June 2011

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Focus: Environments for Education

VOL 24 (10)

18 IA&B - JUN 2011

h c ar

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In conversation with Indian Architect & Builder magazine, Iwan Baan, architectural photographer and recipient of Julius Shulman Prize, talks about his way of looking at things.

IA&B. Tell us about your new book Brasilia – Chandigarh. What instigated you to take on such a tangential inquiry into the two modernist cities?

IB. With the upcoming celebration of Brasilia’s 50 th anniversary in 2010, Lars Müller and I came up with the idea of making a book about Brazil’s futuristic capital. But we didn’t want to make yet another photo book about the architecture and just the buildings of Brasilia. Because of my nomadic life, we thought, why not combine it with another example of a new modernist city at the other end of the world? And that worked out really well.

IA&B. Your photographs have a unique quality of life. They are not sterile shots that architects usually like. They have human presence and interaction in them. Is this intentional? Why? IB. I started with documentary photography. My first large project at Art School was documenting villagers in Bangladesh who were able to start their own small businesses through micro-credits they received from the Grameen Bank. I photographed some small scale projects and the people who make their lives out of it. People have always been the subject of my work. Nowadays, I use architecture as a background in my work.

let’s partner Dutch photographer Iwan Baan is known primarily for images that narrate the life and interactions that occur within architecture.

Born in 1975, Iwan grew up outside Amsterdam, studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and worked in publishing and documentary photography in New York and Europe. Iwan took up the subject of architecture unexpectedly in 2005, when he proposed to Rem Koolhaas that he document a project by the architect’s firm OMA. Current and upcoming exhibitions include Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement at the Museum of Modern Art and Richard Neutra in Europe, which opened this May at the Marta Herford Museum in Germany and will travel to several other locations. Iwan’s work has also been included in exhibitions at the Architectural Association in London and the AIA New York Chapter. His book Brasilia – Chandigarh looks at life in two cities woven into modernity.

IA&B. Being from an art background, how did your interest in architectural photography emerge? Do you use your camera to document or to express?

IB. I never planned to be an architectural photographer. My career as an architectural photographer started by accident when I met Rem Koolhaas in 2005 and started working with him. I usually use my camera to express; I like to display how architecture and the built environment play it’s role in how people live. But in the past, I also used the camera to document. I have documented the construction process of the CCTV building in China and the National Stadium for a long time. It was very impressive to follow the construction of these projects in China, especially with the means, how these things are built in countries like China (but I imagine that you know how it is in India) with, at times, 10,000 people at work on the same project.

IA&B. You have worked in collaboration with many respected international firms like OMA, Herzog and de Meuron and your recent cover on MAXXI by Zaha Hadid was appreciated during the World Architecture Festival. Do you feel the pressure to base your work on their demands or you have creative freedom while documenting their projects?

IB. I’m working independent. I’m not an architect, like most architecture photographers. People hire me because of my point of view and give me full freedom to work around their projects. I refuse to accept assignments where I am dictated to capture a building in a certain way. It’s a very intuitive way of documenting architecture and the role it plays in its context.

IA&B. Your personal projects focus on life with architecture as a backdrop. Is that your field of interest? How do you perceive architecture through your lens?

IB. I use architecture to frame my images. I’m particularly interested in the people and the builders around the architecture. I want to tell a story with my pictures and I want to show why something is being build at a certain place and what effect this has on the people involved.

IA&B. As a photographer, how much do you intervene in your subject? How do you stay invisible during a shoot? How do you deal with attention?

IB. As a documentary photographer you’re always in the background.

There’s no “direction” of what’s happening around it. I let reality play their stories out in front of the architecture. It’s a very intuitive way of documenting space.

IA&B. You are not a traditional architectural photographer.

How do people respond to your photographs as against sterile

building shots that they are used to see?

IB. I think traditional architecture photographs merely serve a specific audience, but only few people understand what architecture is about.

I believe that a building becomes more interesting to a wider audience if you tell stories around the architecture, show where it’s built and the relationship or juxtaposition with the context.

IA&B. Can you share with us your most intriguing experience while photographing a space? Which is your favourite place to photograph?

IB. My most favourite places are places where you can come back over and over again and where you always discover something new. One of my favourite projects is Rem Koolhaas’ Seattle Public Library, where I’ve been a number of times and every time I discover new things there. The same with the CCTV constructions in Beijing, China, which I have been following for the last six years on a bi-monthly basis.

IA&B. You have travelled and stayed in India. Do you see yourself doing a personal project in India in the future? As a photographer, what has interested you in India?

IB. Yes, India is one of my favourite countries. I spent a lot of time there in the past on documentary projects on the country and people.

The amazing colours, incredible people and life in India fascinates me.

Unfortunately, there is not too much happening in architecture at the moment, which is my main interest; but any excuse to come back to India, and I’ll be there again. So if you or your readers hear about any interesting project, don’t hesitate to contact me!

IA&B. What are you working on at present? Something for architects to look forward to?

IB. I’m working on a number of exhibitions. One just recently opened in Villa Noailles, in Hyéres, France where I exhibit 52 images which I shot in 2010 during 52 weeks of travelling. I’m always abroad, always travelling, so it was a nice diary which came together there. Another book with Lars Müller and with the Benesse Foundation on the Setouchi Islands in Japan. This foundation is building all these museums and cultural spaces and is developing the islands to be cultural centre points in Japan, with the help of artists and architects. I’m also working on a book on Los Angeles, USA, with architect Michael Maltzan, that will be published this year with Hatje Canz.

To know more about Iwan Baan and his book Brasilia – Chandigarh, refer to the Book Review and Space Frames sections.

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LET’S PARTNER Architecture and Life Iwan Baan, architectural photographer and recipient of Julius Shulman Prize, talks about his perspective on capturing life in conversation with Indian Architect & Builder Magazine.

Chairman: Jasu Shah Publisher: Maulik Jasubhai Chief Executive Officer: Hemant Shetty

EDITORIAL

Deputy Editor: Debajyoti Samal Assistant Editors: Maanasi Hattangadi, Ruturaj Parikh Writers: Hina Nitesh, Rashmi Naicker Design Team: Mansi Chikani, Prasenjit Bhowmick Events Management Team: Abhay Dalvi, Abhijeet Mirashi Subscription Team: Sheetal Kamble, Dilip Parab Production Team: V Raj Misquitta (Head), Prakash Nerkar, Arun Madye

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The latest on events, competitions and news from around the world.

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and invention.

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Skill City project based out of Bengaluru, designed by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects, epitomises a concept made from a printed circuit board and

SALES

Ahmedabad: Hitesh Parmar 64/A, Phase I, GIDC Industrial Estate, Vatva, Ahmedabad – 382 445, Tel: 079 2583 1042 Fax: 91-079-25831825, Mob: 09725877660, E-mail: hitesh_parmar@jasubhai.com Baroda 202 Concorde Bldg, Above Times of India Office, R C Dutt Road, Alkapuri, Baroda 390 007 Telefax: 91-0265-2337189, Mobile: 09725877660, E-mail: hitesh_parmar@jasubhai.com

‘Mandala’ symbolism.

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Delhi: Suman Kumar, Priyaranjan Singh, Rohit Chhajer, Preeti Singh Mudra, Syed Sarfraz Abbas E-mail: suman_kumar@jasubhai.com, pr_singh@jasubhai.com, rohit_chhajer@jasubhai.com, preeti_singh@jasubhai.com, syed_sarfraz@jasubhai.com 803, Chiranjeev Tower, No 43, Nehru Place, New Delhi – 110 019.

Tel: 011 2623 5332, Fax: 011 2642 7404 Hyderabad: N.Sri Narayana Chowdary Mob: 094944 85789, E-mail: n_chowdary@jasubhai.com Secunderabad: JMPL, Cabin No 37, Reliance Business Centre, 303, Swapna Lok Complex, 92, Sarojini Devi Road, Secunderabad – 500 003, Tel: 040 5522 1050 Kolkata: Epsita Mitra Mob: 096991 94200, E-mail: epsita_mitra@jasubhai.com Pune: Sunil Kulkarni Suite 201, White House, 1482, Sadashiv Peth, Tilak Road, Pune – 411 030, Tel: 020 2449 4572, Fax: 020 2448 2059, Mob: 09823410712, E-mail: sunil_kulkarni@jasubhai.com

Athletic Ripples Amit and Britta Knobel Gupta of Studio Symbiosis propose a sports complex with an avant-garde design.

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ATS Paradiso Hafeez Contractor designs ATS Paradiso a housing of space and serenity, making it a comfortable living experience.

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Purva Windermere Singapore-based architectural firm RSP Architects designs apartments ‘Purva Windermere’ with elegance and amenities for every taste.

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Vipul Greens Vipul Limited’s Vipul Greens promises to add a whole new dimension to luxury and comfort in Bhubaneswar.

Bengaluru: Viresh Pandey Mobile: 09833747615, E-mail: viresh_pandey@jasubhai.com Chennai / Coimbatore: K Anil Kumar “Saena Circle“ No: 31/6, Ist Floor, Duraiswamy Road, T-Nagar, Chennai 600 017 Tel: 91-044-42123936, Mobile: 09962044460, E-mail: anil_kumar@jasubhai.com

CONSTRUCTION BRIEF Skill City

JMPL, 210, Taj Building, 3rd Floor, Dr. D. N. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001, Tel: +91-22- 4213 6400,+ 91 -22-4037 3636, Fax: +91-22-4037 3635

MARKETING TEAM & OFFICES Mumbai Godfrey Lobo/ V Ramdas/ Kumar Hemant Sinha/ Epsita Mitra/ Sameeksha Sharma/ Parvez Memon/ Kavita Jharolia 210, Taj Building, 3rd Floor, Dr. D. N. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001, Tel: +91-22- 4213 6400,+ 91 -22-4037 3636, Fax: +91-22-4037 3635 Email: godfrey_lobo@jasubhai.com, hemant_sinha@jasubhai.com, epsita_mitra@jasubhai.com sam_sharma@jasubhai.com, parvez_memon@jasubhai.com, kavita_jharolia@jasubhai.com

PRODUCTS Contemporary lifestyle products and architectural accessories with innovation

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CURRENT

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TECHNOLOGY Energy Icon An energy producing public art system in the form on ‘The Lunar Cubit’ for the city of Masdar near Abu Dhabi, brings together four individuals from diverse disciplines.

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TRIBUTE To Provoke an Emotion IA&B pays tribute to M.F. Hussain remembering a legacy of brilliance that he leaves behind him in his demise.

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FOCUS The Silence of a Space Tata-Dhan Academy is an environment, intrinsic to the terrain and ingenious to the region, designed by Bengaluru-based Chandavarkar & Thacker Architects.

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Learning Frames Abin Design Studio extend the notion of an ideal academic space by prescribing a radical, warm and expressible architectural language for International Management Institute, Kolkata.

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Idealism in transitiØn Denmark-based architectural firm 3XN’s Ørestad Gymnasium marks the gradual reform of spaces in the educational realm of today.

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INTERIORS 118

Essential Space

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SPACE FRAMES Life in a Grid

Dhruti Vaidya designs a contemporary workspace within a nostalgic skin for the PAE office in Mumbai from salvage on site and adaptive reuse of a derelict space.

In this edition of ‘Space Frames’ curated by Dr. Deepak John Mathew, architectural photographer Iwan Baan explores two cities, Brasilia and Chandigarh to find the life in both the cities adapt to the presence of monumental modernity.

INTERNATIONAL Telling Stories BNIM and Burt Hill design a Naval Memorial to integrate the design in the memory of a community.

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BOOK REVIEW Brasilia – Chandigarh Iwan Baan documents two cities; Brasilia and Chandigarh through his lens making the book an experience of life within and around modernism.

LIGHTING Making space for light Two projects by multinational firm Speirs + Major explores architectural lighting integrated continuity between the disciplines of architecture, landscape and interiors.

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ART Extacy & Agony Collectifs Cochenko and Quatorze, seek to extend architecture into realms of heightened experiences and social meanings through CCPP.

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DELHI DIALOGUES

Printed & Published by Maulik Jasubhai on behalf of Jasubhai Media Pvt. Ltd (JMPL), Taj Building, 3rd Floor, 210, Dr. D. N. Road, Mumbai 400 001.

Delhi (Re)generates In the 2nd edition of this column curated by arch i, architect Ashok B. Lall talks about the complexities of the city of Delhi, possibilities of alternative futures and regeneration of the city fabric.

Printed at M.B.Graphics, B-28 Shri Ram Industrial Estate, ZG.D.Ambekar Marg, Wadala, Mumbai 400031and Published from Mumbai.

JMPL, Taj Building, 3rd Floor, 210, Dr. D. N. Road, Mumbai 400 001.

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Indian Architect & Builder: (ISSN 0971-5509), RNI No 46976/87, is a JMPL monthly publication.

Reproduction in any manner, in whole or part, in English or any other language is strictly prohibited.

We welcome articles, but do not accept responsibility for contributions lost in the mail.

