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Courtesy OpolisCourtesy Maki and Associatesand monetary cap on the construction process. We
found the entire site team well-trained in the issues
of structural design and concrete frame construc-
tion. However, when it came to finishing work, there
was far less experience, skill, and dedication to
the process.
In most countries where we work — including
Japan — the contractors encourage off-site, factory
fabrication. The site itself is a place where finished
products are assembled, which minimises need for
on-site labor and maximises quality. In this project,
the exact opposite economics seemed to drive fin-
ishing decisions. Raw materials were brought to
the site and then processed into finishes under less
than ideal conditions and with untrained labour.
Transportation issues may have driven some of
these decisions — but in the end, many finishes had
to be re-done two or three times because the site
finishing processes were not up to the mark.
From our perspective, we failed to see much ben-
efit to this approach; the old English saying —
“penny-wise, pound foolish” — came to mind over
and over throughout the later stages of construction.
This said, we did our best to work with the site team
to achieve an acceptable result.
KM: What is your understanding of ‘context’?
FM: Context is the amalgam of physical, social,
political, and economic conditions that frame the
decision-making process of any building project.Project: The Bihar Museum
Location: Patna, Bihar
Client: Department of Art, Culture, and Youth
(DACY), Government of Bihar, India
Architects: Maki and Associates (Tokyo) in
association with Opolis Architects (Mumbai)
Design team:
Maki and Associates: Fumihiko Maki, Principal;
Tomoyoshi Fukunaga, Director; Michel van
Ackere, Associate; Tatsutomo Hasegawa,
Associate; Hisashi Nakai, Yoshihiko Taira, Issei
Horikoshi, Kiwon Kim
Opolis Architects: Rahul Gore, Principal;
Sonal Sancheti, Principal; Tejesh Patil,
Project Architect; Rrahul Lawhare, Swapnil
Kangankar, Akul Modi
Site area: 53, 480 sq. m.
Built-up area: 25,410 sq. m.
Consultants:
Programming / Master Planning / Exhibition
Design: Lord Cultural Resources
(Mumbai / Toronto)
Structural: Mahendra Raj Consultants Private
Limited (New Dehli)
MEP: Design Bureau (Mumbai)
Landscape: Ohtori Consultants Inc.
Environmental Design Institute (Osaka),
Forethought Design Consultants (Pune)
Lighting: AWA Lighting Designers
(Mumbai/New York)
General Contractor:
Larsen & Toubro Construction
Completion of Project: Building – 2017;
Exhibitions – 2018An exhibition on ‘The Making of the Bihar Museum’ is being
planned along with a lecture by Fumihiko Maki in September 2018.