Making Sense of aesthetics in an Indian city
Srinivas Murthy G.


About three years ago I decided to make Hyderabad my home. I have been living in Delhi all my life where I was born and educated, before I moved into this city. I have been designing projects in and around Hyderabad for the last twelve years and claim that I know this city at-least on architectural and real estate front and have been witness to the hyper speed growth of Hyderabad in recent years.

There has been a lot written about how the IT boom has helped Hyderabad grow into a mega city and how it has earned its space in the world business map in such a short span of time. Though I was part and parcel of this growth story in many ways, it is was a strange realisation that only after shifting here I started thinking about its existing as a living organism and not just as another destination for business purpose.

Two things that struck me most [rather absence of them] and probably affected me in many ways are the so called “cultural scene” that I was so used to in Delhi and secondly how the architectural sensibilities of people of this historic city changed due to the fast paced development. While the first one is more specific to this city given its strong historical and cultural background that Hyderabad once boasted of, the second one is about the built environment of Hyderabad, though nothing unusual as many other cities have gone though the same fate during the same timeline.

I will reserve the first one for another time and write about the second one first, as being an architect by profession, this moves me both on personal and professional spectrums.

During the last decade or two, many of Indian cities have witness stupendous growth due to the IT boom abroad and also due the new era of liberalised economy. Hyderabad is no exception on this account. In fact Hyderabad’s growth has been watched very keenly and closely by the two neighbouring big cities of Bangalore and Chennai. There is no denying in the fact that Hyderabad has definitely taken a share of their cake [rather too big a share.] and that has raised not only eyebrow but also concerns of many politico-planners of this region. Business houses and entrepreneurs from this state have spread far and wide in the country have bagged many prestigious projects and in turn made their home state literally quite rich. And I have no complaints about this. Surely many of us benefitted and continue to do so.

Hyderabad is in many ways is like Delhi, more so on a particular aspect of architectural front. It has an equally important architectural heritage and does not stay too behind in display of wealth and effluence. It has its own South Delhi charms that you can feel in the air when you are moving around in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills with large villas and bungalows dotting the landscape. This part of town I never felt out of place, same as in Delhi. Importance is given more to the size and grandeur than the aesthetics of architectural design. To borrow from Gautam Bhatia comments on architectural scene in Delhi, the “Punjabi Baroque” is replaced by a hugely Greek, Corinthian and Roman Renaissance and if this was not enough, completed it with riot of coloured facades and glass facades to add to fetish to show off.


This is so much different from how Bangalore and Pune responded when they went through the growing years. While Bangalore is known for its small and well made designer homes Pune has some of the earliest and finest examples of housing in apartment type buildings. Architectural professional gain respectability very soon and very prominently in these cities much to surprise of many even in Delhi and Mumbai.

What is surprising in most of our cities, is the complete absence of a sense of development, aesthetics and planning. The newer versions of our cities be it Cyberabad/HiTech City, or Gurgaon or Navi Mumbai are thousands of kilometres away from being called the new world class cities.

Let us first understand what it means to be a modern world class city. Any commoner would probably say having all those facilities which the existing set up could not efficiently provide for and further improving upon them would be considered as a fair expectation. Secondly completely from an expert point of view, designing and executing the new cities in a manner that would reflect a vision for planned and beautifully designed built environment, accommodating growth without having to compromise on the standards of infrastructure to be provided or on the commitment to provide an enjoyable and safe life for the citizens.

To me these appear to be very simple and implementable principles of planning and design. Architecture and design affects everyone; it affects our mental well being and quality of life in profound ways. It is the most public of all arts. It has the power to improve the lives and transform the places where we live, learn, work and play. It touches all of us every day. Recognizing this important role of architecture, planning and design will probably bring in a quantum change in the way we will demand and make our newer cities.

