Gujarat Hindu Society Mandir, Preston
The GHS building was officially opened on the 25th August 1975 with the installation of Lord Krishna’s shrine in the prayer hall. At this time the Centre was only the third building in the UK with dedicated facilities for Hindu prayer. This fact attracted 3000 people from all over the UK to attend the opening ceremony, which took place over two days. The building was actually the home of one of the members who allowed one of the rooms in the house to be used for the purposes of meetings and receiving correspondence. This is quite a creative example of combining local architecture and elements of a traditional Hindu temple. This very modest expression of Hindu identity, well woven into the local fabric, is a very good example of adapting local buildings to create a distinct identity without being ‘loud’ or creating conflict.
Swaminarayan Mandir, Neasden
BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir is the first Hindu Mandir in Europe built in classical tradition of Hindu architecture, distinct from converted secular buildings. The Mandir is the focal point of the complex. Designed according to the ancient Indian Sthapatya-Shastra, it is made from Indian marble, 2,000 tonnes of Italian Carrara marble and 2,820 tones of Bulgarian limestone. The stone was shipped to India where it was hand-carved by over 1,500 craftsmen. Each individually numbered piece was then shipped back to London and the building was assembled like a giant three dimensional jigsaw. The temple site was previously occupied by a large warehouse. The temple’s congregation first had their temple in a disused chapel, then in a warehouse, and then they built this temple.
In contrast to the previous example, this temple by the same community is a bold statement of the strong Gujarati economy in the UK today. It really is a landmark structure, fantastically detailed and beautifully proportioned. It is an achievement of project management and of imitation of design. A lot of effort has been put into copying carving details from Gujarati stone and wood carving tradition, to the last detail. However, there has been severe neglect in contributions to local character, using local craftsmanship and materials, and the local economy. This structure could be standing anywhere in the world and would still speak of Gujarati identity. But what about the identity of Gujaratis living in UK? Being part of the both worlds myself, I know that Gujaratis in the UK do not have the same identity as The BBC news website states that most people in Wembley
today were born abroad - 52% to be precise, more than anywhere else in Britain. The majority of them are Gujaratis. Almost a third of the population of Leicester consists of ethnic minorities. Again a major group among them is Gujaratis. While most of the Gujaratis are Hindus, there is a significant Gujarati Muslim presence as well. The peculiarity of this minority group is that the majority of them have come to this country via Africa. Their forefathers had settled in African countries such as Fiji, Uganda, Tanzania, or Kenya.
New Ways of Looking at Heritage: Processes 41 The Neasden Temple showing painstakinly executed carving details imitating the temple style of medieval Gujarat
Plan showing Neasden temple and the surrounding residential areas in peripheral urban blocks
purely for the purpose of worship by the Sikh Community in the United Kingdom.
The Sikh community from Birmingham first began holding religious services in a Primary School at Brasshouse Lane, Smethwick, Birmingham in 1958. This led to larger and larger congregations of Sikh worshippers and the need arose to acquire more suitable premises for the Gurdwara.
(Above & Below) Images of the Gurudwara on the Smethwick High Street display the attitude to respect the surrounding architecture
Gujaratis in Gujarat itself. In an effort to create a replica of a structure back in Gujarat, a 50 year time span, from the time when these people left India until today, has been wiped out.
Gurdwara, Smethwick
Described on their website as ‘Europe’s First and Biggest Sikh Temple’, this Gurdwara is the first Gurdwara, in the history of UK and Europe, to be purchased and used
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A church building in the High Street in Smethwick was purchased. The present Gurdwara premises is still at the old church site but was rebuilt recently to gleam majestically. Being the highest structure in a large area of comparatively low rise buildings, it provides a visible landmark. However, this early example of converting unused buildings for community purpose, with a pronounced Sikh identity, is modest in comparison with the other Sikh gurdwara in the same city.
Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewark Jatha and Guru Ravidas Bhavan
Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewark Jatha on Soho road in Birmingham was converted from a Polish ex-servicemen’s
club to a gurdwara in 1978. Adjacent residential property was acquired along with land to the rear, allowing the construction of considerable extensions accommodating educational and social functions. In the early 1990s the exterior was remodelled to add a grand entrance surmounted by a dome and other ornamental features.
Today, spread over an entire street block, the Soho Road gurdwara is an imposing landmark in the urban landscape. Inspired by the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the structure suffers from lack of good craftsmanship. No consideration is given to the surrounding modest brick architecture of the industrial era and no respect is paid to local flavour either in selection of material or finishes.
Victorian architecture on the streets around Soho road
Guru Ravidas Bhavan creates a landmark on the Soho road due to its scale and form Architecture of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewa Jatha ignoring the local context
New Ways of Looking at Heritage: Processes 43
ANALYSIS
All these four examples are representative of religious architecture created by Non-Resident Indians (NRI) in Britain. Religious buildings are more expressive of the identity of a people than any other buildings. Most religious buildings belonging to ethnic Indian communities are conversions from derelict or under-used churches, warehouses or residential buildings. Combining more than two blocks together to create a large scale structure is found to be common in such developments. Nasser (2003) noted that the conscious act of remodelling elevations with ornamental features and decorative motifs has been a major development in the metamorphosis of the British urban landscape as a means of redefining the presence of the other.
