Renaissance Idiot's ramblings

This essay was drafted as a response to the question "What was your initial idea about design?" during the introductory sessions in NID Ahmedabad . Dated July 2025. Design as an architecture student was to design buildings at the end of the day. A well-designed building was climatically efficient while being geometrically and visually pleasing. We were taught design as something scientific, where material constraints and space use needed to be understood. Every drawing was meant to address all human activity and needs, while balancing client requirements and aspirations. Design became a formula to achieving the fundamentals to a good building. Although we were taught how design borrows from art, it was never a comparison between the two; architecture was different and superior. As I worked in Charles Correa Foundation (An organisation dedicated to keeping the ideas of the imminent post-independence Indian architect relevant) I was opened to the social role of architecture an...

Tipu Sultan's forces during the Siege of Srirangapatna. Introduction : Exploring Bangalore It was a cool sunny morning in Bangalore and I had a day to spend as a tourist exploring the city. Putting aside my fears of being a non-kannadiga, I ventured out with the Metro as my magical no-conversational vahan to take me to a prearranged list of places to visit. It was a fairly fun day trying out thick, crispy dosas, savoury coffee and marvelling the weather as I walked my way from one place to the other. I walked through the roads with colourful Karnataka transport buses speeding to market places with fresh and vibrant flowers along with plastic stationary being sold in roadside impromptu markets. A sight I got to see was Bangalore fort, which began construction in 1537 as a mud fort. The builder was the ruler Kempe Gowda I, a vassal of the Vijaynagar Empire and the founder of Bangalore. Kempe Gowda is honoured in many ways in the city with locations and buildings named after him. The...

 Gun House as built in 1960, copyright Charles Correa Associates, courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation * After wrapping up my fellowship at the Charles Correa Foundation in Panaji, Goa, I needed a time-off to think about what I was going to do next. After listening to about a hundred different versions of my future from everyone around me, and disagreeing with all of them, I returned back home only to quickly elope to Gujarat for a well-earned time off. Amongst the places I got to visit & the people I got to spend time with, one experience took centre stage for me. Working on the Correa Archive, I had developed a good understanding of Correa’s work. One such was the Gun House, and knowing I will be so close to it on this trip; I had to make it a must to go and see it. The idea of the Gun House, from its name, shape, to the stories of its current fate brought tremendous interest to my mind. It is rare to see a work of a significant architect that goes through such massive deg...