Hell is very badly done // First year AD

Over the year, we have conducted architectural design projects based on representation and city, making life size models for hawkers (understanding anthropometrics and the body) and dealing with architectonics through crafting light. Thus, in some or the other way we kept making the course very formal. In the current project, we wanted to open up the dimension of imagination for architecture through everyday mythical spaces. We wanted students to think beyond the existing conventional ways of conceiving space. 

We introduced the students to the following:

"Hell is very badly done"

-Maxim Gorky

This one line statement was the brief that would drive the project.

Methodology:

We introduced the students to surrealist works of various artists (like Dali, Margritte, Dunchamp etc.) who have brought together different kinds of ideas together and other works. The students were asked to do the following stepwise:

1. Bring an interpretation, in any form (image, text, collage, painting, drawing, sketch, etc.) of the above line. (Note that we consciously played with the nuances of the statement - whether to prove or improve the claim)

2. Formalizing a single image using charcoal on large news print paper(s)

3. Detailing spatial character of this generated image

4. Asking students to get drawings of ten objects that come from their spatial imagination and further select a few to detail and hybridize to explore semantics and form.

5. Working with details of space - mechanics and function taking further hybridized concepts.

6. Translation of images into three dimensional models

7. Exploring models for materials, textures and further concepts through materiality of things.

8. Translating model back into a perceptive drawing of space.

As a part of the final work, the students were asked to present a single A1 sheet which explained the spatial character of their idea along with a brief write-up on the way they perceived "Hell"

Postscript:

"Hell" has remained a concept in the mythological narratives of most religions. It has been a part of all of our childhood imagnation. Our grandmothers and  mothers induced in us fear for this place thus preventing us from engaging in any 'wrong' acts. In doing so, they created within our minds an imagination of a specific place that equally evoked feeling of repulsion and interest to know more about. It was perhaps the curious mind wanting to expand its boundaries of visualization. Every grandmother created a new 'place' of hell through her description and programmatization - whether it be the devils who punish you by dipping you in hot oils or contraptions that chopped off your body parts. All of these activities were contained in a space or created a space of its own. However, we have never acknowledged and explored hell as a space having a definite program. A program that has been overtly described in various mythological texts seems to have no architectural / visual imagination. This dilemma of a concept that seemed present in our everyday mythical imagination, and so spatial, not having any visual imagination made us pursue it as an architectural project.

Although, we did caution ourselves of getting into too many of cutting-chopping projects. We definitely wanted to avoid dealing with bloodshed and physical torture: after all, architecture is a humanist practice (and I do not intend any ironies or paradoxes here). So Gorky's statement, which was essentially expressed in a different context, was chosen to be explored for the universal idea of 'Hell'. Here students explored ideas of a space that evoked tendencies that may seem socially, physically, behaviourally or logically misfit in the real world. 

We often mix up architectural programs with architectural aesthetic. This is not to say that each program has its own (or creates its own) aesthetic - that a school must 'look like' a school and a hospital must 'look like' a hospital. This project was critical for the fact that it allowed a difficult program to continue having a pleasing aesthetic. The core question is whether the difficult could also be beautiful? Or what could be an aesthetic of the unpleasing? (I am not using 'aesthetic' in the same way as 'beauty'). Thus, in doing so, we also challenged our own notions of beautiful. 

To talk of  beauty (which is more often understood as visual) in context of the questions above, we discussed ideas like "why are we not able to see a dead rat ran over by a truck lying on the street - with its blood spilling out and intestines all split apart? Why are we not able to engage with a heap of garbage containing all kinds of waste lying on the roadside, why don't we like the idea of sleeping on organic waste?" Haven't we seen crows feeding on human spit or vomit?; haven't we seen dogs sleeping on litter, haven't we seen vultures preying over the dead or haven't we seen micro-organisms creating spaces within garbage dumps? The comparison of  engagement of animals with things we reject raises the question of validation of beauty. To me, this project opened up methods through which one could face the other side of conventional aesthetic. 

Further, this project reminds me arguments of Georges Bataille and the surrealists who emphasized on the dual role of the perception; the question of disciplining the senses. Bataille raises many important questions. One of which includes reference to the Cross we see in most Churches - that which depicts Chirst is nailed onto it, he asks, what makes such a horrific image acceptable? What is so sacred about such an image? What provides pleasure in this image for worship? In his writings, Bataille explores the notion of guilt, of what goes on with negative emotions...

However, the project for Hell developed its own trajectories and aesthetic. We shall try and compile it for future discourse and archive. Following are some process images of student works:

Lapod Diary: Part 1

Lapod Diary: Part 1

Lapod is a small village in Rajasthan, about 15 kilometers away from Rani. Located in a desert climate, the village does not have any prime water body in or around itself. The village is bounded by a wheat farm, a dry lake and forest on one side and houses on the other. A ring road completes the boundary of the village. It has a community kitchen, some inns a little away, three schools and a village chowk which is the most active place here. The infrastructure is very basic: There is no special transport system except a single bus that stops at the chowk once a day. People otherwise use tractors to move within the village and nearby villages. The nearest railway station is Rani from where everyday necessities are sought out and the nearest city is Jodhpur which is about 3 hours away.

The local language spoken here is Marwari. The village comprises of Hindus and Jains, however shows no signs of a big or prominent Hindu or Jain temple. There are smaller private temples scattered over the village. They never really catch your attention. They are not spectacular.

