iSpace = iHangar

Steven Johnson’s TED talk on “Where Good Ideas Come From” comes to my mind as I walk around the Innovation Hangar at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. I am here to meet Bethany Shine, but she is busy so I meet Dan Shine and Dustyn. 27 Steps installation needs a home, a place where it can be built, nurtured and where it can rest. Many thanks to the team at the Innovation hangar for allowing us to build our prototype in their space.

[Innovation Hangar at the Palace of Fine Arts, Photo Credit: Nish Kothari]

This is no ordinary space. This is one of the ten, and the only surviving venues of the Panama – Pacific American Exposition, the world fair of 1915. The purpose: to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal and to showcase the reconstruction of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. So we are humbled in knowing that our installation for Market Street Prototype Festival will be built here. Among other items exhibited in 1915 is a telephone line that connects the sound of the Pacific ocean to the Atlantic. Very cool for 1915. So I agree with the nomenclature iHangar.

[A panorama of the Palace of Fine Arts- 1919, Image Source= Wikipedia]

Dan and Bethany have given this piece of history a new life. The struggle of the iHangar can be read here in Dan’s own words. We are happy iHangar exists, we reap the benefits of their struggles.

But coming back to Steven Johnson’s talk, iHangar to us is what coffee houses were in England or what taverns were in Europe in 1700-2000 AD. Most of the innovation does not happen by itself in secretive R&D labs, but they happen in connected environments like Stanford, UC Berkeley now, Alexandria Library and Nalanda University then. In his own words:

[A Dutch tavern scene by Jan Steen, late 17th century, Image Source= Wikipedia]

“But the other thing that makes the coffeehouse important is the architecture of the space. It was a space where people would get together from different backgrounds, different fields of expertise, and share. It was a space, as Matt Ridley talked about, where ideas could have sex. This was their conjugal bed, in a sense — ideas would get together there. And an astonishing number of innovations from this period have a coffeehouse somewhere in their story.”

Steven Johnson

Our installation has a civic message, it is a prototype for urban engagement but for me it is much more. I work in the realm of architecture design and construction. For a decade I have been trying to take on projects that encourage diverse teams, leverages technology and add value to a larger social context. To achieve a moonshot we need to work in spaces that act as a catalyst for such endeavors. Our traveling pavilion is ambitious but we cannot do it alone. We look for people who can help us in pushing the concept further, we look for talent, for grants, for a large umbrella under which all of this can come together. iHangar is our umbrella.

 [27 Steps team at work in coffee shop in Mission, HKS office in San Francisco, Image Credit: Nish Kothari]

Architecture education starts in spaces we call studios. In real worlds, studios are work desks and conference rooms, open areas called “collaboration spaces”. But that does not work very well. iHangar environment sets talent free to explore, to fail and to succeed. This is an exhibition space, so we build this live in front of people. We ask opinions, we improvise. We test, we engage, we lose the fear of delivering a finished product. Collaboration happens with teams already tinkering their products in the hangar, we reach out. I like when spaces become catalyst for collaboration. This is perfect for a product whose purpose is to take a stage in a Prototype Festival for the Bay Area.

We like our iPods, iPhones and iPads. But maybe once in a while, we remember spaces that make this happen.

iSpace = iHangar for 27 Steps Team for the next few months. Take this journey with us.

Zoe & Me – A Robotic Relationship

Can we prototype our 27 Steps proposal for Market Street Festival with Robots? I like the idea of a robotic arm weaving thread around the pyramid frame. I do not know much about robots. So we, Anesta Iwan and myself schedule a demo. ST Robotics allows us to operate the Robot remotely. This makes us happy.

[27 Prototype with hand, but how can a robotic arm weave this? Image Credit: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

I am visiting family in India, Anesta is in San Francisco, the robot somewhere in the world. We do not know the location, we do not ask. Geography no issue, bandwidth in India yes. 3G connection no good, but I can see the event live.

Anesta turns on the light, moves the robotic arm, the grip’s a pen and does all sorts of cool things. She commands the Robot to do the task remotely. She feels like a god, her exact words. I try the same when I get back to the bay area. I fall in love with the robot. I call my love Zoe. A big shout out to ST Robotics to let us demo their products. They have been the best. You can find more on them here.

