At The Death of Architecture; circa 2000 travelling exhibition, experts from around the country showcase and discuss the death of architecture in our cities.
The benchmark for how much a place has developed is often its skyline. But, citizens tend to forget that with vertical development comes the sad death of the organic architecture of a place. Bringing this hard fact to the people of Hyderabad is the travelling exhibition The Death of Architecture; circa 2000, which has already been presented in Mumbai and Baroda earlier this year. Thirteen architectural firms from across the country have tried, through this exhibition, to construct a narrative, find reasons and state cases as to why India is witnessing the death of architecture.
The Hyderabad leg of the tour is being held at Gallery 78, and was kick-started on Saturday. Ahmedabad-based Arya Architect’s work ably juxtaposes death with forgetting one’s past. They brought a tinge of nostalgia with pumps and tube-wells that used to help form a community bond among residents their version of death of architecture.
Venugopal, Sajjad Shahid, Shabbir Unwala, Sudhir Reddy and Srikanth
The exhibition attempts to provoke people to stand up and take note of the architectural changes happening around. Also giving voice to the people to demand what is correct and not entirely depend on policy makers who rule through by-laws.
Fading of city grains by Vikas Dilawari Architects
Elaborating about by-laws, one of the discussions, ‘Architecture and City Role of the Client’, by panelists Sajjad Shahid, Shabbir Unwala, Srikanth and Sudhir Reddy centred around who is the real client the owner, the architect or the policy makers. “The architect gives vision to your dreams of an ideal home or a project but it is the client who is going to live there for the next 30-40 years. Therefore, the main voice of control of how the project should shape up is of the client. But, again, there is the silent voice of the policy-makers whose by-laws at times alter the original vision and thus bring about the death of architecture,” said Unwala.
Another discussion “Architecture and City Making of Public Spaces’ by panellists Rajeev Kathpalia, Rajesh Renganathan, S.P. Shorey and Anant Mariganti, brought out the importance of creation of public spaces. Throwing light on what Hyderabad’s most loved public spaces were, Shorey says, “The likes of KBR Park and Indira Park were once private property, which, owing to popular demand, were changed to public spaces, resulting in the death of one sort of architecture.”
The event saw many aspiring architecture students and showcased the best of work policies from eminent architects. The show will next head to Pune, Delhi, Goa, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Pondicherry, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
