Some people think it’s funny that 24yr olds are “teaching”. What’s the joke here? First, there is no 'teaching' in architecture – no one can 'teach' architecture – it’s the exploration of ideas, especially in the first year. To have as jury or faculty, architects with 20years experience, I actually think, does not serve the purpose of the studio. When fresh ideas are showcased, the experience of the architect works against him in the appreciation of the idea. I really think seasoned architects, especially in this age of globalization, are terribly weighed down by their 'workability' issues. How can someone like that appreciate an idea involving absurd new forms? The intent gets lost somehow, and all that remains is “How the hell are you going to make that work??”. First year architecture students need to 'go crazy', and having a faculty who’ve been building toilets for decades is not going to help. That’s where I come in. :)
Change is good.
Wind is like electricity – it has a mind of its own, a logic of existence and movement. It does not simply “flow” – unlike most misunderstood human beings believe. It moves due to a difference in potential, and this can be controlled and made use of. Wind can single handedly change the idea of ‘human comfort’ in a humid city. And noone belives that. Why do you think there are ventilators in apartments? And why do you think they are at the roof level? So that they can be closed up? Or so that some idiot can build next door and force close the opening? You are changing the wind movements here, and noone cares. Later, they crib about the heat. Stupid. Judging a flat on the ninth floor as ‘windy’ with the front door open into a internal well is stupid. Once the main door is closed, it will NOT suck any wind from outside the balcony, even if it is on the bloody eighteenth floor. There is a logic of flow of energy, and it can be studied and implemented for human comfort. Every king, every civilian, every human understood that. A hundred years ago. Now, we’re more interested in capitalizing on the increase in sales of Air Conditioners because of the blocked ventilators. We’re all breathing in the stale but cool air from the ACs in the name of progress. Pathetic.
As I trace the 'worship' of cult divinities in history, it makes me wonder what category of 'worship' fan following falls in. Can 'temples' of Amitabh Bachhan be accepted in about 100 years’ time as 'pilgrimage spots' ? It’s a strange logical connection. What would human beings 500 years from now study about us? That we followed the ‘rituals’ laid down for us 5000 years ago? Or will we make our own independent history?
