MODULE 1

1. Architecture in India (Pre independence): The Architecture of the Princely States of Jaipur, Bikaner and
Mysore: Their city examples – clock towers, railway stations, public offices, assembly halls, water systems,
public hospitals, etc.
2. Modern Architecture in India-1: Architecture in India(Post-Independence): Works of public nature in
Chandigarh and Ahmedabad (Legislative Assembly Complex including High Court, Legislative assembly and
Secretariat, Chandigarh and Mill Owners‟ Building, Ahmedabad), IIM, Ahmedabad and its significance.
3. Modern Architecture in India-2:Ideas and works of BV Doshi (Institute of Indology Ahmedabad, IIM-
Bangalore and Gufa, Ahmedabad) and Charles Correa: (RamaKrishna House, Ahmedabad, Kanchen Junga
Apartments, Mumbai and MRF Headquarters, Chennai).
 CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
Meaning

As an adjective

existing, occurring, or living at the same time; belonging to the same time.

of about the same age or date.

of the present time; modern.

As a noun

the profession of designing buildings, open areas, communities, and

other artificial constructions and environments, usually with some
regard to aesthetic effect. Architecture often includes design or
selection of furnishings and decorations, supervision of construction
work, and the examination, restoration, or remodeling of existing buildings.

DIFFERENCE OF CONTEMPORARY & MODERN ARCHITECTURE

contemporary architecture is not a style, instead it is an expression of the ‘now’ and its temporal
needs.

However, when modern architecture broke from the classical ornamentation and its formality of
symmetry, it was a revolutionary shift in theory thus classifying it as a movement and therefore a
style.

Contemporary architecture is today’s (or tomorrow’s) expression of the current style, whatever
that style is or was. What was contemporary last year or the last decade is no longer
contemporary, because that was then, and today is today.

“Today” can be whatever new ideas are being tested and optimized for current use or
expression. All trends become more clear with time, therefore contemporary design of yesterday
becomes part of the nostalgia and retroactively given such terms as neo-traditional, neo-
classical, neo-modern (and quite possibly postmodern & de-constructivism)

CHARACTERICTICS
➢ Attempt to push the boundaries of material and technology and especially geometry .

➢ Changes to accepted tradition and accepted taste.

➢ Use of new materials in an innovative way.

➢ Use of natural concepts and influences.

➢ Use of straight lines Rejection of ornamentation.

➢ Minimalisctic

➢ Employment of contemporary technology.

➢ Bold use of colour, lines

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 ➢ Loud accents

➢ Responsible solutions and alternative technology.

PRINCIPLES
Transition- one material to another (metal to glass)

Unity- repeating shapes and surfaces

Proportion- windows and beams can overpower the scale of other elements

Emphasis and Subordination- focal points can vary from metal columns to large glass walls.

Features of a contemporary structures thus may include, an irregular or unusually shaped frame,
an open floor plan, oversized windows, the use of "green" components or organic design.

The use of natural light also plays a large part in defining this style.

There are varied and evolving opinions or outlooks of the present architectural style as a
philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, economics, cultural movement, or art
movement.

▪ Blobitecture
▪ Parametrics
▪ Critical Regionalism
▪ Deconstructivism
▪ Sustainable design
▪ High-tech architecture
▪ Modernism
▪ Novelty architecture
▪ Postmodernism

Etc.

PRINCELY STATES
¨ India under the British Raj (the "Indian Empire") consisted of two types of territory: British
India and the Native States or Princely states.

¨ A PRINCELY STATE (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign
entity of British India during the British Raj that was not directly

governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to a
subsidiary alliance of the British Crown.

¨ The Indian rulers bore various titles— including Wadiyar (by the Royal Maharajas

of Mysore), Chhatrapati (exclusively used by the 3 Bhonsle dynasty of the Marathas) or

Badshah ("emperor"), Maharaja or Raja ("king"), Nawa b ("governor"), Thakur or

Thakore, Nizam, Wāli, Inamdar, Saranjamdar and many others.

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 Whatever the literal meaning and traditional prestige of the ruler's actual title, the British
government translated them all as "PRINCE," in order to avoid the implication that the native
rulers could be "kings" with status equal to that of the British monarch.

PRINCELY STATES & THEIR ARCHITECTURE

The confusion accompanying the decline of the Mughal empire saw an abundance of new
architecture at the new seats of regional power by the Rajputs, Sikhs, Marathas and the nawabs
of Oudh, Bengal and Hyderabad.

Hindu rulers started to construct memorials to their dead, much after the style of the Mughals,
and restarted the construction of lavish temples, neglected for long because of the lack of
power and finances. The Sikhs, persecuted for long by the later Mughals, pillaged Mughal
building in their turn to build their own gurudwaras or temples. The nawabs built lavish gardens,
tombs, mosques and palaces. Their was no longer a dominant style, but a hybrid where
Gujarati, Bengali, Deccan and Persian elements fused to produce an eclectic strain of building.

