An inspiring philosophy of –
Ar. Rahul Mehrotra
1 An inspiring philosophy of – Ar. Rahul Mehrotra
Rahul Mehrotra is an architect, urbanist and a educator who is a founder of RMA
architects and a professor at department of design in Harvard’s university. He has
designed various projects that ranges from recycling urban land and master planning in
Mumbai to the design of art spaces, boutiques, weekend houses, factories, social
institutes and office buildings across India – thereby engaging diverse issues, multiple
constituencies and varying scales: from interior design and architecture to urban design,
conservation and planning.
“ If you switch
completely to
the digital world,
you become
seduced by
virtual reality.”
As in above quote saying, he focuses to describe architecture not only with aesthetics but
in context to its function history and rejuvenation of that space accordingly. All we know,
it is not that easy to talk about a person but somewhere their qualities inspire people in
different way. As per my visit to CEPT library, Ahmadabad, how the space is converted
in context to site, transformation of space according to the usage and that building depicts
the actual meaning of library suitable for students with different perceptions. The person
behind that building is Rahul Mehrotra, who inspires me to be real in your profession.
To revive the actual meaning of architecture context in urban India, Rahul Mehrotra gives
us his inspiring philosophy of ‘The kinetic city’. His concept of Kinetic City is to focus
on the informal and formal spaces of the cities, he say that for the temporary function or
utilization of space, why to create permanent boundaries. I agree with his concept of
creating spaces that are Appropriated, Re-appropriated and De-appropriated. According
to me, as an architect we have to consider his ideas in our work too, one may focuses on
aesthetics of the building but it is also necessary to consider the history and actual context
by hiding the limits that we create in between various generations or people.
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2 An inspiring philosophy of – Ar. Rahul Mehrotra
The architect’s visionary approach to design thinking emphasize my judgments that- how
we build actually? With the help his talks and ideas to approach design criteria, I
understood the fact that there is necessity in modern architecture to consider deep
connection of people with that space and how they interact , enjoy and inhabit with their
space .
Considering my personal reviews – always try to understand the site and its location as an
architect to be able to create building that emphasize the surroundings with its abilities
more than that with its outer appearance. As India is described as a versatile country due
to richness in its heritage, culture or transit connection with their people. But in urban era,
that character of the country seems like disappearing , to show modernity the main focus
is rely on its aesthetics more than on its appropriate and efficient usage-this is what
Rahul Mehrotra wants to describe through his theories:
“When you design a place of blur, the idea of reversibility becomes
important.”
There are various places within a city that are reversible in character – it means instead of
their actual ability, they are converted into structures within minutes for various purposes
according to socio-cultural aspects. For example- the cricket grounds are converted into
venues for cultural activities, for political rallies ad are dismantled within no time, in
India the very famous Kumbh melas are organized in such a way that a vacant spaces is
converted into a small town within the city which provides work to millions and millions
visit their itself. This is how elasticity of space is defined from their reversible nature.
As per my visualization for CEPT library , the concept of reversibility is well defined- the
stairs to reading hall are designed in such a way that at the time of necessity they are
converted into temporary lecture hall provided with acoustical treds and projectors in the
walls. the building is centralized surrounded with a building envelope which respond to
the environment and climatic conditions and also used as a service core .
Conclusion:
It is not easy to make judgments on such a great personality who changed the vision for
architecture context. But according to my visualization on the basis of his theories and
design approach , concluded that it becomes necessity to deepen our understanding for
informality of the space so that through our design criteria we will be able to lighten the
burden on earth surface. It is possible only if we try not to create permanent solutions to
our temporary problems that means according to his philosophy we should create
buildings that define the elasticity of public spaces and deepens the interaction between
people and spaces.
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