A.P Kanvinde
Kanvinde: Function With Feeling
By arZan ⋅ April 7, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment
Achyut Kanvinde passed away in 2002. He was in his time one of the giants of Indian architecture. As the principal architect of CISR he designed a vast body of institutional work over the decades.
Kanvinde studies under Walter Gropius at Harvard in the Functionalist style of design.
Himanshu Burte writes an interesting overview of Kanvinde’s work and thought philosophy in this article title “ Function with Feeling ”.
Function with feeling
Himanshu Burte / Business Standard.
Schooled in the dry Functionalist approach to architecture, Achyut Kanvinde created spaces that were ‘humane’, buildings where you felt welcome and comfortable.Achyut Kanvinde (1916-2002) was among the earliest Functionalist architects in modern India. He was a self-effacing person, but his work helped shape some of the things we automatically expect in buildings today — that they should function efficiently, should not waste space, and be elegant too. Kanvinde himself achieved this by seeking sculptural ideas in the functional needs of a building. For instance, at a dairy in Mehsana near Ahmedabad, he arranged ventilation shafts into an elegant arrangement of towers that make this industrial facility look elegant. By the end of his career he had managed to show that a Functionalist approach could also lead to humane spaces — that is, spaces where you felt welcome and comfortable.
The lightness of logic
Rationalist that he was, Kanvinde liked to reveal the internal functions in a building (for example, office block, walkway, auditorium) as separate masses. These were then arranged in ways that were functional from inside and elegant from outside. This analytical approach is evident in the buildings at IIT Kanpur that he designed in the 1950s. Here he clearly separates parts of buildings according to their material, and also achieves a delicacy of effect. The library, for instance, is a Reinforced Cement
By arZan ⋅ April 7, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment
Achyut Kanvinde passed away in 2002. He was in his time one of the giants of Indian architecture. As the principal architect of CISR he designed a vast body of institutional work over the decades.
Kanvinde studies under Walter Gropius at Harvard in the Functionalist style of design.
Himanshu Burte writes an interesting overview of Kanvinde’s work and thought philosophy in this article title “ Function with Feeling ”.
Function with feeling
Himanshu Burte / Business Standard.
Schooled in the dry Functionalist approach to architecture, Achyut Kanvinde created spaces that were ‘humane’, buildings where you felt welcome and comfortable.Achyut Kanvinde (1916-2002) was among the earliest Functionalist architects in modern India. He was a self-effacing person, but his work helped shape some of the things we automatically expect in buildings today — that they should function efficiently, should not waste space, and be elegant too. Kanvinde himself achieved this by seeking sculptural ideas in the functional needs of a building. For instance, at a dairy in Mehsana near Ahmedabad, he arranged ventilation shafts into an elegant arrangement of towers that make this industrial facility look elegant. By the end of his career he had managed to show that a Functionalist approach could also lead to humane spaces — that is, spaces where you felt welcome and comfortable.
The lightness of logic
Rationalist that he was, Kanvinde liked to reveal the internal functions in a building (for example, office block, walkway, auditorium) as separate masses. These were then arranged in ways that were functional from inside and elegant from outside. This analytical approach is evident in the buildings at IIT Kanpur that he designed in the 1950s. Here he clearly separates parts of buildings according to their material, and also achieves a delicacy of effect. The library, for instance, is a Reinforced Cement