¨ British replaced the Mughals as the controlling group-inspiration for much of Indian
architecture became English in origin, closely tied with what was happening in Britain.

¨ The princes were educated along British lines, taken on tours of Europe and introduced to
Western manners and norms. This change in lifestyle began to be reflected in their architecture
as well.

¨ In their palaces, old reception rooms gave way to durbar halls, rooms for European
guests were built and ways to entertain guests were provided.

¨ Dining and drawing rooms were introduced; fireplaces, marble fountains and statues, oil
paintings and stuffed animals began to be displayed in the halls and drawing rooms.

¨ New education, new social functions and new engineering techniques led to a new
architecture created by British architects, British army engineers and often the princes
themselves.

¨ The princes were expected to be both traditional and modern – to retain

traditional feudal powers but to create a new India.

INDOSARACENIC
Indo-saracenic architecture represents a synthesis of Muslim designs and Indian materials
developed by British architects in India during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The hybrid combined diverse architectural elements of Hindu and Mughal with Gothic cusped
arches, domes, spires, tracery, minarets and stained glass, in a wonderful, almost playful
manner.

• Onion (Bulbous) Domes

• Overhanging Eaves

• Pointed Arches, Cusped Arches, or Scalloped Arches

• Vaulted Roofs

• Domed Kiosks

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 • Many Miniature Domes, or Domed Chhatris

• Towers or Minarets

• Harem Windows

• Open Pavilions

• Pierced Open Arcading

• Courts and other Civic Buildings

• Clock Towers

• Government Colleges and High School Buildings

• Railway Stations

• Art Galleries

• Palaces of the Indian Maharajas

CHEPAUK PALACE in Chennai designed by Paul Benfield is said to be the first Indo-Saracenic
building in India, referred to as licentious "eclectic" incorporating elements and motifs of Hindu
and Islamic precedents. Outstanding examples are spread across the country - Muir college at
Allahabad, Napier Museum at Thiruvananthapuram, the Post Office, Prince of Wales Museum,
University Hall and Library, Gateway of India in Mumbai, M.S. University, Lakshmi Vilas Palace at

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Baroda, the Central Railway Station, Law courts, Victoria Public Hall, Museum and University
Senate House in Chennai, the Palaces at Mysore and Bangalore.

¨ The new princely towns of Jaipur, Bikaner and Mysore showed themselves amongst the
most successful in negotiating this divide. Their towns were modeled along British examples –
clock towers, railway stations, public offices, assembly halls, water systems and public hospitals
were built.

Buildings were European classical, or if constructed later, Indo-Saracenic, or again an

eclectic mix.

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ARCHITECTURE OF THE PRINCELY STATES

The Silver jubilee clock tower, Mysore

The popular Silver Jubilee clock tower in Mysore city in the state of Karnataka forms yet another important
landmark in this city where there is no dearth of heritage monuments. It stands in a busy area adjacent to
Chamaraja Circle and the Town Hall. Gandhi Square is nearby. To commemorate the silver jubilee (25 years) of
the rule of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV,the maharajah of Mysore, this tall clock tower was constructed in 1927 and
the cost was borne by the employees of the Maharajah's palace.

There are two clock towers in Mysore and this one is called Dodda Gadiara , meaning the "big clock tower";
the other being the "small clock tower" called the Dufferin Clock Tower located near KR Circle.

This 75 feet tall structure was built in Indo - Saracenic style. However, it also carried the features of other
architectural designs. In the curvilinear chhajja (overhanging eaves supported on carved brackets) design, one
can see the influence of Rajasthani tradition. The tall double arches and framing slit windows suggest early
English church architecture. The clock has a diameter of five feet and carries Kannada numerals.

Bikaner railway station

KR Hospital, Mysore
Clock Tower, Alwar

Clock Tower is a royal monument in the Church road of Alwar city. The clock tower has a large four-sided
clock on the top of it which had been very helpful for locals in doing their day to day work on time.There is also
attractive architecture structure present in the lower part of the tower. The middle part of the tower has written
patriotic slogans. Located in the fifth street from the church road, Clock tower shows the progressive rule of the
illustrious Rajputs.
 LE CORBUSIER
Followed “Brutalism”
His architecture combined the classical ideas of forms along with the futuristic mechano-
morphism as well as abstract art.

Le Corbusier placed systems of harmony and proportion at the centre of his design philosophy,
and his faith in the mathematical order of the universe was closely bound to the golden section.

He admired floating columns and hovering planes, a vogue for thin weightless skins of masonry
and glass drawn around taut masses, externally a single quadratic box like structure.

