Designing Cities for Mobility: Conceptual Issues and Practical Concerns

Foreword:

In medieval era, cities were feudal in nature. Their urban diagrams represented power and strong order in terms of class/caste based segregation. Cities were conceptualized with idea of huge surplus through agriculture. This surplus gave large number of merchants who started becoming dominating people in the cities due to wealth. They used to set up the markets and the market places started becoming dominating place, which earlier used to be religious places.

Major shift was seen when the human labor was replaced by machines, age of machines took over the human energy. In mid-18^th century, James Watt invented Steam Engine. This invention revolutionized the way energy was conceived before. From 1760 to 1820 in Europe, manufacturing process was transformed. The modes of productions changed dramatically post industrial revolution. The development of machines led to rise of the factories. Textiles were one of the leading industrial revolutions of the time. These factories became revolution in its time because they stood on the promise of employment, mass production and huge surplus. In this manner textile industries became epicenters of modern methods of productions. Industrial revolution became benchmark movement in history because all the facets of life were then influenced by it in on or the other way. The lifestyle started becoming dependent on these machines. According to economists, due to industrial revolution, standard of living went high in general population. In addition to this, because of more economic opportunities, people from rural settlements started flooding towards urban areas. In second phase of industrial revolution, between 1840 and 1870 AD, technological and economic progress took it to other level where steam engine was adopted in transport. Steam powered railways, boats and ships made connection of urban areas to other parts of world faster and easier.  Where animals and animal carts or sails were used to transport the goods across the globe, machines took over these conventional practices then. Construction of major railways and bridges connecting cities were built in second industrial revolution. These advancement in infrastructure also added up to people migrating towards cities. This rising population needed to be housed in urban precinct somehow. The chaos which happened due to this overflow of urban population in late 19^th century was needed response severely. Concept for city planning and imagining the city was required to re-thought and find an answer to this situation. Many European cities like London and Paris went through this phase and they had to undergo a major transformation in order to house the growing needs of the city.

The authorities were required to accommodate migrated people and also supposed to give adequate economic opportunities to them. The factories which opened post industrial revolution were outside the city and people needed to travel every day to factories and come back. This transit oriented lifestyle became a major shift in its kind. Traditionally people used to work from the same place where they lived, which went upside down with emergence of industries. The factory sheds became pivotal for the shift in urban form. In mediaeval towns, the marketplaces and religious institutions were epicenters of urban engagement. This moved to the mills and the transport system. Transport brought high degree of order in the urban form. Proposals for rebuilding Paris and Chandigarh are examples of the same. The urban form earlier, which used to emerge gradually, then became transport driven, because of the high amount of movement across the city for work.

The cities diagram which earlier was finite in physical form started blurring its boundary and the city started growing beyond its finite limits. Migrated people started looking for place in cities. Slums started settling around factory compounds. Authorities had to layout infrastructure which could foresee the needs of growing population and address the same with suitable solution.

As George Simmel pens it down in his literary works, Cities are the places which offer possibility to leave the feudal past and they represent modernism the best. It is a conception of a place free from notions of identity and offer a ‘fleeting experience’. When the production unit takes over a defensive unit or a market place, the city starts to stand on its promise of anonymity.

The city in writings:

Let us discuss here a few cases which were talking about transport oriented designs and movement in the city. First case I pick here is Le Corbusier’s La Ville Radieuse. Corbusier was considered one of the founding fathers of modernist movement. His fascination towards machines drove him to imagine a ‘Contemporary City’ of three million people. It was a first imaginative act which housed huge amount of population in an urban settlements. This proposal offered rigid and symmetrical grid pattern. The city had towering buildings with clean facades. They were strictly geometrical skyscrapers in the large open fields. According to Corbusier, this was not the city of tomorrow but it was a contemporary city.

Proposal for Paris by Le Corbusier

“A City made for speed is made for success”

-Le Corbusier (The City of Tomorrow and its Planning)

The plan proposed by Le Corbusier was conceived around strong notion of center. The city center was conceptualized to be constructed vertically to reduce the distances to be travelled. The residential quarters were to be built away from the transit corridors. According to Corbusier, the modern street is a new type of organism. For Corbusier, streets are mechanisms to layout the services across the city, like gas, water and electric mains. Further down the line he says, the streets are pivotal in social life as well as economic exchange and the security purposes. He says, all the streets should be accessible from ground level in order to enhance the beauty of the street along its length. The critical aspect of his plans were the road network of it. As Corbusier was fascinated with ships, liners and cars, in his proposals one can see the dominance of machines over humans. He segregated the pedestrian movement from the vehicular one to allow the vehicles to move faster. The notion of geometrical axes of the city on North – South and East – West direction leading to the city center and building the city around the core were key ideas in his proposals. The city in Corbusier’s proposal represented could be categorized in cosmic diagram as per Spiro Kostof’s City Shaped. The city followed strong hierarchical order in terms of class, function and population.

Corbusier, in his proposal for Paris and Chandigarh puts emphasis on laying out pure geometrical grid by saying, city is dying because it is not geometrical. He says city will need a uniform layout in place of haphazard arrangements. This rigid geometry means repetition. This concept of repetition connects its dots with the standardization. A standardized grid was a perfect solution for the city of tomorrow according to him.

