Domus India February 2018

February Volume 07 / Issue 4
2018 R200
INDIA 070 LA CITTÀ DELL’ UOMO

4 NEWS domus 70 February 2018
table
NEWS
Indianness and its discontents: the life and
of contents times of architecture in India
4 Centre Pompidou
Indianness and its discontents: the life
and times of architecture in India A three-lecture seminar by debates surrounding it. It needs
Kaiwan Mehta, held between a critical review and debate to
6 MGW 2018 18-20 January, 2018 at the liberate not only the design, but
Mumbai Gallery Weekend Centre Pompidou, Paris, reviewed also the discussion on architecture,
6 Plüsch architectural patterns and allowing newer ideas and
Walk-in custom closet developments in India since its references, as well as debates
by Schmalenbach independence from colonial rule to deconstruct existing histories
Vitra India
in 1947 to the present. The review and design methodologies. This
6
VitrA’S thermostatic faucet series focused on key thematics such as lecture, in parts, reviewed historical
Tradition and Modernity, the Idea of developments and partly discuss
8 Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur Indianness, as well as Regionalism debates and theoretical journeys on
When is Space? — an exhibition on con-
temporary architecture and Globalisation. These are tropes the themes.
that bridge as well as divide the Indianness — The quest, the
8 Domus India space between a locale and the discovery, and the
Domus India 70 cover design
world in general. How are trends continuing puzzle
10 Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2018 and occurrences in locations, India, as civilisation, as culture,
Urban Design and Architecture histories, and geographies like India as nation — often come together
compared to rest of the world, with as style, ornamentation, and idea
12 A/D/O
The future in a glass of water its imagined centre in West Europe and create grounds for artistic
or North America, and why? Is it and ideological developments
12 Adam Museum, Brussels possible to think of developments in design and architecture. This
Soviet lifestyles on display in Brussels in India outside a comparative lecture reviewed the changing
12 Fondazione Prada framework, yet belonging to a idea of Indianness especially in
The very best of two unfused worlds shared world? design, architecture, and the idea of
Architecture and its many trends material cultures.
12 Galerie Springer, Berlin and developments in the last 70 The pleasures and difficulties of
The most famous unknown
photographer years of independent India is a being an architect in India today
good site for exploring some of The architect struggles between
14 Blank Space Project these questions. Even though much responsibilities towards time and
Five years of utopia in one book
has changed, some ideas and culture, pressures of economics
14 Chris Kabel themes seem to recur again and and patronage, as well as the
Writing with light and shadow again in new avatars. At the same imagination of one’s role and
14 Kvadrat, Copenhagen
time, scholarship from historians contribution to history. Making
No colours, just materials and theorists from the Western reference to certain historical
world has focused on comparative biographies, the larger part of the
15 Ceramica Bardelli
An enveloping alphabet of soft colours
modes of thinking, while newer lecture looked at the ways in which
scholarship in the last few decades, the younger generation of studios
15 Potocco often home-grown, has raised are engaging with India that is
The safari style of journey in a chair
many questions and shaped newer redrawing its political and social
15 Pratic frameworks of understanding, maps today quite actively shaping
Comfort and protection in the outdoors including a criticism of an uncritical a contemporary that is across
15 Pepe Jeans and imagined Indianness. multiple registers, but also, at times,
Denim by Pepe Jeans is artistic escaping definitions and well-
and bespoke Tradition and Modernity — The rehearsed arguments.
India experience: Did we stretch
it too far? centrepompidou.fr
This binary continues to define
form, style, culture, and the many
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Mumbai Gallery Weekend Plüsch’s walk-in custom closet

by Schmalenbach
Mumbai Gallery Weekend (MGW) is The programme includes lectures by
an art-focused weekend and has, over art historians, art collectors, museum Plüsch brings German Schmalenbach best of wardrobes, built-in cabinets,
the last six years, become one of the professionals, artists, as well as artist- designs, offering pioneer display and shelving systems. The distinctive
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scale than the previous editions, the from built-in and walk-in wardrobes to can maximise closet’s height with a
festivities this year will span across sliding doors, shelves, office furniture, double-rod closet organiser. Organise
Mumbai in more than 25 of the city’s bathroom and kitchen cabinets and shorter clothes, such as blouses and
most exciting art spaces from January even individual pieces of furniture. shirts, on the upper bar, and pants and
31 to February 4, 2018. Galleries put A custom closet system is an easy skirts below. Wire closet organisers are
up their best exhibitions and through way to update a master closet. also a good way to let clothes breathe.
the outreach programme, there are Customisable accessories, such as Keeping shoes visible, sorted, and
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able to extend the traditional reach further organise their walk-in closet. When constructing a custom closet, a
of galleries, creating an engaging The Schmalenbach assortments are wide variety of materials are available
environment for regular visitors to art exclusively available at all Plüsch to achieve a look that’s classic or
spaces, and an approachable public showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, modern. With wood tones ranging
programme for new visitors. Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. from darker walnut to lighter birch,
Schmalenbach wardrobes are the selections can be based on preference
epitome of craftsmanship when it as well as the existing style of the
comes to a well-designed, custom- room where the closet will be located.
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‘When is Space?’ — an exhibition

on contemporary architecture
‘When is Space?’ intends to discuss A large part of the contemporary are the new vectors within which The Curatorial Team includes: Anuj
the contemporary architecture and space-making practices appear to the practice as well as discourse Daga (Assistant Curator), Milind
space-making practices in India. be structured around three broad of space can be conducted? This Mahale (Product Designer), Dipti
Space here refers to the multi-scalar imperatives: first, computational and exhibition creates an effective Bhaindarkar, Dhruv Chavan, Kaushal
dimensions at which one thinks of mathematical logics that are aided landscape of new inquiries and Vadake with support from School of
architecture, from the idea of the through a variety of devices including invites a new spatial interrogation Environment and Architecture (SEA).
universe, to collective institutional digital media; second, experiments in of its historical referents. Jawahar
forms to the micro-environments response to issues of building-type, Kala Kendra is seen as a laboratory
created around the self. The craft and environment; and third, for an experiment that shall not
exhibition intends to ask the first concerns regarding city and public only locate the present concerns of
question: ‘When is space?’ What that produce urbanistic practices contemporary architecture, but also
does it take for space to happen? of research and advocacy. In many help trace its future trajectories.
It hopes to put together a series of ways, these three imperatives were The exhibition is curated by Rupali
explorations in making space – by also centrally evident within the Gupte and Prasad Shetty and
mobilising claims, by constructing pursuits of Jai Singh as well as includes the works of Abin Design
narratives, by recalibrating Charles Correa. Their practices offer, Studio, Anagram Architects, Anthill
boundaries, by responding to thus, a framework through which Design, Anuj Daga, Architecture
contexts of economy and ecology contemporary architectural Brio, Aayojan School of Architecture,
and by interrogating the conventional production in India may be Bhagwati Prasad, Dhruv Jani,
processes that have produced space. understood and analysed. Dronah, Gigi Scaria, Sir JJ College
Located within the Jawahar Kala ‘When is Space?’ recognises the of Architecture & Mustansir Dalvi,
Kendra (JKK) in Jaipur, the exhibition expanded field of architecture and Mad(e) in Mumbai, M. Pravat, Mancini,
intends to converse with the ideas of aims to generate critical Mark Prime, Milind Mahale, Mathew &
Sawai Jai Singh and Charles Correa commentaries on contemporary Ghosh, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II
that produced the city of Jaipur and space-making. It brings together a Museum, Parul Gupta, M/s Prabhakar
the JKK. Through provocations that wide gamut of participants, including Bhagwat Studio, Prasad Khanolkar,
emerge from the ideas of these key architects, artists, designers, Randhir Singh, Raqs Media Collective,
figures, the exhibition invites 30 researchers, urbanists, philosophers, Sameep Padora + Associates, Samir
artists/architects who will not only architecture colleges, and museums. Raut, Samira Rathod Design Atelier,
display their works, but also respond How can different disciplines come Seher Shah, Teja Gavankar, The
through a spatial intervention within together and productively engage in Busride Design Studio, The Urban
JKK, thus folding in object and space. the pursuit of space-making? What Project, Vikas Dilawari, Vishal K Dar.
Domus India 70 cover design
Design Concept and Process:

The cover design is a photomontage created with photographs
of the main building and some parts of the interior of the
structure of the Stacked Student Housing in Belgaum,
designed by Thirdspace Architecture Studio. The organisation
of the various elements of the cover is impacted by artist
Sudhir Patwardhan’s painted cityscapes. The hierarchy and
the movement present in his works are key elements that we
have tried to maintain while designing the photomontage using
selected elements of Thirdspace Architecture Studio’s minimal
design. Furthermore, we have retained the geometric patterns
along the horizon to emphasise both the dynamics and the
constraints of urban social stratification and spatialisation as
visualised by Patwardhan.
Credits:
Jackfruit Research & Design started in 2005 as a research and
design organisation for the arts as well as specialised design
projects for the retail, hospitality, and travel industries. The
focus has been to work with private and public organisations,
individuals, galleries, and museums. Jackfruit has curated
landmark exhibitions, worked on digital galleries and
educational websites, illustrated and written travel books
for NGOs, conducted lecture tours, designed spaces as
well as publications.
Jackfruit’s team includes Annapurna Garimella, an art historian
and designer; Sindhura D M, an art historian and design curator;
and Rajarshi Dutta, a designer with a background in history
and publishing with a portfolio of work for various industries.
Jackfruit has offices in Bengaluru, New Delhi, and Kolkata.
Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2018 | Urban Design and Architecture
Film screening and discussion:

4:00 – 5:30 pm
‘Nostalgia for the Future’ – a film by Mukul Kishore and Rohan Shivkumar
Saturday, Living Ideals: Designs for Housing by Charles Correa – a curatorial presentation
6:00 – 7:00 pm
3 February Dirk van Gameren (TU Delft)
The journey of conservation: art and architecture in changing times
7:00 – 8:30 pm
Barbara Beckett and Mr. Philippe von Niederhäusern, and Vikas Dilawari
Architecture and what is changing in India: Notes from a studio
5:30 – 6:30 pm
Akshat Bhatt (Architecture Discipline) Delhi
6:30 – 7:30 pm
Monday, Rajesh Ranganathan (Flying Elephant) Bengaluru
5 February Architecture and what is changing in India: Notes from a studio
7:30 – 8:30 pm
Biju Kuriakose (Architecture Red) Chennai
8:30 – 9:30 pm
Madhav Raman (Anagram) Delhi
Housing Matters: Cities with a Future
5:30 – 6:30 pm
Lecture-presentation by P K Das; discussion with Rohan Shivkumar
Tuesday, 6:30-7:30 pm
Nithya and Kiran V (Informarchitects) Bengaluru
6 February
7:30-8:30 pm
Praveen Bavadekar (Third Space Studio) Belgaum
8:30-9:30 pm
Shilpa and Pinkish Shah (S+PS Architects) Mumbai
5:30 – 6:30 pm Tenanted Housing Stock in Mumbai: conservation and way forward by Vikas Dilawari
Wednesday, 6:30 – 7:30 pm Domesticity and the Filmic House: the case of Bollywood by Smita Dalvi
7 February 7:30 – 8:30 pm Design, Terracotta, and Domesticity by Annapurna Garimella
Design, Interiors, and Domesticity
8:30 – 9:45 pm
Zameer and Ayaz Basrai (Busride Design Studio) Mumbai+Goa, Rooshad Shroff (RS A+D) Mumbai
5:30 – 6:30 pm The Toilet Manifesto by Mayuri Sissodia and Kalpit Ashar [MAD(E) IN Mumbai]
The Typewriter in India: Design and Cultures of work
Thursday, 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Vrunda Pathare, Sarita Sundar, Chirodeep Chaudhuri
8 February
Design in a country of diversity
7:30 – 8:30 pm
Mohor Ray and Rajesh Dahiya (CoDesign) Delhi
8:30 – 9:30 pm Thinking Design by Ajay Shah (ASDS & Rubberband) Mumbai
5:30 – 6:30 pm
Rahul Kadri (IM Kadri Architects) Mumbai
Friday, 6:30-7:30 pm
Stephane Paumier (SPA) Delhi
9 February
7:30-8:30 pm
Kiran Kapadia (KAPL) Mumbai
8:30-9:30 pm
Ambrish Arora (Lotus Design) Delhi
11:00 am – OPEN HOUSE: Visiting Architecture in Mumbai
12:30 pm Green Acres Academy; Chembur (Tushar Desai Architects)
Saturday, OPEN HOUSE: Visiting Architecture in Mumbai
10 February 2:00 – 3:30 pm IT College Somaya Campus; Sion (sP+a Sameep Padora)
Open House organised by #ThreeFlaneurs
OPEN HOUSE: Visiting Architecture in Mumbai
4:30 – 6:00 pm
Synergy Office; Kalachowkie (SJK Architects)
11:00 am – OPEN HOUSE: Visiting Architecture in Mumbai
12:30 pm Imagine Studio; Vikhroli (Studio Lotus)
Sunday, OPEN HOUSE: Visiting Architecture in Mumbai
11 February Killawala House; Juhu (Nitin Killawala & Associates)
2:00 – 3:30 pm Open House organised by #ThreeFlaneurs
(To register for the Open House sessions, email threeflaneurs@gmail.com)
The Urban Design and Architecture section at The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival
is curated by managing editor of Domus India Kaiwan Mehta
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The future in a glass of water Soviet lifestyles on display in Brussels
The educational programme “Water Right from the 1950s up to the “Soviet Design” is divided into sections
Futures” will be hosted by A/D/O in 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, that represent an aspect of a Soviet
Greenpoint, Brooklyn in spring 2018. the exhibition “Soviet Design. Red citizen’s life and material culture:
Jane Withers from London is inviting Wealth” at Adam (the Brussels Design childhood and leisure, sports and
the design community to find new Museum) offers a display of graphic public events, visual communication
ways to approach drinking water, design and daily objects that lie at the and packaging, furniture and
including plastic bottles. crux of today’s lifestyle in Russia. The household products, and more.
www.a-d-o.com exhibits hail from the Moscow Design
Museum and from private collections. www.adamuseum.be
Pop-inspired folly in the Emirates
A wonderful story at every turn,

promises Marcel Wanders at the five-
star Mondrian Doha hotel in Qatar,
built by SBE Entertainment Group in
2017. Colourful, overwrought interiors
with fluid lines feature an array of
individual identities where designs
reflect local patterns, Arabic writing, The most famous unknown photographer
and ancient souks. Giant columns with
ornaments of golden eggs, wicker
egg-shaped chairs hanging from the
ceiling, mosaic-tiled walls and floors Portraits and refined still-lifes make photographer in America”. She liked
are all part of the ‘holistic’ experience up the poetic oeuvre of the German- the description, saying that what
of luxury to be had here. American photographer Evelyn Hofer mattered was the work, not personal
(1922-2009). Her work looked back fame. The exhibition is on display at
www.marcelwanders.com to the tradition of August Sander Galerie Springer, Berlin until
and anticipatedthe colour of William 3 February.
Eggleston, Her work was published
in Life magazine and The New York
Times, whose art critic Hilton Kramer
called her “the most famous unknown www.galeriespringer.de
The very best of two unfused worlds
Open for three nights in Miami last Western discothèque (inside), and a
December, the Double Club by Carsten garish Caribbean garden (outside).
Höller for Fondazione Prada united two
settings without fusion: a greyscale www.fondazioneprada.org
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Five years of utopia in one book Writing with light and shadow
“All men dream, but not equally,” wrote commit their architectural imagination An installation by Chris Kabel for buildings from 1907. Kabel used
T.E. Lawrence in 1922. Architects to paper, no holds barred. Fifty of the the Headlands Center for the Arts the whitewashed cladding of one
are no exception, as shown by the resulting utopias and dystopias have turns the Californian sun (and its facade as a blackboard, inserting
competition “Fairy Tales” organised now been gathered in a book, due out shadow) into a sort of ink that artists slim aluminium letters between the
by Blank Space, an online platform as soon as sufficient funds have been and writers can use to express horizontal slats. Shadow reveals the
founded by Matthew Hoffman and raised, just like the competition. themselves. The Center lies across messages, starting with verses by the
Francesca Giuliani. For five years, they the Golden Gate Bridge, north of San Native American poet Wendy Rose.
invited designers, artists and creative Francisco, in the Marin Headlands,
people from all over the world to www.blankspaceproject.com where it is housed in wooden military www.chriskabel.com
No colours, just materials
The new Kvadrat store in Copenhagen by Erwan

and Ronan Bouroullec was created according to the
mantra “no colours, just materials”. White dominates
the space, leaving the centre of attention to the
textiles made by the Danish company founded
in 1968. Fabrics are displayed on a shelving and
hanging system made by the French designer
brothers and attached to tracks on the ceiling. Glass
partitions, brick walls, wooden floors and concrete
floors form the framework. Erwan Bouroullec: “We
focused on materiality, which is the heart of the
Kvadrat brand. The showroom offers total flexibility
to create scenes with large pieces of textiles and
rugs. This provides insight into the weave, weight,
transparency, and quality of each textile.”
www.kvadrat.org
Photo © Michel Giesbrecht, Studio Bouroullec
Photo © Michel Giesbrecht, Studio Bouroullec

domus 70 February 2018 NEWS 15
An enveloping alphabet of soft colours The safari style of journey in a chair
Soft colours and earthy tones contains different shades, offering The Spanish designer David Lopez comfortably support the body for full
alternate in the Palladiana series a chromatic alphabet for floors and Quincoces (1980) used tubular relaxation. Vigo was inspired by the
of stoneware tiles designed by walls. Named after a technique that bronzed brass and full-grain leather safari seats used on big-game hunts
Studiopepe for Ceramica Bardelli. uses bits of marble set in cement, (replaced by fabric in the outdoor in Africa during the 1920s and
The range is inspired by the different the tiles’ patchwork surface creates version) for the slender silhouette 1930s, which were elegant and
materials of stone, plaster, cement, contemporary interiors. of the Vigo armchair produced lightweight, seeing that they needed
fabric, and wood, which contributes by Potocco, located in the Friuli- to be carried over long distances.
to variable decorative schemes. Each Venezia Giulia region. The slung seat,
of the four colourways of the tiles www.ceramicabardelli.com suspended in mid-air, is optimised to www.potoccospa.com
Comfort and protection in the outdoors Denim by Pepe Jeans is artistic and bespoke
The Sicilian architect Filippo Palazzolo two free-standing modules of Vision, a The new Pepe Jeans flagship store in of the space stands a LED installation
needed to protect the terrace at protective pergola by Pratic. London designed by Martin Brudnizki (below) that displays pictures of the
Primafila restaurant in Palermo from Design Studio opened in April 2017. It countryside. The “denim bar” hosts
the sun and wind without obstructing is an eclectic mix of materials, where a machine that allows clients to
the view. To make the outdoor area cork is combined with antiqued brass customise their purchases by adding
suitable for year-round dining, he used www.pratic.it details, plywood panelling decorated writing, studs, and distressing.
with geometric vinyl shapes, and
patterned encaustic tiles. In the middle www.pepejeans.com
Photo James McDonald

