Sometimes, there are projects into story so specifically within the building which one lowers oneself, rather like one there is a conscious effort to take the use of would into a river, not knowing the tempera- iconography in architecture to a point ture nor the strength of the current Such where direct animation .is possible so that was the Spastic school Project where the brief the building evokes images and associa-was a very simple one—to create a school tions and also carries the mind into a magi-building for spastic children who are cal realm. It is of course primarily a building physically handicapped in various ways but for children, so the magical aspect is really whose minds are fully alert and intelligent meant" for them. However, the building is There were no reference points, no pro- only partially built as yet and much of this totypes and no one, except the teachers, to will only be a part of the living experience guide us. That is why I lowered myself very once the building is complete. The exterior slowly into the idea. The final solution was a of the School is a massive brick wall with three floor building wrapped around an openings restricted to the recessed areas. open space that was covered at a great The association is distant one but intended height and gave a protected and secure play- to evoke the Buddhist rock caves (Fig.56) ing space for the children, many of whom where the bland exterior of the cliffs con-have to drag themselves along the floor to ceals the tremendous complexity within. move from place to place. The greatest dif- which is only hinted at in the portion where ficulty in creating this building was to give a the windows have been cut out In the earlier double image. One image was from the out- version (Fig.55) there was much more glass. side, a public image that had very little to do but in the constructed version this glass in with the experience of the children, and the the windows has been reduced and the pro-second was the inside where the children file of the dome of the ramp altered for would experience this building everyday, reasons of economy and also to emphasise The inner part of the building is therefore the solid blank cliff-like exterior. full of images and associations for children. This account of our work has attempted Two devices are used! The first is the round- to categorise and simplify the concerns ing of comers and flow of forms into shapes which dominate it. But the focus is always and forms which are not only feminine and shifting from building to building. Our work soft but in specific places-such as the ramp ranging from tribal schools to electronic and behind certain columns-reminiscent of projects is only a reflection of the complex-the process of birth. The ramp itself, without ity of India where it is meaningless to talk of windows and tunneled in part is directly consistent styles of the type one expects linked to the subconscious experience of from European master architects emerging emerging at birth. The second is the placing out of a homogenous culture. In India our of a magical or legendary tale or myth which work must perforce, shift its stylistic posi-unwinds throughout the building. The tion constantly to rhyme with the uneven characters in the story, some of whom are development linguistic and cultural variety, presented on the entrance facade (Fig.53) urban and rural contradictions, and unwind their story within the building so geographical range. Each building evokes that columns are transformed into charac- its own images and associations: these are ters, the ramp into a journey, and the roof not always shared. Buildings remain open into a sky. By the placing of this mythical ended, pluralistic and wholly uneven in style. 36 April-June, 1984