Simultaneously if we have a look at the proposal by Frank Lloyd Wright for Broadacre City, Lloyd Wright tried to respond to the suburbia and develop a utopian neighborhood where the American families would own an acre of land to reside and use private motorcar to commute across the city. One can say that this was exactly opposite to transit oriented urban morphologies because Lloyd Wright’s neighborhoods had commercial and offices along with the residential districts. This is strikingly opposite to the proposal given by Corbusier for Paris and La Ville Radieuse. On one hand Corbusier is talking about tall buildings in large open gardens and on other end, Lloyd Wright is proposing a utopian suburbia in open field.

Model of Broadacre City by Frank Lloyd Wright

Although both the models proposed designs keeping mobility in center, they are very distinct in the lifestyle they offer. Corbusier’s City of Tomorrow puts importance on finite boundary of city to stop the city growing endlessly and having tall buildings to house more population and wide roads to cater to fast moving traffic. Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City has other prospect of city where he is trying to decentralize the economic exchange from the city center and he is trying to develop neighborhoods free from the political construct and able to flourish on their own.

Cases in India:

We can relate these cases with live cases of India and see how mobility has affected the design and how the authorities have built on it further. If we look at case of Gurgaon, the city is located on south of NCR Delhi. The city started growing around the existing village and the city witnessed rapid urbanization in and around the village. The reasons behind it could be the well-knit network of mobility. The city today is integrated to Delhi and Haryana through metro lines and rapid transit corridors for fast moving traffic. Although the city is 32 km away from urban development area of NCR Delhi and 268 km away from Chandigarh, the integrity of the mobility allowed the precinct to take up urban form and allowed economic exchange to happen. In 1970, Maruti Suzuki established their manufacturing plant in Gurgaon. This encouraged migration towards the city. The city has developed in 36 wards which are further divided in blocks. The neighborhoods and their connectivity with other parts of the city played pivotal role for the city to grow at fullest. The workers of factories like Maruti Suzuki and DLF Cyber city got adequate mobility options to travel across the city.

DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon

Another case we can discuss here is Mumbai. In a city like this where population of the city grew by 80% in time of thirty years, the mobility in city becomes crucial parameter in city’s living. The number of migrants to Mumbai from outside Maharashtra during the 1991–2001 was 1.12 million, which is to 54.8% of overall population of Mumbai. As they rightly say, local train is lifeline of Mumbai, the suburban railway network has 7.5 million commuters daily which is 40% of overall population of the city. In addition to that, as the figures say, 4.5 million people commute by bus which is another 25% of overall population of the city. The city as we know has been sitting on reclaimed land in sea. The city has grown across the sea coast and also has started sprawling towards east. The city has existing three major spines of suburban railway network. Western line which connects Church Gate to Dahanu Rd linking kandivali, and virar. Central line which links Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Kalyan and third is Harbor line which connects CST to Panvel and Andheri. This wide spread network of suburban railways is so deep rooted in the anatomy of city that it connects two extremes of the city and the urban life becomes dependent on the transition. The parallel network of movement which is functioning in the city is local buses. In addition to buses the city has cabs, auto rickshaws and private vehicles.

These mobility options act as gear of machine and they play pivotal role in the working of the urban mechanism. If we go with this figures, people travel every day from north and east Mumbai towards the fort area and southern Mumbai. These people who come to work every day, go back to north and east Mumbai at night. This mass transition of people defines a peculiar type of urbanism for the city. If we see the morphology of the city, major urban developments have happened along the railway lines. In a way suburban railway lines are becoming the means of defining the territory of the city. The distances between places starts to be measured in time required for a local train to reach. This railway tracks leave another mark on the urban fabric. They cut through densely packed urban fabric and they leave ‘shadow lines’ behind them. They divide the city in two major territorial fragments. Current city of Mumbai faces that differentiation of class and economy in east Mumbai and west Mumbai which are demarcated by the suburban railway lines.

As the city is highly dependent on these public transport system and the system is integrated in routine of Mumbai lifestyle, absence of any of these ‘gears’ may result in collapse of the urbanism. The urban life may come to a halt. We also evidences of the same regarding the same. In cases of emergencies and natural calamities like floods, the railway cannot operate, the life comes to a halt and city faces a huge consequence. One can also say that it is dangerous to have so much dependency on a transport system. In 2012, Mumbai suburban railways were made the target for terrorist attacks. This shook the whole city. This dependency of urbanism on one mechanism can control 19 million people should be re-thought.

