Letters To A Young Architect

by Christopher Benninger

  I cannot address these queries, as two mutually irrelevant situations cannot raise a relevant question. Buildings are just the result of the events of building. They are a kind of cultural flotsam, or discharge, that rises up to the top where it can be seen. To be true architecture a structure must point to the future while reflecting the past. What is more interesting is the precursors to the events which gave shape to form, and the impact of the forms on future events. Then an analysis of the products of events becomes meaningful.

  Just like cinematographers who plan out the sequences and experiences of people who view their films, I try to program the experiences of people who move through my spaces. This experiencing while moving through space is a kind of kinetic architecture. It is a preconceived scheme. Then the people who live in these cinematic sets become the role players. They give life and meaning to the spaces. Cold, artificial spaces then transform into ‘places’. They come alive for their inhabitants as living organisms. That is what is so fantastic about any great boulevard, piazza, square, promenade or vista. It is the experience of the Taj Mahal, the multitudes of people experiencing it together, which bring life and eternity into the physical scenario. It is not just the amazing impact of the masonry. A human conviviality swells from the whole experience of being in the place. One feels proud to be a human being and to be a part of something greater than oneself.

  The images of the Taj Mahal, or even of a more humble structure for that matter, are just analogues of the multifarious experiential systems operating within the context. Indian architecture, to me, is this fluctuating and ever changing context characterized by the happenings within, as opposed to the dull fixed images of packaged consumer items which form Western architecture today. Let us say that architecture is a shared memory of those who have experienced it. This memory uplifts the spirit, gives vision to the future and inculcates optimism. In a world where the essential struggle is between the optimists and the cynics, this role of architecture is very important.

  To me architecture is not things, nor is it the process of making things. It is the experiences of the people who live in milieus, or enliven places, imbibe forms, perceive spaces and become lost in their interstices, accidental or intended, which impact on the emotions, sensitivities and the memories of individuals.

  In Europe recently I visited some of the new stunts which are parading as architecture. I saw a really great engineering feat, which was a bad building and a terrible museum. This bad building, made of a concrete frame structure, housed an ill-conceived and unworkable museum. Yet this entire disaster was covered by a daring steel structure that arched over it. The structure itself is a great feat. They should have just built the structure and forgotten about the terrible museum that was housed in it. It was a screaming child demanding attention. It was not a mature artifact of a great culture. Yet, here in India we laud such stunts without knowing their true significance. This is an example of the Indian romance with the West. We have great respect, but underlying that is suspicion. It is like the love affair between a patron and a woman of the night. There is a lot of passion and attraction all smothered in deception and distrust.

  What are your views on contemporary Indian Cities?

  Let me avoid the usual review of data on how crippled our Indian cities are. I’d rather point out that Indian cities represent the dynamism and energy which thrive on the periphery of the global system, which gets suffocated by the huge, hierarchical economy in which we live. In India we have regional literature, architecture, cinema and poetry. Have you ever heard about the film movement in Alabama? Well, there is nothing to hear. It is too close to the epicenter of world culture. Just as the there is little that grows on the Deccan Plateau because it is in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats, so a good deal of the West is in the cultural shadow of The Great City. Pune is a vibrant city and few people in Paris, London or New York have ever heard of it. Yet they have all heard of Newark, New Jersey, which has no soul, no life – just empty shells and distant memories.Indian cities, like hundreds of cities in other countries in the Periphery, are full of chaos, fluctuations, uncertainties, contradictions and chance happenings. This is the raw material of creativity, the stuff of free thought.

  We live in a world system where ‘center-periphery’ dynamics operates. The center is sucking and feeding off of the peripheral resources, and the periphery is buying what the center produces, including ideas, fads, tastes and habits. The dense, affluent central core gets packed into a tighter and tighter ball of pelf and energy. The rich center is a seductive trap. People who rush into it cannot get out; like moths attracted to a flame they go, never to return. The debts they take to get in inhibit their mobility to get out. Their ideas become a kind of debt too. Everyone is driven by ‘right’ thinking, ‘correct’ behavior, ‘correct’ taste, fashionable packaging and a few acceptable paradigms of what one’s life can be. True art cannot emerge from such a maze. It is out on the periphery that life dwells. Art is just a reflection of life. In art one can make mistakes, explore options. Art must be an adventure.

  But isn’t India following the West?

  It is true that India is grabbing at the ‘latest’ and attracted to what is vulgar, mundane and banal about American society. See the text messages which are written ‘wit da’ most banal of American English. But this is just a minor malaise inflicting a spoilt, privileged sliver of the middle class. Being products of the consumer-driven media, what counts for them is what’s on TV and what sells. There is a growing sub-culture in India that is not looking for work, but for jobs. They are not interested in how much creativity they can garner, they are interested in how many ‘Ks’ they will earn. They feel driven to be ‘in,’ and what’s ‘in’ is what sells. Karl Marx called religion ‘the opiate of the masses’. Today it is ‘buying’ that is the opiate of the masses. They need ‘Ks’ to buy. It is the privilege of these élite to buy into oblivion. They will all end up living in air conditioned little boxes, working in similar little boxes; and, driving between these little boxes in air conditioned little boxes on wheels. They will feel lucky to work in air conditioned little boxes; and when they get time off they can go out shopping with the entire family buying and buying and buying – in more air conditioned boxes. Their heads will be full of little ideas in little boxes, and they will find a drugged happiness living life in such boxes.

