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arZan

arZan has written 140 posts for Urban Architecture India
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Livable Cities: Green landscapes and election promises

By ⋅ February 20, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Trees and green spaces are an integral part of an urban landscape. The great cities of the world boast of some of the most diverse public spaces that are green. Central Park in New York City and Hyde Park in London are just two examples that come to mind. However in India, there is a [...]

Slum-free cities: Freeing slums or freeing lands?

By ⋅ January 12, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Prof. Yatin Pandya writes an interesting editorial on the issue of slum lands in urban contexts. Original article here. Slums have been in perpetual state of persistence in political parlance and policy promises. From slum removal in seventies to slum-networking in 2000, there has been a paradigm shift in addressing slums in urban Indian context. [...]

The Design Aesthetic of Modern Indian Cities

By ⋅ May 6, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Indian cities have multiple aesthetics. As do all cities, and human settlements of varied sizes all around the world. This has been true right through history. However Indian cities have a clear demarcation in terms of the urban aesthetics when looked at within the time frame of the last century. The big four metros, all [...]

Amtek Offices New Delhi: Ong and Ong Architects

By ⋅ October 22, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments

Ong & Ong is a multi-disciplinary design office with various locations in South East Asia, including one in Chennai. The Amtek Office Building proposal for New Delhi at first glance looks like an Archigram-esque living organism sited on a street Introducing traditional Indian science of construction, the “Vaastu Shastra,” to modern architecture, the Amtek Office [...]

Looking Westward for Design Talent?

By ⋅ July 25, 2010 ⋅ 4 comments

Over the last decade, India has undergone change like no other period in its 60+ years of Independence. Besides the lifestyle changes, the transformation of the physical realm is going ahead at a shocking pace. Metros as becoming megalopolii and small mofussil towns are now competing for the title of regional hubs. Infrastructure has not [...]

Missed Chances and Government Bureaucracy: Louis Kahn and Gandhinagar

By ⋅ June 6, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments

Government intervention and babudom are nothing new to India. It has thrived for generations and continues to do so even today. Soon after Independance there was a massive movement to bring the country on par with the Westernised world. New cities and towns was part of that scheme and Nehru, India’s first prime minister took [...]

My Building Tallest

By ⋅ May 28, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

The late 90’s and the first decade of the 21st century can be rightly called the glory years of the Skyscraper Race. Countries tried to outdo each other in claiming the tallest skyscraper status. Before this boom, the Sears Towers in Chicago, USA held the claim for nearly 3 decades. All that went for a [...]

Indian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 Disappoints

By ⋅ May 13, 2010 ⋅ 5 comments

On May 01, 2010 the World Expo 2010 opened in Shanghai, China. Besides other things, its a venerable feast of architecture Countries have come out with their best architectural foot forward and some of the national pavilions are stunning examples of the contemporary architectural vocabulary of those countries. However all attempts to get a better [...]

The Need for Design Schools in India

By ⋅ May 9, 2010 ⋅ One comment

India is fast becoming one of the world’s leading consumer of manufactured goods. Be it cellphones, sneakers, cars or home furnishings; Indians are lapping it all up. And the manufacturers of the world cannot ignore the fact that there needs to be a new design sensibility for this new client base. Jayashree Bhosale at Economic [...]

The Mumbai CBD Exodus

By ⋅ May 6, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

The following news article about the impending exodus of finance powerhouses from Nariman Point, the CBD of Mumbai; is not surprising. Infact, some would wonder why it took so long. Since the 90’s we have had proclamations from politicians wanting to make Mumbai the next  Shanghai, Singapore or Dubai; depending on the flavor of the [...]

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RSS Elsewhere in India

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    Manou, from the wonderful Wearabout, just shared this site - We Make Love. Found some lovely products in it that would work well for Diwali. First up are fabric crackers. Perfect for those who enjoy the design but not the sound. Find it here. Flying tealights, gold plated, unsure what the metal beneath the plating is. […] […]
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  • I support > Krya
    This mention was waiting for a full-fledged post, and while that’s coming up, there’s no reason why everyone can’t enjoy this product till then. Launched in September 2011 by Preethi Sukumaran and Srinivas Krishnaswamy, Krya is a natural and sustainable detergent that works with your hands as well as with your washing machine and of […] […]

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