Busy Railway Station at Thane

Now we take a look at medieval time stamps. Ahmedabad is classic case of urban transformation. The city has evolved from a feudal city to contemporary urban fabric. The city originated on banks of perineal river of Sabarmati. Medieval town of Ahmedabad grew around the social structure and an organic urban emerged out of it. This medieval town was thriving on trading of the spices and exotic goods along the silk route. The fortified city then from Mughal Empire went under the British Raj. The British rulers left the medieval urban fabric untouched and started setting up their settlements outside the fortified city near the today’s Shahibaug area. They started making their colonies and cantonments outside the walled city. Because of the industrial revolution, textile industries nurtured in 19^th century. These textile mills gave employment to thousands of people across the state. People who were in search for an economic opportunity rushed towards the city. As the census data says, the city saw average population hike of 40% every decade. The city continued to grow in radial manner and newly migrated population started settling around the city. The city flourished around mercantile business. As every other typical medieval city, Ahmedabad’s power center shifted from ruler to the merchants. These merchants laid out many infrastructure for public realm from the surplus of trading business of textile. During British raj, Ahmedabad being epicenter of economy in India then, it was well connected with other parts of India through rail network. The shift from British raj to democracy changed the city morphology. The city today has grown with co-centric rings and radials leading towards the city center. Traditionally people used city bus known as AMTS to commute across the city. The mass transit as followed the morphology of the city and most of the routes originated/terminated at the commercial center of the city. Later in 2009, Municipal Corporation introduced decentralized rapid transit system. As per official data from BRTS – Ahmedabad, on average 1,30,000 people travel in BRT on daily basis which makes just 2% of the overall population. This will leave anyone with a question. The transport system which was envisioned to take major share of public transport is not welcomed to its optimum limit. The amount of urban infrastructure which was laid to make this work may not be giving justice to the same. Major population of the city commute by private vehicles. The municipality then came up with a strategy to promote public transport. They started allowing more floor space index leading to higher density of people along the BRTS corridors. Consequence to this remains uncertain.

An underused rapid transit corridor in chaotic spine of Ahmedabad

Cases around the Globe and the turn over:

The large question here is what drives what? Is the mobility following the urban morphology or mobility is being followed by the urban form? This cases across the country leaves us thinking in today’s context and how do we foresee the city coming on board. Let’s throw some light on live cases outside India. We will simultaneously take support of some literature here. In mid-20^th century, New York and many other cities went through mass disruption due to world war. The municipal authorities were building cities again. Authorities were trying to meet the needs of rapidly growing population. The industrial revolution had also affected the life in cities and automobiles had started pouring in. There was a major shift in the notion of the street and the way streets behaved before the vehicles came into existence. The streets which one used to perceive as public space changed to major artery for transition and mobility. The machines had started taking over the public realm. The vital character behind this model was Robert Moses, the town planner and master builder of New York. Robert possessed authority of developing urban parks and transit oriented bridges and flyovers. Robert was influenced by modernist ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright and Corbusier for the post world war city planning policies.

Robert Moses aiming at industrial development, imposed his modernist ideas on urban fabrics of American towns. Robert started laying ‘functional’ network of transport oriented streets and a development plan targeting towards economic growth. This gave incentive to private industries to nurture in this capital centric environment. This moves by Robert almost killed the ideas of neighborhoods and what he achieved was a virtual maze of highways which cut through the life of people.

In 1961, people started questioning high modernism and started looking for postmodern concepts. Jane Jacobs was a journalist, author and activist who tried to raise her voice against the capitalist evolution of the urban lifestyle in American cities. Jane Jacobs started questioning the modernist ideas of Robert Moses. She started from scratch and projected issues in Robert’s Cities at grass root level.

Jane starts defying the modernist impression of Moses and challenges his approach of design guidelines in multifaceted manner. She in a way becomes advocate of common people and tries to caricaturize a human centric approach rather than a machine driven approach for urban planning. She also lays down a conceptual framework for drafting out human centric approach of urban design where she talks about mixed land use to improve quality of life, high density with smaller urban blocks to ensure walkability. She also puts emphasis on concepts like social capital and eyes of street.
One can point out this binary opposition prevailing in American society. One can relate this topic with the colonizers and the colonized. The duality which dictates the vision for the city. One can call it the dichotomy between the social (the left) and the economic (the right) where there is a constant struggle for judgement between human centric approach and technocratic approach of envisioning our cities.

Jane Jacob’s Reaction to Robert Moses’ Development of New York

Now if we look at the case of medieval town of London, it has been through many transformations over a period of time. The city has been through casualties like great fire, plague and world war. In all these phases the city almost collapsed. The city was rebuilt brick by brick each time it collapsed. Through these transformations one thing that is significant is its location. The city was re-built on the same site and not leaving it to die. A few structures which remained over time were the tower of London and St. Paul’s Cathedral. The topography of the city could be deciphered into three major elements. First and the most powerful element is the Thames River dividing the northern and southern London with its serpentine riverbed. Due to some events in history, major important places are sited in northern part of the London. The southern London is designated as a densely packed residential district with a vast network of thoroughfare. Moreover, London has variation across east to west. The flow of water and the wind is towards eastern part of England. This feature led to mills, shipping, industries towards the east and the high end residences and places for leisure grew in the western part of the London.

