Joseph Allen Stein, one of the few internationally known Indian architects,was an American by birth and nationality. He arrived in India in 1952 as aprofessor to head the nascent departmentof Architecture, Town and Regional Planning at the Bengal Engineering College,University of Calcutta.
He was overwhelmed by the opportunity in India to give full freedomto his ideas through teaching and practice. Stein never went back and spent thelast fifty years of his life here making significant contribution to development of the profession.
The contribution of Stein to contemporary architecture of India needs to beviewed against the state of architectural education in India at the time ofIndependence. There was no course offering a degree in architecture at that time and when the University of Calcutta started the course, theywere unable to find a professor. Stein, who was the first professor ofarchitecture and town planning in many ways, set the tone of architecturaleducation.
Stein always held that 'A proper course for a young architect was to beexposed to a number of different influences,' and he always believed in keepingthe windows of the mind open. As a teacher he inculcated disciplined andreasoned thinking but never thrust his ideas on his students. As a student, hehimself came into contact with several eminent persons like architect EliellSaarinen, sculptor Paul Milles, and admitted to have been influenced by FrankLloyd Wright, Sullivan, Richard Neutra, Elliel Saarinen. Stein drew inspirationwithout copying them.
Born in 1912 in Nebraska, Stein spent his early years in the wide landscapeof the mid-West and California, establishing a close empathy with nature, whichnurtured his thoughts and endeavour throughout his life. He joined theUniversity of Illinois to study architecture in 1930 and was awarded the medalof the Societe de Architectes Francais as an outstanding student of beaux art in1934. The award was also won by Eero Saarinen of Yale University in the sameyear, also one of the pioneers of modern architecture.
With the award Stein went to the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Fountainebleu. Hereturned to complete his Masters at the University of Illinois and joinedJacques Khan in 1935. He then moved to San Francisco to join Richard Neutra in1938. By 1942 he had opened his office in San Francisco. In many ways thesewere the formative years of his philosophy, which was built around therelationship of man and nature, a strong feature of Neutra's work.
Stein was trained in pre-Bauhaus modernism which did not dismiss the pastqualities of culture and region, a fruit of the international school of thought.Stein believed that 'Good modern architecture learns from the past, immediateand ancient, and perpetuates ideals that have stood the test of time and arestill valid and vital.'
Even as a student Stein wrote 'The modern style will be universal inspirit for there will be an increasing number of local variations as the styledevelops and becomes perfectly adapted to varying geological and climatic,political and philosophic conditions.'
Stein arrived in India as a teacher on the recommendation of Neutra andwas absorbed by the heritage, climate and ethos, which were superimposed by animpulse towards simple life. The ideals of Tagore as a poet-teacher andGandhi as a philosopher-politician found consonance with Stein's own philosophyof life. He then attempted to balance the ideal of an industrialized modernIndia within the limits of economic and societal realities.
He took up research projects with students in developing prototypes for urbanand rural housing which could be produced in great numbers by craftsmenusing locally available materials. These were exhibited in the 'InternationalExhibition on Low Cost Housing' held in 1954 at New Delhi. His designs ofhousing for the steel towns of Durgapur and Rourkela during this periodwere elegant and unostentatious buildings, but very different from thetraditional PWD house design.
This break from the stranglehold of civil engineer-designed structures was amajor turning point in the architecture of the public works department, whichwas very ably taken forward by Habib Rehman, Benjamin Polk, et al. Stein reallyflowered in his partnership with Polk and Benoy Chatterjee in the earlyyears, and later with J.R. Bhalla and subsequently with Bhalla and Balakrishna Doshi.
His arrival in Delhi -- commissions of the Triveni Kala Sangam and IndiaInternational Centre -- allowed him to put into practice his philosophy ofintegrating built form with landscape as a total environmental concept. Delhithus because the arena for the extensive concentration of Stein's work.
In fact, the half a kilometer stretch, in and around Lodi Garden, containsseven major buildings -- India International Centre, FordFoundation, UNESCO, WWF, Peace Memorial, India Habitat Centre, etc. The area isnicknamed as Steinabad, not a mean achievement in the city of several empires.Stein's work, however, spread to various parts of India and in association withDoshi, he designed several projects outside Delhi including the Convention Centre inSrinagar and housing for ICRISAT, etc.
Stein's experiment with locally available materials, and construction withavailable technology and technical capabilities resulted in a fresh pattern. Hewas impressed by the ability of the craftsmen to produce very fine work whichcould be easily employed in building construction. As a result, he was able touse handcrafted jaalis, decorations and motifs, providing rich texture tothe architecture.
He always felt 'The choice and use of materials is based on the architect'sfeeling for the poet and the significance for materials as expression of beautyand meaning are inherent in nature and man's relation with nature.' He made aserious study of traditional Indian architecture and analysed the basicingredients which provided solidity, transparency and the value of delicatelycurved surfaces to provide relief to huge wall surfaces.
The harsh light was always tempered by a series of screens to light theinteriors and Stein used this very facet by providing a variety of jaalis.The luminous shade, filtered light creating a sense of enclosure without totalseparation from outdoor spaces through screens of curved stones or jaalis,was extensively used by him. He used geometric forms built around courts, atraditional feature in Indian architecture, to articulate space and volume.
While designing the Triveni Kala Sangam he subjected his design to thefollowing:
- Respect for natural forms and natural laws as expressed in structuralfunctionalism.
- Respect for cultural values as expressed in the sensitive and intuitiveresponses of people.
- Respect for modern democratic, social and economic relationships asexpressed in rationality and appropriately organised space.
- Respect for regional appropriateness in adjustment to climate andmaterials.
This philosophy of design continued throughout Stein's life, and all hisbuildings reflect this particular trait. Stein developed a very strong empathywith the ecology of northern India, particularly with the mountains andtheir relationship with the plains.
Stein participated in the UNESCO-sponsored conference on the conditions ofmountain environment in 1970, held in Munich. His work on the restoration of theMughal Gardens in Kashmir, resource conserving modern architecture in Bhutan andhis larger concept of preservation of mountain ecology as part of the concept oftotal landscape planning and for creating sustainable democratic society beyondcities were major projects of those times, but were not talked about muchdespite Stein's best efforts to highlight them.
Stein was a very reserved and reticent person. He rarely spoke without a deepthought and then completely associated with what he said. This reflected in hiswork. Balakrishna Doshi, who was associated with him as a partner in variousprojects, commented that his buildings were like his children, and architecturewas his first priority. 'He was like a karmayogi, a man whobelieved in his duty, a man who just did work and worked very hard.'
The Memorial Plaza, built in 1970, to commemorate 20th century's two foremostchampions of non-violence -- Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, a simplestructure in a grove of trees, reflects Stein's ultimate appreciation ofnature's relationship with culture, tradition and philosophy.
In his own words 'I never think of my work as being either modern orconventional or any label like that. I would like to think that we do goodarchitecture that is appropriate to its time and place.'
A good architect, and architecture, transcends the boundaries of time. So willJoseph Allen Stein.
Professor Asesh Maitra is Director, School of Planning and Architecture,New Delhi.
