KARACHI, Jan 9: Eminent German architect Paul Bohm on Tuesday said Karachi’s vintage architecture had great appeal both for its citizens and foreign visitors and called for proper attention to the historic buildings so that such structures be well maintained for the coming generations.
“I have seen some splendid structures here in this great city. They need proper maintenance to save them from decaying and preserve them for future generations because otherwise Karachi will have no exclusive structures to offer and become a city like any other city of the world,” Mr Bohm told Dawn after giving a presentation on the changes and innovations in the architecture of churches in Germany decade-by-decade during the 20th Century.
The presentation was part of the Goethe-Institut’s second in a series of thematic exhibitions held at the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture dealing with contemporary Germany architecture. The event showcased nine of Germany’s most recent sacred buildings.
Mr Bohm belongs to a family who has been engaged in designing buildings, churches in particular for the last hundred years. In the detailed presentation, he showed almost all the churches designed by his grandfather in the first half of the last century and then by his father in the latter half. Now, Paul and two of his brothers are inherited with the family’s legacy.
He said the city authorities should take concerted efforts to save and maintain the historic structures of the city.
Earlier, giving presentation titled “Religious building in Germany – How three generations built and build sacred from 1923 – 2006”, the German architect showed slides depicting the changes in the designs of the churches in his country and gave insight into the work of his family of church builders.
He took it time to time and started with his grandfather’s works and said at that time the elements in the structures would commonly showed Italian style, but as the time passed revolutionary changes were experimented.
The elements were revised with changing time, the overall atmosphere was taken into consideration and façades were changed from the old Italian style to even circular ones. In between came Gothic and various other styles.
Paul Bohm said after the World War-II, his grandfather was part of massive reconstruction in the country and at that time he designed the churches and chapels in the manner that they could visibly remind of their times to the visitors.
For him, 1960s was the most revolutionary decade for his family when rigorous innovations in design were experimented with huge attention given on the atmosphere inside the worship places.
That work shows how its creators emphasized on the importance of tranquility and meditation. Besides, that decade was for architecture for rural areas when churches and chapels were designed in the villages that could give a feeling of community and oneness.
While the next decade was for religious architecture in urban areas where more technicalities were introduced to bring about grandeur and innovativeness. Light arrangements turned out to be the most important element then in creating atmosphere at the sacred buildings.
Mr Bohm also spoke on inter-religiousness and integration in Germany and introduced his planning of the mosque in Cologne-Ehrenfeld.
Later, Ejaz Ahed, president, Institute of Architects of Pakistan, spoke on the “Religious buildings in Pakistan (The Mosque)” and gave representation on the architecture of mosques in Pakistan in ancient and modern times. He said unlike Germany and other Western countries the religious architecture for minorities in Pakistan remained bleak during the last 60 years.
Later, the two guests inaugurated the exhibition of models of churches and chapels of Germany.
According to the organizers, Paul Bohm would work with students of the Indus Valley School for Art and Architecture in a one-week workshop to create tentative draft of a sacred building.