We can identify a strong axis being formulated in the walled city of London from St. Paul Cathedral and the tower of London. The road network was established going across the Great Britain. London city then grew around this major road network. The division of eastern and western London is marked precisely in the urban fabric of London and also the people have adopted the same. Slowly this division started losing its impact because the industry buildings were demolished and offices and residential districts came up in that region. If we look at the London’s growth over history through these distinct zones in cardinal directions, we can decipher that it has a simple circular route which defines the growth in radial manner. The epicenter of this co-centric rings is the historic walled city of London spanning across 2.8 square mile. Which has the Municipal Corporation, Offices and other Public Buildings. The immediate concentric ring to this area is a suburban belt. This suburban belt was developed during late 18^th century to the beginning of the World War 1. In this suburb area we can majorly see residential buildings with terraces and these residences are scaled in a manner which they look intimate and domestic. We can identify some out of proportion buildings which were made at the damaged sites of the World War 2 by the local authorities. The final co-centric ring is called the Outer London, which was built in 20th Century as suburban housing district. This district was erected with a great speed during 1925-39 AD. This belt has mostly semi-detached residences. These residences are a perfect blend of raw house and free-standing house. The conclusion to the concentric rings is the Metropolitan Green Belt. It gives the form to the whole capital.

Today’s London operates on multiple levels of transports. It is a classic case of public transport which one can relate with case of Mumbai. Due to his co-centric growth of city, London has transit pattern similar to Mumbai. People commute to city center in morning and come back to their residential suburbs in evening. So in evening the city core becomes empty and almost dead. Out of London’s 8.5 million population, on average 4.2 million people commute by underground metro and  daily, which is 50% of overall population of the city and 1.4 million people commute by over ground metros and black taxi. The statistical data says, in past few decades, the number of private car owners has decreased significantly and it has continued to fall further from 1.04 cars per people to 0.7 cars per person. This significant fall was a result of municipality’s decision to take congestion charge from the private car owners. Despite of having well integrated road network the authorities are promoting pubic transport to improve the street character and road safety.

Illustration of London Transit Map for Scotland Yard Board Game

 

The Strengths and the Weaknesses of Mobility driven Urban Fabric:

From the cases we discussed above we can fetch some derivations out of it. The city conceptualized around mobility can be deciphered from the morphology of the urban fabric. There are two distinct characteristics of such planning strategy. One model has a densely packed city core which constitutes the economic city center and wide spread urban sprawl around which houses the residential and institutional districts. This model witnesses major population moving from one part to the other part of the city every day.  This model offers promise of a peaceful living environment and pollution free neighborhood which is away from the hustle and bustle of city. It has On the other hand it has a few drawbacks also. It makes city economy highly dependent on the mobility. This dependency of urban life on mobility could be fragile for a city. It is a delicate situation for a city and outer force can shatter an urbanity from this one factor. Another critical aspect of such urbanity would be quality of life in city. At peculiar time in a day, some parts of the city may start becoming dead. According to Kevin Lynch, this peculiar model of urban form is ‘made up of small autonomous, undifferentiated parts, linked up together in to a great machine which in contrast has clearly differentiated functions and motions’. For Lynch this model is Practical or Functional in his morphological studies of the cities.

If we try to envision the other model where there is absence of physical center of city, the decentralization of economy reduces the distance to be traveled. This model sits in contrast to the practical model. It starts acting as an organism. As Lynch puts it forward, this model has ‘a finite boundary, an optimum size, a cohesive, indivisible internal structure and a rhythmic behavior that seeks, in the face of inevitable change, to maintain a balanced state’. If we try to look at advantages of this model, this model is integrating multiple functions in a neighborhood. On the other hand this model creates enclaves which brings out territoriality. A residential district with economic opportunity in a neighborhood may reduce everyday traveling time and distance for a worker. At the same time, if factories and mills start emerging in neighborhoods, people will start compromising with the quality of life.

While designing for mobility, there is always this binary opposition which prevails. If we go back to Jane Jacobs’ argument of quality of life being lost in modern transit oriented cities, metro cities with huge population start losing the neighborhood environment. On other hand the modernist, mobility oriented model may stand true on promise of huge surplus due to the concept of functional differentiation and mass production. To close I would say while designing for mobility, the urban designer shall double check the viability of the nature of mobility he/she is proposing. Considering the fact that people commute regularly to work, shop or leisure, mobility today could be envisioned as artery to the urban anatomy. The flow of population through these arteries become critical when this movement becomes anomalous and starts disturbing the urban life because these movements are unpredictable if it is not backed up with adequate groundwork.

Doppler Effect and Other Moods of Modernism (Robert Somol and Sarah Whiting)

The student edited architectural journal of University of Yale ‘Perspecta’, in their 21^st issue, pinpoints that architecture as profession doesn’t operate in isolation. The article says that, architecture is shaped by contingencies at every stage of its production and existence. In opposition to this, Michael Hay writes in his essay about critical architecture as precinct which operates between an autonomous entity and a cultural outcome. The text we are discussing here is pivotal argument by Robert Somol and Sarah Whiting. It is a seminal text because it provokes a thought process in theorists and practitioners about the profession and its evolution over time. The authors of the text starts their writing with fundamental question. What is architecture?

The authors put multiple facets to discuss their arguments. They sketch three major possibilities of architecture. Architecture as Cultural Construct, Architecture as an Autonomous Entity or is it a Critical Response?

Expecting a parallel inverse position, one may contend that engineering is a self-governing order of production of structures, and that it doesn’t and require not work inside a predefined system set around a prevailing society. The order does not depend upon any outer reference, for example, authentic concerns, or social connection. The sole reason for design is to convey what needs be and its characterized intellectual body. Such a socially expelled thought of self-referential outline picked up a toehold through the key contentions of innovation, and was further supported by later scholars.

