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 Views of the surrounding tropical landscape once afforded by these four storey buildings, have been replaced by collage of windows.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.

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 04

Past 4 decades of liberalisation has led us to where we are, privatised water supply sector that is dumping sewage in waterways, privatised energy providers profiteering from energy crisis, a liberalised housing market that has amplified the housing affordability and access crisis, a privatised railway network that prioritises dividends over investments, an NHS that is slowly being privatised through underfunding of the public component, a private postal service, a privatised educational sector that further increases disparity and polarisation. 

Is this conversation within the scope of an architect / planners / sustainability expert? We write long reports on textures, colours, placemaking..."happiness" even and yet we skirt the very foundations that exert direct influence on our lives.

An article on Canary Wharf and the tax break it received from the state.

Gentrification panel 03

 

Garden transformation stories

Since the start of the Pandemic in 2020, which coincided with us moving into our new home, we have been gradually transforming a patch of lawn into something with greater biodiversity. Through the course of 2 years we have established 120 different plant species and about 350 plants. Below are some snapshots of our experiments and transformation of this piece of land through various stages.

gravel along the edges was collected and repurposed for paths in the new layout. Early months were dedicated towards establishing as much ground cover perennials and structuring shrubs as possible.

Corten Steel edging was used to establish the paths and a small section devoted to vegetable beds. It provided early structuring guides for planting zones when it was completely barren, but now I feel the edging along the sides could had been avoided completely and one could achieve better edge purely through planting.

seeded existing lawn especially in infill patches where the grass had receded with wildflower seeds such as chamomile, cornfield seeds and poppy. In due course the plan would be to let the grass recede completely and a wild flower meadow to take over

The position of the zone dedicated for vegetable patch was based on sun, as this is a North facing garden with two large trees further reducing the sun by casting shade towards the North. The alignment of the path was also influenced by the sun so as to incorporate as much of the zone under the trees towards accommodating the path as possible.

zone under the two trees (Wild Cherry and Confier) is dry shade with acidic soil, which we replenish with compost. This zone has shading loving plants like Japanese Fatsia, Tree Fern, Penstemones, Muscaris, Ferns, Heucheras and Anemones.

Through this process the demand for good quality compost in significant amount forced us to establish a 300 litre composting bin which currently eats up all the kitchen and garden waste (we have refrained from putting cooked food, dairy and meat).

Next stages would be to establish a wild life pond / puddle however small to trigger further bio-diversity in the form of frogs, toads, newts, dragonflies and the rest and attempt to establish a wildflower meadow. We aren't landscape architects or horticulturists so this process involved lot of tests, trials, research, asking colleagues and building an understanding...but it helped us survive the stresses of life.

Stupid Cities_Part 2

Politics of Obsolescence: Planned Obsolescence is an integral part of consumer society, stretching from the Phoebus cartel of 1925 to present day marketing strategies adopted by car giants and tech companies. A planned obsolescence of technology in cars, mobiles, operating systems maintains a gradual stream of consumers. This when asserted on cities leads to a trend of steel and concrete buildings in cities like London, New York, Chicago having an average life span of 40 years, not necessarily due to material deterioration but instead opportunities arsing from speculation, facilitating wealth creation by increasing density over city spaces.

Kit of Parts: With modular technology, 3d fabrication and Smart city technology, our increasingly Smart buildings are moving away from being buildings built to last, but instead gadget-like that can be changed, retrofitted, upgraded. New innovations in timber construction and prefabricated modules allows for quick ways to not only construct but also dismantle buildings, bringing the building industry within this sphere of obsolescence. In such a speculative fast changing landscape it is only natural that most clients adopt Flexibility as their motto. If buildings are turning into gadgets, then the city is increasingly resembling a motherboard which mitigates and provides flexibility for each component and sustains its “pay as you go” citizens. Is this Fukuyama's physical manifestation of End of History? where as a human race we no longer have ability to design and deliver even institutional buildings that are solid?

As professionals of built environment, we must be clear, we do not make gadgets, we make buildings that displace air, cast shadows and influence space. It is this awareness that will make us take design decisions with greater sense of responsibility, thought and consideration.

Note: above is a summary of an ongoing discussion with my colleague and friend Konstantinos Dimitrantzos.

Stupid Cities_Part 1

While the technological components of Smart City and what each technological system can do is impressive, the representation of space and form of Smart Cities is increasingly caricatured, with a generic axonometric image stamped with icons, Wi-Fi symbols and acronyms. Following that is a long description on IoTs, Servers, Networks, real time mitigation of services and everyone’s favourite autonomous vehicles, yet there is no specificity to this technology’s influence on form and space.

The two big technological advancements, electricity and the internet were able to seep seamlessly into oldest of the old city cores from gothic quarter of Barcelona to Beijing without asserting a direct impact/influence on the urban form and space! So if someone is going to claim that a bunch of IoT devices and real time data flows are going to shape urban form and space ("in ways we have never imagined!"...all explained on ppt with black slides and vague Matrix like graphics that don't mean zilch)....we should insist on what does it look like???!!!

One exception that has had an impact on urban space is the invention of automobiles. In which case, Frank Lloyd Wright was able to interpret his image of a new city influenced by the technology of the automobile in the form of Broadacre City. 

Which again brings us to what does it look like?!

Italy, Tuscany: Florence, Siena, Luca, Pisa, San Gnimiano

Hong Kong

Hong Kong has no suburban condition, it is either a minimum 30 storey mixed use, dense, tower or tropical rain-forest-garden...no space for in-between - implicit...no time for inefficiency of going round in circles in conversations as well as around stupid cul-de-sacs. Signals have a beat of urgency and people walk with super-purpose. The crowd is one and the air has energy like it will catch fire.
its explicit, in your face, fast, ultra dense, mixed use and everything that a city needs to be and yet it also provides each of its citizen ample accessible green space. The city is dense but through constant views of the nature beyond or tropical greenery entering the city, it somehow manages to maintain a good balance...a no point did we feel overwhelmed by the density.
Super awesome city.