[micro.updates]

Micro-updates are carefully sifted dispatches from my micro-publishing site, documenting my ongoing doctoral work on spatial dialectics.

Fall 09

- My night-long ruminations on absolute - abstract - differential packaged neatly in a series of early morning exchanges w/ SM. Nice. 121109

- (...) India is a Third world in true Lefebvrian sense- elusive, alive, magical & defined by dialectics of abstract:differential space. 121109

- (...) Self-discipline? What's that? Accountability? Never heard of it. This defines the new age poverty. (3/3) 121109

- (...) whose newly acquired wealth in some quarters adds to poverty - moral & social poverty. (2/3) 121109

- (...) Indeed worrisome. Between the binaries of rich-poor, India also has a fat new middle-class, the neo-urban less urbane janta (1/3) 121109

- Everyday architecture is where 'this' belongs. Delighted. 121009

- "Space is always striated. You cannot have smooth space" ~ D. Massey reflects upon spatial-turn + other videos. 120709

- Third World - Third Space - Third Moment: An ineffable experience, beyond the binaries of ideal-real and always in flux. 120509

- To scrutinize theoretical propositions and examine dichotomies in the light of moments and not situations. 120509

- Intellectual elitism and the element of subversion in an intellectual inquiry. 120309

- From architecture as the "creatress of space" to university as a "feminine referent," this document has it all. 112809

- Graffitti: "Consume more and live less!" (May 1968, France). Very apt. 112709

- Addressing and acknowledging the contradictions of abstraction. 112509

- "(...) the attempt to get us both to think space and time differently, and to think of them together," that's HL and his prolific work. 112409

- Between desiring symbolic intervention & actually working w/ it: the aim is to critique the paradox & dig deeper into dialectical thinking. 112109

- "Your work is in search of something elusive. It hints at the limitations of language, is non-formulaic, hence difficult & interesting." 111809

- London always feels like home: abstract-real, academic-familial and new-old juxtapositions abound. 110809

- Provocation helps construct an argument so much better. 110509

- Myths, legends, Levi-Strauss: Human behavior is based on logical systems, which vary from society to society but possess a common structure. 110309

- Moving from one presentation to the next and hoping to give thought to some disease and its role in design in between. 102709

- Complex arguments and logical argumentation versus experience and its concrete description. 102509

- Parkinson's, parkinsonism and the parkinsonian being (...). 102409

- Working towards a "... full consciousness of the abstract in order to arrive at the concrete" (HL). 102309

- Ben Nicholson's lecture and endnotes last night paired perfectly w/ my work. The questions are growing and for good. 101609

- Abridging is challenging, yet useful for sharpness and clarity. 101509

- Alphaville is great but I need something more. There is also a need to examine the nature of Hays two poles, and their relationship. 101109

- "To have an architectural theorist use twitter as an exclusive vehicle to communicate is totally conceivable" ~ Bernard Tschumi. 100809

- A local time and an evolutionary time. 092809

- I've just complicated my research argument or have I? In the end, 'would be lovely to see it render evidence both simple and obvious. 092709

- Discovered a treasure trove, which has some very very early writing by Hillier. Excited! 092509

- A sense of critical durability helps define an inquiry/distinguish it from noise over long periods of time" ~ E. Moss. 092409

- "Six Memos for *this* Millenium." After all, it's about our ongoing quest for deep knowledge. Thanks Calvino. 092309

- Revisiting my fundamental argument via L. Groat's critique of, what she calls, the theoretical cul-se-sac in architecture. Excellent. 091509

- Lacan argued that our subjectivities were never direct but mediated by the symbolic. The 'lived' is then distinct from the 'lived-in' (?). 091309

- Dana Cuff is a real treasure. 091209

Spring-Summer 09

- Trying to build an argument from two sets of weekly notes. The first set ends w/ a brilliant Q'n. The second set discusses the background. 082909

- Excavation makes sense only when early writings are (re)visited. After all, it's about findings. 082909

- Schizophrenic existence is desirable. 082809

- (...) The role of psychology in design is indeed fascinating. At one level, I see my work gravitating towards it. Let's see. 082809

- (...) Translates to binaries: space-place, descriptive-prescriptive, syntax-semantics, formal-representational, concept-percept (3). 082609

- (...) However, I am interested in the Cartesian rule, its impact on design thinking/practice vis-a-vis relational dialectics (2). 082609

- (...) There are diff. schools of Hindu philosophy. The Yoga school for example seeks union between ind. and univ. consciousness (1). 082609

- (...) Re: On cognition. The mind-body relation both fascinates & baffles me. I hope my interest in the "lived" takes me somewhere. 082609

