Art Deco Mumbai reaches Miami at the 16th World Congress

Marine Drive the southernmost tip of Mumbai is buzzing with life As the sun melts into the ocean patrons flock for a leisurely walk at the promenade Those who decide to sit at the wall canrsquot help but notice the aerodynamic modern buildings whose curves run into lines and triangles Historian Gyan Prakash describes them as a glance at ldquoutopia promised by the city on the seardquoThese lowrise neatly laid buildings now stand represented at a global design symposium in Miami The 16th World Congress 2023 is an initiative to recognise and take steps for the revival of this modern living heritage Incidentally Miami Beach happens to be the first area in the world to start the conversation around preserving Art Deco the playful 20thcentury built formAt the Congress is Atul Kumar presenting a case study on the restoration and repair of Swastik Court one of the 18 Art Deco apartments in the Oval precinct at Churchgate In 2019 residents of the apartment implemented an elaborate plan for its repair and maintenance mdash 83 years after its construction ldquoSwastik Court went from being one of the most ldquodecrepitrdquo buildings in the words of its own residents to one of the bestlooking addresses on the streetrdquo remarks Atul upon its revival journey The 12day long conference came to an end on April 30The team of Art Deco Mumbai was invited to advise and share guidelines to restore the aesthetic and cultural significance of the building ldquoSwastik has high architectural integrity as no structural interventions were made to the property over its 85year existencerdquo shares Atul This paved way for successful outcomes as it enabled the restoration of art deco features with minimal interventions by the occupantsWith the refurbishment carried out in a costeffective way the visual and historic value of the building has now grown exponentially Art Deco Mumbai supervised the entire project guided the residents and managed the contractors and architects Civic Activist and lifelong resident of Swastik Court Nayana Kathpalia attests to the efforts ldquoThe flats are spacious It is relatively quiet it is open and it has got gardens I think altogether I feel very lucky and very very blessedrdquoSwastik Court falls under lsquoThe Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbairsquo and is a UNESCO World Heritage SiteAt the Congress Atul was joined by Kathleen Murphy Skolnik art and architecture history teacher Therese Poletti Preservation Director Art Deco Society of California and author of Art Deco San Francisco and Fabio Grementieri architect and specialist in historic preservation and architectural history University of Buenos AiresKathleen Skolnik while speaking to Art Deco Mumbai pointed out the limitations of seeing Art Deco as a comprehensive ldquostylerdquo ldquoLike many other scholars in this field I try to avoid referring to Art Deco as a style because it is so diverse For me itrsquos better categorised as a spirit an attitude or an approach to designrdquo Skolnik states She describes Art Deco designers as being ldquocommitted to developing a decorative aesthetic appropriate for a fastpaced industrial world the world in which they were livingrdquoThe champion of Mumbairsquos Art Deco nomination to UNESCO as a World Heritage site Atul is the founder of Art Deco Mumbai a think tank that is chronicling documenting and advocating the conservation of Deco neighbourhoods in Mumbai Found in 2016 his team has listed down more than 600 buildings including residences palaces cinema halls and hotels extending from Marine Drive to Matunga Dadar Mahim and all the way up to the northAt Mumbairsquos coastline Art Deco can be spotted easily With its eyecatching bright colours and pastels as well as its geometric lines and curves chrome accents window ldquoeyebrowsrdquo and fountains one cannot miss this fun and frivolous style The neatly laid out Art Deco apartment buildings were built with uniform building heights setbacks high ceilings balconies and windows that brought in fresh air from the sea Some of the iconic Deco buildings fronting the coast are Meghdoot Shanti Nikten Giri Kunj Zaver Mahal Keval Mahal and Firdaus Mumbai prides itself in housing the worldrsquos secondlargest collection of Art Deco structures next to MiamiEmerging in the 1920s Art Deco became representative of an elite uppermiddleclass life at least in its early debut in Bombay ldquoA product of the jazz age it borrowed at times from the Egyptian civilisation at times from ancient China or the Mayan and Aztec civilisation but constantly defined itself as looking towards the futurerdquo pens down Atul in his study ldquoAn Architecture of Style Not IdeologyrdquoThe style finds its origins in France but found its place in design literature some forty years later English art historian and author Bevis Hillier called the 1925 Style Moderne as Art Deco in his definitive 1968 book Art Deco in the 20s and 30s Various factors that shaped the new architecture of this time were the abundant availability of cement a new construction material that enabled costeffective and speedy construction without the innumerable limitations of other materials like stone was the primary driverAtul recalls that land reclamations provided new spaces for urban development and the plague reinforced the need for hygienic and modern living spaces Art Deco became the face of the vast land reclamations from the sea offering a glimpse into the bygone era Here Mumbai city dons its finest disguise to present the incarnation suitable for a capitalist age ldquoThe squalor of slums the violence of poverty and homelessness the wretched effects of staggering inequality and the oppression of power are tucked away from sightrdquo writes Prakash Art Deco which Prakash describes as the expression of the ldquoaesthetic turn of capitalismrdquo becomes the face of this inequality at Marine DriveAlso Read Mumbai set to witness iconic musical live by Rodgers and Hammersteinrsquos Broadway troupe