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Site:

• The city of Chandigarh is situated at the base of the Shivalik range of the Himalayas at
333m MSL

• Trapezoidal site of 114 sq. Km

• Flat, gently sloping agricultural land.

He conceived the master plan of Chandigarh as analogous to human body:

• Head (the capitol complex, sector-1)

• Heart (the city centre, sector-17)

• Lungs (the gardens and the leisure valley),

• Mind (cultural and educational institutions)

• The circulatory system (road network),

• The limb (the Industrial Area)

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 1. Capitol Complex, Chandigarh
1. Legislative Assembly

2. Secretariat and

3.High Court

The Capitol Complex is the focal point of the city, both visually and symbolically whose
architecture is considering to be the most representative of Le Corbusier's work.

The three major buildings of the Capitol complex are the Assembly (Legislation), the Secretariat
(Administration) and the High Court (Judiciary). While the linear façade of the Secretariat marks
the edges of the Complex on the left side, the Assembly and the High Court are placed on the
opposite ends of the Cross axis, facing each other across 450M.

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LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
The Legislative Assembly building, completed in 1962, was conceived as a horizontal
rectilinear structure square in plan with a monumental portico facing the main plaza.

The Assembly building with it’s dramatic skyline is one of the most visually appealing
aspects of the Capitol Complex and is an attempt to give an architectural setting of
monumental dignity to the functions of the Government.

The assembly hall has square plan.

The two legislative chambers (Punjab & Harayana) were conceived as free
standing, curvilinear forms enclosed within a rectilinear shell, carrying on one side the
entrance portico and on the opposite side of band of offices.

• The main assembly hall is enclosed within a hyperbolic shell, inspired by the form of
industrial cooling towers. The top of this shell is terminated in an oblique section, which
receives a metallic framework.
• The most impressive part of the Assembly is the Assembly Chamber (Punjab Assembly),
which is crowned by a massive hyperbolic tower, extending above the roofline and
providing a sculptural & dramatic look against the backdrop of distant hills 128 ft. in
diameter at the base.
• The smaller Council Chamber (Haryana Assembly) conceived in a rectilinear frame is
crowned by a pyramidal roof, provided with a North light.
• The assembly chamber is surrounded by ceremonial space. This space is planned as a
dimly lit light, triple height columned hall for informal meetings and discussion.
• The hyperbolic shell is only 15cm thick, which helped in reducing the cost and the
weight of the structure.
• The assembly chamber has a seating capacity for 252 people. Additional galleries are
provided for ladies, journalists and officials. An attempt has been made to modulate

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 the dubious acoustics resulting from such a form, by sound-absorbing panels in bright
colors and random curvilinear shapes.

• Sun protection louvers 'brise soleil' have been provided on lateral walls for protecting
glazing against sun.
• Staircase, lifts and ramps provide various means of circulation and access to different
levels of the building.
• Façade with the roofline giving identity of the structure.
• Roof with its plastic form manipulating the space within.
• The great portico, on the fourth side, facing the high court, consists of eight small piers
supporting a huge channel from which rain water spills out at either end, falling into
reflecting pools.
• Door as an image maker
• A ceremonial pivoting door is placed in an off center bay of the portico. In scale and
grandeur with the total mass of the structure
• Icons & symbol on the door depicting characteristics of the space & time of the built-
form & the contextual scenario.

SECRETARIAT
• The 10 storied secretariat houses administrative offices, those of ministers and all
ministerial agencies . It is a reinforced concrete frame structure separated by five
expansion joints into 6 distinct bays.
• The building is oriented to obtain the maximum benefit of the wind direction for effective
cross ventilation and to cause minimum obstruction to the view of the Shivalik hills from
elsewhere in the city.
• To visually reduce the scale of its massive façade, the Secretariat was designed with a
modular façade that fragments the elevation into legible, programmatic element. The
various projections, recesses, circulation elements, and multi-level interior spaces act as
sun-breaks to mitigate solar gain.
• The offices are arranged on either sides of the corridor on each floor. Keeping in view
the ever changing needs of the government, the floor area is divided by removable
partitions.
• The building is equipped with lifts and staircases. Two great ramps grow out of the
building at rakish angle .Their side walls have small openings to permit light.
• The corridors have been provided with acoustic slits, a unique device to attain effective
cross ventilation and yet arrest the noise by public movement.
• The secretariat is topped by roof garden which has been designed not only to insulate
the building against the direct rays of the sun but also to provide an excellent
recreational place.
• Canteen has been built on the 10th floor so that the smell and fumes from the kitchen
shall not pollute the interiors of the building.