Jharokha, deorhi, carved niches, arches, chhatri and kalasha
are some of the elements of a classical Hindu temple or a Sikh gurdwara that are repeated in various combinations to create an assemblage that gives an association with a stone temple somewhere back home. The elaborate structures lack traditional English subtlety of expression; on the contrary, they employ a stylistic vocabulary inspired by the Indian subcontinent and they over-communicate Sikh or Hindu identity in the area.
All these examples show an effort to create a distinct identity for the community. The imposing architecture is trying to replicate the architecture in the home country of the migrant community. Magnificent structures though they are in themselves, how contextual their forms are is the question I want to raise. Onion domes, white marble or carved shikhara symbolise everything the community has left behind. This tendency to cling to cliché forms via superficial imitations is quite common in other migrant
groups as well. An interesting point to note is that the very forms of expression that are so dear to the immigrant Indians outside India, are being forgotten or replaced by so-called aspirational western forms in India itself.
Highly regular and well differentiated layouts of industrial urban landscapes, with distinct collective identities are slowly being replaced by architectural forms that are somewhat strange and unfamiliar in the British context. Tolerance in the name of multi-culturalism is encouraged by the government. In the 50s and 60s, at the time of major migrant inflow, the planning laws were more strict and restrictive. Migrant communities were given industrial estates in or near the town centres within which to establish themselves. The change in the economy and the political scene, as well as the success of the Indian migrant community in establishing small businesses, changed the fate of these estates for ever. These communities made the most of the liberalisation of the planning system and the trend of investment in city centres. Another thing that was changing drastically was social status. Most migrants had come to Britain as labourers as, at that time, it was hard to find work in India that paid well. Most of them didn’t belong to a privileged crust of society. After being in Britain for some time, they could feel the wheel turning. Now not only were they well off, they were socially recognised and respected for their NRI status back home as well. The new found wealth, changing social status and heightened sense of establishment became expressed in the aspirational architecture of religious buildings.
Change in planning laws made it easier for ethnic minority communities to express themselves boldly in architecture, and their bold expressions have permanently changed the
One of the 12 gates in the medieval city wall surroundingthe old city of Ahmedabad (left) and the traditional ‘Pol’ architecture inside (right) New shopping mall outside the medieval city walls of Ahmedabad and their aspirational ‘western’ architecture
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British urban landscape. Melton Road in Leicester, Ealing Road in Wembley and Soho Road in Birmingham have taken form of medieval shopping streets in a small Gujarati town. Diwali, Navratri and Baisakhi celebrations add colour to the streets and British urban life.
A reverse phenomena is observed in the urban centres of India today. When Indians outside India are busy building temples and gurdwara, India is being flooded by multiplexes and shopping malls.
Traditional markets are being replaced quickly by the mall culture. The example of a mall just outside the fort wall of the medieval city of Ahmedabad tells the full story. Highly westernized architectural form reflects the aspirations of the contemporary Indians. The historic setting or vernacular of the slums outside its flashing gates is not taken into account in architectural style or scale.
Are these traditional markets lost forever? May be not. They are being brought back to life outside India by the migrant community. Traditional market streets are being reborn in the middle of industrial England. Streets in the ‘Asian’ areas of Birmingham are replicating the long lost native market streets in small towns of India, Pakistan or Bangladesh in an effort by the immigrant Asian community to keep the spirit of the market alive, across the seven seas.
This role reversal can be attributed to the basic urge of human nature- chasing what we do not have. It’s a reflection
of the lack of ‘sense of pride’ in what we have. It’s the celebration of ‘Inheritance of Loss’.
Another noticeable difference in the eastern and western expressions of identity in architecture is apparent in the design of streets. During my undergraduate dissertation I noticed a common phenomenon in Indian cities that could be true for any medieval middle-eastern or Asian city. I named it ‘individual identity within collective conformity’. I observed that in the old cities of Jaipur, Jaisalmer or Ahmedabad, each house was different from the others in the street. Similar but distinctly different. I attributed it to the nature of Hinduism that has influenced the Indian psyche for a millennia. Hinduism, being polytheistic, tends to offer as many different ways of salvation as there are individuals who seek it. This attitude nurtures multiple expressions. But this argument didn’t sound convincing as it failed to explain the apparent dichotomy between collective conformity and individual identity.
