MASKED URBANISM

MASKED URBANISM: art festival

“fever, that in its beginning it is easy to cure, but hard to recognize; whereas, after a time, not having been detected and treated , 

it becomes easy to recognize but impossible to cure”  Niccolò Machiavelli

consumption of routine,
parody of muted
in display of perceptive 

burning up of average
rejection of intense
exquisite of left over
like misused tissue

defeated margin 
rudimentary popular. 
Pornography of masked. 
for bridal re makeover

history for mess  
in mystery of east

likely to detects, 
narration of west

to tweak for reflect

ridiculed biography
scripted Bibliography
prologue of predictable narrative

monograph of perverted dialogue

human right of bird cage

needle of moral compass

shifted attuned to sand dunes

submerged in horizon of
masked urbanism.

KRVIA-THU EXCHANGE WORKSHOP

KRVIA- TUNG HAI UNIVERSITY (TAIWAN)

MASTER’S EXCHANGE WORKSHOP

EXTRACT FROM PROF SIMON INTRODUCTION:

“The aim of this space syntax workshop is to equip postgraduate and/or senior undergraduate students with a well integrated analytical and planning design methodology to first deal with a complicated urban/rural system to diagnose and to tease out existing urban/rural development issues and secondly to work out a well defined planning and design proposal for future development of those areas under discussion. Furthermore, this workshop focuses on two major subjects:

1.   The first question is to explore the possible strategies and design alternatives for future development on spaces left over after planning (SLOAP) areas or spaces left unused, i.e., redundant areas, etc., in the contexts of Asian cities.

2.   The second issue is related to the so-called “Urban Parametric Diagnosis and Acupunctural Microscope Intervention (UPDAMI)” process, which will be explained in the following four steps:”

The KRVIA-THU exchange for masters has just ended with the Ahmadabad trip. It has begun to shape its destination in foresight towards better academic ties. From the beginning it has been clear that exchange with Asian university is always about learning from each other, and it has sawn the seed of mutual learning.

The theme continues from last year, the only significance change that came around was the site selections. The earlier workshop had inner city conditions as pre-conceived notions of urban sites. This time it happens to be the diverse conditions that bring about diverse urban conditions. The Planned heritage precinct, Town Planning scheme, Wedge between Transport node and arterial road, and urban villages. The real testing ground for the software performance as it became clear that space syntax is a logical model attempting to question intuitive model. It is perhaps true apparatus to test out the design modalities as against the intuitive interpretation/understanding.

The opening lecture articulated the point of view that software works on limited parameter but variation of that parameter are immense, hence parametric values can be unfolded to its best potential. The mix of group studio working and lecture inputs perhaps gives the wider exposure to cross culture learning.

It’s a learning step ahead as far as parametric software and GIS system concerns. It definitely brings about the processes of data collection & knowledge building. 

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.