Basic Technology: Hala Tiles Technology Revives Tradition at the Aga Khan University and Hospital

Text and photographs by Farouk Noormohamed and FaruqJasani

Shah Jehan Mosque,

Traditional factory,

Present Day Technology Revives Traditional Art of Decorative Ceramic Tiles Karachi like many other cities of the Islamic world, is being transformed by modem building technology. This has resulted in an environment of massive concrete structures which seldom seem to 'belong' to the region and rarely express the deeply rooted traditional and cultural values.

The recently inaugurated Aga Khan University and the Aga Khan University Hospital Complex in Karachi was conceived as a cornerstone of philanthropic commitment to demonstrate leadership in education of health professionals and the efficient and effective delivery of health care in the region. The project has received meticulous and prolonged design attention by His Highness the Aga Khan, Prince Amyn Aga Khan and the design team to ensure a modem architectural solution which would preserve the essence of the culture while reflecting the rich heritage ofIslam.

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Historic examples reveal that in Islamic architecture, the interior is like a soul of a building and contains a wealth of cultural, historical, theological and symbolic values. In this respect, "traditional" ceramic tiles together with works of other indigenous artists and craftsmen have been extensively integrated throughout these institutions.

These works of the local artists and craftsmen, however, have not been incorporated directly in their "as found" traditional state. The visual and performance characteristics of the items were thoroughly investigated by the design team. Where performance or production problems were encountered, the team collaborated intensively with the traditional craftsmen and local manufacturers to experiment with modem production techniques so that the finished product could be "manufactured" efficiently to meet the performance requirements, quantity and time constraints implicit in an

undertaking of this magnitude. The challenge was to retain the traditional artistic characteristics of the tiles as a decorative artifact reflecting the indigenous cultural values of the original inspiration and practice. These processes of integration of tradition and technology have been long and arduous and in the case of Hala tiles, took about two and a half years.

300 Year Old Tradition Hala is a small town 180 miles from Karachi in the interior of Sind (southern Pakistan) and is a major traditional tile making centre, where the indigenous craft of making' decorative tiles still survives in its original form. These tiles are locally known as Hala tiles.

The tradition of making these tiles dates back many generations and the skills and techniques have been passed down from father-to son without any significant change to suit the development of modem buildings and their specific requirements. The tiles being produced today are

visually no different from those that have been utilised in many historic monuments of the Mughal period, for example, the Shah J ehan Mosque in Thatta. The quality of these visually exciting tiles however has steadily deteriorated over time, mainly due to salinity of the soil and to some extent, by the decreasing demand for these tiles.

The traditional production process is very rudimentary and carried out in makeshift arrangements. Briefly, first the clay bisk is obtained by hand rolling and hand cutting of the "clay dough" to standard sizes. These bisks are laid to dry in the sun until ·they become hard enough to be worked on. The patterns are hand drawn on thern and colours are then applied to the pattern through a human production line, where each individual paints on specific parts of the pattern by hand. The glaze is then hand applied over the painted bisks, which are then stacked in an archaic kiln and fired for approximately 24 hours. Inspite of the apparent lack of quality control, the product is a handsome, handmade and hand-painted individual Hala tile .

Dimensions of the Problem Initially, the efforts of the design tearn were based on the hope that with some technical

Shabbir Tile ManuJacturer'sfactory.

assistance and quality control, improvem~nt in the tile quality would result to enable its use in the project. But many months of work indicated that although some improvement had been achieved for it to be used in the earlier completed School of Nursing building, the unpredictable deliveries, m~or dimensional deviations, poor glaze quality, together with flaking of the tile surface would rule out the possibility of its use in the main Hospital Complex - where both high standards of hygiene and production schedule requirements of an international contractor would have to be satisfied. These constraints, together with the aspiration of developing the local craft without compromising the performance and aesthetic appeal of the traditional art became the guiding principles of the study.

Tradition and Technology Became Compatible Careful analysis indicated that the artistic hand painting skills of traditional tile makers were extremely good. In order to overcome the shortcomings of the performance and inherent production problems, a number of local commercial tile manufacturers were approached with a view to arrive at a hybrid manufacturing method. The

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design team found one such enterprise, Shabbir Tiles, who were not only supportive of the objectives and agreed to participate in the long experimentation process, but agreed to do so without any cost to the client. In a manner of speaking, writing off the costs as a research and development expense.

Numerous samples were produced, both by traditional methods and completely mechanised ones. The mechanised methods attempted to obtain the traditional patterns using screen processes instead of hand painting, factory paints instead of the traditional pigments, etc. This work revealed that neither the totally traditional method nor the totally mechanised method delivered the required results. Efforts were then concentrated on attempting to marry the traditional craft to the manufacturer's highly mechanised and sophisticated tile manufacturing process to resolve the problems of compatibility. The challenge was to integrate a painstakllig traditional technique into a high-speed process thus needing a structured experimentation to achieve success.

The Experiment A long experimentation process, involving about 2,500 experimental tiles altogether, finally showed that the desirable end product could be achieved by the use of the factory bisk, modified factory pigments and hand painting on the bisks by Hala craftsmen. The latter had to actually move temporarily to the Karachi factory to paint the tiles. The final glazing and firing was done by the factory process.

At this stage, we felt we had resolved the production process satisfactorily. However, we were still dissatisfied at not being able to capture the visual appeal of the traditional tiles in the samples of our calligraphic tiles. These stylised calligraphic tiles were intended to blend with traditional tile designs, but were designed with a brighter

Photographs show major steps during the experimentation process.

Introduction oj tmditional colour palette and characteristics.

Research Team Farouk NOOJ'mohamed, Architect (Team Leader) Muzaffar Ansari, Architect Najeeb Omar, Al'Chitect Advisor/Calligraphy Tile Designs Moz han Khadem , Design Consultant Special Thanks to Hala Cmftsmen and Shabbir Tiles

range of colours than used traditionally. Also these tiles did not follow the traditional practice of containing lighter colours in outlines of dark colour.

We realised that in order to capture the required character, we would have to take a few steps back and try to incorporate the major visual characteristics of the traditional tile designs. Introducing the Hala colour palette and containing the light colours within darker outlines delivered the required results for our new tile designs.

In order to meet the tight time schedule, we studied the process further and found that using a screen process to obtain the outline of the pattern only, (the resultant infill painting being done by hand) gave us satisfactory results, thus reducing the time and cost of manufacture.

The final product was durable, had consistent glaze and size, met hygiene requirements and was capable of being produced in large quantities within the time constraints. With the hand-brush strokes, visible in the final product, the tiles captured the beauty and individuality of the traditional tile. Our research clearly demonstrated that whereas our present technical advances and understanding of materials may be superior to the traditional methods and materials, our understanding of the design elements, colour balance and artistic values has much to learn from traditional craftsmen and artisans, who in their own way, contributed to a true marriage of the past and present, where each had gained in this union.

The use of this tech­nologically advanced traditional tile has been invaluable in strengthening the indigenous "sense of belonging" of the recently-completed project. It has also stimulated demand for the products of both the local traditional tile-makers and the modem tile factories for the benefit of the building industry, the people of Pakistan and the culture of the area.

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Applications at the Aga Khan University and the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi.