Monday, 27 February 2012


ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY AND SUBCONSCIOUS STRATEGIES THAT AID THE PROCESS OF DESIGN

The single functioning unit of the human body that consists of nearly 11-13 billions of neurons is the brain.  The brain is what controls the functioning of every move of the human body and the neurons are what pass the signals required to carry out its functioning. Thus, for a human being the brain is what helps it distinguish colours, understand patterns and systems, communicate through languages and also produce the required reactionary actions to all of these intangible characteristics of the human commune. The philosopher Hippocrates has said: "Men ought to know that from nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations." These are all the tangible and subjective aspects that the brain is able to process and exercise actions to and forms the second attribute of the brain. The third and probably the most important attribute of the functioning of the brain is its ability to hold Memory. The brain is the only part in the human body that functions from the very birth of the individual, it starts drawing associations, conclusions, amalgamations, and holds them all due to this memory. Therefore, what the study of the brain reveals is that man is able to respond to tangible emotions, process and create associations and derive his own conclusions and observations from it and use his memory to draw references in a non-linear and associative manner.
Architecture is a medium that engages all the senses of the human body. What is however the most prominent of all these senses is the Visual. We look at the built form around us, analyse its physical attributes and that defines its architecture for us. The second sense that this branch of art explores is that of Experience. The feeling that someone gets while at home is very different from what he gets in his office. This feeling may be different for different individuals. Why is it so? Well that is what gives us an idea that Architecture of a space is deeply linked to the working of the brain and its Attributes- those explained in the previous paragraph. Since the behaviour of memory inherent to a person draws references from his past and consistently toggles with the idea of planning of a future it is safe to conclude that the brain functions in a non-linear manner. Hence through the following paragraphs I would try to explain the Rationale in which the brain works while defining, designing or critiquing the Architecture of a space. These Chapters – as I may like to call them – are independent approaches towards the analysis of a single process that is followed to attain the eventual Design of a specific built form. However, since the process of building in itself is linear and so, these Chapters place themselves in a particular order and within their functioning associate and disassociate to each other.

Chapter 1 - Word Associations.
Halbwachs writes in La Memoire Collective: “When a group is introduced into a part of space, it transforms it to its image. But at the same time it adapts itself to a certain material things, which resist it. It encloses itself in the framework that it has constructed. The image of the exterior environment and the stable relationships that it maintains with it pass into the realm of the idea that it has of itself.” Through this it can be said that as man grows, he starts building his own associations, understandings, comfort zones and conclusions due to every single thing he reads, writes, hears and speaks about. For example, as an infant, if he sees a certain style of walking, talking, laughing of the people around him, he derives from them, and aptly copies them. This not only makes him one of those who are around him but also starts defining his own character. His responses are defined even by the slightest hint of data supplied to him. When as a child, one is made scared of the existence of spirits that would condemn a person on the basis of his/her behaviour, as he/she grows the notions of good and evil are then directly embedded in them and helps that person to take decisions accordingly. So, when posed with a certain word or sentence it is inevitable for a person to start analysing, determining and reinterpreting its Meaning according to what it means to him. It can be said, that every word Means differently to each individual. Now with this Meaning, the associations that are drawn within the subconscious end up building something. In case of Architecture, It may be a Built form. For me, when someone says Pergolas, I immediately imagine a continuous grid of concrete members, this imagery further develops into an envelope of grids, which further develops into the sharp edges of a mesh, into the hands of a monster and so on and so forth. This process of imagery arises from the fact that when I was a kid, I was entwined in a net once and was unable to escape until my mother freed me. The explanation to the sequencing of this imagery might sound irrelevant and irrational to many. And that is agreeable because someone else might not have been through the same experience in a similar way. In Fact, they might create different associations and lead themselves to different imageries. So how does this help while designing? When faced with a word the mind now starts to draw a sequence of imagery for those words, relates them back to the hidden/revealed associations held in memory and after the trip eventually formulates the idea of a spatial understanding.

