Nabin Patra

I Tete Talk series, Ar. Nabin Patra, Managing Well, before I started my college as an Director and Head of architectural student, I was not interested G e o m e t r i c D e s i g n to come into architecture as I was a Management Services mathematician, so I was thinking to get Pvt Ltd, pours his heart into IIT. It was not until I met BR Mahapatra out. Excerpts are here... in my second year, a practicing architect in Ar. Kritika Juneja an Architecture Journalist with GLITZ architecture & interiors magazine and Founder Arch Valor, has an aim to bridge the gap between creator and the creations, architecture and critics and Tete-a-Tete with architects is yet another step to develop a cross-cultural dialogue architects, artists across the globe and their philosophies to light. T September 2021 Cuttack, Odisha with whom I worked for five years, that I got motivated, as it laid the foundation to my understanding of what an architect is, and what his function in society is. After all my experience I have come to the conclusion that both architect and creativity cannot be corporate. I often compare the architect with a scientist who sometimes derives the theory in one year, other times spends his entire life trying and gets failed. Similarly, the architect experiments on himself without realising what the results would be. thus uplifting art, and bring the local Kritika Juneja In few words, how would you In this contemporary world, how define your design process – according to you a community oriented philosophy? space should be designed. Since the Dilli Haat in Janakpuri and Pritampura that your An architect has to think firm designed are good examples. beyond what is existing, to m a k e t h e u n i v e r s e We, architects, are supposed to generate comfortable. Innovators don't space, not kill space. In Pritampura and follow rules or philosophies, Janakpuri Dilli Haats, we incorporated they come up with new ideas. music as a theme The focus was to make Even what bylaws we follow it more greener. If you simply look at it are written by some architects from the sky, it shouldn't feel as if green and driven by some architects, space has been destroyed to make way s o o n e c a n n o t h a v e for the Dilli Haat. So, that was our design philosophical innovation. As a philosophy. Process drives the project philosopher, you follow from day one to the end. Dilli Haat is a something, but as an architect, multi-cultural, multi-traditional you are beyond any limitations. destination, an urban There is nothing called as showcasing handicrafts, philosophy to architecture. food-stalls from the best of regions of Architecture is innovation. India and abroad. View of Dilli Haat Janakpuri Our intention was to interestingly play with levels to give visitors an interesting circulation space and more green cover. Dilli Haat Janakpuri was designed to give visitors something new and interesting to see in every nook and corner. Levels have been made in such a way that it appears like everything is on the ground floor, yet otherwise. The roofs of all the structures are merged with the ground level to ease its access and simultaneously make every inch of space useful. Let's create buildings that are not designed for next five years, but for 100 years. Architects today are rural bazaar making the buildings for their period artifacts, and of contract. They're not bothered about what is happening tomorrow. T September 2021 is a basement, we incorporate a The world is now slowly realizing sunken courtyard so that there is the seriousness of climate change. natural lighting in the basement. What is your take on sustainable Instead of air conditioning systems, practices in architecture today? Can you one can use these radiant cooling explain how you are influenced by systems that are cooled by water. nature and traditional materials and Other practices like using a bamboo how it is integrated within your designs? panel, a wood panel will degrade on their own. If you put concrete or Let me give you a small example of something sturdier it will last for at c l i m a t e c h a n g e . O u r g r e a t least 1000 to 1500 years, therefore grandparents lived in cold regions destroying the like Kashmir and elsewhere, and Whenever possible, try to educate they put hot water into the blanket the client when they have a certain to stay warm throughout the night. budget. And there's also a parallel The wisdom of our ancestors has world which is vendor biased, which faded from us as a result of vendor- I call them as a vendor-wise world. specific software. They don't have knowledge; they're The European world and some vendors who give Western countries don't use air for advertisement and 3D walkthrough heating or cooling since they know views but they're that water has 4000 times more sustain the next 100 years. thermal conductivity than air, which means you need one liter of water or In Dilli Haat, Janakpuri Bamboo has one cubic meter of water to contain been extensively used as a building the same heat energy as 4000 cubic material. How did you end up choosing meters of air. bamboo? Could you elaborate on your Sustainable practice involves results with it? maximising the use of natural I feel Bamboo has potential that has resources and minimising harm to not being explored the environment. The second thing bamboo as a construction material we do is focus on ventilation. If there View of Auditorium T September 2021 requires cutting and putting it in water for at least five days to kill its sweetness which attracts insects and bacteria. An on-site bamboo treatment plant was constructed, and we procured some bamboo from the North-east. You see, it's almost 10 years now and the bamboo is standing still. Architects in countries such as environment. India, where traditional architecture is a major asset on the one hand, but the huge trend of global design is on the other, have to perform either a successful balancing act or be singular in their approach. What do you have to say on this? really good If you look at our old cities, they are not going to so beautiful even today. Today, only the population has increased and that's making the areas crampy. So there is no question of traditional a r c h i t e c t u r e o r m o d e r n architecture; the idea is to make it beautiful. Our country has the best heritage value; it was the best heritage Valley in the world, most old and precise, Banaras being the till. Using live example of more than 1000 years old. Inter-relation of Plan result, the force in both directions In order to understand what goes becomes equal at a certain point, into designing auditoriums, IP shearing versus bearing. University Dwarka presents a good example. Could you please shed some Do you think that architecture is light on it. also a means of communication? Cities Using minimum footprint, again, are full of memorials and other buildings was our goal and we had used the that aim to remind people about certain roof as an amphitheater. events. Houses are true reflections of their In the past, our cities were beautiful, but today we have owners' personalities, supporting the connecting two cities due to a mess above statement could you explain your we created in the middle. Today, if concept behind the design of farmhouse you're living in which you have recently done. somewhere similar, Yes, absolutely. This farmhouse is m a ke a p l a n very close to me. There is a deck somewhere. People floating from the air to nature, about educated together, so they are more 30 feet long, with a cantilever likely to use public transportation. I structure like a portico. We also feel our cities are not comfortable to made a dome that is cut to a precise make it workable because we have size and has zero foundation. As a harsh weather. We have extreme cold and extreme hot climate in our country. Our temperature goes from minus 2 to plus 50. So walkability is not the right solution I feel. And public awareness is also a major factor. We have to make the public infrastructure good, maintained and then pressurise public to use it, so that we let public have a good experience.

South Delhi or Covid has taught us that there's you have to something called survival of the b e f o r e g o i n g fittest. As far as its impact is must be concerned, I think we need to build for the next era now, next 100 years, which will automatically cater to all the problems. T September 2021