March 16, 2009 - Travel to Chandigarh

Although the journey to Chandigarh took up our entire day I was riveted to the sites out of the taxi window. I think that my dad didn't stop shooting video the entire trip. The driving in India is nothing short of orchestrated madness! The streets are filled with cars, trucks, motorcycles, rickshaws, bicycles, dogs, horses, cows, camels, and pretty much anything else that moves. Even the "highways" are filled with everyone and everything. The sounds of horns blaring fills the air as driver communicates with driver for their own piece of road. Moving through Delhi was pretty slow going - people are everywhere!

You can't help but be impressed by the shear amount of people in the city - even when you leave the city you never run out of people. Depending on what part of the city you are in you will see people of every economic station. Poverty is all around you. Groups of tents are patched together from pieces of trash, discarded cloth, old fabrics, rotten wood, sheet metal and any other material that can be scavenged forming their own communities. One such community was just outside of the city jail. As we drove by I noticed a woman siting in the dirt in the center median of the road, clothed with tattered rags. As we slowed I noticed a small child sitting in the dirt with her; mostly naked and covered in filth. My heart sank. For some reason I could almost cope with seeing adults in those conditions - but a child, a baby, it pretty much breaks your heart. You know they have no chance at what we call a normal life - what is normal anyway? Then in a flash we speed onward to more images of the same.

One of the other things that you notice is how dirty everything is - it seems to saturate the city with a blanket of dirt and garbage. I have never seen that amount of trash anywhere before in my life; well maybe at the local garbage dump. Trash can be seen deposited out of car and bus windows on a regular basis. It stacks up and begins to overtake the city. One of the only ways to try to rid the city of the garbage is to burn it. Fires silently smolder sending smoke softly into the atmosphere providing the city with a layer of smog that is so heavy that you see it, you feel it, and you quite certainly smell it.

Arriving in Chandigarh, you notice that the city is much cleaner than in Delhi. We were also greeted by one of a few "Open Hand" statues. The city was master-planned by Le Corbusier and I am very excited to experience the city and visit the government buildings tomorrow.

March 14-16, 2006: Arrival to Delhi, India

My father and I boarded our flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Delhi, India on the afternoon of Saturday the 14th of March. We had layovers in Denver, Colorado and Frankfurt, Germany. Perhaps the most interesting part of the journey was watching an Indian movie during our light called "Rock On". It was about a band in India called "magik" that broke up and after 10 years came back together. The plot was fairly lame but the mixture of English and the native language created an interesting dialog relationship. The use of English was only for modern sayings and catchy one-liners.

After arriving in Delhi at 1:00am we went straight to our hotel. As I walked to our taxi I tried to take in the smell of India. Sure it was a little unique but I didn't find it as bad as some of the stories that had been told to me. At the same moment that I was having this thought and taking in a deep breath we passed an area that reeked of urine. I guess that is what I get for breathing too heavily!

Sleeping the first night was not an easy chore। After a couple of hours we were up and ready to go। The only problem was it was only 5:00am। Adjusting to the 11 and 1/2 hour time change may take a while.

Welcome to India!
वेल्कोमे तो इंडिया!

Sketching as Professing

The following sketches are from my travels throughout the world and are the sketches that I included in my Fellowship proposal. Each sketch represents, for me, a unique architectural experience. I can still remember creating each sketch vividly. In a recent conversation with Julio Bermudez we discussed sketching/drawing as a form of architectural practice and I think that it goes even beyond that and can be or should be a way in which we profess. The question is "what are we professing?" For each of us this can be a deeply personal investigation and demonstration; filled with meaning and intent. Each sketch is not only a document representative of a time and place but is a reflection of the person engaged in the creative process. I hope that through my journey and sketching in India that I will begin to understand more fully what it means to profess and what message I am professing.

I hope you enjoy these sketches as much as I do!