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30 IA&B - JUN 2011

current Treehouse in Paradise Contest 2011 Category Type Deadline

: : :

International Open to all August 29, 2011

The competition seeks entries for the design of a treehouse for a tropical island resort; a perfect structure in the perfect place. It is a challenge to conceptualise ideas that would never really be implemented in day-to-day life. The competition aims to celebrate the creative process as there will be very few restrictions that typically hamper architects, artists and designers, allowing for an unusual level of creative freedom. The structure in question is to be stabilised on coconut palm tress above the ground, without any building codes or necessity of heating or cooling mechanisms.

The idea is to build treehouse structures that are low-cost but, high-tech, providing a glimpse of an architectural future that respects the environment.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.treehousesinparadise.com

Better World Challenge Category Type Deadline

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International Open to students September 01, 2011

The Better World Challenge aims to inspire young innovators to solve a social problem through better, thoughtful design. The theme for this year’s challenge is to build a better coastline. Students and participants would be asked to re-imagine coastal communities that are now facing increasing threats of coastal erosion and climate change. The competition seeks creativity and ingenuity - long-term sustainable solutions that go beyond traditional protective structures. The winner would be awarded a cash prize in addition to an opportunity to work with the non-profit ‘Save the Bay’ to advance their vision and platform to showcase their idea to the Better World by Design community.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.abetterworldbydesign.com

iF Design Award 2012

COMPETITIONS

Category Type Deadline

: : :

International Open to all September 17, 2011

Established in the year 1953, the iF Product Design Award is one of the most important awards that celebrate innovations in product design. Success stories here are awarded far more than what the participants would have expected to receive; winning entries win an iF label on their innovative products, an advertising and communication tool that is recognised all over the world. The award covers all areas of outstanding product design. It serves as a platform for design-relevant innovations in 16 different categories, thus recognising today’s globally networked world and its related dynamics. The award offers an important platform for designers to have their product’s design quality professionally validated by an international jury of experts. Manufacturers and designers of mass produced products that have not been on the market for longer than three years or that have entered production in the awards year are eligible to compete for an iF Product Design Award 2012.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.ifdesign.de

Helsinki South Harbour Open International Ideas Competition Category Type Deadline

: : :

International Open to all September 30, 2011

The competition is looking for entries that present ideas for a comprehensive plan for the South Harbour that can be used as a basis for the future development of the area. It is open to all, and participants from various backgrounds are expected to form design groups so as to bring in maximum levels of collective creativity. The entrants must present public urban spaces for the area, chart the amount of supplementary construction and placement possibilities as well as improve pedestrian traffic and cycling connections and spaces. The competition area must be linked more tightly to the city centre structure. The entrants must examine how the space use of port operations can be made more efficient. The competition entries must consider, in particular, the area’s cityscape-related and cultural-historic values as well as appearance from the sea.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.southharbour.fi

ArchMedium - Rethinking Mallorca’s Seaside Category Type Deadline

: : :

International Open to all October 15, 2011

The competition welcomes entries to redesign of the seafront of Cala Millor on the coast of Mallorca, Spain. Architecture can be the base point for developing and improving environments. Tourism is without a doubt one of the largest economical activities in the world. Seafronts have always been the most desired and sought after real estate in the world. But more often than not, development and rise in tourism results in an unapologetic neglect towards the environment.

This not only leads to environment damage, but also hampers the society, in addition to the landscape, and its history. The competition hopes that the participants would help to generate improved sustainable environments ideas.

These ideas, in turn, would further establish and reinforce the harmony between tourists and the conservation and identity of the landscape.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.en.archmedium.com

Circo Massimo Competition Category Type Deadline

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International Open to students October 31, 2011

Tourism is a growing resource in the world, and Rome is one of the cities with the highest number of tourist visits per year. The competition invites entries for eco-friendly design for a meeting place in Rome, which should ideally be easy to dismantle and does not make use of reinforced concrete for its construction. The Circo Massimo Competition wants to create a new centre in a polycentric, populous city like Rome; a new meeting place, where people, young and old, can meet for sports, for a concert in the evening, for an exhibition or for a play, amongst other settings. The competition is an excellent, one-of-a-kind opportunity for students of architecture to design a project in a city so rich in history and culture.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.archinsula.com

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current Meetings of Design Students Date Venue

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August 07-19, 2011 Istanbul, Turkey

Date Venue

: :

September 23-24, 2011 Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

MEDS - Meetings of design students invites all design students to share knowledge, experiences and ideas about design. The idea is to learn the process of designing, from smaller to bigger designs and to develop a project from a simple idea, take it through the designing process, up to the point where something concrete can be built out of the idea. The meet is also an excellent opportunity for students to interact with others from different cultures, different languages and different design departments and ideate together to bring out a myriad of ideas. The limitation is 10 participants per country; therefore admissions will be made on first-come, first-served basis. Accommodation, admission fees and other details can be found on their website.

The theme for the 4th International Urban Design Conference is Resilience in Urban Design through measures such as supported interconnectivity, appropriate densification within urban footprints, multiple transit modes and walkability, socially inclusive design, economic resilience, and adaptive built environments. Resilience in Urban Designs is a chance to reinforce and highlight these resilient solutions for our citywide planning, design and infrastructure - to be able to successfully address emerging challenges brought about by climate change, peak oil crisis, population growth, social disengagement, technological disparity, rising pollution and waste, demands on food production, rising carbon emissions, and diminishing habitat and biodiversity.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.meds-workshop.com

For further information, log on to: Web: www.urbandesignaustralia.com.au/

London Design Festival Date Venue

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September 17-25, 2011 London, UK

The London Design Festival is one of the world’s most important annual design events. The nine-day festival programme is made up of over 200 events and exhibitions staged by around 160 partner organisations across the design spectrum and from around the world. The diversity of world-class design talent in - and attracted to - London is one of the key strengths of the city over other global design centres; the London Design Festival brings this talent to the fore every year to connect with others, explore issues, do business, exchange ideas, and have fun. The Festival is both a cultural and a commercial event.

The programme ranges from major international exhibitions to trade events, installations to talks and seminars, from product launches to receptions, private views and parties. The majority of events are free of charge - enabling visitors to participate, listen, learn, commission and make purchases.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.londondesignfestival.com

UIA 2011 Tokyo Date Venue

EVENTS

4th International Urban Design Conference

: :

September 22-October 01, 2011 Tokyo, Japan

The House that Sam Built: Sam Maloof and Art in the Pomona Valley, 1945–1985 Date Venue

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September 24, 2011-January 30, 2012 San Marino, CA

Sam Maloof (1916–2009) was a woodworker born and raised in Southern California who became a nationally recognised leader of the American studio furniture movement - a movement that favoured the aesthetics of craft and the handmade over the machine and mass-produced. Maloof was also an integral member of the art, craft, and design community that emerged in the Pomona Valley, at the eastern edge of Los Angeles county, in the years following World War II. A major survey of his work, “The House that Sam Built” showcases about 30 important Maloof pieces spanning more than three decades of his career in a display integrated with approximately 80 works by about 30 of his renowned friends and colleagues who worked in other media.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.huntington.org/

Urban Infra World Expo 2011 Date Venue

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October 19-22, 2011 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai

The XXIV World Congress of Architecture will be held in Tokyo this year.

The theme of the XXIV World Congress, Design 2050, will provide the opportunity for architects from all over the world to exchange views and share their visions of sustainable architecture, as well as help define the immediate future for the world’s cities and the environment. Tokyo’s exemplary economic growth during the past several decades has fuelled its development as a viably sustainable city. Consequently, Tokyo in itself is a harbinger of what one may expect from sustainable architecture by the year 2050. With this in mind, participants at the XXIV World Congress can expect to be welcomed and embraced by Japan’s rich architectural culture, which showcases the unique, yet contemporary, face of Japan.

This two-day conference emphasises the rapid growth in the infrastructure sector and establishes its growth as critical to urban development. India’s infrastructure development plans for the future envisage extensive investments in roads, railways, irrigation and power projects, integrated and planned townships, ports and airports, industrial clusters, agro-based industries, and defense-related construction. The exhibition offers the perfect opportunity for showcasing of products, services, expertise and corporate capabilities to actual decision makers; exploring joint ventures, collaborations and strategic alliances while opening avenues for research on the most viable business options. Also, the prospect of identifying promising opportunities, negotiating and engaging in progressive planning are added advantages of the Urban Infra World Expo 2011.

For further information, log on to: Web: www.uia2011tokyo.com/en/

For further information, log on to: Web: www.chemtech-online.com/events/urbaninfra/

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current Titanic inquiry design drawing from 1912 sells for 220,000 pounds A 33-foot, hand-drawn plan of the Titanic reportedly used in the inquiry into the sinking of the massive ship in 1912 has sold for 220,000 pounds.

The cross-section was bought by a private collector. The plan, prepared by White Star Line architects, was estimated to fetch between 100,000 and 150,000 pounds. The plan was commissioned by the British Board of Trade to assist in the 36-day inquiry, held after the disaster. It was used by witnesses and experts to establish the cause of the tragedy, and even contains original chalk marks describing what happened. The drawing was reportedly hung in the official hearing room so that witnesses could refer to it constantly.

After the inquiry concluded that the disaster was brought about by the ship’s ‘excessive speed’, the plan was returned to White Star Line. Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge & Son, said, “The plan is one of the most important pieces of Titanic memorabilia ever sold and this price reflects it.”

Government urges ASI to launch heritage awareness campaign The government has directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to launch a massive public awareness campaign to sensitise people about the law on the preservation of ancient monuments. Culture Minister Kumari Selja said that the Ministry and the ASI required to let every citizen know, so that the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains, Amendment and Validation (AMASRA) Act is not perceived as a threat or impediment. She urged the ASI to launch a massive public awareness campaign and sensitise citizens to the provisions of the act.

“We need to co-opt the willingness of every citizen so that the enactment is appreciated by them in the larger context and not perceived as a threat or impediment to their existence,” the minister said.

NEWS

National Museum set for complete facelift The National Museum in Delhi is preparing for a makeover, with a massive structural renovation of the built facade and interiors, the process of which has been set in motion. Also, additions to galleries and exhibits are being planned. Work on refurbishing the building’s exterior is already underway at the main entrance. “The heritage of the world would have been much poorer had it not been for the heritage contributed by this country,” said administrator of the museum, C. V. Ananda Bose. A hunt for requisite talent has been launched by the museum administration.

“Twenty galleries are currently open to people. The bronze gallery is under renovation, after which the Central Asian gallery will be renovated and the exhibits restored,” the museum administrator said. Berlin-based silk route historian and research scholar Chhaya Bhattacharya-Haesner, who is on a two-year Tagore National Cultural Fellowship in India, will guide the museum administration in restoring the Central Asian gallery.

The National Museum has more than 11,000 artifacts and art works from Central Asia that include Buddhist paintings, funerary furniture, banners, tablets and 3 rd and 4 th century wooden plaques known as ‘Niya’, with Brahmi and Kharosti inscriptions collected from the southern silk routes in ancient Asia.

Indian curator to co-curate European show at Venice Biennale Indian art curator Shwetal Ashvin Patel is co-curating a crucial inaugural exhibition along with a senior Milan-based curator at the 54 th Venice Biennale June 3-Nov 27. The exhibition, ‘Orientale’, opens at the Palladio Hotel and Spa at the Sala Zuecca. It is a part of an old converted convent in Giudecca, an island in the Venetian lagoon. The show will probe the changing ties between East and West. The venue, built in 1580, is of significant historical importance as it is one of the few surviving Venetian structures said to be designed by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, a legendary designer and builder. ‘Orinetale’, the inaugural exhibition of the ‘Venice Now’ initiative, features an eclectic cast of artists drawn from Europe. ‘Venice Now’, a new artistic space, intends to create an experimental space for exchanges and contaminations between different languages and mediums. Patel, an emerging curator and art practitioner based in Mumbai, is the co-founder of the ‘Venice Now’ initiative.

Le Corbusier prints fetch world record price at artnet auctions Artnet Auctions sold Le Corbusier’s complete 1953 Unité prints portfolio (along with additional black and white set) for a record price of $57,500 at the auction held on June 09. The portfolio, from the collection of renowned Indian architect Mohinda N. Kawlra, were offered in a rare deluxe edition on Artnet Auctions. Such sets have rarely made appearances at public auctions. Only the first 30 of the 130 portfolios of this edition contain the full 37 prints: 17 colour prints and 20 black and white prints on Rives BFK paper. The pristine condition and historical significance of this Le Corbusier prints portfolio attracted considerable interest from the international audience. Le Corbusier was one of the fathers of modern architecture, and is best known for his pioneering work in the international style, but he was also a celebrated designer, painter, and printmaker. The Unité prints portfolio was conceived and printed following the construction of the Unité d’habitation in Marseilles.

