ARCHITECTURE AND BIODIVRERSITY IN INDIAA Context to Aesthetics in Our TimesAuthor: Remigius de Souza14 OCT 2004 :1 ARCHITECTURE AND BIODIVRERSITY IN INDIAA Context to Aesthetics in Our TimesAuthor: Remigius de Souza14 OCT 2004 Man and Nature (within and outside) Note: All the references and quotes are not mentioned in the following presentation. Also the permissions of the authors and publishers have not been taken. The author acknowledges their copyright. These are used purely for the academic purpose.


BIODIVERSITY :2 BIODIVERSITY SPECIES RICHNESS GENETIC DIVERSITY SPECIES DIVERSITY ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY DISPARITY BIODIVERSITY (How many species) (Different species) TOTAL NUMBER OF SPECIES ABUNDANCE OF SPECIES (How many of genus there are, for example) ‘BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY MEANS THE VARIABILITY AMONG LIVING ORGANISMS FROM ALL SOURCES , INCLUDING INTERALLIA, TERRESTRIAL, MARINE AND AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS AND THE ECOLOGICAL COMPLEXES OF WHICH THEY ARE PART; THIS INCLUDES 2DIVERSITY WITHIN SPECIES; ETWEEN SPECIES AND THE ECOSYSTEMS.’


NUMBER OF SPECIESLIFE  DISTRIBUTION OF BACTERIA ALONG THE GUTS :3 NUMBER OF SPECIESLIFE  DISTRIBUTION OF BACTERIA ALONG THE GUTS SOME 1.2 MILLION SPECIES OF ANIMAL AND 2,70,000 SPECIES OF PLANTS HAVE BEEN CLASSIFIED, BUT WELLBEING OF ONLY A FRACTION HAS BEEN CLASSIFIED. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF SPECIES YET TO DISCOVER. DIVERSE ECOSYSTEM IS STABLE ECOSYSTEM BECAUSE IT IS COMPLEX AND FLEXIBLE ENOUGH TO BE SELF-REGULATING. (Source: New Scientist, 7 December 2002) Estimated total number of species (thousands) (and % described so far)


BIOLOGICAL HOTSPOTS :4 BIOLOGICAL HOTSPOTS Around 80% of all land-based species live on 1.3% of the Earth’s land surface.


DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST IN INDIA :5 DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST IN INDIA INDIA WESTERN GHATS


CULTURAL DIVERSITY (IN UNITY) IN INDIA :6 CULTURAL DIVERSITY (IN UNITY) IN INDIA From Polar Regions to equator the species of flora and fauna increase in abundance and number. At Equatorial regions forest grows on its own if not intervened by humans. This biodiversity influences food, clothing, shelter, languages and culture of the regions. Unlike the urban citizens the forest dwellers have a large variety of (unprocessed) food in abundance depending upon the quality (density) of forest. Even Western Ghats is not as glamorous as may be thought. As one approach Mumbai the deforestation that increases is visible.


SOCIAL-CULTURAL SUB-GROUPS IN INDIA :7 SOCIAL-CULTURAL SUB-GROUPS IN INDIA After ‘Seminar’ Issue 228, June 1978, New Delhi


VIRGIN FOREST IN THE USA and IN NORTH CENTRAL EUROPE :8 VIRGIN FOREST IN THE USA and IN NORTH CENTRAL EUROPE THESE TWO EXAMPLES OF THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES SHOW HOW THE FOREST VANISHED WITHIN TWO CENTURIES WITH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES COUPLED WITH LESS POPULATION IN THE EARLY YEARS THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS IN THE USA BROUGHT SLAVES FROM THE COLONIES IN AFRICA TO COMPENSATE HUMAN LABOUR. THE SIMILAR STORY REPEATED IN INDIA DURING THE BRITISH RAJ.


WORLD POPULATION AND PROGRESS OF SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY :9 WORLD POPULATION AND PROGRESS OF SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY World population increases with human advances in science and technology (Taiganides, 1978)


INSECTS – EVOLUTION OF RESISTANCE :10 INSECTS – EVOLUTION OF RESISTANCE Insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides are used in the farms, gardens, buildings, interiors, furniture on war footing. Now the insects, pests, viruses, are showing resistance to pesticides etc. and an expotential increase in the number of species. The weeds too, though slower, are developing resistance to herbicides. There are some best examples of evolution selection of populations. (Source: Mackenzie. A. ‘The Instant Notes in Ecology’ Oxford: Bois Scientific, 1998).