- There is a difference between bridging the gap & seeking a connection. The former is assimilative. The latter is associative. 082409

- "I am not so courageous or foolhardy as to deliver a disquisition on Hegel" (Canter, 1988). 082409

- "I repose the Qs & they become complicated. I don't try to reconcile my works w/ each other. They're part of a process of rediscovery" (J.B). 082109

- How symbolic: Merleau-Ponty died of a heart attack but had the coronary while preparing for a class that he was giving on Descartes. 081909

- (...) when Habermas met Lefebvre, and Derrida argued to keep meaning in play. 081709

- It's all about reconstructing the habitus: the global needs to be brought down, the local needs to be brought up, demystified (Hannerz, '96). 081609

- (...) The Q. was simply an extension of my research interest in third space beyond the Cartesian dualism of mind-body. 080409

- (...) By that, they argue that the nature of human mind is shaped by the body. They oppose Cartesian dualism/any distinction (2/2). 080409

- (...) According to GL-MJ, concepts are embodied at neural, phenomenological and cognitive-unconscious levels (1/2). 080409

- (...) Have there also been similar advances in psychology or does it continue to worship the divide? (5/5). 073009

- (...) It focused on exchanges, relations, appropriations, subalternity & what have you within and between the worlds (4/5). 073009

- (...) Which is not to say, that western-nonwestern disappeared. Additionally, the third space got institutionalized (3/5). 073009

- (...) Late 20th c. saw the emergence of scholarship of plurality i.e. attempts to challenge, subvert & transcend the binaries (2/5). 073009

- (...) Re: Western. Interesting. Architectural historiography traditionally suffered from western-nonwestern divide (1/5). 073009

- Juxtaposing unrelated arguments in the hope of developing a well crafter critical project of relevance to embodied practice. 072809

- Reading a consideration of the concept of fetishism or the dialectical interpretation of commodity (= Marx). 072809

- Bachelard's Poetic of Space is a delightful (re)read. His dialectic of experiment-experience continues to offer valuable food for thought. 072709

- From Parisian flaneur-flaneuse to Manhattan traceur-traceuse, the interplay of space-movement both captivates & continues. Thanks Mitchell. 072109

- (...) is currently somewhere between word-concrete object and discourse-reality. 071309

- Wandering in bodily space with Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, somewhere between the lived body and the material body. 070809

- Dualisms could be resisted by critiquing the stability of two terms, arguing against their distinction or proposing a thirding. Great! 070709

- Careful crafting of an argument enlarges a debate and turns it into a dialogue. Watching M. Kishwar speak just made this clear. 070509

- Realizing how ideas-you-think-with determine what you sense, how you sense it and what it continues to generate. 070309

- (...) However, I do sense temporality in something like the "lived space" (2). 070109

- (...) Scholarship has traditionally separated the dialectic(s) of space-society & space-time (1). 070109

- Can and should the dialectic of space-society be seen as being separate from the dialectic of space-time? 070109

- When put on the agenda, space - as a common denominator, provides new ways to see the world in which we live (3/3). 062609

- The turn is primarily driven by the intellectual restlessness of ind. seeking to review the nature of their discipline (2/3). 062609

- Foucault made a declaration two decades ago, "the present epoch will perhaps above all be the epoch of space" (1/3). 062609

- An added note: Critical self-reflection is a form of intellectual restlessness, but one that helps strengthen the core. The gaze is inward. 062609

- While the former indicates an intellectual restlessness, the latter is a mode of critical self-reflection (3/3). 062609

- The "-turn" either implies a change in the direction of a discipline's growth or a re-turn to thinking closely of its preserve (2/3). 062609

- The term "spatial-turn" is intriguing (1/3). 062609

- (...) Fraser, N. (1992) "Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy." Cheers! (2/2) 062209

- (...) Yep, that's her...I find her concept of publics (ref. Habermas) thought-provoking (1/2). 062209

- Wondering what makes me return to Fraser's notion of "subaltern counterpublics" over & over again? 062209

- (...) An attempt towards achieving theoretical clarity may lead to new theoretical building. Oh logical argumentation. 061909

- Meaning is neither purely semantic (representational) nor purely syntactic (non-representational). It is both. Hence, I and my project. 061809

- The lived space is slowly taking center stage. This is going to be difficult. 061709

- If LA is an 'idea' representation of Rowe's Collage City, Bombay is its 'real' description. 061509

- The protagonist of the film, "The Mirror" is incredible. The city, through her eyes, is one big family: relational & lived. 061409

