Page 23 - Genius

of the money-rich, poor-minded, overlords turn architects into traders of the i define “optimum” as minimum put to a maximum use! But all structures built
“flash” [a brick-and-mortar equivalent of biological “flesh”], and the artefact thereafter by the scientific method are many times more efficient than the
miscarried thus is mistri-tecture. When Building Design has nothing to do with egg-shell. they thus assume a charming lightness and poise. apart from this
either inner or outer reality, you get Fantasi-tecture! parameter, there is an urgent need to enact a law that a building must follow
Principles of Modern architecture: We must pay heed to the Principles the Principle of doing progressively more and more with less and less. the
of modern architecture to restore sanity in the world. the Principles are: use of materials by weight per cubic foot of the total built-up volume should
simplicity; lightness; poise; optimal use of materials and energy, honesty of be prescribed under Building Byelaws and carefully assessed before building
designs are sanctioned for construction on site.
architectural Fads: in the harrowing flood of a churning mélange of
unsettling fads, namely, green building; intelligent building; smart building;
sustainable development; environmentally-friendly construction, and what
have you, architecture is rapidly being washed away forever. these are mere
names which have nothing to do with architecture per se and, at best, are
architectural jingles to sell unsavoury building designs to gullible clients whose
enormity of money-power is matched only by their total mindlessness! For
instance, if orientation is a major design criterion for energy-efficient buildings,
as is being professed nowadays, you can never get it perfectly right if the
master plan of the city has not been developed with this criterion precisely
in mind, in the first place.
Van-urbanization: if that be the case, i suggest, we resort to what i call “Van-
Urbanization” in which “Van” is the vernacular term for “Forest”. to prevent
further depletion of forest-cover, not only should mass-scale afforestation
be an integral part of national urbanization plans but actually precede them.
Forests should be planted at various places throughout the country to have
 arCHiteCt’s oWn HoUse, built in 1975, this House won the University of roorkee
Professor Mahesh varma Construction research Award for original contribution to a salutary effect on the Built-environment: national, regional, state, district,
Innovative Engineering.Dr bhatti is thus the only Architect in India to have won an award for city, and neighbourhood levels. the entire land-mass of the country should be
Innovative Engineering - a discipline perceived to be poles apart from architectural creativity. superimposed with a grid having a basic unit of 50 kilometers by 50 kilometers
to mark out suitable areas for such afforestation.
geography-architecture-Planning: this is where the world’s thrust on
blind urbanization has come amiss. the knowledge of the land on which we
build is limited to the suitability of location or only commercial concerns. this
could be corrected by adopting a fresh approach to education, especially
of architecture. i call this system g-a-P in which ‘g’ stands for geography;
‘a’ for architecture; and ‘P’ for Planning. in my reckoning, geography is the
mother Science; architecture is the mother art; and Planning is the mother
Strategy. the three must be taught and practised in total unison to prevent
further uglification of the mother earth, and the malicious proliferation of
“architectural” monsters! at present, these disciplines are taught as mutually
exclusive academic aberrations.
new Model For architectural education: Such an architectural education
must be simultaneously imparted with these four modes of producing
 GUrU teGH BaHaDUr BHaWan, Panjab University, Chandigarh, is designed
around a glass-dome-topped central light-well. The concept symbolises that education knowledge: theory, Practice, Research, and Pedagogy. theory is thought;
to be received here would lead to inner illumination. The building houses six chairs of Practice is action; Research is investigation; and Pedagogy is communication.
exclusive eminence named guru Nanak Sikh Studies, baba Farid, bhai vir Singh, etc. the entire scheme should develop skills in the four major fields of human
each with its own department, besides central library, Punjab arts and culture museum,
computer lab, complete with infrastructural facilities. Foundation-stone was laid by endeavour: the Humanities, art, Science, and technology. all this must be
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh badal. While respecting its context, the building grounded in the study and practice of dharma, which is the cosmic moral
makes a refreshing architectural statement as a psycho-spiritual academic theme!
Law, and has nothing to do with what we are sorely aware of as the sectarian
malaise of various religious denominations. the sense of “in-touchness” with
expression; scientific method for structure; deference for services; reverence dharma is crucial in the light of our great tradition moulded on the quartet:
for mother nature, etc. dharma, artha, kama, and moksha.
Spiritual Creativity: a holistic sculpting of Space, Structure, and Form, in the upshot: Le corbusier touched the high point of creativity when he
the context of time—brought about in a trance of spiritual creativity—alone declared that architecture is not a profession; it’s a Habit of the mind! i will go
can bring forth a Building Design that can be truly called architecture. one a step further to stress that unless the architect is spiritually awake, creation
example should illustrate this view. all structures in the world built by intuition, of architecture of the kind i am professing is well-nigh impossible!
before mid-19th century were over-sized; therefore, compared to the egg-shell,
were rather crude and less efficient in terms of optimal use of resources. Dr SS Bhatti, architect with m. arch. & 3PhDs
NOTE: The author is a former Principal of Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh.
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