Vernacular and Transnational Urbanism

Vernacular urbanism is a type of architecture that is unique and visibly recognizable as belonging to a particular culture or region. In his book, “Vernacular Architecture”, Henry Glassie states , “Despite the rigors of training, an architect remains a full person, at once competent and confused”. This translates in the work that is given to the buildings people in which people live and gather. The designs of the buildings, is seen first through the culture of the human being that is creating the structure. The class differences are pointed out by Glassie,”In Bangladesh, village people ,...divide materials by social classes and materials on walls.” It is a form of expression in building that is expected and valued by the human beings that build and represent their home dwelling and businesses based on social class. The homes in the southwest are a great example of vernacular urban style of expression. The original inhabitants of the southwest were the local Native Americans that built homes of mud and large wood poles with distinctive flat top roofing. The current homes of the sprawling southwest reflect the same recognizable mud and brown elements as opposed to the east coast pitched roofs and colors that reflect their origins of colonialism.

 Transnational Urbanism is refers to the technology put into the gigantic and distinctive structures that are busting through the sky as an important element of assertion of an urban area. It's In these confines, participants are either inside or outside of the building's isolated areas of glass and metal that reach up and outward for the privileged few. The affluent and the slums dwellers occupy the same space in an area of land but one is in the air and the other in on the ground of this space. The look of these buildings is cold and distant. A vernacular structure can be seen and identified by it's characteristic as being affiliated with a certain region of the world. In the transnational look of of global buildings of economic success, can be placed absolutely anywhere. The look is very similar and almost generic. Disregarding local traditions, taste and the history of the country original designs. In his article “After World Trade Center, Rethinking New York City”, Darton points out, “Thus our city of towers stands condemned to communicate only one side of the dialogue, it transmits messages of a “purely exterior” value alone”. There a veil created the shields out humanity behind a outward and pardner stretch of cold, dark, metal and glass.

Both vernacular and transnational architecture can follow a certain set of rules in their construction. Both entail the same “creative destruction”...But thereafter the two depart. Vernacular rules are set by the culture and available materials for the population to use to build their dwellings. The local population has an expectation of a vision that incorporates a certain pitch to the rooftops and color usage or materials In transnational architecture, the visual expression is global and not local. Buildings are build exactly the same to accommodate the cold, dark, and sterile environment that is the most important feature of construction. Vernacular dwellings are easily recognizable for the places they came from instantly. Transnational places look the same anywhere you go on the globe. Occasionally, vernacular meets transnational when a structure is built in another place than it's first origin and has elements of the area it has been put in.

In Mumbai, there is a wonderful uniqueness of Indian tradition that has crossed together with the British persuasion after their  occupation officially in 1668 and then all the way to currently, being renamed Mumbai in 1996.  The Transnational architecture can be seen in buildings like the skyscraper Imperial Towers.  This is a building that is easily associated with any global city in the look, however, a building such as the BMC building (seen below) is unquiely Vernacular to India by it's Gothic and distinctive design.  The architecture of Mumbai blends Gothic, Victorian, Art Deco, Indo-Saracenic and contemporary architectural styles. Many buildings, structures and historical monuments remain from the colonial era. Mumbai, after Miami, has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world.

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also known as. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai is the civic body that governs the capital city of Mumbai in Maharashtra and is India's richest municipal organization.[2][3] The BMC's annual budget is more than that of some of the small states of India. Established under the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act 1888,[4] it is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city and some suburbs of Mumbai. In 2014 Trishna Vishwasrao became the first female corporator to be leader of the Corporation's house (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brihanmumbai_Municipal_Corporation)