Consisting of not more than 500 people, Lapod has a typical hierarchical setup of an Indian village. There are distinct communities that do different jobs and command distinct powers. The primary occupation in the village is agriculture. I did not really observe any allied by product craft activities of agriculture in the village. The village has its own set of tailors, masons, blacksmith and carpenters. Most people have cows or buffaloes (sometimes sheep) within their own houses which supply them with the basic stock of milk and related products all round the year. Butter milk is a daily preparation and all guests are greeted heartily with a bowl of salted refreshing buttermilk during the day. The daily supply of vegetables is brought by a local vendor who brings some basic stuff on a hand cart every day. They have electricity but only for some part of the day. Houses are minimal. They do not consume much resource. Many houses do have television and people watch tv serials regularly. Electricity, more than televisions, I feel is a luxury. They exploit electricity by switching on most appliances when they have power. Whether required or not, perhaps it’s only to acknowledge the presence of an electrical appliance in the house. Inspite of this, the village is quite humble.
The ethnographic cross section of this village will reveal a set of narratives which echo the difficulties of the village. One wonders how to locate oneself in its problematic. There are several issues one can list:

1. The problem of water: The most pressing problem of the village is the absence of sweet water. There are wells in the village, really deep ones, which only give out salty water. Often, people have to drink only hard water that is extracted from the ground using tube-wells. Apart from the 3 rainy months, there is no sweet water across the year. Villagers complain how the hard water makes their food tasteless, damages their body and  erodes their utensils. This hard water is said to have excess quantity of a certain unrequired mineral that shall lead the human body stoop over age. The villagers have tried to convince the District collector to get a source of sweet water to the village, but their requests have not been met by far.
About 10–12 kilometers away runs a canal that supplies sweet water to other villages.  There is a possibility that a secondary canal line can be drawn to bring in water to Lapod village that can fill up the village lake and replenish the wells of the village. However, the district magistrate explains that it has been difficult for them to divert water here because of the topography of the land that prevents the natural water flow of water towards the village.

2. The scene of education also seems to be critical. We visited two schools here - one which is till 8th standard and the other which continues from 8th to 10th. The schools do not have sufficient teachers and the available teachers have additional responsibilities by the government, such as making surveys and collecting demographic information of the village. It seems that the government sees teachers as the ‘educated’ people of the village and entrusts them with a lot of work that sometimes leaves them with no time for any additional initiatives for the school. They are burdened by physical tasks which interfere their academic interests...
The schools do not have any libraries or information network. The teachers have knowledge, but not adequate infrastructure. The teachers, in their capacities try, but I wonder if they have original thinking capacities.

We found that the school we went to had an extremely pessimistic principal who thought he had tried enough only to fail himself in bringing up the level of the students. Students, as everywhere, are enthusiastic. We looked hopes in them, as we shared a drawing session along. However, there have been a lot of people from the village who have moved to cities like Mumbai, Mangalore, Hyderabad, etc., and made big money. They have also managed to civilize themselves of city culture and get out of age old binding customs. Some earning heads of the families in the village continue to work in the cities, who frequently visit back Lapod where their families stay.

3. Gender divide is a very sensitive issue of the village. Women are not allowed to come out in the open, they are not allowed to speak freely, behave freely and their education is also stunted. The purdah system is still followed and most women can still be seen in ghoonghats. This dominance is to a level where school girls shy away even from speaking their own names. They are extremely quiet, but when we tried talking to them, we realized that they did want to open up. Their desires were suppressed and their lives were controlled by the society.

Boys were naughty, and very interesting. They participated enthusiastically. A teacher from another school staying in Lapod told us about how he finished his BA, then MA in Sanskrit, whose concern was to make students aware, through us, how they could use their education. There lies a great gap in making students realize what potential careers are available to them after their education.

The village is quintessential for the fact that it has its own village simpleton, an all rounder who can arrange for all things at any time of the day, a contractor, a ‘wise’ sarpanch, a few people who have been exposed to the city, naughty kids and shy women. Even architecturally, there is only one single node – the chowk where all important activities happen. The chowk is bounded by two general stores, the village panchayat space, a supposed library (politically named) and a group of houses.

This was a general view of Lapod and there may be a lot more stories to tell. However, I shall put them up with more relevant drawings and photos, and our intervention in the village in subsequent posts when the documentation of the village by our students will be complete. This write up was produced only as a reflection into my own critique of students' writeups that they produced as a part of their document over the study tour. I hope I have kept the adjectives to a limit and been able to report the village factually. The participants of this tour must respond here.

Structure of Image Display

image: Anuj Daga

Above are 4 ways in which we primarily arrange photographs.

A. Random > unorganized > memories > Wedding cards
B. Semi unorganized > unsure matter > related/unrelated > multiple content
C. Organized > Tiled > Structured > Institutionalized
D. Organized > Compositional > Highlight > Major / minor

The sets A to D are ways in which photographs are displayed or composed for different purposes. It appears that display of images has gone a certain kind of institutionalization by the various disciplines of visual communication. This institutionalization sometimes talks of class and taste. I made these 4 typologies only to make myself aware of the architectural bias that I have and that I enforce on photographic layouts. Often, our aesthetic judgements are codified through subconscious pedagogical tools and we end up evaluating everything through this constructed academic lens.

The schisms between academic training and existing ways in which people negotiate aesthetic for themselves gives makes me conscious of my own construct. the more and more this reveals to me, the more I try to neutralize myself. But this neutralization is questionable and I worry if this shall lead to some kind of a-cultural manifest.

