Representing Growth Of The Subcontinent (Page 1)

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I first came to know of A+D & Spectrum Foundation When I Was invited to be a jury member and attended the subsequent awards ceremony held in Delhi 2004.

This was renewed with my involvement in the adjudication held in Kuala Lumpur in 2006 when all the Submission panels Were freighted in for that occasion.

On both of these occasions, I had the privilege of meeting and interacting in person with the subcontinent's professional luminaries in the adjudication process much to my delight.

Having had no previous direct contact and the paucity of media exposure of the profession and industry, it was enlightening to find out that We shared cuite familiar and congruent issues as Well as prejudices affecting Our profession and industry except that they differ in Some degree due to the level of economic progress and development.

From the perspective of a neophyte to the subcontinent, the modernist influence
of Corbusier & Kahn is clearly evident which permeated through the works of Baker, Stein, Doshi, Correa, Rewal and others reflecting the emergent industrialised state. There is also the much maligned and purveyed international style' at work including a hint of POMO. However, there is promise of an emerging awareness and rebirth of the Vernacular and regionalism which I find encouraging in unearthing and seeking a continuum with one's heritage and culture. The issue of Sustainability has not been left out either.

In my address as guest speaker of less than 10 minutes in Delhi 2004, spoke of my own architectural awakening When, as a student in the early 60s, the impact of Bawa and Tange had on me and my eventual development as an architect practicing in Asia. Whilst one was constrained by resources and low technology persevering in the traditional mode, the other had at his disposal, new technology afforded by an industrialised economy, yet each could produce building with a soul which were modern and relevant in spirit as Well as resonating with their national psyche.

(Continues...)

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