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HIGHCOURT
• The high court symbolizes three ideas in its structure, the majesty of law, the shelter of law
and the power and fear of law.
• The court rooms are identical expressed on façade facing and esplanade and are
separated from the high court by a great entrance portico.
• The building has ‘L’ shaped plan and houses a double height small court rooms and
triple height large high court on the first floor with offices above each court.
• Each court room is accessible individually to public from outside .On the south -Eastern
side is the public entrance and a car park at the lower level.
• The working areas in the building are shielded by the brise-soleil on the north - west and
south -east facades.
• The double roof is provided to protect the entire structure from the sun. The roof slopes
towards the center, through which the rain water gushes out on either ends.
• The space between the roofs is left open to allow free movement of air, cooling the
interiors considerably.
• An emphatic color scheme has been evolved to enhance the visual weight of the
building across the plaza.
• The three pylons express majesty of the law. This massive entrance bears a close
resemblance to the Buland Darwaza of Fatehpur Sikri.

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 2. Mill Owners Association, Ahmedabad
• The building is a symbol of the architect’s response to the Indian climate and contains all
of his formal inventions in this regard, e.g., pilots, free plan, free façade, brise-soleil and a
roof-garden.
• The building has accommodation for business, social and cultural activities of the Mill
Owners Association and is expressive of its dual character- private and public.
• A straight-flight linear ramp leads from the parking area directly to the waiting area on
the first floor, which is earmarked for more private functions and houses a reception,
offices and conference hall.
• The ground floor is partly open and contains the services and circulation activities.
• The second floor, intended for public functions, is treated as a double floor and contains
a lobby and an auditorium and also accommodates a minister's gallery
suspended on a mezzanine at the 4th floor level and an interlocking ‘yin-yang’
form, restrooms
• The roof, with its terrace-garden extending over the entire area, has been envisaged for
use for evening entertainment, besides protecting the interiors from the heat of the sun.
• The lobby, with its open space defined by harsh angular forms, and the top-lit
auditorium, with curved surfaces penetrating the roof, adds to the visual variety of the
interiors.
• All these levels are vertically linked by two elevators and an external staircase.
• The north and south facades are predominantly blank with exposed brick surfaces.
• A ceremonial ramp makes for a grand approach into a triple-height entrance hall.
• Ramp & dog leg stair forming the compositional element of the façade.
• Main vertical axis of the built form located centrally
• The lift creates a strong link b/w all the floors, forming a vertical mass in the space in the
entire volume forming a reference node.
• The building is oriented to catch the prevailing breezes through openings on its east and
west facades with reinforced-concrete brise-soleil and adjustable blinds.

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 1. RAMP

2. ENTRANCE HALL

3. RECEPTION

4. OFFICE

5. VISITOR’S SEATING

6. MANAGING COMMITTEE

7. SUB-COMMITTEE

8. TOILETS

9. LOBBY

10. ASSEMBLY HALL

11. CLOAKROOM

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 LOUIS ISADORE KAHN
While rooted in the International Style, Kahn's architecture was a blend of his Beaux Arts
education and a personal aesthetic impulse to develop his own architectural forms.

Kahn design of buildings, characterized by powerful and massive forms made him one of the
most discussed architects to emerge after World War II.

FORM & DESIGN

He clearly distinguishes between the form and Design.

“Form is free from all conditions but design depends upon circumstances such as site, client’s
requirements, budget,skilled labor and above all individual’s tendencies of expression.”

Kahn's architecture is notable for its simple forms and compositions.

He was drawn to investigate monumentality in architecture, creating buildings out of solid

materials and forms and incorporating vivid plays of light, in complete contrast to the
lightweight glass and steel structures being created elsewhere by his peers.

Through the use of brick and poured-in place concrete masonry, he developed a
contemporary and monumental architecture that responded to the human scale.

SERVED & SERVANT SPACES

He was concerned with creating strong formal distinctions between served spaces and servant
spaces.

Servant spaces are those that serve other spaces, such as stairwells, restrooms, or any other
back-of-house function like storage space or mechanical rooms.

LIGHT & SHADOW

For Kahn it was natural light that brought architecture to life; the artificial light had an unvarying
"dead" quality in contrast to the ever- changing daylight.

Kahn saw architectural elements, such as the column, arch, dome, and vault, in their capacity
of moulding light and shadow.

Kahn combined visually compelling spaces with drama as the changing light transformed the
sensory experience of being in the building at different times of the day and night.

1. Indian Institute Of Management, Ahmadabad (IIM-A)

The main concept was to create a new school of thought that incorporated a teaching style
that allowed students to participate in class discussions and learning in comparison to the
traditional style of closed classrooms.

The IIM-A is situated on a 27hectare site on the western side of the city of Ahmadabad, in close
proximity to Gujarat University.

The master plan comprises an institutional complex and a dormitory blocks for the students and
housing sector for the staff.