[ST Robotics Screen Capture- Nish Kothari]

Zoe is a 5/6-axes industrial robot. So it moves along X, Y, Z and turns around two additional axes. I weave a scale model with hand, my brain commands my hand to do the task. For Zoe, the brain is a set of programming commands developed by many brains. I am the operator, the messenger of the commands. It seems like a thousand talents went into making the robot build a vision that resided in my head.

[ST Robotics Screen Capture- Nish Kothari]

We download the Telnet app to operate the robot. Last time I used Telnet was in 1998 and that was for email. The commands on their own can get mundane, the fun happens when you sequence and program them. This is similar to compound interest, the gains build on itself. The automation and results are spectacular. I believe this is the future.

[Telnet Command Screen Capture, Image Credit- Anesta Iwan]

It does not matter whether I like machine technology or not, what counts is: can I adapt to it? If I do not then the next five may go OK but the next 25 not so much. Thinking anew helps me to get out of my comfort factor. As I operate the robot I start thinking about all the possibilities, everything that I can now build. I control movement, of all the axes. I define precise parameters, I do not have to rely on drawing details that get lost in translation. I want to Sketch (code> Build.

I have to figure more than completing a set of drawings. The commands make me think hard of what I am trying to achieve. I like the rigor. Manufacturing approach to a building can help me scale. Robots are not only for a one time use in construction. I see them as inhabitants of the space- helping in operations, maintenance and assisting the users. Robots are our friends I say aloud.

Alexa asks Zoe to fix the broken window, Siri asks Zoe put on the Christmas lights, Zoe let Alexa know when you want to schedule the paint delivery. Obviously, I am talking about Echo and iPhone talking to my robot Zoe. Not a far away phenomena. I visit friends in New York, the kids aged 6 and 4 talks with Alexa like they talk to any other grown up who can answer questions. Machine learning and using is happening.

How can we, as an architect who design buildings for a living become part of this?

Our next steps are to find a robot that can weave our 27 Steps project. The study models are done with the hand, but a hand can do few. If we figure out a way for the robotic arm to weave the low-cost structure, then we scale, we explore how these structures can be temporary shelters? Zoe can help transform 27 Steps project to 27,000 affordable shelters, and that may be the real reason for me falling in love with Zoe. A robotic relationship is a keeper.

[ 27 Steps Study Model, I rather see Zoe’s Arm in the photo. Photo Credit: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

5 with Julie Taymor, tweet to Richard Branson, & A Traveling Pavilion

It all happened in one week. Anesta Iwan and I have been working on a proposal for A Traveling Pavilion. A Pavilion for peace, a pavilion of 27 steps, each step for a year Mandela spends in Robben Island prison. Who better to walk the first 27 steps than Sir Richard Branson? we think.

Richard as we like to refer him has been a long time supporter of Mandela, anti-apartheid movement. He has to be the first one to walk the 27 steps, sounds a bit like Neil Armstrong and the moon quest of the 60’s, or Musk and Mars in the 2030’s but for us, this event is to happen right here on Earth, at Market Street Fair in San Francisco.

So we tweet Richard Branson, it may have gone into a black hole but it may happen. The tweet makes us euphoric! @jack (Jack Dorsey) thank you for twitter.

 [Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

With a strong sense of accomplishment, I head to NYC for work. I reward myself with tickets to the broadway blockbuster, “The Lion King”. I luck out, sit in the second row, and get a lifetime experience.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

Rafiki looks into my eyes as she starts the show. Minskoff theater reverberates:

“Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father]

Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it’s a lion]

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama

Siyo Nqoba [We’re going to conquer]
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]”

And the audience goes wild in awe. With a kid like curiosity, I stare at Mufasa, Sarabi, and Zazu. I see the courage in the eyes of Simba, the loyalty of Nala, I see the Circle of Life in the next few. The creativity in acting, set design, puppetry, lighting, sound, music is breath-taking. The show engages me.