However, the idea groups formed above meanwhile are interesting, since they allow me to read how intangible ideas manifest into image composition (which further translate into tangible realities). It gives a framework for evaluation of displays and how ideas may get miscommunicated if they cross boundaries. On the other hand, one can use this framework consciously to create newer meanings.

The Pritzker 2012

Wang Shu, the Chinese architect is the latest Pritzker laureate. Last year the Pritzker went to SANAA. It was the year when the committee was also considering Charles Correa and B V Doshi. The Prtizker committee was here to review their work. To look at a history of events, the economic slump also struck about two years ago. We all must agree that Asia did emerge as a stable economy as compared to other developed western counterparts.

The clear focus of the entire world on Asian countries in the recent times is very visible. But to talk of India, it began perhaps in the '90s. India was introduced to the world through the indroduction of the liberal policies. One could perceive it as a land of infinite people, lakhs of consumers. The chain of recognitions is interesting: In 1994, Aishwarya Rai wins the Miss World Pageant, and in the same year, Sushmita Sen wins the Miss Universe Title. In subsequent years, Diana Hayden, Yukta Mookhey, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta - all of them win. India suddenly becomes popular. In the midst, there was also a Chinese Miss World. They market all beauty products through which the West re-enters India. Of late, A R Rahman wins Grammy and Oscar. Not to demean any of the talents or capabilities that south eastern Asian region has. But all such validation distantly seems capitalistic.

If such focus brings in opportunity, why not! On a critical reflection, one also feels that it is difficult to change India in totality. Rather, our cultures drive others to change a lot more. The huge mass of people that we have definitely works towards our benefit.

But what does it mean for us to accept an award from a country of the West; what does it mean to accept validation of a developing country from a developed country? What kind of hegemony are we being subjected to? All are questions that we ought to detail out. We always wait for such recognition from greatly progressed countries (Oscars, Pritzkers, RIBA Gold Medals, Grammys, Olympics etc). Countries which have essentially plundered a lot of natural resource from our own lands and thrive on it today. That is not to accuse them, but to make us aware and conscious of our own potential.

But these are such random questions and thoughts. I am sure there is some larger mechanism that is driving the attention to Asian subcontinent. I wonder if we must be scared or happy...

Problematising Academy of Architecture

I am writing this post through an understanding of Prasad Shetty's paper (the title of which I forget) on the mishandling of the city of Mumbai. Shetty argues (hints?) that the existence of multiple agencies, each which have their own interests and procedures of working in the city layer themselves upon each other, entangling them into a messy condition. Further, the non communication or the mis-communication between these agencies worsens the ways in which gaps are enlarged between the desired and the delivered product. Also, aspirations of different agencies are different and driven through a variety of forces, which are ultimately controlled or subjected through an altogether separate governing body which comprehends, schedules, funds and disseminates them, creating larger distortion.

Wondering of the condition of Academy of Architecture, I began thinking of it as sets of people (which could be analogical to the agencies above). Talking of condition, the question is why doesn't Academy function as it should or why is it not able to produce the kind of output it can / is capable of. One can locate / try to locate the problem at two levels - the scale of the institution as a set of functioning teams an the other at the level of the individual within these teams (if we may begin to call them so - teams of individuals - or sets of individuals). 

To begin with finding issues with the teams, one sees that the academy does not really have a vision - a vision for its students, for its intellectual future. This leads to different sets of people forming their own micro visions which may not necessarily be converging, although which may overlap. I would specifically like to point out a few distinct sets that exist meanwhile:

• the management (the funding team/team who has financial control/the fuel of the institute),
• the permanent faculty team (the intellectual team/team which drives the institute/the engines of the institute), 
• the visiting faculty team (the wheels of the institute), 
• the non teaching administrative staff (the lubricants of the system), and finally 
• the students (of course the consumers of the institute). 

One can talk about all these sets in great detail, only to come to a solution that all these sets have different imaginations that lead into different directions. To talk about the complexity of the project of the Academy, one could brief it as thus (the description below is fuzzy, but it shall take a long thesis to give descriptive details of each set):

The students come with an extremely glorified image of the institute - an image which to a large extent may remain true, but muddled when one sees the Academy having complexities of space, infrastructure, people, etc. However, as students get consumed in the course, they realize the problems with the course itself. Through their own limited imagination(s), they try to problematize the academic trauma, which always ends up in pointing out the resource crisis. The visiting teaching staff have their own agendas and come from different schools of thought. Old, new, young, open, conservative, philosophical, professional, academic, theoretical, technical - all kinds of teachers do all kinds of things trying to reach at a common goal, which seldom is achieved. Within their subjects they have their own visions and aspirations. Some crave for newness, others to maintain minimum required standards. What else shall one expect of mass education?

The permanent staff comprises of a range of people whose objectives are misplaced. Some look at the institution  as a place of work, some as a place to spend time in, others look at it as a place to educate, teach and learn. The least common denominator for such cross overs is to abide by the University syllabus. On the extreme end, the heads envision a large academic change, where they are unable to locate Academy in the larger picture, and further unable to locate a position for the student in the academic sphere. Meanwhile they struggle between revising curriculums, revising faculty attitudes, student attitudes, course structures and all possible things related to architecture education. 

Lastly, the non teaching staff have their own dynamic politics with the management, faculty and students. The largeness institution that increases the presence of this set in number, makes it a powerful body which creates micro-politics of information-dissemination between students, faculty and perhaps management. Taking advantage of the lack of resources, scrutiny and loose system, they manipulate things in their own ways. The management is the supreme - which decides the fate of every thing that exists on the premises. It's agenda is to make Academy a mega institution which sets the cycle of making money and introducing new courses. the management, as it appears, consists of capitalistic, short sighted individuals who have not been able to formulate a vision beyond the banyan tree. 

