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The Multiplex Makers: Meeting Morphogenesis; Anand Vivek Taneja
A meeting with the architects who design, malls, and multiplexes, and who are at the cutting edge of the new urban imagination, designing for the 'time crunched global Indian.'
MULTIPLEXES IN THE CITY
"In India we're seen as an architectural firm. Internationally we'r known as a Technological Research Organisation." Last Tuesday, I met Sonali Rastogi of Morphogenesis Architecture Studio, the architects of the PVR group of cinemas. This was what she said towards the end of our 40 minute conversation, squeezed between client-meetings. I've been promised a longer meeting on this coming Saturday, as saturdays are when they are not open to clients, but have internal brianstorming sessions.
Morphogenesis has an interesting background. Sonali and Manit Rastogi, after graduating from SPA did their masters from the Design Research Lab in London, where they were working on Design and Artificail Intelligence, creating interactive design systems. Their first major project on their return to India was designing the steel and glass Apollo Tyres Corporate headquarters in Gurgaon, considered to be India's first 'intelligent' building, in 1996.
But, according to Sonali, even a project that big didn't get them enough of recognition or a public profile. They were looking for a project where their intervention would dramatically change the urban landscape and get them noticed. In Sonali's words - 'The next project we do has to be beyond the project.' Enter Ajay Bijjli, the young owner of Priya Cinema,in partnership with Village Roadshow of Australia, trying to change the way cinema is seen in the city. Sonali says of Priya before the renovation began that it was showing 'Morning Shows' - as if it was the kiss of death...
According to sonali, priya was too much of an alienating space. And ideally, they would have torn it down and rebuilt it, but regulations (whose? DDA?MCD?) mean that you can't bring down a building without really solid justifications. (Aesthetics, and wanting to change cinematic experience in the city apparently not being good enough reasons :-)) It took 4-6months to get permission to renovate and remodel the existing building.
One of the major moves was to open out the front of the cinema, to have the space of the cinema extend 'from the pocorn stand in the lobby to the paanwallah outside.' (of course, considering that you have to deposit your bags at the paanwallah to be able to enter the 'open' cinematic space, there is more than a hint of unintentioanl linkage/irony/coincidence here...) Morphogeneis though of literally extending the cinema into the space of the city, to link the renovation of the cinema with 'urban renewal' (a term that kept cropping up throughout the conversation, and to unite love for the cinema with 'Indian love for conversation and socialisation' to make the cinema space a highly social space and to link it to the larger life of the Basant Lok Community Centre.
PVR NARAINA
We next spoke of PVR Narayana, formerly Payal, which was a highly disreputable and unsafe location, according to Sonali. The ill-lit front of the cinema hall, next to a Fire Station, and dhabas selling butter Chicken and hooch. (interesting element of temporality - the cinema hall's reputation is defined by what it is at night, or conversely, as in the case of Priya, the 'morning show'...)One of the first things they ddid in Narayana was to again open up the front of the cinema, so that the audience gathered/gathering in the foyer can see the approach to the hall. This approach, the exteriors/parking lot of the hall were also well lit up in their plan, despite not being part of the cinema building, so that the whole area was well lit and visible from the hall, hence immediately making it 'safer'. The coming of the PVR brand, and the percieved/expected change in clientele changed the nature of the space around the hall, a perhaps 'exemplary' example of Morphogenesis's contribution to urban renewal....
The resturant where they often ate 'on site' hiked up the prices of its basic dish from rupees 12 to rupees 26. pepsi and coke provided the restuarants with attractive signage, to attract the more upmarket clients soon expected. the butter chicken and hooch selling restuarant turned respectable (damn!), and even the decrepit Fire Station got a new coat of paint.
(I asked Sonali as to why she thought PVR Narayana, despite all this, was not doing as well as the other PVRs. According to her it's becuase the PVR there, unlike the other PVr's has not been able to attract audiences outside of Narayana)
PVR PLAZA
When we spoke of PvR Plaza, Sonali said that Lutyen's delhi is a monument, and Delhi governemnt's zoning laws and the rent control were disasters which were killing CP. She spoke of the facade of Plaza, which was completely out of synch with CP's architecture before they began their restoration, which she characeterised as 'respecting heritage without replicating it'.
The factors behind this were both financial and temporal. Apparently, Morphogenesis (or anyone) get just 5 months to renovate a cinema hall becuase that's the 'break-even' period(?) -the amount of time a cinema can afford to remain closed without running up losses. so though the restoration/renovation of PVR Plaza had to be high quality, but also cheap and quick.So all the furniture is machine amde, though giving the impression of being hand made. 'I don't like to fake materials, but the architecture has to be subservient to the ethos.'
Morphogenesis is looking at 'defining that which is Indian in a global idiom'. A part of this, perhaps, is their cocnept of 'Timeslicing Cinematic Space', a concept they're applying to the foyer(s) of a cinema hall in Mulund, Bombay/Mumbai which is one and a half times the size of Metropolitan Mall and is surrounded by Gujarati money and spending power. The idea is to have different spaces in the cinema flow, and atbthe same time be slices of different 'cinematic time' - 80's style retro; American diner/Elvis imagery, Neon, Backlit glass displays; a MIS - (Movie Information System with Plasma screens): modern steel and glass minimalism - an architecture, then, of cinmeatic quotations, invoking the strange familiarity of ethos.
