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An exhibition of the top fifteen Architectural Design submissions for the Bamiyan Culture Centre was launched by the UNESCO Office in Afghanistan, early this May. Ed Chew's entry was one of 15 selected from among the 1070 submitted entries to grace the walls of the exhibition hall at the historic Garden of Babur.
Every facet of our profession - from design concept to construction implementation - is very much bound by the plethora of rules and regulations. There are times when I feel our profession is over-regulated, that we do have too many regulatory bodies involved in decision making that sometimes lead to project delays.
While I was browsing through the library at TUM yesterday, I ran across a book by Johan van Lengen calledThe Barefoot Architect. Although the book was first published in 1982, it still retains its significance and relevance even till today, and has served as a reference source for those interested in green building practices, particularly in dry and humid tropics.
This book is filled with lots of hand drawn illustrations that covers design, construction details, water and sanitation techniques, natural heating and cooling systems, along with a wide variety of natural materials.
B.V.Doshi may not be a familiar name to most, but his contribution to architecture in India is equally profound, if not, comparable to that of the late Charles Correa. After having worked briefly with Le Corbusier in Paris from 1951 to 1954, B.V. Doshi returned to India in 1955 to supervise the construction of four projects that Le Corbusier had been commissioned to build by some wealthy mill-owners of Ahmedabad. In that same year, he founded his architectural practice Vastu Shilpa Consultants and went on to build many significant buildings and houses in India.
Architectural profession, like many others, is a learning process in which most practices grow and move forward in trial-and-error approaches only to become competent after many years in a steep learning curve. I am still learning, and I have been making lots of mistakes along the way. In fact, I have learned a great deal more through difficult experiences than through all the moments where life was comfortable. I quote here a well-known saying of Mencius, a Confusion philosopher:
"When heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on any man, it will exercise his mind with suffering, subject his sinews and bones to hard work, expose his body to hunger, put him to poverty, place obstacles in the paths of his deeds, so as to stimulate his mind, harden his nature, and improve wherever he is incompetent."
It's truly amazing what we'll discover if only we would open our eyes to see things as it is not as what it ought to be.
Even though I build buildings and I pursue my architecture, I pursue it as an artist. I deliberately keep a tiny studio. I don't want to be an architectural firm. I want to remain an artist.