- Determinism, Dialectics and Deconstruction: currently moving from one to another but returning again & again to the second of the three. 061109

- Filled with narrative, space, dichotomies, thirding, project, consciousness, experience, meaning and gravitating towards description. 061009

- "One of the most harmful habits in contemporary thought is the analysis of the present as ... unique or irruptive point in history" (Foucault) 060909

- Lived space makes mind/theory/academic and body/practice/person separation impossible. HL loves this tension. 052509

- Critical theory is normative in that it attempts to provide norms for criticism and change of current social problematic. 051309

- "Ambulatory movement is one in which the vision moves from focus to awareness" (DL). 051009

- (...) Politics, conceptions & representations of space along with Tschumi? (...) the core of my current work. 050809

- Critique is the central problematique. Let's see where it leads me. 050309

Ecology as Lived: Paper

Theory Forum Poster: Click to enlarge.

I am very excited to be part of "Theory Forum '09: Ecology" at the Sheffield School of Architecture, The University of Sheffield. My talk is entitled, "Ecology as Lived: Interrogating space and its relationship with experience."

In my paper, I refer to ecology as a worldview through which to understand relations, interconnections and forms of communication between concrete and abstract, world as perceived and world as conceived, their foundation and production in the notion of lived. Ecology as lived draws upon the notion of phenomenological ecology and posits an understanding of ecology as one, transcending the aforementioned dualities through emphasis on their constant interplay. My paper discusses the notion of lived, its relation with space and opposition to Cartesian binaries. Through a close examination of space as lived, I explore the conflict between architectural designer and experiencing subject and discuss the role and meaning of lived in architectural design (key concepts: existential phenomenology, critical philosophy, space syntax, dialectics, design).

Here is the event schedule:

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Friday November 13, 2009

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9:30 - Ecologies: Limitations and possibilities, Irenee Scalbert, SAUL, Ireland

9:50 - The Potential of the Empty House, Catharina Gabreilsson, The London School of Economics

10:10 - Ecology as Lived: Interrogating space and its relation with experience, Kush Patel, The University of Michigan

11:20 - Ethics vs. Aesthetics, Steve Parnell, The University of Sheffield

11:40 - Pictorial Ecology, Nigel Dunnett, The University of Sheffield

12:00 - Urban Homeostasis: Counterbalancing Urban Disruptions, Ruxandra Berinde, TU of Cluj-Napoca, Romania

13:45-14:45 Keynote - Territorial Ecologies, Neeraj Bhatia & Maya Przybylski, InfraNetLab, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo.

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Saturday November 14, 2009

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10:20 - Design Ecologies of Access, Lisa Tilder, Ohio State University

10:40 - States of Change: Transformative Shanghai, Rosalea Monacella, RMIT University

11:00 - Education for Sustainable Architecture: Qualified Architects with Insufficient Knowledge? Bing Chen, The University of Sheffield

12:10 - Urban Space and Models of Sustainability, Mick O'Kelly, National College of Art and Design, Dublin

12:30 - Ecology and the Art of Sustainable Living, David Haley, Manchester Metropolitan University

12:50 - Critical Ecologies, Jon Goodbun, University of Westminster, WAG Architecture

The talks are complemented by workshops, film screenings and more.

On Visibility or Women and Practice II

Documenting architecture: Plan and section of Udaipur Palace, Jain, K. and Jain, M. (1994) Indian City in the Arid West. AADI Center: Ahmedabad, India.

Continuing from my previous post, let me introduce one such woman in practice, whom I regard as my hero and mentor, architect-acedemic Prof. Minakshi Jain. She is a faculty in School of Architecture, CEPT University and a partner in Jain Associates, Ahmedabad. At CEPT, she has taught for over 30 years in both undergraduate and graduate programs - led design studios, guided thesis projects and taught seminar courses in Urban Design, Interior Design and most recently, the Master's Program in Architectural Conservation.

In professional practice since the early '70s, she has several noteworthy projects to her credit. These range from design of award winning private residences and urban housing projects to interior design, historic conservation and architectural publication work. Educated at MS University, Baroda and The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, she has worked with Charles and Ray Eames in Ahmedabad and Louis Kahn in the US in different capacities. She had met Kahn when he was designing IIM - Ahmedabad, and was later encouraged by him to pursue her Master's in Architecture at UPenn. In her words, "(Kahn) told me that if I wished to learn more about architecture, I should come to UPenn and so I did for a year to complete my master's degree. It was an interesting experience as everything was strange and new to me. My association with Kahn taught me that integrity was essential in your work and if you are passionate in what you do, then rest is easy." Ever since, her professional practice and academic teaching have intersected in interesting ways.

