In the absence of Mr. Ricardo Legorreta, Francisco Cortina, a long-standing member of the practice, conducted the presentation of Legorreta+Legorreta. He led the audience through a large number of projects by the office, across countries such as Brazil, Mexico and the United States. The projects illustrated the subtle blend of forms with the site and still retaining their simple and bold character. According to Cortina, the sparing use brilliant colour was, in most cases, juxtaposed against locally sourced natural stone. He elaborated that their buildings were about experiencing natural light, colour, water and materials. The projects involved several campuses and institutions such as the Qatar Education City in Doha like the Carnegie Mellon, American University, Cairo as well as hotels such as Camino Real Monterrey, La Purificador Boutique Hotel and few residential projects. The audience showed a deep appreciation for the works of a Master architect of our times.
Track 3: Imagining Urban Futures
Rahul Mehrotra, the moderator for the track 'Imagining Urban Futures', began by saying designers need to project 20 years into future, at a time when 40% of India would be living in urban centres. He also iterated the problems preoccupying planners today, such as recycling urban land, housing for the poor community and emerging SEZs. The track was an investigation on how architects could project the future of cities.
The first speaker, Lawrence Barth tried to address this problem by proposing that experimentation with urbanism at a smaller scale is the way forward, and urbanists must experiment with small projects executed with public participation, and the lessons learnt in these can be executed in a manner that allows networking within the community. Using lessons learned in London, he presented his collaborative work with Zaha Hadid Architects at One Point North, Singapore.
Next on, was Farid Esmaeil, who began by differentiating his work in Dubai from other 'unsustainable' urban developments in the area. Further, he presented Xeritown in DubaiLand, a project that tried to use sustainable techniques to develop a new urbanity. To be built in the middle of the desert, the project showed the use of sustainable ideas of daylighting, effective organisation of forms, shading, photovoltaic shading devices and minimal uses of water. He strongly emphasised the merits of a collaborative effort with all consultants involved.
Alfredo Brillembourg began his presentation, 'Defying Gravity' by acknowledging the developer / contextual / project constraints in urban environments. He opined that cities have changed little during the millennia, comparing medieval cities with contemporary ones. As he alternated between visuals from Fez, Casablanca, Caracas and Mumbai, he put forth his theory of 'Urban Darwinism' - that accidents are a product of design and they should become the lessons we design with. His belief in the 'power of full engagement' was fully illustrated through his works in the Caracas (Venezuela) slums and specifically the Urban Cable Car project. He concluded by saying that there is a need for a 'different kind of architect' who would 'make virtues out of necessities', such as the need for urban security and that empowering people was the catalyst for future urbanism.
Romi Khosla, our next presenter, claimed that architects believe that 'they do not predict futures, they invent them'. With this arguable premise, he commenced on a presentation that showed certain urban manifestations in Jerusalem such as Gated Communities, Mythical Futures, Coercive Governing Systems and Capturing and Governing through Water. He highlighted that these four issues are not endemic to Jerusalem alone, but are present in many urban centers across the world. He invoked the names of noted slum activist Joachim Arpatam and economist Amartya Sen who have helped him define his thought processes. He concluded by saying 'each citizen is an agent of change'.
The Imagining Urban Futures track ended with a lively panel discussion with the four speakers and the moderator that holistically summarised the various facets of urbanism. The discussion in this session debated the fine line between urbanisation and urbanism, intervention and insert, and ideas for our own city of Mumbai.
The Practice as a Classroom - as the last session for the day was positioned - brought together four eminent architects - namely Sen Kapadia, Prem Chandavarkar, Nimish Patel and Rahul Mehrotra discussing about their journey into the profession. Sarita Vijayan, moderator of the session brought up questions, which not only exposed the other side of the architects' profession, their interests and works, but also the ideologies regarding the discipline. Established in Mumbai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, the speakers, through their witty and interesting stories shared their ideas and roots in the field of design.
