SPARC

A good education must help the young generation to think, not to follow without thinking and imitate.

Mr. Tanvir Shahzad, Journalist, Mr. Amjad Ali, Journalist from Voice of Germany (VoG), Mr. Omar Hassan, Architect Professor BNU and Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch, from SES met in BNU on 29 October 2015.


During the meeting in BNU, many interesting subjects of mutual interest were discussed: Mud House Project with three experimental houses, financed from German Government, Production of diplomas in architecture in the time between present fashion and change in architecture through 3D-plotter, About the impotence of leaders to understand the 21st century needs, the bona fide to belief Time is Money and the tale it has to be profitable in society, the belief in economical tales demolish a society and the education is a brave helper.

The Musgum or Moupoui are an ethnic group in Cameroon and Chad. They speak Musgu, a Chadic language, which had 61,500 speakers in Cameroon in 1982 and 24,408 speakers in Chad in 1993. The Musgum call themselves Mulwi. In Cameroon, the Musgum live in the Maga sub-division, Mayo-Danay division, Far North Province. In Chad, they live in Bongor Subprefecture, Mayo-Kebbi Prefecture, and in N'Djaména Subprefecture, Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture. This territory lies between the Chari and Logone rivers. Increasing numbers of Musgum in Cameroon are settling farther north, in the direction of Kousséri.

The Musgum are Neo-Sudanese in origin, having displaced the Paleo-Sudanese at the present territory along with other Neo-Sudanese.Their recorded history begins with their conquest by the Fulani during the jihad of Modibo Adama in the 19th century. Many Musgum have since adopted elements of Fulani dress and culture and have converted to Islam. Fishing is an important activity for the Musgum during the rainy season when the Logone River floods. This has led to ethnic tensions with rival fishermen of the Kotoko ethnic group.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles is seeking students to join their doctoral program in architectural technology in Fall 2010 in their globally diverse program.

The University is looking for students interested in all aspects of the building envelope: sustainability, daylighting, structures, computing, BIM, energy performance, power generation, glare, intelligent skins, etc.

We have substantial scholarships, an outstanding new facility, and extraordinary faculty. This year we hired three new tenure track faculty members in architectural technology.

For more information, please contact: Douglas Noble, FAIA, Ph.D., Chair of the Ph.D. Program School of Architecture, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-0291, USA

The term Housing was discussed in some of our recent articles and we referred there to the Cultural Model, in which the human effort is actively promoted, -the traditional one as well as the socalled traditional one.

Although it was not possible to completely avoid the conflict between religion and science, still we were able to describe in one go a new cultural formula

The Inter-dependencies between the individual areas can be epoch-making, for example currently the economy. Is an individual area so important, it can be compared with a cold star in the astronomical terminology. In our example this would mean that the economy does continue to play its role but not in its current ly known form.

The history of science amply proves that followers of a certain surviving form or method cannot be easily convinced through arguments. As the Nobel-prize winning scientist Max-Planck once said, the next generations will be "normally" working with things that today appear to be cimpossible or non-sensical. This should mean that it takes only one generation to make unthinkable quite normal.

The technology is extremely dependent upon the economy and therefore economic considerations appear always to play a role, which however is only short-term and short-sighted and actually based upon a postponement of the problems and actually assumes the problems of Resource-wastage, environmental pollution and destruction of cultural values, which however also requires the ability to recognize these losses. One cannot and does not want to recognize something which one cannot see!

A holistic way of looking at things is the necessity here. A view of the situation in totality, which is hardly possible in the current era of times pressures, which prevent reflection on the real causes and contemplative view of things.

Read the article in print in Techno Biz Nov 2009 issue!

Sustainability is the buzzword. Every manner of building makes a claim to “greenness” today. While there are various ways of judging how green a building is, we often assume its look also offers a clue.

This seems reasonable. If a building is made largely of a material that consumes less energy and produces fewer emissions, the building is likely to be greener than others. Buildings that expose stone, brick or a wood skeleton consume less cement because they are not plastered. Also, if this material is local, little energy is consumed in transportation. So can there actually be a green look for a building?

That depends on how the question is phrased. We may ask, “Can we judge how sustainable a building is from its looks?” Or “Are there some aesthetic values that lead to more sustainable architecture?”