My association with Prof. Jain started in the year 2000, when I had interned at their firm Jain Associates as an undergraduate student in architecture. I was involved in on-site exploration and study of historic water-system of Ahhichatragarh Fort, Nagaur, Rajasthan. It was a unique experience in terms of the project's unconventional nature and hands-on learning. All along, her discipline, strong work ethic and the innate ability to reach out to people, both in office and on-site, presented to me the human dimension of architectural practice. Later, she was my first studio instructor in the Urban Design program at CEPT. Here again, her professional experience coupled with excellent pedagogical skills informed my learning immensely, and in newer ways.

Defying the binaries of softer-harder portfolios and their patriarchal origins, Prof. M. Jain is one such woman in practice, whose passion for architecture is visible at all scales. It has not just shaped practice but also rendered it a human meaning. It is founded on formative principles that weave connections and bring to fore the social dimension of architecture. She may not have an extensive web-presence, but her work is well acknowledged in many parts of the world. Needless to say, her simplicity and dedication to work, honesty, creativity and tenacity to tide over oddities continue to inspire and guide me in my pursuits, both academic and personal.

Thank you, Prof. Jain!

On Visibility or Women and Practice I

Cover: Somaya, B. and Mehta, U. (eds.) "Women in Architecture"

This post parallels my current discussion with Prof. Fernando Lara on gender inequality and "women in architecture." It is in two parts. The first part summarizes our most recent exchanges on this subject in his blog "sharing walls." The second part, my next post, fondly introduces one such woman practitioner whom I continue to regard as my hero and mentor.

In his blog, Prof. Lara - an architect-academic and a father of two daughters, revisits an otherwise seldom-discussed yet significant problem of gender inequality and/or the apparent lack of visibility of women in architecture. He says that despite a large representation of women students and educators in architectural schools, there are very few women leading the profession. He asks, is architecture profession largely sexist and internally divisive or does the fault lie with clients, and their continuing perception of women architects as "kitchen remodelers," and male architects as "master builders"? To many outside of our discipline, and to those from within but in denial, this may read like a non-issue. But the fact remains that architectural practice, and its projection are both fractured. They need closer examination in terms of a. how do we understand contemporary practice, and b. what keeps women practitioners from being visible in the field?

I would begin by arguing that the traditional view of practice is limited, in that, it tends to be governed by patriarchy, and its assigning of "softer portfolios" (interior design, landscape design, architectural conservation) to women, and "harder counterparts," (urban design, architecture, architectural engineering, construction) to men. Over the years, such value-laden notions have helped produce a mythical "mainstream," where men and "their kinds" of practices have enjoyed greater visibility. Contemporary views however differ from this divisiveness, and M. Malecha's thought-provoking comment best exemplifies this. In one of the academic conferences he argued, "(I)t is time we re-termed architecture as architectureS (plural): meaning there are practiceS in architecture, and nothing like mainstream and alternative" (emphasis added). In my opinion, this is a valuable step in the direction of (re)recognizing different practices that define contemporary pluralism and through which to help make visible all the actors, including women in practice.

On the notion of visibility: Visibility is not about presence alone. It is also about the presence of absence, where absence is not what is not visible but what is not given thought. Malecha's comment gives critical thought to the traditional binary model. It seeks to remove the dominant model (read "softer portfolio/harder portfolio") from its traditional patriarchal embedding, and argue for re-envisioning of practice around actors, performances, connections and their interplay in architecture. Seen from this perspective, not just the discourse but also the profession of architecture can be described as one that is alive with individuals of all genders, sexualities, and ethnicities. Hence my claim: in contemporary times, "women in architecture" is no longer a question about who/where are they but about, what keeps them from being visible?

Stay tuned for my next post on the work of a multi-faceted woman practitioner, whose creative spirit and work ethic is a continuing inspiration.

Added note: How does the notion of visibility intersect with "current turns" (spatial, cultural, computational, digital, aesthetic) in architecture and allied disciplines?

The Current Turn (?)

Last month on Twitter, I asked myself and to those I follow a simple question: If the deep recession in NYC in the late 1970s was also a moment when lot of architects turned to paper architecture, what is the current turn? By 'turn' neither did I wish to suggest a deterministic cause-effect outcome nor a clarion call. I chose to define the term as an otherwise less visible path but one that is intensified, institutionalized and/or brought into prominence by conditions of crisis. On recession, I recall Sean Griffins' (1) opening comment in his 2007 lecture in New York City. He said, "We look at architecture in a slightly different way. We were fortunate enough to start our practice in the midst of a terrible construction recession, which basically meant nobody could give you a job, which meant you could do whatever you liked. (This) is actually a really good thing for architects because they don't have to hang around developers anymore."