 

A third position that might be accepted is one that emerged through postmodernism. It arranges itself between the said double contrary energies, and contends that design ought to be ‘basic’. It ought to have the capacity to ‘distinguish and isolate’ itself from the different powers of impact, and ought to build up the ability to ‘oppose and reflect’ upon the part of such strengths. It takes a gander at “origin” as an opposing power that empowers the creator to keep up a separation while holding an exact expectation.

 

The key contention of Somol and Whiting’s article is that there can be a fourth position that one may accept as for the control of design – the “projective” position. Projective design is, as indicated by them, one that does not generally fundamentally oppose the powers that impact the order, however recognizes and effectively draws in with them. While it is not careless in regards to the variety of variables at play, it doesn’t forcefully “oppose” them either. It intentionally integrates the numerous impacts to determine a configuration that “develops” from the mind boggling dynamic. The paper depicts basic design as ‘hot’, one that is revolves around resistance and dynamic ‘definition and outline’, while portraying the projective as “cool” – a ‘rising arrangement’. It alludes to its own title in comprehension the projective as far as the ‘Doppler effect”.

 

Architecture Depends (Jeremy Till)

The text is a revolt in its nature towards profession of architecture and it tries to wake the generation to re-look at condition of the practice of architecture. The author of the book, Jeremy Till, is a practicing architect and educator based in England. In early 21^st century his writings become provoking text to rethink the state of architecture profession. The writer portrays the key issue in field of architecture that the profession which was conventionally secluded and autonomous in nature, has become very dependent on the things which are around it. One can easily make it out from the title of the book that the author is trying to ignite a discussion on what are the factors affecting state of architecture, people, time, space or program? So the author says all these factors which affect architecture start influencing architecture in one or the other way. So how long architecture is in control of an architect?

The text is subdivided in three major segments. Contingencies, Time Space and Architecture as a Dependent Profession. To begin, the author says, “Mess is the law”. He says it is nearly impossible to imagine the profession in its pure and clear form. The world is ‘messy’. So he tries to pull the strings to be optimistic about these dependencies and how can they be opportunities rather than an insecurity for the profession.

In first segment the author examines, how design has maintained a strategic distance from connection with different fields. From the understudy stage, we are made to trust that design is an alternate control. The entire procedure of setting up a studio, giving theoretical issues and requested that think “openly” without outside strengths is scrutinized and ridiculed in the book. We architects believe the same and create black boxes in our profession as if nothing really matters. The design juries which make the understudies hopeless and the way that this expert world being male focused is ridiculed as well.

He says that “virtue is a myth” and that we live in steady daydream and have false symbols. Amongst innovation, rather than confronting the substances of configuration, more dividers were fabricated and compositional calling got detached. In the responses to innovation, there were individuals like Robert Venturi who contended for the untidy imperativeness of our manufactured surroundings that present day architecture totally overlooked. Christopher Alexander in “the example dialect” likewise discussed how individuals can make their own constructed surroundings, and that the power of an architect is not required dependably. Be that as it may, Jeremy Till is the key individual who brings up this as for contemporary education and predictability in architecture.

This book is a key content since it speculates the current condition and way to deal with design training and expert practice and how it should be re-looked at in changed routes and through their firm they have concocted distinctive ways to deal with engineering instruction and practice. It solidly says that modelers need to manage possibilities and can’t deny that.

(501 words)

Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture (Christopher Norberg Schulz)

The time in which the foundation of the text lies is post world war scenario. World had started criticizing the high modernism and works of designers like Corbusier and Mies Van de Rohe. Cities which were constructed post industrial revolution and post-world war were criticized heavily because of absence of humane environ in the urban precinct. People had started moving out of these cities and the life in cities had started to decay.

The author of the book, Christopher Norberg Schulz, through his book tries to pin point the key issues which are neglected while imagining the spaces. Schulz in his other book ‘Intentions in Architecture’ talks about the psychological aspect of architecture. Schulz starts particularly this seminal text with provoking questions of psychological studies. He asks how humans experience spaces and how do they orient themselves in space?

“A Place is a qualitative, ‘total’ phenomenon, which we cannot reduce to any of its properties such as spatial relationships, without losing its concrete nature out of sight” (p 8, Genius Loci)

By saying so he says spaces are made up of multiple aspects. It is an environment which is interwoven with finer aspects which surround it. He further strengthens the argument by saying that all these factors have their say in making of the place because absence of any one will change the space/place completely. One can relate this line of thought with writings of Juhani Pallasmaa, where in ‘Eyes of the Skin’ he discusses embodied knowledge and he prescribes to the knowledge which each sensorial part of the body carries. Pallasmaa gives examples of body as a sensing whole and he says hand thinks while operating/acting. In continuation to the thought process, Pallasmaa says, ‘architecture is not just space but it is an experience’. He says visual sense dominates every other sense. In addition to that, Pallasmaa says ‘architecture is in bodily engagement with environment’.

