BARC 505 HUMANITIES

INDIAN MODERNIST
NIKITA GANGADHAR THOSAR
SEM V
ROLL NO:22
HUMANITIES
VIVA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

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1. NARI GANDHI

Nariman (Nari) Dossabhai Gandhi was born in 1934 in Surat to a Zoroastrian

Parsi family from Bombay. He was an Indian architect known for his highly
innovative works in organic architecture. He was a student of Sir J. J. College
of Architecture. He worked with Frank Lloyd Wright at the Taliesin and spent
five years there. He passionately worked on as many as 30 projects over a
period of as many years. He died in a tragic accident in 1993 near Khopoli,
while he was on the way to one of his project sites at Kolgaon.
Nari lead a very simple life. He was a very religious man and believed in the
Zoroastrian way of life. The simplicity of his life reflected in his work. The
strong creative force behind his work also shaped the way he looked at
ordinary things in life. In the later years of his life, Nari was greatly influenced
by the ideas of the Indian philosopher Jiddu
Krishnamurti.
He used to say that “Silence and Void are
synonyms of the word God”.
During the five years that Nari spent at Taliesin, he
would spend more time working with his hands on
stone and wood rather than on the drawing board.
Nari left Taliesin with an ever-lasting mark, which is
known amongst fellow apprentices as Nari's rock.
The rock remembered after him is actually a huge

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boulder, which Nari had pulled down from a nearby hill and which, still stands
today near the entrance to the Taliesin.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE

 Gandhi's ideologies and works were in sharp contrast to the mainstream

architectural thinking. His works display a distinctive organic character.
 Strongly rooted to the site and being very well connected to the
surroundings.
 Nari's works display highly skilled craftsmanship and structural ingenuity.
 He has stacked earthen pots to construct arches and built stairs out of
brick arches.
 His works you see extraordinary use of stone, brick, wood, glass and
leather.
 He rejected conventional ideas and paradigms and introduced his own
through his work.
 He started 'rethinking' about standardized practices and set up his own.
 We can notice an evident’re-thinking' of the arrangement of various
functions within his house.
 Each building designed by Nari is as an example of unconventional
thinking in architecture.
 He created built spaces that remained forever connected to their un-built
surroundings allowing sunlight and wind to interact with the inside and
animate the space with time.
 Each house is a series of dialogues between the built and the un-built.

GANDHI’S 5 ICONIC STRUCTURES

Jain Bungalow,
Gobhai Lonavala
Korlai
Mountain Bungalow,
Lodge, Alibaug
Lonavala

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\
Revdanda House, Revdanda Beach House, Madh Island

KORLAI BUNGALOW, ALIBAUG

 A widespread pavilion with arched openings, large pitched roof and the
predominant use of red bricks, this bungalow at the coastal village of
Korlai to the south of Revdanda is probably one of the most celebrated
works of Nari Gandhi.
 The brick wall is adorned with various punctures that not only aid in
ventilation but also add a playfulness to the elevation. The lower levels of
the pavilion are supposed to have spaces like service areas, bedrooms,
kitchen, and other ancillary spaces while the upper pavilion area functions
as the living and lounging space.
 The idea of making the spaces semi-open with two huge arches
supporting the pitched roof makes the space grand and acts as the main
focal point of the design.
 The fact that Nari gave immense importance to the construction
techniques, design language, and materials is very evident from the use
of hollow red bricks, stained glass, the flying buttresses, custom-made
furniture, and the organically planned landscape around the house.

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2. LAURIE BAKER

LIFE LESSONS

 Born into a strict Christian Methodist family, Laurie spent his early days
devoted to the church and all its activities. It was Gandhi who said that
ideal houses in the ideal village will be built using materials which are all
found within a 5-mile radius of the house and it is this principle Laurie
incorporated in all his projects. His affinity to Gandhi’s teachings is what
gave him the title that he is known for now. 
 “ B r i c k s t o m e a
this material came from the creator of the
‘Rat Trap Bond’. Keeping the materials in its
raw state was essential for him and building
unique patterns with the natural texture it provides is what brings out the
character in each of his buildings.
 Most people associate Laurie Baker Architecture with Brick construction
but Laurie rightfully points out that, it is only his most recent and known
buildings in Kerala that have bricks as its primary building material. Baker
Style is not specific to one single material but various indigenous
materials based on its Building location. Baker style in Uttar Pradesh,
Gujarat, and West Bengal all vary as per their location but their core
philosophy remains the same.

