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Conversations on Contemporary Architecture in India

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An Indivisible Margin of Error Dhruv Jani In 1832 Professor James P Fielding wrote a story about two itinerant travellers, who claimed to have stumbled upon the ninth observatory of Matsyapur. This was a remarkable claim, because it hankered back to a fabled gathering of astronomers at Matsyapur. A gathering whose purpose was to deliberate on the cause of an inscrutable error that had plagued the celestial observations. In their search for this error they decided to interrogate the universe by constructing nine observatories, each to a different scale and each adorned with instruments of cosmic inquiry. The unwavering quantum they searched for was to be called: truti. A measure, so minute that they believed it to be a building block of the universe itself. Five of the nine observatories were hidden amidst the yantras of Maharaja Jai Singh’s creations, three others were plundered and now lie in decay. Only one remained unrecorded, the ninth and the most spectacular of all. It is this observatory that the two travellers told Fielding about. It is this observatory that we seek to recreate, in a series of interactive vignettes played across scales of endless repetition. Team: Sushant Chakraborty (Programing); Salil Bhayani (Music and Sound); Anant Jani (Editor and Playtester) The stories displayed here are excerpts from a larger project supported by the India Foundation for the Arts. #whenisspace #StudioOleomingus

A4: Drawing in Space Parul Gupta ‘Drawing in Space’ is a project based on the spatial narratives and questions of perception. This spatial exploration could be poised somewhere between installation and abstract line drawing. The work is a response to clear architectural forms/spaces and their illusionary character. It aims at creating a spatial experience of forms and volumes created merely by lines. #whenisspace #lines #illusions

A6: 5/8 Mark Prime 5/8 seeks to critique the conformity found in contemporary architectural practices where structures incorporate multiple grids, panels, and reflective surfaces. Here, distracting surfaces mask the dull reality and mediocrity of a concrete sub-structure. The buildings seem to whisper: “We seek to obstruct, deny and turn away.” This is particularly true of building practices involved in the gentrifcation of often neglected structures in socially deprived areas: think of the quick, and cheap, grid cladding that has been blamed for devastating tower block fires around the world. The logic behind these embellishments seem to be that it is better to see our reflection, not what’s underneath; only looking out, never looking in. It is time for some cold, hard, reflection on the cities we build and the lives they make us live - sometimes, also, the deaths they make us die. #whenisspace

C4: Pavilion for Incremental Form Anthill Design Team: Riyaz Tayyibji, Sarosh Anklesaria, Niket Dalal, Krishna Malu, Christian Manuel Martinez, Praveen Zapadia This pavilion was designed as a house which could grow slowly. The main design challenge was to make a structural system that allowed vertical growth. The parameters for the incremental growth of the building are not clear at the outset and only become apparent over its future life. A matrix of possible permutations of growth were imagined in the design of the structure. We hypothesize one such possible permutation in the ‘afterlife’ of the building as it stands now. #whenisspace #architecture #anthill #architecturalmodel #1:5

A2: A Story of Cubes Teja Gavankar Madhyavarti, the central empty space of Jawahar Kala Kendra is one of the most impactful spaces in the building. Its scale and calmness makes one pause. It is an empty, bounded space overlooking the sky with a grid of stone tiles cladded along its walled enclosure. The project teases the orderly chequered space by subtly folding its planes that cast new shadows as they appear to warp the neat geometry of the court. Photo credits : Viraj Adhate. @iam_viru #whenisspace #lines #illusion

B1: A Wall as a Room Samira Rathod Design Atelier Team: Aarti Nambissan, Darsh Saini, Devanshi Shah, Hetu Jariwala, Jay Patel, Rakshita Bhatnagar, Rashida Kagalwala, Santosh Renose, Sanyukta Joglekar, Suhela Kaur Maini with Samira Rathod Contractor: Rameshwar Bhadhwa Special Credits: Morarka Arts and Crafts Foundation; Creative Director: Sangita Sinh Kathiwada This installation redefines the utilitarian purpose of the wall as a separator of space to be the container of space itself. One may nd across architectural history how walls have been used as spaces of hiding, service and shelter. The palaces of Jaipur work out a unique architecture of the skin that leave large open spaces bounded within thin wall buildings that can be occupied. In several urban areas today, walls have become infrastructures and extensions for homes and temporal entrepreneurship. Learning from many such examples, the installation attempts to rethink the architectural element of the wall not as a separator, but something that brings people together. The ‘Wall as a Room’ is an experiment in anthropometric norms, material, and spatial experience of one’s habitat. It provokes us to think of inhabiting the boundary between the inside and the outside; private and public; the individual and the other. #whenisspace #architecture #srda #wallhouse

B7: Five Gardens. Samir Raut Team: Vinit Dharia, Milind Mahale, Varun Mehta, Dhruv Chavan, Deepshikha Jaiswal ‘Five Gardens’ emerges from studies of several house-plans. Material here is explored for both structure and detail. The pavilion / house reveals itself to the surrounding landscape, flora and fauna in novel assemblies. The project intimately plays with economy of material, pleasure of craft and lightness of structure. While the pavilion seamlessly connects the outside with the inside, it lends itself to create personalised spaces within itself. Picture credits: Sachin Powle. @sachinpowle #whenisspace #architecture #pavilion #studioeighttwentythree

B9: Nav / Laya – A Confluence ABIN DESIGN STUDIO Team: Abin Chaudhuri, Sonia Guha, Tilak Ajmera, Abhinaw Alok, Jibendra Basak, Toton Mondal, Debkishor Das, Shubham Gaikwad with Debatosh Kar (Sculptor) and Prabhoo Suthar (Site Execution) Nav/laya is a juxtaposition of the works of Abin Design Studio with the Navagraha mandala - origin of Jaipur’s city plan and basis for Correa’s Jawahar Kala Kendra. While ‘nav’ represents the absolute (nine), ‘laya’ is both dissolution and merging, morphing in its meaning with context. The installation is aligned with the twist that Correa uses to mimic the deviation in Jaipur’s plan. In the pavilion, people inhabit the space in-between the stable grid of pathways and the transforming canopies. #whenisspace #architecture #pavilion Photo credits : Dhruv Chavan, Prasad Shetty, Viraj Adhate

A7: The Malleability of All Things Solid M. PRAVAT Lives are shaped by the built environments that we inhabit. And as much as humans occupy architectural spaces, architecture also occupies a unique place in human sensibilities. Images and materials are central to the idea of space and form. This work explores the reconfiguring of images and materials towards imagining newer ideas of space. Special Credits: 1X1 Art Gallery, Dubai #whenisspace #architecture #terracotta #mparvat

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