Mehrotra delivered a special lecture / masterclass titled Architecture in Context: Design Challenges in Contemporary India, which also addressed the lack of context to planning and development in Mumbai.
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The city is a twitching organism, not a static being. It is defined by that the image of the enormous Ganesha idol being immersed in the sea. “Architecture is not the spectacle, it is motion that defines the city,” said architect and urban planner Rahul Mehrotra, speaking at the Godrej Culture Lab on Friday. “That begs the question, can we design a place of blur?”
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In a place like Mumbai, he said at his talk, land use must become elastic, enabling public spaces to be appropriated, reappropriated, deappropriated. “When you design a place of blur, the idea of reversibility becomes important.”
He cited the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj museum, for which his firm, Rahul Mehrotra Architects (RMA), recently designed two additions — a visitor’s centre and the children’s museum.
“The visitor’s centre is bolted together with prefabricated, interlocking metal sheets that can be dismantled in 48 hours,” he said. The Children’s Museum blurs into the landscape, leaving the view of the heritage building intact.
Mehrotra also cited the Prayag Kumbh Mela in Allahabad where, every 12 years, millions live in a transitory setting for five days, and millions more visit.
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