deep sense of optimism and visionary risk-taking ability permeates his decision making, the Techno-determinism allowing a cross-border, global purview. The capitalist roots of his CEO structure create the view of a global market, that then informs the global reach of the philanthropic roots to his science.

Elon Musk enjoys the luxury of Capitalism, allowing the world-market vision to reinforce the reach of his â&#x20AC;&#x153;marketable philanthropyâ&#x20AC;?. The solutions exist, but at a price. It forms an uneasy but strange relationship with us in our current global economy. The long horizons and thought leadership inherent in his formation of ventures and companies make him an enigmatic leader to follow, both for employees of his various companies, as well as shareholders and investors. This in turn drives the marketability of his visions.

#3 The Internet and it’s meteoric rise contributed to both Elon’s and other young CEOs getting very rich, very fast. This created a large number of wealthy and impressionable persons, for whom Philanthropic alternatives to ‘only’ wealth creation allowed a certain longer horizon, and movements like the Giving Pledge to take root among this generation. The internet, and also Elon’s own companies like Tesla, Space-X and his new investments into AI and other technologies all involve new knowledge, and new skills, in sharp contrast to the entrenched orders of old money. They are able to ride this wave based on serious domain knowledge, high quality leadership and in-house talent, and best-in-class parternships and collaborations.

The Technological soul of the companies that Musk sets up is also clearly visible in the X prize, and his framing of the Musk Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s philanthropic funding. Grants are made in support of: - Renewable energy research and advocacy - Human space exploration research and advocacy - Paediatric research - Science and engineering education

IN SUMMATION

1 PATRON

A SYSTEM OF PATRONAGE

THE KICKSTARTER CITY

Welcome to the Kickstarter City.

The Kickstarter City is an open, inclusive, free, accessible participatory governance framework where civic projects can gain from a new networked competitive environment of funding partners. The place-making and infrastructure building of cities can be openly voted upon, to build consensus and to invite competitive proposals. The Kickstarter city is a critique of our current existence in Cities. The city greatly benefits from a competitive marketplace of ideas, allowing us to move beyond redundant municipalities. The task of governing cities it too important for us to leave it to Municipalities.

Source : www.kickstarter.com

The Nature of Patronage is intrinsically linked to Built Form