free-dome

In lonely walks and club house jives,

At office desks and sunny park dives,

We never stop nor hit a pause,

Continually think to weave our thoughts.

In the strangest sight and darkest hour,

All knit and stacked aside.

The slightest pain with shadowy joys,

Foolishly they play, yet together they lay.

With sudden twists, brings new  hope,

the twinkling eyes reveal your mind.

We choose to wind or with heads down and grind,

triggers a life with the past behind.

In many a thoughts, we let it astray,

twinging paths and numerous days,

An illusion that is time, allures the way,

For this freedom we lived, someone have had to pay.

the bout

If I pass by this tunnel of sorrow,
would I see the gleam of hope? 
If you bought me anew life tomorrow,
could I then live so hollow?
For I was once a king too proud,
with knees afar from the ground,
but oh life you came so strong,
the earth never felt this bound.

Come rise my blood and pump those veins,
for I would then live again.
You know somehow that I shall win,
through courage of the lost king.
For I was born to live the dream,
and no one, not life, can stop that will.
The will to rise, the will to rule,
the will so strong, that life would kneel.
For I can see and I can do,
which makes all things, that is you. 


                                         - 12/04 subharthi

FIND...

Many a years go passing by,
as the mind reads a possible illusion,
but through the vision it knows,
that you must change for a better tomorrow.

If you haven't found then don't u stop,
don't rest, just keep moving.
Life is just this once,
and through it one shall know,
neither heaven nor hell
can blow away,
the doings of a man on earth.

There are no ends to meet,
just the continuous living change
and the only thing you'll ever own,
is yourself.
So nurture, care, shape it
as your gift to the world.

Focus is the key,
and for things you're unsure

say 'yes' more than 'no',

In every question lies a hidden opportunity,
as you must be willing to lose.. to Find,

for no one knows how much you can…


                                                - Subharthi Guha _ 20 mar 2012

Quick thoughts - a selection of random thoughts (keep visiting for more updates)

Architecture is perhaps more like the stock market, designed for long term benefits but all we managed was short term manupilation....

After all, what is architecture if not the reflection of who we are. When u look in the mirror and not like a particular aspect, you know you must change it immediately!

Dare to DREAM....

Buildings have inspired people and more often they do establish our model of existence of as a fact[1] (an event in time) in the ever changing world. It is perhaps so, because it allows a visit in the past for which we travel longer distances just to view such man-made objects.[2] Such is the power of a building that it generates emotions in the human consciousness and encourages you to displace yourself.

But not every building is worth a visit. The question of timeless architecture has been often asked in universities and a model through which it can be achieved. To achieve it, is perhaps an architect’s/builders lifelong dream. In the last 20 years, we have built more than we possibly could compared to the past 1000 years, but the ratio of achieving masterpieces have reduced considerably. It is true that there are very few modern buildings that would inspire you to travel for a visit. Is there something that we (designers) are doing differently wrong?

Education as much as it is a necessity for awareness, it can also be a curse in disguise, for we can only choose to register the past. The nature of innovation is such that one must disobey and contradict everything that lay before us. The new can never be justified with the reference of the past; it must emerge like any other, from minds that are free from fear and dogma. Therefore the focus of justifying ones design to others (usually pier, colleagues or huries) in reference to appreciation is a clear dogma that the profession of architecture is suffering from today. The system of assessments in most universities are set up, in which at the end of the episode one presents himself in front of juries and people and based on their response (good or bad) the result is declared. But I think the primary importance of universities must be to teach you ‘how to’ learn and not ‘what to’ learn.

Every year more and more ambitious architects graduate to achieve a dream which is soon shattered by the real world; it somehow pushes them back to take shelter under the knowledge of the past. And the inevitable result is to produce buildings that are more average than before. The truth is, to achieve something of equal or more beauty one must think beyond the object that it holds in comparison. One must be ready to foolishly play, as the dots can only be connected backwards.

