Learning Architecture

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Learning Architecture

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  • Title: Learning Architecture
  • Author: Kulbhushan Jain
  • Publisher: AADI Centre
  • Publication Year: 2019
  • Language: English
  • ISBN: 978-8190852838

About the Book

Education in architecture, like in all other fields, has become a number game—and of course, an enterprise in economics. Academic discussions over the past few years have contributed to some thinking which has remained unarticulated. With more than five hundred schools across India, it is difficult to set teaching benchmarks within the existing framework.

When the author started thinking about writing a book on education it became very dense and enmeshing—syllabi, curricula, pedagogy, methodologies, and more. Education is heavy, learning is not; so he thought of working on learning. This prompted him to think about involving young teachers and sharing their views on specific topics. This engagement encourages writing about architecture—an important need of the hour.

The book has sixteen articles covering various aspects of learning processes and thoughts. It is a book more about learning architecture, than anything else. Actually, it dovetails into teaching without becoming heavy. Further, most of the contributors in this volume are under thirty-five.

Introduction (as per submitted by author)

No one wondered, and articulated an expression, about the spirit of design more succinctly than Louis Kahn did. You have to search for the essence of a building and touch its spirit before you draw the first line to express the idea. The larger aspects of institutional philosophy, its spirit, and the intrinsic order take charge before you conceptualise the institution and its architecture. For Kahn, this search was not only very important, but fundamental to the initial stages of design.

When Dr. Jonas Salk approached Louis Kahn for the design of Salk Institute for Biological Studies at La Jolla, California, Kahn asked him about his dream of the institution he wanted to build. Dr. Salk told Kahn that his dream was to create a place where he could invite Pablo Picasso. And, as we know, this was to be a biological research laboratory. One wonders why Salk would have dreamt of inviting Picasso to an institute that was to be built to study a branch of science. The idea behind sharing this anecdote is to demonstrate how important the initial enquiry about a place is, in order to address its spirit, before the design process begins. This search harbours much more than just a ‘set of functions’ and the ‘square metres’ of expected space.

“I walked up a high flight of stairs to my studio which I share with Le Ricolais and Norman Rice at the University of Pennsylvania. I often stop at the intermediate landing where plates are hung showing architecture, painting and sculpture. Here I met one of the fine teachers of sculpture, Bob Engman out of Yale, where I too began my teaching. He was standing with his back to me. Very sturdy figure indeed—you know him—and I put my elbow on his shoulder and said, ‘What do you see in this old stuff?’— (pointing to a display of Egyptian sculpture)—and he turned to me with a knowing grin expressing without words its wonder. Then with words, ’isn’t it marvellous… such beauty… what insight’, all words less than his expression. And then I said to him, ‘Bob I gave thought to two words: Existence and Presence’. Art embodies both. The one speaks of the spirit, the other of the tangible.” Kahn 14

Contents of the book

  • Preface
  • In search of Design Spirit |  Kulbhushan Jain
  • Understanding Intents and Meaning in History | S Madhuri Rao & R Kiran Kumar
  • Interpreting Regional Contexts in Contemporary Architecture | Meghal Arya
  • Learning from Historic Sites – Travels of Le Corbusier | Supriya Kukreja
  • Interpreting Architecture:  A case of Padmanabhapuram Palace | Ajay K Jacob
  • In pursuit of Design – Architecture beyond problem solving | R Ramalakshmi & Surabhi Shingarey
  • Articulating Societal Values in Architecture | Chaitra Sharad & Komal Gopwani
  • Visual Scripting: A Narrative for Light and Space | Sanket Mhatre
  • Writing for Learning | Meghna Mehta
  • Teaching Architecture in Remote Parts of India | Sankha Subhra Nath
  • Research in Architecture Pedagogy | Nibedita Mishra
  • Learning Through Writing | Manasi Chokshi
  • People – Centric Place | Fatema Master
  • Learning through the process of Engagement | Atreya Bhattacharya
  • New Paradigms and the Millennial Teacher | Shomika Sarkar and V Girish
  • Being and Becoming an Architect | Suchitra Balasubrahmanyam
  • Profile of Contributors

About the Editor

Kulbhushan Jain, architect-urbanist and conservation consultant studied and worked with Louis Kahn. He taught at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, for more than four decades and held various positions including Director, School of Architecture, and Chairman, Doctoral Programme. He has been a visiting professor at MIT, Cambridge, USA; UBC, Vancouver, Canada, and Polemi, Milano. He has worked as consultant to NID, Ahmedabad; INTACH, New Delhi, and MMT, Jodhpur. Jain has published several books, articles, and conference papers. He has been a member of several juries for national and international design competitions.

You can purchase the book from here.

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