Work

When Gregor Samsa woke up transformed into an insect, his first concern was not to be late for work, Kafka's Metamorphosis (1915), summing up human existence, or specifically working class human existence.

Bombay / Mumbai

I left Bombay 16 odd years ago. So every visit, is a snapshot in time. I witness Bombay transforming into Mumbai, a different city from the one I fondly remember growing up in. I often find myself searching for familiarity, an accidental artifact omitted by the wave of reconstruction, a compound wall, a tree, an edge, a gutter, a road, a building even, embedded like shrapnel within the new, accumulating dust, soot and memories. Like China Mielville’s The City and the City, the two cities coexist one renewed other in decay. The street I grew up in has changed from four storeys to twenty storeys, spaces in between reduced to mere offsets. The building that has my childhood home lies in ruins, abandoned and uncared for in light of imminent reconstruction. Views of the surrounding tropical landscape once afforded by these four storey buildings, have been replaced by collage of windows. Windows that bombard you with varying shades of light and sounds from lives of others that look towards you as voyeuring, co-witnesses of an imminent, deliberate, collective tragedy...Only place where my beloved suburban Bombay survives is in my friend, Kiran's home in a small gifted painting, preserved in time for us to reminisce and savour nostalgia of spaces lost.

Nice Quote

Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe said, "Architecture is the Will of an Epoch translated into Space".

Christmas and Architecture

Robert A. Scott in the book “The Gothic Enterprise: A guide to understanding the Medieval Cathedral” writes “We might also imagine that the long time required to build Gothic Cathedrals added to the depth of the collective identity they engendered. It almost seemed to serve their purpose that they should not be completed too quickly. It takes time for collective identity to form, develop and harden. The knowledge that Canterbury Cathedral, for example was 365 years in the making is very important part of the collective identity that has developed around it.

We are accustomed to asking how communities of people managed to build cathedrals, but we can turn the questions around and ask how cathedrals built communities. The sheer scale of the undertaking, which engaged generations of people as workers, witnesses and monitors, proponents and skeptics for periods of time measured not in decades but in centuries, strengthened existing forms of communitas and collective identity, and gave rise to new ones.”

Robert A. Scott above explores the connection between time, collective identity, and cathedral construction. The prolonged timelines of Gothic Cathedrals, like Canterbury, where 365 years were invested, contributed significantly to the depth of the collective identity surrounding them. Scott suggests that the deliberate pace of construction allowed for the gradual formation, development, and solidification of collective identity.

Shifting perspective, we contemplate not only how communities built cathedrals but also how cathedrals, through their monumental scale and multi-generational engagement, played a pivotal role in shaping and reinforcing existing forms of communities. 

The enduring construction site of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona exemplifies this evolution, where the Cathedral continues to be constructed through technological advancements afforded by passage of time.

The 2019 Notre Dame fire served as a contemporary example, revealing how the restoration efforts galvanized a global community. The swift mobilisation of funds, the involvement of over 1000 workers, and the use of centuries-old oak trees from across France underscored the enduring relationship between buildings and the communities they symbolise.

This dynamic interplay between communities and structures extends beyond cathedrals to encompass various religious and institutional buildings worldwide. The lesson for modern designers and patrons aspiring to create transformative urban spaces or “symbols of excellence” is clear: time is indispensable. The rush to achieve ambitious goals devoid of temporal investment risks rendering projects mere follies, devoid of the profound impact that the passage of time can bestow.

Gentrification panel 13

In cities where initiative to construct the city resides in the private sector, density is directly linked to wealth creation and profitability. The profession of built environment is expected to work with the brief. An architect or planner may be able to inform or influence the brief but always within limitation, and in most instances where professionals have been reduced to mere service providers (voluntarily or systemic), it is natural that they adopt ¥€$ is MORE and MORE is a resounding ¥€$ motto, in the interest of private capital that employs them.

Gentrification panel 12

 
In most instances the community, group, work culture being subjected to Gentrification as a force through redevelopment or regeneration, seem to lie in this grey zone where they are very real presence as people with lives and livelihoods connected to a place, but immediately rendered illegal or redundant through the logic of the Market. 

In many instances, the Planning process will not only cynically disregard them as inevitable collateral damage but also through Community Engagement, re-frame their opinions and feedback as validation of the regeneration plans.

Gentrification panel 11

 

Larry the cat, speaks.
“By revisiting the past, Public Works spells out a future. “An alternate mode of practice, where architecture is in the service of civic society” was the text on the wall for OMA’s contribution titled Public Works: Architecture by Civil Servant, to David Chipperfield’s Venice Biennale Common Grounds.
Reiner de Graaf in Four Walls and a Roof states “at its (Greater London Council GLC) height in 1960s, the department had a staff of over 3000, with public buildings that carry its signature include works as diverse as Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Michael Faraday Memorial. Even today, the built legacy looks refreshingly modern and innovative”.