Heritage at Risk: Erasing our Modern Heritage
Heritage has become synonymous with ‘old’ and ‘antique’; in simple terms: structures which are old, which seem old and which should always be regarded as old. When such assumptions are made, we unknowingly eliminate modern architecture from the process of conservation and its inclusion as a part of our heritage.
Most modern buildings are not conserved and some are bulldozed on the grounds that they can be replicated. However, these buildings offer other values and can be representative of a significant person, a textbook example of unique and distinct styles of architecture, or it may be an important part of the history of the locale it exists in.
Many modern buildings have been put into a box marking them as ‘not important’ and ‘easily replicable’. To be any different, these buildings should be one-of-a-kind, like the Sydney Opera House, or be designed by famous architects, like the Fagus Factory (Walter Gropius, Germany) or be an iconic symbol representing an architectural style like The German Art of School — Bauhaus. This is indeed an important categorisation that is required to incorporate modern architecture into the spectrum of heritage. However, on the flipside these sets of restrictive ideological standards have created a rather high standard for other heritage buildings to be considered ‘important’. This has led to a great loss in recognising, preserving and appreciating many modern architectural structures that must be cared for.
The British Council — Delhi
The British Council located in New Delhi, was designed by the father of Indian modernist architecture, Charles Correa. The façade of the building serves as the canvas for Howard Hodgkin, whose mural with black Kadappa stone and Makrana marble represents a banyan tree spreading its branches across the walls.
Built in 1992, the building complex is designed as a series of elements representing the 300 year long interface between Britain and India. Correa symbolised Hinduism, Islam and European Enlightenment by tracing a route through the building from a spiral symbolising Bindu, through the traditional Islamic Char Bagh to a European icon representing the Age of Reason (Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Council,_India)
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has included the British Council headquarters in its list of post colonial iconic structures and is preserved for its cultural, architectural and historic value.
Modern Heritage on the Fringe
While we take time to celebrate these examples of modernist architecture, it is also important to acknowledge the impending dilemma these structures are facing today. In recent years, these buildings are facing demolition due to sheer negligence or higher land and market values. This negligence towards our heritage has led to the loss of many such structures across India. Here are a few instances to commemorate our losses.
The Hall of Nations at Pragati Maidan, Delhi
The Hall of Nations, the world’s first and largest-span space-frame structure built with reinforced concrete, holds special significance in India’s post-colonial history. A masterpiece of architect Raj Rewal and structural engineer Mahendra Raj. Inaugurated in 1972, the design reflected, symbolically and technologically, India’s intermediate technology in the 25th year of its independence.
Forty-five years later in 2017, the Hall of Nations was demolished by half a dozen bulldozers that worked overnight to make way for a “new state-of-the-art convention and exhibition centre.” Raj Rewal called it “an act of outrage”; the demolition was met with widespread national and international disapproval by museums, cultural institutions, architects and historians alike, not just because of the loss of an important piece of India’s heritage, but also for the clandestine manner in which the demolition was conducted.
Indian Institute of Management Dormitory Complex, Ahmedabad
The design process started at the IIM Ahmedabad campus in 1962 when American architect Louis Kahn and Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi were appointed to work on the project. Known as one of Louis Kahn’s most prominent architectural works, the iconic campus includes a library, faculty wing, eighteen dormitories, tower lawn, and the Louis Kahn Plaza.
Many view this complex of buildings as one of the few examples of Kahn's iconic architecture, and believe that demolishing it would have been tantamount to erasing the values and memories associated with it. The building was saved due to the outrage of former students, architects and heritage enthusiasts.
This begs a larger question: Why is there an attitude of indifference towards these buildings, despite their apparent importance?
Presently, India lacks a robust legal framework for protecting modern buildings that are deemed to be of heritage value. Current provisions only consider buildings that are sixty years or older under the ambit of heritage — a severely restrictive definition that excludes several buildings of significance such as Le Corbusier’s Assembly and High Court (Chandigarh) and Ahmedabad Textile Mill Owners Association House. Experts agree that age should not be the sole criterion that determines the heritage value of a building.
“The structure which is new today, will be old tomorrow.
The structure which is dead today will be forgotten tomorrow”
About the author:
Sravani Naraparaju
Sravani Naraparaju is a Conservation Architect with a Master’s degree from University of Sydney. For the past two years, she has been working as a heritage consultant for a Mumbai-based firm. Along with being an earnest heritage enthusiast, she is also a blogger, organises heritage talks, volunteers in teaching young kids of Mumbai, natural lover and strongly believes in having a strong voice as a medium to bring change in the society.
Her voice can be heard through her blog: sravsnaraparaju.wixsite.com/parampara
