CONTROLLED ARCHITECTURE

Kishan Sabi, 4^th Yr

How do the perfectionist and expressive architect choose the ground, rather than a platform to support their buildings? How do they advocate research in order to attain balance; only to upset it again? Why does the architect speak of the need for freedom, and seek to conquer it; defining a path underpinned by his own rules?

The world is going through a phase of change, a change with more concern, a change with a reason and a change looking toward to the future. Architecture too has had its fair track of this ‘change phase’. Contemporary architecture no longer pose the strong point in the current trend, and is over powered by a new form of architecture that controls the role of spaces, its definition and the placement. Controlled architecture by word means a practise of architecture that deals with defining spaces within limits and controls, ensuring a better environment to live in at the same time making sure that the sense of visual quality and freedom of circulation is maintained. It doesn’t outline a mode of designing where the users are forced to move through a maze, but describes a process by which each user is directly or indirectly channelled to use the defined circulation paths and spaces. This ensures better movement of people, goods and services to create a functional design.

Spaces in controlled architecture are designed to be a part of the whole and not random enclosures. The function and the location are taken as principal elements. Apart from all this the placement of the spaces coincides in accordance with the paths/corridors/streets. The openings and the visual apertures merge to the spaces in a way similar to solving a jigsaw, where perfection is the only possible elucidation. Each column and beam is considered and spaces to enclose accordingly designed, thus pronouncing a more profound mode of designing. This not just avoids the negative/inactive spaces but also ensures optimal space utilization. Controlled architecture for some reason stays hidden within other concepts. Planners and architects use a mixture of definition for ranging from depth of access to “form follows function”, the slogan that most architects pursue. What goes unnoticed is that each of these terms is just an additional to the whole and wide concept of controlled architecture. When one goes on to say “depth of access”, what one should perceive is how the designer is able to limit or control the paths taken by any individual to a certain point. In short controlled architecture cannot be confined to a box but rather is an elaborate and vast field of study, to which we add each day.

What architects value most are timeless projects. And in these classic works he values everything, but above all the connecting elements: from the material to the geometry. There is not only one way to reach a destination. There are many and this wealth of possibilities is what prolongs the process and makes evolution possible.