MYTHS ON ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE

Due to a lot of misconceptions... I have decided to write a series regarding Organic Architecture. As most of you know that Mr. Nari Gandhi was an exponent in one... and so was his Master.... Mr. Frank Lloyd under whom Mr. Gandhi had apprenticed.
Due to myself having apprenticed under Mr. Nari Gandhi, and as most people are familiar with his works, many have expressed deep regret when they see my works... (and everyone has seen it on paper only.. the ones that are posted on FB). I do not have any issues regarding how and what people perceive but have decided to clear myths regarding the same.

MYTHS ABOUT ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE:
1.   Most people associate Organic architecture.... either with free flowing forms ... just because a structure has an organic shape... it does not necessarily have to be organic architecture.
2. An Organic architecture may not be only built of stone or brick... just by building the same in brick or stone does not make it organic either...
3. Neither is building with bricks and stone necessarily sustainable architecture or green architecture.... Do u know the kind of rape that we commit by building with bricks... the earths red earth top soil is a mere 2" left and the kind of energy consumed to make bricks is phenomenal and we say that its recyclable... but we never recycle it. So, the point of it being sustainable is not really so.
3. A very hi tech looking steel structure can be every inch Organic. By the way a steel structure is more sustainable architecture in the very least since steel is actually recycled and so is glass and so is aluminium
4. Having lots of greenery around the house also does not make the Architecture Organic.
5. By designing a structure which looks like a design by Bart Prince or FLLW or Nari Gandhi and a few renowned stalwarts does not make it organic either.

So.... what is all this fuss about Organic Architecture.... So.... whats the Jargon... ? whats the things that we could all yap about in our thesis.... since generally all the riff raff ends there... then we get to being ATM's... or talk about in Council of Architecture meetings.. have Samosa and chai' and forget about it..

“We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds
whatever we want.”― Lao Tzu

Yet we focus more on the pot, rather than the emptiness within... space as we call it. What we really want is the emptiness... The emptiness.. which is created for a particular reason. 

Do you think that making a brick and stone structure at Nariman point, which can go only a few storeys high be swamped and engulfed by taller structures? and in the compulsion to confide to the so called understood organic architecture... use the same as a cosmetic? and also kill the value of the property... does not going higher having a beautiful view of the sea... using construction materials that can allow the building to come up faster without disturbing other residents in the area be a better approach? or do you think that's not an organic approach...? Somehow... even the plants growing in a jungle grow faster in order to out beat the others for want of sunshine.. isn't that Organic?

Organic by the very word means "Of, relating to, or derived from living organisms"..."Constituting an integral part of a whole; fundamental." and its basic for something living to grow... and grow naturally... and yet when it comes to organic architecture we still relate in terms of materials... that too from mud, stone and brick... we don't seem to have grown beyond that ever. I do not mean to say that is necessarily wrong or necessarily right. The said materials can be absolutely agreeable in a surrounding befitting it and enhancing the emptiness... which is the real purpose.

It also does not mean that in order to confirm to the norms.... Architects, who practice Organic Architecture cannot build a city dwelling with different materials?

So what is Organic Architecture? A building where the emptiness created befits and accomplishes the purpose in every manner including aesthetic emotional and spiritual aspects and needs of the people dwelling in it in a manner... with a lesser vanity... lesser ego... simply as natural human beings in a beautifully created environment with a sense of WELL BEING. The cost involved maybe minuscule or obscenely absurd. 

An architecture where a material is used for it can do, to achieve what It IS. Plastic is a material and if used for what it is... its pliable.. its inexpensive.. a bad conductor and many other qualities... is perfectly fine... 

Coming back to more important things... more than anything.... The integrity of a building lies in the PLAN... derived from the functions its supposed to meet. Lets say for example a house.. In today's circumstances, with so much multi tasking a woman has to do and with maids being unavailable... the woman does spend a lot of time in the kitchen.. and is also doing her work.. has to keep an eye on kids and so many things....but rarely is the house planned around the sole binding person of a house... As clients or as Architects... the living room.. the terrace attached to it... etc is given more importance.. since.. when the guest will come.. it will be nice.. everything is designed for the person who uses the house least. Whether the bedroom has an attached toilet or not, although given importance is priority over a powder room. The terrace is used only for drinks and not made core with the kitchen. So, the Husband is on the terrace with his drinks... wife cut off in a corner in the kitchen and kids in their room on their computer... What a recipe for a perfect Disaster of a situation for a FAMILY.