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INSTITUTIONAL COMPLEX
• At the heart of the Institutional complex is a large open space known as the Louis Kahn
Plaza.
• It is the hub of all campus activities and relates to movement around the classrooms,
library and the faculty and administrative offices.

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 • The institutional complex consists of a school on the southern side, faculty offices to the
north and the library to the east.
• All service buildings like the water reservoir and the kitchen – dining block are located on
the north – western side of the campus.
• The ground floor has most of the administrative offices with classrooms and seminar
rooms on the first and second floors respectively. Lobbies are created in between the
classrooms to promote interaction.
• The seats in the classrooms are arranged in a horseshoe pattern.

“Served and Servant Spaces”

Kahn created a clear distinction between “Served and Servant spaces." "Served spaces” being
offices, laboratories, elevators, and other places where people would be. "Servant" spaces
were ventilation systems, storage rooms, plumbing, etc. that are essential for a building to
function efficiently.

THE LIBRARY
The library, the most prominent building in the campus, is approached by a broad flight of steps
rising from the parking court.

The design has been conceived to entail movement from the active spaces to the most private
and quiet study carols at the farthest reaches.

The school building is connected to the library by an ambulatory and to the dormitory blocks
by a over bridge.

A stairwell in the center of the rectangular plan of the library helps define the reading and stack
areas.

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 DORMITORY BLOCKS
The dormitory blocks are planned around the educational buildings.

The shape of each dormitory block is square with two residential wings, a triangular
lounge and a service area.

The design of individual blocks as well as their layout is intended to promote interaction
among the students and to provide them privacy.

HOUSING SECTOR
In the housing sector, the layout of the structures forms large inner courts to give a
feeling of peace and serenity, qualities vital in housing.

The faculty houses are oriented diagonally to catch to prevailing breeze.

The houses have low heights and their plans are simple.

LIGHT & SHADOW

Design elements like the deep – recessed windows and segmental and
flat arches accentuate their forms and help in maintaining visual uniformity.
MATERIALS
All the buildings are constructed in red brick with external surfaces left
exposed.
Concrete is restricted to places such as the foundations, floor slabs and
ties for some of the arch openings. The Composite order permitted large
spaces and wider openings.

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 BV DOSHI
• Doshi’s architecture provides one of the most important models for modern Indian
architecture.

• Born in Pune, India.

• He did his Bachelors from J. J. School of Architecture, Mumbai.

• Dr. Doshi is equally known as an educator and institution builder.

• He worked for 4 years with le Corbusier as senior designer in Paris.

FAMOUS WORKS

• INSTITUTE OF INDOLOGY AHMEDABAD(1957-62)

• SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AHMEDABAD 1968

• INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT BANGALORE (1977-85)

• SANGATH AHMEDABAD (1979-89)

• ARANYA LOW-COST HOUSING INDORE (1983-86)

• HUSAIN-DOSHI GUFFA (1992-95)

• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY NEW DELHI (1997)

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Doshi's work has consistently revolved around:

• The interrelationship of indoor and outdoor space

• An appropriate and honest approach to materials

• Climatic response

• Observance of hierarchy

➢ Doshi belief in the ‘Mythical Sense’ of space often evident in traditional architecture
which is not simply confined to open or closed areas.

➢ According to him space can be modified according to the desire of the perceiver and is
never static.

➢ According to him, Architecture of a building is conceived not as a container of specific

activities but as a place to be inhabited, as a place to facilitate the course of human
environment

➢ Doshi made an intensive and sustained study of traditional Indian philosophy and
ancient architectural texts, while maintaining a deep commitment to modernism.

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 ➢ The architectonic scale and massing, the clear sense of space and an attraction towards
materials remain thematically strong throughout his works.

➢ The idea of flexibility leads him to a principle, of incorporating “symbolism”. He believes

that it can only be accommodated by mixture of structural systems. Symbolically
charged space must be designed as receptacle for human activity.

DESIGN APPROACH :-
• His first step synthesizes a broad range of fundamental concerns i.e. human
accommodation, construction integrity, appearance and aesthetics.

• Each building derives its form from a very specific architectural response to its
programmatic intent, site, environmental conditions and dialogue with its patrons.

• All his buildings are environment sensitive and are in harmony with their surroundings.

• Most of his projects have evolved around themes which highlight the conservation of
energy

• The use of local materials, craft persons and appropriate technologies has been an
extension of this attitude.

• He makes it a point to find out the history and culture of the area and designs the
building keeping the aforementioned factors in mind.

• He does not favour the imposition of any particular style on his work.

• He favours the use of contemporary building materials along with the traditional
materials of the area.

• Most of his buildings have no façade treatment , like his guru Corbusier.

PHILOSOPHIES :-
• It is this so called ‘filter’ between contemporary and traditional architecture which Doshi
has masterfully brought in.

