Thinking architecture outside college | Part 14

 

Central market, Kozhikode

Central market, Kozhikode

One week passed by, Gokul proposed the idea of getting up early morning at visiting each part of the city. I was interested in it too. And on the next day early morning we got up and were cruising through the rich history of Kozhikode. He also took his painting tools and he started to paint the frames he liked. He told me to try doing the same. Initially I hesitated, but once I started doing, I fell in love with sketching.

I was not good at painting or rather I can say that I have less patience to paint scenery. Instead I sketched each frame I found interesting. Our breakfast was from the famous Bombay restaurant at the main beach. From there when it is time, we will go to the office.

While I had been experiencing this phase of my life, I learnt a lot of being involved in a different culture. I always loved exploring the culture of Kozhikode. It is a cute little city. While I traveled locally, I could find more poor people than rich people. When you travel from city to the remote beach side, you can see houses getting smaller and smaller. The people are so friendly as well. They smile back at us unlike the city people who held a tight face always. I was subjected to something different every day.

Thinking architecture outside college | Part 13

Aslah and Thanvi were students from Mangalore. Though Aslah was a malayalee, Thanvi could figure out only few of the phrases we spoke in Malayalam because she is from Kudla. Thanks to them I was able to brush up my English again. It was awesome working with them in the office. Aslah would be mostly confined to her personal space inside the office, while Thanvi could be seen chasing me because I poured water on her. Gokul was decently a noble gas. I do regret the fact that I didn’t spend much time hanging out with Thanvi and Aslah outside the office. 

Gokul is an artist. He travels a lot whenever he gets a chance. He don’t usually visit places for hangouts, but he like to explore. So we would travel by foot frequently when we have time and energy after office. We used bus for reaching the town and from there we would walk. We used to visit the beach always. Drinking Masala tea at Mugadar beach was our hobby as it enhanced our interest to explore the city. One of our senior had set up his design studio along with his friends near the beach. We at times visit them also

After few months, Gokul brought his bike all the way down from Pulpally. That was a boon for both of us as we could now easily travel to each and every place we could. I also took the bike owned by the family I was living with. One day we started working for a project on renovating the central market and crematorium in Kozhikode. Since we both had bikes, we were told to visit the central market every day early morning at five for one week. This was to study the behavior of people in the market, to learn different users and their activities inside the market over a period of time in a day. That was really an interesting activity.

Thinking architecture outside college | Part 12

By mid June of 2019, I joined Pura Design Collective in Kozhikode for my internship. Our office consisted of totally seven people, a husband and wife (my bosses), their small almost one year old cute kid and the four interns. Two of the interns were from Mangalore and the other two were my friend Gokul and me. I was terrified on seeing my boss on the day of interview itself because we were of almost same height. 

Vinod sir was a faculty at Avani Institute of design at Thamarassery. Avani was my dream college. We usually get to see him in the evening after six o clock after he comes back from the college. His wife Surekha ma’am, just like Vinod sir was a wonder guide and mentor for me while at the office. I was lucky to have them as my bosses for they looked after us for six months as their own students and not like drawing machines. 

Sir used to take us to the site initially in his car, explaining so many values and responsibilities and limitations architects had to face. I had personally experienced how his clients treat him. Some of them were so cool, while few of them were arrogant. 

While I was in office, I was very relaxed. The office environment was so peaceful. I loved it.

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Implementing my own thought | Part 11

When I got back into my design studio, there was a strong decision I took. I ditched all the designs I had developed till then and started working on something I had never tried. It was a very good experience processing the design in my laptop, working on different Sketchup models. Though I was forced to do hand drawn experiments to develop a form, I found the digital way of expression and experimenting much better. I was happy with the new way of learning. 

I didn’t show most of my design stages as I felt that my guides would pull me back into confusion and to voids. But I knew I was taking risk. I had a trust on myself that I would not fail this time. I somehow managed to find a very suitable form and design for my structures. All the buildings had exposed bricks. And almost every design had organic shape. I started to hate square and rectangular plans and shapes suddenly. 

It was in December when our jury was announced. We were told we would be having an external juror. I completed all my sheets and for the first time in my life, I slept peacefully on the yesterday of submission date. On the day of jury, I pinned up all the required sheets, even though they weren’t marked on the guide’s register. My guides stood there reading my sheets for the first time. And while in jury I was surprised to know that he liked my stuffs. Though there were some corrections I needed to make, I had done my best. 

I recall the scene from the film ‘In pursuit of happiness’ when Will Smith walks along with other people on the foothpath crying with happiness because he was selected for his job as a stock broker. The same was the feeling I felt. Because this was the first time I felt so contented after I had done my work perfectly. I was so confident because till the last sem, I did some rubbish and submitted them. 

