Golconde, The Introduction of Modernism in India
On October 15, 2023, we held a closing celebration of the exhibition, Golconde, The Introduction of Modernism in India. Golconde is the remarkable story of Antonin Raymond’s first Modernist reinforced concrete building in India and how supervising its construction changed the course of George Nakashima’s life. The exhibition coincided with the reprinting of the second edition of the accompanying book.
The closing event featured Indian music by Vinay Desai, an accomplished musician on the Santoor (hammered dulcimer) who studied under the renowned maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. He was accompanied on tabla (drums) by Pandit Samir Chatterjee, who has played with many of India’s greatest musicians including Pandit Ravi Shankar. An Indian appetizer reception was presented by Cross Culture restaurant.
Mira Nakashima and Julian Lines, Nakashima Foundation for Peace advisory board member, welcome guests
Pandit Samir Chatterjee on the tabla (drums) and Vinay Desai on the santoor (hammered dulcimer)
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Curators Pankaj Vir Gupta, and Christine Mueller created a series of full-scale color prints on fabric, hung so that observers are immersed in a three-dimensional sense of the remarkably beautiful spaces and forms.
During their research and documentation, Pankaj and Christine were allowed unprecedented access to the Ashram archives, unearthing archival photographs and reproducing the original architectural drawings to illustrate the conditions that led to the creation of Golconde.
Golconde: The Introduction of Modernism in India
Golconde Exhibition 2022
Photo Credit: Zak Winokur
Golconde Exhibition 2022
Photo Credit: Zak Winokur
Golconde Press release
Book: Golconde: The Introduction Of Modernism In India
Nakashima & Golconde
Golconde, a hidden gem in India’s architectural history, has a special connection to the work and life of George Nakashima.
As Nakashima shepherded construction, he was awakened to a higher consciousness, enabling him to manifest Karma Yoga his architecture and furniture making.
While working in Japan for Czech-American architect Antonin Raymond who had collaborated with Frank Lloyd Wright on the Imperial Hotel, George Nakashima traveled throughout Japan extensively and learned about traditional Japanese architecture. In 1936, after conceiving its initial design and construction, Raymond sent Nakashima to Pondicherry, India for three years and entrusted him to work as project architect on Golconde, a dormitory for the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Golconde is the first reinforced, cast-in-place concrete building in India. Nakashima altered Raymond’s design to accommodate the region’s hot tropical climate, adding a precast barrel-vaulted roof and plenum to insulate from the sun. While at the Ashram, Nakashima became so immersed in its philosophy and way of life that he became a disciple of spiritual leader and philosopher Sri Aurobindo, taking on the Sanskrit name ‘Sundarananda’ – one who delights in beauty. Here he practiced “Integral Yoga,” the yoga-based philosophy of selflessness that influenced Nakashima’s work at Golconde and throughout his entire career.
Nakashima worked with a team of devotees and residents of the Ashram, a mix of skilled and unskilled workers, most with no prior construction experience. Completed in 1942, Golconde features experimental forms that combine early Modernist influences such as straight lines, creating new concrete form work and climate-specific environmental adaptations, such as louvered walls, ventilating breezeways, horizontally slatted sliding teak doors, all in a north-south orientation set amidst what is now lush landscaping.