Notwithstanding the present time, it is all too often argued that the "profession" of architecture remains enslaved by client and budget. Add to this, the specifics of site and the architecture program, and what you get are, what the Office of Unsolicited Architecture (OUA) (2) calls, the "four pillars" of professional practice. The OUA (2007) premises that architecture is a response profession and that the only way to turn it into an action profession is by liberating it from at least one of those four pillars (Neat!). Rory Hyde in his recent post discusses their approach in the light of several examples from around the world. He also makes a distinction between the practice of unsolicited-architecture and that of paper-architecture. He argues that while the strength of unsolicited work is its potential to become a realized project with support from public, political and/or financial sector, that of paper-practice is its ability to inspire, if at all, a tangible realization. His supporting list of various examples helps further delineate and make distinct the two models.

In the realm of practice then, 'unsolited architecture' could be seen as one such significant 'current turn.' My only contention is that works of OUA and the like not be considered as alternative models of practice because the notion of "alternative" reinforces the existence of a mythical "mainstream." On an added note, I am interested in examining the relationship of the ongoing 'turns' in professional practice with the contemporary discourse of 'turns' in academia (in particular the "spatial-turn") (3). I am tempted to start a discussion on Tschumi and his theory of architecture as a trigger for social change. I will continue from here in my next post.

(1) Sean Griffins is a partner in the London-based art and architecture collective F.A.T. (Fashion. Architecture. Taste).
(2) The Office of Unsolicited Architecture (OUA) is a studio founded by Ole Bouman and students of MIT in 2007.
(3) In academic discourse, the term 'turn' has come to attract the attention of nearly every discipline in humanities and social sciences. Notions such as "spatial-turn" and "cultural-turn" are significant markers of a shift from the grand and universal narratives in twentieth-century scholarship to a more nuanced work on plurality and difference, specificity and essences in contemporary times.

Calcutta Calling!

Must read narratives on Calcutta. See below for links.*

In its little over three hundred years of history, the city of Calcutta has been called at different times, the City of Palaces for its neo-Victorian and eclectic urbanscape, the Paris of the East for its intellectual and artistic cultural life, the City of Dreadful Night for its supposed oppressive weather and more recently, the City of Joy for its humanity and hope.

Having been born and bred in this wonderful city, any and every reference to its urbanity conjures up beautiful memories. Hence, while recently watching Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's new film Antaheen,** it was but obvious to experience great nostalgia. The essence of the film lay in its portrayal of the quintessential modern day Bangali cosmosexual - an intellectual and a keen urban observer, searching for eternal love yet wanting to be fiercely independent. My Calcutta is home to such social tensions and contradictions. It is where dialectics are hailed, valorized and fiercely argued. I am alluding to the city of my memories and lived experiences. I realize that in so doing, I run the danger of what S. Dastidar calls, "not bringing the representation up to date." But again, my city of memories is not one of picture postcards or those moments of picture perfection. It is a city of lyrical imperfections, one continuously formed by its quintessential sociality of contradictions. It is in this spirit that I resist calling it Kolkata. Cheers!

*Links:

1. The Parlour and the Streets (Sumanta Banerjee)

2. City of Joy (Dominique Lapierre)

3. Past Continuous (Neel Mukherjee)

4. Corridor (Sarnath Banerjee)

5. Born into Brothels (Zana Brisky)

** An endless wait

Take the Survey

Writer, editor and publisher Michael Kubo is currently working on a research project entitled "Publishing Practices" to be exhibited at Pinkcomma gallery, Boston in September 2009. As part of this project, he has designed a research survey to study the influence of architectural publications for those who have received an architectural education and are currently involved in its practice. The survey asks to list five books that have been important to education and/or current practice in the field. Following this are a series of questions on the significance of architectural publications today.

In the end and with all the responses, Kubo hopes to produce "a set of information graphics on the role and impact of architectural publications, for exhibition in September and possible publication thereafter." Responses are confidential and needed by August 1. It takes no more than 15-20 minutes to complete, so take the survey here (without delay!).

I loved this sample survey, particularly because I am working on a similar project but one focusing exclusively on International Publications (journals/magazines). Additionally, I commented that it might be helpful to survey say, 5 thinkers/architects/theorists/philosophers whose works have influenced practitioners and the practice of architecture. The inquiry would then focus on knowledge dissemination but align it to specific types of knowledge, its production and dissemination viz-a-viz both traditional and new media. This is something that I am increasingly becoming interested in examining (more on this to come).