Ep. 282 - Designing a museum with Ar. Prashant Pole (TDB Series)

BV. Doshi, once said, “A house is a grain, like a small sapling in the bio-diverse wild forest”. I wonder what a public space like a temple, a monument, museum, a park, an industrial zone, a 80 floor office tower or a man made landscape is? Lets explore more about architecture and history in this 3 part series called, “An insert into the history”.

This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I had partnered last year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India where students can test their understanding and skills in shaping the way communities live and thrive while preserving local heritage. TDB has been actively running Architecture competition for under graduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders.

This year, the theme is to redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, in Karnataka. Submission deadline is 9th Oct 2023. More details in the show notes and thedrawingboard.in

We begin this series with Ar. Prashant Pole. Prashant has a long and illustrious career that has spanned over three decades. His journey started with Naksha Architects in Bengaluru. He established his own firm, Genesis Architects in 1994 and has worked on single residences, apartments, offices, hotels and institutional buildings. Over these years, he has also been a visiting faculty at MCE Hassan, BIT Bangalore, SIT Tumkur, and USD Mysore. Aside from teaching, he has also been evaluating architecture design as a juror at various architecture schools in and around Bengaluru. We’ll be discussing what goes into making a museum.

Questions

1. What is the museum according to you? Why do we need them?
2. Are there any special characteristics when it comes to Museum’s architecture? How can we optimise space to accommodate a wide range of exhibits while maintaining a seamless visitor experience? (Considering people coming from diverse background, language, ethnicity, abilities and more)
3. Accessibility, sustainability, security, are few common and must have things for any architecture, what are few other guidelines when it comes to a place like Museum?
4. Which are the famous museums in India and why?
5. Since this year’s theme is redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, how can we approach integrating the cultural diversity and historical significance of Badami into the design of a museum, ensuring it resonates with both local and international visitors?
6. We say that “any place to be built should be built with the material found in 5KMs or it’s radius”. How true is it and why? How do you leverage local materials and craftsmanship to create a distinctive architectural identity for the museum, and what challenges might arise in this context?
7. Lighting and climate control are crucial factors in preserving the artifacts. How can we go about creating and ideal environment yet ensuring it’s sustainable? We can consider Badami or any other museum (located in the such setup in India)
8. What suggestions would you give those who wish to specialise in designing museums? Any extra attention in the context of Bandami museum?

Reference reading

• https://wcfa.ac.in/staff/prashant-girish-pole/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj84z3FA0tU
• https://thedrawingboard.in
• https://thinkmatter.in/2020/09/15/an-ephemeral-lab-in-a-city-of-fixity/
• https://www.bmsca.org/workshops.html
• https://www.gandhiashramsabarmati.org/en/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_U9rjdsmOg
• https://dbcic.org
• The Drawing Board
• Rohan Builders
• Mindspace Architects