Schulz, in his writings, refers to Borromini and Corbusier to discuss Renaissance and La Tourette. The author says modern environment does not respond to the needs of people. He says architecture, according to him, should be ‘eternal, significant and ingenious’. Through his writings a few conceptions which come out strikingly discuss environmental psychology and how people respond to space. His this writings come with a few preconceived notions regarding phenomenology and how people associate in environmental psychology. His studies about experiences are more psychological. The author also has taken structuralist approach towards phenomenon. Schulz’s major arguments are from view of architects. The text become seminal in its field as it gave new vantage in field of architectural theory.

(440 words)

 

The Structure of the Ordinary (John Habraken)

The time in which the text was written was result of modernism and post-world war scenario. Due to world war, cities had witnessed huge amount of destruction. The world was looking for a new architecture. Seminal texts like ‘Supports and Alternatives in Mass Housing’ were penned down by Habraken in late 20^th century to address the overwhelming needs of mass housing. At same time, architects like Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier were trying to redefine the architecture in their own language. Bauhaus became an epicenter of movement to search for new architecture.

Due to mass disruption in cities like Berlin and Stuttgart in Germany, there was housing shortage in cities. In addition to this, due to industrialization, there was a major migration which was seen towards cities. This brought massive number of population in urban precinct. This brought a mammoth challenge in front of the authorities. They were required to design and build maximum housing for people at one go. The era of modernism and industrial revolution made the process of mechanization and mass production easy.

There was another wind of Arts and Crafts Movement which blew against the flow of industrial revolution. It came up as a reaction to the industrialization and modernism. This reaction to high modernism can be classified in three major segments.

1. Post Modernism
2. Critical Regionalism – Not being Universal or Timeless
3. Deconstruction – Works of Tschumi and Eisenman

One of the reactions started addressing this issue from different vantage. While modernism projected architecture as a finite object in space, this reaction questioned the position of modernism by stating that Architecture may not result in a finite object and it undergoes a process of in-habitation. The building remains open and it witnesses the process of change.

The text touches these finer aspects of the search of new architecture. This text provokes basic questions of defining architecture. What is the sequence of decision making while designing? How do we prioritize between Physical Order, Territorial Order and Cultural Order?  The author quotes, “Built environment resembles organisms than artifact” in this line of thought he says built form should be studied as organisms.

“Interaction between people & form they inhabit is fundamental concept of built environment”

The author says, one cannot remove the person out of the built environment. The built forms act as organisms. They continue to interact with the context. These organisms adopt to the changes.

“For designers and planners, function is a priority when in reality, use is neither static nor passive”.

Habraken puts emphasis on ‘space’ determined by the ‘need in peculiar time’. He says the spatial construct should be a blend of multiple elements put together. Habraken proposes a method to achieve this which he calls live configuration. In this live configuration one can re-imagine/re-organize the spatial construct as per need and the time. Author also criticizes dead configurations which do not employ restructuring of the spaces as per needs. By putting this argument forward, he tries to reverse the way spaces are imagined. He criticizes loss of identity in mass housing. Author says the mass housing should offer multi-purpose spaces.

(516 words)

Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jane Jacobs)

The time which became stimuli for the author to pen down the revolutionary text was post Second World War. The cities had been under massive stroke of mass disruption. American cities had observed a considerable amount of rise in population after First World War till post second world war. Authorities were trying to meet the needs of rapidly growing population. The industrial revolution had also affected the life in cities and automobiles had started pouring in. There was a major shift in the notion of the street and the way streets behaved before the vehicles came into existence. The streets which one used to perceive as public space changed to major artery for transition and mobility. The machines had started taking over the public realm. The vital character behind this model was Robert Moses, the town planner and master builder of New York. Robert possessed authority of developing urban parks and transit oriented bridges and flyovers. Robert was influenced by modernist ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright and Corbusier for the post world war city planning policies.

                “Cities are for Traffic. A city without traffic a ghost town… …A City made for speed is made for success” (Corbusier, A Contemporary City, 1929)

Robert Moses aiming at industrial development, imposed his modernist ideas on urban fabrics of American towns. Robert started laying ‘functional’ network of transport oriented streets and a development plan targeting towards economic growth. This gave incentive to private industries to nurture in this capital centric environment. This moves by Robert almost killed the ideas of neighborhoods and what he achieved was a virtual maze of highways which cut through the life of people.

In 1961, people started questioning high modernism and started looking for postmodern concepts. Jane Jacobs was a journalist, author and activist who tried to raise her voice against the capitalist evolution of the urban lifestyle in American cities. Jane Jacobs started questioning the modernist ideas of Robert Moses. She started from scratch and projected issues in Robert’s Cities at grass root level.

Jane starts defying the modernist impression of Moses and challenges his approach of design guidelines in multifaceted manner. She in a way becomes advocate of common people and tries to caricaturize a human centric approach rather than a machine driven approach for urban planning. She also lays down a conceptual framework for drafting out human centric approach of urban design where she talks about mixed land use to improve quality of life, high density with smaller urban blocks to ensure walkability. She also puts emphasis on concepts like social capital and eyes of street.

To close I would like to point out this binary opposition prevailing in society. One can relate this topic with the colonizers and the colonized. The duality which dictates the vision for the city. One can call it the dichotomy between the social (the left) and the economic (the right) where there is a constant struggle for judgement between human centric approach and technocratic approach of envisioning our cities.

