As a result of the nation’s ardent aspirations for growth and development, the social, economic, and physical landscape of India has transformed. A significant portion of the region’s population is of working age and comprises a massive market size, making India a land of opportunity especially in the eyes of foreign investors.
Reflecting this context, multiple mega-cities and mega-projects characterize the built environment and push the nation toward superpower status. On the flip side of the coin, these visionary projects along with the trend of rapid urbanization also bring in a range of side effects - the spread of informal settlements and in turn, the challenges to equitable development.
A vital aspect of a circular economy lies in shifting our view of waste. Labeling an item "waste" implies voiding its value and ending its useful role in a traditionally linear economy. While the item might be out of sight and out of mind, its life continues in the landfill. This shift in perspective regarding waste means opening our minds to the opportunity that the abundance of junk presents. These designers and architects have managed to not only effectively reclaim discarded objects but also to make them look precious, imbuing them with new meaning and value through their careful curation.
India hosts a multitude of museums, art galleries, public libraries, theaters, and heritage centers. Nevertheless, many of these structures remain abandoned and fossilized like the artifacts they intend to present and protect. The development of cultural infrastructure in India has historically been a government endeavor, often resulting in a state of stagnation. The past two decades have seen a noticeable shift in the country’s cultural landscape. Increased interest from private institutions has paved the way for plenty of cultural projects to be initiated, usually in partnership with city authorities. These contemporary projects aim to celebrate the richness of India’s historical and contemporary culture, becoming prize destinations for the rising middle class.
Residential architecture in India is a direct reflection of the ethnic practices and lifestyles led by its diverse citizens. The earliest houses were developed as units of larger community-centric settlements. The architecture of Indian residences is deeply enmeshed with cultural values - usually centering on the ideas of family and community relationships. A single home often shelters a large joint family and meets the needs of various age groups under one roof. Multigenerational living demands a unique spatial syntax to foster connections.
Most architects design projects in the comfort of their offices, sitting behind their desks, making decisions by looking at their flatscreens, never visiting a construction site, and managing everything remotely. This attitude may lead to a design of a sleek and even objectively beautiful building. But such a solution can’t be anywhere near a genuine response to what any given site may require. How do you even find out? Is it possible to build something new as if it were an extension of what is already there in the most innate, consequential, yet original form? The only way to find out is to start from the site itself, says Vinu Daniel, the founder of Wallmakers, an award-winning architectural practice in Trivandrum, the capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala.
As is obvious to anyone with even a passing interest in demographics, cities are becoming denser—much denser. Rural life continues its steady emptying-out as urban life accelerates its explosive filling-in. The tilt has been apparent at least since the middle of the last century when the French geographer Jean Gottmann invented the word “megalopolis” to describe the continuous urbanization from Boston to Washington, D.C., then containing one-fifth of the United States’ population. But nowhere has the shift from countryside to city been more dramatic than in present-day Asia.
