A contemporary architectural quest and synthesis : Kamil Khan Mumtaz in Pakistan

A Contemporary Architectural Quest and Synthesis:

Kamil Khan Mumtaz in Pakistan

by

Zarminae Ansari Bachelor of Architecture, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan, 1994. Submitted to the

of

Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Architecture Studies at the

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 1997

Zarminae Ansari, 1997. All Rights Reserved.

The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part.

A uthor ... ... . . Department of Architecture

May 9, 1997

Certified by.

Attilio Petruccioli Aga Khan Professor of Design for Islamic Culture Thesis Supervisor

A ccep ted b y ...

Roy Strickland Chairman, Departmental Committee on Graduate Students Department of Architecture

MIT Libraries

DISCLAIMER OF QUALITY

Due to the condition of the original material, there are unavoidable flaws in this reproduction. We have made every effort possible to

provide you with the best copy available. If you are dissatisfied with this product and find it unusable, please contact Document Services as

soon as possible. Thank you.

Some pages in the original document contain color / grayscale pictures or graphics that will not scan or reproduce well.

Readers:

Ali Asani, (John L. Loeb Associe e Professor of the Humanities, Harvard Univer-sity Faculty of Arts and Sciences).

Sibel Bozdogan, (Associate Professor of Architecture, MIT). Hasan-ud-din Khan, (Visiting Associate Professor, AKPIA, MIT).

Acknowledgments

For making this thesis possible, indeed, for their part in my architectural journey, for mak-ing it possible for me to reach MIT, I would like to thank the followmak-ing people:

- Mr. A. A. Ansari, Deputy Director General, Archaeological Survey of India: my Opa,

who I regretfully never met, but is always an inspiration;

- My parents, Anjum and Rana Naeem, and my family; specially my mother due to

whose sacrifices toward a daughter's education, I am here;

- Mr. Sikander Ghulam Ali, who helped me begin the journey to Lester B. Pearson

Col-lege of the Pacific, Canada, and beyond;

- My professors and friends at the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan; specially

Taimoor D.A. Mumtaz for his invaluable help.

- My friends at MIT, Shehla Imran, Pratap Talwar, and specially Rajive Chaudhry.

- Mr. William O' Reilly, at the Aga Khan Award Geneva office.

- I would like to thank my professors at MIT and Harvard specially Nasser Rabat, Sibel

Bozdogan and Ali Asani whose courses were eye openers, and Hasan-ud-din Khan for his insightful comments.

Finally it is my privilege to thank the two people without whom this thesis really would not have been possible: Kamil Khan Mumtaz, for his patience and graciously taking time out to help me; and Attilio Petruccioli: I will always be grateful for his good humor, helpful enthusiasm, and "inventiveness".

A Contemporary Architectural Quest and Synthesis:

Kamil Khan Mumtaz in Pakistan

by

Zarminae Ansari

Submitted to the Department of Architecture on May 9, 1997, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Architecture Studies

Abstract

This thesis looks at an important Pakistani architect's work and philosophy as a possible direction or approach for contemporary architecture in Pakistan. Although there are more prolific builders in Pakistan, Kamil Khan Mumtaz (KKM) of Lahore, is one of the most important and influential figures in architectural education and the architectural discourse in Pakistan. He has tried to synthesize both pragmatic and philo-sophical aspects of architecture.

Kamil Khan Mumtaz was trained in the Modern Movement at Architectural Association, London. His initial exposure to indigenous Architecture made him question the validity of his training. He started to search for a more appropriate architectural idiom for Pakistan. Throughout his career, he has been a pioneer in the movement for conservation of architectural heritage and raising standards of architectural design in Paki-stan through different organizations he has founded and is member of.

This thesis looks at three stages of evolution in the architects background, discourse and work; relating it to its cultural milieu.

The first phase describes the state of architecture in Pakistan when he returns from the Architectural Asso-ciation, London, and the events leading up to the situation. The background is a period of nation building following Independence and Partition and a lack of adequate architectural education in Pakistan. His early buildings reflect his Modernist training and social concerns.

The second phase looks at his growing concerns with appropriate technology, and interest in indigenous building techniques and crafts. This is the period of Islamic nationalism and the Islamization program dur-ing the military regime of General Zia.

The last phase, is the recent and contemporary situation, where global culture meets the deep rooted rem-nants of fundamentalism fanned by Zia's regime. At this time his architecture is an attempt at synthesis of modern technology and local craft with his own interest in spiritual aspects of architecture.KKM's most rep-resentative work in each of these phases will be discussed with reference to his architectural agenda at the time.

Other issues raised, while assessing the work of Kamil Khan Mumtaz, are issues of regionalism relating to the evolution of his architecture. If critical regionalism is considered the preferred choice, or alternative, of architectural approach specially in Islamic and/ or developing countries, how well does KKM's work fit into that context? Finally, it explores his importance as an architect, educator and intellectual in terms of his influence on contemporary architecture in Pakistan.

Thesis Supervisor: Attilio Petruccioli

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION

Introducing contemporary architecture in Pakistan Methodology, Data Sources and Purpose

Nationalism And Identity

Architecture education in Pakistan National College of Arts

Architects

background---2. DISCOURSE

2.1- Modernist/ social concerns; (Systems buildings) 2.2- Regional Approach

---2.3- Anjuman Mimaran

-2.6-The Aga Khan Awards ---2.4- The Role of Crafts in Spiritual Context

3. PROJECTS

3.1- Search for appropriate technology

- Kot Karamat Village --

--- Architects Residence

3.2- Exploration of traditional crafts - Sonu Rehman's Residence

- Residences in Lahore

3.3 - Synthesis of technology and craft

- Dar-ul-Hikmat -Chandbagh School

4. ASSESSMENT

4.1- Contemporary Synthesis; Spiritual approach

4.2 - His Influence 4.3 - Economic 4.4 - Discourse 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY 6. ILLUSTRATION CREDITS 28 33 37 42 45 55 62 64 66 68 72 79 84 87 89 101 105

1.1 Introducing Contemporary Architecture In Pakistan

Fifty years after Independence, Pakistan is still grappling with the nature of its existencel as secular or religious, and therefore its identity. There is, not surprisingly, no agreement concerning the source of this identity, and its validation. Issues surrounding this pervade

most civil life, and this is equally true of architecture.