My heart pains to see that even in the so called newer parts of the City, which incidentally are not more than a decade old, we still lack the some basic facility. No pedestrian safety and foot paths, no decent greenery and plantation, the roads are same old overcrowded and congested ones the way they are in Abids, Kukatpally, Punjaguta, and Himayatnagar or even in Banjara hills and Jubillee Hills. Many of the areas do not even have properly laid out black top roads, no street lights, signages is something which one can only dream of, public utilities like bus shelter and drinking water for commuters, underpasses for pedestrians drainage channels and communication and electrical services ducts, and the list appears to never ending. And on architectural front, there is a complete sense of chaos and absurdness of design elements. There is no architecture at all. They are all covered with brightly coloured and well design hoardings that make the skyline of the city. “ ab mera number hai” and the “ an idea that can change your life” are glaringly telling you that nobody cares for the aesthetical composition of the street. It is Kumar Mangalam Birla, Mittals and Anil and Mukesh Ambanis of the world, who with their huge budgets for advertising are responsible for such ghastly act of taking pleasantness out of our cities. I for one will be very eagerly waiting to see a hoarding on top of one of their spacious villas designed by probably one of the best imported architects of the world.


These newer cousins of our cities might have more posh and stylised buildings and standing as individual architectural master pieces, but as whole area is far from being called a new city. It does not look like one.
There is no sense of zoning according to the land use. There is no urban design and broad guidelines that can help develop a planned skyline for the area. There are no planned urban green spaces and large open recreation spaces where the population would like get together to celebrate festivals or participate in public meetings? And absence of these things have only made people more insensitive to this simple basic requirements of city level infrastructure and has left a deep impact on their life styles. And that is why good design and planning is required. That is why a good city matters. To quote Pulitzer prize winner Blair Kamin “Every building is a new piece of the evolving city, a new layer of the ever changing urban collage. This collective work of art, forms an unflinching record of who we are and what we do. It connects us in time and space to those who went before us even as it represents our legacy – for better or for worse – to those who come after. And that is why architecture matters.”
Do we need huge amounts of money or technological knowhow to provide for some of the basic amenities that make many other cities world over, truly world class? Just one look at any of the cities in the US or Europe, for that matter nearer home, Putrajaya City on the outskirts of KL, Malaysia, we will understand that it is a matter of simple attitude. Even Chinese Cities are many shades better though they too developed during the same period as Indian cities went through the boom period.


Why are we like this? We accept and like everything that we saw or enjoyed while we visit other countries and find it difficult to adopt the same back home. When will our planning and urban development bodies understand the real meaning of development? When will we the common citizens of our citizens get some of the basic facilities?

On the second thoughts do we really need and ever demand it? I guess NO.

I have two reasons for it. One that we all are part of that huge constituency called the MIG, who believe in SCH [“Sub Chalta Hai”] and that the rich anyway get what they want at any cost, and for the real poor probably it is not even in their list of things they would love to dream of. Second reason being most of us are not even aware of what we should have and get not only in terms of list of amenities but even the required or desired standards for it.
I for one believe that everything has a demand and supply equation and to support this argument-the mobile movement, not in the context of the 1.76 Lakhs Crores fraud, but the way of has become of one of the most essential ingredients of our lives today. I wish I had even one tenth of that amount, we could have changed at least one city. As the demand for more features and facility increases, the suppliers will made those things available and at a very affordable price.

Isn’t this true in real estate sector? Look at the facilities that every developer is offering, when compared to the demands two decade ago. Today more aware and educated buyers are at the core of ever improving supply chain system. And that is where the solution lies. We need a more aware and demanding citizen base for improving our cities and its infrastructure. It is not enough to demand what is just good for one’s own, but we should start demanding something that will be good for others as well, that will be good for the neighbourhood and good for the city. We have to start demanding from our Municipal Corporations, our UDAs and our government. And for this we need people and organisations who can initiate awareness campaign and make people aware of their cities’ basic needs and lastly but importantly aesthetical needs.

