Scholars often interpret tradition as a way of making that forbids personal design decisions, relying instead on ideals perfected in an unchallenged historic continuum. People build the way they have always built. Innovation, material and technique require no statement on paper. How then does such a cultural imperative adapt to digital technology, and that too in a country where architecture remains a hand-made product, built brick by brick, crafted in wood, poured by cement and chiselled in stone? Does its conception in an architect’s office conflict with the messy reality of the construction site? Is the disjunction between the two itself the cause of constructed errors?
In 2002, a project for a mountain resort came to the office with precise client instructions of introducing a state-of-the-art design into an area too long used to low-slung shabby stone and wood structures assembled by local masons. On paper, a series of cantilevered steel structures with wide swathes of glass, all hanging precariously offthe mountain edge were applauded for the daring structure, and the sparkling newness they introduced to a derelict hillside. The value of their intrusion was not measured against modes of comfort, familiarity or organic natural siting, but by the visible brand of uniqueness they would display. Their presence was further loaded by an international reading of the architecture. The glassiness was seen as a form of decisiveness and precision, clean and un-local, an architectural imagery controlled by design digitisation rather than local craft, and altogether liberated from historical tradition.
Denne historien er fra April - May 2020-utgaven av Arts Illustrated.
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Denne historien er fra April - May 2020-utgaven av Arts Illustrated.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A Sky Full Of Thoughts
Artist James Turrell’s ‘Twilight Epiphany Skyspace’ brings together the many nuances of architecture, time, space, light and music in a profound experience that blurs boundaries and lets one roam free within their own minds
We Are Looking into It
Swiss-based artists Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger talk to us about the evolving meaning and purpose of photography and the many perspectives it lends to history
Cracked Wide Open
Building one of the world’s largest domes was no mean task for anyone, let alone an amateur goldsmith, so how did Filippo Brunelleschi accomplish building not one, but two of them?
In Search of a Witness
In conversation with legendary artist Arpana Caur on all things epiphanic, on all things pandemic, and on all things artistic
Where the Shadows Speak
The founder of Sarmaya Arts Foundation takes us through the bylanes of his journey with Sindhe Chidambara Rao, the custodian of the ancient art form of shadow puppetry – Tholu Bommalata
Bodies in Motion
What happens to the memory of a revelatory experience when it is re-watched through the frames of a screen? It somehow makes the edges sharper and the focal point clearer, as we discover through Chandralekha’s iconic Sharira
Faces in the Water
As physical ‘masks’ become part of our life, we take a look at artists working with different aspects of ‘faces’ and the things that lurk beneath the surface.
A Meeting at the Threshold
The immortal actor exemplified all that is admirable about his profession, from his creative choices to his work philosophy, and his passing was a low blow. This is our tribute to the prince among stars – Irrfan
The Imperfect Layout To The Imperfect Mystery
Jane De Suza’s ‘The Spy Who Lost Her Head’ doesn’t feature a protagonist with superhuman skills of deduction, nor a plot that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. Here, quirks and imperfections are pushed into the spotlight
Free and Flawed
Greta Gerwig revitalises the literary classic, Little Women, highlighting the literary journey of its temperamental and wonderfully flawed female protagonist, Jo March