Architecture in India –The Way Ahead

Architecture to me has a lot to do with the need of the society and time.

- Hafeez Contractor

A response to this notion is essential and what I believe to be an honest architecture. To get a clear idea of this, we can compare it to our meal, which consists of an appetizer, a main course and the dessert. The main course is of central importance, both from the point of view of nutrition and sustenance, as well as effort in preparation. The dessert, though, is an extravagance, a luxury, or a ‘frill’. I find that architecture in India is excessively focused towards these ‘frills’, things like interior and exterior decoration and ornamentation, swimming pools, party halls, etc. The bigger picture at hand, i.e., the need of good quality economical housing, creating jobs and developing infrastructure, is being conveniently ignored. I believe this to be the essential need of the hour, the main course, only after which we can think of the extravagances.

Today whenever we think about the way ahead, we have to think about that big picture. How are we going to house our growing population? How are we going to satisfy the shortage of housing? How are we going to get more taxation in our cities to improve the much required infrastructure? How are our cities going to be administered and maintained? The way in which we execute the solutions to these problems will have a direct impact on how effective our cities will be in the future.