Boombay: From Precincts To Sprawl by Kamu Iyer

Author:Kamu Iyer [Iyer, Kamu]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Popular Prakashan
Published: 2014-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

Art Deco buildings were plastered on the exterior. The architect had the opportunity to experiment with a variety of textures, mouldings and shapes.

Surface embellishment extended to the corners of buildings as well.

Verandah parapets had decorative features. Art Deco architects accepted embellishment of the facade as an important element of design unlike the modernists who frowned on anything that was not strictly functional.

One of the innovative materials that came in at this time was marble mosaic tiles for flooring. Italian Jewish émigrés such as Mario Levi, Christiano Francorsi, and others who came to India during the World War II exodus from Europe, brought with them the technology for manufacturing tiles and laying and polishing them. The technology for doing this in situ was traditionally known to Indian masons – after all, Red Oxide floors have existed all over India for over a century – but making precast tiles, laying and mechanically polishing them was an unknown technology. The in situ way, where cement floors finished with Red Oxide and mosaic floors were polished by hand, involved a lot of labour. The new technology brought in machines to reduce manual labour and get the same effect. The pre-polished tile samples, in a variety of colours and designs, helped architects visualise the finished floor unlike the in situ mosaic, which kept clients in the dark until the work was over. The flooring in stair halls and foyers, too, was laid with a lot of attention to colour and pattern; likewise, the front walls of lift shafts were finished with marble mosaic and their panel joints emphasised with chrome-finished metal strips.

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