Perhaps this is why I find this book significant today. Two important issues concerning discourse on Indian architectural history and theory are brought to attention by this book. Firstly this is a book on Indian architecture by Indian architects and secondly it attempts to deal with issues purely about architectural design. Explaining architecture in term of its own attributes of spatiality and form, without reference to style, political history, chronological development etc. is refreshing and something that readers will look forward to.
- Thematic Space in Indian Architecture by Kulbhushan Jain and Minakshi Jain
India Research Press, January 1, 2002
127 pages
Writings on History of Indian Architecture seem to be coming of age, though
I must admit not entirely without mixed feelings. Books on the subject
are many, authored either by specialists from outside the mainstream profession
or outside the country. One is familiar with the influence of their specializations
and perspectives on architectural critique. Indeed it has often taken
someone other than the Indian architect to write on the architecture of
India.
Perhaps this is why I find this book significant today. Two important
issues concerning discourse on Indian architectural history and theory
are brought to attention by this book. Firstly this is a book on Indian
architecture by Indian architects and secondly it attempts to deal with
issues purely about architectural design. Explaining architecture in term
of its own attributes of spatiality and form, without reference to style,
political history, chronological development etc. is refreshing and something
that readers will look forward to.
In contrast to the story telling pattern of architectural critique and
history, this books is about the salient design attributes of a few typologies
of space in Indian architecture. The authors attempt to identify the "essence
of spatial quality" in the antiquity and continuity of Indian architecture.
Spaces that manifest certain unchanging essential attributes have been
organized into generic typologies. These typologies or
idea of space
are explained to have a wide spatial and temporal spread while retaining
their universal quality. Studying architecture as typology rather than
representation is indeed much needed in developing understanding the principles
of design. Its said in the book poignantly that architecture consists
of two mutually independent aspects-
elements and features of design
and
style and manner of making. Removing the outer manner of making
uncovers the essential aspects of design reveals inner essentials of design
that has led the authors to discover the
Thematic Spaces in Indian Architecture.
Four architects, Kulbhushan & Meenakshi Jain and Arya identified and
analyzed four key spatial types from the architectural tradition of
India:
The Pavilion, The Courtyard, The In- between Realm and The Cave. The
authors have pooled their professional and teaching experience to compile
a large collection of drawings and pictures to illustrate these themes.
The book consists of independent chapters dedicated to the four thematic
spaces each dealt by one author.
Included here are many examples of the variations of the four themes:
Pavilions that diversify into
Chattris, Baradaris and Mandapas,
Courtyards that recur across
Urban scale to Individual houses,
In between transition spaces that interface as
Ghats, Entrances,
Ottas, Zharookhas and caves that articulate
Simple to Complex spatial
configurations.
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words but drawing is the
language of design. Unlike most similar books that rely on pictures to
illustrate architecture, this book carries many beautiful drawings of
building plans, elevations and sections. Drawn to scale, these images
establish the architectonic relationships within themselves and others
illustrations. Though collected from various sources they are primarily
derived from the works of students at CEPT. Such measured drawings and
studies, certainly labour of love, that often get buried away after they
have served their purpose have been brought to a larger use in this study.
Why and where this book falls short of its promise is the narrative it
adopts. The analysis, however well meaning, is not structured enough and
gets lost in the descriptive discourse. Sections of the book are led by
visual, as often it happens with architecture writing. It reminds me of
few books of similar genre:
Architecture of the Islamic Cultural Sphere
by MARP, or Architectural Composition by Rob Krier. These books differ
in their rigor of analysis where typological similarity or differences
are organized on a matrix that aids in the study the elaboration and variations
of themes. Here one senses that the information collected, though large,
has not been put to sufficiently explicit structure of analysis.
Despite these blemishes, this book is a step in the right direction. Such
work reinstates the role of architects in the study of built form, as
well as directs the desired intentions of research in spatiality of Indian
architecture. Even only on this count alone, I would not hesitate to
compliment the authors.
Anyone familiar with the difficulties of research and documentation of
architectural studies such as this, requiring resources, time and labor,
deserve our support and encouragement.