In October 1993, at the end of a seminar on Contemporary Architecture in Pakistan2, an architecture student expressed the general feeling among the student delegation present, and said that at the end of the day's proceedings, she felt confused, and like the child of disputing parents- "I don't know where to turn or which movement to adopt....".3 The statement was telling of another fact: the general tendency "to adopt" a movement, or turn to ready-made solutions of imposed principles. Three years later, architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz in reply to what constitutes a "Pakistani" identity in architecture, called it a "manifest confusion". 4

With limited and selective exposure to international architectural discourse, no critical architectural journal evaluating their work, most contemporary architects in Pakistan have evolved a style of architecture that KKM refers to as "irresponsible".5

1."What do Pakistanis really want?" Survey in Herald Magazine, Karachi, January 1997.

2. The seminar was organized by Kamil Khan Mumtaz and volunteers for the Anjuman Mimaran, a society builders and architects of which he is a founder member.

3. Ansari, Z.; "Barefoot, Traditional, Modern or Populist?" report on seminar proceedings in, The Frontier Post, October 22, 1993.

4. KKM Interview, January 1996.

This is a matter of greater significance than just exasperation and/ or bewilderment of an intellectual elite at the commercial and popular architecture'. Pakistan faces the typical problems of a developing nation. On the urban and architectural level, these are densifi-cation due to the ever increasing economic pull of the urban centers and a population explosion leading to infrastructure deficiency and socio-political crises. These develop-ment issues are juxtaposed against a desire to assert a political and cultural identity.

Architectural identity on a national and regional level, and housing and sustainable archi-tecture from the global and environmental perspective have been on the State's agenda, as reiterated not only in political speeches but international architectural seminars and conferences. These issues are NOT mutually exclusive, yet in most cases, they are approached in this manner, specially in large scale government projects.2

Contemporary building in Pakistan is carried out by two kinds of bodies. One is the popu-lar, playing out the aspirations of the masses. The second, a Janus-headed intellectual body of a Western-educated elite, which rejects popular expression. Janus-headed, because of the directions they face for legitimate inspiration. One looks toward the West for inspiration and education. At the same time, a diverse group of intellectual elite are prescribing a return to the roots.

However they are neither particularly in agreement as to what those roots are exactly, nor

1. Such as the exuberance of fantastic urban vernacular architecture of marriage halls along streets in urban centers.

2. Thus public buildings that attempt to assert a sense of pride and national identity, sometimes do so in a way that is good for the nation in terms of excessive financial cost. or use of limited energy resources.

the process by which they are to be exposed. Though they seem to be in agreement for the rejection of post-colonial architecture such as that of the Modern Movement and images of it, appropriated by a young Nation to depict "progress" symbolized by the new capital, Islamabad. Some rely on transplanting a pastiche of exact images on elevations, from an arbitrarily chosen period in architectural history, or a romanticized rural vernacu-lar. A handful; more aware of theoretical discourse in architecture, are trying to achieve what may be called a kind of "critical regionalism" after attempting to study typologies, spaces of traditional buildings, etc. Here again it is debatable as to what constitutes "tra-ditional". Architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz belongs to this group of intellectual elite.

There are more prolific builders in Pakistan, however, I have chosen architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz in Lahore, who is nevertheless one of the most important and influential figures in architectural education and the architectural discourse in Pakistan and who has tried to synthesize both pragmatic and philosophical aspects of architecture. He has thought and written a great deal about architecture in general and his own evolution as an archi-tect, in particular.

Due to the lack of local architectural journals as well as other factors1, very limited infor-mation is available on architects in Pakistan. I hope this thesis will supplement and add to the information and will be a useful reference to those interested in the development of architectural discourse in the non-Western world, and specifically within the Indian

sub-1. An automatic association with architectural discourse in India should be restrained, as the situation is very different demographically: in terms of literacy rates, the number of architectural schools and number of architects practising in the two countries, and the existence of regular architectural journals mono-graphs, and texts available, which is not the case in Pakistan. Also of significance is the large body of middle class in India, who are patrons and clients, as compared to the lower ratio in Pakistan.

continent region. I will attempt to trace the trajectory of the discourse by mapping the work and writings of Kamil Khan Mumtaz through an analysis of it, in context of Paki-stan's post-Partition cultural dilemma and self-invention.

Important milestones in his career are closely linked with the socio-political milieu at the time. Which is why his work is representative of the issues surrounding architecture and the post-colonial identity, in Pakistan.

1. He was founder member of the Lahore Conservation Society; founder president of Anjuman Mimaran a group of architects and builders, which aims to establish an almost revolutionary new Building Arts School.

-Visiting Critic at Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT 1988.

-Member Scientific Committee for "Barcelona' 96", International Union of Architects.

-Member Board of Governors, Authority for Preservation of Mohenjo-Daro.

-Member Board of Governors, Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro, Sindh.

-Member Board of Governors, Lok Virsa and Member Board of Governors, Pakistan National Fund for Cultural Heritage.

-Member Steering Committee for AKAA (1981-1984).

1.2 Methodology, Data Sources and Purpose

This study will limit itself to one architect through whose work many questions within the cultural and architectural discourse are raised, to see if they are answered. It will look specifically at KKM's work with reference to his writings, and the cultural milieu.

The first part will look at the historical and cultural context of his work, and the back-ground of architectural education in Pakistan, in which he played an important role. In the second, the stages of his architectural philosophy have been divided into three parts coinciding with the phases in the socio-political history of Pakistan: the early years after Independence: the era of Islamization under the dictatorship of General Zia ul Haq: and the era of regionalism, global communication and the Aga Khan Award (AKAA). In each of these phases, up to two buildings have been discussed with reference to KKM's archi-tectural agenda at the time. The third part of the analysis will look at his influence on con-temporary architects. The last part of the study will assess the present state of KKM's quest and its relevance, if any, to the architectural discourse in Pakistan.

Data sources include KKM's writings: articles, papers and his book Architecture in Paki-stan; personal and published interviews with the architect; available information and graphic material on his projects. Background readings include those on nationalism and post-colonial architectural identity; Islam in South Asia; regional architectural discourse in relevant books and articles, and the AKAA publications.

1.3: Nationalism and Identity

In "Nations and Nationalism Since 1780", Eric Hobsbawm states that the word 'nation' in its modern sense is a product of the eighteenth century.1 From the now famous lecture "What Is A Nation?", by Ernest Renan,2 _{the question has been asked, answers} attempted, and, says Hobsbawm: "Stalin's definition is probably the best known among these, but by no means the only one."3 _{Thus: "A Nation is a historically evolved, stable}

community of language, territory, economic life and psychological makeup manifested in a community of culture." (Joseph Stalin, "Marxism and the National and Colonial Ques-tion, pg. 8. Written originally in 1912)4.

