Theorising Architectural Production

The studio will examine the relationship between construction practices and the materiality of architectural works in different cities of India in the early 20 century. Through an analysis of making, students will explore how the materiality of an architectural work provides insights into its conception and the various influences that shaped architectural production in that period.   We will begin a detailed study of the construction of individual buildings represented using wall sections. Each building will be read as a primary historical resource and will be studied as a physical object. Construction processes will be traced through archival drawings where available, from interviews with selected practitioners, and through careful extrapolation of contemporary processes that have clear continuity with the past. The aim of this process will be to investigate the relationships between the construction processes and material qualities of a building. This process could be seen as analogous to that of understanding the qualities of a literary work through the identification and consideration of the specific structures of its language.