CRITICAL REGIONALISM

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INTRODUCTION

The term critical regionalism described as an essential strategy used to mitigate the
impact of postindustrial globalization, a strategy that had particular design and mass
production of thing which created the uniformity so architecture lose its identity with
respect to context.

BACKGROUND STUDY

Critical regionalism is one such contemporary architectural concept emerged in 1980’s

which enables internationalism and regional essence goes hand in hand. Critical
regionalism is a style that deal with design that seeks to alleviate the impact of
globalization on regional identity. Its deal with uniformity of design without studying the
context and style. It is a strategy used to distinguish between the global and local style
of architecture. “Ten Points on an Architecture of Regionalism: A Provisional theory,” by
Kenneth Frampton formed a key theoretical framework, in respect to rise the importance
of cultural identity of place. Regionalism required that architecture should reflect its time
place and culture and its link to past with evolution to today and connection to future.
According to Frampton, with the light of his work “Towards a Critical Regionalism”,
architects should analyze local character and reinterpret it with contemporary terms,
rather than adapting the traditions directly. Also, architecture should not be captured by
technology and history. In his most recent take on “critical regionalism,” Kenneth
Frampton revisits the dichotomy between center and periphery. It is not the implied
territorial divide that interest Frampton. At issue is how architecture could or should define
the periphery in contrast to the hegemonic architecture unfolding in the center.
Frampton’s take is centered on the ways that technological apparatus, under the
auspices of capitalism, transform the cities one-dimensionally. [1]

NEED FOR THE STUDY AND RELEVANCE IN THE PRESENT DAY CONTEXT

 What is the motivation for this study?

 What is the potential/ intended impact of the study once it is completed?
 What is its relevance to the present day context?
Globalization is accused to be the reason of the loss of city identity Identities are
meanings derived from feelings, experiences, belongingness, and change. They are
made of history, geography, biology, collective memory, power status and religious
revelations. Individuals are the ones who perceive identities according to social
determinations and cultural projections that are rooted in their social structure. It is how
[1]“Critical Regionalism: Whatever Happened to Autonomy.” Critical Regionalism: Whatever Happened to Autonomy @ Fusion Journal http://www.fusion-journal.com/issue/004-

fusion-the-town-and-the-city/critical-regionalism-whatever-happened-to-autonomy/#_ednref2 .

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People connect to the distinctiveness of community and place in relation to global
homogenization.
Cities are expanding, sprawling outside their limits and increasing in density; this increase
in the infrastructure of cities has had adverse effects on the quantity and quality of
spaces. Where there is no sense of belonging to the neighborhood, where the city losing
its identity, culture, community spaces, emotions. A place should be in a symbiotic
dialogue between the place and the people.

SCOPE FOR APPLICATION ACROSS VARIOUS SCALES AND TYPOLOGY IN ARCHITECTURE

It will be applicable to various scale of architecture. The main problem of critical

regionalism is to seek answers to the question of Paul Ricoeur 3: "How to be modern and
to continue the tradition, how to revive an old dormant civilization as part of universal
civilization.

QUOTE EXAMPLES FROM AN ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT

 INDIAN INTERNATIONAL CENTRE ,NEW DELHI

 JAWAR KALA KHENDRA,JAIPUR

 TARA GROUP HOUSING, NEW DELHI

 VIDHAN BHAVAN, BHOPAL

 INDIAN PARLIAMENT LIBRARY,NEW DELHI

 DILLI HAAT, JANAKPURI,NEW DELHI

 AVADH SHILPAGRAM,LUCKNOW

LITERATURE STUDY:

CRITICAL REGIONALISM IN INDIA:

In the early fifties, progressive approach towards everything gave the Indian architects a
prospect to design and built, however, in the late sixties, saw the emergence on questions
on identity, and on how well did forms adopted depict Indian cultures, its social ethos,
regional styles, materials, and climate. The early seventies, these questions got weaker
eighties and nineties, they totally got swapped by dangerous contentment. Collective
thought towards holistic approach was lacking. In around 1970’s the architects in India
realized the lack of Indian-ness feeling in architecture which marked their steps towards
Indian traditional architecture for inspiration. This going back to roots marked the
commencement of new chapter in the evolution of Indian architecture. [2]

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In the late twenties, architects like Joseph Alien Stein, Charles Correa, Raj Rewal,
B.V.Doshi, Romi Koshla, AGK Menon, Snehal Shah, AchyutKanvinde and many other
architects had worked with this concept and are still working.