Chapter 2 – The Sculpture
As part of the Syllabus in English literature in my schooling, I once had come across a story which was about a Sculptor name Jaikishan. The Story described Jaikishan to be a gifted sculptor who would sculpt out immensely detailed and beautiful idols of Lord Krishna. In one of his encounters with an enthusiastic nemesis of his he asks him “How do you end up inventing from this mere blob of clay forms of Krishna and detail them so immaculately?” To which Jaikishan Replies “I do not invent anything. I just Discover. The sculpture is right there within that blob. I just discover the right places to sculpt.”
Where word Associations lead an individual to details of form, the idea of the constructed sculpture helps to derive the overall form. Due to immense amount of exposure to built form, theoretical inferences and associative memories, any individual, if put forth with a program subconsciously builds a building. This building exists within the subconscious and the brain periodically sends signals and impulses on the character of this built form. It is difficult for a person to understand and decode these signals and that is where the process of formal training of Architecture comes in. Architecture schools often propagate a mandate for a Process. The process in this case, means the approach one needs to follow to attain that built form. Each school moulds the students approach (Process) and helps him/her develop it further. The structure of this process is again different for different individuals and thus the Sculpture – or the built form attained is different. The Process is thus, nothing but Sculpting out the blob of clay (in this case, making the subconscious, conscious) and eventually revealing the Sculpture. That form which already exists in that blob of clay.

Chapter 3 - The Fissure
The fissure is perhaps the most interesting and unpredictable attribute in existence. Firstly, I would like to define what a Fissure is. A Fissure is simply a break. Henri Lefevre states in his essays on Everyday life that, when a person embarks on a journey of everyday life, at first it is interesting, it develops further into a cycle, which after a while becomes monotonous and boring. Man gets used to this monotony and is somehow addicted to it, however, after a while feels a desperate need to break this monotony. And hence introduces festivals, functions into his everyday life, which make his life interesting and break the monotony. After these breaks or Fissures as he may call them, Man resumes his everyday life routine, now rejuvenated only for it to become monotonous and boring again where another fissure is introduced. These Fissures may not just be man-made, they may be natural as well for e.g. calamities like floods, droughts and even simple changes in weather and thus this cycle of everyday life and Fissures continues. Here also, it is important to notice, how the introduction, execution and effect of a fissure consists of the involvement of all the three attributes of the Brain.
In case of Architectural Process, A fissure is introduced when within a process an individual is introduced to something which breaks his stream of thinking either through the fusion of another individuals’ formal ideas in person or through written literature or graphics. The fissure now creates a fusion in the brain of the individual of his own ideas and notions to those of this other individual. It leads to new Word Associations, new additions and subtractions to the Sculpture and thus enriching the eventual built form. The Fissure thus infuses a sense of instability into the process and creates a flux of non-linear motion into thinking. The fissure is thus in a unique way the basis of associative memory at a micro level as it primarily leads to creation of memory links and associations and at a macro level aids the process of design.

Chapter 4 - The Final Body
Leibniz says that it is necessary for a space to be occupied. What then occupies this space? A body, not bodies in general, nor corporeality, a body capable of indicating a direction by a gesture, of defining rotation by turning around, of demarcating and orienting space.
This 4th aspect that emerges from the attempt to understanding this theory of the functioning of the brain describes its relation to its sole container, the body. The brain may be the commander or the instructor of the actions and reactions of the body but the body is the formal existence that bears the residual of its actions or reciprocal of its reactions. This body is thus the receiver of the existence of its space. The body thus receives signals from the space in which it dwells and these signals now amalgamate all the three chapters that I have spoken of earlier. It can be said that the existence of space is because of its body, just like the meaning of a word is because of what it is meant to a particular person. The tectonics of spatial understanding now help one to look back at the creation of the work and critique it. Hence, the response to each built form is also extremely different and varied from person to person. The symmetries, axes or the scale of a spaces and its experiential potential to the liking of one person may be claustrophobic to another. This is what makes the brain. The brain is thus nothing but a slave of the many associations it has developed over the period of its existence and the sculptures it has braved through and at its only disposal is the body which holds it.
                                                                                                                                                 

  -Chiraag S. Punjabi
Roll no. 348
K.R.V.I.A.

References: Architecture of the city – Aldo Rossi, The Production of Space – Henri Lefevre,    Terrorism and Everyday life – Henri Lefevre, www.wikipedia.com, Balbharati – Std VI.