ENERGY CONSUMPTION :11 ENERGY CONSUMPTION Energy consumption increases and changes in use pattern with human advances in science and technology (Taiganideds, 1978) But the energy consumption is highest in the First World nations.


BIOTECHNOLOGY • DEFINITIONS :12 BIOTECHNOLOGY • DEFINITIONS a). Biotechnology is the application of biological organisms, systems or processes to manufacturing and service industries (Spinks, A. ‘Biotechnology’ report of a Joint Working Party, HMSO, London 1980). (b) ‘Biotechnology is the art of manufacturing living forms as though they were machines’ (Stephan R. L., and Clark K. “Modern Errors and Ancient Virtues” in Ethics and Biotechnology, Eds. Anthony Dyson and John Harris, Routledge, London, 1994) Biotechnology is as old as about 10,000 yBP when man domesticated animals and plants. That was the beginning of agriculture and toil too. With hybrid seeds many indigenous crops became extinct and ecosystems are affected.


LIFE  FOOD WEB OF COMPOST PILE :13 LIFE  FOOD WEB OF COMPOST PILE • Organisms in the compost pile help to decompose the organic waste to produce good quality compost for the use as fertiliser and soil conditioner. • Any peasant practising organic farming knows the value of compost, uses it, and is aquatinted with the life in the compost pit as well as the soil. (Source: Polpasert, C. ‘Organic Waste Recycling’ Wilay, 1996)


AESTHETICS: 1The Engraved Bone Plaque – 30000 (yBP) :14 AESTHETICS: 1The Engraved Bone Plaque – 30000 (yBP) (a): Photograph of pressure bone plaque from Blanchard, France. Note the engravings made by different tools and in different styles of strokes. It shows the phases of the Moon. It’s from Palaeolithic Era. (b): Schematic representation of the serpentine mode of accumulating the sequential information within a small area. Aesthetics: Philosophy of the beautiful or of art (OED). (Source: Eccles, John C. ‘Evolution of the Brain’, Routledge,1991) Is this a work of art or work of science (astronomy)? The civilised people tend to have a view in divisions. As among the tribal each person is representative of the whole tribe, so also in the prehistoric society there must not have been division of labour. It’s a holistic work.


AESTHETICS: 2100 (or 1000 or 10,000) years before future (yBF)? Untitled 1: Graphic and text :15 AESTHETICS: 2100 (or 1000 or 10,000) years before future (yBF)? Untitled 1: Graphic and text DECORATION SOME BREAD AND SOME UNFAMILIAR SURVIVAL BREATHING A SQUARE PEG IN ROUND HOLE IN EXISTANCE THE EARTH Graphic and text (1985) by Remigius de Souza, (After the original in pen and ink.)


AESTHETICS: 3100 (or 1000 or 10,000) years before future (yBF)?Untitled 2: Graphic and text :16 AESTHETICS: 3100 (or 1000 or 10,000) years before future (yBF)?Untitled 2: Graphic and text Springs up from soil a delicate thread of life strings along a garland of the soil’s heartbeats on the border of time in the exploding crowd around; it’s never a burden for the Earth. Graphic and text by Remigius de Souza, Mumbai (2-9-2004)


AESTHETICS: 4100 (or 1000 or 10,000) years before future (yBF)?Sky-bound Earth-bound (graphic and text) :17 AESTHETICS: 4100 (or 1000 or 10,000) years before future (yBF)?Sky-bound Earth-bound (graphic and text) Springtime had gone long ago, since then I walked, and walked the traders’ mall Of the recognised teaching marts And the recognised preaching marts That promise happiness or welfare   Now I try to recycle the historic manmade Garbage collected over many monsoons since The bygone-spring; could I but ever recycle The extravagant wealth and waste it created, I wonder, knowing a natural order of recycle!  Remigius de Souza. Mumbai [16 October 2004] SKY-BOUND EARTH-BOUND (1973) By Remigius de Souza


NOTE :18 NOTE A graphic becomes word. A word becomes graphic. No grammar. No syntax. No class. These had begun with civilisation. There, of course, is bearing to the past. The graphics in the Aesthetic 2 & 3 were originally written by pen and ink on paper, two decades apart. They are now represented with help of new technology, i.e. computer. Is the author writing a prehistory of the Future, to record how the humanity survived? Will it last like the pressure bone plaque? The popular dictum, “Survival of the fittest” has its other half, “Extinction of species by over-specialisation” which is often ignored.


