Domus IN 201903

an article in TheTimes of India records
“City Fathers Show Little Interest In Scheme.”
The Masterplan would eventually be shelved,
and the accompanying Report is currently
untraceable.
Like an urban prophet, Wilson ends his 1984
publication with a highly reflective piece, as
if speaking directly into the Outer Ring
Road Growth Corridor, asking:
“Where are we? If the ultimate act of cruelty
is to promise everything and withhold just
the essentials, the locality is a department
of hell. It is a tomb built on a lunar landscape
with air and elaborate contrivances added.
This is a world where people would find their
sanity at risk. Without beauty and mystery
beyond itself, the mind by definition is
deprived of its bearings and will drift to
simpler and cruder configurations.”

Opposite page:

Charminar to Osmania,

an aerial photograph

taken in November 2018,

places Osmania

University (green patch

at top-right) in the greater

context of the

Hyderabad-

Secunderabad megacity

conglomerate.

This page, clockwise

from top-left: Patrick

Geddes selected a

2000-acre site, of which

1000 acres was

to be dedicated to

performative agriculture

— a manifestation of his

pedagogical motto —

Vivendo Discimus (By

Living We Learn). Geddes

anticipated resistance

from the Revenue

Department to his site

selection, as it was

complicated — seasonal

waterways passed

through the site to

adjacent villages — a

potential point of conflict.

Geddes felt this was the

perfect learning

opportunity: how to live

responsibly and well with

your neighbours.

Performative agriculture

was then dropped from

the curriculum, and much

of the arable land of the

campus is devoid of use;

A publicly accessible

Botanical Garden was a

key component of Geddes’

vision for Osmania

University — for the

University was to be an

integral part of the growth

and civic life of the city.

Town and Gown, hand in

hand. The Botanical

Garden was realised,

although “Tress Passers

will be Prosecuted”;

Geddes saw a lot of hope

in forests. He even once

proposed starting an

insurance company based

on “Afforestation.” The

site selected for Osmania

University had lovely

patches of forests, many

of which remain today;

On the challenge of

building on Hill-Sites,

Geddes wrote that “we

conquer nature by obeying

her.” Although Geddes and

his associates in

Hyderabad prepared a

masterplan for Osmania

University, the plan was

essentially scrapped at

the instruction of the

Nizam and a new design

prepared in the early

1930’s on the same site.

Syed Ali Raza and Nawab

Zain Yar Jung Bahadur

conducted a World Tour to

study University

Architecture, and with

consultant architect

Monsieur E. Jasper, the trio

developed new designs

which today constitute the

built infrastructure of

Osmania University;

Low-lying lands were to be

transformed into lakes for

recreation activities such

as fishing, swimming,

and boating. Today, they

are receptacles for trash

from adjacent dwellings

All stills from a stop-

motion film by Tina Nandi

and Kairav Stephens titled

Geddes’ Osmania.