Let’s take the first question first. From the late eco-architect Laurie Baker’s buildings in Kerala, we may conclude that using natural materials and showing them off will lead to a greener building. Such strategies reduce the use of energy-guzzling materials such as cement, steel, aluminium and glass. Yet as Surya Kakani, an Ahmedabad-based architect who has built several eco-sensitive institutional and industrial facilities, says, “A building in mud may not be truly green in its impact if the mud is transported from a faraway location, using up a lot of fuel.”

Waste material locally available may be the best. Some years ago, Kakani used earthquake rubble to build load-bearing walls for a school in Rajkot, which he then plastered and painted—a conventional look with deep green veins. At a recently completed garment factory in Ahmedabad (which is day-lit and naturally ventilated), he exposed the mix of fly-ash bricks (75%) and burnt bricks (25%) in a distinctive look that flaunts environment-friendly underpinnings.

Size matters too. An air-conditioned, 5,000 sq. ft bachelor’s pad, even if built with local mud, would not be the best illustration of sustainable architecture. In this case, size alone would negate the low-energy consumption of the building material, even before power-guzzling appliances come into play. The natural look of mud construction can hide a very unnatural attitude to consumption.

Perhaps there is no green look then. Or maybe looks have nothing to do with sustainability.

A less sustainable look?

Consider the other side of the coin—is there an aesthetic that is inherently non-green?

Architecture has been something of an obsession in contemporary art for decades. Back in 1981, the now defunct Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art mounted a citywide exhibition, “Architectural Sculpture,” which was both a barometer and a harbinger of the intersection of art and architecture. Read review here!

Pervaiz Munir Alvi

Muslims first arrived in areas now constituting southern half of Pakistan, mostly Sindh and Balochistan in Eighth century A.D. when ships of Arab general Mohammad bin Qasim landed somewhere near the mouth of the Indus river and then traveled upriver all the way to the important city of Multan in lower Punjab. Thus bringing most of the commerce routes from the Indus valley to Mesopotamia through Balochistan and Persia under their control. The areas now constituting northern half of Pakistan, Punjab, Kashmir and Frontier did not come under the Muslim control till the beginning of the eleventh century when the armies of Sultan Mahmood of Gazna, present day Afghanistan, came down through the mountain passes demolishing temples and the statuary within, unfortunate enough to be in their way. The newcomers, along with a new religion, also introduced new forms of visual arts and architecture to this land and its people. Mosques and madrassas were built, Forts and Palaces were erected, Mausoleums and Garden Cemeteries were created where no such structures existed before. The old Temples and Ashrams, Stupas and Monasteries ultimately became the relics of history. So significant was the introduction, and later on the proliferation, of this new art form that in historical terms the architecture of the areas now constituting Pakistan could be designated to two distinct periods— the earlier as pre-Islamic and the later as Islamic period.



By the middle of the eighteenth century Muslims lost control of the areas now constituting northern half of Pakistan to the Sikhs of Punjab. Even though they made architectural contributions of their own, the Sikh period also saw, not unlike their predecessors, destruction, stripping and neglect of the earlier buildings of the Islamic period. Particularly affected were the Muslim religious places such as the historical mosques and mausoleums. The areas now constituting southern half of Pakistan fortunately remained under Muslim control long after the fall of the Mughals and therefore did not experience the similar fate. However invaders from Persia and Afghanistan routinely damaged the historically significant structures and looted whatever they could on their return trip home.

The mid nineteen century saw the start of another short but architecturally significant period. By now the British had successfully taken over all the territories later to become Pakistan and set upon building new administrative institutions and infrastructures of their own. They were going to built collages, hospitals, post offices, museums, court houses, assembly halls, city halls, libraries, country clubs, parks, stadiums, cantonments and residential bungalows, railway stations and yes architecturally significant bridges and tunnels. In one century of British rule hundred and hundreds of new significant public structures were commissioned throughout the country. This was a period of not only European and English architecture but also of unique hybrids created by fusing the elements of English with the local Islamic architecture. Most of these colonial buildings are still standing and in use in Pakistan. British also help restore and some times deface some of the old historical buildings. In balance British period is the most significant period for Architecture in Pakistan.

The year 1947 is the beginning of the post colonial Pakistan period. British had left behind a running administration and infrastructure for the new rulers of the new country. In the first decade very few new architecturally significant buildings were added in any sphere of the society. The first major architectural surge took place when the national capital was moved from the commercial port city of Karachi at the Arabian Sea to the newly designed modern city of Islamabad located at the foothill of picturesque Margala ridge. Almost all major buildings in the city were designed by the foreign firms with some local input. These designers have often tried to create modern functional structures with infusion of their perceived local styles and traditions. The result is another hybrid architecture which over the time will be known as Pakistan period. Other than Islamabad every major city in Pakistan has also added few new structures in the mix. These are mostly educational and administrative buildings, hospitals, commercials centers, hotels, mosques and national monuments. Lately new airport terminals and sea ports are also added too.



