Nineteen Points On Knowledge, Architecture And The City
Knowledge, like architecture and the city, is collectively produced.
Although there is no virtual limit, knowledge is limited by what is yet to be known.
Knowledge can be classified into three broad streams Memory, Imagination and Reason
Memory marks the deepest point of knowledge.
Imagination marks the farthest limits of knowledge. Sometimes imagination is more important than knowledge.
Reason is what gives knowledge its validity and places it in space and time.
Knowledge is no longer taught, but is inevitably produced through sets of social relations.
Inevitably, today, everyone is a knowledge producer.
All knowledge produced inherently is of common property.
The Capitol Complex is too far cut-off from everyday life of Chandigarh.
Hence, the Museum of Knowledge has a vast habitable plinth called the House of Knowledge.
The House of Knowledge has patio rooms for the individual knowledge producers.
Every year, knowledge producers from different backgrounds are invited to inhabit the plinth. Close proximity will inevitably lead to sociability and collaboration, generating and expanding knowledge.
During their year- long residency, the Knowledge producers assume the role of the temporary inhabitants of the Capitol Complex.
At the end of their residency the cumulative effort of the producers are exhibited in the Museum of Knowledge.
The Museum of Knowledge does not have a permanent collection or a theme. Essentially it is an indeterminate box waiting for content.
The Museum is a monolithic volume -with brise soleil on the North and South façade opening to the views of the Himalayan foothills and the city.
The Museum building itself is a derivation of Le Corbusier’s projects based on the squared spiral and the swastika.
The Museum is no longer just a building, but a narrative machine, putting things in context and enabling the formation of new social relations.
The combination of the plinth and the squared buildings addresses both the issue of inhabiting the capital complex and the production and sharing of knowledge.
TEAMFelipe Guerra, Altiplano, Bogota, Colombia.Nazmy Anaur, Normal Architecture, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaShreyank Khemalapure, Room for Architecture, Mumbai, India
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