SCIENCE AND ARCHITECTURE IN PUNE

For three days towards the end of January’ 2002 the British Council, FEED (Forum for Exchange and Excellence in Design) and the IUCAA (Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics) jointly brought together renowned architects Charles Correa, Charles Jencks and several leading architects and students from Pune to discuss the subject of science and architecture. Eminent scientists like Dr. Jayant Naralikar, Dr. C.V. Vishweshwara, Dr. Yashpal and Dr. Ajit Kembhavi interacted with the architects to search for common ground in a given take of paradigms like the expanding universe, the black hole, quarks and broken symmetry which lie at the foundation of our understanding of the Cosmos.

Architect Charles Correa:India’s most celebrated Architect Charles Correa was in Pune to show some of his

lesser known works and as a participant and the conference was his brainchild. He participated in the conference and introduced many diverse ideas and concepts through his presentation entitled Blessings of the sky.

Charles Jencks: Recently the well-known Architectural critic and Guru of post-modernism in

Architecture Charles Jencks visited Pune and gave a talk on the new paradigm in Architecture where he related happenings from the world of science which had a bearing on the expression of Architecture

According to him the ancient world view started changing in the sixteenth century due to the age of reason. Discoveries by Galileo, Newton, Kepler and many other scientists propounded the theory of a universe that was mechanical (it could be demonstrated by means of a mechanical toy!), Reductivist and minimal – (it used minimal elements and reduced the understanding of the universe in terms of simple formulae and phenomena), Deterministic (it was easy to determine the forces that acted on the planets and science was seen as a tool for discoveries and inventions about the physical world), self same (once you know a part of the universe the others were the same or the phenomena that governed them were the same!). Mr. Jencks demonstrated how theorists from the eighteenth century (Violet-le-duc) and those down to the 20th

century (Le Corbusier, Wright or even Norman Foster) used the above world view to express it in their works.

Further he spoke about theories of the origins of the universe (e.g. the Big Bang!) which were completely irrational and which almost said that ‘your mother was a fire-cracker’.

Mr. Jencks used several analogies from the world of painting and artists from the Renaissance to the Impressionists who expressed the then new world view, (as opposed to that of the Pre-renaissance periods in Europe – the ancient classical civilizations, the Middle ages etc.)

It was his contention that we are on the verge of a new world view about the universe wherein Einstein’s theory of relativity, discoveries about the Black Holes, other galaxies and the expanding cosmos are leading to a new consciousness about the cosmos.

According to him the world of Fractals, self-similar patterns, the unpredicted ability of phenomena, discoveries of various natural phenomena like the DNA are already being expressed by some contemporary architects. Quoting the Nobel Physicist Phil Anderson who said ‘More is different’ as against Mies Van der Rohes’ dictum of ‘Less is More’. He continued to say that various organizing principles in the process of creation of form are important e.g. waves are an organizing principle and culture is wave-formation; Architecture is a particle system. The waves of the plates of the continents or those formed by a stick when passed across a film of oil had striking similarities.

Jencks demonstrated his expressions of the new consciousness through designs for landscaped gardens in England and Scotland where landforms, paving patterns, structure and sculptures was used to express ideas of science. The Scottish garden, which used the Tartan grid as a basic organizing principle was divided into six parts wherein each part was dedicated to a sense using gross, popular and transcendental objects and vegetation to convey all the six senses. The private garden spread across 30 acres uses one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century the Watson and Crick DNA double helix as a constant form used sculpturally. Each part heightens the sense of touch, smell, taste and so on.

Dr. Jayant Naralikar:As a part of the interdisciplinary tradition of the IUCAA (Inter University Centre

of Astronomy and Astrophysics), Pune’s most celebrated Astrophysicist Dr. Jayant Naralikar spoke about the aspects that interest him. These were divided into three sections of (a) Symmetry (b) Motion and (c) Illusions.

In symmetry, the Laws of Symmetry on the break down of symmetry, the physical laws that governed such phenomena and their expression as mathematical structure were important. Group theories and their behavior in the cosmos were subjects of further interest and hence inquiry. Dr. Naralikar said that there was a perfect democracy among planetary phenomena and it was an overriding cosmological principle.

Motion that was expressed as rotation, pulsation or expansion was central to cosmic phenomena and its exploration using mathematical principles was an interesting journey.

Illusions, which are phenomena that affect human perception, were divided into supraliminal functions, lensing and about angular size. The Georgian and Renaissance understanding of the straight line perspective and linear time and static space was superceded by ideas of curvature of space and time when seen on a cosmological scale.

Due to the vast distances and various relative positions of cosmological objects angular size as perceived by various telescopes played an important role in determining the reality about the objects.