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BAKER’S BELIEFS

 Sustainable, Organic, and Vernacular Architecture all synonymous to one

of the greatest pioneers of this style, Lawrence Wilfred Baker, a British
born architect.
 His work reflects the same and inspires us to incorporate and build
unique, personal structures among the ocean of highly commercialized,
look-alike buildings with no personality.
 Baker believed that the building to be designed derives its personality
from the clients who use it. “You will be putting up their building, not
yours”, he often told his students.
 Visualizing the building as a completed dynamic state with the clients
utilizing it, is the ultimate goal of an Architect. He stressed the use of
“Common Sense”, while designing which emphasizes avoiding the excess
and the extravagance.

ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES OF LAURIE BAKER

1. The duty of an architect is to accept a brief that he is capable of

performing while encouraging his client to renounce that which is not
necessary.
2. As an architect, we must research and study our site, its advantages, and
its shortcomings, and make the most we can in an honest and efficient
manner.
3. His philosophies of cost-effective, energy-efficient designs using
indigenous materials were assimilated through the various experiences
that taught him the importance of these aspects

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS:

1. Designing and building low cost, high quality, beautiful homes, Suited to or
built for lower-middle to lower class clients.
2. Irregular, pyramid-like structures on roofs, with one side left open and tilting
into the wind.

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3. Brick jali walls, a perforated brick screen which utilises natural air
movement to cool the home's interior and create intricate patterns of light and
shadow.
4. Baker's designs invariably have traditional Indian sloping roofs and
terracotta Mangalore tile shingling with gables and vents allowing rising hot air
to escape.
5. Curved walls to enclose more volume at lower material cost than straight
walls.
6. His respect for nature led him to let the idiosyncrasies of a site inform his
architectural improvisations, rarely is a topography line marred or a tree
uprooted.
7. This saves construction cost as well, since working around difficult site
conditions is much more cost effective than clear-cutting.

ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS

Filler slab Filler slab Masonry slab Funnicullar

shell

FAMOUS STRUCTURES:

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Indian coffee house Ladies hostel at the CDS Centre for Science and
Technology for Rural
development

THE HAMLET

 Laurie Baker’s residence situated along the slope of a rocky hill in

Trivandrum is a unique house suited to his family’s needs and way of life.
 It consisted of a living room, bedroom, library, and kitchen, all built using
the traditional brick and timber resources.
 Rooms were modest and equipped with maximum natural ventilation
achieved due to an open room design, jaali walls, gables, tilted, and
louvered windows.
 Discarded colored bottles were used as decoration to give a stained glass
effect, Mangalore tiles on the roof as per the vernacular style and bits and
pieces of metal to create beautiful grill patterns.
 The site as Laurie insisted on all his works would be modified to the
minimum. The building was designed around the trees and steps leading
to his house were cut into the rocks existing in its path.

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 Even the door of his house was created by using traditional doors
discarded from a building that was initially torn down. His house embodies
his legacy and defines what he truly believes in.

THE CENTRE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, TRIVANDRUM

 This 10-acre campus situated on the outskirts of Trivandrum in a

residential area is one of Baker’s most noted designs. A Library and
computer center, Auditoriums, Hostels, and residential quarters for staff,
this green campus is also noted for its famous garden.
 Buildings were designed to suit the contoured land and molded around
the trees that obstructed its path. This created interesting wall shapes and
spaces that accommodate courtyards and pools that not only added to the
aesthetics about also temperature control.
 Roofs of various shapes with openings towards the wind direction acted
as gables. Baker’s trademark brick jali, filler slab roof of Mangalore tiles
and exposed material was evident on this campus.

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3.B.V. DOSHI

 Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, born on 26 August 1927, is an Indian

architect.
 He is considered to be an important figure of Indian architecture and noted
for his contributions to the evolution of architectural discourse in India.
 After initial study at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, he worked for
four years with Le Corbusier as Senior Designer (1951-54) in Paris and

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four more years in India to supervise his projects in Ahmedabad. His office
Vastu-Shilpa (environmental design) was established in 1955.
 He is a pioneer of modernist and brutalist architecture in India.
 His more noteworthy designs include the IIM Bangalore, IIM Udaipur, NIFT
Delhi, Amdavad ni Gufa, CEPT University, and the Aranya Low Cost
Housing development in Indore which was awarded the Aga Khan Award
for Architecture.
 In 2018, he became the first Indian architect to receive the Pritzker
Architecture Prize, which is considered one of the most prestigious prizes
in architecture.
 He has also been awarded the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.
 Apart from his international fame as an architect, Dr. Doshi is equally
known as educator and institution builder.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS:

 Doshi’s architecture explores the relationships between the fundamental

needs of human life, connectivity to self and culture, and respect for social
traditions, with a response that is grounded in context and exhibiting a
localized Modernist approach.
 The buildings are arranged into four themes that each demonstrate
elements of Doshi's architecture philosophy – Home and Identity, Creating
a Livable City, Shaping an Integrated Education and Building Academic
Institutions.
 For him a building is created out of memories, associations, sounds,
forms, spaces and images, porous and open-ended in nature.
 He interprets architecture and transform it into built works that is ethical
and personal.
 His architecture respects eastern culture while enhancing the quality of
living in India, touching lives of every socio-economic class across abroad
spectrum of genres.