Thursday, 26 January 2012

SHARDES OF GLASS



SHARDES OF GLASS

i had a dream once, a hallucination
I was walking past through the corridors of a beautiful imagination

there i saw a maiden dressed in white ,
i bet you'll kill to glance that sight.

she held a crystal in her hand
it looked as precious as silky sand

carved from her beauty , it shone so bright,
it would light up even the darkest night.

my greedy mind conspired a sin,
thou wanted to taste the ladys skin.

i confronted the maiden and asked in disguise
what was it that her man should suffice.

she said
i need no gold , no gem , no stone,
but a promise to protect my crystal with every bone.

my lustful mind made the promise ,
her tender mind coul not read the tone dishonest.

the moment i held the shimmering glass
it shattered into pieces and fell on grass

everything around me now set ablaze
the world suddenly seemed burning with grimace.

the crystal had detected negation,
it was bound to crack with this invasion.

the woman now seemed to have paled with pain,
her face seemed older, wrinkled it remained.

her voice now hoarse let out a curse,
'You'll be sick , with no one to nurse'

i was now scared to death ,
i turned around and fled,

i looked back once at those broken shardes,
they left my conscience with unhealing scars,

they seemed to convey a redemption message,
but the coward ran away to the darkest passage.

now i lie in my grave in hell,
burning my soul, with no man to tell,

how true it was the curse of them aiden
i was left unnursed and denied heaven,

my conscience still questions me with pricking precision,
why didnt i rework that hasty decision,

what would have happened to that burning grass,
had i retuned to pick up
those broken shardes of glass.....
As you sit beside a window pane,
sudden subtle breezes cool the skin.
a thin mask of dust beams from 6 feet high
a waving hand disturbs a flux that flies.

A gush that blows through smooth strands of hair
on summer days tucked in beds on end
and on winter days under open skies
penetrating the blood bursting out of my veins

And then comes the month of the Gods of rain
warning us through harsh forces, silence contains
and then the roof tingles a melody
a sweet smell rises as dust is laid in front of me.

Aromas of mothers fresh cooked food 
of chillies and spices and warm flesh skewed
flowing air speaks of something, every smell speaks out
as you stand still to enjoy natures language somehow.

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

House No. 11 , Bawa House



HOUSE NO.11 , BAWA HOUSE

Extension to Bawa House , Balsa Model.

As a mark of respect to the ingenuity and almost seamless design of the house of Bawa, I chose my extension to the building to be a simple pavilion with a small walkway winding within it which would exhibit the work and drawings of Bawa.

Concept, Plan . Sketches, Data :-


Model :-



Sri Lanka Postcard


SRI LANKA POST CARD

To,
My Class.

I think Sri Lanka was fun. Love you guys,

Chiraag S. Punjabi

Post Card -


 The magical moment where an edge of the lighthouse building seemed almost like a mirror image of my first A.D. project.  Felt the built form.



The Architectural Design Project For the Indian Embassy, Srilanka






INDIAN EMBASSY COMPLEX, GALLE FACE SRI LANKA :-


JURY 1 :- 




JURY 2 :-


The following is the link to the slideshow of the PROCESS OF EVOLUTION OF MY DIGRAMMATIC MODEL OF THE EMBASSY ON GALLE FACE.
The photos are heavy and it might take time for the slide show to stream.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiraagpunjabi/sets/72157629009318241/show/

The following are images of a few exploration models that I made which led me to evolve the form of my building.

Process Model 1 (Scale - 1:1000):

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - White
High Commissioners Residence - Red














Process Model 2 (Scale - 1:1000):

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - White
High Commissioners Residence - Black















Process Model 3 (Scale - 1:1000):

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - White
High Commissioners Residence - Red














Process Model 4 (Scale - 1:1000):

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - White
High Commissioners Residence - Black













Process Model 5 (Scale - 1:1000):

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - White
High Commissioners Residence - Red












Process Model 6 (Scale - 1:1000):

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - White
High Commissioners Residence - Black







Process Model 7 (Scale - 1:1000):

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - Yellow
High Commissioners Residence - Yellow














Process Model 8 (Scale - 1:500) :

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - Black
High Commissioners Residence - White













Final Model (Scale - 1:500) :

Chancery - Yellow
Cultural Annexe - White
High Commissioners Residence - Red