24 CONTENTS domus 70 February 2018
070
Editor and Publisher Domus Magazine founded in 1928
Maneck Davar
Publisher and Managing Editor
Managing Editor Maria Giovanna Mazzocchi Bordone
Kaiwan Mehta, PhD
Editor
Nicola Di Battista
Senior Sub-Editor
Khorshed Deboo Art Director
Giuseppe Basile
Art Director
Parvez Shaikh The College of Masters
David Chipperfield
Senior Graphic Designer Kenneth Frampton
Yogesh Jadhav Hans Kollhoff
Werner Oechslin
Digital & Graphics Eduardo Souto de Moura
Ninad Jadhav
Study Centre
Rohit Nayak
Massimo Curzi
Sachin Bhogate
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Spartaco Paris
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domus 70 February 2018 CONTENTS 17
Author Design Title

Authors
Tullio Pericoli Editorial
Deyan Sudjic Kaiwan Mehta 18 What do I think, when I think architecture?
Jacques Lucan
Kenneth Frampton Confetti
Sol LeWitt Tullio Pericoli 20 Parallel Text
Meenal Kapadia
Sudhir Patwardhan Deyan Sudjic 22 Breathing Colour
Jitish Kallat
Rahul Mehrotra
Ranjit Hoskote
Jacques Lucan 26 On Valerio Olgiati
Jennifer Robertson
Shreyank Khemlapure Kenneth Frampton 30 A note on Brazil
Mario Botta
Giulia Guzzini Sol LeWitt 34 Sentence on Conceptual Art 1969
Contributor Meenal Kapadia 40 Victoria and Albert Museum, London Material moulding design
Ranjit Hoskote
Sudhir Patwardhan, Jitish Kallat 50 Sudhir Patwardhan The intimacy of everyday space
Photographers
Chirodeep Chaudhuri
Rahul Mehrotra, Ranjit Hoskote,
Enrico Cano 64 The State of Housing in India
Keiko Sasaoka Kaiwan Mehta
Jennifer Robertson 76 Ranjit Hoskote In this room, the poems come and go
Projects
80
Shreyank Khemlapure Thirdspace Architecture Studio A template for minimal living
Mario Botta 90 Mario Botta Architetto Switzerland
98 David Chipperfield Architects Inagawa Cemetery Chapel and Visitor Centre
Rassegna
Giulia Guzzini 106 The kitchen in the era of the internet of things

2018 R200
Cover: The cover design combines

the social landscapes from artist
Sudhir Patwardhan’s paintings with
the architecture for a specific kind
of housing designed by Thirdspace
Architecture Studio. The image
combines a near-surreal and a near-
utopian sensibility, representative of
an urban, architectural context we
live in today. For further details, turn
to page 8.
The cluster and unit plans for the Sangharsh Nagar Slum
Rehabilitation, Mumbai, as seen in one of the many chronotopes
from the State of Housing exhibition
18 EDITORIAL domus 70 February 2018
WHAT DO I THINK, WHEN I

THINK ARCHITECTURE? Kaiwan Mehta
As I was closing this issue of Domus India The curatorial team of Rahul Mehrotra, landscape and railway platform, the street
and thinking about, and writing notes for Ranjit Hoskote, and myself that presentedthe corner and the book, the stage and the garden,
developing a productive-critical sense of what exhibition, The State of Architecture in talk openly against all odds. The world is a
architecture in India and its journey and 2016, now return as promised with another difficult place that is to be restored to value
history must offer us (for a set of lectures articulation of architectural concerns which human endeavour, human culture, and human
I just delivered), I was also reading Kazuo architects today in this country should civilisation – the writer, the architect, the
Ishiguro’s My Twentieth Century Evening engage themselves with – an exhibition curator, the editor, the lecturer, will have to
and Other Small Breakthroughs, the lecture on the State of Housing in India. The two strive to make space – then there is Space,
he delivered upon accepting the Nobel Prize exhibitions questioned the role of the there is Life! When there are voices of sanity
for Literature, at the Swedish Academy in architect, simultaneously celebrating all and provocative thoughtfulness, when there
Stockholm on 7 December 2017. The lecture, that is in the spirit of architecture as human are voices that are trying to talk and argue to
at this moment, brings strength and thought endeavour towards making the world a better learn and not kill each other – there will be
to the many activities one is involved in. place to live in. Architecture in India has a Space. Space is when the human spirit works
The lecture restores faith in the ‘good we history and journey that has much to offer, to actively engage and build relationships of
human beings strive for’ and the forms of so that we can further understand the larger conversation; the architect builds to speak to
reflection, modes of conversation, geographies potential and role of design in a world where a world through the elegance of challenge –
of respectful argumentations, and thoughtful values are shrinking and neighbourhoods are forms that challenge you, colours that provoke
dialogue we strive to be involved in. limited to only personal zones of influence. you, images that tease you to react and step
Journeys of our work as writers, editors, The home should be the expanded world, out of your cocoons – not only space. Space is
and curators are filled with hope and belief and one should be ‘at home in the world’; the the contained, space is action: a field of
but also doubt and reflective questions. It is ‘home’ and the ‘world’ are not separate areas energy, of participation, not essentially
disheartening when people use these positions of existence but extensions of one another making but something you nurture.
like a system of mass production, trying to through us – we who inhabit it. Housing, by Space is when there is self-reflection and
churn lectures and exhibitions that confuse nature of its historically inherited meaning, societal engagement. Architecture is the
more than clarify, that cloud thoughts rather accounts for people by numbers, lives by practice of making, where reflection and
than sieve the strands of sanity out of the policies, and relationships by economic engagement work by turns through ideas and
muddle of everyday experiences. Instead production; as holy as it may sound in our materials in turns. km
of talking about the state of architecture pressured times of homelessness, deprivation
and practice, people talk about the death of in the name of development, poverty in the
architecture – the latter not as a manifesto wake of institutionalised inequalities – the
of resurgence but as a grave of depressed home is where human life grows and shapes.
aggressions and dissatisfactions. Boldness The Home is the unit of human life and
needs to be combined with well-studied and civilisation, the home of the meme of culture.
finely researched hard work; often people have To ask for home and relationships of value
the former but hardly know what the latter – literature and architecture, theatre and
is. But rather than be dismayed by shallow art, poetry and cinema – will have to strive
claims to criticality or thinking, burdened collectively, in their own spheres of practice
by negativity, we look at the space of writing and action.
and thinking, and the practice of writing and People often ask ‘when is space’ and ‘where
research as the space for celebrating all that is is space’ – well, space is where and when the
‘good we human beings strive for’. In the same mind breathes freely and the life of humanity
spirit, we present the pages of this magazine, is glowing with ideas and argumentative @Domus_India
month after month. propositions… the home and the city, and the
CONFETTI
Drawings of various case studies presented

at the State of Housing exhibition
20 CONFETTI domus 70 February 2018
PARALLEL TEXT
Enamoured by the essay The Ideal House (1884) by Robert Louis
Stevenson, Tullio Pericoli published his interpretation of it 13 years ago
by creating an illustrational running commentary of the words. Pericoli
has now revisited the original project in a closer way with a sequence of
black-and-white drawings positioned across from the text
Tullio Pericoli
I often read in the morning and have

been doing so for a long time. When
I start reading the lines of a book,
two screens tend to switch on in my
mind. The words I am reading appear
on the first and the images conjured
up by those words on the other.
They may be concepts in the form of
figures or places, faces or portraits
of well-known people. Or the face
and eyes of the author, almost as if
I wanted to appropriate their gaze.
They are like two films running
alongside each other. In the first is
the text: thoughts made of words;
in the second, its simultaneous
translation into thoughts made
of pictures.
So why not really try comparing
these two screens, by pairing them
on the pages of a book, as in the
case of some translations: with
parallel text. On the left the original
text and on the right the translated
one. Seeing them together, one
here, one there, it is only natural to
make comparisons, to indulge in
combinations — and combinations,
contrasts and alliances between
different parts are always a means
of enriching our knowledge.
To do this, two different dictionaries
have to be consulted: one for the
words and one for the pictures.
Both are deposited inside us but
are normally used separately.
Actually, we do use them together
as well, and quite often, but without
realising it. At times I feel I know
my dictionary of images and can
see it: it has no page numbers, no
This page, far right: cover of the book by

Tullio Pericoli, La casa ideale di Robert
Louis Stevenson, Adelphi, Milan 2017; top-
left: the book’s opening drawing; bottom-
left: a drawing from the book: “The house
must be within hail of either a little river or
the sea. A great river is more fit for poetry
than to adorn a neighbourhood”
Your house should not command much outlook;

it should be set deep and green,
though upon rising ground,
or, if possible, crowning a knoll, for the sake of drainage
Robert Louis Stevenson

domus 70 February 2018 CONFETTI 21
alphabetical order; it is a receptacle

with no order but where everything
is in order. Sometimes it looks like a
little book, sometimes many volumes.
When I read and come across words
that stand out for their vitality and are
lit up from within, they whizz straight
off towards their natural destination,
sometimes revealing treasures to me.
As, I believe, happens to most people.
If we place the two screens that rely
on two different dictionaries front
on, how will two such different texts
behave towards each other? Will the
words stay the same even next to
their (my) translation into pictures?
Will we see and read the images in
the same way, next to the words that
generated them? How many different
images could be drawn on the right-
hand page and how many different
words, suggested by the drawings,
could be added to or substituted for
those on the left-hand page? How
many screens and new texts could
still be born? It is a game that, with
Stevenson’s permission, could be
continued. Playing at combining
different arts is one of the finest
exercises: writing while you are
thinking of painting or drawing while
sticking to an imaginary alphabet, or to
a musical score.
This little book was first published
more than ten years ago and the
initial idea was already the one I have
tried to explain. That time however,
while constructing, I got carried away
with the pleasure of adding colours,
spreading drawings across two pages,
and the project idea was, to my mind,
This page: Several drawings from Tullio “But the passages may be one library
partially lost. This time I shall try to Pericoli’s book. Each illustrates a section from end to end, and the stair, if there be
revive it more rigorously, with no of the essay. Top-left: “The reception one, lined with volumes in old leather,
double pages and no colours. I have, room should be, if possible, a place of very brightly carpeted, and leading
in any case, decided to redo all the many recesses, which are ‘petty retiring halfway up, and by way of landing, to a
places for conference’; but it must have windowed recess with a fireplace.”
drawings. So you see, I have turned one long wall with a divan.” Top-right:
on one of the other possible screens,
another potential translation.
BREATHING COLOUR
The Design Museum Director explains to Domus the idea behind
an exhibition commissioned to Hella Jongerius by the London Design
Museum that, through a number of studies and experiences, makes
us look differently at colour, “one of the most elemental aspects
of design”. The aim? “ To pit the power of colour against
the power of form.”
Deyan Sudjic
Photo Roel van Tour
This page and opposite page, top- objects (Colour Catchers) as a means
right: fabric installations and large to study and understand colour. They
weaves experimenting the creation of were constructed by bending and
dark shades without black materials gluing cardboard geometric forms with
(“Evening” section). alternating concave and convex surfaces
Opposite page, left, top and bottom: that absorb and reflect the surrounding
Jongerius created a number of 3D light and colour
Photo Roel van Tour

Photo Roel van Tour
When the Design Museum asked this phenomenon of industrial surface. To find justifications for the
Hella Jongerius to think about colour might be to suggest that it positive qualities of imperfection,
working with us on an exhibition, she allows for a kind of “perfect” colour, you cannot blindly commit to a
was clear that she was not interested standardised and always the same. mechanical process or to a template
in another retrospective. Instead of Jongerius however is a designer and expect the desired outcome
showing us what she has already who stands for working with the simply through the exercise of
done, she wanted to spend some positive aspects of the quality of skill or persistence or consistency.
time exploring colour, a subject that “imperfection” which was the theme It demands a different kind of
has fascinated her throughout her of her last museum exhibition at judgement.
career, to use that research to help the Boijmans Van Beuningen in For a designer the most difficult thing
give our audience a new perspective Rotterdam in 2010. Perfection may about looking for the positive qualities
on how we see colour and perhaps to not be easy but at least it is not in imperfection is the demand that
use it to help shape her future work. hard to understand. Depending on it places on them to justify every
It is a theme that has clearly been your degree of skill, to a greater or aesthetic decision they make.
important to her in her recent work a lesser extent, you succeed or you Jongerius’s Boijmans exhibition
with Artek and Vitra where the fail to achieve perfection. It has been introduced the possibility of
sensitive new colours she has given a prime preoccupation of designers subjective as well as objective
Alvar Aalto’s stool 60, for example, ever since they were first asked qualities in design. It showed how
are one of the few entirely convincing to work on machine-made, mass- attempting to exploit the possibilities
such exercises. It is not a banal produced artifacts. of imperfection by tinkering with
attempt to modernise an object Perfection is what drives Dieter mass production methods offered
by using present-day fashionable Rams and Jonathan Ive as they and the opportunity to soften and
colours. Rather Jongerius has given their teams invest limitless energy domesticate industrially made objects
us a new way to look at Aalto’s and effort in achieving the perfect and to give them the charisma of
design — not as a cosmetic but as a radius curve and the perfect finish. the individual and the original. It is
response to its essential form. The search for perfection is what to suggest that a particular vase,
Colour is territory that has created the language of modernism. glass, or chair is not the same
preoccupied us throughout history, Imperfection is a more elusive and as all the others, and so can be
not least such disparate figures more difficult quality to work with, understood as distinctively personal
as Isaac Newton and Goethe, Le not least because it is harder to or, to use a word with more positive
Corbusier and Johannes Itten, measure, yet it can be an equally connotations than imperfect, to be
for whose foundation course at positive quality, one that speaks of the unique. Imperfection in Jongerius’s
the Bauhaus colour studies were more agnostic times that we live in work can be suggested by the use
an essential element. What has now, when compared with the moral of upholstery buttons that do not
changed since their day, according certainties of the 1930s. match or by deconstructing the glass-
to Jongerius, is the tightening grip of Trying for perfection in manufacturing making process in order to show the
the uniformity brought by industrially is to know what to aim for in the marks of the hand. The traces of the
Photo Roel van Tour
produced, reliably predictable design of every joint, the creation of loom or the process marks required
colours. One way of describing every seam, and the shaping of every by colour-printing textiles can also be
exploited to positive effect. There is the changing of the light. I miss the
much of this sensibility in the thinking changeability, the options that allow
that Jongerius has brought to her us to read and re-read an industrially
installation in London. produced colour just as we
She calls her installation “Breathing reinterpret works of art.” Discussing
Colour”, to suggest her search for the project with Jongerius, made
what might be described as a more me think about Ettore Sottsass,
organic approach to colour. “Through a designer for whom colour was
a series of phenomenological studies everything and who never used
and experiences, the exhibition Pantone numbers or any of the
makes us question colour, one of the scientific conventions that usually
most elemental aspects of design”, define colour. Long after they parted,
she says. “My ultimate aim is to pit one of Sottsass’s former partners,
the power of colour against the the British designer James Irvine,
power of form.” Jongerius says she remembers discussing the precise
is a “rebel against the flat colours colour that Sottsass wanted for a
of the colour industry. The most project. He told Irvine that he wanted
important aspect in the quality of a to reproduce the precise shade of a
colour is in its pigments, the recipe dress that he remembered his first
that lies behind the colour. Perfectly wife, Nanda Pivano, wearing at a
arranged immaculate industrial party a decade before.
colour systems do not offer us the Would he, Sottsass asked Irvine, go
full potential of colour. The colour to her apartment and ask her if she
recipe that industrial designers like still had it. Irvine went and talked to
me must rely on are produced by her and Pivano duly lent the dress to
companies who strive for stability allow the studio to match the colour.
and uniformity. However instability There are other ways in which
can enrich products and improve Jongerius’s career parallels that of
our experiences of them. I miss Sottsass. Like Sottsass, who was
the dash of red pigments in (most) able to simultaneously work with an
industrial recipes for green. This industrial giant such as Olivetti, and
gives the colour its intensity and its produce works of powerful self-
life. I miss colours that breathe with expression, so is Jongerius unusual
Photo Roel van Tour

Photo Roel van Tour
This page, clockwise from above-right: a illuminated by fragmented reflections

sketch for the weave of a colour wheel imitating the intense and clear-cut
based on four colour worlds: reds, colours forged by the cold morning
greens, lights and darks, 2014; Grey air (“Morning” section); the nature
colour catchers set on pale surfaces and colour of shadows are explored
reflect their various colours (‘‘Noon’’ by replicating famous furnishings by
section); Crystal Stones comprises Charles and Ray Eames, Jean Prouvé
translucent and semi-translucent prisms, and Verner Panton (“Evening” section)
Photo Luke Hayes
Photo Luke Hayes
Photo Luke Hayes
in spanning a range of work ‘BREATHING COLOUR’

that goes from the business- BY HELLA JONGERIUS
class cabin interior for KLM Curator
jets to limited-edition pieces for Alex Newson
Galerie Kreo. Jongerius’s guiding Exhibition design and content
principle for the exhibition Hella Jongerius and Jongeriuslab
is a phenomenon known as
Exhibition commissioned by
Metamerism, which is to say the the Design Museum
way in which when colours are
Dates
viewed under different conditions 28.6–24.9.2017
they can appear the same, even
Venue
though they are not. To the the Design Museum, London
displeasure of industrial colour
producers, they can also look www.designmuseum.org
different at different times of day.
Jongerius has filled one of the
Design Museum’s galleries
with an installation which takes
visitors through a sequence that
moves through various groups
of colour from morning to noon
and evening. Through a range of
materials, textiles, paints, ceramic
vases and the special colour
catchers made by her research
team in Berlin for the show,
visitors find their assumptions
about colour overturned.
This page, clockwise from top-left:

grey catchers on pale surfaces reflect
their various colours; Crystal Beads
(“Morning” section); Colour Vases
(series 3) on display. Colour studies by
Photo Luke Hayes
Jongeriuslab hang back on the wall