Allied Works reveals Lausanne museum and cultural district design Allied Works was named as one of the 18 international finalists in October 2010 to create the Pôle Muséal Lausanne, which encompasses transforming an historic train shed and industrial site into a new cultural district. Allied Works created a master plan and completed the building design for the new Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts. Future institutions include the Musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains and the Musée de l’Elysée. Allied Works’ design was developed in collaboration with an international team of designers, including Latz+Partner for Landscape, Resnicow Schroeder Associates for Cultural Planning, and Nicolet Chartrand Knoll for Structural and Civil. Allied Works was the only American firm invited to participate in the competition, which represents the firm’s first competition in Europe. A public exhibition of the designs was held June 17–30 at the Site des Halles CFF aux locomotives, Lausanne.

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products Atelier Book Chair Designed and launched under the brand called ‘mother’, Atelier Book Chair (ABC) has been released by Tokyo, Japan - Oiseau Inc. Mobility and flexibility being the key aspects of design, it is built like a portable drawing set that can carry drawing tools, but can also act like a stool. One can carry the compact module along with them and form their own atelier wherever they feel like.

To refine its feel, it is made of hinoki (Japanese cypress) from Nishiawakura village Okayama prefecture. The making of the product was initiated to utilise thinned wood from forests—an arising issue in the Japanese forest industry.

The craftsmanship is done by Masakyuki Oshima residing in Nishiawakura. The 2,000g module is light with the look of a wooden suitcase. Bound on one edge, the two sides supports detachable pockets to store drawing tools and a place for sketchbook. The seatboard is folded inside and when outside, the board will turn into a stool. Priced at 50,000 yen, the advantages of ABC are mobility, flexibility and detailed designing.

©Asaco Suzuki

Designer: Kana Nakanishi (Product Designer/Oiseau Inc.) Contact: The SOHO 2-7-4 Aomi, Koto-ku Tokyo 135-0064 Email: abc@oiseau.co.jp

©Asaco Suzuki

Mobi

modular

Alternating options to the conventional desk typologies, Mobi is a reinvention of the workstation. A minimalistic module, the desk affords benefits like adaptability, portability and storage within a minimal space design. A restrained palette of materials like wood and stainless steel has been used to define the compact desk of 90.79cm x 61.45cm x 80.11cm.

Designer: Peter Copenhaver Contact: Tel: 001 906 286 0915 Email: acopenha@nmu.edu

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products OUT OF BALANCE // Plywood Delineated by the designer, Thorsten Franck as ‘A Poem of the function’, OUT OF BALANCE is a lounging stool for rocking, sitting & relaxing. It reacts to one’s inclination towards their favourite seat; be it a milking stool or a vespa saddle.

The concept develops from the principle of a tumbler, orienting its direction to the users’ preference. The surface of oak veneer is wrapped around a three dimensional body through a 3D forming technology. OUT OF BALANCE was specially crafted in wood for an installation by Ingo Maurer – ‘SPIRITS FLYING HIGH!’ in the Spazio Grizia in Milano 2011. Dr. Corinna Rössner, ‘die neue sammlung’ - the International Design Museum, Munich praised the design by saying, “Thorsten Franck observes everyday life with open eyes and invents for us nomads mobile furniture. A modern ballet of helpful objects. Light, cunning and graceful in a game between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional. Coming from the serious examination of material and function, craftsmanship and industrial production process arises a surprising wonder – a poem of the function.”

Designer: Thorsten Franck Contact: Westendstrasse 49a 80339 München Deutschland Tel: +49 (0)89 57 86 91 94 Email: office@thorstenfranck.com Web: www.thorstenfranck.com

Kitchen Stool

space-savers

A great furniture piece for the bar or counters, a Kitchen Stool is always handy around the kitchen, where one is always on the move. Facilitating a seating for short durations in the kitchen, the stool is designer for a semi-standing and semi-sitting position. A curvilinear form allows one to alight from the stool without any effort. Visually appealing, the character of the chair lies in its laminated teak wood, which renders it both light-weight and durable.

Designer: Yusuf Mannan Contact: 301 Casablanca 35 Norris Road Richmond Town Bengaluru-560025 Email: yusufin@gmail.com

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products Armstrong - Bruce A renowned brand in America, Bruce hardwood offers beauty, durability, versatility and value in hardwood floors. Catering to a varied functionality, it can be installed on bedroom, living rooms etc. in the homes. The innovative range is also available with hand-scraped surface treatment that exudes a rustic and casual feel to the environment. The flooring offers a broad choice to adhere to all kinds of lifestyle. They are available as Bruce hardwood planks and strips made of 100 per cent solid wood with a 10.5mm thick construction in a variety of wood species. Priced at `2,000 to 2,500 per sqm, it is finished with aluminium oxide that repels spots, spills and stains. Exposure to shrinkage and expansion is curtailed with effective layering of 7 ply construction. Seamless flooring is enhanced by Armstrong patented Lockfold, with features like Aqua Seal protection for a water-proof base.

Designer: Armstrong Contact: Armstrong World Industries (India) Pvt. Ltd. B2.G01, Marathon Innova Off Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Near Peninsula Corporate Park Lower Parel, Mumbai - 40013 Tel: 022 - 3048 0800 Email: helpdesk@armstrongindia.com Web: www.armstrong.co.in

Engineered Wood Parquet Floor

surfaces

Recognised for its laminated flooring for over 30 years, Pergo has unveiled its latest engineered wood parquet floors. The engineered wood coalesces the best of wood resources like oak, ash, cherry and walnut to characterise a natural feel, layered with 2.5mm veneer and UV-hardened oil surface.

The coat of UV-hardened oil exudes a radiant sheen to the floor. Using the latest glue-free, click-joint technology, Pergo combines durability, easy maintenance and ready-to-use assets in a single offering. With 25 years of residential warranty, the flooring is available in two distinct styles, Harmonious and Lively. The engineered wood collection is priced at `430 per sqft onwards. It is available in sizes like 1187 x 142mm, with a thickness of 13mm (approx), 2.5mm wood wear layer. With a stylistic combination of aesthetics and functions, Pergo kickstarts a new trend in flooring.

Designer: Pergo Contact: Pergo (Europe) AB Box 1010 231 25 Trelleborg Tel: 020 47 63 50 Email: customercare.se@pergo.com Web: www.pergo.com

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products The Empty Chair Designed as art that is representational, the Empty Chair is an iconography crafted by Maarten Baas in honour of the Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. Amnesty International invited Maarten Baas to design a piece to support their campaign against the increased suppression of writers, journalists, artists and activists. The design illustrates a point that was marked in history. In 2010, Liu Xiaobo was bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize for his peaceful battle for fundamental human rights. At that time, Liu Xiaobo could not accept the prize in person as he was serving a sentence of 11-year imprisonment for ‘undermining the state’. The symbolic Chair was thus sculpted as a symbol for repression. The design, around five meters tall, was unveiled on May 28, 2011, in Pakhuis De Zwijger in Amsterdam—the 50 th Anniversary of Amnesty International. To immortalise the creation, the Empty Chair will be available in the form of an exclusive pin.

©Frank Tielemans

TEARS OFF

innovations

Intricately designed with perforations, TEARS OFF is a modular wallpaper that can be composed into various patterns to decorate one’s walls. Pieces of the wallpaper can be torn off to create unique decor in the spaces. The modular pieces contrast against the background colours and textures to emerge as an inventive aesthetic element. Simplicity in the process underlines the whole intent in the design, in addition to the graphic statement. The material is vinyl coating on a non-woven backing.

Designer: Aldo Kroese & Studio Hausen for ZNAK Contact: MOVISI GmbH Burghaldenweg 62 70469 Stuttgart Germany Tel: +49 711 505 5485 Email: info@movisi.com Web: www.movisi.com

Designer: Maarten Baas Contact: Studio Maarten Baas Baas & Den Herder BV Rosmalensedijk 3 5236 BD ‘s Hertogenbosch (Gewande) The Netherlands Email: info@maartenbaas.com Web: www.maartenbaas.com

©Frank Tielemans

44 IA&B - JUN 2011

Sketch Designed by Stockholm designer Ninna Kapadia and Hung-Ming Chen of Sweden-based Design Studio Hommin, the lamp combines a multidisciplinary use as a table, workspace, tracing glass and lightbox. The intent was to add functionality and versatility to a work space. With a twistable surface, the lamp head can be aligned flat on the table surface. The surface can also be lit up like a lightbox. Aptly named as Sketch, the desk lamp cum table can also be used for tracing by designers, architects, photographers, students etc. Cost and space-effective, Sketch is an innovative addition to the workspace of people with creative backgrounds.

Designer: Hommin and Ninna Kapadia Contact: Ninna Kapadia Tr채snidarv채gen 3 s-126 38 H채gersten Sweden Tel: +46 739 85 86 70 Email: info@ninnakapadia.se Web: www.ninnakapadia.se

CUBE

lighting

Fashioning a textural and fluid form, Elizabeth John has created a Bone China lighting fixture called CUBE. The slip casting of the corners in Bone China leads to more absorption of the slip and forms a thicker layer. The material intent, thus, frames the corners of the form as more prominent than the basic form.

When unlit, clad in a simple white look, the form exhibits a homogeneous and smoother surface.

Designer: Elizabeth John Contact: Alcubis Design Solutions, Kalkaji New Delhi.

Tel : +91 9650003754 Email: lizabethjohn@gmail.com

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construction brief

View of Skill City.

Skill City Based out of Bengaluru, Sanjay Khan’s Skill City project by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects promises a Bollywood-style grand living experience.

Text compiled by: Sharmila Chakravorty

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pread over 49 million sqft, this Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a selfsufficient city in itself. Drawing inspiration from a printed circuit board and Mandala symbolism, Skill City is designed by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects and is the vision of Bollywood movie legend Sanjay Khan. The Master Plan and design by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects for Skill City encompasses a new technology campus, a 70-storey twisted tower, a golf course, residential community and a 5,000,000 sqft grass roofed mall for shopping, exhibition and Bollywood entertainment.

The design of the twisted tower symbolises the interweaving of ficus and banyan trees, that are representative of good luck in Hindu culture. The campus also provides for its own power; the campus includes its own electricity generating plant and will provide all necessary power locally.

The Skill City project is sited on a 700-acre site, between Bengaluru and Chikkaballapura. A major component of the complex is an entertainment and commercial complex. It features an outdoor amphitheatre on the edge

of an artificial lake. An oversized movie screen is mounted on an island in the lake. There are also five indoor theatres and a retail shopping mall.

The profile of the technology buildings resembles that of a printed circuit board. They are located at the entrance to the city and are clustered around the twisting high-rise office tower. The golf course separates commercial, office and entertainment facilities from the residential buildings at the eastern end of the city. They include single-family as well as high-rise apartment towers and are located in proximity to schools, parkland, a community centre and a medical centre.

FACT FILE: Project Location Architect Client Project Area Status

: : : : : :

Skill City Off Bengaluru Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects Sanjay Khan 700acres Master Plan Complete

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construction brief

Athletic Ripples

Aerial view of Athletic Ripples.

Amit and Britta Knobel Gupta of Studio Symbiosis create Athletic Ripples on the concept of inherent quality of interaction.

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thletic Ripples is a project by Studio Symbiosis, with Principal Architects Amit Gupta and Britta Knobel Gupta, creating an architectural masterpiece in Raibareilly. ‘Athletic Ripples’ is a project based on interfacing the user and his built environment into a coherent whole. The programme has been translated into trajectories of movement. These flow lines generated the formal idea, which is underlined by interweaving of the various activities.

The programme analysis resulted in the distribution of the various functions on site. Conceptually these programmatic zones were treated as pebbled dropped in water. It is the inference of the water field, thus creating ripples giving a guideline for the formal design language of the project. The central pedestrian zone caters for the primary movement on site. This linear zone has been kept exclusively for the pedestrians, thereby instilling the feeling of being in a green sports complex.

The program asks for a stadium, which accommodates cricket pitch, football ground and an athletics running track. Along with this function a number of indoor outdoor sports activities are located on site as required by the brief. A continuous silhouette has been designed for the project. The design proposal seems to be emerging from the landscape and creates the various forms still keeping an overall gesture. As a design outlook, it has been taken into account that being a sports complex an atmosphere of being nested in nature is created.

The built form does not sit in disjunction with the surroundings, but on the contrary flows out of the landscape itself. Piezoelectricity is being looked to be applied on the landscape pavers. The system will harvest the kinetic energy generated by crowds that effective in areas of heavy foot traffic. Solar cells are proposed for the roof of the stadiums to harness the abundantly available solar

energy. These solar cells would be integrated on the roof of the stadium as a design feature and only a certain per cent of the roof panels will be designed as solar panels. There is a proposed mix of solar panels and pneumatic panels on the roof to maintain the required light intensity inside the stadium.

FACT FILE: Project : Location : Architect : Client : Consultant : Design Team :

Night view of Athletic Ripples.

Athletic Ripples Raibareilly, UP Studio Symbiosis (www.studio-symbiosis.com) Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti U.P. Jal Nigam Amit Gupta, Britta Knobel Gupta, Viquar Ahmed, Mohit Soni, Rakesh Mathur

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construction brief

Residential towers at ATS Paradiso.

ATS Paradiso Designed by Hafeez Contractor, ATS Paradiso has homes infused with a feeling of space and serenity, making for a comfortable living experience.