(499 words)

After the Masters (Vikram Bhatt, Peter Scriver)

The book has its roots anchored in mid-20^th century. At that time, the world had started questioning ideas of high modernism and had started looking for alternative style which can adapt/accommodate to conditions and separating itself from prevailing the ‘universal’ style. At same time in India, people had started questioning the way we look at Contemporary Indian Architecture. People had ignited a discussion in line of imagining a path where one can modulate/tweak modernist ideas and concepts in regional context. It was the era when high modernism had started to decline. The legacy which modernism and modernist ideas left behind for postmodern movements started reacting to them.  It had started

While discussing this major shift from high modernism to the postmodern movements in India, one can see two distinct practices which prevailed in the works of masters. One can definitely distinguish between works of architects like Achyut Kanvinde, Charles Correa, Hasmukh Patel, Balkrishna Doshi and Habibur Rahman and works of Leo Pereira or Gurjeetsingh Matharoo and their contribution in field of architecture. This movement also provoked a very important question at same time. ‘How one can look at modernism and how can it inform contemporary architecture in India?

Vikram Bhatt and Peter Scriver having a background of connection with architecture in Indian subcontinent they discuss their arguments about Architecture in India. Vikram Bhatt starts the discussion in by pinching an idea whether can we have a Regional Modernity? At same time the text raises arguments for Contemporary Architecture. The book lies between this dichotomy of legacy of past and alternative practices in architecture.

The text is largely divided in five segments. It starts with a quest. The authors put forward this argument by saying Can we have a universal modernism? They also try to inquire whether modernism can offer a variant in form of ‘regional modernism’. Further down the line they start discussing the origins of this movement. The authors put forward the legacies created by modernism and the colonial vision. They also take the case of Chandigarh to discuss how modernist approach towards the project of town planning has informed the strategies for modern cities. They critique Corbusier’s ideas for modern towns and they draw the discussion back to the roots.

The text in later segments starts talking about what are the alternative architecture practices for a developing nation like India. They start discussion by projecting design as accent of social change. They discuss the concept of architect as a social activist and their role in society. They take this discussion ahead by introducing the idea of public works department and their legacy in Indian subcontinent.

To culminate, the text tries to connect the dots between modernism and its implications in contemporary Indian architecture. It also tries to contextualize the prevailing practices in India and how they become a critique on high modernism. The text becomes stimuli for imagining modernism which was not ‘generalized’ or ‘universal’ and subscribes to modernism which is ‘regional’ or ‘contextual’.

(496 words)

Towards a New Architecture – Le Corbusier

The time which became stimuli for the author to pen down the text is multifaceted. This was time when the modernism had started taking over the traditionalism and classic renaissance age. The noticeable cultural reform took place in Europe and other Western part of the world. The industrial age revolutionized the way society used to function earlier. Urban areas became more promising in order to give more economic opportunities and they became epicenters of energies. People had started moving towards cities and the machines had started replacing human labor. At the same time, colonialism was at its peak in Asia, Africa which connected dots with Europe. Two movements took place, one was the Age of Rationale-Relation of Human with Nature, Context and Human race itself. The other was the French revolution discussing Liberty, Equity and Fraternity. People had started questioning idea of enlightenment itself saying ‘Is Enlightenment really liberating?’ New definitions had emerged about modernity stating a wild energy swimming in a sea of disorder and industrialization as a destructing force of oration. Two men whose work influenced that era, Charles Darwin & Karl Marx-who worked on larger connections with society and nature. In the same time the concept of an artist as a superman and rise of consciousness of ‘the other – an ideal indigene’ in an individual became prevalent.

The author ignites the writing with questioning modernity and the concept/qualities of modern man. He also puts emphasis on the meaning of humanity in the facade of immense cultural conflict. The text then puts two entities on same scale and questions their validity – An engineer’s Aesthetics and Architecture, what is diverse and how they remain distinct. He further goes dictating the reminders for architects about Mass, Surface and Plan. He quotes ‘The Plan is the Generator’, which pours order and willfulness in the design and it should be re-imagined for the needs for future. He gives illustrations of his own works and relates it with works of Mimar Sinan and Bernini. While doing so, he criticizes works of other masters and tries to flaunt his ideas and push himself as a master of new era. He further dictates qualities an architect should hold. He demonstrates his vigor towards work through the designs he exhibits in the book.

“…The ‘styles’ are a lie. Style is a unity of principle animating all the work of an epoch, the result of a state of mind which has its own special character. …” (Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture)

Corbusier was very much fascinated with machines, ship liners and airplanes. He uses modern technology to compare the classic high renaissance buildings with a liner. He uses this modern marvels of the time to relate them with architecture. He tries to define architecture with help of the best in class machines of that era. He uses Delage and Caproni and tries to search a standard.

“…Architecture goes beyond utilitarian needs. Architecture is a plastic thing. The spirit of order, a unity of intention. The sense of relationships: architecture deals with qualities. Passion can create drama out of inert stone.” (Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture)

To close, the text, tries to juxtapose the field of architecture with other faculties of innovation. He takes metaphors to contextualize architecture in time. He totally disruptions notion of orthodoxy and sentimentality. He tries to find mechanism in field of architecture through order and regulating lines. He constantly follows the duality which leads him to call Architecture as Revolution.