ON VALERIO OLGIATI
A new book on the work of Valerio Olgiati was recently
published. Here we feature an excerpt from the volume’s
afterword by Jacques Lacan, who delineates the Swiss
architect’s figurative approach
Jacques Lucan
or rather which we can choose to be

confronted by.
As I observe Valerio Olgiati’s

successive designs and constructions,
returning to them on numerous
occasions, I become more convinced
each time that I am in the presence
of an architectural thought, a thought
in action seeking to explore certain
issues and propose ever stronger
solutions to them. To fully grasp
his designs, one must undergo
a familiarisation, once the initial
sensations of something akin to
astonishment have passed.
Valerio Olgiati may require words
to express his architectural vision
but these words are quite sparse,
particularly as regards a description
I recently noticed a difference in of his designs. What is at stake here
Jacques Lucan
the captions of the photographs is a thought expressed through forms,
directs the master’s degree that were originally among the 55 a “figurative thought”, a thought
course in architecture at the
school in Marne-la-Vallée and images published in Valerio Olgiati’s through architecture and not about
teaches architectural theory Iconographic Autobiography. In the architecture. It is this figurative
at the École polytechnique magazine 2G, the photograph of a thought, this thought through form,
fédérale de Lausanne. stone wall in Cuzsco is captioned which I have attempted to trace here.
“incredible precision” whereas in the The trace or traces are those left
magazine, El Croquis, the same image by the designs but above all by the
is labelled “inconceivable precision”. constructions which involve not only
The two publications came out five the “idea” but also the construction of
years apart. In A Lecture by Valerio this “idea”. Valerio Olgiati is one of the
Olgiati, there are other unpublished rare contemporary architects to be
images, including a photograph of a motivated by a self-reflective quest,
stone wall at Machu Picchu. The text as if a new design could represent
speaks of “unbelievable precision”. a critique of an earlier design, as if
Incredible, inconceivable, unbelievable: a design revived certain decisions
the use of these different terms and attempted to implement them
might simply be the result of three with greater intensity. Ultimately, this
different translations. However, when self-reflection is ontological and takes
I asked Valerio Olgiati, he confirmed place within proposals which seek to
his hesitation, the difficulty he be architecture, “pure architecture”.
experienced in finding the most fitting With this in mind, Valerio Olgiati’s
description, finally admitting that the quest is not concerned with using
most appropriate word is inconceivable, references to establish its coherence.
undenkbar. The inconceivable is what We have seen that the references
reason cannot account for but by in Iconographic Autobiography are
which we are nevertheless confronted, viewed a-historically; many are poetic
This page: cover of the book of the large interior space; (bottom):
Opposite page: some pages of plan of Villa Além in Alentejo, Portugal.
the book. (Top): two views of the The intention was to create a garden
Plantahof auditorium in Landquart, enclosed by perimetral walls up to 5.5
Switzerland, completed in 2011. The metres tall in order to provide enough
building represents a hybrid of mass shade. The living room of the one-storey
and structural skeleton, two elements house looks out onto the swimming
closely dependent on each other. pool, while the bedrooms lie off a
Like in a Gothic cathedral, the curved corridor
structure determines the nature
VALERIO OLGIATI PROJECTS

images or metaphors for proposals 2009–2017
which Valerio Olgiati would be likely
Idea
to produce or which, I imagine, he Dino Simonett and Valerio Olgiati
would have liked to have created.
Graphic design
So, we can compare Villa Além to Dino Simonett, Bruno Margreth,
the Indo-Persian miniature depicting Valerio Olgiati
a rectangular garden, enclosed by a
Plans and renderings
red-brown wall, with a white pavilion Timo Behr
in the centre at the intersection of
Managing director
two orthogonal axes: “The house Martina Baer
symbolises paradise, and the wall
Photographs
symbolises the world. In my view, Miguel Verme, Valerio Olgiati
the colour white represents the
Publisher
imagination, and red-brown represents Simonett & Baer, Basel
reality.” The Indo-Persian miniature is
Date
the image of an ideal world; Villa Além 2017
is the materialisation of an idea of a www.simonettbaer.com
unique architectural world. Although
the references employed are mostly
poetic and metaphorical images,
forming what Valerio Olgiati describes
as a personal “imaginary museum”,
they are never directly or literally
involved in the conception of the
designs. A design is an intrinsic search
for coherence involving autonomy; this
search is oriented towards the “non-
referential”, while never being able to
achieve it entirely, in the knowledge
that achieving absolute coherence is
an objective that continually moves
away from us as we approach it.
This tension is bolstered by a dream
similar to that pursued by Gustave
Flaubert: “What seems beautiful to me,
what I would like to create, is a book
about nothing, a book lacking external
connections, which would stand alone
through the internal strength of its
style, just as the Earth stands alone
in space without being supported by
anything […].”
A “book about nothing” is like “pure
This page, top, and opposite page: Opposite page, top: cantina “il This excerpt is composed of two paragraphs
architecture”, held up by its own some layouts of the book. This page Carnasciale”, a wine estate in Mercatale taken from the essay On Valerio Olgiati written
inherent strengths. (top): elevations of the office buildings Valdarno, Tuscany, 2008. The large roof by Jacques Lucan as the afterword to the
for the Baloise insurance company covers a workroom and a portico with book Olgiati. The first is titled Undenkbar, the
in Basel, 2014. A grid of columns a view of the vineyards. A thin curtain second Ontology.
whose upper tips end in a pitched-roof of concrete lines the external spaces.;
shape supports the horizontal beams, bottom: the entrance to the Pearl Trail, a
generating a kind of concrete shelving Unesco heritage site in Muharraq City,
system; bottom: spine of the book Bahrain, 2016
on Olgiati.
A NOTE ON BRAZIL
Following his ‘From the New Architecture to the Other
Modern Movement 1940-2015’ talk in November 2016 in
São Paulo, historian Kenneth Frampton tells Domus readers
about the projects closest to his heart, those by the Masters
of Brazilian Modernism: Vilanova Artigas, Bo Bardi,
Niemeyer and Mendes da Rocha
Kenneth Frampton
The first book of architecture that I the city and a covered “space of
purchased as a student was Stamo public appearance” which will be
Papadaki’s The Work of Oscar frequently appropriated for
Photo Nelson Kon
Niemeyer of 1950. I already saw political demonstrations.

Niemeyer’s architecture as “other” Reidy’s key concept of a concrete
for its Baroque plasticity and its portal carried on tapered points of
fluid version of the Corbusian free zero bending at ground level will
plan. I have in mind in particular his be rotated in Joao Batista Vilanova
masterly casino in Pampulha which Artigas’s Faculty of Architecture for
represented for me a quintessential the University of São Paulo (1961- This page, above: the MASP-São Paulo
1969), the central top-lit atrium of Art Museum (1957-1968) by Lina Bo
public building despite its somewhat Bardi; below: Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s
decadent programme. Much of this which will be destined to become the project for the Bay of Montevideo (1998).
surely stems from the ramps in most overtly political space of public Opposite page: the main lobby in the
the monumental gaming hall, the appearance ever created inside a Faculty of Architecture of the University
of São Paulo (1961-1969), project by João
spatial impetus of which drives the school of architecture. Batista Vilanova Artigas, during a student
circulation throughout the rest of The other Paulista figure who has meeting (photo FAUUSP – Universidade
the building. Niemeyer’s use of the been specifically committed to the de São Paulo)
ramps at this moment is altogether public realm throughout his career
more civic than the role they play in has been Paulo Mendes da Rocha
Le Corbusier’s Purist masterwork whose first work to have an overtly
the Villa, as we may judge from his civic character was his own house
pavilion for the 1939 New York built in the Butanta suburb of São
World’s Fair. The other architect Paulo in 1960, where the simple
of the Brazilian Carioca School synthesis of its structure, plan and
who will have an equal impact on section enable the intimate domain
the development of the Paulista of a private house to serve as a
School is Affonso Eduardo Reidy, semi-civic space. Thus the private
particularly for his Museum of and intimate corral of the bedrooms
Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro and comes to be isolated first by a
for the Brazil-Paraguay experimental generous corridor which provides for
school that he built at Asunción independent access to the sleeping
over the years 1952-1965. Lina Bo areas and second an equally
Bardi will trump this heroic Brazilian generous living room spanning
concrete engineering tradition across the full width of the house.
overnight through her audacious Mendes da Rocha will first fully
rendering of the São Paulo Art reveal the monumental civic capacity
Museum as a giant bridge-cum- of his architecture in his Estádio
belvedere on the vast expanse of Serra Dourada built at Goiânia in
1973. Here the significant civic for public interaction between

space is not only the arena of the the general public and the local
stadium but also the undercroft municipality, the so called Poupa
beneath the gigantic splayed beams Tempo building erected in São Paulo
supporting the tribune above. in 1998. Typical of the territorial
Mendes da Rocha is also able to scope of his vision is the Dom
imagine a civic realm at a territorial Pedro II bus station of 2001
scale, as in his geographic proposals designed in association with the
for the port of Tiete and for the young São Paulo practice of MMBB.
Bay of Montevideo, including the Such a work is typical of the way
consolidation of an island within in which Mendes da Rocha has
the bold sweep of this panoramic habitually collaborated with former
space. At a more modest civic scale students and colleagues, having long
is his Arc of the Patriarch built in since eschewed maintaining a fully
downtown São Paulo in the old staffed office of his own. In this way
centre of the city in 2002 which is in he has brought into being a whole
effect a welded steel aerofoil canopy school of design, the character of
19 x 23 metres in plan, suspended which is to be seen in a house built
from a 38-metre-wide triangular in Aldeia de Serra near São Paulo
steel beam. in 2002 which was realised to the
Equally impressive from this point designs of Angelo Bucci, Fernando
of view is his transformation of the de Mello Franco, Marta Moreira and
received galleria type into a space Milton Braga of MMBB.
Opposite page: Estádio Serra Dourada

(1960), a project by Paulo Mendes da
Rocha, in Goiânia, central western Brazil
(photo Leonardo Finotti)
This page: external and internal views of
the Casino di Pampulha, Belo Horizonte
(1942-1944) by Oscar Niemeyer, now
a museum
Photo Leonardo Finotti
SENTENCES ON CONCEPTUAL ART 1969

Marking the tenth anniversary of Sol LeWitt’s death, the Fondazione Carriero in
Milan explores the relation between his work and architecture in an exhibition
curated by Francesco Stocchi and Rem Koolhaas. Domus continues the discourse
by republishing his celebrated 35 aphorisms on art of 1969, in which the American
artist reaffirms the primacy of idea over execution. The artist’s task, according to
LeWitt, is to formulate the project: its execution can be entrusted to anyone
Sol LeWitt
Opposite page (foreground) and this connected by straight lines, 1970

page, bottom-left: Sol LeWitt, Wall (courtesy of Estate of Sol Lewitt).
Drawing #150: Ten thousand one-inch Opposite page, bottom: Sol LeWitt,
(2.5 cm) lines evenly spaced on each of Wall Drawing #263: A wall divided
six walls, 1972 (courtesy of Collezione into 16 equal parts with all one-, two-,
Panza, Mendrisio). three-, four- part combinations of
Opposite page (background) and this lines in four directions, 1975, detail
page, bottom-right: Sol LeWitt, Wall (courtesy of Whitney Museum of
Drawing #51: All architectural points American Art, New York)
SENTENCES ON CONCEPTUAL ART 1969

1 10 18 28
Conceptual artists are mystics Ideas can be works of art; they are One usually understands the Once the idea of the piece is
rather than rationalists. They leap to in a chain of development that may art of the past by applying the established in the artist’s mind and
conclusions that logic cannot reach. eventually find some form. All ideas convention of the present, thus the final form is decided, the process
2 need not be made physical. misunderstanding the art of is carried out blindly. There are many
Rational judgments repeat 11 the past. side-effects that the artist cannot
rational judgments. Ideas do not necessarily proceed in 19 imagine. These may be used for
3 logical order. They may set one off The conventions of art are altered by new works.
Irrational judgments lead to in unexpected directions, but an idea works of art. 29
new experience. must necessarily be completed in the 20 The process is mechanical and
4 mind before the next one is formed. Successful art changes our should not be tampered with. It
Formal art is essentially rational. 12 understanding of the conventions by should run its course.
5 For each work of art that becomes altering our perceptions. 30
Irrational thoughts should be physical there are many variations 21 There are many elements involved in
followed absolutely and logically. that do not. Perception of ideas leads to a work of art. The most important are
6 13 new ideas. the most obvious.
If the artist changes his mind A work of art may be understood as 22 31
midway through the execution of the a conductor from the artist’s mind to The artist cannot imagine his art, and If an artist uses the same form in
piece he compromises the result and the viewer’s. But it may never reach cannot perceive it until it is complete. a group of works, and changes the
repeats past results. the viewer, or it may never leave the 23 material, one would assume the
7 artist’s mind. One artist may misperceive artist’s concept involved the material.
The artist’s will is secondary to the 14 (understand it differently from the 32
process he initiates from idea to The words of one artist to another may artist) a work of art but still be set Banal ideas cannot be rescued by
completion. His willfulness may only induce an idea chain, if they share the off in his own chain of thought by beautiful execution.
be ego. same concept. that misconstrual. 33
8 15 24 It is difficult to bungle a good idea.
When words such as painting and Since no form is intrinsically superior Perception is subjective. 34
sculpture are used, they connote to another, the artist may use any form, 25 When an artist learns his craft too
a whole tradition and imply a from an expression of words (written or The artist may not necessarily well he makes slick art.
consequent acceptance of this spoken) to physical reality, equally. understand his own art. His 35
tradition, thus placing limitations on 16 perception is neither better nor These sentences comment on art,
the artist who would be reluctant to If words are used, and they proceed worse than that of others. but are not art.
make art that goes beyond from ideas about art, then they are 26
the limitations. art and not literature; numbers are An artist may perceive the art of
9 not mathematics. others better than his own.
The concept and idea are different. 17 27
The former implies a general direction All ideas are art if they are concerned The concept of a work of art may Reprinted from Sentences on Conceptual Art, 0-9,
No. 5, January 1969, pp. 3-5;
while the latter is the component. with art and fall within the conventions involve the matter of the piece or the reprint in Art-Language, Vol. 1, No. 1,
Ideas implement the concept. of art. process in which it is made. May 1969, pp. 11-13.
This page, left: Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing

#150: Ten thousand one-inch (2.5 cm)
lines evenly spaced on each of six
walls, 1972 (courtesy of Collezione
Panza, Mendrisio); bottom: Sol LeWitt,
Autobiography, 1980 (courtesy of Estate
of Sol LeWitt).
Opposite page, top: Sol LeWitt, Inverted
Spiraling Tower, 1988 (sulla sinistra,
courtesy of Pace Gallery); Wall Drawings
#1267: Scribbles, 2010 (courtesy of
Collezione Morra Greco, Napoli); bottom-
left: Incomplete Open Cube 5/1, 1974
(on the ground, courtesy of Estate of
Sol LeWitt, Paula Cooper Gallery), Open
Cube / Corner Piece, 1965 (on the left),
Modular Wall Piece with Cube, 1965
(right); bottom-right: Open Cube / Corner
Piece, 1965 (on the left, courtesy of
Friedrich Christian Flick Collection im
Hamburger Banhof, Berlin), Modular Wall
Structure, 1965 ca. (on the right), Modular
Wall Piece with Cube, 1965 (courtesy of
LeWitt Collection, Chester, CT)
All photos of the exhibition

© Agostino Osio
This page, bottom: an external view of

the Fondazione Carriero in Milan with
two historical buildings, Casa Parravicini
(15th century) and Palazzo Visconti (17th
century). Opposite page: Sol LeWitt,
8x8x1, 1989; and Wall Drawing #1104: All
combinations of lines in four directions.
Lines do not have to be drawn straight
(with a ruler), 2003 (courtesy of Estate
Sol LeWitt)
ORDER AND LIFE by FRANCESCO STOCCHI
When I observe Sol LeWitt’s work I sensitive to the characteristics of the itself on the architecture, bringing
tend to pay attention to the method space that hosts it, in this context, out its character of expressive
applied rather than the object; the it becomes interesting to think of it resistance with respect to a desire
same thing happens when I observe as the adhesive of the architecture to “interlock” with the host wall.
a building designed by Koolhaas: I rather than a response to it. In the logic of the exhibition, the role
understand both as voices of a lively In certain cases the choices spring of natural light is essential, above
“irrational logic”.1 from metaphysical impulses, all for the viewing of the temporary
To create a three-way dialogue as in the case of Wall Drawing works, like biological organisms that
(work of art, architect, curator) #123A (1991), where the original directly react to the flow of time.
seemed like the right thing to do. architectural conditions to which These variations bring out LeWitt’s
The method of aptness: to pursue the artist reacted to formulate and poetics of continuous passage from
the irrational in a logical way with then make the wall drawing have a state of chaos to one of order.2
the aim of paying tribute to the been accurately reconstructed in The effects produced have the
characteristic of immortality of the the spaces of the gallery. A spatial characteristic of being complex and
work of LeWitt, fully exploring it in its capsule that explores its dimension simple at the same time. Essentially
mutations and tensions, like a living of reproducibility, adaptability, and produced by elementary geometric
organism. The Carriero Foundation, immortality in a metaphysical way. forms, painstakingly executed
on three disparate floors, has a Through the rooms of the foundation yet accommodating hesitations,
series of irregularities with respect one moves between density, mistakes, and approximation, they
to the classical canons of art rarefaction and subversion of underline the central position of
spaces, which bring a character balances. The works are strictly the human being, in a labyrinth that
that is not only unique but also isolated or aggressively put leads me to the room of Antonio
striking in the relationship between into relation, so that the logic of Maria Viani with the motto of
works, architecture, and viewers. the installation can suggest a Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of
The headquarters of the foundation compression of the space, as in the Mantua: “Forse che sì forse che no”
is arranged in connection to two case of the room where the works (“Maybe, maybe not”).
buildings, Casa Parravicini from Incomplete Open Cube 5/1 (1974),
the fifteenth century, and Palazzo Modular Wall Structure (1965 ca.),
Visconti from the seventeenth. Modular Wall Piece with Cube
This space-time leap is brought (1965), and Open Cube / Corner
to harmony by the foundation Piece (1965), created as a corner
headquarters, which functions as a work, clash with the characteristics
link between two distinct identities. of the space, nearly without
While the work of Sol LeWitt is 90-degree angles, and imposes
“SOL LEWITT. BETWEEN THE LINES”