AESTHETICS, ETHICS AND ECONOMICS :19 AESTHETICS, ETHICS AND ECONOMICS • ‘Two sides of coin’ is a common idiom in currency. • ‘Aesthetics’ and ‘ethics’ could be the two sides of occupation, profession or vocation of architecture. • Yet there is a third side – the ‘edge’ – that is personal or collective on which the coin rolls or spins. • Economic currency in aesthetics of architecture, or built environment, in the capitalist society is a visible factor. • Larger the currency denomination lesser is the edge. • Hence a person or an establishment may strive to fatten the wad to gain the edge, where both the esthetical and ethical values diminish in reverse proportion that results in madness. FLW’s mile high ego Casts the shadow A missed target of 9/11. Where do the pigeons dwell?


HIERARCHY OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN FIELDS :20 HIERARCHY OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN FIELDS REGIONAL PLANNING Λ TOWN PLANNING Λ Λ URBAN DESIGN Λ Λ Λ AHITECTURAL DESIGN Λ Λ Λ Λ INTERIOR DESIGN Λ Λ Λ Λ Λ PRODUCT DESIGN City, in modern times, has been living off the land, alike the plants live in hydroponics on external aids, or lives a life of a parasite living on the regions near and far and wide, even across the continents.


Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters 1 :21 Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters 1 DIATOMS ARE MICROSCOPIC ALGAE KNOWN FOR THEIR BEAUTIFUL AND ELABORATE NATURAL GLASS SHELLS. THEIR SIZE RANGE FROM MILLIONTH OF METER TO THOUSAND TIMES AS ALGAE.


Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters 2 :22 Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters 2 SO FAR MORE THAN 70,000 SPECIES OF DIATOMS ARE DOCUMENTED EACH WITH UNIQUELY SHAPED SHELL. SHELLS RANGE IN SIZE FROM MILLIONTH OF METER TO THOUSAND TIMES AS LARGE, AND CAN VERY IN STRUCTURE WE UNDERSTAND LIFE BY INTUTION.THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC DEFINITION OF LIFE. AN ATTRIBUTES OF LIFE: “LIFE IS SOCIAL. IT EXISTS IN COMMUNITIES AND COLLECTIVES … HOMEOSTASIS, OR ‘THE WISDOM OF THE BODY’, IS A COLLIGIATIVE PROPERTY OF LIFE” (JAMES LOVELOCK). LIFE WAS BORN ON THE EARTH AS BACTERIA SOME 3.8 EONS AGO, AND CONTINUES TO LIVE (EVEN IN OUR GUTS).


Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters: 3 :23 Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters: 3 The ATTRIBUTE TO DESIGN IN NATURE, “In whole organisms, randomness structure is uncommon. Everything seems finely tuned by brutal rigours of natural selection. There are no spare limbs to be found and hardly any dispensable organs. This forced economy of organism design has always limited the use of bodily form as evolutionary timepiece” (Martin Jones, bio-archaeologist, ‘Molecular Hunt’).


Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters: 3 :24 Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters: 3 Algae, besides other organisms in the water, recycle waste and chemicals. Some are edible for man and animals. It is green manure rich in nitrogen. Algae cloud connection is now established. They recycle sea water and produce Demethyle sulphur. Humble algae are generous benefactors unlike so-called advanced developed societies that only take or grab the resources of the Earth to create wealth and waste that are almost impossible to recycle


Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters: 4 :25 Architecture of Diatoms  Life in Waters: 4 We end, or rather begin, with an optimistic note “The full potential of human creativity has not yet been tapped. Along with the ever-increasing miracle of love, this fact is one of the brightest hope for human race” (Ben Okri, ‘A way of Being Free’, 1999. P.28). Remigius de Souza 14 OCT 2004