sample pages from concepts of space

HISTORY VERSUS TRADITIONPRESENT AS THE LIVING PAST

India! The land of antiquity. Its heritage is notconfined to historic accounts of events andobjects frozen in their own time and space,but is perpetuated as cultural and architecturaltraditions, which have transcended time andspace to remain alive and appropriate even inthe present. In India, history stays alive as livingtradition. History and tradition both have theirroots in the past, but history, for its inabilityto adapt to the changed time, is renderedobsolete as fossilized remains of a bygoneera. Tradition, on the other hand, consistentlyadapts and suitably transforms to changedcircumstances. This process of constantupdation makes tradition survive and rendersit timeless. It survived the past and promisesto prevail in the future as it rests on collectiveconcurrence, shared values and deep-rootedconditioning. Thus, tradition–as livingheritage–retains its contemporariness andrelevance even for the present times. In India,the people simultaneously live in three timezones. The legacies of the past and aspirationsfor the future effectively combine with therealities of the present.

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SPATIAL NARRATIVES IN TRADITIONAL INDIAN ARCHITECTURE–AN INTERPRETATION OF A CONCEPT FOR CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE

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1: Cultural associations and shared values keepmonuments alive as living history, as at the Taj Mahal.

2: Tradition stays alive as the living past, as signifiedby a tajia procession during the Moharram festival.

3: Chimneys, historically the symbols of industrialprosperity but now obsolete in a changed time, losetheir significance and are eliminated.

4: Traditionalism does not imply turning the clockbackward. On the contrary, it is a progressive andconsistent process of updation that subtly combinesthe ‘old’ with the ‘new.’ Seen here is a creative fusionof day-to-day utensils in the form of a deity, Ganesha.

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Time, in the Indian psyche, is a cyclicphenomenon. The faith in reincarnation, the cycleof birth, death and rebirth, the unending chainof construction, destruction and reconstruction,all reaffirm the belief in the recurrence of time.This assurance of recurrence instills a sense ofequality as well as hope, much needed qualitiesin the pluralistic context with diverse valuesystems. However, although cyclic, time is notstatic. It is helical, evolving continuously. Theconcept of change is inexorably tied to theconcept of time. The past and future are distinctdomains in the continuum of time withinwhich change occurs as a sequential series ofevents. The processes of evolution, involutionand devolution go on constantly. What is ofimportance is that the progression is not as alinear continuity but as a helix or a spiral witha still centre and a dynamic periphery.

1: Nataraja, a classical form of the Lord Shiva immersedin Tandava Nritya, literally, the furious dance of destructiongrieving the death of his wife Sati. It depicts a dynamicbalance between creation, destruction and reconstruction,as symbolized here by the presence of the damru, asort of drum, the ring of fire, the demon below, andthe reassuring blessing open hand gesture respectively.

2: The cyclic process is also depicted in theDashavatara, the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu,where even the supreme divine is not spared thecycle of birth, death and rebirth.

3: Time through the ages has been conceptualized asa cyclic phenomenon. The Puranas, ancient scriptures,have personified time in the form of a Kalapurusha,whose form in itself symbolises its cyclic nature.

Matsyavatara Kurmavatara

Ramavatara Buddhavatara KalkiavataraParshuramavatara

DYNAMICS OF EXISTENCETHE ALCHEMY OF TIME OVER SPACE

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Krishnavatara

Narsimhavatara VamanavataraVarahavatara


While time may recur, the alchemy of time withspace renders the resolute always unique. Forexample, at any given time different spacesrender themselves differently for an obviousreason–their physicality. Likewise the samephysical space transforms drastically throughits interaction with time. Therefore, havinginvested in time, the spaces change, renderingthem vital, vibrant and dynamic. This constantjuxtaposition of time over space is the essentialpremise of Indian architecture. This is a creativeresolution under scarce resource conditions.A builtform, however complex, once realized,remains static. However, if made to interactwith nature, the interface is always dynamic.The sun is not the same from morning toevening or from one season to another. Thus,direction, light intensity and shadow patternschanging all the time constantly redefine thebuiltform making it feel different and therebyalive. Thus, in the space-time chemistry, apartfrom the space dynamics, time also interactsactively to condition the mind and create afamiliarity with the built object.

