Architecture is…….

Renowned architect Jaffer AA Khan gave a lecture on “Architecture is….” Recently in Chennai. Attended by practicing architects and students of architecture in Chennai the lecture started with the concept of five elements of nature as mentioned in Vedas and their significance and relationship with architecture. He said, architecture is like a living organism just like the planet earth and that the planet itself is a unique gift from the creator and under the trusteeship of man. And what man has done to this planet, is just destroying it in every way he could. He said architects have special significance and responsibility in terms of preserving the environment and build to compliment nature and not contradict. Ultimately , architects have a social responsibility like Winston Churchill once said” We shape the buildings and the buildings shape us”.

His lecture continued with the IGNCA competition project which he did in 1986 as soon as he came back from London after completing his post graduation from the Bartlett, UCL. The project was unique in many ways as it talks about the “Theory of Evolution and Involution”. He reiterated that a center representing Indian arts need to posses the spirit of Indian culture and that is where he worked on BINDU-NADA- MOOLA TIUKONA-PAREMEYA-SWASTIKA idea evolved from Sri Yantra which represents the beautiful abstraction of balance and unification of nature and consciousness in its unique posture. This is what our culture teaches us, the balance of positive and negative forces in nature and the harmony of creative phenomenon.

He applied this philosophy in many of his projects but said that he is still looking for a suitable client to express this idea in its fullest form and that will be his ultimate mission.

The second half of the lecture was very interesting as he spellbound the audience with his works for the past 25 years. His home town Vellore Fort and the Jalakandeswarar Temple inside has had a lasting impact on him and his practice. He recalled as a kid visiting the fort very often and the monumentality of its form always was deep in his mind. He remembered how a study of this fort and temple in 1980 as part of national competition won Loius-I-Kahn Award instituted by The Vastu Shilpa Foundation, Ahmedabad by world renowed master architect Shri, BV Doshi and from then on there was no looking back he said.

Having established a small one room office in 1985 in Vellore he has come a long way from joint family Hameed House in 1985 until his own home in Bangalore in 2005. he showcased a variety of projects with many of them nominated for International awards and nominations. He also said the period between 1993 to 1999 was a period of intellectual enrichment with several international projects and winning of the International Academy of Architecture Award in 1993 for his work on “Urban Ecology of Maisons Alfort Charenton, Paris”. He said this project was interesting because it was an example of how a city should not be developed in hurry as happened in the case of Paris after WWII. The cities will continue to grow and will pose a greater threat to human survival in the future as the human concentration keeps growing here. This is the case of all cities in the world and Chennai is no different. Among the other award winning projects is the Periagraharam Mosque in Erode built by the Periagrahama Muslim Community. This was nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1995 and listed as a significant contribution to the 20^th century contemporary islamic architecture and is part of the MIT Harvard archives.

His lecture continued with the latest project inBangalore a 937 unit housing project which he jointly developed the design with his UK associates and was singularly involved in developing the design brief for the project. “The Gardens” as it is called is a botanist’s delight with 300 trees and some of them more than 100 years old. The foot print of the building is dictated by the location of the trees and hence the evolution of elliptical design of tower blocks and free flowing form of the podium and basements. This is one of its kind projects in India he said as it was the third project in the country certified by MOEF in 2005 under the new regulations on environment. This project a unique private development as the flora and fauna is well preserved with the architecture itself responding well to the bioclimatic conditions of Bangalore. Apart from this the project incorporates, Solar Energy for hot water and common lighting, Water management, Rain water harvesting and recharging and solid waste management. This is probably first time a private developer has attempted on a multi-family dwelling units in a massive scale. A tough design to execute, the developers a well reputed group had the wherewithal to complete the project which will go into occupancy soon. One can see the marriage of nature and the man - made in this project, he said.

He concluded his talk by telling his architect friends and the students that planet is under trusteeship by the creator and let us all join hands to save it by atleast creating a responsible and responsive architecture.