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 He describes architecture as an extension of the body, and his ability to

attentively address function while regarding climate, landscape, and
urbanization is demonstrated through his choice of materials, overlapping
spaces, and utilization of natural and harmonizing elements.
 Doshi’s architecture is both poetic and functional.

FAMOUS STRUCTURE:

Sangath Ahmadabad ni gufa School of architecture, CEPT

SANGATH

 Balkrishna Doshi's own studio, Sangath, features a series of sunken

vaults sheathed in china mosaic as well as a small grassy terraced
amphitheater and flowing water details.
 Having been considered the building that fully describes himself, Sangath
is a complete combination of Doshi's architectural themes from his
previous work including complex interiors and structures, ambiguous
edges, vaults and terraces. More about Sangath after the break.

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 Sangath also expresses Balkrishna Doshi's desire for a connection

between nature and the individual. The overall form exaggerates the
details of nature with its rolling mounds, cave-like spaces, terraced land,
playful water channels, and reflective surfaces. Storm water in funneled
through the site by the slick, round vaults and water troughs. 

Sangath, Ahmedabad

4. HABIB RAHMAN

Habib Rahman was born in the year 1915, Kolkata. He did his Bachelor in
Mechanical Engineering in Calcutta University, 1939. He later went on to do
his B.Arch and M.Arch at MIT in the year 1943 and 1944 respectively,
becoming the first Indian to complete both his architectural degrees at an
American University.

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Habib Rahman, a visionary who brought in modernism to India. His buildings

kept every by passer riveted. It evoked a broader picture of developing new
India that was rooted in tradition. It had a sense of authenticity and boldness
that dictated the space around.
Walter Gropius having taught Rahman at MIT, gave him his first job after
graduation. Between 1944-1946, he worked with Lawrence B. Anderson,
William Wurster, Walter Gropius, and Ely Jacques Kahn in Boston. At the time
he worked on pre-fab housing projects, first in Boston and then New York.
In 1946 he returned to West Bengal, India and designed 80 projects as a
rookie architect. Rahman was assigned the project of designing the first
memorial of Gandhi.
Nehru impressed by his work of Gandhi Ghats, arranged for Rahaman’s
transfer to the Central Public Works Department, Delhi in 1953. He carried on
various projects and played a pivotal role in shaping modern architecture in
India.
Post-Independence – Political change, cultural ethos of India Nehru’s
philosophy – drove the nation politically and architecturally Nehru was set to
embrace modernism as the vehicle to represent the agenda of the unfolding
future Habib Rahmn introduced the Bauhaus style in the Indian context
DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS

 Brought in Bauhaus Style of Architecture in India. Emphasized on modern

technology and mass production techniques and materials to design and
manufacture high quality and cheap goods that are accessible to many.
 Flat roofs, smooth facades, cubic shapes favoring right angles
 White, grey, black and beige were the colors used primarily.
 Use of steel frames, flat slab, concrete as construction material.
 Lack of Ornamentation.
 Open floor plans with functional placement of furniture.
 Used Indian Architecture elements like chajjas; jali; dome, horizontal and
vertical louvres; and overhanging roofs.
 Bauhaus style – Emphasized on the use of modern technology, and mass
production techniques and materials to design and manufacture high
quality and cheap goods which could be accessible to many.

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FAMOUS STRUCTURES:
GANDHI GHAT, KOLKATA

 The brief demanded the reflection of the personality and philosophy of

the Mahatma
 A tower – A simplified profile of a temple shikhara, capped with an
Islamic Dome and a horizontal projecting cantilevered slab projecting
from from both sides appearing in silhouette somewhat like a cross
which the ghat steps descend to the river.

NEW SECRETARIAT, KOLKATA

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 Introduction of steel framed structure resting on concrete piles

 Introduction of horizontal and vertical concrete louvers as sun
breakers.
 Building designed in 3 blocks – to take advantage of the site
 14 storey high – tallest at that time in India – Rahman was the 1st
architect to introduce skyscraper to India
 To obtain uniform illumination and max. ventilation, the blocks have
been comparatively narrow.

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