• The success of any project depends on effective construction, contracting, logistic

planning and co-ordination.

• An essential part of the philosophy is the construction of scale models and of full scale
mock-ups to make decisions jointly with the client about the building.

1.Institute of Indology , Ahmedabad

An inherent simplicity and boldness prevails in the approach towards architectural
elements and materials.

Concept

The cross section of the building shows the dynamic form evolving from climatic needs
of the building. The bottom floor cantilevers over the moats of either side of the building,
making it appear as if it is floating.

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PLANNING

• The entry of the building is through a vast green lawn and garden.

• A bridge leads visitors above the moat which surrounds the building.

• Moat allows the building to utilize water as a cooling mechanism as well as adding
humidity to lower portions of building which hold the precious manuscripts.

• Through the building on the other side is a large outdoor patio which draws heat from
the sun.

• Constant breeze on public portions.

• The ‘hallways’ are pushed to the exterior to maximise air movement and shade.

• Entering the building a half story above ground allows the basement storage areas to
have indirect light while benefiting from the natural cooling of the earth- surrounded
walls and pools surrounding building.

• These climatic benefits were essential to the preservation of the ancient manuscripts.

• The Institute is the first example of precast concrete members.

• The Institute is built in Reinforced Concrete which was a new technology at that time,
but marked the step towards progress, technology and modernity.

• Doshi used Concrete for both the structure & cladding. The Institute is the first example of
precast concrete members thus minimizing the amount of labor needed

• The expression of the form is portrayed in the structural grid of the building.

• All of the elements of the façade fall into a three meter grid.

• There are panels of glass on either side of the column alternating with four panels of
concrete between the glasses.

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2.GUFA : HUSSAIN-DOSHI GUFA, AHMEDABAD

An underground art gallery in Ahmedabad as a joint collaboration between M. F. Hussain &

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B.V. Doshi.

CEPT Campus, Ahmedabad

Client - M.F.Hussain.

Principal Architect - Balkrishna Doshi

Site Area - 1000 Sq.M.

Built-up Area - 280 SqM.

Project Cost - Rs. 1.8 million (1993)

CONCEPT:
• The idea for an underground structure

– something that had never been tried before.

• Create a unique space that Husain will have to rise up and match the quality of the
space with his art.

• Climatologically appropriate building form for withstanding the scorching heat of

Ahmedabad

• The reference for the gufa (cave) is elemental and primeval; it emerged from the
Buddhist stupa and karli and Ajanta.

PLANNING:

• Set adjacent to the CEPT University, the museum spaces are all underground with only
the domed roof shells protruding above the ground level.

• The construction of the Gufa was finally dependent upon the knowledge & skill of
builders who had to translate highly sophisticated diagrams into reality.

• Structure is in form of skeletal skin & wire mesh sandwiched on each side by layers of
cement.

• The concrete is then covered with a compacted layer of vermiculite followed by mosaic
of pieces of broken china, complete with a black serpentine imagery snaking across the
surfaces.

• White tiles reflect the sun rays helps to keep the interior cool.

• One enters the space through a staircase which is partly hidden, through a circular door

• The plan is evolved from the intersecting circles and ellipse

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 • The spaces formed within are continuous and amorphous through inclined planes of
domes, curvilinear planes of vaults, undulating floors and non rectilinear leaning
columns

• Light comes in as shafts through a few circular openings in the dome, the diffused light
adding to the mystic ambience.

• Spots of light on the floor, from the circular skylights, change location according to the
time of the day, adding to the mystery of the space.

• Husain painted the walls, ceilings; decided to relate it with the primordial tortoise and the
cobra.

• The inclined columns in the interiors act as a perfect setting for various shaped metal
sculptures.

• The entrance is approached down a flight of steps in to the cave like interior . Some
shells consists appeared snouts with apertures (hole), used to capture fresh air & light.

• The central hall is supported by 2 rows of columns which divide the interior in to a wider
centre aisle & 2 side aisle . The columns have octagonal shafts wider at base & tapered
at capital.

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3.IIM .BANGALORE
The Indian Institute of Management with 54,000 square meters of built up area is located in
south of Bangalore city.

All of Doshi’s concerns in incorporating traditional Indian Architecture have been illustrated in
this campus:

• Multiple structural system

• Mythical space

• Dialogue between architecture and people

• Symbolism

• Amorphous forms

✓ The design of this academic complex has been steered and governed by the climate
and culture of Bangalore, a garden city, the sloping topography of the site, the concern
that buildings should not swamp the landscape

✓ The use of local materials.

✓ The fountainhead of the inspiration for the open spaces is derived from the courtyards of
the Capital complex at Fatehpur Sikri.

✓ The principles of planning method, especially the use of multiple structures, mythical
space, dialogue between architecture and people.

