INTEGRATING CONSERVATION IN ARCHITECTURAL PEDAGOGY
Anil Chotmarada
Conservation needs to be seen more as an attitude than as an applied subject which comes into play when things get dilapidated and very often at times are beyond redemption. It also needs to cross the barrier of being seeing as an applied art to be used only on objects which are physical entities. Conservation must be made a part of the fundamental thinking process in a creative act. There are many things which need to be conserved, a good number of which go beyond the physical. While we need to conserve human creation there is also the need to conserve social and cultural heritage. Conservation, of necessity, needs to be a team work in which there are inputs by numerous agencies; some which operate in the fields of physical habitat and some which operate in the field of human behaviour. Architecture as a discipline which embodies both these facets can act as a convenient conduit for interaction between the various agencies. This end can not, however, be achieved till architects start looking at conservation as an inherent component of their profession. It must be realised that while there can be specialised conservation architects, there is the need for all architects to appreciate the need of integrating conservation in general architectural practice. The best way to achieve this level of appreciation is possible if it is inculcated in the minds of the students who opt to enter this profession. It is at this stage of learning that any aspect of the profession if given appropriate emphasis can be imbibed as an integral part of the professionals repertoire.
Architectural education, at the undergraduate level, in five years, imparts information in the three streams of humanities, art and technology. The programme is designed to help build an attitude of appreciating Man Space relationships. While the element of Time is also integrated in the programme, it is done only at the compartmentalised aspect of History. For most students, thus, the past is a body of knowledge which is necessary only to take an examination successfully. Probably, this is the reason why the value of heritage and its maintenance is not fully appreciated in the minds of the professional.
It is therefore imperative that information and the importance of respecting and maintaining the past is fully integrated in the teaching and learning of all the courses prescribed at the undergraduate level of architectural education. This situation is in no way suggesting that the contemporary and the future be not given due importance. This suggestion only signifies the importance of using the past for our present and future.
The implementation of this suggestion in the various courses offered at the undergraduate level can be made possible by an imaginative design of syllabus and curriculum. At present the only courses related to the past are History of Architecture in about three semesters and Conservation as an elective course in the fourth or fifth year. There is, thus, the need for greater inputs, at all levels, in all courses for the aspects of importance of heritage to becomes an attitude.
In the conduct of Architectural Design, the core course, appreciation of heritage can be as adaptive reuse of historical spaces, addition alteration to historical spaces and building in conjunction with historical forms and contemporisation of historical forms. This is possible only if at least one problem every year is associated with the context of conserving our heritage or its appreciation. It is in this course that the students spend their greatest energy and if conservation or its appreciation is kept as the thrust area for a problem, every year, there will be automatic respect for the importance of this subject, over due course of time.
In Building Construction while it is imperative that contemporary and future materials and method be understood and appreciated it is equally important that the traditional system and materials be fully appreciated. In our search for the new, somewhere down the line we seem to have lost the appreciation of the more simple and natural materials which could be of appropriation application even in the contemporary and futuristic context. At times one has a feeling that the contemporary methods are taking us farther and farther away from our natural being.
Accepting the fact that the changing times, have changing demands on space and consequently require new solution and answers in the Man Space relationship, it must be appreciated that the ancients had over time developed very sophisticated systems to solve there problems which could be very well emulated today. The structural systems created by the architects/ master craftsman of the past can not be but admired. Even for the vernacular, the structural systems adopted in the past were probably a better response to Man Nature relationship for the management of habitable spaces. In our search for ‘modernity’ we seem to be limiting ourselves for the expedient, thereby losing the charm of creating inherently beautiful structures. It may be worthwhile to appreciate the structural systems used in heritage situation as a distinct component of study of structural design as applicable to architectural education. Structural design, as it is, is presently studied primarily more as a set of principles of building than the exact set of calculations. It would thence be meaningful to appreciate the principles used in devising the structural built form in the past for use in contemporary fashion for tomorrow’s buildings.
While new technologies have made possible extremely efficient mechanised systems in building, but in the situation of scarce resources and not-so-modern technology, probably the methods used by the ancients were more efficient. This is specially applicable to the building services incorporated in contemporary architectural solution. Over flowing sewers, failing water supply, over heated buildings in summer, icy cold building in winter, failing power situation, over crowded roads are all suggestive of the failure of services in architectural design. While there is no denying the fact that contemporary technology can provide appropriate solution to contemporary problems there is also the need to appreciate the fact that proper infrastructure and appropriate context is required for the application of technology to be successful. The suggestion here is not to revert back to the ancient systems but to appreciate their principles of applications. The application may ultimately suggest improvement in our planning and urbanisation policies, but there is no doubt that the past has many a solution for our today’s problems.
The learning and appreciation of fine arts is essential for architects for the developments of a sense of aesthetique. Aesthetics is an out come of a cultural sense at given time and with changing times new aesthetics are evolved. Somehow the past is always felt to be more beautiful then the present. So, while the features of the past should not be copied, they however need to be contemporised for the sense of beauty to continue. This process of contemporisation requires a complete analysis of the element of beauty in the structure and forms of the past. It is important that the past be retained on a format which is suitable for the demands of today. This aspect of appreciating the past can be incorporated in the study of history of architecture, graphic design and in the conduct of educational tours.
In the framing of even the ancillary courses if it is kept in mind that students have to be acquainted with the importance of appreciating the past, the programme can go a long way in building up an healthy attitude towards continuing our past cultural values. Exercises in sketching, surveying, report writing and art appreciation if conducted on heritage sites would help inculcate a sense of importance of the past. The whole programme thence becomes a platform for learning from the past and respecting our cultural values.
We as a people with a long past, unlike some of the other cultures, need to pay heed to the richness of our past. This sense needs to be imbibed at the learning stages so that it becomes a part of the professional body of knowledge in each individual. This makes it incumbent on the schools of architecture to incorporate this subject in all its detail at all levels of the programme so that it becomes not just a matter of acquiring some information but become an attitude to be followed intuitively instead of it be thought of a matter to be applied as a cosmetic application.
Anil Chotmarada is a Faculty & Director in Gateway College of Architecture & Design, Sonipat-131001, India.