Poem by Adj. Prof. H. Masud Taj recalls newly saved Louis Kahn masterpiece

As an architecture student, Adjunct Professor H. Masud Taj visited the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, to attend a Frei Otto workshop on designing grid shells upside-down.

Inspired by the brick buildings on campus designed by American architect Louis Khan, he wrote a calligraphic poem.

ArchitectureLive!, a portal in India, published the poem last month among articles condemning plans to demolish at least 14 of 18 dormitories built between 1968 and 1978.

Following pushback from the International architecture community, the institute’s board of governors has since announced it is cancelling plans to replace the structures.

Where bricks leap from point to point and freeze in their flight.

Where bricks are the lips of mouth open forever.

Bricks being bricks know the reason why

The essence of the arch is the crescent in the sky.

The poem “Brick” can be downloaded here: https://www.academia.edu/44789162/Brick_Calligram_