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also about interpreting the spirit of the place; of coming in terms with materials, but also with the presence of nature through the succession of seasons and monsoons. These people have no formal education to be sure, but they relate to an anonymous architecture which Bijoy Jain recognizes as being just as important as the work of the celebrated Geoffrey Bawa. Among them is also a highly skilled stonemason aged 76.
The Indian architect's stance, albeit not overtly, is in fact critical of the world around him. "Often, when I drive through the city, I realize how little I can do as an architect. For that matter, the government is more interested in creating infrastructure than landscape: there are other priorities." It is, however, the only city that has so far enabled him not to stoop to compromises. When asked if he's afraid of shutting himself inside projects that are of high quality but incapable of improving society and the urban landscape, his answer is that the only way of practicing architecture he knows is by exercising the strictest control over each and every part of it. But now that he is designing a large centre for a pharmaceutical company, Bijoy Jain reflects daily on how to proceed. It is certainly going to be a big change of scale, but he is determined to be the one who dictates its conditions and aspects. < Back Laura Bossi | Domus #914 |