These different imaginations produce a lot of friction when various sets interact inevitably with each other. Where does an academic locate oneself in such a web - one questions. Further, what possible future shall we imagine of this institution? What future does one foresee of oneself with this institution - an institution which shall take perhaps 50 more years to find the right people and system to resolve its web of complexities? Rohan Shivkumar always says that every Institution goes through this phase of deterioration, giving the example of JJ College of Architecture, which today almost rots in the ideologies of archaic individuals; the physical space also speaks of it - the large BMC garbage can that welcomes you to an old grey building...


Academy meanwhile plans to just facelift itself. It's high time it gave itself booster injections and some internal nourishment so that it grows. Or else, I just proposed to one of my colleagues: the Banyan must be stripped of its leaves - it needs new ones.

Spatial Structure of Poetry

(above image from the blogpost  "A story in waiting" on dagagiri dated Nov. 29, 2008)

The trickling water
From the air conditioner pipe
A sparrow gulps down.

(an attempt at Haiku, Anuj Daga)

***

Poetry essentially consists of fractured statements. The empty space between the word-constructions allow for new grammars to configure. It is the suspended grammar that perhaps makes space for new.imagination to take place. The emptiness sometimes brings two stranger words / ideas close together allowing us to.see different dimensions of existing worlds.

If consecutive words of a dictionary were to be read as a sentence, they would give us a great way to look at the landscape of words and meanings. Since if we consider that the dictionary is the modernist way of word family structures, consecutive words in a dictionary are neighbours belonging to a same family - in terms of physical characteristics, the alphabets (genes) they are constructed out of; the pronunciations of syllables (body parts), etc. However, their ages may be different with regard to their etymologies and they may have different meanings, functions and behaviours.

Such a landscape of words may become an extremely interesting investigation. Poetry is thus a landscape of words, creating new meanings and relies on the readers' potential to be able to make sense if such landscape for the interpretation of the real existing world. If architecture was poetry, it could possibly be very postmodern...bringing together different ideas and symbols together. But then there is rhythm, rhyme and spatial experience too at play. This would mean finding meaning into the empty spaces, pauses or fractures between words of a poetry.

Charles Correa Gold Medal 2012

The Charles Correa Gold Medal 2012 was not awarded to any one.

I had a similar strange feeling yesterday as I took a round after all students pinned up their work. (Being the organizer of the event, one gets to see stuff before any one else, even jury gets to have a look!). As Prof. Punde inspected the room over the evening asking for a good panel to look at, I exclaimed "None!" - Adding further, "One year, they must just not give the gold medal to any one..." To my surprise, I actually found my evaluation was correct! Not only that, my instincts of notable panels was also right - they same 3 panels I thought (exactly those) were cited! Wonder what this meant!

One can clearly point out where things go wrong for gold medal.

1. The fad to compose larger and large (bed)sheets, which students are incapable to compose efficiently, ends up making them hoardings rather than architectural sheets

2. Overly rendered drawings, too many colours, background, flashy views are an eye sore.

3. Panels filled with overflowing essays of analysis. Writeups that flow in every blank inch of space.

4. Pictures like wedding albums, sprinkled all over the analysis panels or design sheets.

5. Unclear drawings, obnoxiously large, pixelated, unoriented, mixing into each other.

6. Non-contextual, irrationally large urban design projects thinking of them to be urban inserts. (a flaw on the part of universities which expect large thesis projects so that students are able to display their skills in all aspects of architecture)

7. Misplaced aesthetic sensibilities - in design, layout (of sheets) and presentation.

And one could probably go on.

The 3 citations, two from KRVIA and another from Bharati Vidyapeeth seemed interesting. I remember pointing out to Punde Sir about Marsha's thesis (KRV: Resonant Memories) that although the panel is poetic, I had serious questions about the program (which was the typical library, exhibition, etc.) - and the jury did pointed that along with circulation issues. I also felt the project layout did not fit in the countour layout well. The jury did appreciate the water colour drawings, that forced me to bring Punde Sir to have a look at it. (Ok, I must clarify I wasn't with the jury, and it was a closed room affair!). The Modern Temple (Dipti, BVP) was well articulated and I knew it was challenging, but it ended up in the shikhara! One would try to look at what Frank Llyod Wright did to Unity temple, which was the first 'modern' church as compared to the classical imagery of the church, in analysing what is a 'modern' form. I did not particularly keenly see the third entry (Nupoor, KRV). It seemed interesting in the way it was composed.

Out of the 21 entries that were received, none of them, the jury felt, lived up to the brief offered to them. They decided to award none on the grounds that, "it would be unfair to the earlier winners who had put in much more hard work" and because they "need to maintain the standards of the Charles Correa Gold Medal" (Kamu Iyer).

Prof. Hazra pointed out very sensitively that "it seemed that many projects were almost there, had there been a little more guidance, would there be really interesting projects". He also candidly expressed that one involuntarily gets into a mode of comparison with the projects that have earlier received the Gold Medal, which seemed much promising. The entries this time only lacked visual communication skills, presentation of analysis and lack of design resolution.

Charles Correa concluded saying that "You all look very disappointed, but that does not mean that you did not put in hard work. All of you have put in a lot of effort, but don't be disappointed since it's a part of life. There will be so many times when clients will not like your design and you will have to start all over again...you all must try and put in your design intent more clearly..."