We need initiatives that help people understand the need and importance, improve built environment through the collaboration of professionals, designers, leaders and local communities. This could be done through a series of a stimulating program of talks, events, debates, exhibitions, competitions and other projects. It should strive to promote and encourage the best in contemporary urban development and bring modern and traditional architecture and design closer to people.
And with such initiatives, that day may not be far, when we will start rejecting a city the way we do our films if they are not good.
Any takers? Please write back to join me in developing an idea to empower people with knowledge and ideas to make our cities a better place to live and enjoy and lastly make them “ truly world class’ or rather surpass even that and set a new world standard “ the Indian order”.
[Images used in this article to illustrate the authors point of view, have been taken from various sources, including authors own collection. Since many of the pictures are down loaded from the web, the author wishes to record his appreciation to original authors and gives credit for the photographs used]

USID Gurukul 2010 at IIT Kanpur

This is a very intersting prgramme that I will be part of from the 21st August. A grief outline of the project and ofcourse my team consists of some brilliant students from Design and engineering stream.
Will keep you posted.

USID Gurukul 2010
USID Gurukul 2010 is being organized in partnership with IIT Kanpur and is inspired from “Gurukul” a school concept coming from ancient India which is residential in nature, with shishyas (students) living in proximity to the guru (teachers), often within the same house. USID Gurukul 2010
USID Gurukul 2010 will bring together 45 to 50 students selected from the disciplines of Design, Technology, Management and Social Sciences. The selected students will attend the gurukul free of charge and will be divided into number of team. Each team consisting of 5 to 6 students representing mix of different discipline teams will be assigned one mentor, who will work with them for a period of 2 weeks. It will provide a platform for students from the varied fields of design, technology, management and social science to go through a 2 weeks experience of collaborative and immersive learning. It will also provide opportunity to collaborate, explore, learn, experience and create solutions for some identified existing problems in the community/system under the mentorship of accomplished prectioners, researchers, academician and professionals, which would then facilitate social upliftment and better quality of life. It will Involve academia, industry, government personnel, media, performing arts, social work, non-design professionals etc. to provide a adequate ambience for the students to understand the importance of social context in design.
USID Gurukul 2010 first week (from August 21st to 27th, 2020) will be conducted in a virtual campus format and after that all the teams and the mentors will arrive at IIT Kanpur Campus on August 28th, 2010 and will spend the whole week (till 4th September. 2010 at IIT Kanpur Campus. This will include the project work under the assigned mentors as well as some field trips and external sessions including yoga, workshops, presentation, demo’s performance, movies, talent show and other team building exercises.
The overall experience and outcome of the gurukul will then be show cased at USID 2010 conference from 18th to 20th Nov, HICC, Hyderabad through presentations and reflections by few participants (both students and mentors).
We intend on focusing our problem statements on Education, Health & Care, Transport & Traffic, Inclusive Design, Agriculture & Food shortage, Public policies and its impact on citizens, and governments etc.

Recently there has been a a lot of talk about the SPA-A elections and this debate about who can vote and who cannot.

SPAA appears to be only for those who live in Delhi and are in constant touch with SPA for various reasons. I have been trying to become a member but no luck yet. The SPA website has no info on how to become a member? I am sure all will agree that there is virtually no communication of any type with the Alumini of SPA [whether member or not]. Except for the occasional voting rights, I think all those who graduated from SPA are and should become members automatically and a regular communication should be available to seek, share and provide information.

Is it not OK if we all were to know how the SPA-A has been doing all these years and what contribution it has made to SPA? I am sure Manoj would agree with me on this. And I am available for any type of help in this regard from our end here in Hyderabad. We have a decent size of SPA Graduates and Post Graduates.. who could become a chapter out here and contribute.
Another important issue is about the other two SPAs that we now have. Are/should we be concerned? I had some basic discussions with Manoj Mathur during his flying visits to Vijayawada. None of us have been associated with them as students but I am sure students who would graduate in near future from Bhopal and Vijayawada would love to be part of the SPAA.Any thoughts?
Cheers- Srinivas [SPA91]

SMG is now hiring!

There are some vacancy in our Hyderabad Studio. We are looking for one Junior Architect [a fresh graduate or with one year experience], two senior architects [at least with 3-4 years experience] and one senior associate architect with 5-6 years experience at senior level.

“uniquely innovative and committed to original design ideas and concepts, outstanding and modern in its professional outlook, catering to a wide spectrum of projects and geographical spread...” is how we describe ourselves. And our mission is to achieve the highest standard of design development, service deliveries and ultimate project realisation.

And this is achieved by an enthusiastically creative, dedicated and dynamic team of young professionals like you. And we are looking those bright candidates to join us ... and if you want to work with us in our design studio, then here is the opportunity! It is an honour to have young professionals spend most valuable part of their career in our studio.

Since there are very few seats that are available, all applicants are requested to read and fill the application form very carefully and diligently. You can mail us for the application form.

Each application will be reviewed and few will be selected for interview. The inherent qualities that we are look for in applicants should be a combination of the following:

[a] Highly skilled, quick at work and can learn on job rapidly.

[b] Inherently honest and conscientious about their work.

[c] Creative, logical and who have analytical minds with flair for constructive criticism.

[d] High level of maturity is preferred. In a teamwork environment, people who can contribute in a positive and constructive way to each other’s growth are most preferred. Also individual must be able to take initiative on their own and work independently.

[e] Good knowledge of computers is a must.

Generally, our studio members come from the top ten per cent of their graduating class in over-all performance. Persons with exceptional design skills [who have consistently performed well in their design studios are also prioritised. Cheerful, well rounded people are always preferred to a recluse!

The studio is a hardworking team of creative individuals. Hard work, late hours, direct communication, excellent presentation and a spirit of fellowship characterise the studio.

2 years is the minimum period of employment expected. No letters of recommendation to foreign universities are given prior to completion of 24 months.

If you feel you are “right” for our studio please apply.

Right of freedom of expression and politics of Intimidation

Right of freedom of expression and politics of Intimidation
Ever since the report about MF Hussain being honoured with the citizenship of Qatar [Hindu-25-02-2010] appeared, there has been a huge debate about it – less about him accepting the citizenship and more on how India as a nation has lost out on one of its legendary artiste and citizen.
The debate has failed to underline the real issue and reduced it to a mere topic of drawing room discussion for couple of days and probably till the issues loses its importance in the high profile social circuits. No doubt that it is sad development and a huge loss for us as a nation. But do we really care? Do we even want to understand what caused it?
Why is this such a big issue? Just because it is about MF Hussain and the government failed to look after him or protect him? There are hundreds and thousands in this country who have faced similar situations and threats while carrying out their regular official duty or creative pursuit. Be it an honest government employee or theatre personalities presenting many of our social evils in a theatrical programme-all have been subjected to similar intimidation.
Remember Safdar Hashmi-brutally murdered in Delhi while performing a street play, Halla Bol? Remember Medha Patkar, Baba Amte and Anna Sahib Hazare? They have been subjected to such humiliating and “intimidating “suffering hundreds of times, while working and representing a cause of public good. Their efforts got international repute and they continued to live in India despite such threats.
What about Shahrukh Khan and Amir Khan? Were they not subject to similar intimidating attacks over MNIK and Fanaa? What about hundreds of musician, performing artiste, writers and poets who have done our country proud, also have been subjected to harassment of most difficult order for just demanding a respectful position in the society and a decent share of facilities and support from the government and people of India. Is that also not an intimidation of a kind?
More over there are thousand common people who have subjected to brutal acts of intimidation and made to rum for safety of their lives. At least in his case it probably never came to being a question of livelihood and survival as it happens to be in case of hundreds of Bhopal gas victims, hundreds of victims of rape by some rich and influential people, farmers displaced by high profile projects. They all have been facing worse threats if not similar to what Mr Hussain must have gone though.
None of these people have left their country-India. They have continued to live here and face the situation as it happens. In fact I would probably put Mr Husaain in the same group as thousand of doctors, engineers, architects and businessmen who left this country for better prospects or for not being able to work in this so called flawed “system”.
By deciding to leave this country for any reason does not make a statement on the failure of any government to provide either a conducive working or creative environment or the security or protection. If at all it should do so.. it should be for the common man first and then probably for all the important and the mighty ones.
So what is the issue? Is it government verses the celebrity artiste fighting for right of expression? I think to say yes would be a very trivial. It is us-the so called civil society. We have allowed ourselves to be intimidated. Let us face it is in us- it is in our society. We use such means to bring out the frustration of not being able to appreciate life in its entirety and enjoy it in its fullest aesthetic sense. The intimidation is in that corrupt babu who demands a bribe in carrying out what is his duty. The intimidation is in those politicians trying to divide the society for their petty political gains. The intimidation is in continuously degrading sensitivity towards art, literature, music and dance and performing arts. As a whole it is about not being able to appreciate what life is all about in a very pure and aesthetical sense.
The artiste fraternity have a huge role to play to make the society at large understand and realise how important and integral part the fine arts and performing arts can be of our collective social existence and how these can contribute in bringing about a change in the way we behave. Probably there will be less of such kind of people who would misunderstand our artistic creations and in turn not create bad blood amongst different sections of the society.
Lack of this understanding coupled with ever degrading standards [sometimes nonexistent] of public debate of such national importance has left the civil society at large fall prey to dirty games of some small highly misguided and disoriented groups who claim to me the protector or guides of cultural and ethical code of conduct for the society. Very rarely we have seen the civic society take on such groups- one such example being release of MNIK despite the all out attempts by one such political outfit to block it. But then Shahrukh Khan did not disown India and run away from it. The civic society supported him.... only because he chose to be part of it at any cost.
Gandhiji is definitely more relevant today than ever before. Be the change that you want to see.
Mr. Hussain.. come back and be part of us. Be here and be an Indian! Be here to defeat the very system which probably you blame for your exile. Our people have shown exemplary courage and togetherness to defeat the system, whenever similar situations have been thrust upon them [read Ruchika molestation case]. And I am sure the whole nation will be with you.