Ar. Raj Rewal architectural theory is “Building should respond to complex demands of
rapid urbanization, climate, and culture. The base of designing housing is the traditional
architecture of India and a dual concern for building’s expressiveness by means of
incorporating historical precedents into urban design.” The state trading corporation
tower, New Delhi, British housing commission housing, New Delhi, Asian games village,
new Delhi, hall of nation Pragati maidan and many other designs are great examples of
his architectural theory.
Ar. B.V.Doshi applied the modernist concept in Indian context leading to the evolution
of contemporary Indian architecture. “Le Corbusier was like a guru to me,” he says. “He
taught me to observe and react to climate, to tradition, to function, to structure, to the
economy, and to the landscape. And because he was my guru, I decided that I could
not copy him.” A thorough understanding of the past and reliable relationship with the
present was the only way that India could create a sustainable future for herself, was their
belief. Sangath in Ahmedabad, NIFT Delhi, IIM Bangalore and many others are his designs
explaining his beliefs beautifully.

ASIAN GAMES VILLAGE-NEW DELHI:RAJ REHWAL

 Project: Asian games village.

 Location: New Delhi, India
 Time period: 1980 to 1982
 Building Type: Family housing
 Construction System: Concrete
 Climate: Hot Context
 Urban Style: Modern

 Asian Games Village was built in 1982 to house athletes for the games. 500 housing units were
designed as group housing in 35 acres.
 The aim was to create an urban pattern of low rise high density based on a sequence of open
spaces linked by shaded pedestrian pathways. The peripheral roads are connected to the
cul-de-sac parking squares which in turn give way to individual garages or car porches
attached to the houses or apartment blocks.
 The concept is based on a sequence of open spaces, interlinked with narrow pedestrian
streets shaded and kept alive through a careful mix with recreational and communal area.
The streets are consciously broken up into visually comprehensible units, often with gateways,
so there are pauses, point of rest and changing vistas.
 The central spine of the layout is reserved for pedestrian courts and streets of various clusters.
About eight percent of the houses and apartments have access from pedestrian enclosures
as well as parking squares.
In the Asian Games housing, the urban pattern of Jaipur and Jaiselmer has been explored.
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The architect interwove three principle dictates that simultaneously conjoined traditional layouts
with a contemporary response.
1. Configuring a low rise
2. High density development representative of the typical Indian ‘mohalla’ or community.
3. Creating cluster formations ideal for the Indian climate.

FIG 3.3 ASIAN GAMES VILLAGE SOURCE: www.greatbuildings.com

Raj rewal bringing into focus both the manner in which he links his works to past architectural
forms and his perception of their present day context. Clustering of buildings each juxtaposed
with other balconies overlooking streets and courtyard providing public streets with scattered
terrace permitting yet another set of activities. Integrating the inhabitants into some degree of
community living.

Introduction:

Of the approximately 700 housing units, 200 are individual town houses and 500 are
apartments in two-to-four-story structures with a density of 28 units per acre. There are eleven or
twelve different types of cluster. The average size of the flats is about 1,200 square feet. Some are
only 900; some go up to 1,700 or 1,800 square feet.

Concept:

The concept Raj rewal used for Asian Olympic Games Village (New Delhi) is based on the urban
context of Jaisalmer and Udaipur. A sequence of open spaces intelinked with narrow pedestrian
streets, shaded are kept alive through a careful mix with recreational and commercial areas
broken into comprehensible units and often defined by gateways. The sense of both, of enclosure
and of continuity of movement is maintained throughout the scheme.

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FIG 3.4 PLAN A UNIT IN ASIAN GAMES VILLAGE

SOURCE: www.greatbuildings.com

FIG3.5 PLAN B UNIT IN ASIAN GAMES VILLAGE

SOURCE: www.greatbuildings.com

Various aspects of design:

CLUSTER HOUSING:

All the houses are clustered together to form enclosures, semipublic spaces common both in India
and elsewhere, where one meets people on the doorstep, not inside the house. The use of color
on door defines the individual houses on the street-one is orange, the next green, the next white,
and so on. The individual unit is a simple design with a small basement. A small court in the
basement acts as a light and air shaft.

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FIG3.6CENTRAL SQUARE FROM A COMMUNITY SPACE FOR THE HOUSING UNITS

SOURCE: www.greatbuildings.com

INTERLOCKING COURTYARDS:

Courtyard walls surround adjoining houses. The front, communal coutryard is formed by joining
cantilevered toilet area on the first floors. These spaces belong solely to the surrounding inhibitants
so they willingly look after them. In the appartment clusters, there is a central space with a
gateway, courtyards at various levels, roof terraces, and balconies all overlooking the internal
space with which they are aligned.

STREETS:

In the village a peripheral road leads to cul-de-sac parking areas, leaving the central spine free
of traffic. Cars are forbidden in the public spaces of the project. They provided garages for most
of the units are deliberately put an element on the middle of any path broad enough to
accommodate a car to keep people from driving through it; about 75 percent of them are
attached to the buildings; the rest are in two parking areas. No parking space is more than a few
minutes’ walk from the house unit.