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ited at Sector Chi IV, Greater Noida, ATS Paradiso is a residential project that spells luxury and world-class design. Designed by renowned architect Hafeez Contractor, ATS Paradiso is sprawled over 32 acres of land. A variety of housing options are available for the residents to choose from, ranging from luxurious and spacious villas to modern art-deco styled apartments, overlooking landscaped greens. There are about 1,000 3 and 4BHK apartments in 23 towers, in addition to the 20 luxurious independent villas. Infusing serenity and space into each of the homes, ATS Paradiso promises to be a top-notch comfortable living experience.

Rustic stones, textured paints, wooden flooring, Italian marble and vertical landscaping lends ATS Paradiso the style that emphasises the project as a class apart. Besides luxury, comfort and supreme style, ATS Paradiso also offers unmatched facilities including 24-hour treated water, 100 per cent power backup, broadband connection, IPTV (internet protocol television), and elevators. The property has been planned to offer every component of urban life to its residents. The complex is also equipped with the efficient fire fighting systems, fully-equipped gymnasium, swimming pool, jogging track,

squash and tennis courts, air-conditioned community hall, library, clubhouse and shopping complex. From the development and construction phases to the regular maintenance, all aspects of the project are under the care of experts, integrated with state-of-the-art environmental-friendly technologies, emphasising turf care and water conservation, rain water harvesting and the recycling of waste water.

FACT FILE: Project Location Architect Client Design Team Project Area Civil Contractors Carpentry Contractors Project Estimate Status

: : : : : : : : : :

ATS Paradiso Sector Chi IV, Greater Noida Hafeez Contractor ATS Group Same as Architect 32acres ATS Infrastructure Ltd ATS Infrastructure Ltd `350 crore Completed

construction brief

Purva Windermere overlooking plush green landscapes.

Purva Windermere Designed by Singapore-based architectural firm RSP architects, plush residential apartments Purva Windermere promises elegance and amenities for every taste.

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ocated at Pallikaranai, south east of Chennai, Purva Windermere is sprawled over 54 acres of land, perfectly balancing luxury and comfort in the project’s living spaces and more. The homes not only overlap tranquility and quietude perfectly, but are also surrounded by two natural lakes that make the view from every balcony a picturesque sight.

Sited close to all major landmarks in the city, Purva Windermere is an excellent excuse to escape the stress of modern city life without actually leaving the city; efficiently mixing functionality with luxury. The complex is within close proximity to the IT corridor, creating a harmonious confluence of the personal and professional spheres.

PLAN

The project boasts of indoor games halls with squash courts, aerobics room, a restaurant within the complex as well as a multi-purpose hall. Purva Windermere is also approved by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).

The complex is also close to the Chennai Airport and OMR, making Purva Windermere the ideal location to live in. In addition, it also has a variety of educational institutions, hospitals and shopping malls in the same vicinity.

FACT FILE: Project Location Architect Client Total Area

: Purva Windermere : Palikaranai, South East of Chennai : RSP Architects, Singapore : Provident Housing Ltd. : 54acres

56 IA&B - JUN 2011 On a moonless night, the central pyramid glows with luminous radiance.

Energy Icon The Lunar Cubit, an energy-producing public art system for the city of Masdar near Abu Dhabi, brings together four individuals from diverse disciplines to formulate a proposal for the future, based on the cultural past.

Text: Ruturaj Parikh Photographs: courtesy the designers

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obert Flottemesch is an artist. Johanna Ballhaus currently lives and works as a self-employed landscape designer. Adrian P. De Luca is a founding team member of Locus Energy and Jen DeNike is an artist who lives and works in New York City. This uncanny mix of individuals and experts came together to conceive a site-specific green energy generator for the city of Madsar, outside Abu Dhabi. Madsar, when complete, will be the first zero-carbon metropolis in the world. Contemplating the phases of the moon, the Lunar Cubit – a set of nine energy producing silicon pyramids transforms sunlight to electricity during the day while radiating a subtle luminance during the night, establishing its position as an icon in the desert landscape of the Gulf.

Symbolism Pyramids will emit light during the night (top) and generate electricity during the day (bottom).

The design develops from a simple concept – collect energy during the day and illuminate the area during the night. With no hazardous elements exposed, this megawatt project is completely accessible to the public, encouraging personal interaction and engagement. A data monitoring system is envisioned to keep track of the energy produced and spent, giving real-time energy figures to gauge the performance of the system.

Conceptually being a futuristic vision, the formal and symbolic roots of the design lie in the local traditional iconography. The Lunar Cubit marks the lunar phases, providing a visual reference for ‘Hilal’ – the crescent moon immediately after the no-moon day, which is significant for the Muslims to mark calendar months. Designed with the proportions matching the Great

technology

Iconic image of the pyramids during the night.

Pyramids of Giza and scaled using the traditional ‘Royal Cubit’, the eight pyramids of the Lunar Cubit are 42 Royal Cubits (~22m) in height, while the one central pyramid has a height of 96 Royal Cubits (~50m). Each of the eight small pyramids represents one of the eight lunar phases, starting from the waxing crescent to the waning crescent. The pyramids will respond to the lunar phases and modulate their luminosity accordingly. The pyramids will also mark the 12 lunar months through sequential variations in their light.

Technology Made from amorphous silicon solar panels, the surface of the pyramids will be virtually jointless, making this 1739KW DC project a piece of art. The large pyramid in the centre will have a rating of 691KW DC, while the eight

Conceptually being a futuristic vision, the formal and symbolic roots of the design lie in the local traditional iconography.

16 th century Persian script showing the phases of the moon and its significance.

The Lunar Cubit – World’s largest solar energy harvesting artwork.

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Eight peripheral pyramids and a central pyramid denote the changing moon symbolically.

Solar Modules Structure

peripheral pyramids have 131KW DC ratings totalling up to 1048KW DC. In quantum, the total of nine pyramids of the Lunar Cubit can produce enough electricity to light up 250 homes for a year.

Summarising the entire proposal, following are the key elements in consideration: Pyramids: They are built on a concrete foundation with a steel support structure that carries an extruded aluminum facade, engineered by Sch端co, a world leader in building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).

Led Lighting Site Work

Inverters Construction

The distribution of the embedded energy in the Lunar Cubit to be recovered within first four years of functioning.

Solar Panels: Thin Film solar panels - LC1 and LC2 - create a beautiful seamless facade while providing 1.74MW of rated power. For this application, amorphous silicon modules will outperform crystalline modules and unlike many other thin films, are 100 per cent safe for the environment.

Electricity: Four 500kw inverters will be co-located inside the central pyramid where AC power is stepped up to transmit voltage for utility grid interconnection.

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An enduring image – the glowing pyramid.

Environmental Impact: Disruption in local ecosystems will be minimised by building pedestrian paths with natural stone over land disturbed during initial construction. Accessibility and power transmission are linked together to reduce the footprint impacted by the Lunar Cubit.

Data Monitoring: Locus Energy will provide a state-of-the-art data monitoring system, providing real-time revenue grade data accessible anywhere in the world. This interactive feature expands the Lunar Cubit beyond its geographic boundaries, inviting national and international participation.

Materials: Constructed with safe, reliable, non-toxic materials that perform well over long periods of time; create no run-off, no emissions nor any other by-product beyond renewable energy. No moving parts to break or be serviced.

Embodied energy: By using frameless thin film solar panels, it is ensured that the estimated time to recover their embodied energy is less than two years. Total embodied energy for the Lunar Cubit will be recovered in less than five years.

Life Cycle: Decommissioning of amorphous silicon solar panels after their 25-year warranty, is safe and simple. Using non-soldered junctions, they are 100 per cent clean fill – safe as a pile of sand. Inverters will be recycled.

Art With 25,000sqm surface area, the Lunar Cubit, when complete, will be the largest solar energy harvesting public art in the world. In an unprecedented gesture, the Lunar Cubit will not only give the city of Abu Dhabi an identifiable iconic structure in terms of its image, but will re-establish the symbolic significance of the pyramidal form in Islamic history through sensitive use of technology with artistic restraint.

FACT FILE: Project : Location : Design team :

Artist/Engineer : Site Area : Structure Area : Project Estimate :

Lunar Cubit Madsar, Abu Dhabi Adrian De Luca, Jen DeNike, Johanna Ballhaus Robert Flottemesch 139,400sqm 1552sqm $23 million (`1,15,00,00,000)

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tribute

To Provoke an

Emotion

As India introspects its morality and tolerance, M. F. Hussain leaves behind a legacy of brilliance on the eve of his demise. IA&B pays tribute.

Text: Ruturaj Parikh

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e are haunted by faint memories of a silent interior space of the Hussain-Doshi Gufa in Ahmedabad; the painted walls and the lacquer smell and the dim, filtering light from the domes designed by B. V. Doshi. The experience used to be impressive. Have we not lost count of the number of times we have tried to rename the Gufa? On 9 th June, Maqbool Fida Hussain breathed his last in exile. Far from the place where his art belongs, he was cremated as a citizen of a no-man’s land between expression and tolerance.

M F Hussain can easily be titled as the most prolific, most experimental and probably the most misunderstood artist of independent India. Self-taught in his skill and sensibility, he started as a painter of hoardings and posters and went to join the Progressive Artists’ Group, founded by Francis Newton Souza. The encounter remains a significant event in his transformative personal history. Hussain’s art took the Indian artist out of the ‘crafts’ bracket and marked an era of truly ‘progressive’ Modern Indian Painting. His body of work represented themes close to his consciousness and the Indian cultural landscape. Around the commercial success, behind the hype and under the blanket of controversies, his art thrives.

You have to encounter his painting to understand it. The bold strokes of brush, the richness of colour and the depth of symbolism have an almost sensuous lure - to read into the painting and untangle the metaphorical rhetoric behind his work. His style, his personality and his progressive and eccentric spirit prompted the world to take modern art from India seriously. He leaves behind a legacy of value that belongs to the subcontinent; a legacy of avant-garde art and brilliance in skill.

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focus

environments for education “Our schools are much like our prisons: they disappoint us because they only do what they’re designed to do, and it annoys us that they don’t do something else!”

- Daniel Quinn

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e often do not think about the sociological impact of architecture. Retrospectively, education paradigms in India have evolved through decades from the austere imagery of a ‘guru’ surrounded by his disciples around a single banyan tree, traversing the most primitive forms of hutments that serve as schools to the elite distinctive campuses of today. The shift has been overwhelming but with a strong message of education. The lingering reputation of Indian architecture has always revealed an inclusion of culture. Yet to emerge as supportive educational environments wherein creative thinking and direct experience are valued above memorisation of facts, the institutions need to understand the need of the users. Students have boundless imaginations; amidst mundane environments, they find and turn items into creations with which one can play or doodle. With some thought, labour, environment, colour and resources, architects can and have begun to initiate a new dialogue – the shift of space’s role to instruct, influence and involve the students in the realms of learning. Humanity now recognises an unfolding situation that requires this new breed of designs – designs that would lead education rather than merely support it infrastructurally. It raises a solution to how learning can be re-interpreted from a design perspective in order to deliver an alternative approach to educational design. In contrast but effectively, a guiding principle in some campus developments relates to the functionality of the design. The institutions are framed as traditionally shaped spaces which culture an open discourse of vernacular materials pertaining to the region. The peripatetic approaches promise a social change – in alternative typologies brought about by design. It is unto the designers to figure out the most perfect blueprint for charting education designs as a dramatic symbolism of the architecture of this decade - a design to communicate the culture or a design to interact as an element.

How is the design community responding to this worldwide?

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The

Silence

of a

Space

Bengaluru-based Chandavarkar & Thacker Architects design the campus of Tata-Dhan Academy as an environment intrinsic to the terrain and ingenious to the region.

Text: Ruturaj Parikh Photographs: courtesy Chandavarkar & Thacker Architects

focus

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o understand the architecture of the Tata-Dhan Academy, you have to know a Chettinad House intimately. A Chettinad House is a versatile traditional environment created as a response to habitat needs in a hot-humid climate and a vernacular way of life. By knowing a Chettinad House, one comes to realise that Indian Architecture was never about the form. Architecture in India is, in most probability, about the envelope created to contain an activity and shelter life. The Tata-Dhan Academy develops from the idea of architecture as a fundamental process of space-making rooted in the region.

The brief for Chandavarkar & Thacker Architects was to design a contemporary institutional facility on a site with legal and budgetary restrictions. To work

around the constraints, the academy is designed as two clusters of modules in a fractal, chequered pattern connected by verandas. Again, the design can be perceived as an abstract of the Chettinad House, where devices like courtyards, verandas and split-levels account for the overall climate control of the house. The modules are placed around a court that allows ventilated units with defined hierarchies to have a play in built-open spaces. Conceptually, the architects propose an alternative way of looking at built educational environments by treating the institute as a ‘community of learners’, rather than as a functional facility. The hierarchy of spaces and the humble scale of the institute combine with local materials and forms to resemble, in essence, a traditional Indian habitat.

Administrative block of the academy.

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Typical courtyard of a Chettinad House.

The cluster evolves from a diagram as a repetitive module.

