Architecture, Contemporary Practice, Discourse, Essays, Studio

HIREN PATEL ON ‘MAKING’

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Hiren Patel, Principal and Director, Hiren Patel Architects writes about an approach to architecture where the question of thinking in detail is central to the idea of a project and the work reaffirms this belief when it endures inhabitation over a large span of time.

The semi-covered veranda: pavilion in the middle of the site for a Village house project: structures that promote outdoor living and bear a better relationship with the natural context.

DESIGN

For me, designing a building is like creating a painting on a canvas. Growing up, I always had an inclination for the arts. As a student, architecture opened up a whole new way of looking at art and design. This, I think, in some way influenced my approach towards architecture. Continue reading HIREN PATEL ON ‘MAKING’ →

Praxis

Praxis 22 | Varna Shashidhar Landscape Architecture

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An editorial project by Matter in partnership with Şişecam Flat Glass, PRAXIS investigates the work and positions of diverse contemporary architecture practices in India. This episode features a discussion with Varna Shashidhar of Bengaluru-based Varna Shashidhar Landscape Architecture [VSLA]. The practice of VSLA develops from a contextual ethos of approaching and representing landscape from an integrated and multidisciplinary perspective. Through projects and research that traverse scales, their work centres around “beauty in the ordinary”. Varna elaborates on envisioning designs that develop over time and terrains and working in harmony with endemic ecosystems that form an underlay to their process. To advance collaborative cultural production, she also speaks of founding Design United to enable dialogues and a palpable sense of collectivity.

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Architecture, Books & Films, Dialogues

Dialogue: Peter Zumthor and Bijoy Ramachandran

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A CONVERSATION ACROSS CULTURES 
Swissnex / SwitzerlandandIndia75 

JN Tata Auditorium
Indian Institute of Science1
Bangalore / 22nd February 2024

Swiss architect and Pritzker Prize Winner Peter Zumthor in conversation with Bengaluru-based Architect Bijoy Ramachandran. 

Swissnex in India, in collaboration with SwitzerlandIndia75, hosted the two renowned architects to discuss bilateral perspectives on architecture in an open format. This was a rare opportunity for architects and architecture enthusiasts to witness a cross-cultural exploration of ideas. As Switzerland and India celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations, this conversation was a significant milestone for Bengaluru’s design scene, fostering cultural exchange and collaboration in the field of architecture. This was an evening of intellectual discourse as these two architects wove a tapestry of diverse influences that shape the world of architecture. 

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Frame Conclave, Modern Heritage

NID’s Early Years: An Indian Experiment of Global Relevance

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Ashoke Chatterjee

A Recorded Lecture from FRAME Conclave 2019: Modern Heritage

In this lecture, Ashoke Chatterjee talks about the inception of the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, its formative years, the pedagogy provided to the students, the experiments with the curriculum, the challenges, successes, and failures it faced in becoming the ‘world-class’ institute it sought out to be today.

Edited Transcript

I am delighted to have this opportunity to be back in Goa after forty-one years. The last time I came here, it was to assist the Government of Goa with a study of its ‘carrying capacity’ for tourism: how would Goa manage the growth of tourism in coming years? This might mean tough decisions of planning and control. I need not tell you that my report was trashed long before the Hall of Nations. Goa is clearly still struggling with those issues, but it is good to be back. I am grateful to the organizers, to FRAME Conclave for inviting me.

Let me start by indicating that this talk will be a very personal view of one part of contemporary Indian design history. It will focus on the experience of one institution, the National Institute of Design, its educators, and those who studied there. It will cover some years of a larger institutional history as well as design in modern India. Yet NID has been a catalyst, so it is valid to draw on an experience which has been unique not only in India but in a global context.

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Books & Films

[BOOK] Spaces in Time: A Life in Architecture by Ramu Katakam

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This book puts into print the universe of architect Ramu Katakam’s ideas, inspirations and thoughts and their translation into his work. The essays and accompanying visuals chronicle the initiation and growth of a practice in the context of a newly independent India. Spaces in Time: A Life in Architecture passes down an intuitive model of design to a new generation of architects.

Continue reading [BOOK] Spaces in Time: A Life in Architecture by Ramu Katakam →