After World War 1, as the map of Europe was being redrawn, the academic study of nationalism was established.5 Hobsbawm argues that nationalism comes before nations.6 Similarly Ge|lner writes: "Nations as a natural, God given way of classifying men, as an inherent.., political destiny, are a myth; nationalism which sometimes takes pre- existing cultures and turns them into nations, sometimes invents them, and often obliterates pre-existing cultures: that is a reality"7

1. Pg. 3, E.J. Hobsbawm; Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Program, Myth and Reality, Cambridge University Press, 1990.

2. Ernest Renan; "What is a Nation?", 1882. Reprinted in Homi Bhabha ed. Nation and Narration, New York, 1990, Pp. 8-22.

3. Pg. 5, Hobsbawm; Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Programme, Myth and Reality Cambridge Uni-versity Press, 1990.

4. Ibid.

5. Pg. 3, Ibid. Carleton B. Hayes and Hans Kohn were the "twin founding fathers of the academic study of nationalism".

6. Pg. 10, Ibid.

7. Pp. 48-49, Ernest Gellner, "What is a Nation?", in Nations and Nationalism: Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983.

However, Unlike Gellner's view of the Nation "constructed essentially from above",' Hob-sbawm suggests a dual analysis that includes "the view from below': 2the perception and view of the nation as seen by the masses.

Hobsbawm proposes three aspects of "the view from below" which need study: the dis-parities between the official ideology of the state, and the genuine aspirations and con-cerns of its citizens; the multiplicity of identifications, and the changeable nature of national identification.

The events leading up to the creation of Pakistan fall broadly into the three phases that Hobsbawm divides the history of National Movements into.3 These are: a beginning in a non political cultural or literary movement; then the seed of "the national idea" which pio-neers a political campaign; and finally: mass support.

Thus, a growing self-awareness of their culture, religion and education created from "above", by reformists and educators like Sir Sayyed Ahmed Khan, Mohammad lqbal and others, led Muslims in colonized India to finally rally in support of the national idea of Par-tition and eventually the creation of Pakistan.4

1. Pg. 10, E.J. Hobsbawm; Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Programme, Myth and Reality, Cambridge University Press, 1990.

2. Pg. 11, Ibid. 3. Pg. 12, Ibid.

4. On 14th August, 1947, Muslim majority areas became part of Pakistan and Hindu majority areas part of India. This led to the creation of East and West Pakistan, separated... of Indian territory. Administra-tive and political power lay in West Pakistan, although East Pakistani Bengalis were the demographic majority. The bone of contention between India and Pakistan has been the issue of Kashmir. This was a Muslim majority area, whose Hindu ruler conceded to India. Since then, both countries have claimed the area as part of their National territory. Political tensions and strained foreign relations exist in the area which has already seen two wars.

Gellner writes: "If the nationalism prospers it eliminates the alien high culture, but it does not then replace it by the old local low culture; it revives, or invents, a local high (literate,

specialist-transmitted) culture of its own".1

In the case of Pakistan, that high literate culture was that of the Imperial Mughal Court. Both Gellner2 _{and Hobsbawm}3 _{have discussed how an invented common culture is} offi-cially prescribed: "The basic deception and self-deception practised by nationalism is this: nationalism is, essentially, the general imposition of a high culture on society, where previously low cultures had taken up the lives of the majority"4

Thus, Pakistan's State ideology of imposing a National language- Urdu, the language of high culture in later Mughal court, had drastic and far-reaching implications. During the struggle for independence, bengalis rallied under the banner of Islam; but culturally and linguistically they had strong local traditions. The linguistic protests in the then East Paki-stan led to a repetition of the three phases of national movements discussed earlier. The political and cultural differences of East and West Pakistan eventually led to a bloody civil war and the creation of the separate state of Bangladesh.

This political struggle and official ideology manifests itself in state architecture, used by the leaders of the nation to define and establish a national identity. At the same time, this "quest for a national identity is in reality a product of the search for subnational, personal

1. Pg. 57, Ernest Gellner, "What is a Nation?", in Nations and Nationalism: Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983. 2. Ibid. "nationalisms has its own amnesias and selections"

3. "Introduction: Inventing Traditions", E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger eds., The Invention of Tradition, Cam-bridge University Press, Canto, 1992 (1983).

and supranational identity'.1

Underlying the search for national identity, are subnational group alliances and the choices of the government leaders. Thus: "The rhetoric may be about unity, but the sym-bols chosen to represent it are products of an elite with its own set of group prefer-ences".2 There is a "tendency of the national leadership to want to assume architectural ties to some period of the past. Architecture and urban design may be used as an icono-graphical bridge between preferred epochs".3 _{In the case of Islamabad's Capitol}

Com-plex, this favored past was that of the Mughal.

The quest for personal vs. national identity plays itself out in the personal inclinations and choices both of the designer and the client, the bureaucracy, and their choice of the designer. Supranational identity needs to be taken into account when assessing the offi-cial architecture of the State. Thus, capitol complexes are meant to symbolize the progress and economic development of the nation and its equal status with the West.

"If anything, post-colonial urban architecture has been far less attuned to the specifics of

place than were its hybrid predeccesors designed under colonial regimes. Concrete-box parliaments have indistinguishably joined concrete-box offices and housing blocks, creat-ing an International Style far more ubiquitous than anythcreat-ing out of Hitchcok and Johnson."4

1. Pg. 48, Lawrence J. Vale, Architecture, Power and National Identity Yale University Press, New Haven, 1992.

2. Pg. 50, Ibid. 3. Ibid.

1.4 Architecture Education In Pakistan

A comprehensive history of architecture education was presented through papers in a

Forum on Architectural Education held by the Institute of Architects, Pakistan (IAP) 1, and they are a prime source of history of architecture education.

The history of architectural education in the country has been discussed by KKM in his book, "Architecture in Pakistan", where he says that the colonial experience severed the ties between the traditional architect and the craftsman, and when the British established schools for the training of natives in the arts, they created a body of architectural assis-tants and draftsmen to assist European architects. These architects were very often mili-tary men with a hobby for architecture, or civil engineers. When professional architects were imported from Great Britain, they were employed as consultants. And as their ten-ure ran out, or the colonial experience led them to return back home, the supervision of architects designs fell into the hands of engineers. However, due to this "historical acci-dent",2 an unhealthy precedent was established, where architects are hired on a short term basis as consultants, without supervising and decision making powers.

