Warm modernity : Indian architecture : building democracy / Maddalena D'Alfonso.

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Contributor:

Museo diocesano (Milan, Italy)

Martin and Margy Meyerson Endowment Fund for the Built Environment.

D'Alfonso, Maddalena.

Conference Name:

Triennale di Milano (21st : 2016 : Milan, Italy)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy and architecture.

Architecture--Political aspects.

History.

Architecture.

City planning.

India.

Architecture--India--History--20th century.

City planning--India--History--20th century.

Architecture--Political aspects--India--History--20th century.

Democracy and architecture--India.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

224 pages : illustrations, color maps ; 25 cm

regular print

Place of Publication:

Cinisello Balsamo (Milano) : Silvana Editoriale, [2016]

Summary:

A fascinating chapter in modernist architecture and city planning took place in India under the guidance of German architect Otto Koenigsberger and other polymath figures such as Le Corbusier, Ernst May, Hermann Jansen, Fritz Schumacher, Theodor Fischer, Heinrich Tessenow, Ebenezer Howard, Patrick Geddes and Raymond Unwin. The principal ideas introduced by these figures at the moment of India's independence and Partition were based on European models such as the garden city. Addressing the complex political dimensions of this subject, 'Warm Modernity' describes India's modernist utopia of participatory planning and design, identifying an approach on the part of Western architects that was at times motivated by noble ideals, but which quickly had to reckon with unforgiving realities. At other times it was driven by an effort to banish the specter of poverty, or a sense of personal responsibility, to find new ways out of India's history of oppression under colonialism. Alongside a wealth of archival images of relevant structures, plus detailed maps, this volume includes examinations of the cities of Jamshedpur, Bhubaneswar, Faridabad and Chandigarh, with extensive discussions of, among other topics: the role of design manuals in colonial and postcolonial history; indigenous technologies and self-construction; the model of the "urban mandala;" and the meaning of participatory architecture.

Contents:

Introduction. Storytelling / Maddalena d'Alfonso ; Tropical costants : maps / Anna Nurra

Importing modernity. Architects of interest : timelines ; The Indian paradigm : the definition of the modern tropical landscape / Maddalena d'Alfonso ; Establishing an architectural identity in an age of globalization / Paolo Brescia ; Urban tropical landscape : photographs / Marco Introini

Modernity as a tool. Interpretative filters ; An industrial city : Jamshedpur / Maddalena d'Alfonso ; Modern times / Anna Nurra ; Dialogue with Balkrishna V. Doshi ; A capital city : Bhubaneswar / Maddalena d'Alfonso ; Urban mandala / Elisa Fiscon ; Dialogue with A.G. Krishna Menon ; A town for refugees : Faridabad / Maddalena d'Alfonso ; Players and playgrounds / Maddalena d'Alfonso

Exporting modernity. Redrawing Chandigarh : photographs by Marco Introini ; What are we talking about when we speak about participatory architecture? / Maddalena d'Alfonso ; A further dialogue : maps ; Tools of participation : the role of design manuals in colonial and postcolonial history / Jacopo Galli ; Indigenous technologies and self-construction / Ingrid Paoletti ; Architects in the tropics : maps + timelines ; Dialogue with Rahul Mehrotra.

Notes:

Chiefly the work of Maddalena D'Alfonso.

Volume issued on the occasion of exhibition within the XXI Triennale di Milano, at the Museo diocesano, April 12 September 2016.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-219).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Martin and Margy Meyerson Endowment Fund for the Built Environment.

ISBN:

9788836634354

8836634354

OCLC:

946878869

Publisher Number:

99980883621