Out side Islamabad no new major library is built. Other than those left behind by the British there has been no new world class museum or art gallery built in the last six decades. There are no opera houses, night clubs, significant theater halls or palaces to host performance events. None of the new bridges over major rivers or canals have any architectural values to them. The country has no internationally renowned architects or architectural firms of its own and thus heavily depends on foreign based designers. It is possible that with time a distinct Pakistani Architecture, like French or Italian Architecture may evolve. But it might be by default and not by conscientious design.

Nader Khalili, California architect/author is the world renowned Earth Architecture teacher and innovator of the Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire System known as Ceramic Houses, and of the Superblock construction system. Khalili received his philosophy and architectural education in Iran, Turkey, and the United States. He has been a licensed architect in the State of California since 1970, and has practiced both in the U.S. and abroad. Since 1975 he has been involved with Earth Architecture and Third World Development, and is a U.N. (UNIDO) consultant for Earth Architecture, the Ceramic Houses and SuperBlock Technologies. In 1984 the award for "Excellence in Technology" went to him for the innovation of the Ceramic Houses system, from the California Council of the American Institute of Architects (CCAIA), and in 1987 Khalili's project "Housing for the Homeless: Research and Education" received a Certificate of Special Recognition from the U.N. International Year of Shelter for the Homeless and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Since 1984, Lunar and Space habitation have become an integral part of his work; his "Magma Structures" design, based on the Geltaftan (Ceramic Houses) System, and "Velcro-Adobe" system (later to become the Superblock/ sandbag and barbed wire system) were presented at the 1984 NASA symposium, "Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century". He was subsequently invited to Los Alamos National Laboratory as a visiting scientist. He has presented papers and has been published since 1984 in several symposiums and publications including those of NASA, and the "Journal of Aerospace Engineering" for which he was awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Khalili was a member of the team of the "Lunar Resources Processing Project," along with the Princeton -based Space Studies Institute, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems, and Alcoa.

The Laurie Baker International School of Habitat Studies (Labishas), an autonomous institution under the Kerala State Nirmithi Kendra (Kesnik), has embarked on a project to popularise the use of mud as a construction material in housing.

The project, which seeks to integrate traditional mud architecture with modern technology, was inaugurated on the Kesnik campus here on Wednesday. Minister for Housing Benoy Viswom laid the foundation stone for a mud house on the campus.

The walls of the house will be built using a mixture of cement and earth containing more than 20 per cent mud. This, according to engineers at Kesnik, will lend strength and stability to the building. The roof of the mud house will be made of iron, coconut wood and sheets with tiles on top. The floor will have terracotta tiles.

Up to 50 per cent of people all over the world dwell in mud houses.

“Mud is a good insulator and eco-friendly material. It is preferred because it results in cooler interiors. A mud house costs 50 per cent less than other houses,” says project coordinator, S.Radhakrishnan.

The model house on the Kesnik campus is expected to come up in two months. [Via]

Gargi Gupta


Dilwara Bagh is an incredible place, finds Gargi Gupta, which marries the best and most advanced concepts of green architecture with the appurtenances of gracious living.


Tucked away somewhere on the bylanes off Pataudi Road, only a little distance from the burst of the glass and concrete in Gurgaon, is a house that’s so singular that it’s probably the only one of its kind not just in Delhi, but also in India and even Asia.

Tucked away somewhere on the bylanes off Pataudi Road, only a little distance from the burst of the glass and concrete in Gurgaon, is a house that’s so singular that it’s probably the only one of its kind not just in Delhi, but also in India and even Asia.

Dilwara Bagh, Reena and Ravi Nath’s farmhouse, was featured last year on American TV as an outstanding example of sustainable architecture in Asia.

It has been written about extensively in technical books and journals; faculty and students of architecture colleges have studied its many energy-conserving and earth-building features; it was included in the TERI booklet, Energy-efficient buildings in India (2001); an episode of Turning Point, the popular science programme on Doordarshan, was shot there; and if it hasn’t been all over the popular media, it’s only because of the owners’ justifiable reservations about opening their home to all and sundry.

