Dialogues on Transformations

M N Ashish Ganju  (1943 - 2021) On 4th May 2021, M N Ashish Ganju left us. I had been fortunate enough to have worked with him in his studio and had the opportunity to learn from him personally some of his invaluable lessons about architecture, design and life.  I now find it absolutely necessary to share through this blog some of his  teachings  that I found to be the most important during my time with him. Probably there will be formal versions of such compilations by people whom he interacted with in his over 50 years of professional work, but this is not that. This is really an informal account of some of the many lessons I personally learnt and can recall in the span of around two years working with him at his studio. 1. Architecture is the science and art of transformations What is architecture? This is one of the first questions encountered by anyone who begins to pursue a professional identity as an architect and I haven't found a more appropriate definiti...

Expression of Mass Dissent in Political Complexes of Settlements The architectural design of politically significant sites like the capitol complex or the residence of the political head, which were built before reformations aligning towards democracies, carry an authoritarian bias which is contested during protests that involve outpouring of people into these places, making them a battleground for conflict between the state and protesters affecting regular functioning of the city. While dissent has been acknowledged by societies and designated places for its expression have been emerging, inadequacies of the overall layout are revealed as soon as the protester count exceeds and people start approaching politically significant sites. Expression of dissent remains to be a neglected aspect of these places, evident in the clogged traffic and the need to use force, leading to grave issues like inaccessibility to emergency healthcare for people who are not even direct participants of the ev...

An Issue of High Design Tradition and a Solution from Folk Environment Religious institutions have been among the socially and politically significant sites reflecting the high-design traditions for a long time in settlements all over the world. For religious buildings, it has been said that they are built primarily because of their social and political significance and are even meaningless for purely religious purposes 1 . There have been ample examples of a close relationship between religious and government institutions where the latter borrow the dominantly established political power of the former. In words of Jean Halgren Kilde, 'from Rome to Antioch to Carthage, the largest public buildings were temples dedicated to a panoply of gods and governmental buildings erected on behalf of the emperor, himself a godlike figure'  2 . The architecture of Malkata Palace of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III deliberately reflected the Temple of Amun Ra, with details that portrayed the th...

Protests in Places of High Political Value The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on 28th August 1963 , identified as one of the major reformative events in the modern history of the United States, was marked by a historically huge gathering in a place of high political value. The final goal of the event was discussion of a bill, which was preceded by a march, speeches, and performances in front of a large crowd gathered in a place recognized by people as the place of political heads and decision-makers.  Figure 1: Lincoln Memorial, White House, Washington Monument and US Capitol building     The schedule of events was carefully drafted out well in advance for the day. When marchers poured in, they assembled in the area between the Washington Monument and the Ellipse behind the Whitehouse. People then marched towards Lincoln Memorial with men on the Constitution Avenue and their wives on the Independence Avenue. Leaders of the protest walked with the men, to which J...