Fractal geometry of a chequered pattern.

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Simple and effective concepts rooted in the architecture of the place make the architecture of the Tata-Dhan Academy a self-sustaining learning environment.

Why would a contemporary project like this adopt a vernacular vocabulary?

The building could very well have been a modern expression on the same terrain, with the same set of constraints. The architects intend to align the building vocabulary with the culture of the place. There is a careful effort to study the Chettinad House to understand the patterns of spatial organisation, concepts of scale and intimacy, and nuances of materiality; not just to copy, but to adapt and improvise in order to create a familiar environment. The series of modules in chequered patterns are carefully detailed as a response to the climate of the place and the spirit of a learning environment. To a culture obsessed with image, the building may not ‘look’ like an institution, but it is important to ask whether we build to create objects of commodity or environments of activity.

Diagram showing classrooms around a courtyard connected by a ‘Veranda’.

Sketch showing the evolution of an administrative unit.

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Schematic section

Diagram showing the clusters on the site – a fragmented vocabulary.

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PLAN OF THE ACADEMIC BLOCK

SECTIONS THROUGH THE ADMINISTRATIVE BLOCK

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Academic block from the approach.

Cluster of the academic block – a vernacular vocabulary.

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Hostel block – architecture of a tropical habitat.

Units interact and connect through the open and semi-open spaces around.

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Space for interaction and encounters.

Granite, metal oxides, wood and terracotta – hues of the region.

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Spatial configurations allow multiple variations in the theme.

The palette of materials range from chipped local granite in steps and columns to vibrant oxides and terracotta tiles; from stone-rubble masonry walls to glass and steel of the facades. These materials are brought together in architectural spaces designed for congregation, interaction and chance encounters. While the verandas provide a buffer for the heat, the split-levels and double-height spaces support conventional currents, making this institute independent of air-conditioning, while the units borrow maximum natural light. Simple and effective concepts rooted in the architecture of the place make the architecture of the Tata-Dhan Academy a self-sustaining learning environment.

Architecture of the Indian subcontinent establishes a dialogue with land and nature, treading lightly on the ground on which it sits. The ideas that make architecture work are rooted and fundamental to the process of human occupation. Tata-Dhan Academy presents us with an alternative idea of a learning space. It presents us with a paradigm that would have been our way on making space; our architecture. It presents us with a paradox because it may be closer to our culture and our climate than most of our contemporary

built environment and yet we term it ‘alternative’. It presents us with a polemic against those objects of utility we all call buildings.

FACT FILE: Project : Location : Architect: Client: Design Team: Structural Engineers: Services Engineers: Civil Contractors: Project Area: Project Estimate: Initiation of Project: Completion of project:

Tata-Dhan Academy Madurai, Tamilnadu Chandavarkar & Thacker Architects Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru Dhan Foundation, Madurai Prem Chandavarkar, Mehul Patel, Shyamala Shankar B.L. Manjunath & Co., Bengaluru Semac, Bengaluru TAPL, Nagercoil 55,000 sqft (Phase1) `325 lakh March 2006 October 2009

Chandavarkar & Thacker Architects were awarded the J.K. Cement Architect of the Year Award in February 2011 for the Tata-Dhan Academy.

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Learning

International Management Institute establishes a dramatic statement through a variance of colours in its facade composition.

Frames

focus Kolkata-based architectural firm, Abin Design Studio, use materiality as an innovation to extend the notion of an ideal academic space by prescribing a radical, warm and expressible architectural language for International Management Institute, Kolkata.

Text: Maanasi Hattangadi Photographs: courtesy Pradip Sen Drawings: courtesy Abin Design Studio

LEGEND: 1 Academic Block 2 Hostel Block 3 Stuff Quarter

SITE PLAN

“The historic moment of standardisation has passed; our era is open to the individual�

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- Gaetano Pesce

he malaise of educational design in India is dominated by the continual propagation of archaic planning concepts and modular

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CONCEPT DIAGRAM

Curvilinear in structure, the building adopts a modernist stance in its form and feel.

aesthetic classroom formats. Modern tradition is now starting to dictate a slight detour from these architectural legacies wherein form, interaction and energy instigate the change.

The inspirations that define space reflect the open education forums and transparency that has been imbued in the learning systems. While the format essentially remains unchanged, the ideological persuasions in space transformation vary from place to place. All the while, a simplistic thread does connect the thoughts across the architecture in India – a quest to imbibe nature into the very inception of the project. A direct engagement of this scenario is established in the upcoming architectural ethos of the country. Abin Design Studio not even a decade old adheres to such diverse, multiple and radical schools of thought and provokes a spatial discovery of another kind.

The multidimensional portfolio of the firm continued search has paved a fresh attitude with projects like International Management Institute, Kolkata.

75 LEGEND: I Library 2 Lecture Hall 3 Large Lecture hall 4 Computer Room 5 System Admin Room 6 Visitors Room 7 Toilets 8 Janitor’s Room 9 Services IO Conference Room II Office I2 Director‘s Office I3 Dean‘s Office I4 Registr0r’s Office I5 Placement Office I6 Reception & Waiting I7 Main Office I8 Pre Function Area I9 Store 20 Convention Hall 2I Exam Control Office

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

Ubiquitous in a dense suburban residential sprawl of Kolkata, the design acknowledges the possibility of a structural integrity to break away from linear planning and yet vacillate between the neighbourhood architecture and its own aesthetic. The fluid form strived to replace reality of an existing narrow entrance to the site and illusion the glass frontage to reshape a broader entrance to the site. An architectural departure from the understated, the building facade erupts in evocative colours. The practice reinstates the dynamic texture of the sky in its demeanour of variance and vivacity in its design for International Management Institute Kolkata.

The ever-changing panorama of colours of the sky is exaggerated masterfully in a facade orientation for the building evolves as a vibrant experiential element. Simple volumes are punctuated by a gradient of colours, rendered by random coloured laminate with Vanceva PVB glass on the facade. The facade composed of two layers of 5mm clear glass - each with intermediate PVB layer 1.2mm thick, acts as

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

an insulator against heat. Soft light immersed in colours paints the ambience when the interiors are lit at night. A surprise to the Indian sensibility, the coming of age of aesthetics talks about serious growth in contemporary architecture in India. The campus embraces a homogenous sustenance created almost like a hub with different things going on. The planning reveals an integrated plaza with a water body designed far from a sunlit realm to exude a micro-climatic zone. The massive canvas works in the spirit of a free-flowing movement in the midst of soft landscape interrupted randomly by spill out zones niched in the spaces of the curved structure. The overall environment is cynosure of congenial community spaces wherein students can interact and connect at every level.

Deceptively simple, the reception intuitively revives an airy freedom through a triple heighted space and a natural skylight that washes in light from above. The circulatory spine links all levels

LEGEND: 1 Library 2 Lecture Hall 3 Multi-Purpose Hall 4 syndicate Room 5 Drinking Water Fountain 6 Faculty cabin 7 Toilets 8 Janitor’s Room 9 Services I0 Doctor‘s Chamber ll Board Room I2 Language Lab 13 Faculty Office 14 Office 15 Maintenance Office I6 Housekeeping I7 Department Office 18 Stationery Store

SECOND FLOOR PLAN LEGEND: 1 Library 2 Lecture HaII 3 Multi-Purpose Hall 4 Lecture Hall (Exec. Program) 5 Syndicate Room 6 Faculty cabin 7 Toilets 8 Janitor’s Room 9 Services 10 Office 11 Chairman’s Office 12 Chairman’s Cabin 13 Open Terraces

THIRD FLOOR PLAN

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The materiality is used in such a way that spaces come alive as light during the day and artificially infused at night, enliven the surroundings.

An element of water is integrated within the plaza that creates a micro-climatic zone.

ELEVATIONS

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“It is an institute that has achieved international standards not only by providing state-of-the-art facilities, but also by having an architectural expression which represents that. “ – Abin Design Studio

The fluidity of form wraps around niches and corners created for interaction amongst the students.

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The plaza converges as a community space wherein soft landscape has been used.

The multi-coloured laminates are composed of two layers of 5mm clear glass - each with intermediate PVB layer 1.2mm thick.

to this atrium. In the day, the sense of airiness and sunlight is defined in the interior spaces like the library, which is well integrated into the landscape with an enclosure of three walls of glass and is shaded by existing trees on the site. The building, as a result, maybe spatially varied, but in construction it is designed on a module of state-of-the-art facilities, smart classrooms and technology driven education.

As the architects put it, “It is an institute that has achieved international standards not only by providing state of art facilities, but also by having an architectural expression, which represents that. “

DETAIL DIAGRAM OF FACADE

The optimistic design implies a tidal wave of material influxes, global iconography and inventive technology that has just begun.

The emerging designers are free to choose their attitude by imbibing a radical sense of character or identity that replaces the powerful embodiment of cultural tendencies. On similar lines, the imaginative field that Abin Design Studio brought together as an international management institute, which used light as a distinguished feature, creates a style not known for its understatement. The bottomline here is idiosyncratic infused with a lively expressiveness

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A triple-heighted reception area greets the visitor at IMI, Kolkata.

The curved facade weaves in and out to form a dynamic volume in the interiors.

The interiors of the Institute use glass and subtle finishes to inform a learning environment.

of culture and continuous involvement of the present day students – the ultimate confluence of forward-thinking ideas in both education and educational architecture. In essence it is a reaction of a collective interaction, identity, and inspirations of the learning community within the Indian niche.

FACT FILE: Project : Location

: Architect : Design Team :

Client

: Project Area

: Civil Contractors : Carpentry Contractors : Project Estimate

: Initiation of Project : Completion of project :

International Management Institute Kolkata Abin Design Studio Abin Chaudhuri, Jui Mallik, Koushik Majumder, Anshujit Majumder, Palash Santra IMI, Delhi 27000sqm MFAR Constructions Touch Point – A Division (Oap) India Pvt. Ltd `70 Crore October 2006 December 2010

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idealism in transition With their design of Ørestad Gymnasium to mark the gradual reform of spaces in the educational realm of today, Denmark-based architectural firm 3XN’s resource creativity, communication and experimentation make things change and break the notion of a frozen conflict of learning spaces.

Text: Maanasi Hattangadi Photographs: courtesy Adam Mørk, 3XN Semi-coloured transparent louvers frame the graphical facade of the college.

focus

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ducation by design has been found stuck in an instrumental mode, orienting towards past and present modes through service of materials and textures in the outer shell. The education movement has continually evolved through decades of design - it frames a history, where institutions have been observed through purpose and objectives of education not only through design, but also through teaching. The rampant decade of education design profiles projects like Ørestad Gymnasium (Ørestad College), which occasioned a pioneering step as the first college in Denmark to assimilate content, subject matter, organisation and learning systems into directional benchmarks in the design strategy of the Danish school for students between the age of 16-19.

with individual classrooms and IT interpreted as an element. Spaces for individuals, groups, classes and assemblies are unexpectedly deviant and bold in the sense of light and airy freedom. Expressed as an understated aspect, communication, interaction and synergy are the key issues that drive the design. The connection of the building functions are positioned to the point of relevance—with an overall interconnection playing vertically and horizontally both. The scale skims over, being a boxy surface, and comprises of only four boomerang-shaped floor plans. It is not the lack of conceptual thinking but a powerful design perspective with rotated boomerang-shaped plans at play.

Curvilinear, fluid and adaptive, the circulation intertwines four study zones on each floor. The spatial take provokes a fresh approach of reshaping and effecting change. The organisational flexibility brings about a cultural energy that one cannot find in level changes; a thought that was explored by the designers to seek out the tangent interface between different teaching and learning spaces with no distinct borders. A vertical central atrium spirals out with a broad staircase greeting a part of each floor opened by the rotation all the way upto the terrace. The spread of fragments engage and compose this congenial community space. Thinking, practice and education in a different dialogue with design define a new role of the institution; if the space has instructional implications, the educator’s activity is merely a token. Herein, the freedom of expressions escalates in form of flexible furnishings. Notions of

The test of the design movement’s progress in our everyday lifestyle can be measured here by the degree at which education has been transformed to function commercially and culturally in an expanded design domain. The exterior expression of Ørestad Gymnasium, on a footprint of 12,000sqm, casts a premeditated impression to one’s expectation of a stylised built mass, with strong lines of colour playing with the environment for effect. The showcase of the subtle volume is broken by louvered interfaces, which film the interiors faintly in transparent coloured light. The idea reverses beyond enclosed spaces and assembles as openness and flexibility stitched into the built fabric.

It’s a holistic design agenda, encompassing the social factor as paramount Administration Base

Administration Meeting

Headmaster

Introduction Base

Study Base

KnowingBase

Project Room

Heating Group Area

Reception / Administration

Teacher Base

Group Area

Individual Area

Waste

Double High (Floor level-1) Group Area

Depot

Sporting Facilities

Waste Drama Base

Group and pause area Individual and group Area

Group Area

Double High (Floor level-1)

Canteen Base

Depot Books

Canteen

Sporting Facilities

Atrium Group Area

Entrance

Music Base

Fitness Facility

Main Staircase

Music Library Library/ Depot

Library

Eating

Eating Student and vocatonal guidence

Library Base

Individual Area

Group Area Group Area

Depot

Group Area Group Area Group Area

Assembly/Meeting

Technic

Changing Facility

Group Area

Music Base

Group Area

Group Area

Individual Area

Assembly / Meeting

Group Area

Group Area

Assembly / Meeting

Lockers Teachers Base

Individual Area

Group Area

Group Area

Lockers

Group and pause area

Teachers Base Group Area

Group Area Workshop Base

Study Base

Group and pause area

Pause / Home Base

Group Area Knowledge Base

Atrium

Group Area Special lab Base

Main Staircase

Main Staircase Introduction Base

Group Area Study Base

Atrium

Atrium

Lab-base B

Individual

Group Area

Assembly/ Meeting

Group Area

Double High (Floor Lev 1) Group Area

Group Area

Individual Area Teachers Base

Lab-base A

Study Case

Introduction Base

PLANS

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The ideological concept reflects openness, transparency and flexibility of the modern education system.

SECTION

A deviant concept at play - four boomerang-shaped plans construe the structural formation of the design.

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The airy sense of freedom is expressed in the open format and flexible furnishings.

The decks open up into a central atrium, which facilitates the college Sketch showing the evolution of anasadministrative unit. a community space.

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The study zones cater to individual, group or classroom formulations.

A broad staircase winds up to each floor connecting the spaces as an aesthetic element.

Students can lounge around on orange cushions establishing a different dialogue in terms of spaces for education.

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The spaces render a contemporary feel to the environment.

The idea reverses beyond enclosed spaces and assembles as openness and flexibility stitched into the built fabric. ornamentation merely lie in muted finishes and patterns of light or shade, with a trace of colour splashed in it. It is about a statement of clarity - all visible, legible and obvious. The psychological grid of design, which was awarded a prize in an invited competition in 2003, nurtures a sort of cultural development primarily before any structural idea takes shape. The built experience of an

institute is perceived as a selection of ideas and reflections that informs one’s thinking. The learning is prospective, yet progressive.

The scale, proportions and idealisations of all institutional buildings have different energies, but they stem from the same creative root – of designing an environment for learning. What differs here is how the brief of the project is rewritten by the architect. It is the opportunity of differential aesthetics that makes this distinction. Through space, experience and extension of the notion of an institution, Ørestad Gymnasium ends up evolving full of surprises—a complex microcosm of simple ideals.

FACT FILE:

Details like graphics on the transparent louvers induce a pattern of light and shade in the interiors.

Project Location Architect Engineer Adviser Acoustics Client Completion of the Project Project Estimate

: : : : : : : : :

Ørestad College Copenhagen, Denmark 3XN Søren Jensen A/S Helle Mathiasen, cand. pæd. Ph.D. Frederik Wiuff Copenhagen Municipality and The Danish State 2007 DKK 200 mio. / €27 mio

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essential

Space

Working with salvage from the site, Dhruti Vaidya designs a contemporary workspace within a nostalgic skin for the PAE office in Mumbai.

Text: Ruturaj Parikh Photographs: courtesy Dhruti Vaidya Interior space of the PAE office in Tardeo, Mumbai – reuse, reduce and recycle.

interiors

Renovated structure that houses the office space within.

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oncrete, steel, glass and wood are the four materials that define the interior space of the PAE office as a process of restoration and re -interpretation of a derelict space by architect Dhruti Vaidya to conver t it into a usable workspace. The idea is to retain and reuse the salvage from the existing structure while rendering the space; both interior and ex terior, a new identity and character.

“The site was in total disrepair & needed immediate structural intervention. Based on the client’s brief & subsequent evolvement of final plan, structural and architectural changes were made keeping in mind the need to reuse, recycle and rejuvenate”, says Dhruti about the project.

‘Reuse, recycle and rejuvenate’ technically summarises the project and gives us a point of departure to understand the interventions.

The degraded site is re-interpreted with simple yet effective design solutions.

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PLAN

SECTION

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Double-height volume of the interior space with roof-lights.

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Board Room on the concrete mezzanine inserted in the space.

Spiral concrete staircase to the Board Room.

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Concrete, glass, wood and brickwork expressed with a restraint.

Existing structures on the site were ‘dismantled’ rather than ‘demolished’ in view of their future use.

Existing structures on the site were ‘dismantled’ rather than ‘demolished’ in view of their future use. The interventions in the space can be seen as alterations in the materiality of the space apart from being thematic changes. The simple materials of the PAE office are structures in complex relationships wherein adaptations like the salvaged wood of the loft of the office space that is reused as the panelling of the boardroom preserve connection to the structure on site. The materials used in the re-modelling of the space are kept at their natural finish avoiding the use of toxic finishing chemicals as far as possible.

The focus of the entire space is a loft – cast in concrete and inserted in the volume of the space connected by a helical staircase, it acts as a board room hovering over the space of the office and overlooking the space through a transparent facade. The double-height volume of the office is naturally lit and admits sunlight to the workstations. Concrete and brickwork is used in its raw form so as to make the materiality of the building an elemental character of the space. The rustic and raw feel of the interior is a conscious attempt to express the material articulations in their raw form. The light quality changes from time to time as the sun moves over the structure.

Simple ideas materialise into simpler forms and pure conceptual explorations to create an honest expression while maintaining a structural integrity and material austerity in the design of the PAE centre. Dhruti Vaidya extends the concept of interior architecture of salvage and sensitivity to create a contemporary architectural expression of a workspace. Clean lines and simple material junctions make the design of the PAE office an expression of conceptual clarity.

FACT FILE: Project : Location : Architect : Client : Design team : Civil Contractors : Carpentry Contractors : Project Area : Materials Used :

Restoration & conversion to corporate office Tardeo Dhruti Vaidya PAE Suhas Bambardhekar Mahesh B. Kumavat Motaram Mistry 7000sqft Exposed brick, cast concrete, mild steel, Kotah stone, marine ply, bison material, corrugated aluminium sandwich panels.

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Telling Stories BNIM and Bur t Hill design a Naval Memorial to integrate the design in the memor y of a community.

Text: Hina Nitesh Photographs: Courtesy BNIM and Burt Hill

international

The features of the memorial, unfold the story of the base. Inspired by naval vessels from the 1920’s, the monument consists of a shell of curving panels surrounded by water channels that enhance the visitors’ journey.

The pavillion at night; the photographs on the wall.

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An artistic rendering of the Memorial.

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orth Charleston was once a bustling city, whose claim to fame was the shipping industry and the Naval Base. The contribution of men and women of this city both military and civilian helped shape the region and the nation as a result. To honour these achievements and to keep the memories of those who risked their lives for the country, the city of North Charleston decided to construct a memorial. BNIM and Burt Hill were the architects chosen to design this unique place which was to be located on the grounds of the former Charleston Naval Base in Riverfront Park.

The design concept revolves around interpreting the story of the base as an integral part of the community. Just like the base had become a unifying element for the diverse civilian and military community, the memorial would connect individual elements into a united whole. Aimed at creating a culturally creative, ecologically healthy, educationally diverse and recreationally versatile memorial, the architects organised it along a visual timeline using architecture, graphics and landscape.

The features of the memorial, unfold the story of the base. Inspired by naval vessels from the 1920s, the monument consists of a shell of curving panels surrounded by water channels that enhance the visitors’ journey. There are three ship sculptures in the memorial, which represent the three most common ship types associated with the Charleston Naval Base during its 95 years of operation. A plaque beneath each ship type explains its significance.

An integral part of the Navy is water and here in the memorial, it is a key design element. The shape of the pavilion suggests the bow of the ship. Actual historical photographs are displayed on the walls of the

pavilion, which capture the essence of life in the base. The world map and the map of the Naval Base are engraved on the pavilion signifying the contribution of those stationed at the base in defending the country in various places throughout the world.

Anchor, Gangplanks, Building Design The anchor at the entrance to the memorial, the shape of the restroom and pump room are suggestive of Navy ships. The gangplanks represent the community’s connection to the Navy. The architects have also designed a story wall, which through text and photographs, tells the story of the Naval Base. It also has information on five United States Navy ships which bore the name USS Charleston. Names of the donors who helped make the memorial possible are also mentioned on this wall.

Specific elements used to fund the project, including benches, granite blocks, a pavilion, and flagpoles, were sensitively integrated into the design of the space, in order to respond to the detailed requirements and funding opportunities of the memorial committee.

Memorials are places which take one down the memory lane and one often needs to pause and reflect on the journey. With this in mind, the architects have provided resting places throughout the memorial.

The most significant of these is a composition of six large granite seat blocks and a seat wall which represents the commitment of the local community in its support of the Charleston Naval Base. The seat wall provides a place for visitors to sit and reflect.

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Landscaped site plan

Benches are placed at intervals as places to pause and reflect.

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The five flags are placed slanting outwards towards the ocean.

The paving stones are engraved with names of men and women, who contributed to the Base.

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The pavillion with the map of the world on the floor .

The design concept revolves around interpreting the story of the base, as an integral part of the community.

Among other elements used are the five flagpoles slanting out from the shore, pointing the way out of the harbour into the oceans of the world, representing the entities from which the base and its attached units drew its authority and support.

The paving stones are engraved with the historical record of the people, who sailed from across the world and worked on the base.

Site-Specific Lighting Energy-efficient lighting spotlights feature elements while providing an understated illumination along paths and walkways. Reflecting the materials and aesthetics of Navy ships, the structure and graphics use metal cladding and printed metal collages to tell the story. The communicational objectives of the memorial are intended to honour, admire, interact and learn about the history of Naval Base, the ships used and all who served there. A visual timeline that captures the war era between 1901 and 1955 through the use of a photo collage, maps and typography, serve to inform the visitor about the base’s naval history. Materials include a zinc-fabricated structure. Iodized photos,

typography and vector graphics were directly applied to the zinc plates.

The photo collage was fabricated as one piece and bolted to shell.

Exemplifying integration between architecture and graphics, this memorial provides an experience for visitors, drawing them into a naval scene and illustrating the naval culture that shaped the city, its people and those who were stationed at the former naval base.

FACT FILE: Project Location Landscape Architect Pavilion Architect Client/Owner Civil/Structural Engineer General Contractor Pavilion Fabrication Image Panel Engraving Lone Sailor and Homecoming Statue Ship Sculptures Photographer Credit Site Size

: : : : : : : : : : : : :

Greater Charleston Naval Base Memorial North Charleston, South Carolina Burt Hill, a Stantec Company BNIM City of North Charleston Davis & Floyd Anson Construction A. Zahner Company Wake Forest Engraving Stanley Bleifeld Wayne Trapp / Richard Hallier Š James Huff 0.5 acres

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Making space for light

Multinational firm Speirs + Major weave light into the architectural fabric as a symbol of progressive material and integrated continuity between the disciplines of architecture, landscape and interiors in projects like Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan Mosque and Infinity Bridge.

Text: Maanasi Hattangadi Photographs: courtesy Speirs + Major, Infinity Bridge: © James Newton, Exterior Photographs of Grand Mosque: © Allan Toft, Interior Photographs of Grand Mosque: © Lars Kirstein

Space and light and order – as quoted by Le Corbusier, aptly captures the role of light in the architectural vocabulary. There is a sense of transition to light; it is elementary and evocative – familiar at the same time. The refrain of lighting design in architecture has been experimentative. The presence of light has always been necessitated but lighting designers in this decade of design have crafted a myriad of ways to achieve this The Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi, resplendent in the lighting, is the third largest mosque in the world.

material’s semblance to its best. This vibe has been reciprocated widely by lighting designers, who play with the phenomenology of light and its power to transform spaces. Speirs + Major pursues this shifting paradigm by creating awareness of lighting design globally. Tracing this discipline, it has shaped light to diversify the experiential quality of architecture, strategy and product design.

lighting

The illumination frames the monument and positions it as defiant against the backdrop of the city.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

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enowned as the Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi, the majestic building stands in contrast to the vibrant sky of the city. The identity of the third largest mosque in the world uses a historic draping of marble and gold. Fostering a worship space for over 30,000 worshippers, the designers, through lighting, have reflected a spirit of peace and a unifying element of Islam. The essence of the sculpturesque entity alights in frames of light. Delicate shadows rippling across the stark white smoothness of marble in the exterior, the inspirational effect is reminiscent of the lunar cycle – a signifying presence in the Islamic religious cycle. The underlying intent was to emphasise a landmark presence worthy of its being. The transient character of the waning and waxing moon is translated in form of a light veil. The designers describe the visual thread as “a poetic look created based on the image of a full moon with wisps of cloud moving across its face”. The nature of the lunar cycle is mimicked in the washes of colour infused in the lighting – suffused with a white light at full moon and a shift of colours every two evenings. The plethora of shades fade away in bluer hues till the fourteenth evening where the mosque is suspended as a patch of deepest blue to symbolise darkness. The marble symmetry imperceptibly cultures the tonal changes undiscovered by the perceiving eye of the visitor. The drama is framed in the strong words of Jonathan Speirs, Director, “In the same way as the moon has an impact on the tides, we wanted the moon to have an impact on the building.