Organizational principles:

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 ✓ Interlocking courts

✓ Pavilions

✓ Terraced gardens

✓ Connections

PLANNING:
• The main grouping of the campus, which contains administration offices, classrooms,
laboratories and a library is arranged as a datum in a ladder-like plan along a
longitudinal axis with student dormitories a short distance away, organized in
interlocking squares at an angle to this axis.

• To make important buildings like the lecture halls or the library stand out in sharp relief,
the architect varied the scale of fenestration and sometimes used symmetry to display
a beauty that has strangeness in proportion.

• The interlocking courtyards are scaled to suit the functions located around them.

• The administrative block is placed on the north – eastern side.

• The “open office” planning in this block provides flexibility for reorganization of interior
spaces.

• Faculty offices with their garden courts are located to the north – west and south –
west.

• Planned to accommodate 600 students, the dormitory blocks are linked together by
walkways and verandahs.

• Each block has four wings of residential rooms which are arranged around a central
court, creating a community feeling and a sense of security.

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN:
• A system of major interior streets for movement has been adopted.

• The teaching spaces, faculty and administrative offices are dispersed along these
circulation spines.

• The “streets” often stand agape on one side or are topped by skylights to admit the
crystal clear stream of light.

• The width of the streets has been modulated at places to heighten the spatial
experience and to promote interaction.

• The design also included long and unusually high (three storied) corridors with
innumerable vistas.

• These corridors are sometimes seemed open sometimes with only pergolas and
sometimes partly covered with skylight.

• To further heighten the spatial experience, the width of the corridors was modulated in
many places to allow casual sitting, interaction or moving forwards to once destination.

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 • Access to classrooms and administrative offices was provided through these links as well
as to generate constant activity.

• Owing to the varying rhythm of the solids and voids, i.e. wall and opening, coupled with
direct or indirect natural light, these links change in character during the different times
of the day as well seasons and offer the students and the faculty, occasion to feel the
presence of nature even while they are inside.

• By creating such an environment the activities pursued within the building become
enriched because they become one with the larger, total world.

• Varying direct and indirect sunlight was coupled with solid void combination To further
enrich the spatial experience, the corridor width was altered in a lot of places with
sitting areas for casual interaction, while moving from one destination to the other.

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 CHARLES CORREA
Architect, Planner, Activist and Theoretician, Correa has emerged as a major figure in
contemporary architecture worldwide

In the lines of those who have contributed significantly to architectural practice and discourse
in South Asia is Charles Correa.

Over the span of a career starting in the early 1950s to the present day, Correa has evolved a
distinctive style of his own and has been a chief actor or major participant in various influential
projects that shape and give definition to post-colonial South Asian architecture.

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 In a career that spans the design of great buildings and cities to plans for effective, affordable
housing, few can match Charles Correa's accomplishments

Contemporary Regionalism - The Traditional in the Modern

• Correa’s work in India is an adaptation of Modernism to a non-western culture. He

attempts to explore a local vernacular within a modern environment.
• Correa was influenced by the works of Le Corbusier but sought to develop new forms of
modernism appropriate to Indian culture, producing designs that reflect a sensitive
understanding of local climate and living patterns.
• Correa’s work displays an impressive vocabulary and technical ability in responses to the
challenges that explosive urban growth creates.
• Correa’s responses have been outstandingly innovative, displaying an impressive
knowledge of tradition from various sources, an understanding of technique and,
perhaps most importantly the power of symbol.
• More often his work is an observation in the pragmatic sense
• Many of his contemporary bldgs. are based on ancient ideas of the cosmos. Examples:
Jawahar Kala Kendra arts centre, Jaipur, Kasturaba Samadhi in Pune & IUCAA (Inter-
University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics) , Pune.
• Correa uses stepped platforms in many of his works to generate controlled
processional movement- part of the Indian tradition

“Climate plays an important role in design”

• Correa’s designs “respond to the climate of India.” His vocabulary is of today, yet
derived from the physical setting and many traditional values of Indian society.

• All of his works have a special emphasis on prevailing resources, energy and climate as
major determinants in the ordering of space.

• His architecture is of horizontal planes- roofs and platforms, open colonnades,

verandahs and courtyards with water bodies.

• He remarks that religious ceremonies in Asia have always emphasized He believes that,
traditional architecture of India is architecture of indoor and outdoor spaces that merge
into one another and the use of which is determined by the climate / seasons.

• Correa remarks that in a warm climate people have a very different relationship to built
form.

• He singles out the Chatri, an overhead canopy and a traditional

• Indian form as an example of the minimal protection required by the climate.

• He makes use of this form in several of his buildings, including what is perhaps his most
distinguished early work, Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya, Ahmedabad, India.

