52. Before the masters, a conversation with Peter Scriver

“…the only sad part about those conversations on that veranda, at that stage of his life, was that he was beginning to concede that the dream was cracking.”

This week, we invite Architect, Historian and Educator, Peter Scriver to share with us his story of uncovering a love for Architecture History, and a previously undiscussed colonial narrative, through Indian Modernism. Peter Scriver is an associate professor at the University of Adelaide in the school of architecture and built environment. 

Timestamp Outline 

4:27  The Global Village

4:56   The World Exposition 1967, Pavilions of India and Sri Lanka

13:03 Origins of the book, After the Masters  

14:45 B.V. Doshi’s Vastu Shilpa Foundation

15:31 Peter’s time working for Architect, Joseph Stein 

16:58 Regional Modernity 

17:54 Jascha Heifetz playing Bach

19:52 “[Joseph Stein] was the beautiful example of the believer, that you could take this craft and this attitude toward design…and he went to a place that inspired him profoundly and was asked to stay. And the only sad part about those conversations on that veranda, at that stage of his life, was that he was beginning to concede that the dream was cracking.”

20:54 “post-modern was in…”

23:27 Larger recognition of new work from Raj Rewal and B.V. Doshi

26:20 “There is sort of a structuralist, Foucaldian kind of perspective to this…”

28:30 Discussion of Peter’s recent study of the Afghan Mosque and South Asian settlement in Australia 

33:50 What is the state of architectural discourse and architectural thinking today?

35:34 Pluralization in contemporary architectural discourse of India, relative to Rahul Mehrotra’s work, Architecture in India since 1990 

39:15 Modernism vs. Neocolonialism

42:40 Discussion of Conspicuous Consumption in architecture 

44:40 Peter’s ongoing with Amit Srivastava surrounding representation of politics in contemporary Indian Architecture, the Hall of Nations and the Ayodhya temple dispute