Jan 14th, 2010
India’s Vertical Quest
VERTICAL LIMITS WHAT STOPS INDIA FROM TESTING HIGHER GROUNDS? By Preeti Parashar / Indian Express As the world’s tallest building, the 828-metreBurj Khalifa, alters the skyline of Dubai, other nations look on to join the race of tallest skyscrapers! Countries across the globe have been modifying their policies for developers and engineers to innovate and explore new [...]
Nov 22nd, 2009
Entrepreneurship in Public Infrastructure
It is no surprise that India has a booming communication infrastructure when it comes to mobile phones. The early problems of under-capacity all seem to have vanished and thousands jump on the mobile bandwagon everyday. However, the exact opposite happens with physical infrastructure, especially intra city transportation. Traffic in most cities is nightmarish and it [...]
Nov 11th, 2009
The Enigma of Hafeez Contractor
Amongst all professionals, no one gets his peers as riled up as does Architect Hafeez Contractor. And the reasons are many. Be it is “chutzpah” early in his career to go where no architect wanted to go in terms of fees. Be it his complete mastery and hence exploitation of the archaic Building Bye-Laws. And [...]
Nov 4th, 2009
Kings of Xeroxia
It is no secret that a lot of contemporary architecture in India is a recycled pastiche of western historical styles. Many feel that its a result of the Western colonization of India that ended only 60+ years ago. And brought about the strong undercurrent of Western influences. Shruti Ravindran at Outlook India writes a very interesting [...]
Nov 2nd, 2009
Bandra Kurla Complex Height Restriction Raised to 73 Meters
A mini Manhattan at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) has been the dream of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Now, almost two years after it doubled the developable floor space index (FSI) from 2 to 4 at the BKC, the MMRDA can hope to live that dream. The Union ministry of civil aviation has started [...]
Nov 2nd, 2009
Indian Cities Today: Cultural Desert of Tomorrow?
Akshay Chavan writes Indian cities attempt to ape all the bad things about their western counterparts but none of their good things. What is striking about Indian cities is complete lack of public libraries or public parks. Unlike in the west, those who cannot afford to buy books have no access to them, and those can [...]
Oct 31st, 2009
GRIHA: India’s Answer to LEED
Evaluation is necessary to ascertain how green a building is. Apart from verifying claims, such systems ensure that best practices are followed and the gains made are quantified. GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment), the green rating system developed by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), is promoted by the Ministry of New and Renewable [...]
Oct 31st, 2009
When style was substance: Mumbai in the 1930s
Urban housing these days has increasingly become a matter of “lifestyle.” By Ashoak Upadhyay / Business Line Builders do not erect an apartment block or two; they build cities within cities; rows upon rows of residential towers peppered with landscaped gardens, swimming pool, jogging track and clubhouse. The customer does not come home simply to four [...]
Oct 30th, 2009
Building with a heart: Anne Feenstra Exhibition
Every edifice should speak the language of its country, says Anne Feenstra, displaying friendly buildings at an exhibition in New Delhi By Shailaja Tripathi / The Hindu Three different structures by three different architects in three totally different countries and settings… but what binds them is their innate connection with the human beings who not only [...]
Oct 30th, 2009
Balkrishna Doshi Rues Lack of Ideas
Poverty of ideas and a lack of social commitment in many of India’s contemporary architects could leave us with no skyline we can call our own two decades from now, fears visionary architect-planner Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi. “What will happen to our cities after 20 years? We have no public realm, no urban development, no museums, [...]
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