Its always very easy to demolish a new idea, as it is difficult to justify with history and therefore is attacked by more experienced men in business and sometimes the financial crisis of the designer. But to pursue it further, to take it a level beyond the one presented, one needs courage, persistence and most importantly self belief. This is what makes the wonders of this world. The choice is always yours. Dare to Dream...

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that's why we call it the present."

Joan Rivers

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Subharthi Guha

17 Jun 2011

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<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]--> A registration of a point in time of how we once were and what we did.

<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[2]<!--[endif]--> Often referred to by the word- TOURISM

M.Arch research at AA DRL 2010

Link: http://projectsreview2010.aaschool.ac.uk/html/units.php?unit=17&name=915

16 months at the AADRL –an understanding of a lifetime

Time flies and we fly with it.

A year in the DRL glimpsed through in a blink of an eye. Opinions changed, thoughts moulded and what have I gained? This passage of mine is going to address 3 agendas starting with my experience of education in architecture followed by an analysis on contemporary education and finally revealing a known truth of my understanding of architecture. I must confess that through this article there might be harsh comments but I feel it necessary to say it as the truth is always uglier than the reality projected.

Opportunities

The Design Research Laboratory at the AA DRL was indeed one of the most diverse programs i have known so far with opportunities and liberties (in the right sense) which widens up the horizon of people from various nationalities who come together and work collectively. And this experience however is combined with intense workshops and one big thesis agenda in groups of 4 that one chooses. The platform this year was not just my project but in total 5 different studios addressing different issues. During this we used the latest available machines i.e. laser cutting, cnc milling, 3d print and at times building your own to present ideas and concepts which could project the possibilities of buildings/systems through research from the studio, calling engineers and flashing online Google searches.

Education and youth

However, through all this I was left with more curiosity than ever with a simple question – What does Masters in Architecture really mean? Or does it mean anything at all more than ‘awareness’. It’s not the AA i am pointing at but in this period of 16 months in London, I was fortunate to find time and meet the MBA’s and PHD’s. It can be summed up into 2 categories – a> people doing the study to reach higher position at work and b> people in mission to gain higher intellectual status in terms of competitive argumentation and also to receive awareness of the availability of material around, both being equally justified for a contemporary human survival 2010. However the world we know today from iPods, F1 cars and the fantastic buildings which we click touristy pictures of, did not create from either of the above categories of thought. It came from the 3^rd group of people who believed in physically experimenting and working through their ambitions or chasing a belief. They are neither leaders nor followers but people who are not scared to test... the test of reality. Mysteriously most inventions came from the sudden accidents at work as the mind cannot invent thoughts, it has a potential to only reconfigure existing. But yet look at all the things we have built around us. The credit goes to constant tests, obnoxious beliefs and accidents than the individual mind as portrayed in books, cinema, news and institutions around us - they share a common value of either entertainment or employment.

Patience and architecture

Architecture is not entertainment! It has to do more...it is an art that reveals a truth- the truth of our existence, the truth of a material, the truth of structure and also the truth of a belief no matter how crazy it is. It is an art that goes beyond a canvas, an art that needs all real sides and not one photogenic angle for sale, an art that creates reality but yet is compassionate enough to accommodate the user and deliver spaces we never experienced before. It has every need to be REAL!

Every building is not architecture, yet they all will exist and rightly so as society needs both- construction and architecture. But, one needs to honestly choose and if the choice is architecture then the universe is still unexplored. It requires a personal belief in the kind of work, time and patience to follow it through the reality of being (real buildings). Universities/institutions are only platforms of awareness and if I did become aware of something in past 16 months ....it wasn’t architecture but understanding that I must find my own pace, rhythm and vocabulary...To follow-up something that i believe in – 'there is no such thing as architecture but what will always exist is ‘my architecture’ through my work – on earth'.

“Who so shall be a man, must be a non conformist, Nothing is at last sacred, but the integrity of your own mind”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson