The Bonjour India Pavilion (2017-2018) won the first prize in the Arts & Culture category at the Archmarathon Awards 2019 in Milan last month. Shortlisted among submissions from across the world, the handcrafted pavilion is an ode to the friendship between India and France. Researched and curated by Delhi-based architecture firm SpaceMatters and Institut Francaise en Inde, the modular structure travelled three cities within the country as part of the Bonjour India Festival, which celebrates Indo-French partnerships. From India Gate in New Delhi, to Cross Maidan Garden in Mumbai and Salt Lake Central Park in Kolkata, the pavilion aptly reinforced the jury comment of its “strong capacity to be nomadic”. Helmed by project partners and co-founders of SpaceMatters, Amritha Ballal and Suditya Sinha, the pavilion design for the third edition of the festival included exhibits around art, architecture, food, literature, travel and design. They had to find a way to shrink all this information worthy of a museum into 800 sq m. The pop-up structure had over 50 collaborators including The Corbusier Foundation, Musée Yves Saint Laurent, and Tata Central Archives. Excerpts from an interview with Moulshri Joshi, Co-founder, at SpaceMatters: Tell us about the woven metal screens that make the structure. The general idea of ‘weaving’ was central to the theme. We wanted something hyper local and crafted in an everyday sense. It had to be low cost and light weight that could be folded. The steel mesh was woven in Delhi, combining craft and engineering. How did the pavilion design evolve? The project started with a large vision and real constraints. In spatial terms, we were dealing with something that was neither art nor architecture, neither permanent nor temporary, neither inside nor outside. It had to become an urban installation with a potential to blur these boundaries. As the flagship of the Bonjour India Festival, it had to reflect creativity, innovation and partnership. The serpentine plan of the pavilion had six curves spiralling out from a central core. Made from 20,000 sq ft of handwoven steel mesh, it was designed to be flat packed and largely hand installed. The idea of impermanence is obvious in the pavilion. As architects who build for permanence, what did this mean? The pavilion celebrates a culture of mobility; it moves art from its gated sites onto a public landscape. It needed to have the gravitas of a traditional museum and yet a lightness of being that could be packed into a truck. The space had to communicate stability of a climate-controlled sealed environment carrying things of value inside and yet not give the impression of being temporary, which in India is mostly associated with being flimsy or non-serious. What were your experiences in the different cities? In different cities, the culture of being public is vastly different. In Delhi, at the heart of Lutyen’s Delhi it meant navigating security and bureaucracy. The first day of the installation at India Gate was brought to a standstill by an NDMC maali (gardener) who would not let this crop up in his garden till instructions were given by his seniors. In Mumbai, once the paperwork was in order the installation was super smooth. Mumbaikars walk fast and don’t usually loiter. In the busy area around Churchgate, the pavilion managed to slow down passers-by and brought in navy officers, scientists and Koli fisherwomen. In Kolkata, despite all permissions, it took time to set up. Being next to the book fair meant a lot of bibliophiles stopped by and offered critique on the content of the pop-up.
