In conversation with Bhupen Khakhar, Artist and Rasik Shah, Architect about Suryakant Patel
Apoorva : What was your first impression about Suryakant Patel ?
Bhupen Khakhar : When I met Suryakant for the first time, late Prof. Chhadua had given his background, plus I had seen a house which he had designed and which I liked very much near to the place I stayed earlier. Since then I was curious about the archi¬tect. Prof. Chhadua told me that this was designed by Suryakant Patel. I didn't know much about Architecture then but I used to like that house because it resembled an animal standing on two legs. This was my first impression of Suryakant. Later, after I started teaching at the department, I got a clear image of Suryakant. At that time Achwal and Suryakant were the two main people in the college.
My impression about Suryakant was that he works very intuitively, like a painter. Suppose if some painters have not learnt much and don't know much about literature but still there is something inside them which gives your impression. I have felt the same for Suryakant that he is an artist from inside.
Suryakant Patel : You are right Bhupen, I do work intuitively. I believe that intuition is the sum total of all your experience. If you have lot of experience about seeing things and doing things then you develop an intuition. As I tell the students that I sketch in about 15 minutes and then mull over it for 10 days and then go back to it. I repeat this process till I feel satisfied that the initial sketch or the intuition is fully realized. The first sketch retains its concept till the end.
Bhupen Khakhar : Rasikbhai, How did you meet Suryakantbhai?
Rasik Shah: I was studying Architectural Design in the UK when I saw his work in magazines in London. I have not studied under him. At that time I had not met him personally. When I came back to Baroda in '68, we met and I was fascinated by this Chemical engineering block in Faculty of Technology which was built by him, and I told him that, If this building had been in the UK, it would certainly have won The RIBA Gold medal. That was our first encounter.
Bhupen Khakhar : I think, you were also teaching in the dept.?
Rasik Shah: I had not thought about it seriously. But Suryakant convinced me and because we had a common language to talk, we established a rapport and developed it.
Apoorva: So after you met, you must have and you must have talked to him about architecture and education etc.?
Bhupen Khakhar: Rarely, very rarely. He used to talk about it with Babu Chhadua.
Suryakant Patel: I used to talk and write everything about Architecture with Chhadua.
Rasik Shah : Let me tell you how we all got close to each other. Around 1980 after Prof. Achwal expired. Suryakant had been toying with this idea of starting a School of Architecture for a long time.
The first thing we did was to set our priorities. It was to be run by professionals. Another agreement amongst us was - no patrons like industrialists or politicians. Then during that time Suryakant contacted Mahendra Modi, Bhupen Khakhar and Prabhudasb¬hai. This is the background to the school.
Apoorva : What was your first impression about Suryakant Patel ?
Bhupen Khakhar : When I met Suryakant for the first time, late Prof. Chhadua had given his background, plus I had seen a house which he had designed and which I liked very much near to the place I stayed earlier. Since then I was curious about the archi¬tect. Prof. Chhadua told me that this was designed by Suryakant Patel. I didn't know much about Architecture then but I used to like that house because it resembled an animal standing on two legs. This was my first impression of Suryakant. Later, after I started teaching at the department, I got a clear image of Suryakant. At that time Achwal and Suryakant were the two main people in the college.
My impression about Suryakant was that he works very intuitively, like a painter. Suppose if some painters have not learnt much and don't know much about literature but still there is something inside them which gives your impression. I have felt the same for Suryakant that he is an artist from inside.
Suryakant Patel : You are right Bhupen, I do work intuitively. I believe that intuition is the sum total of all your experience. If you have lot of experience about seeing things and doing things then you develop an intuition. As I tell the students that I sketch in about 15 minutes and then mull over it for 10 days and then go back to it. I repeat this process till I feel satisfied that the initial sketch or the intuition is fully realized. The first sketch retains its concept till the end.
Bhupen Khakhar : Rasikbhai, How did you meet Suryakantbhai?
Rasik Shah: I was studying Architectural Design in the UK when I saw his work in magazines in London. I have not studied under him. At that time I had not met him personally. When I came back to Baroda in '68, we met and I was fascinated by this Chemical engineering block in Faculty of Technology which was built by him, and I told him that, If this building had been in the UK, it would certainly have won The RIBA Gold medal. That was our first encounter.
Bhupen Khakhar : I think, you were also teaching in the dept.?
Rasik Shah: I had not thought about it seriously. But Suryakant convinced me and because we had a common language to talk, we established a rapport and developed it.
Apoorva: So after you met, you must have and you must have talked to him about architecture and education etc.?
Bhupen Khakhar: Rarely, very rarely. He used to talk about it with Babu Chhadua.
Suryakant Patel: I used to talk and write everything about Architecture with Chhadua.
Rasik Shah : Let me tell you how we all got close to each other. Around 1980 after Prof. Achwal expired. Suryakant had been toying with this idea of starting a School of Architecture for a long time.
The first thing we did was to set our priorities. It was to be run by professionals. Another agreement amongst us was - no patrons like industrialists or politicians. Then during that time Suryakant contacted Mahendra Modi, Bhupen Khakhar and Prabhudasb¬hai. This is the background to the school.
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