  So it is true that the illnesses of the center spread out to the edges; but the periphery is penetrating into the center too. Even Businessweek had to acknowledge my design of the United World College of India as ‘One of the Ten Super Structures of the World’ – whatever that means. History is always a tale of creativity and strength at the edge overpowering the center. Take the case of Frank Lloyd Wright. From the middle of nowhere he moved further away from the ‘center’ into the isolation of Taliesin. Then his work, concept and ideas captivated the ‘center’. It is not always such finality, but rather a process of things less organized affecting the staid and dull central organization. Creativity at the center is akin to a bonsai tree – very organized and very interesting, but not at all creative; very interesting but surely not very beautiful. Of course there are exceptions, but there is also truth in what I say.

  Recently in Madrid I was inflicted with a series of ‘happenings’ and ‘events’ called modern art. These crude inanities were not only uninteresting, but far from clever. One sees the same junk in New York, or in Paris and London. They mix them with masterpieces to anoint them, like the Pope’s blessing. These banal artifacts are so ill-conceived and thoughtless that curators think they must be very brilliant! The tastemakers at the center are confused. They lead, but they do not know where they are going. There is an incestuous relationship between Western artists, critics and the media who all chill out together. They cannot tell themselves from one another. This intellectual cronyism leads to an inane ‘Yes!’ Who would dare tell the king he had no clothes on? />
  Until a decade back in India we did not have mass media access to ‘the latest’. We had no templates to tell us what to create and what’s ‘in’. Skill, craftsmanship and hard work was what counted. What we ‘thought’ was order garnered from chaos; was filtered out of variety; was chosen from millions of manifestations. There were no blinkers of ‘fashion’ to tell us what to wear or what to pretend to be. Suddenly India is turning itself inside-out by trying to re-define itself. Unfortunately, this re-definition is based on consumption and the false sense of personal power it engenders. One’s self image is generated by the desire to earn and to spend, rather than to develop ourselves to our greatest creative potentials. One finds brilliant youngsters doing factory line functions in so-called IT centers; answering phones day and night in so-called BPOs; cutting and pasting solutions to non-existent problems, and churning out little nothings in the so-called ‘engineering units’ of MNCs. Quality and Values are being replaced by buying and consuming, moving in a vehicle and a kind of frenzy about nothing. We are moving from a low energy and low consumption society to a high energy consuming society. We are moving from high thinking and simple living to high living on mundane thoughts.

  What are the strengths and salient features of your city plans for Bhutan and your architectural projects there?

  Bhutan operates under a mindset which turns the Western paradigm upside-down. Instead of seeking Gross National Consumption, it is seeking Gross National Happiness. The essence of this is the balance in life, or what is called the Middle Path in Buddhism. The balance between humans and nature; the balance between the built fabric we lay down on this earth and the natural terrain it lies on; the integration of a passion for life and a passion for work. This search seeks conviviality within community; obligations and responsibilities as opposed to just seeking freedom. It is rooted in meditation, self-discovery and being, rather than media-driven frenzy. We discovered two ideas in our work which had a profound impact on the way we plan and design in Bhutan. One idea is called the Principles of Intelligent Urbanism. It seeks ten balances between city building/living and nature, tradition, technology, work, home-making, play, meditation, movement, governance, etc. These principles are a kind of charter which the urban community agrees to put up to any new ideas or projects being proposed. This has resulted in more than fifty percent of the urban land in the capital city being reserved for greenery, water bodies, natural habitats, fragile ecologies, and play areas. It has resulted in a concept of Urban Villages which fall in micro-watersheds between rivulets flowing to the main river. It has resulted in the creation of an urban corridor to which Urban Villages can be attached through inexpensive, low energy public transport. These concepts were then turned into concrete and mortar; into trees and water.

  We are moving from high thinking and simple living to high living on mundane thoughts.

  When it came to building new structures – the new National Capitol complex – we enriched the idea of critical regionalism. Looking critically at the traditional system of construction, which is based in an eternal logic, we analyzed the new functional and technical demands of work and living and explored the interpretation of the vernacular building language which would ‘fit well’ into the contextual setting. This does not fall into any current fad or fashion. It fits into a unique cultural setting and milieu.People often ask me if my new capital plan for Bhutan is not a reaction to the decrepitude of Indian cities. I see it the other way around: Indian planners have a lot to learn from our work in Bhutan. Learning is not about understanding what not to do; learning is about discovering new paths leading us to surety in what we are doing.