Dilwara Bagh isn’t new. Designed by Gernot Minke, the German architect who’s considered the “pope” of earth architecture, and Sanjay Prakash, the Delhi-based purveyor of low-energy construction techniques, it was completed in 1995. Yet, even now, it remains at the cutting edge of green technology.

“We met Minke in 1990, I think, when he had come to India for a conference,” remembers Nath. “He was already an authority on earth buildings and wanted to design a house in India. We asked whether we could afford him, and he said no, but we could foot his air fare to India and take care of his boarding in Delhi, as payment.”

Reena Nath says that her only brief to Minke was that the house “shouldn’t be a typically Delhi marble palace”, and that it should keep out the dust and creepy crawlies.

Minke’s design fulfils all her criteria and more. Built on a plot of four acres, the 206 square metre single-storied house is made entirely of unbaked mud blocks and stone — the pillars supporting the roof (very like the Dilwara Jain temples in Abu, from where the house got its name) made of red sandstone, lighter coloured Dholpur stone on the roof (for its higher light reflection qualities), the door-frames and built-in shelves, a dark brownish Kota stone on the floor in the courtyard and rough slate in the other rooms, golden Jaisalmer in the living room contrasting with the white marble of the step-down seats that function as the sofa.

Even the dining table is a slab of the most exquisite marble, with lovely green and yellow grains polished to a high sheen. The only cement and steel used in the entire structure is in the earthquake band.

Thanks to the aerodynamically designed conical roof, the positive air pressure inside and other features, very little dust goes into the house.

“The white curtains you see were bought sometime in 1995 and have been washed five-six times only in all these years. In contrast, the curtains for our city house, which I bought around the same time, have long gone,” informs Reena Nath.

The creepy crawlies have been kept out by the simple device of grooves etched into the door sill so that there’re no gaps for the insects to get in.

As for the green features, the most distinctive is the earth tunnel system used for temperature regulation and air circulation within. It consists of a 200-feet long pipe buried under earth at a depth of 4-6 metres; at one end of it is a fan that sucks in the ambient air, while the other end forms a network which has openings in all the rooms.

The temperature at that depth being a fairly stable 26 degrees or so, this simple device helps to keep the building cool in summer and warm in winter obviating the need for energy-guzzling ACs and heaters.

Then there’s the berm, an air cavity formed by a stone slab resting at an angle against the outer walls, especially along the west which catches the sun’s glare, which provides insulation (besides being a wonderful place to hide bottles in prohibition-era Gurgaon).

The same principal is used in the roof as well, which is double layered with an air cavity in between. The stone louvres on the windows too help to optimise daylight, at the same time deflecting the sun’s glare in summer and letting it in in winter.

As Minke writes in a letter, “The passive cooling and heating system of the house needs less than 10 per cent of the energy to be used in a comparable modern house in the same climate.”

The same concern for minimising the house’s impact on the earth’s finite resources is seen in the doors made of wood recycled from packing crates, the garden pathways and outer fencing made from stone left over from the construction; and various features that allow recharging of groundwater like the open-joined outer paving, the natural grass covering on the grounds, the drip irrigation.

The imaginative landscaping also helps to regulate the microclimate of Dilwara Bagh. A flat piece of farm land when the Naths bought it, Minke worked on a contouring that’s both pleasing to the eye and ecologically sensitive.

His main intervention was to scoop out two ponds on the south and west of the house and to use the scooped-out mud to create a gently undulating topography that, thanks to the landscaping on the berms, seems to encompass the house in a sweep of grass, shrubs and low trees.

This is no manicured garden, but one where nature has been allowed a free hand. So you have dense vegetation with heaps of dry leaves everywhere, clumps of flowering plants growing wild, orchards of local fruits, natural grass.

Dilwara Bagh’s interiors are equally distinctive. Reena Nath’s colour palette is largely austere, as if she didn’t want to distract attention from the mud walls. So you have old, faded pictures in thin frames, pen-and-ink studies, and wall hangings in pale, washed out blues and beiges.

But every room has a focal visual element — the bright red of the bedspread in the master bedroom, the old four-poster in the spare one, or the busts and statuettes collected from the Naths’ travels around the world. Everywhere surprises abound — the built-in niches, cosily lined with a mattress and strewn with cushions.

The central courtyard is, of course, the piece de resistance with its skylight pouring sunlight over a small pool with a fountain, lotuses and hanging lamps. Nath also makes imaginative use of the pillars as framing devices for large pieces of furniture like the bed and dining table. Every corner of Dilwara Bagh exudes a quality of quiet repose and gracious living, the perfect weekend getaway.