Shree

 

 

Shree

With time and differing contexts, one sees or experiences architecture (or the idea of connection) in different ways. Central idea is of connecting and expanding beyond/ transcending.

Geography and tribals seem one way in which any physical space is seen as a medium to transcend – or having a connection with myth. What we say as ‘myth’ is one way of accessing an experience far remote that it predates even traditions and only suggests a hazy picture (to the modern intellect) of cosmogony/ ancestors/ values/ connections and so on. By this we can say that anything that becomes ‘definite/ scientific/ physical’ as a form (maths or logic) has limitations of how much it can offer a peak into the past and future. Beyond a certain point of mindscape, logic or maths has to break down, since space and time do not appear or perform based on what logic reveals. Hence the mind has to “bend” or “mould” to go beyond logic. This is what philosophy concludes when one expands beyond the measure of body and thoughts. Logic and feelings are derivatives of existential motion and hence subjected to some laws and limitations. Beyond those laws is transcendence and faith.

The second idea is an absolute intangible entity that descends to create a tangible form. The Tao philosophy or Upanishads lay enormous clues in this direction. However the philosophy cannot be “applied” as it is – one has to learn or discover the message of philosophy.

The third idea is to connect with feelings that are very fundamental to life forms. In contemporary world, wherein we operate as designers, this maybe one fundamental idea to explore and thereby “act” out of love and empathy. In architecture, architects such as Louis Kahn suggest that all architecture can be condensed to three fundamental feelings  - (a) that of moving on a street and hence connecting what one sees as one moves; (b) interacting with life forms as one moves and (c) just a sense of being calm in that space. As people and designers, to generate a feeling of love is fundamental and all programs, solutions and built products ought to stem from this feeling and nothing else.

Hari Om.