About the Fellowship

Each year students graduating from the Graduate School of Architecture with the Master of Architecture degree are eligible to become candidates for the Roger Bailey Traveling Fellowship. Candidates for the fellowship submit a portfolio of their work and a concise proposal for travel and study outlining their objectives, plan of implementation and how they anticipate the fellowship contributing to their growth as an architect. The length of time, place of travel and agenda are not restricted. The selection of the recipient of the fellowship is made by a committee composed of representatives of the school's faculty, the architectural profession and former fellowship recipients.

The recipient of the fellowship is required to keep a journal during the period of travel and study. Upon completion of the travel, the journal is given to the Graduate School of Architecture to become part of the school's library. The recipient also presents a lecture at the school which reflects upon his or her experiences during the period of the fellowship.

For the endowment to remain viable in the future it must be maintained carefully and continue to grow. The funds are maintained through the University of Utah endowment program. Modest growth has been maintained through contributions received annually and a program of reinvestment of a portion of the endowment's earnings.

Since 1987, the first year an award was made, a fellow has been named nearly every year. The original intention of enhancing the professional lives of students who show particular intellectual and professional promise has been achieved and will continue to enrich the school and its students. The fellowship also continues as a living memorial to the work, vision and dedication of Roger Bailey.

Information provided by Betty Bailey

Roger Bailey and the Fellowship

Roger Bailey's influence and direct contributions have been felt in many areas. Among the things for which he is most remembered are his contributions to the University's campus plan, planning for Salt Lake City, his accomplishments as a watercolorist and his direction of the Salt Lake Art Center. Central to all of his activities was his role as Initiator, in 1949, and Chair of the architecture program at the University of Utah until his retirement in 1963.

When Roger Bailey died in 1985, his friends, family members, former students, faculty and associates in the architectural profession sought an appropriate way to honor his memory. Since post-graduate travel had served as such a strong influence on Prof. Bailey's life, a traveling fellowship that would give a similar opportunity to other young architects appeared most fitting. A great outpouring of affection for Roger Bailey and support for the idea resulted in the establishment of the Roger Bailey Traveling Fellowship.

The following recollections recount some of Professor Bailey's experiences leading up to the establishment of the architecture program at the University of Utah.

In 1915 when I enrolled in Architecture at Cornell University, the chief design critic, E. V. Meeks, commuted weekly to Ithaca from his desk in Carrere and Hastings' office in New York City and the junior critic was fresh from McKim, Mead and White. We used the programs of the Beaux Arts Institute of Design and grew familiar with all the books on Renaissance architecture, but never learned about Louis Sullivan or Frank Lloyd Wright who were considered to be craxy people "out there" in Chicago. After graduating in 1920, I had jobs in various New York City offices that did traditional work and felt I had hit the jackpot when I was employed by John Russell Pope's prestigious firm. In 1922 I entered the Paris Prize Competition and, as winner, took off for Paris for three years. the French students knew about Sullivan and H. H. Richardson, and our atelier had a book on Wright's work but they were not interested in LeCorbusier's articles currently being published or the modern work going on in Holland and elsewhere on the continent. I spent a good deal of time traveling throughout Europe, which was not customary, but I felt was an educational opportunity not to be missed.

It was not until my years on the Michigan faculty, under Professor Emil Lorch, that my understanding and appreciation of the historical importance of Louis Sullivan and the so-called Chicago School developed. Lorch knew Sullivan and Wright and was familiar with what was going on in Europe. My real education in architecture began under Emil Lorch and I learned from him what the so-called modern movement was really all about.

From 1936 through 1938 I went on leave from Michigan to accept E. V. Meeks' invitation to be Head Critic at Yale University and, during those summer, was Visiting Professor at Cornell. I was also convinced that my niche on the faculty was too confining and that perhaps I could make a larger contribution. I decided to see what was going on in architectural education in the western part of the country. In the late summer of 1948, my wife and I drove into Salt Lake City for an overnight stop on our way to the West Coast.