The situation continues to date according to Professor Dr. Pervaiz Vandal, speaking at a Forum for Architectural Education: "The civil engineer, from the SDO to the chief, make

1. The Forum on Architectural Education held by the Institute of Architects, Pakistan (IAP) in conjunction with the Mehdi Ali Mirza Award ceremony, which recognizes four outstanding architecture students from the four architecture schools in Pakistan. Excerpts of these papers were presented in Habitat Pakistan Issue 14, October 1989-March 1990.

2. Pg. 50, Vandal, Professor Dr. Pervaiz; "Learning from Legacy" in Habitat Pakistan Issue 14, October 1989-March 1990.

on the spot changes in design without so much as a nod to the architect. The role of the architect is thus grossly misunderstood". While the architecture course is a five-year long one, the engineering course is four years. Yet civil engineers and government bureaucrats often limit the potential of architects as well as their right and capability to supervise construction and make decisions beyond the drawing board leading to con-flicts between the Pakistan Engineering Council and the Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners.

At the same forum, a final year architecture student at the Dawood College of Engineer-ing Technology (DCET)2 _{expressed the need to formalize the integration of research}

projects and ongoing work within the curriculum. She cited the examples of the "Khuda Ki Basti" and Orangi Pilot Project's Sanitation and Housing Program to equip the student with the tools to handle the reality of the workplace. She also reiterated the recommen-dation of the IAP to encourage the "documentation and preservation of our heritage through students involvement in specific projects".3

Thus, the desire to revive the crafts,4 _{the need for hands-on training were sentiments that} led to the idea for a building arts school and the formation of the Anjuman Mimaran, have obviously been gathering support for some time and are shared by a large body of

stu-1. Ibid.

2. Pg. 57, Khan, Zahida Ali; "Reinforcing Architectural Education's Relevance To Reality", Habitat Paki-stan Issue 14, October 1989-March 1990.

3. Pg. 53 Professor Kausar Bashir Ahmad, AIAP, Dean Faculty of Architecture and Planning DCET-NED University, Karachi in "IAP and the Cause of Architectural Education"; Habitat Pakistan Issue 14, Octo-ber 1989-March 1990.

4. The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, a welcome addition to the scene of education, had Noorjahan Bilgrami as its first principal, and a person interested in the indigenous crafts. She is author of the book "Sindh Jo Ajrak" documenting the traditional block printing techniques of Sindh.

dents and professionals. At the same time, they caution against nostalgia, pastiche or romanticism. Hasannudin Khani asks if the "architectural education, say in the Islamic World, be distinct from what it should be in the Western world? The answer is both yes and no" He recommends that students be given the tools to work in both familiar and alien cultures.

1. Pg. 294, Khan, Hasannudin; "Architectural Education: Learning from Developing Countries", in Space For Freedom.

1.5 National College of Arts (NCA)

NCA began in 1875 as one of the industrial design and art schools established by the

British. It was named the Mayo School of Arts, in honor of the late Earl of Mayo, with Lockwood Kiplingi as its principal. Various reasons have been given for the establish-ment of these schools. "Revivalists" who included wealthy Indians and influential British intellectuals "argued that an uninterrupted living tradition existed in India connecting the past and the present, and consequently British policy should shun imported form and ideas and foster this tradition by sustaining the Indian craftsman...",2 They wanted to get the government to set up schools to 'save' Indian Architecture "with the object of improv-ing the taste of the native public as regards beauty of form and finish in articles of daily use among them".3 _{Establishment of schools in Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and Lahore}

helped to provide draftsmen, 'native' architectural assistants to European architects.

By the time of Independance schools in Bombay, Madras, Calcutta had incorporated a

formal training course and produced a generation of officially recognized architects. Par-tition in 1947 interrupted the education of students from Delhi and Bombay when they migrated to Pakistan where there was no architecture school. Some went away to England, others joined the Government School of Architecture in Karachi run by the

Pub-1. NCA and its environs were the haunts of his son Rudyard Kipling, and the Zamzama Canon opposite its gates is still popularly known as Kim's Gun. While the name of the institution changed, it proudly holds on to its Colonial past.

2. Paper from the Hon'ble Mr. Duncan, M.A. D.Sc., Director of Public Instruction, to chief secretary, Gov-ernment of Madras, No. 794, January 28, 1895, in "Papers relating to the maintenance of Schools of Art in India as State Institutions" Calcutta 1893. Quoted in p. 112, Mumtaz, Kamil K., "Architecture in Paki-stan".

lic Works Department. It was started by Mehdi Ali Mirza, an eminent professional of the first generation of architects in the country and senior architect of the Public Works Department. That was the foundation of the Department of Architecture at Dawood Col-lege of Engineering and Technology. Mirza's own architectural training, and the curricu-lum at his school, as well as at the Mayo School of Arts, was based on Western models with great emphasis on history of Western architecture and little or no exposure to local and regional architecture and history.

The group of architects who were in Pakistan informally organized themselves into the Institute of Architects of Pakistan (IAP) in 1957. The IAP's role in architectural education remained localized in Karachi till 1963 when it registered internationally and by the late seventies, opened regional branches in other major cities.1

It took this first generation of architects a decade, but finally a degree course in Architec-ture was offered at the Mayo school, (now called National College of Arts or NCA) taught

by foreign instructors who brought with them the functionalist aesthetic of the Bauhaus

and Modernism. However, the economic teething problems of the new nation obviously affected its academic life. The emphasis was on progress, technology and industrializa-tion and the, University of Engineering Technology was established. The architecture department at NCA was turned into a polytechnic after the last of the four graduating classes was admitted. Eventually due to the efforts of people like KKM and the eminent

1. Today the organization is closely associated with education at all the schools of architecture in Pakistan and coordinates student competitions. Besides holding qualifying exams for diplomas, it organizes lec-tures, and workshops open to students. All of this from a basically volunteer organization!

Pakistani artist Shakir Ali, NCA's five year degree program was reinstated. Since then, while it comes under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, it is a semiautonomous body run by a committed board of governors. Thus even when the arts, and specifically the institiution came under fire during General Zia's regime of "Islamization", the blow to NCA's curriculum and atmosphere was tempered by the existence of relatively liberal elements on the Board of Governors.

KKM, as Head of the Architecture Department with other colleagues and graduates of the school based the model on the experience of the AA, London, though there were conflicting views regarding the directions of architectural education at the school. The current discourse on 'tradition vs. modernity' debate had in some ways, already begun, creating a blurred intellectual rift between those who wanted to follow purely 'progressive' western modern, and others who were suspicious of it.