On my first visit to the UK, the first thing I noticed about the cities was the fact that all the houses looked exactly the same as the others in the street, with minimum individual expression. One of the reasons for that is that Europeans have been experimenting with the principles of city planning and urban design for a long time. The design of a city as one congruous whole has been at the heart of the city builders’ vision. Planning laws are directed towards preserving the character of a city as a whole, its distinct quarters as well as its streets. Individual buildings are treated as part of something larger and radical deviation
Shops on the ‘Asian’ streets of Birmingham Shops on the ‘Asian’ streets of Birmingham Traditional markets in the old city of Ahmedabad
New Ways of Looking at Heritage: Processes 45
from the fabric around is not tolerated. Such architecture displays fewer contradictions, lots of subtle variations and a dominating harmony.
I think this contrast of expression in eastern and western ways can be related to the common human tendency of expressing the aspirations of the people. Mehta and Belk (1991) note that “the western possessive individualism thought to underlie American and European concepts of self is notably absent in India.” Western thought, mainly based on individualism, stands in stark contrast from that of Eastern or Asian ‘mob mentality’. To the eastern mind, the faith, sect, community or family is structured in a hierarchical order and an individual is expected to follow the norms of one of the groups in order to belong to it. Membership of these groups is above the recognition of individual self. The suppressed eastern self finds its expression in being different from the others; architecture is an expression of individualism. In the western world, strongly individualistic, there is nevertheless a strong yearning for communal spirit and group identity, expressed architecturally through the creation of a harmonious whole. This difference in attitude provides a context in which to examine the relevance of expression of identity.
The mural on the wall opposite the Gurdwara on the Smethwick High Street sums up the ideal streetscape of a multi-cultural city in today’s Britain.
CONCLUSION
Design is a culturally responsive and a participatory process. Historically, cultural practices are inherited as traditions that are reinforced through institutions such as the family, places of worship, work environments, housing, neighbourhoods and even cities. These practices are also socially mediated and negotiated through interpersonal relationships between individuals and groups. The identity of a community crosses borders with its members, gets modified according to the new context and in the process, over time loses its relevance.
I believe that strong cultural expression leads to the creation of ghettos, making other communities apprehensive about a community. Striking a balance between cultural expression and traditional local character is the key to achieving a comprehensive, all-encompassing solution. Every culture is continually forced to determine its position toward outside influences in order to preserve or redefine its own identity. The threatening intrusion of a foreign culture is often characterized as an ‘invasion’. This ‘colonization’ is a threat to the host society. When this sense of threat is born out of a frustrated feeling of superiority, it generally leads to partiality and reactions of hatred. My view is that, this is exactly what is happening in most western cities which have significant migrant communities. Hardy (2003) wrote that the world’s cultural heritage belongs to all of us. Things that appear alien can become part of you if you make the
effort. To grasp the architecture of cultures that are distant, historically or geographically, is to begin to understand those cultures.
When one culture doesn’t consider imported elements ‘other’, or ‘alien’ or ‘threatening’, both foreign cultural elements and those produced locally are seen as equal contributions to a common goal. In this case, the local context is not really considered defective or uninteresting, but is expected to reach beyond its local identity. This phenomenon is observed throughout history in all parts of the world, particularly, in the case of India where many invading cultures brought in their unique influences and became assimilated into an indigenous Indianness.
Sometimes a cultural practice may acknowledge that it lacks the necessary components for renewing itself, for adapting to a changing social context. When for various economic or political reasons, it starts losing a sense of pride in its own history and existence, it turns to other foreign cultures for inspiration and imports cultural elements from them. This situation is prevalent in India today. Again, here, I am not stating that looking towards other cultures and adapting their elements is wrong, However, I definitely want to
raise questions about the way it is happening. Adopting alien features is one thing, modifying them to suit our own requirements is another and imitating blindly without understanding is a different thing altogether. That is as much an injustice to the ‘donor’ culture as it is disrespect to the ‘borrower’.
Continuity and change are the major factors which drive the process of creation and expression of identity. But again, the idea of continuity and change is quite subjective. Sometimes something seems to be changing but actually, at the core, remains the same. For example, Indian people’s wish to express themselves individually has been in existence from ancient times up to the present day. Sometimes, something seems to be continuing but is actually losing its essence, continuity being only skin deep and not reaching the soul. For example, in religious architecture of Indians in the UK, the great Indian architectural tradition is reduced to motifs, symbols and pastiche patchwork.
After saying all this, I do agree with the idea that adventurous change is always better than suppressive continuity. Fear of losing something can never be allowed to overpower the joy of creating something new. I see meaning in the lonely temple shikhara in the middle of industrial England as much as I see hope in south facing glass walls in Ahmedabad. If we allow ourselves to learn from the mistakes we make today, cities of tomorrow will seem habitable and the places of joy. Continuity of identity is as important as its meaningful
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manifestation. On that positive note, I end with a quote from ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ by T.S.Eliot:
“Yet if the only form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, ‘tradition’ should be positively be discouraged. We have seen many such simple currents soon lost in the sand; and novelty is better than repetition.
Tradition is a matter of much wider significance. It cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
It involves, in the first place, the historical sense, which we may call nearly indispensable to anyone who would continue to be a poet beyond