But what happens when their history as designers of 'intelligent' buildings meets their design of cinema halls? Maybe it's already happened/happening. Hopefully, more sense of that will emerge in subsequent meetings.
MULTIPLEXES IN THE CITY
"In India we're seen as an architectural firm. Internationally we'r known as a Technological Research Organisation." Last Tuesday, I met Sonali Rastogi of Morphogenesis Architecture Studio, the architects of the PVR group of cinemas. This was what she said towards the end of our 40 minute conversation, squeezed between client-meetings. I've been promised a longer meeting on this coming Saturday, as saturdays are when they are not open to clients, but have internal brianstorming sessions.
Morphogenesis has an interesting background. Sonali and Manit Rastogi, after graduating from SPA did their masters from the Design Research Lab in London, where they were working on Design and Artificail Intelligence, creating interactive design systems. Their first major project on their return to India was designing the steel and glass Apollo Tyres Corporate headquarters in Gurgaon, considered to be India's first 'intelligent' building, in 1996.
But, according to Sonali, even a project that big didn't get them enough of recognition or a public profile. They were looking for a project where their intervention would dramatically change the urban landscape and get them noticed. In Sonali's words - 'The next project we do has to be beyond the project.' Enter Ajay Bijjli, the young owner of Priya Cinema,in partnership with Village Roadshow of Australia, trying to change the way cinema is seen in the city. Sonali says of Priya before the renovation began that it was showing 'Morning Shows' - as if it was the kiss of death...
According to sonali, priya was too much of an alienating space. And ideally, they would have torn it down and rebuilt it, but regulations (whose? DDA?MCD?) mean that you can't bring down a building without really solid justifications. (Aesthetics, and wanting to change cinematic experience in the city apparently not being good enough reasons :-)) It took 4-6months to get permission to renovate and remodel the existing building.
One of the major moves was to open out the front of the cinema, to have the space of the cinema extend 'from the pocorn stand in the lobby to the paanwallah outside.' (of course, considering that you have to deposit your bags at the paanwallah to be able to enter the 'open' cinematic space, there is more than a hint of unintentioanl linkage/irony/coincidence here...) Morphogeneis though of literally extending the cinema into the space of the city, to link the renovation of the cinema with 'urban renewal' (a term that kept cropping up throughout the conversation, and to unite love for the cinema with 'Indian love for conversation and socialisation' to make the cinema space a highly social space and to link it to the larger life of the Basant Lok Community Centre.
PVR NARAINA
We next spoke of PVR Narayana, formerly Payal, which was a highly disreputable and unsafe location, according to Sonali. The ill-lit front of the cinema hall, next to a Fire Station, and dhabas selling butter Chicken and hooch. (interesting element of temporality - the cinema hall's reputation is defined by what it is at night, or conversely, as in the case of Priya, the 'morning show'...)One of the first things they ddid in Narayana was to again open up the front of the cinema, so that the audience gathered/gathering in the foyer can see the approach to the hall. This approach, the exteriors/parking lot of the hall were also well lit up in their plan, despite not being part of the cinema building, so that the whole area was well lit and visible from the hall, hence immediately making it 'safer'. The coming of the PVR brand, and the percieved/expected change in clientele changed the nature of the space around the hall, a perhaps 'exemplary' example of Morphogenesis's contribution to urban renewal....
The resturant where they often ate 'on site' hiked up the prices of its basic dish from rupees 12 to rupees 26. pepsi and coke provided the restuarants with attractive signage, to attract the more upmarket clients soon expected. the butter chicken and hooch selling restuarant turned respectable (damn!), and even the decrepit Fire Station got a new coat of paint.
(I asked Sonali as to why she thought PVR Narayana, despite all this, was not doing as well as the other PVRs. According to her it's becuase the PVR there, unlike the other PVr's has not been able to attract audiences outside of Narayana)
PVR PLAZA
When we spoke of PvR Plaza, Sonali said that Lutyen's delhi is a monument, and Delhi governemnt's zoning laws and the rent control were disasters which were killing CP. She spoke of the facade of Plaza, which was completely out of synch with CP's architecture before they began their restoration, which she characeterised as 'respecting heritage without replicating it'.
The factors behind this were both financial and temporal. Apparently, Morphogenesis (or anyone) get just 5 months to renovate a cinema hall becuase that's the 'break-even' period(?) -the amount of time a cinema can afford to remain closed without running up losses. so though the restoration/renovation of PVR Plaza had to be high quality, but also cheap and quick.So all the furniture is machine amde, though giving the impression of being hand made. 'I don't like to fake materials, but the architecture has to be subservient to the ethos.'
Morphogenesis is looking at 'defining that which is Indian in a global idiom'. A part of this, perhaps, is their cocnept of 'Timeslicing Cinematic Space', a concept they're applying to the foyer(s) of a cinema hall in Mulund, Bombay/Mumbai which is one and a half times the size of Metropolitan Mall and is surrounded by Gujarati money and spending power. The idea is to have different spaces in the cinema flow, and atbthe same time be slices of different 'cinematic time' - 80's style retro; American diner/Elvis imagery, Neon, Backlit glass displays; a MIS - (Movie Information System with Plasma screens): modern steel and glass minimalism - an architecture, then, of cinmeatic quotations, invoking the strange familiarity of ethos.
But what happens when their history as designers of 'intelligent' buildings meets their design of cinema halls? Maybe it's already happened/happening. Hopefully, more sense of that will emerge in subsequent meetings.