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Odisha with Revathi Kamath
Portraying India
Perceptions of India, inspired by the lives of those who embody its most authentic spirit
In this edition, we look at Odisha from the perspective of architect Revathi Kamath.
In the midst of record heatwaves across the world, there is a growing conversation about the blessings of housing built to withstand high temperatures. Despite the growing use of concrete in modern architecture of the last few decades, there were those who foresaw the pitfalls of climate change and proposed we work with indigenous materials that understood the challenges of the region they were being used in. In India, at the forefront of the movement, was Revathi Kamath, an architect way ahead of her time.
Throughout her life she propagated building techniques and material that favoured those with lesser privilege than herself. She understood that being the citizen of an agricultural economy, the average Indian was unlikely to shut themselves up in a concrete building with central airconditioning. An architect known for her ecologically and socially sustainable architecture, Revathi Kamath has a legacy of works that brought craft skills from India into its architectural expression.
Born Architect
Revathi Kamath was born in 1955 in Bhubaneswar, India. Her father was a civil engineer who worked on the Hirakud Dam on the Mahanadi River. Although the dam solved the problem of flooding and drought along the flow of the river, it displaced thousands of indigenous people who lived along it. Inspired by her father’s work and the dream of building housing for those who need it, she knew since she was six that her future lay in architecture.
She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and completed a post-graduate programme in Urban and Regional Planning both from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. In the course of studying, she felt a dissonance between what she saw in the world and what was being taught. “While I was studying architecture, I felt that there was not enough emphasis on indigenous consciousness and history and there were not enough examples of the lessons we were taught from history”. “So I decided to integrate contemporary self expressions with indigenous from day one and my first project emulates a tradition of building with earth”.
Passing Down the Knowledge
After short stints at reputed firms like Stein, Doshi & Bhalla and Rassik International, she started work with The GRUP (Group for Rural & Urban Planning), a partnership firm between Vasant Kamath, Romi Khosla and Narendra Dengle. In 1981, she opened a firm with her husband Vasant Kamath, “Revathi and Vasant Kamath”, which later came to be known as “Kamath Design Studio – Architecture, Planning and Environment”.
At the design studio, she not only furthered her practice by taking on projects and infusing them with her philosophy, but also passed it on to her students and junior architects. With them she shared freely her struggles as a young woman architect in Rajasthan when the Mandawa Desert Camp was being built, as well as the joys of the wonderful earth home that Vasant and Revathi built at Anangpur in Haryana, India.
At the design studio, she not only furthered her practice by taking on projects and infusing them with her philosophy, but also passed it on to her students and junior architects. With them she shared freely her struggles as a young woman architect in Rajasthan when the Mandawa Desert Camp was being built, as well as the joys of the wonderful earth home that Vasant and Revathi built at Anangpur in Haryana, India.
“I am constantly moving forward. In the future, I see a lot of human beings living in harmony with nature. There will be a lot of positive and holistic search for our being. I see an ecological civilization as our collective future.”
On Mud and Men
Her love for indigenous material, particularly mud, began with her very first project, Anandgram, a habitat for 350 members, who were traditional performing artists and craftspeople. She stressed on working with the inhabitants to design ‘with’ them as opposed to ‘for’ them, allowing a common consciousness to pervade the design. Revathi is noted for her sensitive efforts for conceiving the ‘Evolving Home’ concept for redevelopment. She consulted with 350 families to understand the individual needs and to provide them a first home on the ground.
Revathi represented India and the belief she had in its traditional methods to the world. Three of her projects were nominated for the Aga Khan Award – Akshay Pratishthan School in Delhi, Community Center in Madhya Pradesh and Nalin Tomar House at Hauz Khas, Delhi. She also presented her work Traditional Architecture in India for the festival of India in Paris in 1986.
Discovering Odisha
Odisha is a land of ancient heritage. Every stone of the state’s temples, trees in its forests and the life of its people, are imbibed with the language of spirituality. From the historical Kalinga war fought by Asoka to the lives of the Jain ascetics, a trip to Odisha is an exploration of an India that is far from the popular imagination.
Sun Temple
The temples of Odisha follow a language or architecture that is completely removed from the popular ones in North and South. The Sun temple, in particular, was conceived as the cosmic chariot of the sun god Surya. Around the base, seven rearing horses (representing the days of the week) move the stone leviathan on 24 stone cartwheels (representing the hours of the day)
Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary
Home to the second largest mangrove system in India and the largest congregation of the endangered Salt Water Crocodile in the country, Bhitarkanika is a paradise for nature lovers. If you align your visit with the migration of the herons you might just end up seeing them swarm the sanctuary in thousands and performing unimaginable acrobatics.
Indigenous Crafts and Handloom
Odisha’s craft tradition is the jewel in the crown that Indian crafts. Odisha’s handicrafts exhibit the skill and creativity of artisans. The brass work, silver-work, terracotta art objects, and applique work are unique examples of artistic excellence. The mastery of the weavers has especially touched sylvan heights in tassar silk producing the finest quality of yarn.
Udaygiri and Khandagiri Caves
The twin hills of Khandagiri and Udayagiri in Bhubaneswar, anciently known as Kumara and Kumari parvatas respectively represent one of the earliest groups of Jaina rock-cut architecture in eastern India in the fields of history, rock-cut architecture, art and religion. There are all together eighteen caves in the Udayagiri and fifteen caves in the Khandagiri.
Recommendations for Further Exploration
To Watch
Dhara | 1999 – A Documentary on Revathi Kamath
Dhara | 1999 – A Documentary on Revathi Kamath
To Listen
She Builds Podcast: Revathi Kamath
She Builds Podcast: Revathi Kamath
At Tushita, we marvel at India with you. After 45 years of travelling the country, we’re still enamoured by its beauty every day. From Ladakh, where Tushita was anointed by a Buddhist monk in 1977, to Tamil Nadu, where we worked with locals to showcase one of the oldest cultures in the world, we are partners in your journey to discover our part of the world.
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