Curators
Francesco Stocchi, Rem Koolhaas
Catalogue edited by
Fondazione Carriero
Dates
17.11.2017–23.6.2018
Venue
Fondazione Carriero, Milano
www.fondazionecarriero.org
Francesco Stocchi’s text is an

excerpt from his essay for the
exhibition catalogue, to be
published by the Fondazione
Carriero early in 2018.
Notes
1
“Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely
and logically,” Sol LeWitt, Sentences on Conceptual
Art, 0-9, no. 5, January 1969, pp. 3-5. Reprinted in
Art-Language, vol. 1, no. 1, May 1969, pp. 11-13.
2
This investigation from the chaotic towards the
regular reminds me of the paracrystalline state. “In
the physics of disorderly systems, this term applies
to systems in which there are sufficiently large
regions of ordering in spite of global disorder.”
Definition of paracristallino, Enciclopedia Treccani.
MATERIAL MOULDING DESIGN

An exhibition on plywood brings into focus the various ways in which the
highly versatile material has revolutionised object design, right from furniture
to aeroplanes. Alongside influential experiments by modernist designers and
architects, the mise-en-scène of the exhibition also highlights the otherwise
overlooked attributes of the material
Text Meenal Kapadia
Photo Meenal Kapadia

This page: The Deconstructed Mirror

Dinghy — a partly assembled DIY
Mirror Dinghy Kit — is suspended
from the ceiling; opposite page: the
‘Short Chair’ designed by Marcel
Breuer in 1936 showcased the
process of moulding involved when
using plywood, thereby leading to
the creation of curved forms
Next spread: An installation view
of the exhibition, with a focus on
the section featuring the process of
moulding plywood

Plywood, all over the world, has been used by exhibition needed a couple of visits to fully absorb showed the process of rotary veneer-cutting, while
designers, architects and engineers to find the wealth of information presented so attractively the process of moulding showed graphically how
practical, creative and aesthetically pleasing and ingeniously. modern designers could create new, extraordinary
solutions to make modern life more comfortable. At the entrance was displayed a striking red curved forms using plywood. To create a curve,
Plywood has become an integral part of our lives. formula-two racing car, designed by Frank Costin veneers coated with glue, are layered, cross-
Over the years it has gradually replaced many in 1967 with a spare body made of moulded, grained, and placed in a mould with clamps or a
other materials due to its intrinsic qualities of three-ply birch plywood, suspended above. press. Pressure is applied, so that the veneers
strength, durability, pliability, lightness and low cost. This indicated the tenor of the exhibition, which are stuck together in the desired shape. This
Once considered to be a cheap alternative, to be displayed objects, often suspended at various eye method could be used by small units and by large
hidden behind other materials, it came to its own levels to pack the space with astonishing visual factories giving greater freedom to the designers,
in modern times. Showcased and designed for experiences, enhanced by photographs, short than materials like steel or aluminium. An actual
contemporary use, it is favoured today for its digital films, information on display boards; bringing to contemporary mould for a chair was displayed, with
applications as well. life not only the bygone years, but the transition of a ‘Short Chair 1936’, designed by Marcel Breuer,
‘Plywood: Material of the Modern World’ curated the use of plywood as a material into the present placed on top, along with a film showing the
by Christopher Wilk and Elizabeth Bisley, portrayed times. The artefacts were all familiar, yet one does process. This elucidated the quality of the material,
the history of plywood, by showing the processes not always consciously connect them to plywood, the manufacturing process, and the impact it had
of manufacture of the material itself, its design the material being so completely integrated into on designers.
applications over a large spectrum, as well as its present times. The exhibition brought into very A wall, at the rear end, was painted red and
surprising and unusual uses. Held at the Victoria sharp focus the material itself which points to the illustrated the whole process of manufacturing.
and Albert Museum, London, at the Porter Gallery success of this endeavour. Titled “How is Plywood made?”, it comprised a
on the ground floor, the display celebrated plywood The method of manufacturing plywood was shown display of simple diagrams. The exhibition was
in a “world-first exhibition”. Restricting itself to through three broad displays, along the walls of structured to appeal to the novice as well as a
the regions of Europe and North America, the the hall. A log, a long stretch of veneer, and a film person who was familiar with plywood manufacture
domus 70 February 2018
Photo courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London

CONFETTI 43
44 CONFETTI
Photos Meenal Kapadia


and design. The restricted use of cream, red, for in the 1850s to the 1900s, but not necessarily This spread, top (L-R): An armchair
black and white in exhibition design, visually manufactured; like the Isaac Cole chair (1847) made designed by Alvar Alto; chair designed
by Grete Jalk; chair designed by Ray
emphasised the objects shown and brought from three pieces of moulded plywood. Komai; a display of chairs featured in
plywood into the spotlight. It showcased chairs by Gardner & Co., who in the exhibition
The modern Computer Numerical Control or the 1870s, manufactured chairs with seats Opposite page: A display of a cut-away
CNC cutting process was explained, by graphics decorated with perforations for branding and car chassis placed in the centre of the
Porter Gallery was designed in 1937 and
showcasing the WikiHouse building system. identification. These were imitated in Russia. manufactured in 1938 by DKW, Germany,
plywood as a material is favoured for digital Similarly, advertisements from Paris, in the 1920s, and emphasised the strong and stress-
design. The CNC machine is run by a computer often marketing their furniture as ‘American’, bearing qualities of plywood
programme and has two facilities which can cut promoted Luterma company’s plywood seats as easy
two and three dimensionally. This enables faster replacements for broken cane seats.
and precise cutting. Plywood being standardised Plywood was considered a cheaper substitute to
worldwide, the same design can be cut anywhere cast iron. The exhibition showed a small modern
using a single digital file. model of the Elevated Plywood Railway and
The history of plywood manufacture as well Carriage originally designed by Alfred E. Beach. In
as its cultural history was recorded throughout 1867, a 107-foot-long railway, made entirely as a
the exhibition. Wilk states, “While plywood has moulded plywood tube, was exhibited in New York.
an important place in the history of materials, 75,000 people rode this train!
even more significant is the story of how it Plywood was also used as to make tea chests from
was perceived, how its value and identity were the late 1890s, as it wouldn’t affect the tea, was
negotiated, and how it was positioned and resistant to warping, was light and could be shipped
repositioned in the public imagination.” flat-packed. Plywood was used to manufacture
The use of veneers is seen even in ancient Egypt, canoes from 1917. These were advertised as
around 2600 B.C, British furniture workshops supporting the weight of seven men, or surviving
used plywood techniques for fretwork in the being thrown out of a second-floor window!
1760s, while the1800s saw the development This information was accompanied by a canoe
of steam powered machines, which led to the suspended from the ceiling. Manufactures found
mass production of plywood. Plywood was used it essential to advertise the qualities of plywood to
in engineering since the 1860s. It became make it popular.
increasingly visible from the 1920s, when Plywood was used for unique projects as well. The
designers started experimenting with its form. most fascinating and unusual designs for swimsuits
Introduction of synthetic glues in the mid -1930s were seen in the movie, ‘Wooden Bathing Suits
led to the production of waterproof plywood Keep Girls Afloat’ (1932)! It was used to carry
and it started being seen as the material of the provisions to the Antarctic expedition (1907-1909)
future. It transformed into a material for everyday and later cleaned, planed, polished, and used as
design, as skills learnt during the times of war, like bindings for a book created during the expedition. As
better moulding were adapted for purposes of these cases withstood extreme weather, they were
modern living. used as examples in advertisements to promote
The display of chairs, at different parts of the plywood trunks. There was interesting display of
exhibition, was very educative. It began with the hatboxes, bags and suitcases, in a range of sizes
design patents for chairs, which were often applied modified to suit modern travel in planes and cars.
46 CONFETTI
Photo courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London Photo courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The exhibition showed a cast-iron sewing machine
with a moulded plywood cover, (1888). The
manufactures of Singer Sewing Machine, so
familiar to us even today, used plywood extensively.
It was one of the world’s largest plywood furniture
producers from the 1800s to the 1950s. This
display was accompanied by the film, ‘Birth of
a Sewing Machine’. (Singer Factory, Clydebank,
Scotland, 1934) Depicting the process of
manufacture, to shipping its products worldwide, it
also shows a crate being shipped to Bombay!
The exhibition showed a few samples of plywood
panels with decorative face veneers, which were
used for interiors in the 1930s and went extremely
well the with the Art Deco look, illustrated by
the film; ‘People Eat and Drink Abroad the New
Streamlined Luxury Mercury Train in Chicago,
Illinois’ (Chicago, 1936) Doors made using copper-
faced plywood, panels, handles, hooks, hinges and
locks shown here were used for industry as well
as interiors. Plywood was now considered as an
alternative to steel, which was in short supply after
the Second World War.
A striking display of a cut-away car chassis
(F-7 model) in the centre of the Porter Gallery,
formed the heart of the exhibition. The car was
designed in 1937 and manufactured in 1938 by
DKW, Germany. The parts made of plywood were
painted in red. It emphasised the strong and stress-
bearing qualities of plywood.
From the 1910s to 1945, plywood was used
extensively in the manufacture of aircrafts. The
planes were showcased dramatically, with posters
– ‘Wood Flies To War’, photographs, illustrations
as well as models — a De Havilland Mosquito and
Airspeed Horsa Glider, hung above from the ceiling,
almost flying in the sky! Large quantities of plywood
were used in the construction of US military planes
in the Second World War, specially cargo planes.
Aeroplane fuselages to pilot seats were made of
plywood. Moulded plywood allowed for the first
enclosed, streamlined aeroplane fuselages, which
became popular in future aeroplane design.
Plywood was used extensively in the US, during
the 1930s-40s for construction. There was a
need for cheap, portable housing due to the Great
Depression and the Second World War. The plywood
industry was heavily promoted at world fairs. A
section of the exhibition showed photographs,
posters and diagrams of the fairs, as well as the
process of construction of prefabricated houses.
The fairs themselves gave an opportunity to market
plywood as an architectural material, due to its use
Photo courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London

as a structural material in temporary exhibition objects in the Furniture section at – the Susan illegal logging. The exhibition dealt briefly with
buildings. The accompanying films further Webber Gallery and the Twentieth Century Gallery. this issue and described alternatives like veneer
illustrated the use of plywood in construction – Plywood was greatly favoured for Do-it-Yourself manufactured from unproductive coconut tree
‘Plywood used to mould concrete for the Projects in the 1950s and 60s. The exhibition trunks, CLT or cross-laminated timber used as a
Cleveland Dam; Plywood panels used for house displayed cover pages of magazines like Popular structural building material.
construction’ (1954). Mechanic and Do-it-Yourself. The Time magazine’s It also threw a light on new innovations which have
There was a fascinating display of chairs made of cover of 2nd August, 1954 shows an illustration increased the flexibility of plywood like the seats
moulded plywood in the exhibition. Some of these of an eight-armed man holding an array of tools of the Loop chair designed by Claus Breinholt.
include chairs designed by like the chain saw and is titled, ‘Do-it-Yourself: An installation of plywood ice-skating shelters,
• Finnish designer Alvar Alto – an armchair (1932) The new billion-dollar industry’! These publications designed by Canadian practice, Patkau Architects
for the Paimio Tuberculosis Sanitorium. included detailed plans of the projects. A model of was on display at the John Madejski Garden.
His innovative use of plywood influenced a plywood nuclear shelter was shown, as people These were designed for the frozen river that
other designers. were encouraged to build their own by the US runs through Winnipeg. They are built of flexible
• London-based designer Gerald Summers – Department of Defence in the 1960s. Due to its plywood, specially constructed with a thin central
an armchair (1934) made of a single piece of lightweight and the waterproof qualities of marine layer that allows it to bend along one axis around a
moulded plywood. plywood, it was also used to make surfboards. The minimal timber frame.
• American designers Charles and Ray Eames exhibition showed surfboards manufactured from Interesting workshops, lectures and a symposium
experimented with plywood during the war. They 1934 to 1965. These were often Do-it-Yourself were also organised, along with the exhibition. A
designed a leg splint (1942) of five layers of projects, as were skateboards. Large plywood-clad very exhaustive publication, ‘Plywood: A Material
veneer for the US Navy, which was exhibited here. ramps were also built for the sport as seen in the Story’ by Christopher Wilk, accompanies the
This influenced their later iconic furniture design. accompanying film ‘Homemade Skateboarding exhibition. A brilliant show in terms of information
Included in the display is the DCM (Dining Chair Ramp’ (Wales, 1980s). and design, the exhibition made optimum use of
Metal) designed in 1945, one of the most imitated Plywood has been used extensively for ship the Porter Gallery space. It highlighted the material,
chairs around the world. building. The exhibition showed a beautiful Mirror plywood, and showcased it to its best advantage.
• A Ray Komai-designed chair (1949) based on a Dinghy with sail, suspended from the ceiling. Also
folded sheet of paper. suspended from the ceiling is a ‘deconstructed’ The exhibition Plywood: Material of the Modern World,
• Stack chairs designed by Robin Ray in 1953, dinghy — a partly assembled DIY Mirror Dinghy Kit curated by Christopher Wilk and Elizabeth Bisley was
used for public seating. (1962 designed by Barry Bucknell and John Holt) on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London,
• A chair which looks like an undulating artwork The boat is mainly made of marine plywood and is from July 15 to November 12, 2017.
designed by Grete Jalk of Denmark in 1963, was one of the most popular boats of the 20th century.
made of two pieces of moulded plywood. It uses a construction method called ‘Stitch and
• Arne Jacobsen’s chair designed in 1955 was Glue’ where plywood panels were joined by loops
inspired by Eames and has been in continuous of copper wire threaded through drilled holes. This
production to date. is accompanied by a lithograph of Mirror Dinghy
Other pieces of furniture like stools, and a advertising material and building instructions.
prototype of a dining table were also displayed. Plywood manufacture raises environmental
The V & A’s permanent collection shows plywood issues in modern times, especially because of

Previous spread, left:
Installation images of the
exhibition highlighting
the rotary veneer cutting
process; previous spreead,
right, clockwise from top:
an image showcasing
models of plywood
skateboards; a Formula
Two racing car and a spare
plywood body; luggage
made out of plywood; a
model of an Airspeed
Horsa Glider
This page, top: models
of plywood ice-skating
shelters; left, and opposite
page: installation views of
the exhibition
THE INTIMACY OF EVERYDAY SPACE

Text Sudhir Patwardhan, Jitish Kallat
A recent exhibition highlights a suite of work of eminent artist Sudhir Patwardhan,