  You were recently awarded the prestigious commission to extend the campus of the first Indian Institute of Management, which is a world class center of learning. The fifteen most celebrated architectural firms in India were short-listed for this project. What is your reaction to your selection?

  Surely this was my most prestigious commission at the time. The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta is a value-based intellectual center. The faculty there is very different from most management faculties. They have a vision of the role of enterprise in the formation of a new society and culture. They are very sensitive to trends and trajectories and where we are going. So it is an honor and a challenge to work with such erudite clients who are really looking for quality, and not just utilizing FSI, or not just being ‘cost effective’ in the banal sense of the concept. This project has been a joint effort to seek a new milieu for learning, for discovery and for creativity. The built fabric must create an ambience for interaction, for self-discovery and for the development of personal discipline too. It must satisfy the need for reflection and contemplation, while encouraging interaction on a number of levels. We are working jointly with the Institute on this. It is not just the personal search of an architect to make some kind of statement. We are also working within an existing beautiful campus, characterized by the many water bodies and trees that mesmerize one’s soul. We have to deal with a lot of old, uninspired buildings, but they have a great potential to be integrated into a new whole. We want this to be a place of inspiration and discovery. We want to further amplify a world class center of learning into the new business and cultural environment. We want to make an impact on that emerging environment in considered and articulate ways.

  A campus, whether it is a monumental capitol complex, a small enclave, or that of an institute, must have its iconic qualities. It must give an immediate message about the values and importance of the place. There should be a sense of the triumph of the human soul. People who live and work there should feel transcendental about their mission in life. People who leave must carry eternal memories which help them overcome the mundane in life in order to reach for perfection.

  (Interview to ‘The Hindu’ on 14th June 2006)

  Remembrances

  Letter

  Acceptance Speech for the Great Master’s Award

  For an architect, receiving the Great Master’s Award is a watershed in his career. It is a rite of passage few can imagine. First of all it is an honor bestowed by one’s fellow senior architects, who are articulate critics as well as cautious admirers. Second, the award is unique. Over the past two decades very few architects have received this accolade and those who did, truly embrace the great masters of South Asia. They include Laurie Baker, Geoffrey Bawa, Achyut Kanvinde, Charles Correa, Balkrishna Doshi and Raj Rewal. Who could dare to enter such a pantheon of iconic, creative personalities? I feel humbled by the very thought.

  All of these men were truly masters of our art and the visionaries of our time. They understood that Modern Architecture was not just an act of creating bizarre and exotic strange forms, but that ‘Modern Architecture’ is a social art bound within the craft of technology. They understood that it is also an ‘ethical art’ wherein there is a truth in its processes, and there must be honesty of expression to achieve transcendence. In many ways architecture is a search for the truth of a building within its setting and context. All of these former awardees fought against false ideas and bad architecture.

  I reject Postmodernism as a frivolous and self-fulfilling ideology of personal aggrandizement. I see my personal agenda as a mere continuation of a great tradition set out by the masters who went before me in the annals of history. I was fortunate enough to have great teachers like Balkrishna Doshi, Jerzy Soltan, Jose Lluís Sert, Kevin Lynch and Fumihiko Maki, who laid out a strict path of struggle and self-realization. They set an agenda which I beseech all of you to make yours also. It is a mission worth our endeavors, our fellowship and our professional commitment. It includes an agenda with three thrusts:

  First, the modern movement is focused on the social issues of urbanization, especially mass housing and the public institutions that create a civil society. A modern architect is an urbanist in this broad sense. His work must contribute to its con
text, be a part of its milieu and make life better for the neighborhood within which it participates. Buildings cannot turn their backs on their neighbors, be arrogant or be absurdly selfish.

  Second, buildings must be true to the technology and materials and craftspeople from which they emerge. Materials must be expressed honestly and the technology must be appropriate to the context within which it is created. Modern architects, since the nineteenth century, have explored new materials and technologies, but nestled them within local conditions. They have also understood and employed ancient technologies.

  Finally, modern architects are crusaders, spokespersons and even revolutionaries in their fight against effetism and deceit. In India today we are bombarded with false architecture ‘cut’ from bad buildings in the West and ‘pasted’ into Indian environments, ruthlessly and carelessly. Most of this crime is committed under the false ideology of Postmodernism and the cybertecture that followed; these are in fact creeds of greed and self-aggrandizement. It is the craft of anal retentive, screaming and yelling babies out for attention. There is a wild grabbing for more FSI with no concern for the creation of civic spaces, human experiences and the making of a good life for the common man. I ask you to reject this. Speak out against this.All of our modern agendas should lead us toward more natural, more appropriate and more ‘local’ styles. The blind imitation of Western fads must come to an end. Modern Indian architecture must also be ‘regional architecture’ emerging from the climate, local materials, local traditions and crafts.