Who, What, When, Where, Why? – Well, almost every one of us is aware of the W’s that make up most of our questions, answers, deliberations. Brace yourselves to know about a moment in time, which had me answering one of these, changing my world for the better, as an architect and an individual.
Three months into a four-month architectural internship program, six interns in an office in Ahmedabad were eager to have an informal conversational session with the principal architect, to know about his architecture views, about the office workings and his experiences. It was a hectic midweek office day when we were summoned to his cabin for the session, which we had requested. Not knowing what lay ahead, at least for the next hour or so, we marched in with questions ready to be asked (unbeknownst to anyone else, we even had a prepared questionnaire since many days). As interns, there is always this excitement of working directly under the principal architect or at least having interactions with him. Soon we settled down, and after being offered refreshments, and some small talk, I remember getting pretty relaxed on the soft cushioned sofa, and what we believed was a perfect mid-landing office cabin.
Before any of us could get going with our questions, he asked whether he could initiate the conversation, formally. Never in my obscurest dream had I imagined the possibility of the subsequent scenario to unfold. We were asked a simple, very essential question – Why architecture? To say everyone in the room was confounded or stunned would be an understatement. Tongue-tied is the correct word. There was half a minute of silence in the room, deafening silence – well, it did seem a few hours long, back then. Alright, very true, I know all of you who are reading know what we felt like. Correct?
One would believe that after spending three years in the discipline, especially one as creative and design-oriented as architecture, and where descriptive wordy expressions of inanimate and abstract, sometimes never existing situations, is an everyday phenomenon, it would not be a precarious situation to be in. Well, we just had to answer the why of what we were doing, as simple as that. But, believe it or not, none of us could form coherent words and answer the question – why? As is the case in most of these situations, we started answering, one by one, clockwise.
One of my fellow interns was from a family of architects and real estate developers, so architecture seemed a legitimate career choice. One talked about being particularly interested in drawing and sketching (since, childhood) and so here she was. One in particular (we still joke and call as the privileged one) wanted to explore life and not fall into the mundane 9-5 life, do something exciting in and with life. Ironically, the life we were leading as interns was not the mundane nine to five, but then the very exciting nine to ten/twelve or whenever the work ended life. We practically ran out of unique and personal answers, and over the next ten minutes or so found ourselves in a situation giving group answers, which included a plethora of words stating parent’s desires, not able to make it in the merit list of prestigious engineering and science schools, personal interest in design, not being good at math and whatnot. Alright, you people know, you too have the same reasons.
When I look back and think, internally cringing, externally smiling, and mentally exploding – was the state of all of us. Well, I know for a fact, it would be your state too, if caught off guard. But believe me when I say this – it was not the situation back then. It turned out to be a laugh riot with everyone amused with everything everyone else was speaking, and yes, that included our principal architect too. His story too was a mixture of everything and well, a little bit more than what was expressed by us. I to date cannot figure out when it stopped being cringe-worthy and became a relatable tell a tale for all of us. We went out with a mixed state of mind, conversing on every possible thing that the time would permit during the session.
One of my friends after the session was in the situation of an existential crisis. To quote the exact words, “Why and since when am I drafting the toilet detail drawing and well, am I supposed to do this?” Late at night, I get a call from another, and the first words I hear – I know the answer. “Oh, so you now know, why architecture?”I ask (of course, because that question had not left my mind, too). Exasperated and sighing, the answer I received, “No, the answer to why I have such a portfolio, because I don’t design well, and why is that so? Not because I am not that good or anything but because I am not invested and interested in what I am doing”. I, for once, was tongue-tied again that day. After a contemplating pause I heard, “And so maybe, I now have the answer to why I had no answer to the question why architecture”. This person was apparently critically relooking the works of past years at two o’clock in the morning, and went on to leave the course joining another discipline, worked out great when I see the work done nowadays. Personally, it was an intuitive moment, the one which I call the basis of who and what I am today.
When I look, I realize how simple it would have been for all of us to answer any question that ranged between who, what, when, where. The question – Why? It is intimate. It needs deliberation and leads to deliberations. It unearths, it makes one uneasy and restless, it quenches the thirst of knowledge and is the question whose answer people seek all the time, since time immemorial and unbeknownst finds oneself.
That moment is funny, in its own right because of the situational comedy that erupted out of our negligence and being caught unaware, I believe is the most profound moment defining our existence in this profession. The large gap that one finds between academia – research – practice and people, could be bridged by this question of why architecture. People on the ground ask the same question, why architecture? Maybe a little self-thought would help every one of us; find a footing in this world where basic social, economic political issues take precedence in human life; making us more responsible, accountable and rooted.
Why, architecture?
Let’s take a moment to ask and answer the question, every time we initiate anything.
Well, it is important to ask questions, you never know you could change someone’s life, most probably yours.
