Lecture Summary: Architecture In Context

If you are somewhat affiliated to the world of architecture, you would have heard of Rahul Mehrotra. He is a rock star and rightly so.

I had the good fortune to listen to him deliver a lecture which I have summarized in my text below. The talk centered on Designing in context of the world and the design challenges in contemporary India. His TED talk below is a gateway to this world and you could also watch it below. If video doesn't interest you or you would like to read what I write (almost like a verbatim narration), continue below!

1. There is a sphere of concern that we inhabit versus a sphere of influence. unfortunately most of us so deterred by our sphere of influence that we limit ourselves to our immediate concern. Also one reason why democratic participation by employed corporate workers is so low.
2. Two ways to look at design is to see it either as an absolute solution OR design for transitions (think of hosting burning man/kumbh mela or managing Mumbai during the monsoons). Any design that you do has to account for the transition that the place and the contextual environment therefore goes too.
3. There is an innate movement towards private spaces away from democratic spaces. Our lifestyles (and linking this back to market friendliness) is a major reason for this.
4. It's important to look at Patrons V/s Clients V/s Users to understand how to go about a project (not necessarily architecture). Toilet building in slums could be patronized by the government, managed by the municipality but the end users are still people who live there. Between managing these three set of expectations, it is most important to really really think of the end user who you build for.
5. There is also a space differential in terms of who you think accesses a space versus someone who actually does. There is also a "landscape of transition". Think of migration patterns maybe one thing but just thinking of the level of shift & transit in any physical environment is mind-boggling. Another important thing - these are non-neat transitions.
6. Human dimensions & problems are so so hard to map (every context has a context!)One way to look at or measure the context is to not be stuck in binaries. But is that enough? You may design with the intent of blurring binaries (example make a space that is inclusive for both the rich bungalow owner & his lower middle class help staff) but have you truly blurred these binaries. The synthesis of binaries is the heart of design.
7. When we say context has context, it's important to understand the meta narrative of everything. An office building (with glass windows) might be dime a dozen but rapid geo morphing, global warming, uneven spatial development, inequity, shifting demographics, social versus static modernity and an independent bourgeois is really the heart of it.
8. There is also the matter of societal versus aesthetic modernity. It is funny how in places we grasp one (lavish parking lots) but fail at other (no plastic environments).
9. Reversability is the heart of contextual design. Indeed, slum or urban village micro environments form what Rahul Mehrotra calls the KINETIC CITY - a hub of informalization. Almost a twitching organism with elastic, reversal and ephemeral spaces (the newspaper vendor in the morning becomes the samosa wala in the evening).
10. One way to learn of a city is to think of its most dominant image. Rahul Mehrotra takes the example of a Ganpati immersion/visarjan in the sea against the backdrop of skyscrapers. What a fascinating visual to contextualize Mumbai by - its workers, its binaries and beliefs as opposed to a static building that few would relate to. Spaces>Buildings. The most important memory of the city is then in the enacted process which is why cities like Shanghai, Dubai appear to us as cities of rushed impatient capital. The human being is not at the center of this image.
11. An important way to understand while solving for a problem is how we word the question - basis on the definition the question or the root statement allows us,a lot changes! The definition of the phrase urban can be terribly exclusionary. But that is the definition that accords resource allocation for an area defined as such (And is therefore either terribly overstaffed or understaffed) depending on the nature of the actual city defined as non-city or vice versa.
12. One reason for us to change permanent solutions is to to be aesthetic. But being aesthetic is its own trap because it locks us into finding problematic, long-haul, non-contextual solutions. One reason why the government does Yojanas is because it is aesthetic, well - defined, building a permanent repertoire around what is clearly problematic (any issue really). But is a permanent, all-weather, uniform yojana taking into account the many vagaries that the user faces (refer to the patron v/s user v/s client dilemma again). Refer to the case-study below:

Then there is the Architecture of indulgence.  

The liberalization of our economy has been the "architecture of indulgence" – weekend homes, restaurants, resorts and corporate offices; and, as an extension of this limited spectrum of what is celebrated, the discussion is focused on material, craft, and texture in an almost fetishistic manner. While this is productive in its own way – it removes the perception of the usefulness of architecture away from the public. All such programs that, while they are crucial crucibles for architectural innovation, touch a very small fragment of our population.

While Mr. Mehrotra touched on a bunch of his key projects, my favourite undoubtedly was the case study of Hathigaon (https://rmaarchitects.com/architecture/hathigaon/), a low cost housing project for Mahouts that did not judge but elevated mahouts by contextual architectural interventions.

Another case study I really enjoyed learning about took place at Cyber city, Hyderabad, where two corporate buildings employ the idea of a double skin as an energy saving and modulating mechanism. The inner skin of the building is an reinforced concrete frame with spec aluminum windows. The outer facade comprises of a cast aluminum trellis with Hydroponics trays integrated for growing a variety of plant spices. The trellis also has a misting system integrated in order to control and regulate the amount of water released to the plants and trays. The principle of using a moist screen, as way to cool the interiors of a building is a time tested traditional method (which Rahul Mehrotra observed from the porosity of Indian matkas).

However, here the screen takes on an aesthetic function of a dynamic facade where different species are organized in a way to create patterns as well as bloom at different times of the year bringing attention to different parts of the building facade at different times.

To sum it up, what the man himself said:

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste!

Please note: This article is a summary of my understanding of the lecture delivered by Rahul Mehrotra at the Godrej India Culture Lab. I do not own this content.

Liked this? You can read another of my lecture summaries here:

21 Challenges for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari