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Sticky Note

Special Thanks to: Amita Raje, Gautam Bhatia, J.L.Saha, M.S Satsangi, Nimish Patel, Palak Jhaveri, R.J Vasavada, Shubhra Raje, IFJ furniture journal.Text & Compilation: Ar. Chirashree Thakkar, Chapter Chairperson, IIID, Ahmedabad Regional Center.

Ar. Anant RajeFond Memories:

Prof. Anant Raje, eternallearner, dedicated

teacher, master designerand an extraordinary

person passed away onJune 27 2009. ‘Insite’ pays

homage to one of thelegendary figures in Indian

architecture.

Chirashree Thakkar, whoworked in the maestro’sdesign studio says, “The

art of making drawings in away that every detail is

explained in a mosttechnically correct way iswhat I owe to Prof. Raje.

The famous elevationdrawings with

intermediate sectionsbehind is something I

would have never known,had it not been for my

one and half year stint inRaje’s office – DORM.18,

IIM-A campus – working onthe Ravi Mathai Centre”.

This tribute includes whatmany of Raje’s associates,colleagues, and students

remember of him.

Tribute to Late

A D Raje, Ravi Mathai and Mrs. Mathai

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“India is a country of great sadhusand sages. The blend of material andnon-material philosophy makes thiscountry unique and there is alwayssomething new to learn. Everybodysays we must be futuristic, but itcannot happen without the correctperspective of the present. Myteachers used to say history is pastand one cannot change it. The futureis unknown. Present is the only thingthat we know, so why not work forthe day. What you master in thepresent should be good enough tocontinue in the future,” said AnantRaje, the late iconic architect fromAhmedabad. Design, for him, was atransition from spontaneous toformal.

We are talking of that generation ofarchitects, where architecture wasa form of art that was guided bystrong beliefs and a pure expressionof style that was synonymous with the

architect. A building mostly reflectedthe philosophy and culture of theuser. “Architects have aresponsibility towards the societyand one must adapt to changessensibly, otherwise what good wouldthe change do…”he would ask.

“Education has to be made fruitfulwith good quality residential schools.Nowadays, a child just goes to schooland comes back; as a mere routine,”he recently observed. Architecturaleducation, of course, was his petpassion. Along with Prof. R. J. Vasavdaand his wife Amita, Raje had started‘CALL’ - a research cell that workedon architectural research anddocumentation of several architectsof the time. A manual for HUDCO wasprepared on the lines of’Architectural details’ of USA, whichcontained construction detailsemployed in the construction ofcontemporary housing in India. It

specified standards for housing,ideology for housing, rudimentarymaterials and details. Around 1966-67architecture in India was undergoinga phase of consolidation of values andsetting up of standards for Indianarchitectural practice and maximumactivity was happening in Ahmedabad.Architects from the rest of thecountry would come here in searchof comrades. Raje played the majorguiding role in these formative years.

“Innovation is not just doingsomething new,” believed Raje. “It isabout seducing a customer andtherefore creating a demand, leadingto distortion of the values of thesociety. We want to sell things thatthe consumers don’t really need.” Hecontinued giving the example of anumbrella – where the need and thepurpose of the product is simple – toprotect a person from the rain orsun… “But now we have a wide range

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of complicated umbrellas! Isinnovation about making thingscomplicated?” he questioned.

Raje had similar views on anothersimple object – the shaving blade. “Inthe olden days; the barber ‘hajjam’used to make a tour of the locality -shaving beards, trimming moustaches,giving haircuts to people of allsections of society in his morninground. This tradition was maderedundant when the barber’s bladewas replaced by a self-usable razorwith a changeable blade… This was amarketing gimmick–to change theblade after the earlier one becameblunt; thereby creating a market forblades. Street-smart marketing isbeing pushed in the name ofinnovation.”

“Innovation is to make life lessdifficult, save energy and time, butthe question is to save the time for

what? There has to be anotheractivity for the free time that theinnovation has created. There has tobe a responsibility in the innovationone chooses to make.”

Of course, there are other simpleobjects where Raje endorsesinnovation. “The blown glass paperweight was a good example ofinnovation; a job was created for theartist to create the art which wentinside the blown glass. Innovationmust generate opportunities andmake life richer rather than take timeaway from him.”

Ar. M.S Satsangi, who considered Rajeas his good friend, boss, colleaguefeels that Raje was one of the bestinterpreters of Louis Kahn’sphilosophy of architecture. As atrainee at the office of Doshi Rajeand Thakre, he remembers hisexercises on surface development

and making models to arrive at clarityon geometric configuration. At thattime, NID used to take up projectsand involve international designers asa part of the team.

The IIM-A site office was like a Meccafor all the then young architects andstudents of architecture whichincluded Sen Kapadia, Ekbote, R.J.Vasavada, M.S. Satsangi, and others.Raje was the most mature of thegroup as he spent maximum time atKahn’s office.

