Give Time A Break

With his words of wisdom and introspection, Pritzker prize laureate B.V. Doshi discusses the role of architecture in giving a new dimension not just to a space, but also to time. This story takes us through his intent and his idea of how more than the built, it is the unbuilt spaces in an architectural expanse that link the visual with the emotional, psychological and spiritual being of the dweller or visitor. This thought-provoking read is a must for all designers and architects to imbibe a sense of ambiguity in the definition of design.

- B V Doshi

I was born into an extended Hindu family. Several generations lived together; some members were 80 years old and some just a few days old. Birth, growth and death were recurring and natural events. So were the celebrations of festivals, birth ceremonies and extended rituals during and after death, and trips together to temples or pilgrimage places. Everyone accepted and shared these inevitable events. Days, months and seasons passed through good times and bad. Over the time, changes in lifestyles, changes or breaks in the social, economic, and cultural structure within the household, became a living part of each of us.

With the evolution, the character, form, and style of the house in which we lived, was also transformed. It grew organically, from just a few rooms to many and from one floor to several. Modified functions and revised movements appeared strange, and at times new, yet they were accepted and absorbed naturally. The expanding structure of the house and its evolving functions were like a big sponge - porous and forever absorbing, constantly providing us with new spatial and aesthetic surprises. However, the focal points - the kitchen, the dining room, and the prayer room, maintained their positions, dominating the overall ambience, and remaining the foundation for the shifting plan and functions. Such continuous evolutions and transformations have become part and parcel of my perceptions of life as well as my aesthetic experience.

I often went with others to nearby villages and temples to attend various ceremonies. Even though the rituals appeared to be similar, their purpose, manner of performance, scale, and location differed. These took place in diverse places: on a river bank, in the open court of a house, or within the precinct of a shrine. These scattered events, set in both modest and profusely decorated settings, did not seem odd, but rather gave one a chance to learn more about uncertainty and constant flux.