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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Architectural services being outsourced to India is not a new phenomenon. However it usually brings about a lot of negative press in the country from where it is being outsourced. British retail giant Tesco is outsourcing preliminary design and surveying to architects in India. The article below in Building UK, raises concerns about lost opportunity [...]
Swiss architect Mario Botta needs no introduction. His work around the world speaks volumes of the master architect. And his projects in India for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) are a continuation of his excellence in the field. Mario Botta: Swiss architect who designed TCS offices By Ishani Duttagupta & Neha Dewan, ET Bureau For well-known [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Bindu Gopal Rao speaks to James Law, known across the globe for cybertecture. After the Pad Tower in Dubai, he is now coming up with a cybertecture egg in Mumbai, a unique project built without a single column. “My career has been nothing less than an adventure,” declares James Law, Chairman and Chief Cybertect of [...]
Indian architecture scene is sad, rues Aamby Valley architect By Shilpa Raina for Thaindian. He is the man who recreated the luxurious living experience of America’s Beverly Hills with the famous Aamby Valley project in Maharashtra. But Bobby Mukherji believes that post-independence Indian architecture has little to be proud of. “We have shown people enough [...]