Roger Bailey, FAIA
Professor Emeritus


As I recall the story, he was making a summer trip and stopped off in Salt Lake City and in a general conversation realized how much an architectural educational center was needed in this vast area. It is such big country that it would need a broad training to fit an architect to practice appropriately. Any small idea would be out of scale. So he talked with the president of the University, and Lo! the department was on its way. Roger and Betty gave their lives unstintedly to its establishment. Nothing was too much trouble or time, and their house became a meeting place for students and friends to discuss architecture.

I like to recall the days at Roger and Betty's apartment when we talked far into the night about architectural goals.

William W. Wurster, FAIA
Former Dean of Architecture, MIT
Dean Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley


It was at this time that I first met Roger Bailey, who came to my office without an appointment and asked to see me. My secretary explained that I was busy in conferences that day and would not be able to spend much time with him. He said he was in no hurry since he was on a vacation trip. His enthusiasm and persistence caused him to make an appointment for another day, and when he returned to fill the appointment he brought with him a watercolor painting of the open-pit coper mines west of the city which he had painted during the interim. He presented it to me and told me it would illustrate what he had in mind. He informed me that he was Professor Roger Bailey, of the Department of Architecture of the University of Michigan, and that he was married to the daughter of a former dean of architecture at that university. In other words, he let me know that he was not a novice in his profession.

He then proceeded to tell me that the University of Utah had a unique location and a great opportunity to develop a style of architecture which would fit in with the environment of this region. He talked about the mountains and the excavations in them which offered unusual challenges for building in such a unique environment. He had the perspective of a true pioneer.

A. Ray Olpin
President Emeritus, University of Utah

Information provided by Betty Bailey

Original Fellowship Proposal - India

"Instead of creating mere objects of visual seduction, architecture relates, mediates and projects meanings. The ultimate meaning of any building is beyond architecture; it directs our consciousness back to the world and towards our own sense of self and being. Significant architecture makes us experience ourselves as complete embodied and spiritual beings."

Juhani Pallsmaa
The Eyes of the Skin

As I have studied architecture and the cultures that coexist with the built environment I am always amazed at what they have to teach me. By using architecture as a vehicle for exploration I have broadened my understanding of others and their ways of being. As a member of the 2006 Design Build Bluff team I had the opportunity to design a home for a Navajo woman named Caroline Lameman. Her home became an expression of her juxtaposed life on and off of the Navajo Indian reservation. The home was metaphorically a timeline of her life; recognizing the past and moving toward the future. For my Master’s Project I studied the relationship of hip hop to architecture - focusing on African American identity formulation; specifically in the community of Watts, California. The project became a place where kids from the community could collaborate with professionals to create, record, and perform their music. The building is an instrument by which youth are able to express themselves through their music.

Christopher Alexander in his book The Timeless Way of Building stated, “The search which we make… in our own lives is the central search of any person, and the crux of any individual person’s story. It is the search for the moments and situations when we are most alive.”

I have long been fascinated by the culture and architecture of India. In a country that holds nearly one sixth of the world’s population I hope to gain a better understanding into the meaning and significance of its structures. The cities of India are like palimpsestic canvases containing layers of history and tradition.

I will focus my travels at and around what is known as the golden triangle of India; starting at Dehli, the countries capital. Dehli or New Dehli is a virtual melting pot of traditional Indian architecture and contemporary design.

From Dehli I will travel north to the city of Chandigarh. Master planned by the modernist Le Corbusier, Chandigarh will lend an interesting perspective on outside influences to the culture and building practices in the region.

Next will be Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Many believe Agra to be the Indian city of “aesthetic perfection”.

Gwalior is dominated by its fort that overlooks the city. Temples are scattered throughout the fort complex, but probably the most intriguing aspect of the fort are the cave temples located at the base of the hill.

Last, is Khajuraho. This temple complex is a great synthesis of architecture and sculpture; and questions the relationship between the sacred and the profane with its kamasutra figures and erotic imagery.

As I understand the different ways in which meaning has been assigned or adopted by the people and the architecture in India I hope to be able to use that knowledge in my professional practice and teaching. And more importantly, to use my experience in India to give added meaning to my life and those around me.