'M' for magic!

It’s been nearly a century since the passing away of British Architect Robert ‘Fellowes’ Chisholm, yet we (especially Barodians) have a plenty of reasons to remember him even today. One of the pioneers of Indo Saracenic architecture, Robert Chisholm has given Baroda some of its most important landmarks like the Laxmi Vilas Palace, the Nyay Mandir, the Baroda Museum etc. among several others.

In his honor, the Robert ‘Fellowes’ Chisholm lecture was initiated in 2010 by the Indian Institute of Architects, Baroda Chapter. This was then further expanded as a colloquium jointly by the IIA and the ‘Indian Architect & Builder’ magazine. The 2013 Colloquium saw a photography contest, workshop & technology lecture by Dhananjay- Anita Dake and a keynote lecture by Gurjit Singh Matharoo of Matharoo Associates.

Inspite of being unable to attend the technology lecture earlier in the day, I did not wish to miss the keynote lecture at any cost and as it were to turn out I was not the only one to have felt this way. Although not many people (mostly non architecture) recognize him by name, his work speaks for itself as was evident when one of my very senior colleagues asked me in the morning, “are you going to attend today’s lecture by that sardarji, what’s-his-name? Very good projects huh!”

Surely enough, a large volume of students and professionals turned up at the CC Mehta auditorium to hear Gurjit Singh Matharoo talk about his projects and design philosophies. Annoyingly though, sponsor presentations before the keynote lecture took up a lot of time and the crowd grew quite impatient. However this restlessness barely seemed to affect Gurjit Singh, who owned the audience the minute he started his presentation.

Over the last decade, I’ve attended two of his other lectures and his presentation quality (both verbal and visual) has never ceased to amaze me. The opening-contents slide itself managed to grab quite a few eyeballs with listed topics like- The botoxed set, Holy cows, Succulent thighs- juicy breasts- and great legs etc. all rather cleverly yet provocatively titled in accordance to their corresponding projects.

It was all uphill from there and as the audience watched with bated breath Gurjit Singh Matharoo presented one project after another with the deft and skill of a magician for all his projects certainly have the inventiveness, creativity and freshness of a magic act. 

Perhaps the only common factor between most of his projects is the use of concrete as the primary material of construction but it has come into play after intensive research and a lot of questioning into the current ‘warped’ ideas of sustainability including the LEED rating system which unintentionally advocates making a glass box, trapping all the heat inside and then air conditioning it completely (voila!).

Rightfully questioning the current trend in architecture and the need for it to be over the top than its neighbour, Gurjit Singh tries to remain as minimal as possible adhering to his philosophy of ‘when in doubt, reduce; when not in doubt surely reduce!’ This philosophy is also reflected in the kind of budget constraints he has worked under finishing one of the private weekend retreats in as low a budget as Rs 7,00,000/- ( 6 Pounds/ Sq. Ft) 

Unlike most architects who make a design and then try to persuade the clients to see their way, Gurjist Singh Matharoo seems quite flexible and adaptive to the kind of design needs of his clients and on rare occasion even that irrational demand by the client’s Vastu consultants requiring him to alter the design completely.

Through each of his projects, he aims to create design (even cars and vans!) and design elements that could serve as prototypes for future models. Experimenting even at the cost of mistakes, he does not shy away from admitting them and rather than trying to hide them, he highlights them instead!

Quite to the contrary of what Gurjit Singh Matharoo maintains that he does not think too much but rather does his thing and then thinks, his work is living proof of the fact that perhaps the maximum amount of thinking goes into non-thinking and as always it continues to innovate and inspire.  

MALL-ture

In one swift move that has perhaps permanently changed the way Barodians look at their city, K Raheja Corp launched its chain- the Inorbit mall in Vadodara's orbit (pun intended) amidst much fanfare and chaos last week. For Inorbit malls CEO Kishore Bhatija, the Vadodara launch just marks the beginning of a long term strategy for their branch expansion to tier-II and tier-III cities however, for this sleepy town the launch means a lot more than that.

Since a very long time now Vadodara has been living in the shadow of her elder sister Ahmedabad, definitely not in class but in terms of culture, luxury, eateries, and more simply put- just something to boast about. Although one might argue that a 'mall' is nothing to boast of, it is almost certainly a response to a long unanswered question of what to do in Vadodara on a Sunday.

Last Sunday, me like most other Barodians (and some non Barodians I suspect) went to the "navo mall gorwa baju (new mall near Gorwa)" to check it out and I was pleasantly surprised to see its sheer scale. All around the mall there were a lot of people regarding it with appreciation and reverence. I half expected people to take off their footwear before they entered.

Standing tall and proud like a magnificent beast it seemed to have landed on its feet. What's interesting here is to note that even though work began on the mall way back in 2007, there was never any discussion or debate about it. This has probably worked to it's advantage because the mall seems to have been constructed almost overnight as if in a silent black and white film without any drama or over-hype.

In terms of its architecture, there does not seem to be anything extraordinary as far as malls go. Quite frankly, if the truss roof structure had to be defined in one word it would be- morose. In a mall that had a Rs 300 Crore budget, one is bound to expect a design that reflects the culture and context of the city and is meaningful on a lot of different levels. However the Inorbit not unlike all the other malls fails to start that trend. The landscaping also seems to have been added as an after thought with no clear pedestrianized zones or walkways in front of the entrance. Even though there is a mini amphitheater of sorts, it is right in between the parking and the drop off zone just further adding to the confusion and chaos of honking car horns and blasting stereos, making it a not-so-ideal location to sit and enjoy the ambiance that comes with a public design of this scale. On the very same road, it's frenemy-The CentreSquare mall, although much smaller in scale manages to bring people together simply by its bold and voluminous external public plaza.


One must accept that malls are slowly but surely becoming a part of developing India but it is also the right time to ask, in what way are they improving the quality of life for the people they are designed for? It is time for designers to wake up and realize the potential that a good design for such public malls would hold.