On the pedestrian street there are no overheard wires; all utilities are buried underground. The
pedestrian movement areas interlink from one end to the other. Some of the narrow streets end
unexpectedly in a large square, both to emphasize the closeness and to change the scale or
vista and lend an element of surprise.

A narrow pedestrian street no more than six or seven feet wide encourages sociability and
provides shelter from the heat. In places they added circular spaces to grow trees and
discourage vehicular traffic. They raised the green spaces eighteen inches above ground level
to discourage people from riding or walking on the grass. Landscaping was otherwise kept
comparatively simple.

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FIG3.7 PEDESTRAIN MOVEMENT IN ASIAN GAMES VILLAGE FIG3.8VEHICULAR MOVEMENT IN ASIAN GAMES VILLAGE

SOURCE: www.greatbuildings. com

FIG3.9LANDSCAPE IN ASIAN GAMES VILLAGE FIG3.10 NARROW STREETS CONNECTED THROUGH GATEWAY

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FIG3.11 CUL DE SAC PARKING

SOURCE: www.greatbuildings. Com

ROOF TERRACES:

The individual houses are linked together, sometimes as terrace housing and sometimes in
clusters. The larger units were designed vertically, with roof terraces at various levels and
courtyards in both front and rear. They used very simple elements, slits, etc. on roof parapets to
provide air movement that still retain privacy between adjacent units.

Fig 3.12 terraces are connected as gateways in Asian Games Village

SOURCE:https://www.ribaj.com/buildings/asian-games-village-new-delhi-1980-82

GATEWAYS:

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Gateways reveal another kind of space further into the square. The development authority,
advised them not to put the toilets on top of the living room or the kitchen because they were
bounded to leak. They suggested that they cantilever them out over the street so that
breakdowns would be immediately noticeable and accessible. This trick also provided the
gateways.

FIG3.13 GATEWAY ACT AS TRANSITION SPACE SOURCE:

www.greatbuildings. com

Other:

The central feature of the plan is a dining hall which has been converted into a commercial and
recreational complex.

Where four streets join to form a quadrangle, a major element-either shops or a recreational
facility – is placed to give a focus. In one he converged a electric substation with steps to make
a space for sitting or playing around.

INFERENCES:

 Ar. Raj Rewal tried to avoid repetition as far as possible by interlinking units in various ways.
 In the Asian games village housing project, the peripheral roads are connected to parking
squares which restricts the traffic to center of the site.
 The central spine of the layout is reserved for narrow, shaded, pedestrian pathways. The
layout plans follow traditional methods of creating shade and cross ventilation which helps
in the protection from extreme temperatures.
 The houses are clustered in such a way that it forms enclosures and semipublic spaces due
to which people can meet outside the house.
 Though each individual unit or block might be the same, the elements are linked in
different ways to create different kinds of spatial enclosures which defines vehicular and
pedestrian movement.
 The creation of the traditional narrow street, linking all the housing units, provided for
intimate encounters between people and a sense of belonging to the neighborhood
square thus increasing interactions.
 The plan consists of a central court and other courtyards at various levels which steps to
make a space for sitting, playing around or social gatherings.
 Formal geometry allows in one system all the major elements of design – central space,
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 private courtyards, roof terrace, and a gateway – and both semi-public and private
spaces.
 Parapet on the roof terraces were added with elements, such as slits, to provide air
movement and still retain privacy.
 Where four streets joined to form a quadrangle – a major element was placed to give
focus and it formed a space for social gatherings or play grounds, etc.

BIBILIOGRAPHY:

1. Bryce Taylor, Raj Rehwal, Miramar and mapper publication,1992 (tradition and change, symbol
and structure )
2. Balakrishna Doshi, Sangath,Bruno melto editor,2011,
 Critical Regionalism: Whatever Happened to Autonomy.” Critical Regionalism: Whatever Happened to Autonomy @ Fusion
Journal. Accessed December 12, 2019. http://www.fusion-journal.com/issue/004-fusion-the-town-and-the-city/critical-
regionalism-whatever-happened-to-autonomy/#_ednref2.
 “An Account of Critical Regionalism in Diverse Building Types in Postcolonial Indian Architecture.” Frontiers of Architectural
Research. Elsevier, October 19, 2018.
https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S2095263518300530?token=959D50674AF461C2EB41AF0DF50B7DE403B66878FFFE8
2F0254DC92255DE689ACCEFFC4F03281B68EC2819FD363BE4B1.
 RAJ REHWAL, USE TRADITIONAL WAYS TO SOLVE URBAN CRISIS, , ECONOMIC TIMES
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/use-traditional-architecture-ways-to-solve-urban-crisis-raj-
rewal/articleshow/51078643.cms

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