We all love very big bathrooms with a sauna a Jacuzzi and what not... and have a 2'x3' window of which 1/3rd is covered with exhaust fan i still don't understand the reason. How many times a month do we actually will take a sauna bath or sit in the tub? Rather why couldn't the bathroom include a garden... which even while a shower brings joy.. a visual treat.. ? 

If one has an independent dwelling, and he wants a pool, due to constraints of open space... he builds it on the terrace and fills all lower rooms with as many bedrooms as he could.... For whom? The pool could have been part of the living or even the master bedroom where its actually used or at least as a daily visual treat. Whats the point of having it on the terrace where its used once in a while where in a daily set of activities the life is not enriched or made beautiful? Reminds me of Apartment flat I had done at NCPA top floor wherein I had reduced the living area and Increased the Terrace width from 3'0" to 6'0" and the look everyone had when they came to see the flat and in the same apartment had built the bath tub in the open and as part of the bedroom which was to have rose petals and candles lit when not bathing. He was an exceptional Client I must say. The simple joy of an everyday evening cost him Rs.200 an evening...which is hardly anything for a beautiful evening. Rs. 6000.00 a month is too little for what we spend on 4 weekends.

Its kind of funny to see people have grills on windows on 10th floor and 20th floor and to top it all have a Sea View. Yes, security is important... but where and at what price? one puts on the grills and the maid comes and hangs clothes... what a perfect setting for having a sea view. Can obstructions to burglary not be done by design or other ways...? Forget Organic... where is the Design in it... We do this in our own homes and we talk about design. 

The choice of materials... In today's age where help is scarce or costly, its very difficult to maintain a property. If one is in Mumbai has lots of money and with a MINDSET for maintaining the property, one can actually build a brick and stone house, not have air conditioning  etc, but not every person has a mind set to maintain and not everyone has that kind of money. I am doing lots of Projects in Bihar where there definitely is not such a mind set coupled with serious dust equations...and the person will never paint his house for the next 10 years. So the choice of materials are more modern, maintainable so that, in spite of the habits of the clients, the ambiance and the nature of the property is maintained for the way it was conceived. 

Every Material has its character, qualities and properties. To use a material for what it is... Is Organic. Not to make concrete look like stone or wood to look like steel. 

To sum up this blog I shall state an example. FALLING WATERS by FLLW.. the client had wanted the house to be situated opposite the waterfall so that he can have a view of it. Wright designed it to be a integral part of the house. He simply made the waterfall an intrinsic daily part and activity of living in the house and not something just to look at.  He used concrete, glass, steel ... all for what it is and its perfect. One cannot imagine removing a single element of the house. Even the waterfall. try thinking of the house without the waterfall, the Magic is gone. The Magic of the house is not in the Cantilever or the stone or the glass... Those are the lesser important aspects used to create a continuous living experience ... Experienced every moment. He did not go in for a sloping roof although the place snows heavily and as logic would have it , to build a sloping roof. It was also a house that infused an obscene amount of money. It was not made to look earthy with stone and brick and wood. and yet it is a perfect example of an Organic Architecture. The forms were derived from the stone ledges, The waterfall not just something to look at, The flooring used was the same blasted from the ledges so that the same merged with the landscape around. A boulder near the fireplace was left as it was.. cropped up. There is no FRONT ELEVATION. The entrance is from behind.  Another example , a totally different one, take Johnson Wax Headquarters which is in an industrial setting. the use of RCC, pyrex glass, Steel and yet another perfect example. 

I have used Wrights example, since many have seen his works and he was the one who termed the word... ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE. 

"So here I stand before you preaching organic architecture: declaring organic architecture to be the modern ideal and the teaching so much needed if we are to see the whole of life, and to now serve the whole of life, holding no traditions essential to the great TRADITION. Nor cherishing any preconceived form fixing upon us either past, present or future, but instead exalting the simple laws of common sense or of super-sense if you prefer determining form by way of the nature of materials..." - Frank Lloyd Wright, written in 1954.

I shall be posting more on this series and many topics related to it. 

Venkat Pillai

Architect.