Southern States
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Tamil Nadu-Chennai
An architect of conservation efforts
Architects have failed in their duty towards society, says `one of them,' Mr. Rahul J. Mehrotra, architect and executive director, Urban Design Research Institute, Mumbai. He reminds us that one does not need to look very far to conclude why. The verbal vocabulary being created now has no relevance to Indian conditions or heritage. ``As a community, architects have let down society since they had not done enough so far.
Architecture has become a commodity,'' he tells R. K. Radhakrishnan. This trend has to be reversed and professionals, including architects and planners should volunteer more time to create awareness about conservation efforts, Mr. Mehrotra says.
FOR CONSERVATION efforts in any city to be relevant, building protection attempts must first ``make a link'' with the larger issue of urban conservation and this, in turn, must ``make a link'' with city planning, says Mr. Mehrotra.
His firm has been involved in building conservation and master planning projects in Mumbai, and sought to address diverse issues from interior design and architecture to urban design, conservation and planning. On the trend of protecting just a few ancient buildings, he feels that cities might end up protecting some monuments and some buildings and end up creating a different kind of polarity. ``These will be islands of opulence where a lot of money will be spent. It is better to take the money out and even it out in different layers and upgrade the entire environment,'' he says.
Mr. Mehrotra, who was a member of the Committee that advised the Mumbai Municipal Corporation on conservation of historic buildings and artefacts, feels that ``one of the reasons that drive conservation around the world is that we all get disturbed about change. Conservation becomes a way of controlling change and urban memory is very important for that reason. A person without memory appears disoriented. And a city without memory is a disoriented city and that is why conservation is very important'', he says. Mr. Mehrotra's work has won him accolades from far and near. In 1995, Interiors India nominated him `designer of the year.' In 1996, Architectural Design (London) selected his firm to be featured in the issue `architecture on the horizon.' The issue covered emerging young practices from around the World. The firm was also awarded two honorary mentions for the Kenneth F.Brown Asia Pacific Culture and Architecture Design Award 2000. The same year, the firm received the JK Cements Award. The firm's projects have been exhibited at the RIBA, London; at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Ankara, the Institut Francais d' Architecture, Paris and the Claude Batley Architectural Gallery, Mumbai.
Asked if the issue has travelled into the political consciousness, he said that politicians had not even given enough attention to cities, let alone urban conservation. ``I think conservation can be one of the many forces that can be used to simultaneously bring to the attention of the decision makers and bureaucrats, the problems of our cities.'' says Mr. Mehrotra, who has been researching on Mumbai's architecture, conservation and planning aspects. He was in the city to participate in a seminar on `restoration and conservation' organised by Max Mueller Bhavan VRD and INTACH.
Legislation aimed at conservation exists in cities like Bombay, Nagpur, Pune in Maharashtra and in Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. ``These cities are benefitting from it. The critical link will be between conservation and urban planning because conservation can make a link and become part of the planning process'', he adds.
The most important component, both for conservation efforts to succeed and for the city to improve was creation of awareness among people. ``Hence, we have to address issues that affect people's lives. How, the increasing intensity of construction impacts on transportation, for instance. Only then will we be able to build a constituency, just like politicians build constituencies''.
On regularisation of existing unlawful structures, he feels that the best tool is a vigilant population. ``Once a structure comes up, it is very difficult to pull it down. The reason given would be that a poor society with meagre resources cannot waste resources. Hence, it is all the more important to engage people and create awareness'', he adds.
Despite the lack of spectacular success across the country and the singular lack of concern in political circles, the future of urban conservation is bright, he feels. The coming together of diverse forces such as NGOs, architects and people for this common cause is the reason enough to dispel gloomy predictions.
By RAHUL J. MEHROTRA
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