The idea was to have a building that, by full moon, is lit pristinely with white light, but with a textural quality evocative of clouds slowly drifting in

front of a full white moon.” The designers have woven a fabric with such a usage of concealed projectors that an experiential notion of clouds engages with monumental elements like the minarets and domes of the mosque.

The exterior lighting aspects portray a low maintenance issue with 19,000 luminaires across six lamp types.

The lighting sensually luxuriates the interiors, extending its sensitivity to the most intricate details carved into the mosque. The allocation of the equipment was valued by the designers as a crucial challenge as they needed to highlight the architectural details as well as conceal them to the public eye. While the rigour of the architecture is unyielding, the designers have livened up the smallest coves, niches, ledges and added lights behind the carved wood latticework known as ‘Mashrabiya’. The perceptual lighting recurs within and on the building. The bright lighting occasionally subsides to unfold a semblance of lighted marble panels, glass mosaics, carved gypsum panels and calligraphy. Effectively, the whole building, to its smallest detail, embraces the lighting to its best advantage conducive to the lent design perspective. The technicality applied was a centralised control system that variegated functional levels of illumination, embossed with passive lighting for the expressive facets. Layers of light intensify the spatiality, heightened at the Qibla prayer wall, pointing to Mecca, a formal expression of light, culture and material as a ‘symbolic luminous panel’. Slivers of light entwine to form the 99 inscribed names of Allah – a gold-mesh curtain illuminated

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The exterior lighting displays a low maintenance aspect with use of 19,000 luminaires across six lamp types.

“The idea was to have a building that, by full moon, is lit pristinely with white light, but with a textural quality evocative of clouds slowly drifting in front of a full white moon.�

- Jonathan Speirs, Director, Speirs + Major

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Landscaped site plan

by end-emitting fibres. The indulgence of the side glow converges on displaying organic forms of vine fronds. The lighting confidently positions the sanctity of the dome. Both reverential and progressive, one of the arcade domes is lit with a blue light emanated from a circular ring of concealed cold cathode lamps, focusing on the inscriptions from the Koran.Defying the simplicity of its making, light adds to the luxury and glamour of the Mosque.

The awe-inspiring imagery of the Mosque demonstrates that visual strata of architecture stems from a careful understanding of conditions of the concept and a response that is challenging yet compelling. An exemplar crafted of many workshops, mock-ups and trials, the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan Mosque allows the architecture to retreat beyond a light’scape’ that will remain etched in one’s mind forever.

The unique evolves fromasthe inspirational lunarreflect. cycle.

Benches areconcept placed at intervals places to pause and The structure is bathed in white light on a full moon day and retrieves sequences every two evenings while gradually fading to deepest blue on the fourteenth day.

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The awe-inspiring interiors are awash with white light to enhance the architectural details and also to create vibrancy in the room.

The lighting is concealed effectively from the public eye.

FACT FILE: Project : Location : Lighting Design : Executive Architects : Interior Architects : Client :

Photography : Organic forms intertwined with embedded light are enhanced on the walls.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan Mosque Abu Dhabi, UAE Speirs + Major Halcrow Group Spatium Architects Department of Municipalities and Agriculture, Abu Dhabi Allan Toft

One of the arced domes is illuminated with a blue glow from a circular ring of concealed cold cathode lamps.

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The lighting differentiates to animate every corner of the spaces.

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Evolved from the symbolism of the mathematical sign of infinity, the twin arches stretch over River Tees.

Infinity Bridge, Stockton-on-Tees, UK

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xplorations in the possibility of using the humble material of light are immense. Another of Speirs + Major’s varied projects objectifies just that.

The water of River Tees glides past this distinctive footbridge – the new heralding landmark of North East England. Twin arches depicting the mathematical symbol of Infinity (∞) anchor a 230m long concrete walkway. The volumetric move onto the existing fabric is not only significant, but visually renders the surrounding with a modernist stance. Designed by Expedition Engineering, the bridge architecturally inclines towards an iconic approach – further distinguished by the illumination of its slender bowstring structure.

The lighting enhances the striking composition of the elementary arches, dissolving into vague reflections caught by the tepid waters. Speirs + Major have emerged with an interplay of forms and feel, immersed in cold white lighting to refine the sensibility of the design. Blue lighting seeps from the underbelly of the deck – a zone contemplating the outline of the bridge above water. The designers worked out an aspirating to provoke the sense of a floating wave that hovers just above the deck.

The flexible working of Speirs + Major recalls a fine detail of concealment of light fixtures and their minimal interference in terms of glares, with an understanding of pedestrian movement. The innovation in use of their expertise is reinvented in relation to the extent of the modern technology. In this instance, the light responds to the presence of people. A striking composition evolves, as a reaction of light trails the movement of pedestrians down the walkway and invokes a signal to approaching oncomers. Whimsical and psychedelic, the effect is triggered through

Crafting a sculpturesque experience, the lighting injects with a varied semblance of aesthetics.

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Blue lights are used in the underbelly of the deck to define its form above the water.

The distinctive pedestrian bridge spans over 230m.

The light fixtures are concealed and their glow is projected without any glare to the users.

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Stark white light in the arches is caught in contrast against the darkness of the water.

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handrail sensors via low-energy blue and white LED units embedded in the handrail.

Invisible to the public eye, the fixtures enhance a twinkling of blue and white glow that represents a stylistic departure – a ‘comet’s trail’.

Transcendental and animated, the light artfully inverts the logic of space. As said by Mark Major, Director, “Great lighting is not about walking into a place and saying, ‘What great lighting!’ It’s about walking in and saying, ‘What a great space!’”. The two projects elaborated here suggest a glimpse of the vantage point that Speirs + Major aspire to showcase of light – a cinematic sequence of events, spaces and the visible emotion of architecture.

FACT FILE: Project Location Lighting Design Concept Architect Design Client Principal Contractor Photography

: : : : : : : :

Infinity Bridge Stockton-on-Tees, UK Speirs + Major Stephen Spence Architects Expedition Engineering Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd James Newton

Sensors , blue and white LED lights are hidden in the handrail that leave a blurry imprint of light when the visitors pass by.

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Collaboration between design groups Collectifs Cochenko and Quatorze, seeks to extend architecture into realms of heightened experiences and social meanings through CCPP; an installation that breaks ice and builds bridges.

Text: Ruturaj Parikh Photographs: Per Lundstrรถm and Lucas Haegeli; courtesy the designers

art

One person at a time, for as long as one wants to be inside the space.

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CCPP installation space – a recycled shipment container.

H

ave you ever been high on anything? You know how it all starts with a small amount that lifts your spirits, makes you numb, helps you float and forget, keeps you still and then shakes you to the core.

Before you enjoy the substance, the substance starts enjoying you. Every year, thousands of teenagers and youngsters take to drugs. Not all of them come out of it. The core of the problem lies in the fact that the society does not want to talk to an addict or a user. Ironically, talking is fundamental to rehabilitation, which makes social exclusion a point from which the vicious cycle starts. Modern day governments have realised that the more the society alienates an addict, the greater is the abuse.

To initiate a dialogue with youth on this controversial subject, the French Ministry of Culture decided to experiment with a very oblique thought; the thought of using design as an ice-breaker in a dialogue with the youth on drug-use.

CCPP - Chantier Créatif de Prévention Partagée that translates as Space, Light, Sound and Drugs, is an installation within a shipment container designed by collaboration between Collectifs Cochenko and Quatorze to facilitate the breaking of ice and the initiation of a dialogue. The installation travels to schools and institutions as a part of French Government’s drug awareness campaign. The idea is to recreate, through architecture, a hallucinatory experience that represents a drug-high in experiential terms. The three stages of a typical trip: pleasure, repetition and awakening are translated through use of sound, light and space to develop a parallel experience; an experience of a physical presence in an

intuitive space – an experience of being present in one’s drugged state in complete consciousness.

The installation invites one person at a time to walk into a shipment container. As the door shuts behind you, you pass through a succession of three segments. First, beauty and tranquillity of an initiation of effect is translated through soft music, subtle lighting and proximity that render an effect of peace and pleasure. Then, the music turns harsher as one passes through the installation space and the light becomes more intense in a rhythmic variation mocking the heaven and hell repetition of a typical drug experience thus disorienting a visitor. The third and terminal space moves towards reality with lights and sound taking form of tangible realities directing towards an awakening.

The concept develops from a series of idea-generating seminars wherein students advocated use of light and sculptural space to device a platform for dialogue and discussion. CCPP is a space that resulted from this interaction.

The idea was not to pile up brochures and posters but to instigate reflections and reactions on drug use and abuse through a mind-opening experience that can materialise in a chance to talk to people.

The shell for the space is an empty shipment container. The structure within is generated through drawings and 3D modelling. Then the interior structure is draped with a concrete mesh developed by Butong; a concrete innovation firm, specifically for this project.

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Interior space with concrete drape developed by Butong.

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Organic form of the concrete drape.

PLAN SHOWING THE THREE ZONES

Architecture can facilitate a space. The architecture of CCPP tries to go further to facilitate a dialogue through experiential design. CCPP is an attempt to re-erect a bridge between an ignorant society and a defiant abuser, using architecture as a communicator. Design, it seems, can do more than just making things look nice and work well.

FACT FILE:

Structure – container, structural frame, design frame, concrete skin.

Project : CCPP - Chantier Créatif de Prévention Partagée Designers : Cochenko Client : French Ministry of Culture Quatorze team : Sylvain Gaufillier (chichou), Damien Beslot,

Joachim Bolanos, Antoine Demarest, Romain Minod Butong team : Benjamin Levy, Augustin Brisedou Sagot Photographs : Per Lundström, Lucas Haegeli

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Hallucinogenic light mocking the experience of drug use.

114 IA&B - JUN 2011 Ashok Lall moderating ‘Delhi on the Move’, panel discussion at India Habitat Centre.

Delhi (Re)generates In the second installment of this series, architect Ashok B. Lall talks about the complexities of the city of Delhi, possibilities of alternative futures and regeneration of the city fabric.

Text: Ashok Lall, Shruti Narayan and Sushma Shetty Photographs and Images by: arch i Platform and ABL Architects Edited and Curated by: Anne Feenstra and Tanvi Maheshwari

A

rchitect Ashok B. Lall, along with Prof. I.M. Chishti from the School of Planning and Architecture, was invited by arch i to guide the team through the process of Delhi2050, an attempt to look at alternative future scenarios for Delhi, emphasising the urgent need to star t thinking long term for this exploding multipolis. Through his vast experience and exper tise in urban issues, and his knowledge of the city of Delhi, Mr. Lall’s contribution to the process has been an invaluable addition. As a moderator for the panel discussion ‘Delhi on the Move’ at the India Habitat Centre, as a par t of the Delhi2050

Age distribution comparison

Delhi in a day

public events, Mr. Lall raised per tinent questions and stimulated the impor tant debate on mobility issues in the city. His recent successful par ticipation in the ‘Living Cities Design Competition’ reflected his high level of understanding and grasp of the city of Delhi.

In the following text, Mr. Lall, along with his colleagues Ms. Sushma Shetty and Ms. Shruti Narayan, uncover and decipher the complexities of the multi-layered city of Delhi. They dream of an alternative future for this presently haphazard metropolis, pointing out the key areas

Noise pollution in Delhi

delhi dialogues of impor tance when planning for the future of Delhi. They also share glimpses of their prize-winning entr y from the ‘Living Cities Design Competition’, echoing these ideas.

Re-imagining Delhi Imagine Delhi as a city whose integral essence is manifested in its ever y par t; whose quest for beauty is embedded in a continuing tradition, its culture and histor y, whose individuals and communities enjoy the liber ty to be themselves and to express their ways of life. A city where the disadvantaged are included and brought into the fold, where living patterns and festivals celebrate the cycle of seasons – A city of richly textured environments and vibrant activity enjoyed by citizens and travellers alike.

But today...paradoxically, the energy of the current wave of economic advance and its concomitant rapid urban growth is threatening urban life. Inequities are being magnified and stratifications are being hardened, with galloping consumerist consumption at one end and great scarcities of basic amenities and land at the other.

The combination of a growing population with growing demands is causing systemic bottlenecks, along with environmental stress and degradation. It would seem that as the city grows, conditions of living for a majority come under progressively greater stress. Before this vicious cycle tightens its vice, the city must find a way out. And this must lie within the reality that exists.

The urban structure of Delhi is a palimpsest of several layers and juxtapositions of history, of social and community groups, with their economic stratifications and spatial inequities that inhabit the calcifications of built space and the veins and ar teries of the rights- of-way and lungs of open space. This inherited palimpsest of the urban structure has the potential of symbiosis and synthesis. This DNA of the city has the potential of its evolution into a city with a rich, diverse and nuanced urbanity. The vitality of populations ‘on the move’, their youthful demographic profile and a vibrant world of communication and information can bring about a culture of knowledge – of understanding complexities, of choices to be made and of the innovative possibilities toward a more just, shared future – raised upon the three pillars of social equity, economic opportunity and environmental sustainability.

Delhi on the move.

