Resonance - Raj Rewal and Tradition
A “promenade” across six projects of contemporary Indian architect Raj Rewal. Images of historic buildings and miniature paintings appear at strategic moments in order to show how modern rationalism, a rigorous sense of function, structure and fabrication, has been reconciled with typologies extracted from the past. The transitions between different projects are punctuated by images of women workers carrying loads. It is only in the final image that it is revealed that they are on a construction site. The intention is to hint at the socio-economic and technological context in which the buildings are built.
The introduction by Raj Rewal and the commentary have been reduced to bare essentials : date, place, name, function and the most important design elements related to the theme of resonance in each of the projects. The idea being to allow the audience to savor the images while hearing traditional north Indian music, each piece of which is supposed to convey the “Rasa” or “character” of the project it accompanies.
The Parliament Library
This film is an in-depth exploration of the design and construction of the Parliament Library building conceived by its famous Architect, Raj Rewal.
It tries to convey the complex highly creative design concepts, but also the innovative construction processes and techniques using cutting edge hi-tech building technology fused with the traditional Indian building crafts tradition.
A voice over , interviews of the representative of the user, the architect and the most important members of the team, historic documents, graphics, images of historic as well as other contemporary buildings, images shot during the construction of the building as well as images of the completed parliament library building appear when required by the narrative in order to convey the ideas and dreams that have given form to the most important architectural landmark created in Delhi since independence.
Fusion - Handicraft and technology This film concentrates on one particular project of
Raj Rewal : the world bank building in New Delhi. This is an architecture where modern requirements are met by fusing technology with the still living Indian stone craft tradition and a feeling for nature. The various design elements, the spaces and the way the light is controlled in the building are some of the aspects explored. The aim is to bring out the relevance of this approach by showing the architectural context of Delhi as well as the situation of the site, the methods and tools used in both the design and construction work in a project of this nature in India today, and the impact of this architecture on a user.
