Finding directions for tomorrow

Vernacular means native or indigenous, relating to or characterising the group of people, place or the period. There are two fundamental attributes of vernacular. One that it has evolved out of the place and second that, it has evolved over time. Thus, it remains rooted to the context- implying the particularity to place as well as evolution of time. As local, the vernacular architecture emanates out of realities of the place and aspirations of its people.

As the place would have been subjected to these forces all the time, it would have found and resolved its solution particular to the intensity, priority, manner and resource base, thereby specific to the place and appropriate to its conditions. Evolution over time also sees that it constantly adapts and adjusts to the subtlety of changed circumstances and therefore is constantly evolving and doesn't remain stagnant. While it also maintains the continuity by keeping the constants which have remained unchanged.

Architecture is a sum total of culture craft and construction.
Another dimension of the vernacular is that it as resolution of, for, by the local people and place, it comes closest to the lifestyles and cultural traditions of the place. Thus best fit to day to day routine and the collective codes of conduct. Thus, of values commonly shared by all there by the least or no conflict of its existence and acceptance in collective parlance. It would have the highest degree of comprehensibility and acceptability. It strikes the immediate bond about the place and people and thereby the sense of belonging.

As it has evolved around the local circumstances and conditions, it remains unique to the place and people. This lends product the character of the place and thereby becoming mutually perpetuating and reinforcing their identity. The issue is not how different it is from the other, the issue is how much particular it is to the local context. Each region or the context evolving the resolution specific to its conditions and demands would inherently result into diversity and variety.

Thus vernacular is neither about the nostalgic values nor about the historicity, it is as such more of a contemporary and worthy resolution nurtured and sustained over time. It is not a dead history obsolete for the changed time and circumstance but a living tradition whose survival is in itself a proof of the shared acceptance of these values in contemporary times.

Pluralism (freedom of interpretations), tolerance (simultaneous coexistence of apparent extremes) and assimilation (fusion of diverse values) characterise India, its culture as well as architecture. Eclecticism is evident and inevitable, but as articulated throughout the course of traditional Indian architecture, it had been mature, pleasing and effective, since emulation and assimilation of newer thoughts were creatively regionalised to become integral to the context.

In India, we are lucky to have history as lived in tradition and the diversity of its geographic conditions and socio-cultural milieu to offer tremendous amount of variety and vitality. Thinking of the vernacular or the traditional is not about turning the clock backward but to rather enrich from the repository experiences from the past and contemporise it with necessary adjustments to changed time and circumstance.

We could learn from this vast repository of knowledge and the traditional wisdom to find our directions for tomorrow. Architecture that inspires from yesterday and aspires for tomorrow.

— The author is a Ahmedabad-based architect and historian