comprising over 80 portraits as well as studies of the personal space, that is, his home
studio. In conversation with artist Jitish Kallat, Patwardhan discusses the notions of ageing,
companionship, routineness, and the passage of time, and reflects upon why navigating the
enclosed, private space is central to his practice
Jitish Kallat While I was writing the essay ‘Citing the City’ vis-à-vis the webwork of class hierarchies and human struggles? This page, top:
on your work in 2008, I remember being drawn towards Could you speak a little about that early moment, Sudhir? ‘Another Day
in the Old City’
thinking about the unique starting point of your journey into Sudhir Patwardhan Yes, definitely. I think it was special that it (detail), 2017;
art. I recall writing in the essay, about how in conventional art happened in medical college, that I turned to becoming an artist. bottom: ‘Inner
school training, the model posing in a figure drawing class is Anatomy lessons on the one hand, clinics and sick people on Room’, 2016
progressively removed, with every passing minute, from the the other; and going to railway stations, bus stands and watching Opposite page:
‘Compass’
context of the figure’s life so that the student can then start people in their everyday lives. From the beginning, the main (detail), 2017
recording likeness, proportion, foreshortening, chiaroscuro, etc. impulse was — people. The main impulse to depict, was to depict
While those qualities in drawing were also important for you, you people, to understand their lives. So, what you say is correct
would begin your study of the body as a medical student at the — they were never bodies, never just figure drawings. It was
Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. From the medical school, the people that I was drawing. But I think there is a tradition to
where the body is seen as an organism journeying between the this. For example, close at hand, if we see the kind of sketching
shores of illness and health, you’d move to the street to sketch traditions of Santiniketan. In the West, just as there is street
after class. Observing the passers-by, reading the body in a photography, there has always been street sketching. Artists
wider social context, your drawing would measure the figure always went out into the street to look at and draw people.…
JK But in art school, even if a class is taken outdoors to sketch, continues in your work is the image of companionship. While This spread:
they’d be asked to capture street bodies and not street people, speaking of Will Durant, I’m reminded of his companionship and ‘Erase’, 2017
you know? The conventional training tends to miss the stories, I longstanding collaboration with his wife Ariel, with whom he also
think. Somehow the earliest orientation through which you come co-wrote a dual biography. At an advanced age when she passed
to art seems to remain with you through all your work. away, he was kept unaware of it. And within two weeks he too
I recall us at some point talking about your interest in philosophy passed away. In fact, the theme of companionship seems to run
and you spoke about the novels of Sartre and Camus, and the quite deeply in the current body of work.
work of Will Durant. Could you speak a little bit about philosophy SP It’s about two people being together for a very long period
and the medical school at that moment in your life? of time; a kind of commitment. Commitment can be to various
SP I think it was an opening up of horizons of sorts — going things. But the kind of commitment this involves and the kind of
away from home, staying in a hostel for the first time, meeting space it creates around itself… I think that’s very special - this
friends who had very different perspectives or came from space. And I think a lot of people experience it especially in the
different backgrounds. There was also the introduction to new later years when their children move away and then they’re living
writers and thinkers. I was not, and I am still not, a great reader with only each other. There is a tendency for each person to
as such. I take my own time. But at that time, I was introduced to spend more time with his or her own thoughts. And yet there is a
Marxism and to Existentialist writers that gave me a foundational commitment to that togetherness. So that tension between being
vision of the world as such. Marxism and the idea of leftist alone and yet not being alone. How do you negotiate that?
social struggle gave a sense of purpose, but the Existentialist How are you to be truthful to that commitment and yet maintain
writers also brought in a tragic sense of loneliness, especially that aloneness within that space? Some complex give-and-take
of the artist within this leftist struggle. So that was the kind of needs to take place in such a space, and this seeps through this
orientation, let’s say... (I began with). body of work, I think. What also seeps through, and I don’t know
JK You know, talking of loneliness or isolation, one theme that if I should put a name to it, is a kind of gloominess that comes
with loneliness. So, there is that too, in some sense. homes where sick people have been taken care of, people have
JK When I reflect on your work over the years, I have this image died. They leave behind something in those rooms. And people
of a panoramic unfolding of life all around, in the midst of which live along with that. You might whitewash it or whatever, but it
there are homes. Individual homes. And in the midst of that there will continue to haunt. Perhaps ‘haunt’ is an unnecessarily grim
is your home. When I think about your previous bodies of work word… it’s just that those presences linger. So, in that sense,
I think of the movement from outside going inwards, but in this these homes go back in time, they carry memories of past
instance, I think of the journey from the inside out. generations, and they look forward to connecting with the world
I might think of home itself as a surrogate image for the self. For outside; they’re both. They’re a kind of threshold to allowing,
instance, in a work such as ‘Inner Room’, one is looking at not a like you said, the breeze in, but also a place for not letting go of
big room but a deep room. When one looks at the two windows family pathologies.
on either end, one opening out into bright daylight while through JK You nurture them as memories…
the other you see a flaming sunset. There is incoming breeze, SP Yes, yes… you’re not to cleanse yourself of all illness!!!
marked by the movement of the curtain, and there’s birth and [Laughs]
death occurring too. It makes me think of the room as a body, JK … also the treatment of the ceiling, for instance, seems
the breezeas breath, and the red as some kind of inflammation. to evoke waves, or some kind of flux and turbulence. The
The inflamed skies as an inflamed self. Could you speak a bit flooring, leading to the dark inner room, at one level can be
about this work? viewed as painterly treatment of a mosaic-like flooring, but the
SP What you say is very beautifully put. I had not thought of juxtaposition with the blazing sky and the presence of multiple
it in those terms, but it’s very true that the space itself — the figures in different states of existence animates it with other
room itself — becomes a body. One feels this through one’s imagery… evoking cellular patterns etc.
experiences of homes — one’s own home, of course, but also Another work that I kept looking at and going back to, while
the experience of other’s homes. There are rooms in such studying this current body of work, was ‘Compass’. It seems
to incorporate within it the numerous ways in which one can Then, there is the aspect of painterliness. This is something that
possibly paint. It seems to hold within it portraiture, still life, a has preoccupied me too. What is being painterly? There are
city or a landscape… there is architecture and interior space. different modes of being painterly, of course. Briefly — one mode
There’s also a certain kind of abstraction, where you have the emphasises the material of paint — there are many painters who
parallel bands or a certain kind of distortion, and there is pattern. are painterly by applying and moving paint in a certain way. And
It seems to bring together all forms of picture-making while also then there is another way of being painterly by the kind of care
carrying within it another artwork placed on a drawing-board. with which you depict something. It’s like caressing. As Bhupen
Could you speak a bit about this work and perhaps in relation to would say, “if you’re painting an object, you caress the object”.
where in the series did this occur, or how they might be linked to So, there is that element in painting everyday objects around
what you’re thinking about at this point in time? the house, the still life, the light, and the ceiling, and things like
SP Yes. This was painted somewhere in the middle of the that. There’s also another aspect of painterliness that has greatly
series. ‘Passage’ was the first. The space inside the house and interested me. In the works of Old Masters like Tintoretto, the
the outside, and how to bring these two together, has been wide range of ‘finish’ is amazing. From a fully modelled and
a preoccupation of mine for some years now. Then there is detailed portrait with garments, to very sketchily done figures in
the question of how you structure these spaces. The way in the background, to a landscape that is just splashed over… this
which you would structure landscape and the way in which you whole range… I love that. I’d love to be able to do something
structure interiors. Many a times they are quite at odds with each like that.
other. I remember, for example, a Mughal painting in which the JK One thing that has always happened with your work,
artist is trying to accommodate a flattened landscape with a high especially when multiple perspectives come together, is the
horizon along withrooms with their perspective. This slightly odd viewer’s experience of feeling relocated, or subtly dislocated,
coming together of different kinds of spaces — a movement as they glimpse at different parts of the painting. To position
across and a movement into. How to make this uneasiness yourself in relationship to one part of the perspective, you are This spread:
expressive? This is one aspect (that I am concerned with). supposed to be in one place. And while you might be looking ‘Home’, 2016
at the painting from a particular spot, the adjacent shift in own feet, so you are part of that space. So, something of that
perspective demands a dislocation of the viewer’s self. And I’ve is happening here, except, as you said rightly, that the viewer
experienced this in several of your works. But one work in which in ‘Erase’ is brought right up to the picture-surface. And there
the entire process of viewing the work is animated to a different is the gesture of erasure which is not so much to do with the
level is a work such as ‘Erase’. It is as if the painting is viewing viewer, but to do with the artist as viewer viewing himself. You
the painter. The picture plane acquires a certain sentience rightly point to the connection with the other self-portraits
(for want of a better word) and as the painter approaches the with mirror, camera and brush. The artist trapped between
picture, it invigorates the entire surface and the viewer’s gaze representations, and between the mirror and the camera, in a
momentarily becomes one with the picture plane. This is actually way to erase his own subjectivity.
a powerful image that recurs in your drawings — the self-portrait JK And having experienced the question of viewer’s location
with brush and camera. Also in the drawing called ‘Painter’. with this particular work, I became more aware of it in each of
SP That’s really nice, the way you see it. The immediate the other works. Where am I located within the domestic space
connection which you must have made with that background – is it the passage, the corridor? Or am I in two places at once in
figure at the door is with Velazquez’s ‘Las Meninas’, which is relation to entire domestic environment that unfolds before me?
the work which addresses the space between the viewer and Another theme that has appeared throughout your work is
the painting itself. It positions the viewer in relationship to the fatigue or the image of exhaustion, and often it is the fatigue of
artist and questions who is viewing whom. Is the artist viewing a traveller, the fatigue of a commuter. In this instance, it almost
the subject of the painting? Is the viewer viewing the artist? Is seems to be an exhaustion of the self although they are not
the artist viewing himself? Or is the viewer viewing himself? obvious self-portraits. In a work such as ‘Passage’, the figure
Gulammohammed Sheikh has written a lovely essay on this lying in bed makes a gesture of either laying back or waking
— ‘Viewer’s View: Looking at Pictures’. When you stand in that up. It’s not an absolute state of repose. There is a restlessness
room in Museo del Prado in front of the painting (Las Meninas), in the act of resting. One of the aspects in your work is this
the floor in the painting actually seems to continue below your interplay between very carefully chosen gestures and postures.
This spread:
‘Compass’, 2017
This page, top: ‘Compass’ (detail),

‘Another Day in the 2017; ‘Self-Portrait
Old City’ (detail), with Brush and
2017; bottom-left: Camera’, 2016; a note
‘Self-Portrait with on the exhibition
Mirror and Camera’, written and displayed
2016; bottom-right: by the artist for the
‘Self-Portrait with viewing public at
Camera’, 2016 Mumbai’s Jehangir
Opposite page, Art Gallery
clockwise from top:
Could you speak a little bit about that? Are they indeed carefully
chosen? Or are they more chance-based and intuitive?
SP I think it’s very carefully chosen. It comes from observation
in many instances. It comes when you sense that an everyday
gesture is overflowing its function. That sense is intuitive. For
example, someone is just wiping her face and yet one senses
there is something here beyond the function. Where does that
come from? What does that say? I think the way in which the
human figure becomes symbolic of human life or the human
predicament lies in that ordinary everyday gesture which
overflows, in some sense. So, either in observing or in drawing,
one is trying to give that quality to gestures; that excess. In a
discussion with my wife Shanta, I was made conscious of the
line between realism and stylisation in dance movement. A
woman pulling out water from a well, for example – the realism
of the muscular motion would have to be lifted out just enough
through the flow of the choreographed movement to make it a
dance representing an action. So that point in-between reality
and something else… that’s the kind of gesture one seeks. In
the painting ‘Rock’, the person’s gesture of touching comes from
a very distant place. It comes from a miniature painting of a Raja
(king) sitting and resting his hand on a bolster behind him. So,
the soft touch, in my mind, becomes transformed into something
else. The same gesture can move us towards various things. I’m
reminded of something I read recently. Henry Matisse, unlike
Marcel Duchamp, was not interested in chess. Matisse said that
42 he was not interested in something where the sign’s meaning
43
could not be changed. In chess, a pawn is a pawn, a king is a

king — you can do nothing more with them. Whereas an artist
needs to shift meanings from their signs…

स्पेक्टसर् (Spectres)

पर्स्तुत पर्दशर्नातील िचतर्ांचे साधारण चार गट पडतात. पिहला गट आहे काही मध्यम ते मोठया आकाराच्या पेिन्टग्स
आिण डर्ॉइं ग्सचा. �ा िचतर्ांमधे एखादी �� ितच्या नेहमीच्या पिरिचत वातावरणात, िकवा काहीशा अपिरिचत
वातावरणात िदसते. रोजच्या, दैनंिदन िदनकर्मापासून सुरु होत (उदा. Man pouring Milk), �ो�ा अद्भूत
अनुभवाकडे काही िचतर्ांचा पर्वास होताना आपल्याला िदसतो.
(उदा. Orb िकवा Enigma l , ll ).

दुसरा गट आहे तो �ो�ा वूड पॅनेल िकवा हॅन्डमेड पेपरवर के लेल्या पोटर्�ट्सचा. लोकांच्या चेहऱ्यांनी मला नेहमीच
आकिषत के ले आहे. पर्त्येक चेहऱ्यामागे एक कहाणी , एक इितहास दडलेला असतो. �ाब�ल आपल्याला कु तूहल
असते. आिण मी त्या चेहऱ्याकडे पाहत, त्याला प�टमधे साकारत, आपल्या परीने ही कहाणी, हे रहस्य उलगडू
पाहतो. त्या ��ब�ल मला असलेल्या आकषर्णाला पूणर् वाव देणे आिण ितची िकवा त्याची स्वाय�ता राखणे
�ामधली ही कसरत असते.
ितसरा गट चार मो�ा प�िटग्सचा आहे. ही पेिन्टग्स स्टु िडओ आिण घराब�लची आहेत. (Home, Compass, Eraze,
आिण Inner Room ). स्टु िडओ घरातच असला तरी स्टु डीओ आिण घर यांच्या वातावरणात फरक असतो. �ा दोन
स्पेसेसना वेगळा मूड िकवा रं ग असतो. पण एकतर् असल्याने घरातले वातावरण कधी स्टु िडओमधे पसरते, तर कधी
स्टु िडओचे वातावरण घरात िशरकाव करते. घरातील सुख-दुःख आिण स्टु िडओमधील एकांत आिण कधी उदासी
देखील, या मधले उलगडत जाणारे नाते या िचतर्ांमध्ये पर्ितिबिबत झाले आहे. त्यांतून एका बाजूला िचतर्कार म्हणून
तर दुसऱ्या बाजूला सवर्साधारण माणूस म्हणून पडणारे पर्� एकाच वेळी पुढे येतात.
शेवटी पर्दशर्नातील सवार्त मोठे िचतर् माझ्या आवडत्या िवषयाचे - शहराचे िचतर् आहे. (Another Day in the Old
City). पण हे िचतर् माझ्या आधीच्या अनेक िचतर्ांसारखे मुंबईचे िचतर् नाही. हे िचतर् जास्त पुणे शहराने पर्ेिरत झालेले
आहे. नदी, नदीकडे जाणाऱ्या उतरणीच्या पायऱ्या, आिण पूलाकडे वर चढत जाणारे रस्ते. तसेच, जुनी घरे आिण
त्यांच्या मध्ये आता दाटीवाटीने उभ्या होत असलेल्या उं च इमारती. अशा �ा बदलत असलेल्या जुन्या शहरावर
आणखी एक िदवस उजाडतोय. तो ही मावळे ल. आिण मग अजून एक उजाडेल. काही बदलेल, काही तसेच राहील
....
असा हा गेल्या तीन वषार्ंचा पर्वास पर्ेक्षकांच्या समोर मी ठे वत आहे.
सुधीर पटवधर्न
सप्ट�बर २०१७
This page, top:

‘Compass’ (detail),
2017; centre: ‘An
Odd Couple’, 2015;
bottom: ‘Woman
with Shawl’, 2017
Opposite page:
‘Scatter’, 2017
JK The knight needs to jump in different directions! Sudhir,

we’ve touched upon the idea of perspective earlier in our
conversation and the manner in which perspective unfolds within
the painting, particularly in a work like ‘Home’, where there is this
accordion-like structure. And it seems to be highly pronounced
in the painting ‘Another Day in the Old City’ that you’re currently
working on, which is the panoramic city-space. Could you speak
a bit about this?
SP Yes. And to take you to the source or the inspiration…
it’s Binode Behari Mukherjee. And of course, before that, it’s
Japanese screens. It’s a way of organising a lateral movement.
Binode Behari’s Hindi Bhavan mural is on three walls and has
this beautiful movement across. Till more recently, I was working
more with perspective that was manipulating the degrees
of incline within a space. So, in most of the works, there are
multiple perspectives with different inclines. You’re looking at
the space from different heights. Somewhere you’re low down,
somewhere you’re in the middle, or above. But to add to that,
and it started I think with the large seven panel work ‘Mumbai
Proverbs’ that I did in 2014, I needed something that also moved
sideways. So, the movement had to be sideways as well as in
and out, up and down. And this work ‘Another Day in the Old
City’ also has that accordion-like structure. About structure, I
would say that it comes from two sources. One, is some inner
need for a certain kind of flow or rhythm. One makes abstract centre, a wooden jaali that covered the verandas in old houses.
drawings of just lines and planes, and then one responds to Gieve Patel had said that it’s “like a mantra” of a painting. It helps
certain drawings, saying yes, this is a kind of rhythm that I you understand what is happening in the painting, the way in
would like. It evolves from there, and then it also evolves from which different perspectives are actually criss-crossing, like in a
experience. In this case, the experience is that of a place like navar cot...
Pune, a city by the river. At any street corner close to the river, JK So, it’s a code within the code.
you would have one lane going down towards the river and SP Yes, code within the code. In that sense, the hinged four-
another going up towards a bridge across the river. So, this panel door is a pointer to the overall structure of this painting.
idea of movement into, down and up, and across, also comes JK One often thinks about this relationship between time and
from one’s experience of a place. place; when one paints a place, one is inadvertently drawn to
JK Yeah. The eye moves… it moves in multiple directions and thinking about time. And each place has its inherent tempo and
rests upon individual figures, individual actions. I notice a figure temperature. In Citing the City, I recall writing about how your
that I also really enjoyed as a pastel drawing. What’s it called “colour palette registers the urban microclimate emanating from
‘Pouring Milk’? the concrete and asphalt”.
SP Yes, ‘Pouring Milk’… a homage to Vermeer! SP It is a thing to think about actually. This question of climate,
JK Oh right… yeah… And now one sees it re-appear within temperature. It is true that one often starts a painting with
the painting. Could you speak a bit about the relation between some idea of, let’s say, the ‘mood’, which is in a way a certain
drawing and painting in your work? temperature and a certain tempo. Its early morning in ‘Another
SP I think the relation between drawing and painting has Day in the Old City’ and the tempo is “okay, it’s just another
always been fraught with tension for me. On the one hand, day… so it goes on” …
one might contrast the spontaneity and freedom of drawing JK The transient moment…
with the more patient ‘working-out’ of a painting. On the other SP Yes. With the painting ‘Compass’ as well there’s the
hand, the linearity and clean-ness of drawing contrasts with landscape with clouds, like in some of Camille Pissarro’s
the wet messiness of painting in a different way. So, drawing landscapes where you have clouds floating over hills throwing
and painting relate in complex ways. I have often wanted my their shadow, and it’s just that moment. And then in other
painting to be more spontaneous and drawing like… freeing it of works there is an emotionally intense need to make a break
some of the boring work that goes into painting. But you value somewhere. A need to puncture that space and time. For
that too — you value the workmanship, the craftsmanship, the example, in ‘Inner Room’, as you pointed out, there are different
time one takes over it. So that’s the tension. registers and temperatures in different parts of the painting. We
JK And the prolonged duration of the painting then allows had a print of an Emil Nolde ‘Seascape’ for many years in our
changes within one’s self to appear within the painting… isn’t it? home… so, one knew what it meant to have that on the wall,
It’s a kind of companionship for a particular period of time, and that temperature. And that has come into this painting.
then you let go. JK Thinking of companionship, an image that really stood out
SP Yes… yes, at some point, you need to let go. is of wounding and tending, as an endless recursive loop of
JK In ‘Another Day in the Old City’, the accordion-like structure actions. Maybe you can talk about this work in relation to any of
of the painting itself seems to be coded in the wooden door the other works that you might want to touch upon?
of ‘Arihant General Store’ as if the door of the General Store is SP For ‘Wounding and Tending’, ‘Couple Resting’ was the
pretty much like a pointer to the structure of the painting. immediate precedent. Now, that in turn comes from another
SP Yes. Very true. Do you remember that old work of mine work of mine — ‘Couple at Delacroix’s Garden’. Them (the
‘Memory: Double Page’? It’s a large diptych of a landscape near couple) I saw and photographed in Paris. It looked like a lovely
Pune. And it has an out-of-proportion grid pattern stuck in the moment, quietly under the tree, very intimate, very beautiful, no
words. So, these two works come from there. But they suggest primary evidence of what the world is like. And then, of course, This spread:
other things that couples do to each other, and one of them I try to understand and interpret all that I see. Then one ‘Another Day in the
Old City’, 2017
is wounding (one another). Many great films have been made comes across drawings of ’impossible objects’. One tries to
about this. Companionship does involve an acceptance of this understand what exactly an ’impossible object’ is. The image
at some level. There will be wounding, there will be tending, looks convincing, but the object cannot be… cannot have an
there will be estrangement and there will be intimate moments existence. Language can suggest many things, it can convince
again. In that sense, it’s a cycle. Some of the other works too you of many things, and also claim to tell you the truth about
are about relationships. ‘The Odd Couple’, for example, is about things. But whether the truth lies in the thing, or whether it lies
resignation, and ‘Two’ is about… manipulation maybe? within language, is always a question. ‘Impossible objects’, like in
JK The mysterious or the unknown comes in many ways in Escher’s work* are basically jokes … grammatical jokes about
many of your works, but it also appears in a more diagrammatic representing the world in a language. They make a convincing
sense through the ‘impossible objects’. I’m thinking of works representation of something that cannot exist.
like ‘Enigma 1’ and ‘Enigma 2’ where a person explores the JK It can only exist within the world of that drawing…
elusive… since “impossible objects” cannot really exist in space SP Exactly, yes! And these are not mythic figures understood
and are essentially two-dimensional shapes only subconsciously as belonging to another world…as imaginary. They convince us
interpreted as three-dimensional, one might question the reality of belonging to this world, and thus expose the gap between
and existence of the person exploring the object. It complicates representation and the world. I went to a lecture by a physicist.
the form, volume, and three-dimensionality of the person in very He was showing us black holes… images of black holes, and at
fascinating ways. In fact, there is an interesting entanglement in the end of it, one asked him what was it this that we saw. They
the subject-object relationship; a kind of tangled hierarchy… the looked like photographs. So, he said that they are computer-
negation of one invalidates the other. generated images that help us understand what a black hole is.
SP I am a painter interested in realism, and painting what I They are not what you actually ‘see’ out there.
see — that’s the starting point. So, what my eyes see becomes JK We cannot see a black hole since even light cannot escape
the hole’s gravitational field, we may see the effect it has on the and all these many individuals, draws one back to your more
matter nearby. intimate paintings of home. Just as this is ‘another day’ in a city
SP Yes. Exactly. So, basically the computer is interpreting the populated with stories… it makes one think of works like ‘Home’
wave readings etc. and creating an image that is a useful tool for and ‘Compass’ as windows into yet ‘another home’ in a city. It’s a
understanding (the black hole). Seeing the slight disappointment privilege to see this painting unfold in mid-passage.
on the faces of the audience at not having actually ‘seen’ a black SP Thank you Jitish for a stimulating conversation!
hole the speaker said — “but that is what is happening when I
see you, right now isn’t it? I am creating an image of you in my * The reference here is to the impossible cube that was invented
head”. So, yes, of course. I create what I see all the time. And by M C Escher for Belvedere, a 1958 lithograph in which a boy
when one paints what one sees, one is painting an assumption. seated at the foot of the building holds an impossible cube.
This also brings us back to the question of what is true. If your
assumptions are useful and effective in the world, is that proof Spectres by Sudhir Patwardhan was on display at Jehangir Art
of their truth? I’ve often wondered how Marxism stands in Gallery, Mumbai, from 3-9 October, 2017, and at Vadehra Art
relation to Pragmatism. Is there nothing to truth beyond what Gallery, New Delhi, from 27 October to 24 November, 2017. All
works? This is somewhat unnerving. text and images published here are with the permission of the
JK…matching assumptions with their consequence to gallery and the artist.
understand action… the dance of assumptions and the
consequence of the assumptions…
SP Yes, it’s a dance!
JK That’s possibly an interesting thought to draw our
conversation to a close, even as you continue to develop details
within your ongoing painting, ‘Another Day in the Old City’… It is
interesting how this painting, opening out into all these homes
CPWD Planning Org.
National
Institute of
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National
Buildings
Ministry of
Organisation Housing &
Urban Affairs
Central
ndustan Building
refab Research
Institute
mited
Planning
Ministry of
Housing and Commission
Urban Poverty
Alleviation
2004
HUDCO Ministry of
Urban Na
Employment and Ho
Poverty Alleviation Bureau of B
1999 Indian
Standards
Ministry of
Works Reserve
and Housing
Bank
1981
Ministry of of India
Rural M
Ministry of
Development Works, Ho
Housing and
Supply
Ministry of
1952
Rural Areas and
Employment
Ministry of
1995 Agriculture
and Rural
Development Ministry of
1985 Rural
Department Reconstruction
of Rural 1979
Development CENTRAL
GOVT.
State Rural
Development
Department Authorities
of Land
Resources
State Housing & STAT
Urban
Development
Ministries
GOV
State Housing
Boards
Slum
Clearance
Boards Public
Works
Departments
THE STATE OF HOUSING IN INDIA

