I believe that the environment is one of the prime forces to shape a man's character, his attitudes, his approach to deal with a situation that con be seemingly complex, rich with substansive undercurrent of any port of immediate or past historical content. In particular when such a person has an Historical lineage coming from the south-western port of Konkan in Maharashtra which is a well-known spawning ground for writers, poets, historical pointers and above all the ones who have kept the tradition of music alive. Mr. A. P. Kanvinde is one such person who helped shape the architecture of Independent India as a "Committed Modernist" when the Neoclassic academicism had its full away in a few metropolitan cities. The first impact of the classical Harvardian modernist approach brought on the past independent stage his buildings in Ahmedabad namely The Laboratories and offices for the Ahmedabad Textiles Research Centre called "ATIRA" sponsored by the Ahmedabad Textile Industry. This was the landmark building which became the first complete and matured statement of the Rationalists within the Harvard University's academic tradition, classifying the nature of Forms, identifying the function and expressing them in terms of their compositional relationships creating significant external spaces and above all the recognition to the prevailing industrial Technology of the Time. Obviously the message was, along with other modernist Architects, that "Architecture" is truly the product of a well organised Technology devoid of any frills or handicraft, mass conceived and man produced releasing the overburdened stiffness of plan and spaces that would truly embark on solutions to many complex problems posed by the new socio-economic dimensions in any emerging democracy.

Ar. Anant Raje, Ahmedabad