Relevance of Jaali Screens in the mid-20th century Delhi

The studio of this semester was divided into three different modules. Module one was about decoding a building through its materiality and construction techniques. Each student was assigned a building from a different region of India to study and analyze through various media (architectural drawings, photographs, archival images, books, websites). We were also asked to research its construction history, influential figures involved in its making, and socio-political events that happened in and around that region during its construction. This Module helped us investigate broader and deeper connections between the building and its construction history. The 1:10 scaled perspective section was produced in order to study the construction and appropriation of the building. Module two was all about the reading seminars for three weeks. Each of us was asked to read books and write core arguments according to our understanding. Reading seminar helped us contextualize our ideas emerging from the drawings we made in Module one. The final Module was the outcome of Module one and Module two. Based on the research and study done in the previous modules, we had to write a proposal for a research grant. My research proposal was to produce epistemological shreds of evidence to bridge the gap between the existing craft and new methodologies in constructing Jaali screens. Hence, my paper would serve as a reference for further exploration into the new construction techniques of Jaali and their relevance to the architecture of post-independent Delhi.