Architects on the challenge of creating urban spaces while
conserving old buildings
Leila Araghian, the
acclaimed Iranian architect, sounded excited to share the details of the civil
society movement that stopped the demolition of a Gio Ponti villa in northern
Tehran last year. Built in the '60s, Villa Namazee, typically an art deco,
designed by Giovanni Ponti — a major post-war artist-architect of Europe — is
one of the few buildings to survive in Iran or even Europe. The plan to
demolish Villa Namazee to construct a 20-storey hotel outraged Tehran’s civil
society, especially the architects.
“There were
protests and the work was stopped but I’m not sure for how long,” said Ms
Araghian, the designer-architect of Iran’s largest pedestrian bridge, Tabiat.
Ms. Araghian, who created her own style and brand, recently visited Kolkata to
attend an architects’ conference organised by CREDAI, the apex body of real
estate developers. Creating new urban living spaces while conserving old
buildings and bridges is a challenge, she said.
Saving small
houses
“It is more
difficult to save the small houses, nondescript public buildings which do not
have a glorious history. We have mosques and bridges which are very valuable
but the rest are also contributing to our history,” Ms. Araghian told The Hindu. The crisis – to conserve the old
models while constructing new ones – is universal, she said.
The crisis is
never as severe anywhere as in Kolkata, where Villa Namazees of the city are
making way to gigantic concrete cubes, called residential apartment blocks. But
then, can Kolkata with its investment-famished identity afford to deny growth
to its only buoyant sector – the real estate. Perhaps not; and perhaps that
made the MP Sugata Bose to argue that he is “wholly in favour of new buildings”
in the city.
In the same
breath, however, he also added that he is "simply adamantly against
putting down old heritage structures; needlessly destroying the architecture of
old neighbourhood,” and cited the example of the 1877 Trinity Church of Boston
which is “coexisting” with the 60-storyed residential building in the neighbourhood,
John Hancock Tower, built exactly 100 years after the Trinity Church.
Kolkata’s
Mayor stubbornly backs demolition of the old structures citing overcrowding of
metro cities. In fact, even the members of CREDAI, who hosted the conference,
believe that the “good living in the gated housing” is all about constructing
taller skyscrapers.
Problem of
residences
“These
discussions are good; but how does a city provide residential quarters to the
growing middle class without filling up the empty spaces, parks and water
bodies?” asks a CREDAI member-cum-real estate developer, on condition of
anonymity.
Perhaps
similar questions inspired Giambattista Nolli, the 18th century Italian
architect, to design a city plan of Rome. The design – referred to later as
Nolli Plan was used till the late 20th century for any planning of Rome – is an
amazing work of utility-art, said George Ferguson, an architect-entrepreneur
and first elected Mayor of Bristol.
“The Nolli
Plan does two things – it looks at the public spaces inside the buildings,
while [providing] space for the public to walk around outside; wish we could
all have our cities planned like that… our focus should be on ‘slow
architecture’, created organically, as against the race of having the tallest
building,” Mr Ferguson said. The high rises– however high – would remain
"the highest for a short time”, he said.
“Every new
building in every city would go but what remains is the plan– like Nolli. Great
places are made up of extraordinarily complex plans which will remain beyond
the life of the buildings… our danger [is] while simplifying such plans we are
making boring places,” Ferguson argued.
Great places
are made up of very complex plans. The danger is that by simplifying them, we
end up with boring places
George Ferguson
Architect
entrepreneur
Source:THE HINDU-20th March,2017