My confidence shot up so high that I failed my next semester design jury.

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Changing thoughts | Part 10

It was from there, from the LBC, that I started allotting more space in my head for thinking. I understood that a lot of thinking had to be done if I should move forward with architecture. Because I wanted new everyday and moving forward with my life, I myself have to decide what to choose for experiencing something new every day. 

While in the workshop, on the first day till noon it was so peaceful. In the morning, we were taught theoretically on how Baker administered is ideology around himself. In the noon, we went out to take lunch. One of the best things in the LBC is the food they provide with love. I have never felt so happy that simply eating from there made me smile that people might thing I went crazy. I kept on wondering why they were always telling us “ vayaru nirachu kazhikkanam” frequently. Which means eat till your stomach is full. 

Getting outside after having a very heavy lunch, we were slowly moving towards the shed where clay and bricks were arranged for us to work on. Only then I could realize that we were told to eat so much only because we were going to work hard on clay. And that was one tremendous work I had done that day. I was sweating with a happy face. I could then understand that working on site like this is more difficult and challenging than sitting inside an air conditioned office and giving orders. 

From there, I learnt quite a lot of techniques for construction and also I leant so many natural materials that could be used while building a home.

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Changing thoughts | Part 09

I could appreciate each of the building for its right selection of form and materials and the place onto which it is superimposed. They were literally like the Tetris I played when I was young. They all had such a perfection and finish. 

I started to learn more about the science behind this crafting style. I was curious because each of the buildings had forms that were never similar to another within the compound. This is totally new to me. I have never seen such structures in my neighborhood as well.

I learnt that building a building had a direct impact of the user’s social status. Baker never advertised his works. He never asked for clients. But the clients came to him. And his clients were those who never wanted to please others, but to themselves. 

While I was immersed into looking at his buildings, when I was in the dormitory, I could see the minimalism in the structure he incorporated into the building. Only required beams and columns were seen built and that too with minimum required size. 

Like we could see the bones and ribs on the body of a starving person, we could see the structure of the building through our eyes for real. And also nobody wishes to be with such a person because he or she wanted to maintain their dignity. Similarly nobody wants to choose such a kind of house to live in. Because, still people think that having a home with exposed bricks represents a lower status in their economic value.

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Changing thoughts | Part 08

It was in the month of October that we had a fun activity to do after a very long time. We are going for trip to Thiruvananthapuram. It was a workshop at the Laurie Baker Centre and visiting several buildings. For us, it is anyway a break. 

In our studio, we were told that out of forty students, only thirty would be going because at the LBC, the seat is limited to thirty for us. So, the students with better academic performances were given opportunity while the rest were told to attend the college as usual. I felt pity for them. 

As a grown up man, this was my first experience being in Thiruvananthapuram. I didn’t do much sightseeing since I was having a good time with my friends inside the bus. On reaching the LBC, I could realize the fact that it is not anywhere in the heart of the city, but somewhere outside the city limits.

 LBC was on a small hill. I liked the way it received us upon entering its premises. On entering, I never saw any color anywhere standing up. My eyes were smoothly changing its sight from one end to another end covering a panoramic shot. Oh well! It was heaven. This is the first time I really fell in love with a real work of someone whom I learnt theoretically from college. I cannot immerse myself into a topic on reading, but only when consumed.

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Changing attitude | Part 07

Few days later, me and my friends, a group of boys with number of people fluctuating from 4 to 6, decided to change the atmosphere we were working in. Our existing style of learning was that we all would be sitting on different drafting table dedicated to each of us and we would be sitting on a high stool. We decided to change this seating arrangement. 

I personally didn’t like forcing others to take part in the administering of my ideas, but I did invite a couple of my friends into this. What I did was I flipped a couple of pin up boards and made it into a large table by resting it horizontally flat on two other small tables. Now we have a bigger table on which we unrolled a few waste white A1 sheets for covering it. 

Dude! That was when I starting feeling like I was falling into this wide experience of being an architect. That was the first time when I started using bold pencils, probably a 6B or a 10B to scribble my definite lines. Simply I would scribble them down. I used sketch pens and markers to do the same. 

Usually we had five of us working together, sharing our thoughts and ideas, combining them together to form at the least a new design form. I loved this method of learning. Soon others also started doing this and I could witness a real discussion happening based on what we are trying out newly. 

We started having a strong emotion and commitment towards the assigned work. 

Maybe less than a month or so, I don’t know why, our faculties told us to get back to where we were sitting. We were told to remove the panel and erect them like they were before. The discussion table was thus discombobulated. The active discussion ended. We were all backing onto that single desk and stool individually back to our inefficiency. They didn’t like us sitting together. Maybe they would have thought we were wasting our time. I don’t know. I got bored eventually.

