Rapid urbanization has forced the architects and planners to focus their attention towards the pressing contemporary issues our cities are facing. This has often been at the cost of losing the historical architectural heritage woven into our urban environments. Our attention is once again drawn to this disturbing trend by various researchers.

The first two papers elucidate the importance of understanding the historical characteristics of the architecture of a given place through two case studies: one in Puducherry, and the other in Kolkata.

In the first paper, “Assessing the Physical Feature Attributes of French Architectural Style in the Contemporary Built Environment at Puducherry: A Lens Model Approach”, the authors K Thirumaran and Meenatchi Sundaram, have highlighted how the inherent French character of the town is being ruined by the introduction of new technology and materials. In order to arrest this trend, they have investigated the potential of proximal and distal cues in revealing the French architecture of Puducherry, and their collective effect in arriving at a framework of guidelines for future development.

In a similar vein, the second paper, “Infill Proposals for Revival of Historic Urban Core of Kolkata”, the author Satyaki Sarkar discusses the loss of historic character in Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh, the historic urban core of Kolkata. The author has attempted to show how, through appropriate infill proposals, the area can be revived to its potential use and economic value, and its architectural character can be preserved.

Another issue of concern is the changing dynamics of education and practice and the new challenges that confront both the architectural profession and academia. One such issue is the increasingly complex engineering inputs required in buildings and the stage when they need to be incorporated into the design process. In the third paper, “Integral Design Instead of Integrative Design Between Engineering and Architecture”, the author Wim Zeiler, discusses this pertinent issue. The author makes out a case for synthesis between architectural concept and engineering functionality through an Integral Design (ID) process approach which would lead to greater transparency between the design process and design decisions.

In the fourth paper, “The Relationship Between Organizational Structure and Innovativeness of Malaysian Housing Developers”, the authors A M Kamaruddeen, Y Nor Aini and I Said, focus on the professional practice by examining how various organizational characteristics of housing development firms influence their ability to innovate. They conclude that though IT innovativeness is encouraged by a less formal centralized structure, the overall innovativeness remains unaffected.

Finally, in the last paper, “What is the Future and Vision of Architectural Education”, the authors, Michael Brazley and Merry Renate’ Brazley, analyze the impact of the architectural studio on the community, through a study of post-Katrina reconstruction of the Lower 9th Ward community. It reveals that students are not only keen on interaction between the studio and community, but are also interested in real life problem solving, to improve the quality of life.

-- P S Chani
Consulting Editor