DISPLACED URBANISM & SHIMLA

This was my second visit to Shimla & each visit had different intent and different impact. The duality or dichotomy that has surface now is that WHO to conserve for and WHO to construct for. This has been the most difficult visit as witnessed the glaring reality of social life that has literally engulfed the entire topocentric urban-ism of Shimla. The left over struggle for precarious preservation of historic precinct sounds self critical as much as revealing ignorance on audacious participation in displacement of precinct from the rest of the terrain.

Shimla has seen political transformation from summer capital of pre-independence to capital of Punjab & now capital of Himachal Pradesh. Is there any way one can be slightly more analytical in understanding the impact of geo-political metamorphosis on social life?

The topcentric imagination of present living condition is beyond any precursive idea of housing & social life. It defies the any norms of conventional tools to comprehend the situation. The entire terrain is separated by means of roads that occupies the planes and that splits up the terrain that appear to be large block appear to be innocently chiseled out of monolith. The virtue of what is built and what is left is carved relaity of displaced collective. If cities are only seen as solely cultural or social agglomeration than perhaps the concern academic urban-ism is nothing more than fertile imagination for co modification of social life.

The entire terrain rises from terrain as sun penetrates the monolith deep enough to qualify as a science of self alignment/organization. The particles/housing/social life rearranges them under the influence of eternal force. As day transforms the terrain the real duality comes alive with dichotomy of re-arrange vs re-damage is apparent. The setting sun leaves epitomic traces of what the entire day displaced once what was the phenomena of self rearranging selves. The lighted houses in twilight bring strange symphonic seamlessness of convex social entity & urbanity. Isn’t that strange the city concave itself in most lighted condition of the day and convex itself in dark?. Isn’t that contradicts the very nature of ideology of architecture & urban-ism stems from?.

Shimla is necessarily destined from most organized to most un-organization conditions. The two conditions that bestows the city with dualism that fractures the very existence of contextual imperative that we talk always about.  Otherwise it is not slightest exaggeration to state that any attempt that necessitates the action shall be nothing more that “ castrated bull trying to elucidate the contraceptive virtues. 

Krvia has positioned itself to set locus of inquiry within the realm of social and cultural studies that shapes the architecture, which in turns allow us to expand the architectural value system. The theme of Object of Architecture and Architecture of Object is an ongoing attempt to theorize the decoding and coding system that operates within the phenomenon space. Historically it seems that fixing coordinates of values system always stagnates the system of inquiry and as result the ideological ground tend to become sap less trunk. I:e architecture becomes subservient to its determinacy.

To take the argument further it becomes mandatory to set new horizon for the wider expansion of inquiry by immediate introspection i:e questioning self. Perhaps in questioning self it may enable us to delayer or may questions the parameter that we believed are truth that shapes architecture. It is an attempt to read architecture in its syntax as well as in its reference by qualifying architecture as an object. It’s a classical debate of writing (transformation) & reading (implicit & explicit).

Its important to investigate what all that constitute an “OBJECT”. What construct an “OBJECT”. If Architecture or an object is a language construct than syntax and semantics are thesis and anti thesis in Hegelian theory. The word anti thesis is a process of translation & quotation that destined towards contamination. The translation is possible only to something original hence translation or transformation is a contamination to original.

Based on Hegel theory the constitution of an Object is in self-consciousness & its an agreement of object with our conception of it. The process of decoded self, conceptualization, abstraction, refrentialization to coded existence. Hence an Object is a pre-supposition of conceptual conformity or object is thought determined by the process of thought.

The truth of an aesthetic judgment is an implicit reference to a subject that makes the judgment. Hence it becomes clear that “Object is concrete whose abstraction/contamination is determined by the philosophy of correct reference”

Lastly Hegel argument on indeterminacy of an object. It can easily be argued within the discourse of architecture that “Indeterminacy of an object aligned with the indeterminacy of content where architecture is struggling to find its existence”

The OAAO is destined to problematize the determinacy of presence of object /content, writing/reading, decoding/coding. Hence question that arises of conflict are as follows:

-          Can object be a de-coded entity?

-          Can Architecture be a literal space?

-          Can Architecture dwell on its own existence or metaphysics of space?

ONE WAY VOYERISM

The quite evening stroll through the inner lanes on designated footpaths, cross junctions at ease of traffic and two kilometer of stretch visible to naked eye in the early winter evening. The superficial feel of fresh early winter wind was penetrating as it never was. The casual greetings on roads became less dense and suddenly one could celebrate the anonymity engage the conversation with self. The shadows were longer and suddenly disappearing without the trace. There was suddenly feel for the need for clinical cleanliness which otherwise was hiding in thick garb. The civic sense was at the peak, the left & right alignment of people and car was at its best. The carefully laid paver blocks were visible and noticeable and car perpetually stopped at zebra crossing if one had to cross the road.

The cars are parked as if overnight lesson on paralleled parking is finally learnt by all. The S.V.Road had countable cars/ people & needed long pause for the next count.  The usual four lanes of informal market made the way for virtually non-visible high end shopping. For the first time that sky walks had more pedestrians than the market road at ground. The doors became more skeptical and  windows suddenly began to work like lens of a voyeurism. The architecture began to displaces itself from being run down to run over. It was a strange scene of a movie that never was shot with keen eye or self desirable of wanting. It was rather that eye which hovered for all these years with utter disdain for silence. 