Prof. C.V. Vishweshwara:

Prof. C.V. Vishweshwara, the eminent physicist from Bangalore whose sense of humour did not go unnoticed by everyone present talked about the ‘Architecture of Nature’.

Einstein, according to him, had once spoken about a ‘COSMIC RELIGION’. If the ‘S’ in the cosmic were deleted, the resultant effect would be interesting.

Geometry, according to Prof. Vishweshwara was the ‘basic scaffolding of the universe’. Some extraordinary principles of geometry are conveyed through natural phenomena in the universe.

Honeybees, which were extraordinary social organizers, used ‘dance’ as a form of communication. Using a richly illustrated presentation Dr. Vishweshwara conveyed that the cell of a behive is a Rhombic Dodecahedron, which minimizes area to maximize volume. It is only in 1960s Hungarian Mathematician Feejes Roth (please check the name) improved upon the bees and showed that it is marginally possible for man to improve on the bees. In this way he undermined the blasphemous statement by Samuel Koeing that ‘man cannot improve upon nature’.

Moving further to the statement by Mopertry about minimization of action or least action, a phenomena not only restricted to bureaucrats but also as he demonstrated many aspect of nature. Using a Rembrandt for illustration he showed the soap bubble as an instance of free minimal surface. This bubble modifies its shape when it lands on a leaf.

Vohox used this phenomenon in stained glass in the form of Balloting Balls.

Quoting various examples about the sphere as a minimization of a free surface Dr. Vishweshwara cited findings of J.A.F. Plateau (1801-1883), the solar physicist and his theories of the tetrahedral soap bubble, the geodesic dome of Buckminister Fuller, the cable nets for the Munich Olympics derived from the soap bubble, and the epigenetic landscapes of Prof. Allen Mcharg, the famous crystallographer. The sculptural tower designed by Prof. Mcharg under the synonym of Sho-Takahashi and the amazing repertoire of his forms created from quasi crystals were a treat to the form-lovers.

Using the logarithmic spiral of the Nautilus shell Dr. Vishneshwara explained the importance of Cycloids. The hawk takes a cycloidal path to pounce in his prey as it is the shortest path when taken against gravity and wind pressure. He extended the analogy to Geodetics and reiterated that the hollow organs of the human body like the heart and stomach were based on the principle of geodetics.

Dr. Vishweshwara read out a hilarious passage from Salvador Dali’s book on ‘50 Secrets of magic craftsmanship’ where honeyed strings could be laid on the body of a voluptuous female model and the resultant grid would be comprised of geodetics!

Dr. Vishweshwara then quoted the 5th century B.C. Hindu Texts – Apastambha – Sulva Sutra where the string theory mentioned earlier was iterated. A reference was also made to the ‘Vakrapaksha Siyanachit’ (context to be clarified). He then made yet another reference to Salvador Dali, the early 20th century Spanish surrealist artist for whom the Dodecahedron represents the cosmos.

After an amazing display of galaxy spirals and passing references to steady state/ unsteady state, Dr. Vishweshwara closed with a painting by Alonzo Eusebio about simpler universe where a mountain sits on an elephants’ atop a tortoise which is supported by the coils of a serpent!

Dr. Ajit Kembhavi:Dr. Ajit Kembhavi of IUCAA brought to the gallery an extraordinarily rich

collection of photographs of the cosmic explorations and their translation with the help of digital technology. In association with the eminent photographer Ashwini Mehta, Dr. Kembhavi had collected stunning pictures of our own and other galaxies. Elliptical, whirlpool, ellipsoid and several shapes, colours he said could be used to enrich architectural space (e.g. use of visuals on stained glass).

Charles Jencks informed that there was a group of Artists in England who used nature as a basis for art without modifying the basic nature of the objects. Architect Deepak Kambhuj introduced the idea of various instruments for perception such as the

telescopes, the computer etc. as an extension of our senses (a hypothesis put forward by Marshall McLuhan).

Architect Narendra Dengle:Architect Narendra Dengale spoke about the aesthetics of space. He started with

an example of the Dogon situated in the upper Niger basin. These people are set to have an understanding of 14 levels of the universe, which is reflected in their pattern of settlement. He drew certain patterns in the architecture of wadas in Konkan, where the central axis which was a visual and climatic axis was to kept completely free of objects and was a strong movement corridor. He classified architecture into need-based, sellable, fantasy-oriented etc. and gave his versions of how and whether the aesthetics of space played any role in them. The comprehension of the space as represented by Sky according to the ancient Hindu scripts encompassed four types of ‘Aakash’ viz. Chitta, Chid, Bhoot and Tamas.