Students huddled him up as he left the premises - they discussed issues, ideas and what went wrong. After all, Charles Correa still remains a figure in Indian architecture to catch a memorable glimpse of. I re-lived my three year old excitement seeing the students' pin drop silence in the auditorium. This decision only makes the Gold Medal more coveted and desirable, raising the already tall stature of Charles Correa.

Dil Chahta Hai

Bhankas on Nashik tour to Gauri's wedding with friends:

Dhaval ordered a paper dosa and it turned out to be exceptionally large. 

Atit: Didnt u mention the paper size? 

Richa: I can't eat the wada pav
Anuj: Why? 
Richa: Getting very heavy...
Anuj: Who? You? 

Constantly missing deadlines for Gauri's wedding function, alok had an idea (remembering college days' Gauri saying "lecture chalu hua toh missed call de") 

Alok: Lets ask Gauri to give us a missed call when she's to do the next event. 

Looking at a small aquarium at Nashik city centre overcrowded with fishes, I wondered if one could give them extra space to float.

Dhaval exclaimed, "it's SRA scheme"

In the sanctity of the Manas Hotel's cafe on the way to Nashik, we called for the waiter and said:
Dhaval: 6 teas
Waiter: ok
Dhaval: wait, do you have hot chocolate?
Waiter: yes
Dhaval: ok, them make it 5 teas and 1 hot chocolate
Waiter: ok
Anuj: wait, even I want to try it. Make it 4 teas and 2 hot chocolates
Waiter:  ok sir (starts going)
Manali: Even I dont mind it. Waiter, waiter (calling out). Make it 3 teas and 3 hot chocolates
We look at Richa, Ritu and Alok - ????
Ritu: No I want tea!
Waiter: (flustered) ok
All of us then remebered with the confused taste of chocolate milk aka exaggerated bournvita:
Anuj: Mujhe mera bachpan yaad aa gaya. Mummy aise hi bournvita deti thi.
Dhaval: abhi jaldi khatam kar
Anuj: Mummy bhi aise hi bolti thi
Manali: Mujhse khatam nahi hoga itna saara...
Anuj: Mai bhi aise hi bolta tha!


While getting to Gauri's wedding reception, it was election time and hence declared 'dry day' the next day in Nashik. We were very excited to try out wines at Sula vineyard in  Nashik. It would be open only till 8 30, with wine tasting only for that day. We debate to attend Sula or Gauri's funtion, since we are neck to neck with time. In the car:
Dhaval: Ok people fast, vote - sula or Gauri?
Manali: Sula
Anuj: I dont drink anyway, so Gauri
Richa: Gauri
Dhaval: Lets go to sula, what you say Ritu?
Ritu: well, we could go to Sula...
Alok: mujhe jana hai sula!! but let's got to gauri's wedding
Dhaval: oops! 3-all!
Anuj: Let's call up Gauri (the wedding girl) and ask : Gauri, Sula or wedding?
(burst of laughter)
We eventually pass off Sula to attend Gauri's function...

Hell is very badly done

Architectural Design // First Year


"Hell is very badly done" - Maxim Gorky

Alternatives for the above statement...by the first year students.

Cabinet of Curiosities

Graphics & Representation:

We are trying to open up worlds of the self through the construction of cabinet of curiosities - a concept used by the people involved in the knowledge production during the Enlightenment period, to store objects which couldnot be classified then into any branch of knowledge.

In our graphics class, we aim to reconstruct the self through these curious objects we collect and understand why they stayed with us for such long time and the way they become our extensions to represent ideas that we can not express through conventional means of communication. The unspoken and unexpressed aspects of our personalities take form through the objects we collect. Often filling up our cabinets, these curiosities allow us to dig further into our idiosyncrasies and the way we use them to cover up our insecurities, likes, dislikes or emotions.

Lets see where we go with this idea.

Modernity: An incomplete Project

I asked Pendse sir of the references made by many modern architects and critics on why they say that the modern project is incomplete. He answered in some ways.

One, he said that modern movement invented a lot of 'technology' but much of it remains to be explored yet. Secondly, many social theorists say that all possible forms of capitalism have yet not manifested. We are yet to see more social formations based on capitalism in our society.

I further asked him what is the 'post modern' doing then. He explained that people's belief in post modernism has gone down, and instead being replaced by post structuralism. What changes in the post-modern time is the philosophy of technology or the way in which technology is perceived in the post modern age. The emergence of quantum mechanics led or directed the post modern thought. Further the chaos theory challenged rationality.

Sandeep Pendse mentioned that even Marx accepted that rational thought is limited. That rationality has limits. These limits are opened up by theories like chaos theory. To further the project of modernity, he explained, that we still dont know what inventions like biotechnology, rooting from modern thought can achieve...

Socio cultural issues in Academic projects

These days Aniruddha (Mahale) and I keep poking fun at each other on being elitist - We keep blaming each other to be more elite (quite reverse Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai phenomenon). Not going much into the hows, I think we are just reacting to a situation where we end up interacting with extremely high class students and star kids!

However, such situations have compelled us to relook at our past and the kind of projects we did in our past. Chaitanya maintains that the profession of architecture can only cater to the elites. Architecture is a regimental profession, which orders / structures other peoples lives according to what architects think is right for the world. The great masters did that - and we enforce the students to think of the last detail, only following the Mies-an quote: "God is in Detail". We train students to think even of the hairpin that the client would put in order to suit the inhabited space.

