This coverage of the book launch appeared in The News, 19th December 2006

KARACHI: Representing beautiful houses — designed by Pakistani architects for themselves - the book titled ‘100+1 Pakistani Architects and their own houses,’ was launched at Fomma-DHA Art Centre on Tuesday.

With an attractive and colourful appearance, the book facilitates understanding the personalities, philosophy, and lifestyles of these architects for it deals with the houses they have designed for themselves.

Speaking on the occasion, the author of the book, Mukhtar Husain, said that the book profiles the designs of over 100 architects, established professionals as well as young practitioners, from all over the country.

Presented chronologically, these houses reflect the personality, design, philosophy and lifestyle of each architect. The author has been practising in Pakistan since 1973, and besides his involvement with building and planning projects, he has been teaching and writing for several years.

“It was my personal experience that I wanted to share with others; how I designed and then lived in my house!” remarked Husain, adding that he also wanted to explore how other architects did the same.

Putting all these experiences together, he said that he had attempted to provide a document that included different kinds of architectural work from different-natured people. “Through this book, professionals would be easily able to compare the designs of any two houses,” he assured.

The author said that the book could be designed in the alphabetical order but it was intentionally written in chronological order to emphasise the alterations and modifications of architectural work over the decades and their impact on modern architecture.

“One can see how the houses were built in the decade of 50s — the era of country-building — when resources were much more limited than today,” Husain said, while highlighting the revolutionary aspect of the book. Architect and urban planner, Arif Hasan, who has written the foreword to the book, said on the occasion that collectively these houses and home interiors represent an evolving social history of urban living in Pakistan.

“The book depicts change in architectural styles and materials of construction that have taken place over the last fifty years,” he commented.

He said that the book was extremely important for architectural theory and criticism.

The author said that the book was originally intended to document 30-35 houses, but ended up covering over a hundred. With pictures, plans and a number of short essays reflecting on the architecture scene in Pakistan, the book will be of interest for personal collection, for libraries and scholars of Pakistani and South Asian architectural theory and criticism.