A research-oriented exhibition brings to the fore the many complex
questions surrounding the concern of housing in India, articulating
the roles of various stakeholders such as architects, planners, urban
designers, local governance bodies, private real estate developers,
financial institutions, and policy-makers. Curated by Rahul Mehrotra,
Ranjit Hoskote and Kaiwan Mehta, it allows us to engage with, and
debate upon, the present and future of the challenges and risks that
entail the state of housing in the country
Text Rahul Mehrotra, Ranjit Hoskote, Kaiwan Mehta

Cushman &
Wakefield
Jones Lang McKinsey

LaSalle KPMG
(JLL)
CONSULTANCY
L.I.C Housing FIRMS
Finance
(examples)
Housing
Housing
Finance Development
Companies Finance
(examples) Company
ational
ousing
National
Bank
Co-operative DEVELOPERS
Housing
Federation
AND BUILDERS
Ministry of
Centre for
ome Affairs Census
Policy
Research
Commissioner
of India Centre for
the Study of
Developing
Societies
Municipal
Corporation Observer
THINK-TANKS Research
Foundation
(examples) School of
Planning and
Architecture
LOCAL Delhi
The Indian
Institute for
BODIES Human
Settlements
Municipalities ACADEMIA IIT Roorkee

(examples) IIT Kharagpur
School of
Habitat
Studies - TISS
NGOs
TE (examples) International
Institute for
MASHAL
VT.
Population
District Sciences
Panchayat
COSTFORD
Village
Panchayat
SPARC, NSDF
Narmada and
Bachao SEWA Mahila Milan
Andolan
District Rural
Development
Authorities
CURATORIAL STATEMENT of the nation as well as the lived experiences of

India faces the daunting challenge of dramatic its citizens. In this context, housing has emerged
and accelerated urbanisation, which is creating as the largest challenge of civic and social
vast urban agglomerations and erasing the imagination for the nation. The housing shortage
urban-rural divide. By 2030, 40% of the country’s is estimated at approximately 20 million homes
billion-plus population will probably be living in in urban India and over 40 million in the rural
these agglomerations, which will be in a perpetual hinterland. Despite this clear and present crisis,
state of flux. A flux that involves the movement there is an absence of adequate discussion on
of migrant populations displaced by economic housing, whether in the nation’s public life or
inequalities, social discrimination, natural disasters, within the architectural profession. Worse, the
large infrastructure projects, seasonal job State cannot imagine credible solutions to the
rotations related to agriculture cycles, construction housing crisis. It makes up for its inability to deliver
industries, and forms of short-term wage-labour. solutions by amplifying its statistical aspirations.
This phenomenon of flux has significant In truth, the complex question of housing – its
implications both for the political and economic life adequate and affordable supply – can only be
Previous spread: Two infographic is nuanced with their internal research, meta-policy, policy
charts on the Institutional Ecology mandates as well as the cluster and monitoring, appraisal,
for Housing Delivery in India in which they operate. The one implementation and governance.
showcase the various government on the right is a representation This spread: One of the key
institutions as well as private agents of the public as well as private aspects of the exhibition
that are involved in this process. The agents in the delivery of housing is a system of infographic
infographic on the left shows the organized with relation to the visualisations, elucidated through
government institutions in hierarchal progression and evolution timelines, that communicates
representation, together with their of projects and schemes for the data and dimensions of
goal, as well as private agents housing. The device that has the housing question and a
and their interaction with the been used to structure this representation of aspirations,
government and sometimes through progression are the following imaginaries and realities of
civil society. Each institutional title mandates, viz. survey, housing since Independence
addressed in a relevant and effective manner

if the narratives of various stakeholders are
brought together. These include architects, urban
designers, planners, local governance bodies,
private real estate developers, financial institutions
and policy-makers, with the State as facilitator.
As a research-oriented exhibition project, State
of Housing attempts to construct a framework
to inform and sustain this conversation. It aims to
develop a conspectus of the crisis, and to create
an integrated database of case studies and
methods enabling a comprehensive understanding
of the situation. The exhibition is organised along
three key axes. First: a system of infographic
visualisations that vividly communicates the salient
data and dimensions of the housing question and
an unfolding and representation of aspirations,
imaginaries and realities of housing in India since
1947. Second: a set of chronotopes presented in
the spirit of case studies attesting to the diversity
of the housing question in India, spanning policies,
projects, predicaments, and cultural expression.
And third: tying these two sections together is
a film that articulates a pan-Indian reality of the
housing crisis. The exhibition aspires to construct
debates on subjects and discern categories
such as the idea of home and homelessness,
affordability and adequacy, as well as the history
and consequences of policies, agencies, and
instruments that facilitate the provision of homes
for all segments of society in India.
This spread, and next: One

of the important features
of the exhibition is a set of
chronotopes presented in
the spirit of case studies
attesting to the diversity
of the housing question in
India, spanning policies,
projects, predicaments, and
cultural expression.
The chronotopes are used
to represent the changing
nature of the form of
housing and to draw
references to historical,
social and political events
from independence to the
present day. These cases
are used to discuss evolving
practices in housing,
initiatives by central
and state governments,
importance of housing
institutions and private
organisations, transforming
role of designers and
collectively constructing
an understanding of the
broader evolving ecology
of housing. They do
not necessarily follow
descriptive forms of
presentation, but highlight
ideas, strategies or
processes that led to the
production of the project,
where the project is not
limited to an architectural
production, but includes
the essential formwork
like policies, schemes, and
programmes that enable the
production of housing
This spread: The term

‘chronotopes’ is adopted
to refer to configurations
of space and time, with
neither privileged over the
other, and both interwoven
and interdependent. In
the exhibition it is used
as a way to analyse
dynamic ongoing
processes, specificities
of place and period, the
resonances of visible
and invisible histories,
cultural expressions for
housing projects, policies
and programmmes
to understand design
practices, forms of
production, role of actors
involved, management, and
delivery of housing in India.
They do not necessarily
follow descriptive forms
of presentation, but
highlight ideas, strategies
or processes that led to the
production of the project,
where the project is not
limited to an architectural
production, but includes
the essential formwork
like policies, schemes, and
programmes that enable the
production of housing
This spread: A selection of manifests itself across a range EVENTS

screen grabs from the State of social locations textured by In concurrence with the schedule of the exhibition, the curators will
of Housing film, directed indices of class, caste, region, organise an inaugural keynote lecture by Ravi Sundaram on 2 February
by Sanjiv Shah. The film is gender, ethnicity, and political
a selective documentation or cultural environment; the
2018, starting 6:30 pm at the Max Mueller Bhavan, Goethe Institut,
of the complex condition effect of migration; the pervasive Mumbai. A parallel lecture series every week on issues of home, shelter,
and ecology of housing anxieties of homelessness; rural housing, land and development rights, will follow the opening of
in India; the current crisis the role of the State in the exhibition. For the closing of the exhibition, a conference on State
associated with inadequate providing housing, or partially
housing, especially for the withdrawing from the terrain
of Housing in the Emerging Urban India exploring the themes of home,
socially and economically of social housing; the complex homelessness, housing and urbanisation, delivery of housing and
disadvantaged sections of ecosystem of housing, including emerging paradigms in housing, will be organised from 15 March to 17
society. At the core of the private actors, public-private March, 2018 at the Dr. Sir JJ Modi Memorial Hall, KR Cama Oriental
film are a cluster of themes: partnerships, co-operative
the idea of home, as it enterprises, and so forth Institute, Mumbai, where Arjun Appadurai will deliver the keynote lecture.
CREDITS Sound Recordist: Suresh Rajamani Sanjay Mhatre

Curators Administration Support Rubberband
Rahul Mehrotra, Ranjit Hoskote, Priscilla Fernandes, JSW Foundation
Kaiwan Mehta Kuriakose Paulose Domus India (Spenta
Research Team Infrastructure Support Multimedia Pvt Ltd)
Research Director: Aditya Sawant A.T.E. Enterprises, RMA Architects
Project Manager: Ela Singhal Archival Films INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS
Project Team: Sanjana Sidhra, Films Division, Government of India Centre for Environmental Planning
Ayush Gangwal, Harsh Jain and Technology
Exhibition Design Consultants PATRONS Charles Correa Foundation
Kapil Gupta, Ameya Joshi, Tata Trusts Indian Institute of Human
Shriya Sanil Settlements (IIHS)
Graphic Designers PARTNERS Institute of Indian Interior Designers
Bacteria Co.: Goethe-Institut Joint Centre for Housing Studies for
Lajja Shah, Hemant Basankar, Kala Ghoda Association Harvard University
Kevin Dsouza Laxmi Mittal South Asia Institute
Exhibition Installation FRIENDS OF THE EXHIBITION
Display House: A.T.E Chandra Foundation
Varun Talcherkar, Sonal Sable IM Kadri For more details on the exhibition,
Website Design Cyrus Guzder visit www.stateofhousing.in
Rushikesh Somane Cowasji Shavaksha Dinshaw
Copy Editor Adenwalla Trust
Khorshed Deboo Sue Garland and Anuj Bhagwati
Archana and Amit Chandra
STATE OF HOUSING FILM DJ Academy of Design
Film Director: Sanjiv Shah Hemendra Kothari Foundation
Cinematographers: Ajay Noronha, Ranvir Shah
Navroze Contractor Khushroo Suntook
IN THIS ROOM, THE POEMS COME AND GO
Poetry and architecture are long-lost twins, reunited here. Both disciplines extend space and time,
explore forms of accommodation, create conditions – and not necessarily machines – for living, for the
expression of desires, aspirations, relationships. This month, we present a suite of poems by Jennifer
Robertson, whose work is informed by her deep interest in cinema, fiction, music, and painting.
Robertson’s poems occupy the page, and the voice, in different ways: sometimes, they can be spare and
pulled-in towards a still centre; at other times, they can be expansive, loquacious. The American poet
Emily Dickinson, the Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño, and William Wyler’s 1959 screen epic, Ben-Hur,
all feature in the scenographic shuffle of Robertson’s poems. She explores continuities that survive, and
even flourish, across distances: family connections that remain embodied in a whistled tune, experiences
encoded as riddling images. Remembering is her key theme: she sees poetry itself as a nimble retrieval
system lined with mnemonic and ruse, lifting off the ground despite the drag of forgetting.
Section curated by Ranjit Hoskote

Poems by Jennifer Robertson
We Grew Up in Places That Are Gone
Why do we look
for sutures and siblings
in all the wrong places,

when Google gives us
6,35,00,00,000 results
for the word home?
An Overview of a Vaudeville Daughter Who Talks to Birds
Bolaño says,
all poets, even the most avant-garde
need a father. He says

that poets are orphans by vocation.
So, I wait by the window

for a sparrow to arrive, while I rehearse my lines:
Dad, here’s your coat.
*
The Relevance of Assorted Wikipedia Lines
In the year 1985, my Dad could impeccably whistle the Beatles song, I
want to hold your hand. Human whistling is the production of sound by
means of carefully controlling a stream of air flowing through a small
hole. When I became old enough to drink, I tried singing the same song
at a Karaoke night. I couldn’t. It was at Martin’s Corner, Goa. I couldn’t
remember the words.
I remember that I was riding pillion and my Dad was trying to say
something. His voice was incoherent. I put my ear against his back. His
voice remained muffled but the volume got amplified. Reverberation
is the collection of reflected sounds from the surfaces in an enclosure.
Sometimes, you need eyes to hear noise. Sometimes, noise gets
blurred and patchy like old snaps. If you put your ear against the right
wall, you can see noise. Lambretta is a line of motor scooters originally
manufactured in Milan. My Dad’s first Lamby was white and blue.
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic historical drama film, directed by

William Wyler. This was the movie that was playing when Dad left me
at an uncle’s place. Charlton Heston’s face is synonymous with the
way people fashion their exits. Gray’s Anatomy is an English language
human anatomy textbook originally written by Henry Gray. My Dad
taught anatomy all his life. I always thought his favourite word was
mandible. In vertebrates, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is a bone
forming the skull with the cranium.
Verb: touch (third-person singular simple present touches, present

participle touching, simple past and past participle touched) An act
of touching someone or something. 3rd person present: touches;
past tense: touched; past participle: touched; gerund or present participle:
touching—an act of touching someone or something. Uncle
(from Latin: avunculus, ‘little grandfather’, the diminutive of avus, ‘grandfather’
A family relationship or kinship, between a person and his or her
parent’s brother.
I remember that I was riding pillion and I was trying to say something.
I couldn’t. My voice was incoherent. I put my ear against his back and
cried. Recall in memory refers to the retrieval of events or information
from the past. Along with encoding and storage, it is one of the three
core processes of memory. There are three main types of recall: free
recall, cued recall and serial recall.
It’s 2017. I try to whistle a song and people think I’m plastered.
Blue
You approach me with an intimate strangeness.

A deeper shade of blue.
But the you is not constant.
I wonder if the I is.

Somewhere in the distance, a leaf falls
and displaces its shadow.
I have been looking for the shadow

and writing
of that fall.
*
The Final Finding of the Sea
“I send a violet, for L—. I should have sent a stem, but was overtaken by
snow-drifts. I regret deeply not to add a butterfly, but have lost my hat,
which precludes my catching one.”
- Emily Dickinson, letter to unknown recipient, 1885
I approach this letter with an anonymity of purpose, hoping it will be

understood. I relish remembering brittle moments of laughter served in
china bowls — fennel tempered and effervescent; the fecund
landscape of mud-puddling swallowtails in trays; diminishing slurps of
tea, often sleep deprived, overcrowded: too much sugar, too much
milk. I remember wrought iron winter mornings, misty-mouthed
conversations and how the lack of punctuation got the better of us. We
never understood the efficacy of conjunctions. There was a time when
you drew solitude on a blank canvas and I thought it was too
symmetrical, so you perched a bird on a tree. Beginners luck evaded
us but we continued counting cards, relentlessly gambling word after
word. What did we lose? What did we gain? We were waiting. We
knew we’d woken up to a morning in an alien language so we worked
on the grammar of the obscure.
Now, I scuttle back to the sea, all mauve and purple. I still haven’t
found the hat, but I’ve learnt to walk slantwise, like a crab.
All photographs featured here are by Chirodeep

Chaudhuri, and have been published with the
permission of the photographer. A selection
of the photographs was first published in
the August 2017 edition of Domus India, in
conjunction with the exhibition In The City, A
Library, held at Project 88, Mumbai from March
9 to April 8, 2017 as a partner exhibition of the
FOCUS Photography Festival.
PROJECTS
80 PROJECTS domus 70 February 2018
Thirdspace Architecture Studio

A TEMPLATE FOR MINIMAL LIVING
Located on a small site in the town of Belgaum, the design and
construction of Stacked Student Housing highlights the architects’
attempt to make maximum yet judicious use of minimum space
without compromising on the quality of space. While the optimisation
of resources ensured the project’s completion within its modest
budget, the masterful spatial articulation is perhaps its key attribute
Text Shreyank Khemlapure Photos Hemant Patil
This spread: photographs

highlighting the details of
the deep red-hued façade
of the building. The
fenestration design adds
to the monolithic nature
of the structure
domus 70 February 2018 PROJECTS 81
FROM THE ARCHITECTS’

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The design for a small student housing project
in the town of Belgaum in Karnataka explores
the section as a device to layer a series of
semi-private living spaces vertically. What
seems like a straightforward division of space
in the plan is actually a complex layering of
self-contained living units to achieve maximum
density yet maintain comfortable living
standards for the occupants. The site is a
minuscule parcel of land barely measuring
100 sq. m. on which the building was proposed.
The number of students to be accommodated is
a result of the economies of scale and return on
investment rather than a careful engagement
with what such a site could traditionally
accommodate. In all, the building of about 225
sq.m. accommodates 29 students in semi-
private double- and triple-occupancy units.
With such a small site, the building would
have to be stacked vertically, but below the Every millimetre of space was debated upon.
stipulated 15 metres above which stringent If the walls of the toilets were thought to
high-rise building regulations for fire safety are consume too much space, they were replaced by
to be met. Thus the building’s envelope is fixed 40 mm kadappa stone slabs, a detail that also
by the side margins and the height restriction. eliminated the need for tilework in wet areas.
To make the rooms less claustrophobic and Plastered surfaces are kept to a bare minimum,
more interconnected, a strategy was evolved to with even the brick walls being unplastered
develop them in a section with a floor-to-floor and just painted white so as to visually open
height of only 2400 mm. Semi-private spaces up the space and allow for regular upkeep.
for the occupants are nestled around a small The individual spaces of the students are
common area consisting of an entrance lobby, a designed to have bare minimum furniture. The
pantry, and toilet facilities, all of them strung individual living spaces are interconnected
together by an internal staircase. visually and physically with the shared areas.
There are two types of room configurations that The elevation is a sum total of small strategic
sectionally dovetail into one another, like in a decisions to sectionally displace the room units.
jigsaw puzzle. The window fenestrations just about hint at
Considering that this is a cost-effective project the sectional complexity within but also add to
on a small site, everything is pared down. the monolithic nature of the façade.
DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPT
The staggered section creates a dynamic roof ideas of architectural or typological responses
profile dominating the skyline that is otherwise and the idea of ‘aesthetics of means’.
littered with small accretions, emblematic of
the suburban sprawl all around. The building Hostels as part of the expanded idea of housing
is painted in a deep red hue to accentuate Most cities across Karnataka, and also in many
its dynamic roofline as well as its almost parts of India, have adopted for several decades
monolithic form. In the colourful, a particular idea of land subdivision. This
cacophonous milieu that is moffusil India, it idea is based on the economic classification
dominates the neighbourhood, yet displays an of society vis-à-vis the capacity to purchase a
irreverent playfulness, characteristic of student certain size of land with typical land parcels
life anywhere. of 20’ x 40’, 30’ x 40’, 40’ x 60’ and so on. Land
subdivision of this nature already assumes in
Typological Responses to Emerging Contexts its genesis a certain form of a single-family
and the Idea of Aesthetics of Means: the case house and hence an idea of family living.
of the Hostel Building Across many cities in Karnataka, one finds
The hostel building by Thirdspace Architecture a vast urbanscape of low-rise sprawl with
Studio not only offers relevant answers to the individual bungalows.
physical and economic contexts of the town To locate this project critically, one has to
of Belgaum but also addresses the dilemma understand the changing forms of economics
between ambition and economic means. The in other cities in Karnataka and the
text that follows will elaborate further on the corresponding changes in the built form. For
This spread: The

staggered section of
the structure creates
a dynamic roof profile
dominating the skyline
that is otherwise
littered with small
accretions, emblematic
of the suburban sprawl
all around
instance in Mysore, the individual houses Existenzminimum

on these plots are used for a wide range of The basic unit of the project is a derivation of
programmes and only the ground floor of the bare minimum space needed by a student.
the building is used as places of stay by the In many ways it fondly reminds one of Le
owners. The rest of the house is utilised to Corbusier’s Swiss Pavilion in Paris and Sainte
accommodate paying guest; as yoga centres, Marie de La Tourette where he explores the
especially focused on tourists; cafes; companies’ spatial ideas for minimal living.
holiday homes and so on. Ironically, not a single The plan of the project is derived by the
project reflected a deliberate formal response configurations of the most basic objects for the
to this changing economy of programmes. It act of living — 2’6”x6’ bed, 2’x4’ study table,
is precisely here, to offer a formal response 9”x9” chair, a wardrobe, and a light bulb. The
to those potentials already present in the most economical configuration of these objects
urban field, that this project becomes critical. in the plan results in a 8’x10’ floor plate. Each
It challenges the status quo of the relation unit has two of these floor plates distributed
between the built form and land division in a section, sometimes three, with a shared
corresponding to land use. facility at mid-level between these floors
This spread: The living

units for students are
characterised by bare
minimum space and the
basic objects required
for the act of living,
viz. a bed, study table,
chair, wardrobe, and a
light bulb. Thus, there is
complete optimisation
of resources without
having to compromise
on the quality of space
A AA
B B
N
A AA
Mid Level Floor Plan
(+ 2.20M LVL)
GROUND FLOOR PLAN MID-LEVEL FLOOR PLAN
Module - 1
MODULE 1 MODULE 2
Module - 2
0 3M
AA
Project
Stacked Student Housing
Location
Belgaum, Karnataka
Architect
Praveen Bavadekar,
Thirdspace Architecture Studio
Area
4000 sq. ft
Design Team
Praveen Bavadekar, Madhuri Gulabani
Structural Engineer
D L Kulkarni
Contractor
Ajay Melge
Budget
INR 7,000,000
Completion of project
2017
Photographs
Hemant Patil
B B
N
AA
First Floor Plan
(+ 3.40M LVL)
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
SECTION AA Section - AA
connected by a narrow and extremely thin,

mild steel plate staircase. The split section
does two things — on the one hand, it allows
for 2-3 people to have their own individual
spaces without necessitating doors, and yet the
possibility to come together at the mid-level
for shared rituals of living. On the other hand,
it allows for a greater densification of the site
without compromising on light and ventilation.
It is like a compact and compound version
of the Loosian ‘Raumplan’ or Correa’s Boyce
Houses. But it also has its roots in one of the
consistent themes in the works of Thirdspace,
the idea of densification of programmes using
split sections.
Frugality and the aesthetics of means

To describe Euralille, and what is evident in
projects like Kunsthal, Koolhaas describes it
as sort ‘Calcutta Intelligence’ where it is not
so much about finesse as much as it is about
realising the intention, or what he refers
to as ‘program’, despite the contradictions
between ambitions and available means. There
is a resurfacing of the discourse on means,
ambitions, and its resultant aesthetics under
the bracket of ‘economy of means’. It certainly
is a necessary discussion for our contemporary
conditions. However, I would like to propose
the another term for the same idea —
‘aesthetics of means’.
Similarly, the logic behind the density of
the project is derived from the budget for
the project. The site is around 100 sq. m.
Usually a family of 2-6 lives on this size of
the plot. In the case of the hostel, the rate of
return on investment determined the overall
This spread: The split

rent that the client should receive from the characteristics of playfulness, and section within each
project, and based on the average rents in is yet economical. living unit allows for
the neighbourhood per bed, the number of There are, however, several places where the 2-3 people to have their
occupants were determined at around 29. To idea of aesthetics of means could have been own individual spaces
without necessitating
top this, there was a height restriction of 15 pushed with a little more sophistication. doors, and yet creates
metres, beyond which the building would have However, the project successfully paves the the possibility to come
to have a lift, resulting in an additional cost way to think beyond the idea of jugaad to together at the mid-
as well as loss of space. Instead, the really reflect upon architecture in India. Not only level for shared rituals
of living
compact unit plan and section, in that sense, that, it also stands as an exemplar — a potent
became instrumental in achieving those archetype — for many similar projects to come,
numbers, yet at no point compromising on the which will be able to critically engage with
quality of space. emerging urban programmes or contexts.
Like in the description of the project provided Shreyank Khemlapure
by the office, there was a complete optimisation
of resources to ensure its completion within
a meagre budget. The walls are rendered
white without plaster on the inside, toilets
are made out of thin kadappa stone slabs,
ceilings are left bare and unpainted, railings
are minimised to a single red pipe, window
shutters are simple metal frames with filmed
glass, cane rolling screens and so on; yet at no
point giving a sense of being unattended.
Hence, one cannot really look at the building
solely through the contemporary lens of
aesthetics that put shine over intent. This
project, like Correa’s works, opens up the
discussion, once again, on the idea of aesthetics
of means, where beauty is the result of spatial
articulation of the means at hand and not an
ideal form that is only possible in opulence.
Moving out, the project at no point appears to
be excusing itself as a low-budget production.
In fact, the deep red colour of the building with
the staggered and shallow recessed windows
and, of course, the flamboyance in form,
gives the building Scandinavian or Dutch
Mario Botta Architetto

SWITZERLAND
A circular form condenses the Ticino master’s desire to gather a community around
the architectural focus. Its compositional rigour – as illustrated in the planimetry
and section – reiterates his commitment to concentrate on structure, space, and light,
and his extensive research into architectural transfiguration as it relates to people
resonates in precisely proportioned doors, windows and internal passages
Text Mario Botta
Photos Enrico Cano
To offer an instrument for the promotion of the intends to confirm its vocation and favour to the public, thus strengthening the basis of a
cultural debate on architecture is the driving new initiatives as a supplement to its solid cultural vocation towards the region. The
force behind the efforts of the Università professional training. Theatre of Architecture will act as a forum for
della Svizzera italiana and the Theatre of The building (it has a round plan with exchanges with other institutions interested in
Architecture Foundation to establish a new three floors above ground and two floors the issues of the culture of the territory.
building, the Theatre of Architecture, on the underground) recalls the ancient type of the
campus of the Academy of Architecture anatomical theatre.
in Mendrisio. The new Theatre of Architecture, as the first one
Besides the educational and research activities of its kind, will represent the new identity of the
that the university has been carrying out, school: a laboratory of ideas and events, a place
this initiative aims at strengthening its of experimentation, a contemporary instrument
reflection on the discipline and highlighting that will act as a seismograph capable of
the new transdisciplinary interests that are recording and conveying ongoing trends.
increasingly affecting the design process and The spaces on the main four levels (approx.
redefining the social role of architecture. 2,000 square metres) lend themselves to a
The difficult issues contemporary society wide range of uses for both concomitant and
has to cope with – the effort to preserve independent events. All the events will be open
the environment, the availability of energy
resources, the drastic climate changes and
the difficult new social scenarios – so strongly
affect the dynamics linked to the identity
aspects recorded at the regional level so as to
make it necessary to develop new approaches
and a new sensibility in architecture,
urbanism, and landscape planning.
The effort to understand the impact of the
changes in progress is one of the duties of
architectural culture, and its protagonists,
the architects, must become aware of the new
responsibilities they have to take on when
designing humanity’s living space.
The new transdisciplinary forms of expression
that today affect art, fashion, design and
photography, as well as dance, cinema and
literature, are exerting an increasingly active
influence on previously autonomous activities
and are addressed to a broader and more
varied public: free men and women who can
explore the new enticements of living with no
particular reference to social background and
with no preconceived ideas.
Aware of these radical changes, ever since
its foundation the Academy of Architecture
has sought to favour and strengthen the
humanistic values underlying the discipline
and now, after the founding phase, with the
construction of the Theatre of Architecture it
N
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PLAN OF LEVEL -1 GROUND-FLOOR PLAN
0 5M
Previous spread, left: a of a detail of the volume This page, above: the image All project materials:
series of sketches sums faced with horizontal courses shows the building’s relation © Mario Botta Architetto
up the Ticinese architect’s of split stone (gialletto di to the other volumes on
lucid thinking. They show Verona) alternating with the campus of the Academy
the rational division of polished Carrara marble. of Architecture in Mendrisio
spaces, their composition Opposite page, top: general
and hierarchy; right: a view site plan.
O
25
24 26
23 27
28
22
29
21
30
20
31
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32
18
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SECTION AA
16
2
15
3
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5
13
12
6
11 7
10 8
9
pavimento tecnico
griglia di ispezione EI60
SECOND-FLOOR PLAN SOUTHEAST ELEVATION
0 5M
Opposite page, clockwise This page, above: the

from top: a long horizontal circulation space set in the
aperture in the volume perimeter receives light from
frames the south-facing above, while the beams
glazed entrance; detail create a rhythmic pattern
of the external facing; the of shadows; left: a detail of
exhibition space in the first the roof showing the small
underground level during lantern that sheds further
installation of an exhibition; light inside
the ground-floor entrance
lobby
DETAIL OF THE UPPER PART OF THE VOLUME DETAIL OF THE ATTACHMENT TO THE GROUND
0 50CM 0 50CM
This page, above, and from the interior, with the

opposite page: the space great oculus surmounted by
on the topmost level with a a lantern. The roof is lined
square central void giving with pendentives in sound-
a view of the lower floors; absorbing metal panels
below: a view of the roof
Teatro dell’architettura, Clients

Mendrisio/Switzerland Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano
Accademia di architettura, Mendrisio
Project
Fondazione Teatro dell’architettura, Mendrisio
Mario Botta Architetto
Site area
Project team
3,000 m2
Eleonora Castagnetta, Marco Mornata,
Antonello Scala, Guido Botta Total floor area
2,000 m2 circa
Structural engineering
Brenni Engineering SA Volume
17,300 m3
Structural metalwork
Lurati Muttoni Partner SA Design phase
2005–2010
Electrical engineering
Elettroconsulenze Solcà SA Construction phase
2013–2017
Services
IFEC Ingegneria SA
Geologist
Gianni Togliani
Fire protection
IFEC Ingegneria SA
Building physics
Think Exergy SA
Site supervision
Direzione Lavori SA
Contractor
Barella SA
David Chipperfield Architects
INAGAWA CEMETERY CHAPEL AND
VISITOR CENTRE
The unusual topography and terracing of a cemetery in
the mountains north of Osaka dictate the nature and
proportions of its new architecture. The design of the
roof defines the surrounding geometries and coloured
concrete heightens the sense of permanence
Photos Keiko Sasaoka
FROM THE ARCHITECTS’ PROJECT DESCRIPTION lounge offers an informal area for resting
Inagawa Cemetery is located on a steep site in and eating.
the Hokusetsu mountain range of the Hyogo The memorial room, which can be separated
Prefecture, approximately 40 kilometres north into three smaller rooms by pleated curtains
of Osaka. made with washi paper on fabric, offers space
The cemetery is laid out across terraces and for formal feasts after rituals.
bisected by a monumental flight of steps The floors, walls and roof are formed as pure
Photo David Chipperfield Architects
leading up to a shrine at the highest point – an building elements and poured from the same
axis that orients the whole project. earth-like red coloured concrete – honed for
The visitor centre and chapel are designed as internal floors and ground and sandblasted for
a marked threshold between the outer world walkway walls and soffits – giving the overall
and a quieter space within for contemplation. structure a monolithic appearance.
Aligned with the central staircase, and as a A range of furniture designed specifically for
counterpoint to the shrine, the visitor and the project, consisting in simple, informal
chapel spaces are gathered around a courtyard. painted wooden chairs, benches and tables can
Visitors approach this space from an exterior Relying on indirect sunlight from the gardens be rearranged depending on the occasion.
platform that leads to a wide, framed central on either side, the chapel visitor finds seclusion, Following the axial link between the two ends
opening in the stepped south-east façade. and their focus is drawn to the essential of the site, a rill carries water down the middle
The programme is formally arranged under rhythms of time through the natural indicators of the staircase, from the top of the mountain
a single, sloping roof plane, following the of daylight fluctuation and seasonal foliage directly towards the building.
view line from the entrance up to the shrine. changes. The planting in all the gardens As it approaches the lower part of the staircase
The rooms of the visitor centre open onto the is inspired by the palettes and textures of near the chapel, the running water slows and
courtyard garden while the secluded chapel Japanese meadows and woodlands, and a pools as it collects in a trough before being
remains separate. It can be reached via a selection of grasses, shrubs and wildflowers are diverted through a new underground channel
discrete corridor, directly accessed from the carefully juxtaposed. under the site to the nearby canal.
outside or up a gentle ramp from the garden. On the diagonally opposite corner of the
An unadorned and quiet room with minimal courtyard is the visitor centre. Two large rooms
heating and artificial lighting offers a non- at the lower end of the roof provide for family
denominational space, pure in its form. gatherings and commemorations. The visitor
Previous spread: a view surrounding the small perpendicular view of All project materials
of the project from above, ceremonial chapel, the cemetery’s long © David Chipperfield Architects
showing the long flight seen from the north; flight of steps with, in
of steps leading to the centre: study sketches; the background, the
shrine, at the highest bottom: a contour model quiet corridor leading
point, flanked by terraced illustrates the unusual to the chapel; centre:
cemetery spaces position of the new a study model
Photo Richard Davies
Opposite page, top: entrance to the cemetery

a view of the walls This page, above: a
A B
13
11 12 14 12
11
8 16 15 C C
10 3
9
17 19
7
18
19
5 D D
4 4 4
1 2
6
5
PIANTA DEL PIANO TERRA/GROUND-FLOOR PLAN PIANTA DELLE COPERTURE/ROOF PLAN A B
1 Entrance 7 Laundry 14 Chapel

