“Architecture Journalism allows an individual to experience
any building sitting in any part of the world. It’s a way of making the world
shrink and the way of exposing to the world aspects about architecture which
lie veiled from the untutored eye”
Back in 2005, when she just graduated from Chandigarh
College of Architecture, choosing the path of journalism in architecture was a
ground breaking milestone for the term “Architectural Journalism” in India. Her
career at A+D, diploma in freelance journalism later and the subsequent
experience with Indian Architect and Builder, Bombay had set a potential
foundation for a successful freelancer as she is now. Ar. Apurva Bose Dutta,
being very keen on spreading the word of architecture is an inspiring face for
every aspiring architectural journalist/ writer and I was fortunate enough to
have a conversation with her at Bangalore, where she is currently settled.
In the year 2009, when she moved to Bangalore, she was aware that there were no architecture magazines in English that were operating from Bangalore.
With that advent, she was all set to try out an independent mission with the
contacts she had developed and the very niche that she has moulded for herself
today in the field is a fruitful result of relentless efforts of networking and
taking initiative with sheer perseverance. The architect enjoys her freedom as
a freelancer where she is at a call to choose what she should write on and
which magazine to write for. But as an advice, she suggests not to take up
freelancing right after graduation as it is important to have some kind of networking in the industry before venturing alone.
For her, recognition is not just the awards she has
received. Every big or small moments of assurance or achievement is what
recognition is for her. Sweetly she remembers a day when the A+D chief editor
and marketing manager appreciated her for having passionately carried out an
assignment to create a video revisiting the 25 years of the magazine for an
award ceremony in Malaysia. It was also a moment of recognition for her when
she was one among the two chosen delegates from India for an "International media visit of Architectural Writers"in Melbourne. She believes
every single mile stone in her career has been a moment of recognition in one
way or another because they have all played a role in shaping out an
architectural journalist as she is now.
To the masses that are blinded by the thought that
architectural journalism is all about writing on architecture, she sets an
example by saying that rather it is all about COMMUNICATION of architecture.
She says initially people were very hesitant to talk critically, but it seems
like it has improved much, at least analytically. Healthy discussions, debates
and discourses are vital for understanding and evaluating architecture. Talking
about it, she also expresses her interest towards hosting several architectural
events as an emcee especially for IIA. She finds joy in coming up with
impromptu conversations on architecture and making her ignorant audience wonder
if she is an architect by any chance. Also, as an emcee, she feels it is very
important to be able to connect one speaker with another while introducing
them- that surely is an apt key to being a good host. And her degree in architecture
is not a thing that she considers trivial as she believes it is what has given
her a deeper understanding of the subject and she is very particular of being
called an architectural journalist in the first place, and not just a journalist.
There is a trend in the magazines where, the text to be
printed is given by the architect or the client himself. However Apurva also prefers to visit the project, get an
understanding by herself, talk to the architect and learn about his
perceptions, see how the users appreciate it and then along with the basics,
speak about what is unique to the project, what makes it different from the
usual. Given a choice, she will always choose projects that render a scope of
manifesting something new to the readers. For her, even if a work of
architecture is not really appreciable, she wouldn’t criticize it blandly,
rather analyse it in a constructive manner because she believes the hard work
behind any project is not mere and the effort put by the team should ultimately
be justified.
Apurva Bose Dutta considers words as the most powerful
medium of communication and wishes that magazines display at least a 50 percent
of text along with photographs to ensure a finer interpretation. The role of
technical drawings is also vital to her to explain projects of architectural
importance. Apurva’s works are not only limited to architecture and behind
every work that she undertakes, there is a tremendous amount of research
executed and time invested. She accepts that she hasn't attempted a very "technical" research article based on compilation of data and facts, but hopes to endeavour if she comes across a subject
that really pulls her to sit down and seek deep.
The conversation with her not only enlightened me about her
forte-architecture journalism, somehow I could read through her words about how
a God-loving, down to earth person would eventually be lead through the right
track. Well, it was something that she didn’t bother to express through
words, because she herself did- I believe.
