Architecture Otherwise

Neha Mhadolkar

During the three day workshop Architecture Otherwise, SEA, in collaboration with Sharjah Architecture Triennial, invited several practitioners and institutions in the field of architecture and urbanism across South Asia to talk about their learnings and perspectives in their own journey in this practise and what they think will its future be. 

The first day of the walk was a city walk in certain parts of South Mumbai, and the second and third day were a series of conversations held in the school itself. It started with opening up larger discussions around the relationship between space and social practises, and the role of academia in the practise. What is the “other” that is being addressed here? Moving beyond the anthropocene lens of looking at space, how the non-human entities – trees, animals, insects – the tangible and intangible, fiction and myths become important anchors through which the practise of space-making happens around us. The discussion brought up the critical question– if the process of construction starts with the act of destruction (of land, and its inhabitants), and to make space for one, something or someone has to be removed– how does on build without imposition? 

Only 5% population in India receives formal architectural services. The rest 95% have developed spaces for themselves through community engagement, yet are pushed to the margins of the cities, and are not taken into consideration in the larger urban planning process, and are looked at only through the lens of rehabilitation. Several panelists shared how they’ve started intervening in this sector, and how the answer to the major housing issues that the cities face is not solved through the current trends of rehabilitation, but ideas and tactics more nuanced and sensitive. It opened up how architecture also moves beyond building making and intersects with the practises of arts, photography, journalism, exhibitions, and archiving. 

The conversations also talked about does the one deal as a practise with the rigidity of laws and codes of architecture and urban design, and how the public navigate through these frameworks as well.

Material and technological explorations become a different set of tools to investigate this otherness in architecture, and bringing together various local, as well as global technical disciplines into the practise.