Till 7th July, 2024 at Arthshila, Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad – An exhibition of architectural drawings and sketches curated by Shubhra Raje in collaboration with Anant Raje Foundation titled From Raje: The Patient Search for Architecture is displayed at Arthshila Ahmedabad till July 7th, 2024. The architecture of Late Anant Raje (1929-2009) has been described as exhibiting integrity between purpose and expression, building and landscape, part and whole, and the ultimate quality of all good architecture through time – a sense of repose. If the disciplines of the mind, and a humanistic concern, are the underpinnings of all his work, it is his understanding of the elements of building, and the laws of construct, that give it a sense of ordered presence.
According to the Curator, Shubhra Raje, “The exhibition at Arthshila is part of a larger body of exhibitions which we started last year, and mainly it is to present the architect, not re-photographed, redrawn, in order to show only what was the built form, but actually mine the archives and curate through selections- drawings from his, you know, entire life’s work. Development drawings, drawings for presentations, drawings for searching some things, drawings for trying out things, drawings that represented a line of thought that didn’t go anywhere, construction drawings. So, these exhibitions are really presenting Raje’s work and Raje’s practice, and Raje’s sort of preoccupations within architecture and also in terms of humanistic values, they present this oeuvre, this practice through his drawings and models and his photographs. So, there is a certain singularity but also a certain intimacy and authenticity because these are directly from the office and the office archives.”
As per Mr. Sanjiv Kumar, Founder at Arthshila, “This exhibition is a testament to the profound impact of Anant Raje’s architectural legacy. Through sketches, drawings, and personal insights, we aim to inspire and educate, offering a glimpse into the visionary mind that continues to shape our understanding of architecture.”
The exhibition presents six projects, from an oeuvre of over sixty, focusing on the development of these elements of meeting, of connection. Selections of development sketches, construction drawings and Raje’s contact sheets with his notes together provide clues to the many fundamental problems and situations he constantly wrestled with. A series of relevant sketches, sifted through fifty years of sketchbooks, provide a backdrop and a milieu for the more specific explorations.
The drawings and sketches in this exhibition are defined both by what is being studied and by the relationship between its being a hand drawing and an act of exploration where thinking does not happen for the sketch to be made; the sketch is thinking in process. With regards to architectural practice, it reminds us that design is what occurs between the mind and drawing – not what merely happens in the mind to be then put in a drawing. This is, then, an exhibition of an architect at work, rather than merely a presentation of his work.
At Arthshila Ahmedabad – 2G, opp. Ahmedabad Management Association, Panjara Pol, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015
