User:Dhanyavaada/Karl Damschen

Karl Damschen (born 15 July 1942 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany) is an architect working in Switzerland and mainly in Kerala, India. His buildings are grounded in the climatic and historical-cultural conditions of each place, and they are significant for the recognition of the great architectural resources of India.

Education
Karl Damschen received his first training as a draftsman at the Mannesmann company in 1957, followed by an internship as a bricklayer and carpenter. In 1963 he began his studies at the Civil Engineering School in  Kassel, Germany  (now University of Kassel), completing as a graduate engineer. He then studied from 1966 to 1970 with Paul Friedrich Posenenske at the State College of Arts Kassel (now University of Kassel) and obtained his diploma as Architect HbK in 1970.

Career
After his education, Damschen moved to Switzerland in search of better opportunities. He worked from 1971 to 1981 as a department head in the Helfer Architekten AG office in Bern. A number of residential and commercial buildings were built under his leadership, the best known project being the new company office for Helfer, fully built in steel.

During this period, in 1976, Damschen embarked on a significant one-year trip by caravan to India and Sri Lanka where he explored the architecture of these countries in detail. This marked the beginning of a lasting relationship with India.

From 1981 to 1985, he founded his own company, Architektur Atelier Damschen in Bern, Switzerland. It was here that he worked on the Ascom office building in Bern. Meanwhile he spent six months each year in Kerala, the southern state of India where he studied first hand, the traditional construction technologies of highly skilled local carpenters.

In 1985, upon winning a competition for the State College of Technology and Architecture Fribourg (Hochschule für Technik und Architektur Freiburg) in Switzerland, he, along with his partner Daniel Herren, founded their office Herren + Damschen Architects + Planners AG in Bern. Here they worked on several competitions including the BUWAL office building in Ittigen for the Department of the Environment, Swiss Confederation, the urban planning of Löwenplatz in Luzern and urban planning of Thörishaus in Switzerland for which they were conferred the highest Award.

India
His fascination with India led to his decision to work as a consultant architect in Kerala in 1995. The first hotel project designed by Damschen in Kerala, was the Surya Samudra Beach Garden (Kovalam) in the 1980s, consisting of several traditional wooden houses carefully dismantled and reassembled on site. It opened new avenues for hoteliers to bring about a brand of heritage hotels that was otherwise missing during the time. Such projects and conducive building laws have spared the tropical coast of Kerala from being consumed by oversized hotel blocks. This project also introduced of the concept of open to sky bath gardens in Kerala.

Karl Damschen earned his reputation as an architect-conservator in India by converting several heritage and colonial buildings in South India, especially in the old port city of Kochi. These projects became a paradigm for several hoteliers and property owners and resulted in many of the remarkable heritage houses being saved from destruction. His work has also been significant in the country's recognition of its great architectural resources. Asked about his favorite projects of classical Indian architecture, Karl Damschen said :""Certainly the wooden Padmanabhapuram palace because of its subtle adaptation to the location. It also takes account of all climatic and cultural circumstances. Its richness of detail and the dealing with the inner and outer spaces make this building so unique and special.“" In 2001, he was appointed as Conservation Architect to the World Monuments Fund, New York for the restoration of the clock tower of the 450 year old Paradesi Synagogue in the historic Jew Town of Kochi.

Since 2013 he has been working in a partnership with the young Indian architect Krishnan Varma.

Architectural style
While in Switzerland, Damschen was inspired by master architect Le Corbusier, whose principles of proportion and scale were adopted into his projects. In his view, architecture that uses the same language universally and neglects reference to its context, leads to an enormous architectural impoverishment in cities. In an interview the architect said: "„While working on the wooden houses and renovating the Jewish Synagogue in Kochi, I realized - like Charles Correa and Geoffrey Bawa - that our so-called modern architecture leads to a visual impoverishment of our cities. To oppose this tendency, architecture must find its roots in a counties culture itself without running the risk of becoming a kind of Disney Land. What I aim at is a kind of timeless architecture which does not pay heed to contemporary trends, as they might not survive."" His buildings are based on the climatic, historical and socio-cultural conditions of the place. He was influenced by its rich culture of India and introduced carefully selected ornamentation into his architecture. All his projects are planned as an architectural unit that includes the interior and landscape design to ensure overall homogeneity.

Published Projects

 * Herbert Ypma: ''HIP Hotels Beach’'. Thames and Hudson (Econ), London 2004, ISBN 3-430-19889-5
 * Olaf Krüger and Michael Neumann-Adrian: Zeit für Indien. Bucher-Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 3-7658-1288-9
 * Olaf Krüger, Michael and Edda Neumann-Adrian: Zeit für Kerala, Traumziele im Garten der Götter. Bucher-Verlag, Munich 2006
 * Klaus-Peter Gast: Moderne Traditionen : zeitgenössische Architektur in Indien. Birkhäuser, Basel-Boston-Berlin, ISBN 978-3-7643-7753-3