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Changing attitude | Part 06

 

After I came back to college, we were told by the AD team that our minor project was converted into a major project. That means we had to design 560 houses along with an auditorium for a capacity of 2000 people, a health clinic, a library, an anganwadi (Kindergarten) and few shopping spaces. Initially we were taken back from this decision, but we accepted the situation. Our guides were accusing us for wasting the time by sitting at home and doing nothing while the flood happened. 

But somehow, we got an attachment to the assigned project and we started working on it. I was already freaked out because of the quantity of works I have to do for submitting in December. Because it’s October and we hardly have two and a half month to complete. 

Within a couple of days, we started doing our sheets with the basic form and assigning of layout on the site. I came up with different ideas each days and I myself rejected them on the same day. I was not quite satisfied with what I was doing. Soon the first design review was happening on a fine day. I pinned up my sheets and I was told by the reviewing guy that my design is such a flop. He told me to change everything and show him again the next time. 

I failed to understand the fact that I didn’t have the essence of architecture in my work. All I did was recreating the existing design stigma onto my own work. Which in an architect’s eye is stupid? I didn’t know what sauce was needed to prepare a design. I was craving for something unique. It was a tough time for me to decide what the loopholes were. Was it my skill? Or was it my approach to a topic? I did some case study for sure. And it helped me too. Then what is the problem?

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Changing attitude | Part 05

Well, things started to change gradually and those were the time I started feeling the real purpose of what I can really contribute to this field. Being in my third year, it was not the learning alone that happened, but I started thinking a lot. 

It was in my 3rd year, in my 5th semester that we had our design topic called Low Income Group housing project where the task was to construct five hundred and sixty houses limited to twenty five square feet area in each. Also, a library, a kindergarten, a health clinic and an auditorium had to be designed along with the houses as well. It was an interesting topic but challenging. 

We all did a lot of case studies, referred a couple of slums, housing projects. The site was an existing slum in the heart of Thiruvananthapuram city. It is presently a colony named Chenkal Choola where notorious gangs existed years ago. So our aim was to convert a slum into a small housing colony with less usage of big structure. Or in simple words, a ‘Low Cost Housing’ project.  

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The beginning (Continued) | Part 04

The beginning (Continued)

In my second year, I was technically being exposed into making plans and sections as we had to design a weekend home and a highway pit stop for the two semesters respectively. Though it was slightly boring that the first year, I was so overwhelmed to draw plans and show it off before my family and friends that I actually started doing stuffs what a person being an architect does! I did refer my own house for measurements and dimensions so as to incorporate the same into my design. A lot of case studies were being brought before our eyes for references. In the end of the semester, I did create some super cool models of what I intended to create regarding the assigned topic. In the fourth semester, the site was little much more in its area and the building had to be designed strictly following the building rules because it was a pit stop. At the end of the semester I did some rubbish and presented it before the juror and I passed the subject. 

It was all a kind of new learning both from paper and from personal experience for us. Still I liked the studio hours the most apart from other theoretical subjects because I hated writing so much!

 One of our associate professor, architect Shinoop used to invite us to his studio at Parappanangadi. The studio had a triangular elevation and that was the first time shapes amused me in real life. The studio was named Attic Lab because it resembled like an attic of a house. I love going there but I was limited to the transportation facility. This guy used to have technical knowledge on music and has got a lot of instrument inside his studio. I go there only for playing on these instruments. It is always fun and I dreamt of such a studio for our college as well, where the activity inside is never limited to theoretical learning alone.

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The beginning | Part 03

The beginning

In my first year, everything was new to me, like the terminologies, different scopes being in this field, so many instruments used for, how to measure using a measuring tape, and the fact that not being a topper in the studio means I’m not a perfect architect. Unlike other type of colleges, we don’t call our class a ‘class’, but we call it a studio. Let this be a future reference. 

We had a long room with one part where we have desks benches and blackboards like a high school. All the theory is taught from here and the other portion that covers up the two-third of the hall is our studio where our thoughts are continuously made to use intensively that we will certainly cry at one point of time. 

I liked the studio hours the most apart from other theoretical subjects because I hated writing so much. I liked to build models instead, or play with shapes and colors. In the end of the year being inside the studio, I had a theoretical basic knowledge on what different elements in architecture was. Like the functions of color, shapes, levels, textures, forms, structure and a lot more other things. My first year was kind of fruitful and super awesome year for me. 

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Introduction to my book | Part 02

Introduction

Introduction I didn’t have any idea about what architecture was or anything related to this topic. I never know that colors played important role in design. I never knew the basic functions of building elements. I had no concept on architecture. To be honest, I didn’t even try to analyze a space before getting into architecture ! 

