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Neelakshi Joshi Final Report

Translating Traditions

Dr. Khare talking about conservation as other Panelists look on.	Architects discuss displayed sheets

Students engrossed in Bulu Imam’s talk.  Winning Sheets displayed in the background	Inauguration ceremony of ZONASA'09

Introduction

The idea for the design competition “Translating Traditions" came from the comment made on my essay proposal by on of the jury members. He wanted me to explore 'HOW" and "WHY" traditional practices should be revived. Understanding traditions is not enough. Their translation into the current vocabulary is necessary.

The idea was to document the various vernacular practices students see around them, understand their simple yet effective ways and ultimately come up with their own schemes on implementing them.

The idea often comes up in conversations among students but the thought was to bring it out to debate in the zonal annual students' meet and see how different people feel about their heritage. Whether it encourages something more than mere nostalgia?

Initial Preparations

A blog (translatingtraditions.blogspot.com) was set up at the onset of the competition. It was also popularized by Ethos(www.ethosindia.in) a popular competition website and word was spread through student associations and social networking groups. The jury for the competition was-

1. Ar. Chitra Vishwanath (www.biome-solutions.com) is a Bangalore based architect whose firm Biome Environmental Solutions specializes in creating indigenously green buildings.
2.  Ar. Gita Balakrishnan is the lady behind Ethos (www.ethosindia.in) and very popular among students. She is at the forefront of organizing various green design competitions.
3. Dr. Satyaki Sarkar , Senior Lecturer,Department of Architecture, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi has special interest in urban conservation and has done a lot of work in Calcutta along the same lines.

We received 90 registrations from across India at the end of this period

Traditions (June 15th-July 30th)

We received a total of 40 entries for the first round- from earthquake resistant housing in Srinagar to detailed study of Chettinad houses in south India. We were delighted to see the varied nature of buildings studied and the interest of students in their local ingenious styles of architecture. Acoustic treatment in old theaters was of special interest. 
Two factors that I had not ascertained in the beginning were how to establish the authenticity of the work and to ask for references. This was pointed out by the jury and was rectified in the next round. 

Translation (August 5th -September 10th, 2009)

Sixteen studies from the first round one advanced to the next stage. Judges were impressed by the tangible solutions offered by students and also by use of local technology for addressing local issues of floods and earthquakes. 

FIRST PRIZE (USD 1000)- Mukund Iyer and Hamed Khalidi, Rizvi College of Architecture, Mumbai.  They studied Bohra housing in Ahmedabad to excruciating detail and drew inspirations in terms of furniture design, façade treatment ans spatial organization from this.

SECOND PRIZE (USD 750)- Apoorva Shenvi and Neha Parulekar,Sir J.J College Of Architecture, Mumbai.  They proposed to convert a disused Wada into a girls’ hostel while keeping some portion for the owner’s family. 

THIRD PRIZE ( USD 500)- SHARED BY-

Arpita Choudhury, Indian Institute of Technology,Roorkee.  She proposed schemes to use bamboo in flood prone areas for immediate relief as has been done through centuries.

Honey Jalali and Spondon Bhagowati , School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi.  Their study of traditional housing in Jammu-Kashmir culminated in a scheme for earthquake resistant housing in the same region.

SPECIAL MENTION (USD 250) - Somraj Sarkar and Arnab Biswas, Bengal engineering and Science University, Shibpur.  They studied Calcutta’s famous College Street and developed a proposal for revitalizing the area with the College Tank as a focus.

Seminar

A seminar was conducted in the seminar hall of B.I.T Mesra on 3rd October 2009 as a part of Zonasa’09. Three eminent people working with vernacular architecture and conservation were invited for the same.

1. Mr. Bulu Imam – Director, Sanskriti Kendra Research Center, Hazaribagh, Convener INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Culture) and campaigner against coal mining in Karanpura valley (www.karanpuracampaign.com). 
2. Dr. Ajay Khare- Director School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal and an active conservationist working with DRONAH (www.dronah.com)
3. Mr. S. D Singh- State Convener, INTACH Jharkhand and an alumnus of B.I.T Mesra.

Mr. Bulu Imam presented a lecture on ‘Post Architectural Habitat in a globally Warming World’. It made students think of a fast approaching world where there will be fights over water and not oil, where coasts will be flooded and when high rise buildings will be rendered useless because there will be no electricity. He implored the need to explore the simple solutions of a mud hut, a leaf dwelling and the self sustaining and simple life of villages when we design in a radically altered world.

Dr. Khare shared his experiences as a young conservationist in Jaisalmer. He talked of pragmatism in conservation (‘we should not be conservative while conserving’) and why certain structures need to be retained for the knowledge they contain for future generations.

Mr. S. D Singh presented his attempts of conserving the Rajmahal area with a group of students.

Audio-visual presentation made by winning students were played and discussed by the panel. It was widely agreed that that simple and passive techniques of yesterdays make more sense. The challenge to the modern day architect remains to make right choices over market driven sensibilities. Copies of the competition brief and prints of the lectures delivered were circulated among students.

The seminar was successful and Bulu Imam’s talk inspired many present. It was also an interesting introduction to next year’s easy on conservation. We even made it to the local newspaper!!!

The Experience

The entire experience of conducting the competition ‘Translating Traditions’ was very enriching. It was heartening to see the variety of structures studied. It put me in contact with a lot of students from across India as well as a number of architects and individuals who work towards upholding indigenous architecture. The aim of this entire exercise was to create awareness and inculcate pride in the future generation of architects about the wealth of indigenous knowledge that is slowly disappearing unsung and I feel it was met successfully.