The Discussion:Charles Jencks talked about the French philosopher Andre Malreaux for whom

the most ‘perfect’ (not beautiful) building was the Borobodur. He further went on to quote ‘the only thing incomprehensible about the universe is that it seems comprehensible’.

Architect Charles Correa drew the attention of the gathering to trees which were self-similar rather than plastic trees, which were self-same.

Dr. Vishweshwara in the closing analysis made references to the Bilbao Museum by Frank Gehry and likened it to a crumpled cigarette foil and reiterated Eisenberg’s theory of blending parts of the whole in harmony.

Finally the aim of the organizers, which was to bring about the free and lively exchange of ideas through commentary and discussions was largely fulfilled. The invitation, which appropriately put the challenge in transforming these ideas into symbolic representations through contemporary architecture and design, might take a long time to realize.

Aftermath:

Logic and designIn 1980 George Godwin Limited of London (a book publishing subsidiary of the

Builder Group) published a book written by Krome Barrat entitled Logic and design in art, science and mathematics (ISBN 0-7114-4206-1). This book draws upon a vast body of ideas from art, science and mathematics but also aesthetics, psychology, ideas, technical and graphic design.

The latter half of the twentieth century was about the convergence of diverse disciplines that had specialized and super-specialized into mutually unrelated percepts beginning from the Renaissance and culminating in the two World Wars. Bridges were being built between seemingly unrelated disciplines just as in the pre-renaissance period. This book belongs to that genre which supports the convergence of ideas, which relates to the perception of a coherent and interrelated universe.

It uses a good 300 pages divided into 15 chapters and through richly illustrated sketches in black and white to support ‘Constructivism, and its complement, Expressionism,..as a media of a search for a philosophy in the twentieth century that is commensurate with current technology and scientific discovery’. The geometric origins of this thought have been traced to Pythagoras based on a philosophy prepared by Plato. Diverse subjects ranging from Rhythm, Dramatisation, Same and Similar, Geometry of Curves to Simple Oscillatory structures, Progressions and growth etc. have been discussed with consummate skill to produce a book of immense significance to designers, thinkers and scientists. The book draws heavily from films, poetry, drama, literature and ends with a poem by Lewis Carroll who, in everyday life, was a teacher of mathematics.

Endpiece: The above Conference and the Book which were instrumental in expanding and

augmenting the intellectual atmosphere in Pune are both at the behest of the British Council. These have helped me immensely in my profession as well as my hobbies. One of our ongoing projects for a twin-house at Chinchwad encompasses a good part of the above discourse. Two houses designed on a series of ellipses and having an elliptical courtyard in the centre uses fractals in the form of stone masonry to express many ideas mentioned above.

Kiran KalamdaniArchitectMarch 10, 2002

Addendum Nov 25, 2006

Relativity of architectural concepts!

The recent article sent by Vijay (Matange) (Contrasting Concepts of Harmony in Architecture: The 1982 Debate Between Christopher Alexander and Peter Eisenman; An Early Discussion of the "New Sciences" of Organised Complexity in Architecture, 2003), reopened the new debate on whether we are at the threshold of yet another era in architecture where we look back at concepts of de-constructivism or harmony with the benefit of relative distance from their inception.

I take this opportunity to use the building designed and completed recently (incidentally it was called ‘Harmony’ based on a poem, which was in turn inspired by a group of nests that existed in the site before the building was built, the owners then named it “Krutartha” meaning the consummation of an ambition) as a test case to see how these concepts apply in relation to the smaller or larger frame of reference that we choose to see them in. Relativity of architectural concepts!

The plot of land which is opposite the place where I stay was lying vacant since it was plotted in the mid nineteen sixties. A group of teachers and staff (Marwari Jains who had migrated to Maharashtra long ago) from a Jain school in this newly urbanizing town of Pimpri Chinchwad bought pieces of land ranging from 250 sqm to 500 sqm. Some of them sold their plots to the newly settling doctors, accountants and others. This particular plot was bought by a doctor who saw it as an investment for over thirty years and sold it in the year 2001. The buyer incidentally was the son (Kishor) of a lady who belonged to the teacher community mentioned earlier. By this time a new street was laid to the western side of the plot giving it access from both the eastern and western streets. Architecturally the plot had the prospect of generating a Janus faced animal looking east and looking west at the same time literally and figuratively. In another frame of reference the house addressed to the city as a landmark through its presence on the new street, while it addressed to the local community through the street on the east which is used for daily access.

