[Im]permanence in Architecture – A Case of Premabhai Hall, Ahmedabad | Architecture Thesis

Excerpt: ‘[Im]permanence in Architecture – A Case of Premabhai hall’ is an architecture thesis by Srivibhu Viraj from the L.S. Raheja School of Architecture that explores the concept of impermanence in architecture within places where the transient threshold is evident. The project looks at the case of Premabhai Hall as a hypothetical example for an alternative design approach in the dynamic context of old Ahmedabad‘s Bhadra Plaza. This approach maps the building’s life using cultural shifts and proposes interventions to ensure its relevance and avoid obsolescence.

Introduction: Nature is a rich medium because of its course and ability for dramatic transformation. People, context, climates, and times all change. So why can’t architecture be designed to accommodate this evolution and stay relevant with the times? It is essential to acknowledge the contradiction between impermanence and permanence. It allows one to gain improved perceptions of people, places, and spaces.

‘[Im]permanence in Architecture’ is a pursuit to consider the capacity of the incomplete, imperfect, and impermanent and to engage the user with something old and something new. Imagination, association, and relation are thus used to perceive design as a continuous state of tangible elements and relate it to the natural growth cycle of transition and existence that functions as a potential solution in response to the changes in the cultural and contextual domains.

When we say that the context and times change, does that mean that, as architects, we must adjust to the changing times by modifying the built environment and meeting evolving needs? The project challenges us to consider impermanence and the conceptual evolution of our ideas across time and space. Looking at Buildings as Beings and their response to Change and Changelessness as a phenomenon.