Why did I take architecture? It was because once I read about architect Hafeez Contractor in my English textbook. It was an interview with this architect where he tells the interviewer that his uncle found him good in drawing, and he was introduced into this field. Well, I thought I was lucky because I liked to draw as well. I chose to take architecture that day. I was warned frequently that architecture is never so simple and that people don’t get proper sleep and such conditions that I would literally suffer a lot. I didn’t buy them all though. 

Years went by and I cleared my entrance test to join architecture. I joined the college and my life was on a different track and phases from then. I was unable to balance being a good boy and being an architect. I chose to be an architect. Being a good boy is something everyone does!

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I wrote a book | Part 01

 

There is no particular reason for me to write this book. I just felt writing it and everything inside is completely my raw thoughts. My thoughts may not be dissolvable to many. I felt some of you might find something or the other good to take home. You may encounter spelling or grammar mistakes. I’m not that good in English and English is not a language I use to speak every day. I don’t know any other language to write though. 

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Design Concept

Being a student architect, everyone including me has done the conceptual level of design wrong. Concept can be taken from anything found anywhere. It could be physically something, or a smell, or a color, or a text, or place, or even an animal. There is no prescribed source for thinking of a concept. The process of thinking and working out a concept into a design is the very important matter that highlights the design in which you are working. 

A design concept is the very basic idea and the foundation of a design from which design developments happens throughout a period of time. After you have collected and compiled data for your project, you have to work these data through the concept of your choice. 

I have seen many people developing designs based on an element and use them directly as it is. For example, someone says, my concept is the fruit called Banana and this person tend to build a building in the shape of a Banana. Not that this design had seen a bad working process, but it is meaningless. It should only need a root to something or the other based on what it is.

A design concept should be very flexible to the design brief. There are possible situations where a concept is drifting too far away from the intended topic. Whatever you make changes, the essence of your own concept should be found in the design no matter how had you work on that. 

Problems with Indian education system.

Why are Indian parents so obsessed with their child's academic marks? Why are kids not made to self analyze? Why did schools and colleges focus on a typical system of education? The answers are not so clear. Let us start from the very old days where 'education' was a necessity and how education was subjected to different race.  

Since the British came and left India, the idea of education was implemented in a very strict and it was quite formal. Education was and is considered something very disciplined and has to be acquired neat and clean. British missionaries had been a new threshold for and individual or a group of people to compete and stay ahead in a society. The more educated you are means you belong to the prime category of the Indian caste system. There will be people from lower caste who struggle and get educated, still be looked down at.

The same system is still followed today, particularly in India. Among the lower and middle class people, getting educated is a rat race, because your social value is rendered based on your educational qualification. No matter in what field you are efficient, there is this system of ' formal education' which still dominates the other type of education system.

For the people belonging to higher caste in the society, there is quite a pressure to get educated and to achieve a very typical professional degree. If you score less than eighty percentage in the exams means you are good for nothing. No one really want to appreciate your talents as far as they are not a conventional profession. If you get an engineering degree, you will be greeted with garlands. If you get an art degree, people don't really care.

Creativity

Almost everyone mistakes 'Creativity' to something which is a side business, or sometimes a hobby. Creativity is never something always related to art and craft. Creativity is that action where you are doing something related to the fiend in which you are practicing in a different way. It could be anything. It could be music, art, socializing, and even engineering. Creativity is very underrated because it is out of syllabus.

Monotonous education system

Indian schools and colleges has only one way of education students. Follow the syllabus, teach the students the subjects, and make them write the test. Some students get good marks, some students score average, and some score less or null. The fault is not with the students, but with the system of education. This education system is meant for the students who scored pretty good marks. The other students really has to be given some other form of education. That is when creativity is put into practice.

Individualism

Each students have their own individual thought process. This individualism is killed in a span of twelve years. Instead of making the students analyze themselves and sharpen their thinking and imagination skills, a very monotonous syllabus is being covered which doesn't really allow student to have a diverse thought process. 

Less functional literacy

Students are only made to learn a topic in a pre programmed method, and this method is repeated by the teacher every year. Though they can write an answer to a question to the point on a paper, their functional aspects are neglected. The market value is not acknowledged. The students does not really know how to apply them in the real life.

Conclusion

There is an urgent reform required in the Indian system of education. Such a reform that should ensure that each of the students get the knowledge to think, to analyze themselves in an isolated situation, to take strong decisions and finally to understand the diverse subjects and field of study in their life. Also education should never be a factor to describe a person and hopefully skills should be dominated over the results on a paper.