In 1977, KKM left NCA, but his relationship with, and influence on the institution remains. As a frequent juror during theses, as visiting lecturer; or even leading informal discus-sions or colloquia on students' initiative, He is one of the most important intellectual influ-ences on students of architecture. He is a member of Board of Governors on cultural organizations, a Founder Member of the Lahore Conservation Society and Founder President of the Anjuman Mimaran. Perhaps it is this last credential which continues to exert his presence, specially intellectually, on contemporary architecture.

1.6 Architect's Background

Kamil Khan Mumtaz was born in 1939, just eight years before Independence (August 1947) and the partition of India and Pakistan. The unraveling of events on the national scene are almost paralleled by the intellectual development of the architect.

Most leaders, bureaucrats, and intellectuals had headed west and been educated there during the colonial rule. Political leaders (Gandhi', Nehru2, Jinnah3, Sir Seyyed Ahmed Khan4_{), thinkers, reformers, educationists (Sir Muhammad Iqbal}5_{). Even after} Indepen-dance, young men (and women on the rare occasion) were sent abroad: England being the country of choice for Hlgher learning.

KKM's father was a civil engineer. His mother was an artist/ painter, and an independent lady, who ran her own small business, and was a supporter, though not a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI). KKM's early education was at the Muree Convent in the hill station, Muree. He completed his Advanced Levels (A levels) at the Aitchison College, Lahore and proceeded to the Architectural Association (AA) in London. His younger

1. Gandhi went to Inner Temple, one of the four London law colleges.

2. In 1905, Nehru went to Harrow, a leading English school, where he stayed for two years. Nehru's aca-demic career was in no way outstanding. From Harrow he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he spent three years earning an honors degree in natural science. On leaving Cambridge he qualified as a barrister after two years at the Inner Temple, London, where in his own words he passed his examinations "with neither glory nor ignominy."

3. Jinnah joined Lincoln's Inn, in London one of the legal societies that prepared students for the bar. In

1895, at the age of 19, he was called to the bar.

4. Sir Sayyed Ahmed Khan not only wrote the first treatise on Islamic Architecture in India "A Sarul-Sana-did" in 1847, but was one of the most important figures in the reading of Islamic history in the sub-conti-nent. He was responsible for raising the level of education among Indian Muslims and the inclusion of women in education.

5. In Europe from 1905 to 1908, Iqbal earned his degree in philosophy from the University of Cambridge,

brother, Babar Mumtaz, went to the Middle Eastern Technical University, in Turkey before continuing on to England.

KKM studied at the Architectural Association in London (1957-1966) where he was trained in the principles of the modern movement Among his teachers was Otto Koenigs-berger, who he says influenced him the most, because of the relevance of his ideas to the situation back home. Koenigsberger produced a number of manuals and studies on climatic and house design as well as on infrastructure problems in developing countries and worked in India.1 _{He proceeded to lecture in architecture in Kumasi, Ghana}

(1964-1966). Where he worked with Buckminster Fuller and Keith Critchlow who had an

endur-ing influence on his work and experimentation with "the geometry of forms derived from single basic units".2

While not exactly a 'flower-child', KKM often quips about his guitar toting days of a liberal, socialist idealism. While he, and others like him from developing countries were being trained in the International Style and getting exposed to this sense of socialism; these principles could not be superimposed at home disregarding the totally different socio-economic reality they were faced with there, and the dilemma had to be resolved: "But the machine aesthetic of the International Style was patently irrelevant to industrially primitive economies. We believed our role as architect was to evolve an architecture

1. He co-wrote, Manual of Tropical Housing and Building, Longman Group Limited, London 1974, which is an important reference for climatic design. He also wrote: A Housing Program, for Pakistan with spe-cial reference to refugee rehabilitation: prepared for the Government of Pakistan; UN Technical Assis-tance, Administration, 1957.

2. Pg. 125-126, Mumtaz, Kamil Khan; "A Search for Architecture Based on Appropriate Technology", in Theories and Principles of Design in The Architecture of Islamic Societies, The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988.

based technologies that were appropriate to the climates and economies of our own region".' In these statements, one can hear echoes of the country's leaders who wanted to incorporate the western image of technology and progress in the new capital, yet an

image that was rooted in the land in some way.

At this time, he participated actively in the "Mazdoor-Kisan" (Laborer-Farmer) Movement. His leftist political stance may have been influenced by his mothers's support of the Com-munist Party of India, but was also much within the socialist agenda of the Modern Move-ment in which he had been trained. His wife, Khawar Mumtaz was equally involved in issues of social responsibility. After completing her Masters in International Relations from Karachi University, she taught at Punjab University, and eventually started "Shirkat-gah", an NGO which works for the empowerment of disadvantaged women. She is a writer2, an activist, and a member of Women's Action Forum (WAF).

From 1966-1980, as Professor and Head of the Architecture Department, at the National College of Arts in Lahore, he had his most important influence both direct and indirect on the architectural education of an entire generation of architects, and on the architecture of his city Lahore referred to as 'the cultural heart of Pakistan'.

1. Pg. 125, Ibid.

2. Internal conflicts in South Asia, Kumar Rupesinghe and Khawar Mumtaz eds. (Sage, London, 1996). Changes In United States Foreign Policy And Pakistan's Options: A Perspective, Hamid H. Kizilbash, Khawar Mumtaz.(South Asian Institute, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 1974. Invisible Workers: Piecework Labor Amongst Women in Lahore, Farida Shaheed, Khawar Mumtaz, (Women's Division, Govt. of Pakistan, Islamabad, 1983). Pakistan Foreign Policy and the Legislature, Hamid H. Kizilbash, Khawar Mumtaz. (South Asian Institute, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 1976). Pakistan's Environ-ment: A Historical Perspective and Selected Bibliography with Annotations, edited and compiled by Khawar Mumtaz and Mehjabeen Abidi-Habib, (JRC: IUCN, Karachi, Pakistan, 1989). Seminar Papers From South Asian Institute, Khawar Mumtaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, eds.,(South Asian Institute, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 1974).

He followed the usual path of architects: his first major design was his father's house in Karachi (3.1b Fig. 4) and he had to work from home until he could afford to be indepen-dent.

From Marxist roots, he made an identity shift into the "Islamic Intellectual" with a deep interest in Islamic Architecture and regionalism, searching for a more valid architectural idiom for Pakistan. Throughout his career, he has been a pioneer in the movement for conservation of architectural heritage and raising standards of architectural design in Pakistan through different organizations he has founded and is member of. He has pre-sented papers all over the world on indigenous architecture, and appropriate technology, while reiterating a need to find local expression and an identity based on continuity of tra-dition. He was Member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architec-ture (1981-84). In 1993, he was awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, The President's Pride of

Performance Medal.