Architecture sees the slums as a nuisance, the popular aesthetic as kitsch, the domestic decoration as middle-class and rejects ornament in its current modernist hangover. Infact, these are the most basic design sensibilities from where students develop a liking for design - for the aspirants, design is about decoration, arrangement and creativity. Most students come with a strong humble sensibility of the middle class. Architecture severely insults this sensibility, or at least it does not respect these or channel these as potential design drivers. However, I must caution myself here to be specific of my experiences and my college - Academy of Architecture, Mumbai.

I came to Academy of Architecture with a heavy creative cultural baggage - I learnt to 'create' things from my mother - she taught me how to make things out of waste, of giving domestic waste an aesthetic value, she taught me how to make rakhees, I saw her paint, embroider, knit - all of it that fascinated me. I came to the architecture with this 'creative' interest. The beginning of the course was interesting, but it took a weird cultural twist by the second year when we were introduced to Interior Design. I never understood the subject - I just couldnot comprehend the idea of laying out an interior. Coming from a background where a house was a collection of utilitarian objects, sprinkled with artistic pieces here and there, I wondered what to put in a large living room plan apart from a diwan and a TV case?

I never dined on a dining table - eating was still a family activity - circling in the living room where food was served turn by turn to all. There was no question of understanding the concept of a dining table / dining space. The bed was more importantly a storage object, than a sleeping one - to the extent where height didnot respond to anthropometrics, but to the height of objects to be stored / amount of material to be stored in the bed hollow. Cupboards were not about hangers, but about the safe vault and safety. Study table was always a dream - I never had one. It was only pillows which became the table when kept on my lap... In interior design, we were expected to 'design' for these 'everyday' activities. In my home, objects for these activities happened over a period of time - as and when my father could afford it - so we had a steel cupboard, a wheel table, then some teepoys, diwan later, bed even later... So all of them were incoherent (speaking from a designer aesthetic). Apparently, that is not what ID expected us to do. I struggled and struggled and wondered what I could 'design' in an interior space other than the life i lived.

We had projects like interpretation centre in the same year - a word that I had never heard of. Our faculty, in the guise of explaining the concept of an interpretation centre, ended up telling us the programs that we needed to provide. Later in the course we were expected to design large centres - a naturopathy centre for some people who would come to these places for a few weeks. As outings, we always stayed in dharamshalas (inns). This stretch of imagination from an inn to individual cottages was far too much to grasp then. Further in the course were were asked to design more elitist and polished projects -in the guise of 'large scale projects'.

One of the first questions the faculty asked our class: "So how many of you have been to a five star hotel?" (seems a very humble question, but the medium of writing doesnot allow me to explain the intonation / delivery of speech). The obvious well-to-do people raised hands. A huge bunch of us looked at each other - perplexed. A social class of students for whom, once a month food at a local restaurant was a luxury, were expected to think of being to a five star hotel. The professor continued to share more experiences of five stars while all of us kept drowning ourselves in an imagined bubble of shame. We were expected to visit such places as case studies - buildings which do not allow you in without shoes and shun you by your appearance. Convention centres, hotels, residential towers, townships - all kinds of projects which were then farfetched for a class of people like us to imagine.

I am perhaps trying to draw attention to the completely insensitive ways in which elitism was thrown upon students without understanding the socio cultural backgrounds we came from. I wonder what others thought when they were asked whether or not they had been to a five star hotel. Isn't it too personal and sharp a question that makes you conscious of your own social status? What socio-mental traumas does it create for all such people who are completely shy and may never be able to admit their insecurities due to their backgrounds? And for those who have never been to such places, how does the curriculum ever expect, in 3 months, a design which suits an elitist taste and works absolutely efficiently?

These are sensitive issues. The academia has to deal with them very carefully and study cultural patterns to be able to slowly open up students to various aspects of design, so that they do not hurt the cultural sentiments of students from socially sensitive backgrounds. The academics have to think and rethink of projects they give students to handle. In the fellowship I did with KRVIA after my graduation, I realized how   hegemonic design could be, and how soft, other systems are. We can creatively engage with these softer systems to be able to learn more about life in general instead of superimposing on ourselves a completely foreign order of living.

However, we face quite a reverse problem right now. We have a large set of elitist brats within whom a handful of people who can not afford quite many things have gotten embedded. This elitism reflects in the way they waste all kinds of resources, the general lack of concern for others, the tantrums they throw, the for-granted attitude towards their teachers, the stupid reasons they argue for, the lack of discipline - and I could go on...!

However, when Aniruddha told me how he gave over all his architecture stationery to one of such 'embedded' students, I really felt touched. If only the elitist, instead of wasting resources helped their friends who can not afford luxuries that they tend to waste, it would make such a larger difference...

Of shrinking personal space

Two things that have subconsciously held me back from doing a lot of things that I would have liked to do are issues of space and lack of company. I have only come to realise about these two now - wonder why?

The issue of space clearey appeared to me when I realized how one of my professors invested in physical books. Involuntarily I asked him - where do you store them? But this question was in disguise an answer to my lack of productivity. Why don't I produce - physical models, installations, objects, craft - all things that I once engaged in so deeply, to an extent where this physical engagement with material and the skill to handle it gave me he confidence to pursue architecture. The answer is the limitation of space. If only i had the space to store books, the models, craft objects, installations that i made, would there be a drivr to create. Creativity is always physical - since you create. could one of the reasons for my switch over to a 'person of ideas' be because of the lack of physical space!? The space of ideas and the mind is limitless. It allows you to record, preserve and maintain your thoughts without external interference or objection.