Ornament, Futurism and Machines

Inception of the text is anchored in early 20^th century in Europe, the time when modernism was just beginning to flourish in America and other a few parts of Europe. People had started looking at concept of mind-body balance and the idea of a compendium in the field of architecture. People were canonizing the idea of beauty and started to categorize it in an order. This was the time when new ideas about spaces were emerging. New buildings were coming up with neat forms and reduced ornamentation. The architecture was redefining itself according to newer materials like steel. The literature we have here to talk, shook the whole Europe and the world and ascended from the classic styles prevailing in Europe and other parts of America. The margin between classes became stimuli behind the rise of an era which provoked a consciousness of ‘the other’ in the individual and the concept of questioning one’s own position.

Insurgent text by the architect and influential theoretician Adolf Loos, pens down the vicious anger towards the stark contrast between the elite and the labor class. He starts questioning the position of modern man in society, and the morality of an industrial, modern human. He starts to scrutinize aesthetics in other than ornaments. He further lays down an immense cultural reform. He exposes the dichotomy perception of critical analysis and pictorial beauty. He puts emphasis on the simpler order, the order which is in equilibrium, when it is in the most basic and stable form rather than concerning about the pictorial part of the order. He insists on removal of ornamentation by quoting “Strip itself of whatever is superfluous”. He defines a cultured modern man for whom aesthetics is pleasure of simplicity. He uses several examples where he puts the laborer or the craftsman, the marginalized slab of society and their livelihood in center. He also questions the government by seeking response to the social cost of ornamentation by the consumption of energy and health and economy.

More ammunition was added when the aspiring artists from Paris wrote an article to revive the order and look forward for the new form of order which led to cultural change. This article, which they called as Manifesto of Futurism, became the trigger for people to fight the morality and question everything that was put in front of them.

“…the multi-colored and polyphonic surf of revolutions in modern capitals: the nocturnal vibration of the arsenals and the workshops beneath their violent electric moons…”  (Marinetti, Manifesto of Futurism)

The life, which was earlier still, changed to dynamic. The larger movement which started talking about movement, speed, process, time and evolution of form rather than the classic high renaissance homogeneous stills. The team of young artists started giving importance from the object to the process of its shaping. Marinetti, whose aggressive article on the Manifesto for Futurism where forms of art started reflecting divergent materials and use of blended media.

To terminate, I would put these two piece of text in context of history where they changed the pace at which the mind-body balance used to re-organize itself. A vigor to remove the meaningless tedious labor and removing the bar of class provokes to new order of future. Thought the authors couldn’t demonstrate/contribute in the line of their writings, their writings spoke on behalf of them which illustrated the idea of futurist order.

(564 words)

Amdavad no Itihas & Architecture at Ahmedabad

 The writings we are going to discuss today are from mid-19^th century. Both the writings talk about same place but address to different audiences. The writings are theoretically talking about history of Ahmedabad city and from its foundation and details about the prevailing situations. The first text we will discuss was the outcome of a competition floated by Gujarat Vernacular Society. An effort started during the progressive movement and the craving to reinterpret the culture and to canonize the knowledge collected. The British rulers wanted someone to decipher architecture in India. They also started English medium school to educate people in India who can do audit work for them. The author of ‘Amdavad no Itihaas’, Maganlal Vakhatchand Sheth, was one of the Scholar of this school. While working for Gujarat Vernacular Society, Maganlal wrote several articles and essays capturing the topics to reflect the everyday life.

The text is largely divided into three segments. First part talks about Ancient History, which covers foundation of the city and the Mughal Empire. This segment refers to the interviews with people and by observing things. Second part addresses Modern History, which deals with Maratha Empire and British Rule. He deciphered it from the gossips prevailing in brit offices and talking to aged people. Third and last part talks about the existing scenario of the city and descriptions of Pols and other important buildings. He talks about factual statistics like population, type of productions and social structure. He also refers to works of Mr. Burgess for this segment.

The text is important for its place in history for many reasons. It starts with concept of Historicism and idea of objectivity. The author reads architecture, interprets the same and tries to find the meaning frozen in the glaze of time. Another text ‘Architecture at Ahmedabad: the capital of Goozerat’ was written by James Fergusson, an architect and historian. Fergusson talks about the Ahmedabad the way British Govt can understand it. The physical and analytical aspects of the built, how experts look at it, largely skipping the how people see it or it affects the society. It is the stand the author takes to discuss analytical facade than the pictorial one. He also talks about the important buildings like Maganlal Vakhatchand but the major difference in his writings is, the classification of the architecture at elemental construct and decoding it with historiographical terminologies to forge the complete portrait for the Englishmen reading it overseas.

According to me, the major shift in both the texts is the perceivable qualities of history documented in linguist manner. One text is referring to the experiential beauty of the architecture and the other text is talking about the spatial qualities of the same. Their perception/take on the same topics vary according to the agencies they are writing for, approach of canonizing the material for writing they have taken, their own background and the most critical, the reason behind the writing. Both the texts are imperative on their reasons for the Historical Narration of the same place at same time.

(508 words)