Thus, lately his work is beginning to get recognition, and he is getting more commissions, as his ideas become palpable to the ordinary clientele as opposed to a small body of intellectuals.

2.1 Modernist/ Social Concerns

The Early Years and the Modern Movement

In his book "Architecture in Pakistan", KKM calls the immediate post colonial years, the period of the Modern Movement, and divides the time from 1900's to 1960's between the "first generation", "the younger generation", and "foreign architects", for whom the new capital, Islamabad is a focal point. He notes, as others have, that the irony of the Modern Movement that while it rejected all styles, it soon became one of the most easily recog-nizable symbols and representatives of progress, identified by certain architectural ele-ments. Interestingly, he comments that the "movement which had recognized no distinctions between men and nations became a visible manifestation of the best known cultural domination of the countries of Western Europe and North America over the less developed countries..." As the newly emerging Nation broke away from colonial rule and Western influence, it looked all the more to the West for elements that would signify it

had "arrived". Architecture was one of its most visible manifestations. The chosen lan-guage was, as in many other developing countries, the image of the Modern Movement.

Some architects, "the first generation", trained in the J.J. School of Art in Bombay and abroad, looked to Western architects and/ or the Modern Movement for inspiration. One of the "first generation", Mehdi Ali Mirza was greatly inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. The "younger generation" 1 _{was a batch of locally educated architects who graduated in the} mid-60's. Many of them including some of the most commercially successful architects

today, were taught following a purely Western model, by foreign educated young archi-tects like KKM. Of his contemporaries, KKM writes:

"Where the criterion of excellence is the degree of assimilation of current "Western" values, the foreign educated architect has a cer-tain edge over his purely home-grown colleague. Indeed the faithful-ness with which the catechism of the Modern Movement has been learned is what distinguishes the best work of such foreign-trained architects as Yasmin Lari, Habib Fida Ali and Unit Four in Karachi, Javed Najm in Lahore and Anwar Saeed in Islamabad".1

KKM does not seem to be critical of their work in his book, simply analyzing their work as being in the best traditions of Corbusian and post-war British modern architecture", inspired by "Corbusier's functional mannerism". Or he calls it "International Style modi-fied. 'Brutalism' adapted to local conditions".2

This coincided with what he calls the phase of "foreign architects". Pakistan had less than one architect per million people and the largest commissions were entrusted to for-eign architects. The forfor-eign labels not only gave the buildings an added prestige, at home, but was an attempt to physically legitimize the nation in the race for modernity and therefore progress. India was also a participant in the race, and Nehru's Corbusian Chandigarh was a reminder, and, no doubt, thorn in the side of Pakistani Bureaucrats and politicians. The non-contextuality of this International Style resulted in buildings not

1. pg 166, Ibid. 2. pg 172, Ibid.

responsive to climate or socio-economic conditions. However they were taken as para-digms of modernity and models to be religiously followed, images to be mimicked super-ficially by local architects.

A good example of the modified modern style is the Water And Power Development

Authority (WAPDA) House in Lahore, by Edward Durell Stone - "a parody on a Victorian imitation of a Mughal imitation of a Gujrati pavilion",2 _{is emblematic of the environmental}

problems associated with this architecture that KKM and others have broken away from3_, all the while lamenting the poor choice of foreign architect for the most prestigious projects of the country. While Louis Kahn and Le Corbusier put Dhaka and Chandigarh,

Fig-1. WAPDA House, Lahore, E.D Stone Fig-2 Presidency Complex, Islamabad, E.D. Stone

1. This building with all its glaring architectural failures, has ironically become one of the symbols and visual references of the city of Lahore. Paradoxically, it has also fed the myth that a developing country cannot afford the luxury of architecture. It is interesting to note that it towers over the colonial neo-classi-cal building of the Provincial Assembly building.

2. Pg. 179, Ibid.

3. WAPDA House seems to be unconscious of its context, not only architectural (its scale breaks the har-mony of Mall Road, and it seems to disregard Provincial Assembly building next to it) but also economic and climatic context.

respectively on the architectural map of the world; E.D. Stone's Presidency Complex seem to add to the sterility and lack of identity of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. On the contrary, according to the note published by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on the project for building a new capital city, national identity was very much on the menu.

"Though a new country we, as a people, are an old nation, with a rich heritage. Inspired by a historical past... (we are) eager to build a new city which in addition to being an adequate and ideal seat of government, should also reflect our cultural identity and national

aspirations."

The terms 'cultural identity' and 'national aspirations' seem almost mutually exclusive in the architectural context and the final architectural designs. While "national aspirations" included progress and were fulfilled by the image of Modern buildings, yet 'cultural iden-tity' was an invented tradition, a constructed identity. As Eric Hobsbawm has discussed in "Invention of Tradition", invented traditions imply "continuity with the past. In fact, where

possible, they normally attempt to establish continuity with a suitable historical past". In

this case the cultural identity was religious, not regional. It was Islamic, and to be more specific, of a deliberately chosen era of architectural history. (the glorious Mughal past) The seat of continuous political conflict, the most prominent buildings in Islamabad, the Presidency Complex while being designed was also the seat of architectural conflicts.

"The desire of the lay public for an architecture expressive of its Islamic culture and tradi-tions... (conflicting with) the professional architect's compulsion to project an image of modernity".1

A panel of internationally famous architects was first given the task for designing the

major buildings. Arne Jacobsen's design was uncompromisingly modern, not "national" enough. Additions of Islamic features like arches and domes were proposed by CDA. But Jacobsen's replacement Louis Kahn's design too, was rejected due to Kahn's inability to "modify the design so as to reflect Pakistan's desire to introduce Islamic architecture in Islamabad's public buildings".1

Due to his design of the American Embassy in Delhi, Stone was considered to be most sensitive to Mughal architecture and the Islamic heritage of architecture that the bureau-crats wanted to be reflected in the buildings. He was commissioned, and eventually pro-duced the landmark for Islamabad: the presidency complex with its Beaux Arts monumentality and International Style that was planned to be camouflaged with arches and domes2

In Pakistani architecture, irony abounds. While the designs for secular buildings were selected on the basis of Islamic nationalistic sentiments of the bureaucrats, the designs for the Grand Mosque were judged according to secular considerations of the interna-tional jury dominated by architects, in accordance with the "contemporary" planning ide-als of the modern city of Islamabad. Even the token references to traditional designs by the Turkish architect, Vedat Dalokay, who won, were discouraged.

1. pg187, Ibid.