My mother is always worried of storage - of all sorts of things that make up her domestic life, her dwelling. Her insecurity with this limited shrinking physical space has subconsciously taken over me. To avoid disturbances in the physical setting of my home, I have almost stopped te process of real creation. I donot like to discard my creations. I preserve them because they inspire me to make more. Logically this chain would result into accumulation of more and more physical stuff. I donot have any space to store them. Neither does my family understand my need to create an nor do they encourage me to make, since things that I make would occupy space. I shall have to soon find a way to overcome this nonforceful hegemony.

In the recent days I realized that while i went for so many talks, discussions, seminars in the past, those have reduced to barely a few now. Thinking over it, what makes the idea of attending academic events boring in the first place is the lack of company now. Earlier i had a group of friend amongst whom, someone or the other would be willing to join or vice versa. Gradually we started dispersing. After graduation, close friends went on to study abdoad, some got married, some got busy wih their jobs....this issue seemed to resolve itself when I made new friends with whom i almost set a new culture of engagement. Soon, they also moved away - for studies, work or found partners. Prasad shetty keeps pointing out very correctly perhaps - "he needs a partner". Sometimes I like to doubt him, but i know he is probably right. I have not being going out since i do not have any company to go out with, further i donot have people who share my kind of temperament to discuss my ideas wih. This has started having conssquences on my space of ideas too...

With shrinking physical and intellectual space, I feel choked. I must resolve these issues and come to a middle ground solution soon which shall free me of these things that are pulling me back. I must grow, only because I can. And i must find alternatives of growing too.

The Aesthetic of Dirt

Only if we develop an eye to appreciate dirt around us, will we fall in love with our environment. To be able to discuss dirt further, one needs to set up a framework for the definition of dirt. What is dirt? What are the conceptions of dirt? How is dirt constructed? What is our cause for repulsion towards dirt? How is it possible for other living beings to be with, live in or even consume something that we may consider as dirt?

One could argue through Luis Bunuel's free form surrealist films The Phantom of Liberty (scene) investigations in such areas of perception. His surreal work on the dining table where people sit on commodes and laugh about what they consume brings a darker side of the way in which our system is codified. Speaking of 'Sexuality and Deject', Bataille says:

"...The place for filth is in the dark, where looks cannot reach it. Secrecy is the condition for sexual activity, just as it is the condition for the performance of the natural functions.

Darkness thus surrounds two worlds that are distinct but always associated. The same horror banishes the sexual function and excretion to the same darkness. The association is given in nature, which brings together and even in part mingles the organs. Of course we cannot determine the essential component of the aversion provoking the nausea we feel for both kinds of "filth." We cannot even know if excrement smells bad because of our disgust for it, or if its bad smell is what causes that disgust..."

However, beginning to describe dirt in order to be able to only appreciate my environment (since one man cannot clean the entire surround, neither can one convince all to behave civil and neither can one impart values or awareness towards health or hygeine), one may look at how is it formed and what are the natural aesthetic patterns it geneates. To follow a conventional framework, we could begin to analyse dirt through form, colour and material. After all, most works of art are primarily understood through these parameters.

Then, one must begin to understand culturally the nature of dirt a society produces. Because, the character of dirt that each society produces is a result of an engagement with the kind of material available to tem for all kinds of consumption - social, physical, technological, etc. Then again, the scale at which we discuss the notion of dirt is important. Are we talking of domestic dirt, commercial dirt, dirt at a locality or urban level, technological or machinic dirt - because 'dirt' takes on different meanings , infact different nomenclature at different scales. For example, organic dirt may be referred to as garbage, commercial dirt as waste, machinic dirt as junk, and so on. But then, one must find what lies at the heart of dirt - what common theme binds the definition of dirt? I think one can debate it from two sides - the personal and the public. But if one considers 'public' as the summation of the 'person' then there has to be some idea which ties or pins down the common understanding of dirt. There has to be something inherently repulsive about dirt for all societies to reject dirt. But these are really large questions and would only lead to theorising dirt.

In the meanwhile we must define a field of discussion. The idea of dirt in public realm is the area of concern. The fact that india is represented as a 'dirty' country is the reason for this investigation. But there is no need to look at a large geography like India since te conception of this land itself is problematic and one hasn't even explored the whole of this country to generalize ideas. Let us talk of our city. Something that is very close to us. More specifically, let us talk of the route which we take from homes to our workplaces. Can we consider dirt as a part of the aesthetic we encounter everyday?

(thought under construction)

Rashomon

I finally saw Rashomon directed by Akiro Kurosawa, yesterday. I had heard so much about the film that the situation had come to an extent where i had the film with me and hadnt watched it for the longest of times. (there are hundreds of such films which i havent watched although i have them - all my kind of films, yet....perhaps it's the ease of the medium. Films communicate too easily and leaves very little room for imagination. It fills in rooms for image, music and text. A lot is already fed to the viewer. I like to struggle with a subject to form a conception.)

Rashomon seemed to be a dilapidated, vandalized, haunted Japanese gateway. It already revealed the brilliance of the director - a half broken gateway allowing itself to be fragmented, burnt and still 'used'. Standing erect in heavy rain, it provided shelter as well as ruined itself. What else could a building in this stage of its life do? In getting ruined, it told multiple stories of its situation.