SHADOW OF HISTORY

The symphonic narrative of rise and fall of any ideological thought or an institution is embedded in its nature of symbolic narrative that has generated since its formative circumstances. The thought or an idea that hinges on the clean breath of cultural studies and able to set the trajectory beyond the range of secular pattern of thought is often enduring and a disquieting thought. However any ideal or an institution at any given time is not a divine mandate that undermines the intellectual climate and give way to rise of theo-political burden.

It’s very often seen that what is politically correct is not necessarily ideologically or academically correct as such position is often contaminated with thick coating of anti-historical consciousness  Such position allows one to erase the contextual distinction and create a strange political program to halt the intellectual dynamo. The shades of ideology & multi-disciplinary is not necessarily means multi-valent in nature perhaps it’s the shifty byzantine for seditious propaganda as extinguisher to foreshadow the cleavage of deterministic objective program.

The ideas and ideology transform itself into a sapless trunk by virtue of such anti-moral ascendancy & conflicting economic/network necessities. The ideals need to be away from self absorbed condition and mend the way as social & cultural cement. It often begins to lose its shades of imaginative hypothesis and bold simplicity & as result fall of its critical space and dialogue.  

Perhaps it the time that the system needs to be oiled with dialectical mode bestowed with autonomous scholastic setting. 

SKYWALK :SANTACRUZ STN.

The kilometer stretch of dark and deserted serpentine nature of walk is layered on the busy street. The street known for its retail activity and famous for its Thursday market. The street double sided shopping stretch iced with informal shopping outside. After construction of sky-walk  it offers four layer of informal shopping, almost making the parody of its own existence, bestowing the street with distinct character. 

The MMRDA had proposed such several sky walks with budget close to 600 CR. The MMRDA had issued the post completion evaluation of all the sky walks through the official document known as white paper. The white paper is a third party evaluation agency however it was surprising to note that its an inhouse agency trying to evaluate the statistical dimenssion of needuful of sky walks. The white paper evaluation shall be submitted to the chief minister as the portfolio of city infrastructure lies with the ruling party. The sky walk flame may burn the hung ties that rules the state. The issues of escalated prices and non requried sky walks are barbqueing the comfort zone. The conflict of metro rail ripping throught the skywalk section at various junction is yet to be answered. As it featured in leading news paper earlier that these section shall be used at other junction.

The only remedy that seems to evident from such conflict is to reuse the sections and install at Milan Subway flyover. The section of Santacruz & Bandra-west sky walks are almost of same length &  the steel truss that is pending for last nine months. Its a classic example of triad conflict of center-state-pwd.  If such recycling is executed in near future than it shall be the finest post-independence monument.

Krvia Masters Jury: Sem I

KRVIA Masters: SEM I.

STUDIO JURY

The idea of mapping & reading is synonym to sensing or comprehending the events but in cartographic manner. The reading of city through the cartographer lens is always a challenge. The Baroda studio exercise through its layered history brought out the complex dynamics of legal system, institutional system and retail system & strange domesticity that merges with the rest of the city. The stretch of over two kilometer had all the complexity that is a pre condition to the introduction of studio assignments. The shifts from architectural thinking to urban thinking take its own time in reaction and delineation. The studio task was appeared to have received with excitements and energy. The body of documentation and representation has attained some level of competence. The composition of jury made the session even more complex as each of them had his/her area of emphasize. The issues emphasized were ranging from understanding of pattern vs.  Resources as a planner or relationships beyond the building as an urban designer or vision & imagination as architectonic icons.

The urbanism is perhaps mediating the blurring boundaries of all the discipline hence it is often the role that one assumes more that role that one ought to be. I am very sure that it has brought out tremendous confusions about the nature of role that one need to obey, but it shall perhaps unfold itself in course of time. The idea of heritage walk was step ahead as compare to the predecessor. The conservation student approach was noteworthy.

At this juncture I am convinced that it’s the nature of urban theory course that shall aid the urban thinking and studio should become laboratory with catalyst of theory. May be it’s a time to relook at the assignment in order to examine or articulating the nature of data that we collect, the information that is deduced and the knowledge that imparts.

SOME WHAT WE KNOW- (URBAN DESIGN JURY AT NAVI MUMBAI)

Although various institutes are assembling their master's program (Urban Design) in the same city but situational conditions are determining the nature of approach. The sudden rise of awareness in Urban Design is noteworthy & experiments are mending the tedious path of establishing distinct institution's approach towards the same. The distinct approaches can clearly be rationalized with respective geographical situation within the same city and perhaps it makes more sense to articulate the issues with expanding contextual references vs surgical urban intervention. The nature of administrative structure vs various boundary condition evolved over a period of time can bring about the diverse issues. 

The project of study and intervention near newly built flyover at New Panvel was one of the example that urban issues need to be localized rather than struggling for imaginative congruent urban form. The stretch of over 1.5 km had historical lakes (Lakes built during Peshwas & Lake within Jewish community), IT hubs as economic opportunity, transitional node (depot & station) & informal activity. This all adds upto to fairly complex studio assignment as setting the priority of issues are heavily embedded into nature of inquiry. 

However the approaches can be of diverse and very often conflicting or complementing  in nature as it is quite understandable as its a distinct case of re-urbanism ( planned city). The broader discussion that needs to be articulated within the urban design education that there is a difference between architectural program & urban program. The question of collective, choice & contest is an  important urban event. 

It was more of gaining experience as never had an opportunity to read the Navi Mumbai as an event city as compare to it being a transit point to most of us.