Here the concept of the unseen and larger scheme of things that some people call destiny, some call fate, others call it co-incidence, is tested. Depending on one’s worldview everyone is free to form opinions and stick to them, or change them as the mechanism of the cosmos becomes clearer at a later date. One point of view says, that it was pre-ordained that the Jains would ultimately use the plot. The other would assert that it was simply co-incidental that things happened this way. The different frames of reference from modern to ancient, local to city level, in the evolving urban matrix make up for the dynamic canvas on which architecture is seen as an equally dynamic phenomenon.

A good number of the buyers from the teacher community who shared ‘Gandhian’ values of simple – living and high thinking built humble little houses (800 to 1200 square feet) depending on their affordability. None of these houses could ever afford architects or even aspire to even any architectural values worth mentioning in our contemporary sense of the word. They were happy with their engineer designed and built houses. The buyer being a civil engineer by vocation had recently forsaken his job and had taken to being a developer of sorts with some other business (lottery) that his parents or members of the rest of the community would have frowned at. He had lived his formative years in the strictly frugal style with strong religious beliefs and practices that had moulded him into a rebel of sorts. He had therefore developed an alternative system of values and felt liberated. He was out to express his newly found liberation and arrival with architecture. Yet another contradiction here was that though the family carried the name Jain as their family name, they have been known by the mother’s maiden surname of ‘Gandhi’!

Here the conflict of the upbringing in a scientific temper, and the influence of the newly emerging theories of the cosmos and the world combined with the experiences of a Gandhian (read difficult or faith in the moral or conscientious) way of life is more than evident. The newer generation that is more easily drawn towards

the westernized and consumerist life styles, the alternative way asserts its position in newly urbanizing India.

He (Kishor Jain) approached our firm to design the new building with a vague programme in mind, not decided on whether he wanted to make money or live in that plot. We advised him to have his house and make a few flats (one or two) instead of building to exploit the entire available plot of land. As the design evolved through seven iterations, what emerged was a plan with two units, one facing each street. The rooms were all elliptical as was the courtyard. Probably the owner realized the merit of such a plan that would impress his friends and relatives and detractors. It might also express his rebellious nature. It also seemingly served his commercial interests of being able to sell half the building to be able to sustain the other half. The value for money aspect of hiring architects and getting something unusual out of the exercise seemed to have finally made sense to this patron of architecture. For us as architects being able to build a house that was a direct take off from the nests that hung from the tree was an idea that would test our skills in an unprecedented manner. The Wrightian ideal of Organic Architecture had a chance to express itself in twentyfirst century India. In short the plan had something for everyone concerned with the project. The patron was strictly against having any religious affiliations, design by ‘vastu-vidya’ (the recently emerged and revived principles that most of India’s business community believes in and is willing to go to absurd lengths to stay on the right side of it). We were fortunate in this aspect because it would have been impossible to reconcile the elliptical grid with the Vastu Phoenix.

The elevations presented other problems as the only thing that came close what we were doing was in the work of Gaudi. The economics of space and money prevented any slanting columns or curvilinear geometries in the elevations. The forms of the nest were carved and used for weather shades while the staircase caps were given distinctive curved profiles in ferrocement.

In materials the gray basalt stone with pointing in grey cement (for the stair towers and upto cill level on the ground floor) and the off-white Gokak Stone with pointing in white cement (in balconies and covered terraces) formed the fixed exterior colours and textures of the building. Sand faced cement renders with horizontal bands in white and yellow ochre, separated by groves wrapped around the rest of the exterior surfaces to create a balance between fixed and changeable colours of the building. The exterior columns, weather shades and roofs of the stairs are egg white in colour and texture making the tripartite harmony of textures complete. No sharp corners in plan elevation or section, is a rule the house obeys. Le Corbusiers’ oft-stated intention of creating an architecture of strong shadows for the tropics is given a completely different turn. Soft and sensuous forms, which are almost feminine in quality possess equal potential to hold the eye.

The generous terraces and balconies of the house make ample use of the craft based techniques that are now abundantly available in India. Simple geometrical motifs that may or may not have cosmological significance are abundantly used in floor patterns. But the most prominent use of this attitude is in the two giant chessboards on the roof! The owner being a chess lover was given the choice of playing chess on the roof in moonlight. The chessboards are fitted into ellipses to be consistent with the theme of the house.

The woodwork of the house is almost entirely out of wood recycled from an old house. In a rapidly renewing town several old houses are dismantled and there is a regular industry around reusing wood, steel, tiles etc. the interiors accommodate easily to the curvilinear discipline at times and at times in defiance. Wardrobes, kitchen and TV cabinets, curtain rods and sofas, study tables and bath tubs wrestle with the curve to fit into the theme in harmony as well as deliberate imperfection. Simple experiences by the architects like the snakes that moved through the wild grass gave rise to the Gaudiesque staircase which has no similar balusters and a giant snake for a handrail.