The structure of the film was very much like 'Rashomon' - where either one tore it apart or imagined the wholeness of it. Both seemed impossible. While each character of the story tried to construct the reality of the film, the viewer is still left to wonder if here was a reality. I am reminded of Nietzche's comment on truth - "Truth is like a woman". Of course that is a very sexist statement. But the question he raises about th truthfulness of truth is something that could take form through a work like Rashomon.

Which reality do we believe and why should we believe any reality? We construct our own imaginations, amongst which, our life is one. Often suggesting sharp moral and ethical dilemmas of human nature in trying situations, rashomon constantly urges you to think , rethink your position. It invites you to make a judgement and yet stops you from arriving at a conclusion.

In the reality of life, we end up making conclusions. Our life is a construct of conclusions we make. History evaluates and reopens these conclusions taking us back into the acts. History presents to us the framework of events, like the semi built / semi dilapidated structure of rashomon, further complexified by the meaning and connotations given to it by the society. We are to make sense of it - a real one for iur real life. We have to either complete it or rip it apart piece by piece to be burnt in time.

Badran at Academy

Academy in a long time hasn’t had the privilege of having a person as renowned as Rasem Badran. The Jordanian architect was invited to share his thoughts on architecture for the Annual Lecture at the Academy. In our endeavour to work towards finding a language to deal with the issues of fast globalization and changing cultures, Badran’s lecture was appropriately themed ‘Tradition and Modernity’. It would be worthwhile to reconstruct the summary of the lecture through the conjunction of the title. ‘And’ signifies the temporal property of two things happening at the same time in Badran’s work. This is seen not only in his work, but the representation of his work too. Two questions that I must raise at the outset are: Does the technique of representation guide the kind of architecture we make? Can a certain kind of architecture encourage a specific kind of representation?

Badran introduced the audience to his background thought process through his sketches right since his childhood till his thirties. He spoke of his fascination towards aeroplanes and his interest in photography. Often taking photographs from aeroplanes (elevated space); he found similar patterns in the vaguest of things. Grids of houses with lines of buses, city skylines with lipsticks and cosmetics,  reflections of sky in water with farmlands on ground – all these pairs of images brought out a dialectic of issues that Badran’s work deals with. This ability of linking up contexts in different scales was unique of Badran. Further he used these images to establish his position within ‘and’.

Badran believes that the hand is the transcendental medium through which one converts thoughts in the mind to an expression on paper. Therefore hands are the means to the material manifest of our minds. Drawing is therefore an intrinsic process towards realization of all his work. Badran’s sketches are rigorous, attempting to structure a social space through his architecture, which he recorded in his childhood sketches. Therefore he works towards drawing the essence of this cultural space into his present work.  One reads in his drawings, dialogues between the past and the present. His work is familiar, yet new; it recalls the past yet suggests a future...

His work came across to be extremely urban – one that would only follow a systematic analysis of the context of the site, linking an architectural project to the larger dynamic of the city. Drawing axes, movement and sectional study diagrams, his architecture is an attempt at ‘place’-making. His buildings seemed like always there, his housing projects were almost civilizations. He successfully breaks down his monumental programs into smaller portions which become spaces that are absorbed by the city. His buildings are never pretentious and never express any desire to stand out. Infact, they blend in their surroundings often bringing a fresh experience of an otherwise everyday space. This can be particularly noted in his projects with religious programs.

Towards the end, Badran shared some of his contemporary works which showed the constant struggle to balance his ideologies with his next generation of architects, including that of his own son. He urged the audience to believe in the potential of the hand over the mind of the computer. This conviction comes across very strongly through his method of working. The vertical buildings that his office now handles too show signs of breaking down the monumentality into smaller fragments – perhaps to achieve a certain territoriality, a feeling of emergence from the ground. It seems he maintains it through his representation – the non changing browns of his sketches echo a certain connection to the soil.

Badran over the next two days interacted with students at Academy over his sketches. His dialogues through sketches re-established into the young minds, a love for drawing as well as their own contexts. 

Drawings

Techno Cultural Schisms

Today morning as soon as i entered office i saw parmeshwar and we involuntarily struck off a casual conversation. He passing told me that he forgot his mobile phone at home. As he was leaving, he remembered something and turned back. He asked me if he could borrow my phone to make a call at his home. Initially i felt he wanted to inform his parents that they must not call him during day in case they wanted to contact him. But he went on saying later that he must inform someone at his him to switch off his phone.

I offered him my new touch screen Samsung ace and he was perplexed. He honestly and boldly requested me to dial his residence number passing a quirky remark on 'touch screens'. I enjoyed it. He waited patiently for his mother to pick up and respond. As soon as his mother picked up, she herself reminded him of the fact that he had forgotten his mobile at home. Going on further he asked his mother to switch off his phone. He waited for his mother to get his phone and then began: "press the button on top left and the bottom left...', and then kept on repeating... Although his mother tried hard, she couldn't figure it out. He went on explaining her to press the 'red' button. She didnot register. Paro silently gave up as if he already anticipated his mother's failure. He concluded suggesting her to get it switched off from his father.

This is the story of our struggle with the technological revolution. We crib, talk, try, cry and adjust with technology. We use universal references like top, bottom, red, white, etc to make others understand about it. These references too fail. The idea of serial pressing and operations donot work. Manuals of technical languages for operating gadgets fear away the older generations. The older generation would have been happier if they only had to press a single button. Or just pick up a call like that on the landline. For some.like marketing people, such struggles become USPs of their innovated products that resolve some cultural issues in technology. Others build up on agencies that can demonstrate to them...

Inspite of all this, i think we can only get to the next level of technology digesting the half baked developments in this sector.