Beyond Architectural Critique: 361 Degrees Conference 2015

By Team IAnD

Photography: Courtesy jasubhai Media Pvt. Ltd

Ar. Doriana & Ar. Massimiliano Fuksas

The 361⁰ Conference 2015 - an egalitarian platform on discourse in architecture and design conceptualised and hosted by Jasubhai Media Pvt. Ltd. brought to the fore what exactly goes on behind the scene and inside the mind of an architect...

When you try to delve behind the concept of a design, you often hear the architect/ designer attribute it to a random thought, amongst a host of other inspirations. Taking this premise further, and scratching a little beyond the hypodermis, the conference captured the progressive nature of design in the glocal world of build-and-make. Two and half days of intellectually stimulating design banter - some very serious and invigorating   and some charming and informative - created in its wake a forum that gave impetus to the power of thoughts, ideas and execution of architecture and design. 

Dr. Singh Intrachooto

The theme DIS.Architecture… Discourse, Intuition and Syntax in Architecture was explored, elucidated upon and broken down by 13 esteemed key note speakers from various cities across the world, starting out the programme with the witty and talented master architect Massimiliano Fuksas from Rome.  While several other architects -  Ar. Boonserm Premthada, Dr. Singh Intrachooto, Ar. Alberto Kalach,  Ar. Premanand Chandavarkar, Ar. Rachel Neeson, Ar. Vinod Jayasinghe etc. were speakers, whose presentations and content were a wide spectrum of various natures of discourse in architecture that ranged from scrap material, music and dance to Indian mythology and sciences.

 

Ar. Sheila Sri Prakash

Understanding the similarities between dance and architecture, Ar. Sheila Sri Prakash opined and substantiated her philosophy of resonance vs. bhavas (as in music and dance) by reiterating the responsibility of the architect to his client. “When conceptualizing the storyline of the design, an architect must take into consideration the site and materials. Then layer it by using lights and drama to actualize the design. She explained this via an example of her own studio in Chennai where she used old doors carved so artistically on the ceilings and covered them with glass and added lights to create drama and also keep alive the priceless pieces of Indian art.  

 

A Panel Discussion

“People need to fall in love with our buildings,” said Ar.Wendell Burnette stressing on the use of context as material for a project. “Look at the site, the surroundings/ambience, the locally available material and then design projects so that they speak to the residents/home owners/ clients/patrons etc.” he advised, almost all his projects deeply rooted in context.

Peter Cleg, founding partner of the UK-based Feilden Cleg Bradley Studios. reputed as a pioneer in the field of environmental design and for garnering over 30 years of experience in low-energy architecture commanded a packed auditorium  with his focus of ‘architecture of relevance’.

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Another noteworthy discourse that exceeded its timing without an iota of complaint - in fact honoured by a revered silence – was that by Ar. Ashish Ganju. Mainly associated with research and the development of sustainable architecture and design in the Himalayas, he cited a fascinating example of a monastery that he had designed for Tibetan refugee nuns in Dharamshala. Through a series of beautiful images of the structure, interspersed with his learning from ancient philosophical systems including Buddhism and Vedanta Yoga, he took the audience through his thought process behind the harmonious living space. He ended this session with an appeal to professionals in the audience to join him in establishing a national museum of architecture consisting of a network of India’s museums.

Japanese architect and writer Osamu Ishiyama’s presentation threw light on architecture in response to natural disaster. This approach to architecture, according to him, requires the design of man-made nature, where nature itself becomes the architecture of a city or space.

 

A rapt audience

The bottom-line that emerged was that any design process should be: inclusive; iterative; transactional; equitable and reciprocal to be holistic and beneficial to all stakeholders.