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15AT6CAC CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE & CRITICISM VI A (Jan -May 2018)
1.RAMAKRISHNA HOUSE
Based on the model of a long narrow dwelling, clustered about an internal atrium, lit from
above yet simultaneously screened from the sun, the Tube House served as the basic idea
behind a number of villas that Correa designed on a similar theme, most notably the Parekh
and Ramkrishna Houses built in Ahmedabad between 1962 and 1968.

This Ramakrishna house plan for one of Ahmedabad’s mill-owners is generated by a series of
parallel load bearing-walls, punctuated by interior courts top-lit by cannon, culminating in the
main living areas.

The family living/entertaining area, the guest room with its own garden and the service areas
(kitchen, servants rooms, etc.) on the ground floor,

and the more private family area and bedrooms on the upper floor.

The house is placed at the northern end of the site, so as to maximize the magnitude of the
garden.

Internally, the plan is structured by two parallel staircases, the main stairs and the service stairs,
rising in opposite directions to the upper lvl.

Family bedrooms are on upper lvl spanning across the main façade overlooking the garden.

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2.MRF HEADQUARTERS ,CHENNAI
• The project of designing its main headquarters was given to Charles Correa &
Associates.

• The MRF Building is a large horizontal structure with sweeping cantilevers and an internal
atrium.

• It is located on a bend of greams Road and its façade gently follows the street curve,
creating a series of terraced gardens.

• It is comparable to the waves on the seashore of the Marina along Chennai’s waterfront.

As such, unlike many Modernist buildings, it helps delineate the street

• Its scale is also surprisingly compatible with its more traditional neighbors and comes from
its horizontal massing.

• A major feature of the building is its curving, slatted pergola standing on massive pillars

• Its tower-like monumentality is generated through a single free-standing column rising to

support the large pergola that floats above the terraces.

Within the building, the various levels of the offices open out onto a central atrium linked
through a casual pattern of connecting stairs. It creates a focus for the building

• On the ground floor are the common areas; each of the floors above is allotted to one
of the company’s major departments.

• The offices of the senior personnel are along the façade while the general staff are
located in an open arrangement behind.

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 • At the roof terrace level, one emerges on to a large garden, with trees and buildings all
around.

• Within the building, the various levels of the offices open out onto a central atrium,
linked through a casual pattern of connecting stairs, creating a focus for the building.

• A wonderfully casual way to walk from one department to another, or to exit and go
home at the end of the working day.

3.KANJANJUNGA APARTMENT,MUMBAI
CONCEPT & CONTEXT:

• The Kanchanjunga building is an exclusive housing development, with spectacular views

of both Bombay skyline and the Arabian Sea.

• Situated in Mumbai.

• As the location’s most endemic factor, climate provides the designer with legitimate
starting point for architectural expression to design a modern interpretation of a feature
of the traditional Indian bungalow.

• Harmonious relationship between Kanchenjunga and its immediate context is realized

as a result of its inheriting local vernacular.

• Mumbai having tropical climate asks for east west orientation for the building to catch
the prevailing winds from the Arabian Sea and the city’s best view.

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 PLANNING AND DESIGN:
• The tower has a proportion of 1:4 (being 21 meters square and 84 meters high).

• The tower is the fusion of efficient point-block circulation and spacious housing
commonly applied in low and medium rise blocks.

• Skip-stop elevators give access to a jagged stack of split level units.

• Each unit rises and descends from the central core to double height verandahs nicked
out of the corners of the building.

LAYOUT:
• The layout of the apartments in Kanchenjunga achieves an open floor plan while
creating distinctive spaces through its changes in level.

• All the units were are arranged as an interlocking composition with the play of
intermediate split levels.

• 3- 4 bedroom units are one and half story and 5-6 bedroom units are 2 and half storied.

• Its minimalist unbroken surfaces are cut away to open up the double-height terrace
gardens at the corners, thus revealing some hint of the complex’ spatial organization of
living spaces that lie within.

• The interlock of these variations is expressed externally by the shear end walls that hold
up the cantilevers.

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 FAÇADE:
• Facade has a dramatic effect due to outer double height terraces and themes of color
palette add the drama in the aesthetics. The interlocking form and colors reveals the
complex spatial organization of the livable spaces of the tower.

• Great deal of transparency has been achieved by the use of large opening and deep
garden verandahs, suspended in the air on every floor.

• Whole structure is made of reinforced concrete with 6.3m cantilevered open terrace.

• The central core houses lifts and other services were constructed ahead of the main
structure by slip method of construction.

• Its concrete construction and large areas of white panels, bears a strong resemblance
to modern apartment buildings in the West.

• The garden terraces of Kanchanjunga Apartments are actually a modern interpretation

of a feature of the traditional Indian bungalow: the verandah.

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