2 Trough 8 Vending machines 15 Entrance from car park
3 Walkway 9 Visitor room 16 Reception
4 Memorial room 10 Wildflower garden 17 Archive
5 Lavatory 11 Water point 18 Staff room
6 Technical room 12 Tree garden 19 Staff changing room
13 Altar
0 5M
Opposite page, top: long flight of steps to

the side entrance to the shrine
the chapel from the car This page, above: the
park, independent of the inner courtyard. On the
route through the visitor right is the porticoed
centre; bottom: an axial passageway; on the left,
view of the entrance to the low wall with
the visitor centre. Visible a water point for
in the background is the flower preparation
1 Memorial room
2 Technical room
3 Staff room
4 Reception
5 Chapel
6 Vending machines
7 Visitor room
8 Wildflower garden
9 Lavatory
10 Entrance
11 Entrance from the car park
CROSS SECTION
0 5M
1 2 8 4
6 7
SECTION AA SECTION CC
5
3 4 2 9 1 1 1 10 11
SECTION BB SECTION DD
0 5M
Above: the chapel unusual effect produced Inagawa Cemetery chapel and
interior overlooks a by using the same visitor centre
walled garden and material on all surfaces Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
features unusual indirect Opposite page: a trough
light, entering through and small fountain Project
windows at the top of the beside the visitor-centre David Chipperfield Architects London –
space; below: a space entrance provides a David Chipperfield (director-in-charge), Matt
for contemplation before constant and subtle Ball (design lead), Tom Herre (project architect)
the chapel highlights the background sound Structural engineering
Jun Sato Structural Engineering
Mechanical and electrical engineering
and services
ES Associates
Landscape architect
Marcia Iwatate + Kamimura
Landscape Architects
Signage
Hayashi Takuma Design Office
Contractor and contact architect
Obayashi Corporation
Associate architect
Key Operation Inc. / Architects
Project manager
Naoko Kawamura
Client
Boenfukyukai Foundation
Gross floor area
500 sq. m.
Design phase
2013
Construction phase
2016-2017
Photo Yuna Yagi
106 RASSEGNA domus 70 February 2018
THE
KITCHEN
IN THE ERA
OF THE
INTERNET
OF THINGS
domus 70 February 2018 RASSEGNA 107
Artificial intelligence has come out of the smartphone and into the real
world, to embrace, once and for all, the macrocosm of the Internet of Things
both inside and outside the home. We see more and more thermostats,
domestic appliances, lighting and security systems learning to use sensors
and algorithms to understand the behaviour of those who use them in order
to make improvements. Among the domestic environments that over the
coming years could radically change as a result of the influx of the Internet
of Things, the kitchen occupies one of the top places.
And when we talk about the kitchen we can’t not talk about domestic
appliances. Not just intelligent, but also smart and social, the latest domestic
appliances simplify work in a very practical way, thanks to devices that allow
appliances and services to be interconnected to create safe and efficient
environments from an energy point of view. Ovens with cameras inside them
to monitor, even from a distance, how cooking is proceeding, controllable at
a distance to start or end the cooking of an entire dinner so you can find it
ready when you get home, and refrigerators that with a couple of taps on
their opaque surface, become transparent and let you to look right inside
without needing to open the door, have now entered our everyday lives.
Giulia Guzzini
CARATTERE organising spaces with extreme

Scavolini functionality. Light also plays an
important role in this programme,
The framed doorfront is the key both inside the wall cabinets and tall
feature of the Carattere collection, units as well as on the splashback
shown here in prestige matte white between the base units and shelves,
lacquer. The composition is completed thus contributing to defining the
by a generous extractor-hood, steel spaces effectively.
shelves hung from the ceiling, a
magnetic luminous glass back and
Switch cupboard, with the front in SCAVOLINI
veneered ulster walnut, ideal for www.scavolini.com
PRINCIPIA ROVERE FUMÉ NTF stainless steel hues generated by the

Antonio Citterio PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) EGO ORBITATA well as reducing noise when the door
process. In the photograph below: Abimis is closed. In addition to the traditional
The Principia project has allowed kitchen island with base units 84-cm- square cupboards, Abimis has
Citterio to design the space in which high, with doors in fumè oak and Abimis offers the high-level introduced a cupboard with rounded
the kitchen is installed and treat the integrated handle in shiny PVD Bronze performance of professional kitchens corners to stop dirt from accumulating
storage units, cabinets, cupboards Emperador and hood with Hide top. on a domestic scale where stainless and make cleaning easier. The shelves
as working spaces. It combines a steel, biologically neutral, ultra- in the compartments and modules can
textural wood with a rough finish with ARCLINEA resistant ,and sustainable spaces be pulled out in order to utilise space
www.arclinea.it reign supreme. Abimis tops, available to the full and make access easier.
in numerous models, are free of joints The hinge of Ego is patented: made
to ensure maximum hygiene while the from steel, it allows kitchens to be
extra thickness ensures maximum designed with flush doors.
sturdiness. The doors, rounded on the
four corners or square, have a core in ABIMIS
honeycombed aluminium in order to www.abimis.com
provide both lightness and strength as
VVD
Vincent Van Duysen
Vincent Van Duysen interprets the

handle-free kitchen, working on the
contrast between the slenderness of
the sides and ends and the thickness
of the integrated worktops, breaking
their linearity with counter-top sinks
in stone. A pattern of solid and void
gives life to a dynamic kitchen. Large
pull-out trays, open boxes and trolleys
can be fitted under the worktop. A
supporting frame in aluminium allows
compositions to be created that are
raised off the ground.
DADA
www.dada-kitchens.com
PURE
Kinzo
Berlin studio Kinzo has come up with a

kitchen that is characterised by a 2-cm
frame, creating well-defined edges and
making design variations. The
aesthetics of the space are focussed
on the cooking area, placed on the
back wall, with a combination of open-
front units and recessed cabinets;
the breakfast bar and seating is the
social centre while the peninsular
that doubles as a sideboard creates a
connection between the kitchen and
living area.
SIEMATIC
www.siematic.com
AXIS
Stefano Cavazzana
Zampieri has reworked this kitchen with new

materials. “Axis is the first kitchen that I designed for
Zampieri and it was one of the first with a groove”,
says Stefano Cavazzana.“It is interesting how
the warm and textural wood combined with other
materials such as vintage steel and painted metal
makes Axis not only new but particularly attractive
and up-to-date”. In the photograph: base units,
peninsular and back in antique silver fir; tall units,
wall cabinets and open-fronted units in titanium
metaliquid and worktop and splashback in steel with
vintage finish.
ZAMPIERI
www.zampiericucine.it
EXTRA GO
Veneta Cucine
In this kitchen, colours are harmonised and materials

define the volumes: the marble of the chimney and
kitchen top, the wood of the island and the table, the
glass of the luminous backs of Stepsystem. The
open-planned space is articulated by large structural
elements and the chimney clad in marble separates
the space into two distinct areas — living room
and functional kitchen — in which the oak island
unit is the protagonist. The search for maximum
functionality is expressed in the decision to provide
storage spaces behind the kitchen using a worktop
and Tribeca modules.
VENETA CUCINE
www.venetacucine.com
ARTEMATICA
Gabriele Centazzo
Designed in the name of maximum comfort and

freedom of movement, Artematica is a functional
kitchen that responds to the needs and demands of
the user. A sensory and material space, it uses
‘pure’ rather than composite materials on the
aluminium structure of the fronts, giving rise to
infinite combinations. From the refined use of glass
in every colour and finish, to wood with its strong
tactile surface, and from lacquered surfaces to metal
laminates. In the photograph on the left: Artematica
in the version made from lacquered and brushed
steel.
VALCUCINE
www.valcucine.com
K7
TEAM 7
In the K7 kitchen, functionality and design — that are

expressed through the electronic touch-control
mechanisms and cooking island that can be adjusted in
height — are fused with the natural warmth of fine-
quality wood. The core of the k7 is the island hob whose
height can be adjusted between 74 and 114 cm. Owing
to the smoothly-integrated control element, the worktop
can be positioned with great precision according to
ergonomic and individual requirements. Depending
on the settings, the ergonomic work area can be
transformed into a discreet sideboard or a bar counter.
TEAM 7
www.team7.it
N_ELLE
Cesar
The historic Elle kitchen by Cesar, remembered for its

rigorous compositions of great scenographic effect, has
been reworked with the new N_Elle model that offers
versatile modularity. The thickness of the door has been
slimmed down from 2.5 cm to 2.2 cm, a detail that makes
it functional and at the same time lighter, also from an
aesthetic point of view. The modularity has also been
changed to suit other Cesar ranges enabling greater
crossover and design flexibility, thanks to the new range of
wall cabinets and tall units.
CESAR
www.cesar.it
ESTIVALE
Benedini Associati
The Estivale kitchen is built around a large, central

island whose expressive character is defined by
a worktop in Nero Picasso marble that has a
strongly scenographic presence. Elegant, clean-
cut lines are imposed via the marble surface that
presents a rectangular sink – also in Nero Picasso
marble – and recessed burners. The island is
completed by a series of push-and-pull wall units
alternated with base units, with drawer fronts in
Raw oak cut at 45°, and establish a dialogue with
the oak panelling with open shelves and the tall
storage units.
KEY CUCINE
www.keysbabo.com
AK_PROJECT
Franco Driusso
Ak_Project is a complete system in

which the kitchen becomes the
protagonist of the living space
incorporating elements of
customisation that evolve the
kitchen environment into an open-
planned space. This product offers
the architect an extremely flexible
design platform, an extensive
catalogue that offers the possibility
of using a range of different finishes:
25 melamine, four technolux, three
Fenix NTM, 20 gloss and matte
lacuers, three oxidised lacquers,
10 brushed oak, two steel, and
the possibility to enhance the
design with a wide range of special
accessories. Every composition can
be customised also in terms of the
type of door opening: straight edge,
30° edge, step profile or 30° both
in aluminium, external handle and
a new recessed modular handle to
match the size of the door.
ARRITAL
www.arritalcucine.com
TRAIL
Carlo Colombo
Compositional versatility is central to this

design in which the two spirits of the kitchen
– the convivial and the functional – are
distinguished on a spatial level while at the
same time integrated with one another. The
characterising element of the kitchen is the
Trail handle, that can be positioned at the
centre or the end of the door, while a search
for minimal thickness unites the various
components, from the 6mm-thick worktops to
the 3mm-thick shelves for the panelling and
new, open-fronted units with illuminated backs.
VARENNA
www.varennacucine.it
PATTINA
Sanwa
In keeping with the markedly tiles, also in this case available in

minimalist aesthetic and formal three delicate tonalities: light grey,
traditions of this Japanese brand, cement, and chestnut. The skilfull
the Pattina kitchen is distinguished equilibrium of the material proposed
by its clean lines and sophisticated and the squared forms create a
choice of material. The structure vintage effect with a contemporary
that is delineated by a profile feel that can be incorporated easily in
in matte black steel creates an any domestic environment.
interesting visual and perceptive
contrast with the textural nature of SANWA COMPANY
the external cladding expressed via info.sanwacompany.co.jp/en
a finish that reproduces rough wood
cut in planks. Available in three
colours – white, grey, and chestnut
– the worktop has a sink and taps
incorporated into its surface and is
made with ceramic
CHEF COLLECTION
VIRTUAL FLAME™
Samsung
Inspired by the secrets of Michelin-starred

chefs and presented as part of Samsung’s
latest innovative developments, the Chef
Collection is a family of state-of-the-art
premium appliances designed to meet the
needs of the most demanding consumers.
New frontiers for induction have been set by
the Korean giant with the innovative Virtual
Flame™ technology, which clearly indicates
the heat provided by each plate thanks to
LED lights that simulate the appearance
of a flame and light up in correspondence
with the temperature of each cooking
zone. The hob is also equipped with a large
shared area designed for preparing more
than one dish at the same time, as well as
keep-warm functions that enable food to
be kept at the right temperature without
the risk of over-cooking when several
dishes are being prepared at the same
time; quick-start, that ensures maximum
instantaneous heat to reduce waiting times;
and pause, that enables the temperature of
all cooking zones to be reduced with one
simple operation. Intelligent innovation is
represented by the magnetic and removable
knob that enables precise control of the
temperature of the hob and at the same time
makes it easy to clean the entire surface.
SAMSUNG
www.samsung.com
IN LINEAR
Smalvic
The result of a subtle reworking of the design of the

products, conceived for impeccable alignment, the In
Linear modular system includes an oven Linear 60, a
classic multi-functional oven in a standard size,
the oven or another compact domestic appliance
from the Linea 45 with inserted below a warming
drawer or storage drawer 60. The perfect alignment
includes a double control panel with touch-activation
on the front panel in toughened glass and steel; both
domestic appliances have black doors in smoked
toughened glass, with handle in satin-finished
aluminium.
SMALVIC
www.smalvic.it
CARACTÈRE
Molteni
A brand owned by Electrolux, Molteni

have been producing bespoke
kitchens for professional catering
since 1923. The Caractère model
stands out in terms of its design of
the knobs inspired by the classic
lines traditional to Molteni, made in
stainless-steel forged by hand, and
square knobs that take up the form of
the cube.
ELECTROLUX PROFESSIONAL
www.professional.electrolux.it
B3 INTERIOR SYSTEMS look, greater transparency of

Bulthaup organisation and exceptional
ergonomics with easy access for
Bulthaup b3 interior elements both right- and left-handed users.
break away from the conventionally With the functional prisms, you
rigid structures within drawers and can position your accessories and
pull-outs, and grant you the utmost utensils exactly as you desire and
freedom in your kitchen. The be certain that they will not slide
fantastically simple idea behind out of place. Even if the pull-outs
the interior elements allows you are opened or closed abruptly, the
to reorganise the space within contents remain where they are.
the drawers with ease and speed. You arrange your own space using
There are countless possibilities themed zones, for example, or
for storing, tidying and positioning according to what you feel looks
the items. Functionality fuses with best. There is a variety of material
intuition and creates a new way of to choose from — an oak or walnut
working. The result is a system that veneer, polished stainless steel,
is adaptable and truly distinct. You or a soft, anthracite-coloured
can arrange your cutlery, kitchen synthetic material.
tools, utensils, and accessories
exactly as you wish. bulthaup.com
The b3 system of interior elements
is based on distinctive functional
prisms. The horizontal nature of the
prisms in the drawers and pull-
outs creates an entirely new
BROWN QUARTZ COMBINATION

Classic Marble Company
KalingaStone – Classic Marble

Company’s (CMC) engineered stones flexible, and consistent in designs
brand has introduced two new Quartz and patterns. The quartz products
products that can go as combination are available in standard dimensions
installation for an elegant kitchen of 335cm x 165cm and thicknesses
decor. Launched under the Eleganza of 15mm, 20mm and30mm. The
Quartz series, taupe brown and products can be customised in
russet brown are the available desired colours, patterns, as well
shades, patterned grainy with a as thicknesses.
smooth surface finish. The two
products complement each other, kalingastone.com
with taupe brown recommended
for flooring while russet brown as
counter-top installation, accentuating
the beauty of the kitchen space.
Being an engineered material, quartz
is highly sanitary, less porous, more
FLEX
Gaggenau
Speed and flexibility are the key words GAGGENAU

for Flex induction hobs with integrated www.gaggenau.it
ventilation. While the Flex function
unites the individual cooking areas for
flexible cooking across the whole hob,
the automatically-controlled integrated
ventilation extracts vapours directly
from the cooking surface. A number of
other functions are included, a booster
that raises the power briefly to 3,700W,
a cooking sensor with temperature
indicator and a frying sensor that
maintains constant the temperature of
the product.
CIRCLE.TECH
FALMEC
The key feature of this system of extractor hoods is its horizontal

design: the air going out passes through a filter wrapped around
the motor and the circular form ensures maximum filtering surface
and superior performance. In stylistic terms, with an integrated
system of LEDs, the extractor hoods in the Circle. The tech range
comprises light fittings that not only illuminate the worktop but also
diffuse light in order to create a cosy atmosphere in the kitchen.
The range includes a number of different models; shown in the
photograph, from left, suspended extractor hoods Soffio and Loop.
FALMEC
www.falmec.it
DESIGNCREATIVE
Neff
A blend of technology and original design,

DesignCreative extractor hoods are
characterised by their streamlined profile that
fits discreetly into the kitchen area, particularly
when it opens onto the living room. The most
evident aesthetic feature is that the surface of
the extractor hood is magnetic and rewritable
and at the base is a practical but unobtrusive
shelf. Fixed to the wall, the extractor silently
cleans the air thanks to an automatic system
controlled by sensors that detects the amount
of vapour and then controls the strength of the
extraction autonomously.
NEFF
www.neff-home.com
BORA PROFESSIONAL The core of the system is represented NIKOLATESLA cooking when using larger-sized
BORA by the knobs with user interface on the Fabrizio Crisà pans. In addition to this, the extraction
front surface that enable intelligent system, positioned in the central area,
At IMM in Cologne in January, Bora control. The temperature is displayed NikolaTesla is an induction hob with achieves high levels of performance in
presented a system of steam on the knob where it can be regulated extractor that combines the functions terms of smoke extraction, silence and
extraction, specially-designed for with a combination of touch controls of two domestic appliances in a single energy-efficiency.
electric hobs. When a hot-plate is and rotation. product. Elica offers not only the
switched on, the valve opens silently advantages of speed of cooking and
and automatically. After cooking, when ease of cleaning that characterise
the hot-plate is switched off, it closes induction hobs but also a double
again, remaining completely flush and BORA bridge function that enables two ELICA
with no distance between the joints. www.bora.com adjacent areas to operate in a www.elica.com
combined manner for homogeneous
RNI NUMBER MAHENG/2012/45937, Regd No. MCW/ 305/ 2016-2018, Posted at Mumbai Patrika Channel Sorting Office,
Mumbai-400001 on 26th & 27th of Previous Month, Published on 26th of the Previous Month
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INDIA 070 LA CITTÀ DELL’ UOMO

Cover: The cover design combines

WHAT DO I THINK, WHEN I

Drawings of various case studies presented

I often read in the morning and have

This page, far right: cover of the book by

Your house should not command much outlook;

Robert Louis Stevenson

alphabetical order; it is a receptacle

Photo Roel van Tour

Photo Roel van Tour

This page, clockwise from above-right: a illuminated by fragmented reflections

Photo Luke Hayes

Photo Luke Hayes

in spanning a range of work ‘BREATHING COLOUR’

This page, clockwise from top-left:

Jongeriuslab hang back on the wall

or rather which we can choose to be

As I observe Valerio Olgiati’s

VALERIO OLGIATI PROJECTS

Niemeyer of 1950. I already saw political demonstrations.

1973. Here the significant civic for public interaction between

Opposite page: Estádio Serra Dourada

SENTENCES ON CONCEPTUAL ART 1969

Opposite page (foreground) and this connected by straight lines, 1970

SENTENCES ON CONCEPTUAL ART 1969