1. pg187, Nilsson, Sten; "Islamabad, The Quest For A National Identity", quoted in Architecture in Pakistan 2. Pakistan Television (PTV) shows the Presidency Complex as the backdrop for National News.

2.2 REGIONAL APPROACH

"Regionalism, as we have seen, is often not so much a collective effort as it is the output of a talented individual working with commitment toward some sort of rooted expression".1

A student of Kamil Khan Mumtaz at NCA, Sajjad Kausar2 is one of the architects con-cerned with architectural heritage. and admits that he too started out under the tutelage of foreign trained architects, more aware of the modern movement, Corbusier and Gropius, than something called "traditional architecture". He ascribes his regionalist shift directly to the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) ceremony, in Lahore (1980). The award given to Hasan Fathy brought Kausar and others "in contact with a totally new dimension, it seemed as if throughout our studies we were deliberately turning our body on something that was very much there. This was the point that determined my direction. The Idea appealed to me but the methodology to be adopted...was still a mystery".3

The Aga Khan Award for Islamic Architecture, is one of the most important forums for international communication between architects. As already mentioned, the award was a major turning point for many architects. KKM admitted that it was one of the events that brought about the dramatic change in his own outlook. The other was an identification of a "western influence" on KKM's work by his students at the NCA. This undefined quality, nevertheless, brought to his attention the existence of indigenous presence.

1. Pg. 156, Frampton, Kenneth; "Prospects for a Critical Regionalism", Perspecta 20, 1983.

2. Sajjad Kausar is one of the few people who has done research on mughal monuments and gardens. He co-authored Shalimar Gardens. Lahore: Landscape. Form and Meaning.

3. S. Kausar, quoted in "Revitalizing the Vernacular", by Amin-ul-Haq Qazi, The Nation Sept. 18, 1991, Lahore.

Being on the steering committee of the Aga Khan Award and being part of the resulting "architecture culture" was an "eye opener" for him. However, this 'going back to tradition' has a danger- as Edward Said writes in "Culture and Imperialism"

"Imperialism consolidated the mixture of cultures and identities on a world scale. But its worst and most paradoxical gift was to allow peo-ple to believe that they were only, mainly, exclusively white or black or Western or Oriental. Just as human beings make their own his-tory, they also make their cultures and ethnic identities. No one can deny the persisting continuities of long traditions, sustained habita-tions, national languages, and cultural geographies. But there seems no reason except fear and prejudice to keep insisting on their separation and distinctiveness, as if that was all human life was about".

Hasan Fathy has been criticized for his almost neo-orientalist visual depictions of projects in Egypt that show a timeless, unchanging primitive present. And while some of KKM's early presentation drawings of the time, are executed in a style clearly influenced

by Fathy's miniature style paintings, instead of Arabic, the text is in Urdu, nevertheless in

a traditional script, rather than English. Yet it must be said that KKM has proposed the use of appropriate technology as opposed to restrictively exclusive indigenous technol-ogy. 'Separation' and 'distinctiveness' was achieved by the colonists in defining 'Hindu', 'Islamic' and 'Buddhist' architectural styles when faced with an overwhelming variety of styles that were categorized and compartmentalized. These categories have not only continued into the present discourse, but every effort was made to reinforce them.

During the added impetus to Islamization during the eleven year long dictatorship of General Zia (1977- 1988), what was Islamic was appropriated by the government and religious political parties. A greater identification with Saudi Arabia began to grow, at the expense of an identification with the region. Inventing itself and its history, Pakistan sys-tematically subdued1 whatever did not conform to its unfolding identity. Salman Rushdie

writes,:" To be a believer is not by any means to be a zealot. Islam in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent has developed historically along moderate lines, with a strong strain of plu-ralistic Sufi philosophy; Zia was this Islam's enemy".2

And while on one hand, Pakistan constantly referred to being the inheritor of the Mughal era, ignoring the varied strains of religion or region; and consciously chose those parts of the culture which conformed with an Islamic identity promoted by the State.3

1. The intellectual left came under increasing attack by Zia's policies of censorship and an unsuccessful, often unpopular Islamization program as HE saw fit. One of the most famous voices of dissent was that of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. who was also a prisoner of conscience more than once. Faiz writes in a poem titled" Zalim" (The Cruel Tyrant): Mine is the new religion, the new morality/ Mine are the new laws, and a new dogma.

At the same time KKM concedes that "'Pakistani' identity in architecture, as in anything else, is what ever the common perception of Pakistani architecture happens to be at any given time. Currently, you might say it is not much different from other "Gulf Islamic" third world societies: a manifest confusion. The criteria by which we discard or appropriate architectural traditions or styles, is purely a subjective matter. As modernists we dis-carded all styles, the past, history, the lot. As the "naukar-shahi"l we appropriated selec-tively the 'Shaahi' architecture of the great Mughals. As Post-modernist, we selecselec-tively appropriated the politically correct ethnic architectures of "our people". As born again fundamentalists we have taken the shortest cut to the "halvai ki dukan".2

"It is a sad reflection on ourselves that we, the heirs to Sigiria and Anuradhapura; Fatehpur Sikri and the Taj, Mahastangarh and Gaur

Wazir Khan's Mosque and the Shalimar Gardens, should be lament-ing the lack of regional relevance and appropriateness in our con-temporary architecture".

-Kamil Khan Mumtaz, at the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2nd Regional Seminar at Dhaka, 1985

3. In the confusion of history and tradition, the little bronze dancing girl of the Indus Valley Civilization, even the North Indian classical dance tradition of Kathak, developed at the Mughal courts, were not only forgotten through a censorship of memory, but officially banned.

I. naukar-shahi: royal servants

2. halvai ki dukan: confectionery shops, decorated in the popular style with mirror mosaics, imitating shish mahals of Mughal architecture. From interview January 1996.

2.3 Anjuman Mimaran

Perhaps the most important of KKM's projects in progress, is a future Building Arts School, which might influence the direction of architecture in Pakistan. From the AKAA came a change in perspective and desire to start afresh from the basics- that was the basis for the founding of Anjuman Mimaran1 in 1987. Leading to its formation was a grow-ing unease2 _{in the senior members of the architectural community with the state and} direction of architectural education in the country since Independance.

The idea for a building school3 and the need to recreate the "traditional link between the professional architect and our indigenous building craftsmen",4 was expressed by KKM in regional seminars.