“Raje was a perfectionist, hisconceptualization of any project wascomplete, before it went for drawingand construction stage. He wasfinicky about design detail, precisionof making drawings. Subsequently Iassisted Raje in teaching at CEPTwhere detailing, use of space, feelingof the space and lighting werehandled in all thoroughness over a

LIGHT WELL AT RAVI MATHAI CENTRE

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10’ x10’ space for one wholesemester,” recalls Satsangi. He alsocherishes the memories of times theyspent together at Philadelphia“hunting cottage cheese with sugarwhich tasted similar to Shrikhand,”he laughs. “Going back to memoriesof Raje inspires me to work better…”

Ar. Nimish Patel recollects, “In 1969,with my batch of students at CEPT, Ihad done measured drawings of twostreets of Udaipur with Raje. He wasa minute observer of all aspects oflife. Subsequently, I also worked withhim on a project”. While working onthe drawings, he asked Raje aquestion about the geometry of someelement. “He simply said, ‘do notquestion Satsangi’s geometry’ – whichmade me realize how much faith hehad in his senior associates,” saysPatel. “Raje had a different way oflooking at things and always had aneye for perfection, even the spacing

between the hatching lines over a 2ft long drawing had to be the sameall throughout...”

During 1980-81, Gautam Bhatiaworked with Raje and was inspiredby him to the extent that even aftergetting his Masters degree, he cameback and continued working with him.He became a friend and a closeassociate eventually. “The Instituteof Forest Management was a dramaticpoint in Raje’s architecturalpractice,” opines Bhatia. “Thisinstitutional campus had a wide rangeof buildings, all integrated withappropriate landscape. It was anopportune project, where he was anartist, architect, landscape designer.He saw the world in a particular wayand most of the explorations werepersonal. His skills to link geometryaptly and yet have the littlearchitectural nuances like a 3 degreetwist in the library building were

always perfect. IFM was a projectwhere the concept of dual wall, lightwells to control direct sun, use ofwater as an intrinsic part of the plan,emerged as strong features of hisarchitectural style. Raje believed thatdesign has to be simple and honest,”he recalls.

The architect’s ideology and obviousinclination for simplicity was alsoreflected in his personal choices.Unlike most people who wouldconsider Pandit Ravishankar as theirfavourite s itarist, A. D. Rajepreferred the lesser known buthighly accomplished Pandit NikhilBanerji – for the simplicity of hisrenderings!!

The most insightful comment byRaje, however, is one onarchitectural education. “Whetherwe can teach art or architecturewe do not know, but we are sure

From entrance to the living room

Living and bedroom

A view from the swing Tokonama unit

that it can be learnt, for learningdepends on us and our mindset”.

Raje – the interior designer

Ar. Anant Raje’s phi losophy ofinterior design stems from anintrinsic understanding of space andits qualities. Though the basicideology of a designer can notchange, he believed that his attitudetowards interior design was differentbecause of Kahn’s influence. “I don’tequate interior design withfurniture. I have been trained toperceive like this while I was workingwith Kahn for almost ten years. Anarchitect or interior designerimproves a particular space and givesa character - you call it a house,school, auditorium, exhibition hall,hotel or a banquet hall. After all, it isa space enclosed. The idea of thatspace and character is improved byboth, materials and architect. But

nowadays the emphasis is more onproducts than the quality of creationof space.”

For a 1100 sq ft apartment on NepeanSea Road, Mumbai for K. Bhogilal withSp+m as local architects, Raje hadchosen a design with a Japanesespirit, where manipulation of spacewas the focus using materials thatreflected light. It was a play of lightand space,” says Amita Raje. Shubhra,the couple’s daughter, and anarchitect herself, feels that theapartment perfectly suits therequirements of the users. “It is anapartment for a young couple inMumbai. The flexible, open plan takesinto account the formality inherentwithin a domestic space”.

The strategy has been to resist thecontainment of rooms by elaboratingextensions, remainders, drifting andunfolding. Flexibility here is

understood not as a measure offormal appearance, but of formalproperties. The central element ofthe plan inextricably weaves thesocial functions with the privatebedrooms, absorbing within itselfpartitions, alcoves, storage anddisplay. The circulation within theapartment is organized around thiselement, reinforcing its role as ananchor to the plan.

Wood acts as the material andsymbolic connector of spaces withinthe apartment. Windows aretransformed into places of light as lifemigrates towards the light, views andbreeze. The Japanese architecturalelement of a “Tokonoma” (alcove) isinterpreted into the articulation ofthe window, with the stained glasscorner in the direction of the seabecoming the exclamation point ofthe composition, and of theapartment.

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Study & dining area

Wooden ledge along the window connecting the living room with the bedroom

Another view of the living room

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