Harmony, self-similar and not self same, fractals and ambiguous forms had ample scope in this ellipsoidal monster with no corners. The elliptical and geodetic form that had endless parallels in nature were used as hybrid mutations and suggestive transformations. Post Modernists could go to town trying to derive endless meanings out of this building. However for the people of the small village in search of a town it was just a Bhoot-Bangla (read Ghost House – a term often used in India to describe something that is weird and unfamiliar). For children and several others the building is engaging, interesting, creative, funny and queer like a fairytale house or a castle. In short the building speaks to people in a silent but assertive manner. It is predictably liked by people who don’t mind seeing the alternative ways of life as equally valid (read deconstructivism or people like Peter Eisenman). At the same time older people for whom the building is too bold, dandy or madness personified, it is an affront.

Experiments, Disagreements, conflicts and contradictions: The children of the family Kunal (8 years) and Siddharth ( 4 years) at first refused to call it their house as it was more like a hotel (6000 sft) compared to their earlier flat (650 sft). It took them some time to get used to the place. The owner tried to sell off the southern half of the house through agents and newspaper advertisements. However the value attached and the price commanded was disproportionate to what buyers were willing to part with. Resultantly and partly through advice from the architects the owner decided to allow his younger brother to use the southern suite on the first floor. This was a completely different turn to the project, not entirely unanticipated by the architects. The post modern predicament in India, where the conflicting values of joint and nuclear families is endlessly debated in TV soaps, literature and living room discussions is also alive in the Jain House. As India gets prosperous and is now in a position to discern between the cultural imports from the US or Europe (Post Colonial and Colonial), conscious choices are being made, or at least experiments are on with individuals, families, communities, cities, regions and finally the nation. The interiors and exteriors of these houses express these experiments, conflicts and contradictions. At yet the house offers ample opportunity to accommodate the seemingly extreme and opposed contradictory values of joint and nuclear families.

The contradiction of having a large house and the effort involved in maintaining and making it secure is a real one for the Jains. Two watchmen and three servants are constantly at keeping the house free of dust. The all marble white floor is an extremely difficult finish to maintain. The owner’s intentions of using the halls on the second floor for games or semi-public functions have only been partially fulfilled. Though there are occasional get-togethers related to family functions, the large halls remain largely underutilized. All the six bedrooms, living, dining, toilets and study rooms are fully utilized.

Hyphens and Ellipses: Ranjit Hoskote in Public Spaces, Bombay (1994) talks about the various intentions of makers of urban space or law (read order) and the various adaptations made by the users (read contradictions to the basic intentions as hyphens and ellipses made on a draft). It is finally both the initial intentions and later adaptations that

make up the whole. Similarly in the Jain House many intentions of the owners, architects, contractors, family members have finally led to a product that falls short of the expectations in many ways. E.g. the curves do not precisely follow the geometries on paper, the speculation of the owners finally resulted in a different scenario that brought the family closer together, the aspirations of the housewife to have the clean and neat machine-like house is often a haven of disorder, discordance that is bereft of the harmony. These gaps permeate the whole being of the architecture and human life that interacts with it. Like Winston Churchill says that we shape our buildings and then they shape us. Similarly the Jain house shapes values, lives and moments of the people who shaped it! The initial extra attention and focus of attention that the house was, has gradually become the background for the ever-evolving lives of people in the family. Architecture has taken the backseat.

Even the architect’s relation to the client could be now reflected upon as a chequered one of harmony and discord. We might not share the philosophies of life, but the collaboration that resulted in meaningful and memorable form to both. It was more like the coalition governments of recent Indian politics that work on a common minimum programme.

In conclusion, it is now clearer that mans’ understanding of the way the universe is structured, changes with every discovery and invention and conditions his architecture. Yesterday’s scientific truths are tomorrow’s myths. It would be a fallacy to return to the ancient mindset as much as it would be to deny the benefits that accrue from the distilled wisdom of those ages. At the same time it would be irrational to suppose that modernism, rationalism, and the eternal search for the forces that move and shape this universe, would deliver man from the present predicament into an era of eternal bliss. The theory where the pendulum of time for humanity swings between extremes of reason and revivalism, or that of the spiral where the present has many parallels with the past, are correct only for certain periods and phenomena. Our architectural outpourings are like mute diagrams that give meaning and expression to realities of the universe or the state of our human society. Who is more correct or wrong, or whose expressions are lasting and truly reflect our civilization, time alone will tell. Let us leave it to the future historian and do a sincere effort.

Kiran KalamdaniArchitectNov 25, 2006