MASTER'S THESIS: 2011

URBAN MATRIX

Urban design is traditionally rendered with western academic forum. Its role is very often predetermined in abstraction of historicism on one hand while iconic & ideality on other hand.

Urban design, architecture & Indian cities.

A city is a palimpsest, a document with many layers of accretion & imperfect erasure, many glosses & comments and marginal notes. It is often called as collaborative art work, a strange collaborative partnership of people, civic policy makers, democratic political - legal system & socio-cultural & regional hegemony. The matrix of lattice system is an abstract idea of theoretical discourse within urban design context of Indian city. It represents the complexity of various realms seeking sense of locus & alignment to the vast reality of perceived urban order. The Thesis work perhaps demonstrated the nature of context & nature of responses are far detached from the value system that we are attempting to promote. Owen's work is perhaps takes the step forward the issue of representation and response more than iconic delineation.

TRAGEDY OR BESTOWISM

It is an interesting chapter in Indian history to see how English authority in India drew their authority from 1600-1765 by virtue of charter act of the British crown, parliament, & declining power of the great moguls and other native rulers of India.

The western countries already had their trade route via Constantinople to Asian countries. After the annexation of Constantinople by Turks, the new trade route was discovered by Portuguese via a Cape of Good Hope. They commanded the Indian Ocean and established the strategic key points. The Britishers also felt ambitious in their trade aspiration and began to relish the dream of the trade association with India.

During 1600, the meeting was held by mayor of London with the merchants and resolution was passed to form an organization or association to have direct trade with India. However within such formation of association there was no assumption of sovereignty over newly discovered lands or trading ports. By virtue of Royal Charter, company/organization was authorized freely to develop the trades with the various parts of Asia and Africa. It also gave them authority and privileges to govern themselves and their servants. The small body of merchants received the royal charter from queen and constituted the English East India Company.

HISTORIOGRAPHY OF GREEK PHILOSOPHER

YEAR	AUTHOR	BOOKS	PHILOSOPHY	METHODS	REMARKS
540 BC	HECATEUS	Travel Around the world	reconciling	truthfulness	persian world
		Local Genealogies	mythologies with	critical examination	critic of myths
			history	of conventional myth
490 BC	HERODOTUS	history on persian war	moral & didactive	causes, courses,	liberation of greek
			view	results of war	from persians
					need for history to
					construct epic
456 BC	THUCYDIDES	history of peloponnesian	past as aid for future	political aspects	first critical historian
		war	interpretation	social & military
				concequences
198 BC	POLYBIUS	history of Rome	constitution form	constitutional dev. Of
			monarcy/aristrocracy	Rome
			democracy	historical facts
				appropriate method
420 BC	XENOPHONE	memorabilia	history of greece	social life	disciple of socrates
		anabasis	(Hellanica)	military operations
			political/philosophical	greek superiority over
			literary ideas	persians
Greek Historians: anthropocentric, humanistic, human will, scientific inquiry/criticism/analysis. / self revelatory

SOCIAL REFORMER

CHARLES FOURIER (1772-1837)

Francis Marie Charles Fourier was a french social reformer during the period of french revolution. He advocated the need for utopian society based on the voluntary association of producers in units known as "PHALANX". Fourier earned a high reputation as great social thinker. Fourier's mind showed high degree of imaginative literary ideas in his earlier writings. He foresaw certain 20th century socio-economic practices and direction of thought, such as social insurance, job classifications, industrialization fatigue, pathological urban livings. Free association for co-operative production was, to Fourier, the true basis for organizing an economy to achieve stable expansion of output and an equitable distribution of wealth.

Fourier is best known for his idea of "PHALANX" a co-operative community of approximately 400 families each living together in a community pattern of development, deriving incomes from various economic pattern prevailing at that time. His lasting practice of "PHALANX" was the emergence of the mixture of capitalism co-operative and social control. He has left the legacy of new ways of production, distribution and control of wealth, surplus. I think our philanthropic understanding of our community, society, urbanity is parochial in nature, masking the surplus under the imaginative disguise of NGO. I

t also brings the argument to center within our context that "is democratic doctrine a political right , economic opportunity, or social equality?.." or something else....

KRVIA MASTER’S

STUDIO JURY

The jury for both the semester (I & III) happened to be on the same day. It’s a good idea to have the two semester jury on same day as an event where we can see the work collectively and juror also can have larger & collective canvas to react to. It brings concerns & patrons of KRVIA together on common platform and also allows us to create larger visibility.

SEMESTER I:

The beginning of the studio was envisaged as individual reaction to urban phenomena & come collective as grouping of cognitive experiences as a larger experiential map. Although it may have slight classical bend but it always remains effective tool to introduce the course to such diverse group at master level. The experiential map supersedes the hard data map as a reactive response to the urban conditions. The studio comes together in small design intervention at the level of micro inserts and allowing students to create the palette of typologies.

It is still not convincing that the collection of data as analysis never seems to empower the tools for design. However studio was appreciated but larger open-endedness towards the realm of design is still to be plugged. Students enthusiasm were at the best what we have seen in last four years and can be easily claimed to be the best batch we have so far.

SEMESTER III:

My argument is far more convincing at the level of semester III studio. The area under study seems to be much larger than group is capable of handling. The data collection have overpower the intuitive reaction to various opportunity that studio could have offered. As commented by the juror “ It appears more of planning studio than urban design”. Although comments seems slightly harsh but studio at the interim level had immense possibilities & engagement could have been focused on the diagram that students have generated rather than problem solving approach.

EASTERN RHAPSODY

EASTERN RHAPSODY

As metro rail moves from Nana Nua towards north bound station one intrigues by the way the metro has been carved out of dense fabric. It appears like serpent, scalping & negotiating through hashes. It sometimes appears precarious, sometimes entertaining as new high rises are lined up across the metro with plazas facing the track. I am not sure about what is it destined for, but Mumbai can not be imagined to be far from what you experience in Bangkok. The high rises appear to be moving from metro line to water canal where you see native life of real Bangkok almost similar to Gaothon in Mumbai, slowly and steadily it erases for capital reform.

Almost after five years of its inception the local mode of transport (auto) has become symbol of joy ride which is more expensive than the Toyota Corolla Metered cabs. It is becoming an imperative that successive generation makes preceding one a niche able commodity.

Almost after f

नाम में लब्सो का अहेसास हो ना हो,

नाम की उल्जन में दिखावे की हमे सोच नहीं

नाम में पयाम की उम्मीद में

हमारी....

नाम से जुडी हुई यादे ताजा हो गई ...

नाम से जुडी फरियादे छू गई ....