This aspect of time in architecture is introducedthrough structured movement. Movement exaltsto become the key to spatial perception.Traditional Indian architecture is the story ofmovement and pauses where the kinestheticsof a space is fundamental to its experience andperception. The layering, movement corridors,thresholds and circumambulatory are aspectsof this phenomenon in Indian architecture.

The diurnal metamorphosis of a traditional urban square,Manek Chowk, Ahmedabad, where spaces changeradically over time: The square is a cow-grazing groundin the early mornings, where people collectively feedgrass to the cattle. The same square becomes aplatform for daily chores and is also used as aplayground just before business hours. Through theday it converts into an intense business district withshops, hawkers, people and parking. Late eveningthrough night, the square transforms into an outdooreatery. Thus the same physical space is rendereddifferent over time. This is an efficient optimization ofspace resources through the overlaid matrix of time.

4: Early morning–6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. 5: Business hours–9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.6: Late evening–9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

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DUALITY OF EXISTENCEWORLD WITHIN A WORLD

The Indian notion of existence rests on dualities.Atman, the infinitesmal building blocks of thehuman spirit, and Brahman, the overallschema of the universe, are the fundamentalbasis of any existence. This schema of dualexistence simultaneously accepts the part as awhole and the whole as a part and gives riseto the concept of the ‘world within a world.’Each entity is complete in itself at one planeand yet, at the other, is part of a larger system.A microcosm within a cosmos. This ensuresfreedom of individual expression, yet withinthe collective consensus. Of an identity withinconformity. An effective tool to accommodatediversity while respecting the common bondof unity. This is critically required in a pluralisticsociety with multiple value systems. Individualbelief systems must be accommodated, whilethe common code of understanding also needsto be maintained. This balance is finely arrivedat through this notion of centres and sub-centres.Courtyards creating a world within a worldand the schema of structure and infill, whichbring out subtle variations within unifiedexpressions, are obvious translations of thesenotions in architecture.The courtyard is a characteristic device of Indianarchitecture that is most effective in creating aworld within a world. The courtyard surroundedby the built mass creates an introvertedresponse. Becoming a focus in itself, it allowsfor activities to spill into it and thrive withoutbeing disturbed by external conditions.

This element has been effectively used indesigning royal campuses, palaces or evenresidences with different activities conformingto functions in multiple courtyards, wherevarying privacy gradients are respected in theform of a clearly delineated hierarchy of courts.

1: A biological cell, like an atom, believed to be thebuilding block of the body, is still a complex, completeentity in itself.

2: India has a pantheon of around 330 million gods.This concept of many gods accepts the notion ofmany truths, each right for its believer, rather thana dictatorial structure that imposes a single truth.An effective concept to nurture the diverse notionsof a pluralistic society.

3: A miniature style painting depicts the Ras-lila, adance form adoring Lord Krishna, where each gopi,a devotee of the Lord, is under the illusion that sheis dancing with him. Each one reaches out to theultimate centre through one’s own locus. Source courtesy: Amit Ambalal

4: Contained yet open to nature, courtyards are acomplete world in themselves supporting varied formsof human activity. A haveli or large residentialmansion at Muli, Gujarat.

5: The ‘world within a world’ concept is manifestedthrough yet another typology with a non-centric approach as seen in the Jagnivas Palace in Udaipur. Herecourtyards are interlinked by corridors to form a flexiblestructure and each courtyard retains its individualitythrough its own scale and shape, yet complementingthe overall schema of the space organization.

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6: The Udai Bilas palace at Dungarpur creates differentmoods through its multiple court structure such asthe vegetated garden-like forecourt, harem court withfree-standing mirrored pavilion and the sacred innermost court with a shrine. A miniature paintingstyle impression.

7: The Jambukeshwara Temple in the temple-town ofSrirangam, in southern India, quite aptly demonstratesthe concept of a ‘world within a world’ throughconcentric layering of walls and gates, where eachsubsequent layer gets more and more secured, sacredand withdrawn from worldly affairs, thus achieving agradual transition from the corporeal to the celestial.

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