Decoding Mumbai's Art Deco Dwellings (1930s-50s): Modernity, Hybridity, and Postcolonial Identities in late-colonial Architecture of Mumbai

解读孟买的装饰艺术住宅（1930-50 年代）：孟买晚期殖民建筑中的现代性、混合性和后殖民身份

• 批准号: 2748101
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Liverpool
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2748101
• 关键词: Decoding; Mumbai; Art; Deco; Dwellings

Mumbai's Architecture in the late-colonial period was an active proponent of intense socio-cultural changes by playing a crucial role in forming colonial spatial relations, reflecting and/or contesting modernities and their rationalities, including/excluding groups and empowering identities. Shifting from colonial Imperialism to postcolonial modernism, how did Mumbai's Architecture represent these transformations? How did architecture promote Indians' self-determination and decolonization in the face of colonial hegemony? How did buildings reflect the notions of modernity, national identity, shifting power, and progress? Broadly examining how these notions were shaped/re-shaped in Mumbai's built-environment and later focusing on Indian architects and Bombay Improvement Trust's low-rise middle-class (Art Deco-styled) housing in suburban Mumbai neighbourhood, the project aims to create a decolonial 'hybrid' narrative in opposition to the imperial 'urban history of Bombay'. The research would investigate how Mumbai's Art Deco Architecture was shaped by Indian agents to respond to various political, social, and nationalistic demands during the late-colonial period. Focusing on Art Deco dwellings built between 1930-47 by UK-trained Indian architects and BIT, the research aims to create critical historiography of 'indigenous modernity', which connects the materials, process, design and patronage of buildings with broader socio-economic-political issues. Hence, the research posits the following research questions: 1. Does the production of architecture in the late-colonial Mumbai reinforces/challenges the notions of self, progress, and national identity?2. How was international Art Deco appropriated by policies, patrons, BIT, and architects to fit the city's needs and create a 'hybrid space'?3. Can Mumbai's Art Deco Architecture be interpreted as a manifestation of Appropriation, Modernity, and Post-colonial Empowerment? In order to answer the questions, a qualitative research strategy is planned in distinct phases. The first phase will involve a scholarship review on 'Architectural production and politics, identity, and modernity' and post-colonial critiques focusing on architecture. These will be combined to form critical themes that will comprehend the adaptation and transformation of Bombay Architecture, resulting in an interpretative framework of strategies and tools used by Mumbai's policy-makers, architects and the local community. The second phase involves interpretative-historical research to create a narrative. Sources include government publications like Plaque Reports, BIT Reports and others obtained from India Office Records at the British Library, SOAS Library, and Maharashtra State Archives; colonial literature like Officers' accounts, native accounts, biographies, travelogues, family histories; and Non-official publication like RIBA Journals, and Construction Manuals. The third phase would be a case study research that will be undertaken to study buildings as hybrid architecture. 5-7 case studies will be taken from a single Mumbai neighbourhood to gather similarities/dissimilarities in the building's design (plan, sections, elevations), form, elements and iconography. Data collection modes include document analysis, archival research, fieldwork observations, stakeholder interviews, measured drawings, sketching and photo-documentation. The data obtained will be assessed in a matrix of 'Bombay Deco' attributes to create a catalogue of the case studies. The final phase involves combining the data obtained from previous phases to create an interpretation of social practices, perception and use of space. This will eventually lead to a complete picture of Post-colonial transformation in Mumbai's Art Deco concluding the research. The research is envisioned to add to the histories of 20th-century Architecture, Indian Modern Architecture, and Art Deco. Built on the intersection of Archit

殖民末期的孟买建筑积极倡导激烈的社会文化变革，在形成殖民空间关系方面发挥了关键作用，反映和/或质疑现代性及其合理性，包括/排除群体和赋权身份。从殖民帝国主义转向后殖民现代主义，孟买的建筑是如何代表这些转变的？面对殖民霸权，建筑是如何促进印度人的自决和非殖民化的？建筑如何反映现代性、国家认同感、权力转移和进步的概念？该项目先是广泛研究这些概念是如何在孟买的建筑环境中被塑造/重新塑造的，后来又聚焦于印度建筑师和孟买改善信托基金在孟买郊区的低层中产阶级(装饰艺术风格)住房，旨在创造一种非殖民主义的“混合”叙事，与帝国的“孟买城市历史”背道而驰。这项研究将调查印度代理人如何塑造孟买的装饰艺术建筑，以回应殖民后期的各种政治、社会和民族主义需求。这项研究的重点是1930年至1937年间由受过英国培训的印度建筑师和BIT建造的装饰艺术住宅，旨在创建关于“本土现代性”的批判性史学，将建筑的材料、工艺、设计和赞助与更广泛的社会经济政治问题联系起来。因此，这项研究提出了以下研究问题：1.殖民晚期孟买的建筑生产是否加强/挑战了自我、进步和国家认同的概念？2.政策、赞助人、BIT和建筑师如何利用国际装饰艺术来适应城市的需求并创造一个‘混合空间’？3.孟买的装饰艺术建筑可以被解读为挪用、现代和后殖民授权的表现吗？为了回答这些问题，在不同的阶段规划了定性研究策略。第一阶段将涉及一个关于“建筑生产与政治、身份与现代性”的学术回顾，以及关注建筑的后殖民批评。这些将结合在一起，形成关键主题，将理解孟买建筑的改编和改造，从而形成孟买政策制定者、建筑师和当地社区使用的战略和工具的解释性框架。第二阶段涉及解释历史研究，以创造一个叙事。资料来源包括政府出版物，如牌匾报告、BIT报告和其他从大英图书馆、SOAS图书馆和马哈拉施特拉邦档案馆的印度办公室记录中获得的出版物；殖民文献，如军官记述、土著记述、传记、游记、家族史；以及非官方出版物，如RIBA期刊和建筑手册。第三阶段将进行案例研究，将建筑物作为混合建筑进行研究。5-7个案例研究将来自孟买的一个社区，以收集建筑设计(平面、剖面、立面)、形式、元素和图标方面的相似/不同之处。数据收集模式包括文件分析、档案研究、实地观察、利益相关者访谈、测量图纸、素描和照片记录。所获得的数据将在‘孟买装饰派’属性矩阵中进行评估，以创建案例研究目录。最后一个阶段涉及将从前几个阶段获得的数据结合起来，以创建对社会实践、感知和空间使用的解释。这将最终导致孟买装饰艺术在后殖民时代转型的完整图景，并总结这项研究。这项研究有望为20世纪建筑史、印度现代建筑史和装饰艺术史增添新的内容。建在拱门的交叉口