Why Architecture Matters-Part 2

Architecture is much more than a parade of various types of buildings to be ogled like models strutting down the runway. From highways to high rise, schools to subways, bridges to beautiful parks, architecture reflects our values and our vision and in turn it shapes just about everything we do.

You can ignore a piece of sculpture or a painting hung on the walls of an art institute or gallery, but architecture is the inescapable art. The art of architecture is based on the idea that it affects every one there fore it should be understandable by every one.
Architecture can be analyzed a fine art and a social art, placing buildings in the context of the politics, of the economics, and the cultural forces that shape them.

Architecture is set of consistent but flexible principles rather than rigid ideology and a desire to impose it on everyone else. Quality in architecture is such an issue that buildings are well crafted as well as well designed; in utility so that buildings serve their inhabitants both functionally and spiritually; in authenticity, so that buildings are rooted in reality and not fantasy; in continuity, so that buildings engage in civilised dialogue rather than ignoring one another.

The power of architecture is to create genuine places rather than generic cityscapes and that architecture should be adorn human activity rather than direct it.

In the profession of architecture, there is premium on architectural innovation- not only because it has the capacity to elevate construction to the level of art, but also because it can enrich and expand human possibilities. While it is naive to except that better buildings will make better people, it is equally foolish to ignore the subtle yet significant impact that the built environment has on our visions and thus our actions.

In architecture, the choices we make in creating that external world speak volumes about our inner values.

We look to the art of architecture to clarify the human conditions and to express the spirit of the times. Yet it is equally important that architecture engage contemporary problems and process rather that merely comment on them or on itself.
Every building is s new piece of the evolving city, a new layer of the ever changing urban collage. This collective work of art forms an unflinching record of who we are and what we do. It connects us in tie and space to those who went before us even as it represents our legacy - for better or for worse- to those who come after.
And that is why architecture matters!

Why Architecture Matters?

Why Architecture matters? by Blair Kamin

“Every building is a new piece of the evolving city, a new layer of the ever changing urban collage. This collective work of art, forms an unflinching record of who we are and what we do. It connects us in time and space to those who went before us even as it represents our legacy – for better or for worse – to those who come after. And that is why architecture matters.” Blair Kamin

This article/book specially recommended for students of CSIIT -B Arch 4th Yr Urban Design Studio