The cast and story are no longer about animals, it is about personality, balance in the eco-system, duty, honor, and family. Well done Julie Taymor, I want to touch you in person to see if such creativity resides among us is real. I head back to my apartment in Nolita after the show. I narrate every detail to friends and family, they can sense my excitement. I sign up for a meetup event to go and listen to Julie Taymor.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I am awake all night thinking about the event. An unexpected work meet clashes with Julie Taymor’s event. Anesta asks me to deliver a hand written note to Julie.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

The events and expectations of the day are soon taking over me. I am in a meeting at East 26th, by the high line. It is 6:15 PM, the event has already started. At 6:30, my meet concludes, I rush to the Metro. E to Times Square, B to Columbus Circle, and 1 to Lincoln Center. It is 7:45 PM, the auditorium is empty, my eyes look for Julie.

I step out, look for the spirit of Mufasa, and the voice of Rafiki. A woman resembling Julie looks back at me. Not exactly a “Dr. Livingstone, I presume moment”, but more like:

Hi, Julie, this is Nish.
Hi, Nish, do I know you?
No, but………………
[The conversation goes on for 5 mins, I deliver the handwritten note, I shake Julie Taymor’s hand]

A selfie would have ruined the moment. I decide to keep this moment etched not on icloud but in ibrain. I head to Alice Tully hall at Lincoln Center for coffee. I am humbled, thankful, happy.

I head back to San Francisco. We finish the last few items on our pavilion project  and wait for the results, due in three weeks or so. The promise is to make this a production like The Lion King, with lights, camera, and action.

Tweet to Richard Branson, a 5 min conversation with Julie Taymor, a Traveling Pavilion submittal for Market Street Fair in San Francisco, all events in one week.

“I’m not going to spend two years on a film or four years on an opera if I don’t feel like I can put my own self into it. That doesn’t mean it has to be about myself.”
Julie Taymor

Agree with Julie, my resolution for The Traveling Pavilion and other Future Projects.

The Black Taj

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier a French traveler visits Agra, India in 1665 AD. He reports two Taj Mahal’s. A white Taj on the banks of the river Yamuna, a black Taj across the white Taj. The black Taj never get’s built. This historical observation could be a myth. But its a good story so let’s go with it.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

Jean-Baptiste reports that emperor Shah Jahan has planned a second Taj in black marble across the white Taj, along the other side of the Yamuna river. A bridge connects the two mausoleums.The design parti is strong. A river, two monuments, one black, one white, a bridge. The simplicity of the diagram is compelling.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I like the black Taj. But the two monuments no longer hold my attention. I am interested in the journey between the Taj. What would it be like to be on this bridge?

I walk on the bridge. The visual symmetry is broken by the infinite in-between space. I feel the strong magnetic force of the Taj. As I approach the Black Taj I am pulled by even a greater force of the White Taj. The same happens when I reach the White Taj. On the bridge, I experience the intimate bond between Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. I look for the black Taj across the Yamuna on my next visit to Taj.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

The journey between the two Taj is similar to the one I take between the great pyramids of Giza, Cairo. Ruba Nadda captures this elegantly in her movie Cairo Time. Ruba’s journey to the Pyramids is one of transition. Mine is of exploration.

[Cairo Time- A Film by Ruba Nadda]

I forget the unforgiving Cairo heat as I walk on the road between the two pyramids. Mirage of images from 5000 BC talk to me, I am seized. I feel the tension. A vortex takes your mind on a journey of hope, love, loss and victory. The in-between space is more enigmatic than the monuments. If the pyramids are the road to the afterlife, then the road in-between is a one to life.

Maybe the design is about a journey and not a destination.

Anesta Iwan and I experiment this idea on a Nelson Mandela Design competition proposal. Our design is titled 27 steps to freedom.

The big idea is a journey of 27 steps through a triangular void that cuts a large black granite rectangular block along its diagonal.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

The black granite is Robben Island Quarry. Along the diagonal of the quarry lies a 27-foot walk, each step echoes a year of hardship that Mandela endured in prison, in the granite quarry.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

27 steps: a walk to seek answers, to self-reflect, to connect with righteousness, to confront unjust paradigms, and to change for the better. It is here that one walks through Mandela. Through this journey, the spirit of Mandela is alive, becoming a companion, a guide, a mentor, and an inspiration for change in every visitor.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

This memorial of hope is rooted in the profound belief that generation after generation will visit and walk this journey – 27 feet to Mandela, 27 steps to freedom.

Maybe not. We do not win the competition. Not every idea is built or needs to be built I conclude. I archive the loss in a digital folder called The_Black_Taj.