Initiatives The foundation of such an evolution needs to be an envisioning exercise of a collective imagination and a movement of celebrating what the city is and what it could be, or rather what it seeks to become. It is encouraging to see that this process is gathering momentum through several initiatives by institutions and organisations. Perhaps the first significant impetus was given by ‘Imagining Delhi’, an exhibition put up by Delhi Urban Ar ts Commission (DUAC) in 2006 followed by ‘48° C – Public.Ar t.Ecology’, which used the medium of public ar t to open a discourse on the city’s ecology. Over the last year, on the heels of the Commonwealth Games extravaganza, we have had the ‘Delhinama’, again under the auspices of DUAC, along with ‘Delhi: A Living Heritage’ organised by INTACH – both exhibitions attempting to recover Delhi’s complex cultural and ecological inheritance. More recently ‘India@100’ opened a public dialogue on the future on Indian urbanity. The DesignXDesign Exposes organised by Alliance Francaise and Studio IF in the capital, are playing an increasingly impor tant role in creating a dialogue between the design and architecture community and finding the identity of Indian design. Another initiative in opening public discourse about the future of the city is ‘Delhi2050’ by arch i Platform. Delhi2050 is an invitation to envision possible futures for the city without being constrained by immediate concerns and yet near enough to hold a promise for the young majority of its citizens who would be there to usher in the half centur y. Through a process of research, public interactions and debates, the process engaged with not only the architectural and design community, but also citizens of the capital at large.

It is also oppor tune then, that the Municipal Corporation of D elhi has star ted the process of Local Area Planning, as an outcome of the 73 rd Amendment to empower communities to manage their local ward. The process of reviewing each ward as an entit y is critical especially in D elhi where top - down decisions do not always make it to the ground level and are often misplaced, the reasons for this are multitude; a critical one being the lack of ownership.

An involved communit y will ensure that decisions are implemented as the communit y would have par ticipated in the decision-making process. The nascent ‘bottom-up’ approach of preparing Local Area Plans might be able to set the trigger for significant beginnings.

Living in Delhi.

Homeless in the city.

116 The burden of the state subsidising urban ser vices for the urban poor may be offset by innovative decentralisation with smaller scale, simpler, models for deliver y of ser vices. It would also be imperative to identify links and patterns while under taking the LAP process, which would allow for the various wards to synchronise and connect to strategies at a city or regional level.

We believe that an exercise of this nature requires the involvement and skills of design professionals of the disciplines of the built environment.

Only they can resolve the physical knots of the city’s social and environmental stresses, and illustrate possibilities with precision and realism. It will be their work through such actions, to set up iterative and participative processes for a continual making of desirable futures.

Delhi (Re)generates A group of such professionals led by Ashok B. Lall Architects worked out a possible future for the city of Delhi through such a process as an entr y for the Living Cities Design Competition. The competition entr y identifies a ‘typical cross section of the city’ that constituted the multifaceted layers typical to the city’s urban structure.

The vision that is projected in the competition design proposals arose from an approach by which the city evolves “intelligently” rather than by the determinism of ‘planning’. The evolutionar y process necessarily star ts from the reality of today, and responds to the symbiotic potentials from “the locality” to the “city” – a city that is growing and changing rapidly. The current process of urbanisation is the evolutionar y direction of emerging economies, especially relevant to India and its cities, such as the metropolitan city of Delhi. Urban development and urban regeneration need to be conceived as evolutionar y processes of distributing wealth and knowledge toward a sustainable future.

Therefore, the physical restructuring and interventions tested in the competition proposals are in the mode of conservative surgery – relief, repair, recovery and regeneration, within the grain of the existing fabric, to enhance quality of life and increase capacities following the three pillars of urban regeneration. This approach also believes in incremental change, modest scales of investment in discrete projects, simple institutional mechanisms and minimum displacement of existing

Land regeneration

Market street section

communities. It recognises the present realities of limited financial and institutional capacities of a developing country. It constructs a pragmatic process for transitioning from a fearful present of inequity and degrading quality of life to a hopeful future of greater equity and a shared life of grace and beauty in harmony with nature.

The design proposes a city that evolves toward spatial justice, where land and housing policy accommodates the slum dwellers, retaining their locational advantage for integration with the growing urban economy; redevelopment of low density areas enables poor sections of the urban populations to be brought in close proximity to places of employment, near transpor t infrastructure, and public ser vices for health and education. At a macro level, this policy reverses the current tendency for the urban poor being segregated and to be excluded to urban peripheries. In the making of all rights-of-way, all parks, garden, cour ts are to be open to public. In the local climatic context and the culture of living in and inhabiting the out-of-doors, this provides an extension of habitable and usable space to the minimal built space that is affordable in the city.

The city progressively weans itself from the scourge of the personal motor car by moving over to a multimodal system of train, bus and taxi for long distance travel and the electric car, rickshaw and bicycle for shor ter distances. Tarmac is returned to play space and shaded walks and parks. Private vehicles are kept at the fringe and taxed heavily. The air is cooler, clean and fresh again.

A city powered by clean energy, constituting sources such as photovoltaic or organic waste to energy, a portfolio that has contributions from individual households to city level installations in public rights-of-way, all connected to the larger national grid; A ‘solar city’ as a part of the a national network of power supply and distribution.

Energy use is graded on an escalating scale according to consumption by a consumer. Economic charge is levied for meeting basic needs - lights, fans, fridge, drinking, cooking, bathing, washing. Beyond this, the charge doubles for increase over the basic needs measure.

A city that revives the old hydrological networks, its hauzs, baolis and ‘nallahs’ are revived as an integral par t of living alongside water, catalysing a net zero water policy as a rule of living; where horizontal

Land distribution

117 sur faces ensure aquifer recharge and the aquifer is a water bank; where soil is a resource that is nur tured with manure and water taken from the treatment of waste – which allows local farming, regaining contac t with the cultivation of food and enjoying the cuisine of the season!

The possibilities recounted above are found in the process of designing for one representative par t of the city. Each of these findings may be adaptable to other par ts of the city and scalable to greater dimensions of application. The bottom-up process is how a city learns and meets its inherent desire to be human. It is an outcome of human encounter and a mutual recognition amongst all its citizens. It is therefore incumbent upon design professionals to play their par t as critical agents in inspiring all stakeholders in the life of the city, to share and identify with the process of its making.

Next Steps

Delhi2050 The outcome of the public interactions and research during Delhi2050 was communicated via four architectural models, each laying emphasis on a core issue identified during the process. The four models were opened to the public at Delhi Haat on May 8, and travelled across the city thereon, loaded on hand-drawn push carts. The models were viewed by people from all walks of life and stimulated a new urban debate.

The outcome of this six-month-long exercise will now be presented to various stakeholders within the city, including those from the government, to find ways to develop a more structural and comprehensive long-term vision for Delhi.

About the authors:

Delhi (Re)generates disseminate, discuss, engage, evolve and envision The entr y on Delhi – Delhi (Re)generates submitted by the team led

by Ashok B. Lall Architects won an award under the categor y ‘The Cities that Learn’, in the discussed Living City Design Competition 2010 hosted by the Living Future Institute in par tnership with the National Trust for Historic Preser vation (https://ilbi.org/living-city-design-competition-winners-unveiled).

As one of the immediate next steps the team is working on translating the competition vision into a document prepared with language that can communicate with a large audience. The intent will be to reach out to various sections of the community to enable them to understand the proposed vision and its implications, leading to a process of engagement and involvement that will further evolve the vision. In addition, the team will seek oppor tunities to disseminate and discuss with various stakeholders the vision for a possibility of the implementation of the strategies identified in the exercise. The stakeholders will constitute various sections such as policy makers, community, designers; the Urban Design Forum at IHC was a recent such forum where the competition exercise was presented.

Section through house

Prof. Ashok B. Lall with over 30 years of experience is a pioneer in the area of sustainable design, and has won several national and international awards.

Sushma Shetty is a Senior Project Architect with Ashok B. Lall Architects with a specialisation in sustainable design.

Shruti Narayan is a Senior Consultant specialising in energy efficiency and sustainable design, currently working on the USAID-India supported ECO-III project.

Watch this space for the next part of the series, which will showcase the outcome of Delhi2050 Phase 1, the four scenarios for Delhi 40 years in the future.

Mixed use middle income group housing

Market street

118 IA&B - JUN 2011

life in a grid This month, in this column curated by Dr. Deepak J Mathew, Iwan Baan explores two cities, Brasilia and Chandigarh; two modern visions and aspiring utopias in two locations separated by continents to witness the life in both the cities adapt to the presence of monumental modernity.

Text and Photographs: Iwan Baan Curated by: Dr. Deepak J Mathew

space frames urban villages

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ucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer saw an envisioned utopia turn into reality in the 1960s in the form of Brasilia. Almost 14,000 kms away, in India, Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh was a young metropolis and a robust bastion of modernism cast in concrete. Since then, an era has passed and as the realities of the context collide with the visionary utopias unfolding an interesting tapestry of life woven within the modern mechanisms and forms.

Iwan Baan, through his camera, explores life in these two cities and the way it

unfolds, with modernity as a canvas and a background. He captures instances in space-time, where the chaos and order of life is brought to a still, with architecture as a silent spectator in the background or as a composing element of the frame. Iwan becomes a nomad and surrenders to the life around him, making himself almost invisible to the subject.

The sometimes haunting – sometimes lively images capture the way life copes with modernism, where the element of an alienating landscape competes with an element of life within the frame.

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Iwan Baan Born in 1975, Iwan grew up outside Amsterdam, studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and worked in publishing and documentary photography in New York and Europe. Iwan unexpectedly took up the subject of architecture in 2005, when he proposed to Rem Koolhaas that he document a project by the architect’s firm OMA. Iwan’s work has also been included in exhibitions at the Architectural Association in London and the AIA New York Chapter. His book ‘Brasilia – Chandigarh’ looks at life in two cities woven around modernity.

Iwan becomes a nomad and surrenders to the life around him making himself almost invisible to the subject.

‘space frames’ investigates issues related to architecture, space and environment through the medium of photography.

Space Frames June 2011: ‘Life in a Grid’ by Iwan Baan Indian Architect & Builder Magazine

Born in 1975, Iwan grew up outside Amsterdam, studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and worked in publishing and documentary photography in New York and Europe. Iwan unexpectedly took up the subject of architecture in 2005, when he proposed to Rem Koolhaas that he document a project by the architect’s firm OMA. Iwan’s work has also been included in exhibitions at the Architectural Association in London and the AIA New York Chapter. His book ‘Brasilia – Chandigarh’ looks at life in two cities woven around modernity.

Iwan Baan

122 IA&B - JUN 2011

Acclaimed photographer Iwan Baan documents two cities; Brasilia and Chandigarh through his lens making the book an experience of life within and around modernism.

Photographs: from the book ‘Brasilia – Chandigarh’ Cover.

book review

Through this publication, architectural photographer and creative nomad Iwan Baan attempts to present the realities of these two visions of utopia from the era of the visionary architect. magine having to live in an eroding work of art. Brasilia and Chandigarh, two cities separated by 14,000 kms are united by an engaging opposition; the idea of modernism against the idiom of modernity. Through this publication, architectural photographer and creative nomad Iwan Baan attempts to present the realities of these two visions of utopia from the era of the visionary architect.

I

Iwan Baan finds stories of adaptation and fertile activity in the sterile landscape of modernity. The clear and comprehensible language of architecture is complemented by plazas devoid of life wherein the built form out-scales the human presence. Iwan also wanders in the suburban neighbourhoods and goes behind the concrete walls to search for life and culture.

As we drift through the book, numerous landscapes of utopian images present an engaging paradox of resilience against the imposing structures of concrete.

Life goes on though it does not necessarily thrive in the foreground with monumental architecture in the background. The celebrated architecture of the two cities; structures of glorious designs of triumphant modernism fail to evoke life and to support it as the alienating scale of the plan takes the human element away from the habitat. Through the medium of photography,

As the expanses of dream-like landscape and orchestrated functionalities fail to discipline the element of life, new meanings and functional mechanisms emerge around the utopian visions and imposing relics of the imagination of Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa in Brasilia and Le Corbusier in Chandigarh; cities that emerged from blueprints five and six decades ago respectively.

As cities devoid of stories, the two landscapes exist cultures apart where the two designed utopias are compromised as the citizens of these mega-polices seldom

A double-spread from the book.

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Landscape of Chandigarh.

An illustrated epilogue by Martino Stierli.

realise that they apparently inhabit a work of art. The book also presents an essay by Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom and an illustrated epilogue by architectural critic Martino Stierli discussing experiential and historical aspects of the two cities. As desolate and spectacular architectural forms float in dreamy landscapes in Iwan Baan’s photographs, a woman and a child clad in local attire walk across Le Corbusier’s plaza; inhabitants of a distant utopia.

FACT FILE: Book Author Publisher Language ISBN Reviewed by

: : : : : :

Brasilia – Chandigarh Iwan Baan with Cees Nooteboom and Martino Stierli Lars Müller English 978-3-03778-288-6 Ruturaj Parikh