"We believe that a meaningful and relevant architecture is only possible

if this link is strong. We also believe that it is not too late to restore it in our regions. The task will certainly not to be easy, it will be complex and demanding. But it can be done. A beginning could be made with a new approach to architectural education. One that a) reintegrates learning with practice, b) encompasses all the building arts in a common frame-work, and c) provides a forum for critical analysis and debate on the theoretical issues of architecture in our respective regions".5

1. Anjuman Mimaran= gathering/ society of builders.

2. Pg.52, Zahir-ud-Din Khwajah, "Introduction to Anjuman Mimaran, Temples of Koh-e-Jud.

3. Mumtaz, Kamil Khan; "A Proposal for a Building School" a paper presented at a seminar on architectural education, University of Engineering Technology, July 1983 and "A Future Without a Past"; Paper, UIA Region IV Conference, Karachi, 1985.

4. Pg. 1, Mumtaz, Kamil Khan; "Preface", Temples of Koh-e-Jud.

The organization would establish a school with a curriculum based on Pakistani culture and tradition. At the same time the group realized there was little or no research or scho-lastic material on which to base the theoretical framework of the school. There were no teaching tools: no history, or manuals, or dictionaries of indigenous building terms in Pakistan. The organization started organizing seminars, publishing the seminar papers, carrying out documentations and studies to create a body of literature as a basis for the teaching curriculum. Monthly colloquia were organized to which architectural historians and researchers were invited to share results of their work, and of field trips and study tours organized by the Anjuman.

One of these trips was to the Salt Range region of Pakistan to study the undocumented temples that had been mentioned by various sources, but never researched or studied before. About this field trip, KKM writes the "implication of our findings were stagger-ing".i'The group had unearthed a link between the Gandhara and Sultanate period, where previously had been a vast gap: "a new chapter had to be added to the history of

the development of the Hindu temple architecture in the Subcontinent".2

A seminar and exhibition: "Hindu Shahiya Temples of the Salt Range, June 1989" was

organized by the Anjuman with the Lahore Chapter of the lAP and the Lahore Conserva-tion Society. Possibly the first such seminar, it was well attended and well received by architects, and student delegations from the schools of architecture.

1. Pg. 2, Ibid. 2. Ibid.

The second Seminar was "Sultanate Period Architecture in Pakistan (November, 27th-30th, 1990)" and the proceedings of the first two seminars were published by the Anju-man Mimaran. The next year, a seminar was held on "Historic Towns of Pakistan (Octo-ber 28 Novem(Octo-ber, 1991), and the following year "Urban Domestic Architectural Traditions in Pakistan (November 26-27, 1992) Pakistan was also a host to the ARCASIA in 1992. The cycle of seminars came to the present discourse with "Contemporary Architecture in Pakistan, (October 22, 1993).

An important element in these events was the presence of a large body of student volun-teers from local architecture schools, for whom these events were a catalyst in their approach to architecture. Before the end of the semester, and theses, a body of students from various years at NCA, requested KKM to help them to find a method of design inquiry, and approach to their final projects, which suddenly seemed baseless and the unsatisfactory end result of an outdated curriculum. KKM volunteered to host an informal three day Seminar on approaches to design, and for many of the participants, this was a

first and eye-opening glimpse of critical discourse in architecture. The incident re-estab-lished the necessity, and validity of the proposal for the Building Arts School. "The princi-pal object of the Anjuman is to re-establish the important historical link between the architect and the craftsman and to transform the attitude which has so far been adopted in our schools of architecture, which mainly derive their inspiration from the west".1 About this broken historical link, KKM writes that it began from the official architecture of the British Raj in India- the Anglo-Indian style which "included everything from complete

gothic steeples to classic revival and Palladian villas set in Capability Brown Land-scapes". Often, special buildings were designed by British architects, and trimmed with accessories from a desired style, sometimes recruiting "local talent to supply the authen-tic details".

The problem with "authenticity" was that while the local architect was something of a rar-ity, he was thoroughly "anglicized" in his training. Of the most famous of these KKM

writes, "for all the period detailing of such able assistants as (Bhai) Ram Singh, buildings

like High Court and Aitchison Chiefs College in Lahore.... are no more 'Indian' or 'Mughal' than the house of Parliament in Westminster are "Gothic".

In earlier times the master builder and craftsman were formally inducted into a Sufi order, as is discussed later in this work, but the break in this tradition also resulted in what he terms as 'Muslim", as opposed to 'Islamic' architecture.

The Anjuman has also become increasingly involved in professional work including res-toration of Sayyida Mubarik Begum Haveli belonging to Babar Ali's family, in the walled city of Lahore; restoration of Kotla Mohsin Khan Gateway, nearing completion in Pesha-war; restoration of Sethi House, Peshawar, at initial stages; Lok Virsa Museum facades, Islamabad, and the nearly complete Lok Virsa. The state of the Anjuman at present is relatively dormant regarding the colloquia. This is due to the nature of the organization as a voluntary one. Their activities have been sporadic depending on the nature and

ume of research undertaken by its members, as well as time and financial constraints. The last seminar was "The Grand Tradition, Architectural Design Principles" (October, 1 to 7, 1995), and none are planned in the near future. However, field trips continue as time permits, and recent ones have been to the Early sultanate, probably Ghaznavi, mosques near Kalar Kahar, on the Pothowar Plateau; and Sasanian Period Zoroastrian funerary structures in Kharan District, Balochistan.

2.4 The Aga Khan Awards

While accounts and introductions' to the Anjuman do not credit the AKAA with the idea for its formation, forums such as the Regional Seminars of the AKAA certainly strength-ened and/or introduced the concept and indeed the desirability, of the 'regional approach to architecture'. And while the role of the AKAA in the formation of this society is never emphasized, KKM has on more than one occasion credited it as HIS turning point.2 _"It made me look at my own architecture: history, principles.

Another significant pointer in the direction of the AKAA is "a list of significant papers on the subject... provided by the Anjuman".3 _{The authors include those who in some way,} have been involved in the AKAA. The papers are a service provided by the Anjuman and are copies of papers received and extracts from publications in their library, many from seminar proceedings.

Are Pakistani architects, even Kamil Khan, "chasing the Award"? According to KKM, it might be good if they WERE chasing the award and seriously looking to the award as an incentive. However, he says, that is not the case in his view4_{. Perhaps in the earlier} cycles of the award, it might have appeared that there was going to a major impact and people would turn to their own ground. The initial interest by Pakistani architects contrib-uted to a certain amount of turning towards their own heritage as a basis for architecture.

1. Pg. 52-54.Temples of Koh-e-Jud.

2. Pg. 65, Interview January 1997, and Interview in Folio. 3. Pg. 54, Ibid.