Architecture and environment

Sited on the coastal edge of the Bay of Bengal, Golconde, a dormitory for the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India, was designed by architects George Nakashima and Antonin Raymond. Golconde is a remarkable architectural edifice, seamlessly negotiating between the tenets of early modernist architecture while addressing the pragmatic impositions of a tropical context. Espousing radical economy and uncompromising construction standards, it proposes environmental sensitivity as a foundation for the design process. Completed in 1942, Golconde was the first reinforced, cast-in-place concrete building in India and clearly celebrates the modernist credo: architecture as the manifest union of aesthetics, technology, and social reform. This exhibition assembles construction drawings, architects' letters and journals, and extensive photographs of this extraordinary building.

Golconde is "a dormitory for the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India...designed by architects George Nakashima and Antonin Raymond," completed in 1945 and named for nearby diamond mines. This building is the subject of an exhibition (by Pankaj Vir Gupta and Christine Mueller) on display at the Graham Foundation until May 25, as well as a gallery talk on March 28 by Andy Tinucci.

The building is notable for being "the first reinforced, cast-in-place concrete building in India," though Gupta and Mueller view it as "one of the earliest works of sustainable modern architecture in the world, [espousing] the virtue of radical economy and uncompromising construction standards". Reading the exhibition authors' AIA report (PDF link), it appears that Antonin Raymond's Tokyo-based office received the commission for the dormitory in 1935. He moved to Japan as project architect for Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel, churning out some impressive concrete buildings after its completion.

George Nakashima was working in Raymond's office at the time, working as project architect on the dormitory while also becoming an ashram devotee. As Nakashima oversaw the project and its constrcution, the original six-month construction schedule was drawn out to years, due to inexperienced construction crews, political unrest affecting imports, the desire to limit the noise and disruptions usually associated with large-scale construction, and the impending world war.

These images from the AIA report illustrate the amazing quality of the architecture, its detailing and craftsmanship, and its site integration. When Gupta and Mueller say, "[Golconde] proposes a mode of architectural practice where issues of technology and environment dictate the conception and tenor of the design process," it's clear the building is as timely today as it was when it was completed over sixty years ago. posted by John Wednesday, March 15, 2006 @ 1:00 PM A Daily Dose of Architecture is the product of John Hill, an architect who lives and works in Chicago.