Urban Architecture India

India’s Actions Provide More Hope for Copenhagen Climate Talks

Post author By arzan
Post date September 23, 2009

At the United Nations Summit on Climate Change this morning, President Obama spoke about the importance of assisting developing countries on adaptation and technology. He also reiterated the need for developing countries with rapidly growing emissions to "commit to strong measures at home and agree to stand behind those commitments just as the developed nations must stand behind their own." Over the last several days, one of those nations – India – has made a number of dramatic moves in that direction.

India recently announced it would quantify the emissions cuts it will make under its ambitious National Action Plan on Climate Change (see my colleague Anjali Jaiswal’s blog.). Last Friday, India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh explained in a talk at Columbia University that: "I am telling the world, because climate change is important for me… I am prepared to take on, voluntarily, unilaterally, mitigation actions as part of a domestic legislative agenda."

Cities

The Changing Skyline of Mumbai

Post author By arzan
Post date September 18, 2009

Mumbai Towers by Aruna Rathod for the BusinessLine

From mill lands to malls and from shanties to skyscrapers, Mumbai’s skyline is changing. In just a matter of months, a string of 50-plus-storey buildings will tower up in the heart of the metropolis. Take, for instance, areas like Lalbaug, Parel and Sewri, which until a few years ago were middle-class settlements housing mill workers and lower income groups, but now have apartments that cost upwards of Rs 5 crore.

Lower Parel itself is in the middle of a metamorphosis, with old dilapidated structures being pulled down to make way for sprawling malls, glossy office buildings and skyscrapers to house the well-heeled. Its newest landmark is the 65-storey Indiabulls Sky, offering ‘private residences’ with all the attendant luxuries, of course at a price. Just a stone’s throw away, the 75-storey Jupiter Mills Tower is coming up as also the 80-storey Raheja Platinum and Waves buildings in Worli, followed closely by the 65-storey Dynamix-Balwas project at Marine Lines, and the 60-storey twin towers in Tardeo. The 45-storey Shreepati Arcade at Nana Chowk, which was the tallest building in the country until a few years ago, is already way behind in the reach-for-the-sky race.

CTBUH 2010 World Conference in Mumbai

Post author By arzan
Post date September 14, 2009

3rd – 5th February 2010 | Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center, Mumbai.

Rapid urbanization of developing countries such as India and China over the past decade have resulted in almost 200,000 people migrating from rural to urban regions somewhere on the planet every day (United Nations statistics). This translates into the need for the world to accommodate the equivalent of a new city of one million people every week. How can our existing – or new – urban centers accommodate this growth? The traditional American model of a dense working downtown core and an ever-expanding residential suburb have been generally recognized as an unsustainable model for the future, due to the high energy expenditure of the necessary expanded infrastructure (roads, power, waste etc), the transport commute itself (largely automobile) and the loss of natural greenbelt / landscape for agriculture and ecological balance. Humanity needs to evolve into a more sustainable pattern of existence, and cities need to become denser with more concentrated centers for living,

Events

Indian Green Building Congress Hyderabad

Post author By arzan
Post date September 13, 2009

There were two interesting presentations, among others, at the 7th edition of the Green Buildings Congress that commenced in Hyderabad on Thursday. Both were by iconic architects. Vadodara-based Karan Grover and Hong Kong based ‘cybertect’ James Law presented their visions of design at the same venue within a space of a few hours.

The Indian architect is known for his green philosophy and is synonymous with the world heritage site at Champaner while the Chinese cybertect uses imagination and belief to chart out workable design solutions for the future. Their visions dovetail with each other and are yet dissimilar in crucial respects.

Events

“What Makes India Urban?” : Symposium in Berlin

Post author By arzan
Post date September 13, 2009

Opening: / Symposium: October 10, 2009

Aedes Network Campus Berlin, Christinenstrasse 18-19, 10119 Berlin

Opening hours: 03:00pm – 07:00pm

The Symposium "What Makes India Urban?" will be held in English.

Please note to kindly sign up for this event until 30th Sept under: ug@aedes-arc.de

03:00pm

WELCOME SPEECH

• Hans Jürgen Commerell, Aedes Berlin/Germany

• Anand Patel, Architect/Curator, Ahmedabad/India

INTRODUCTION/LEADING QUESTIONS

“India is undergoing an epochal transformation. From a rural agricultural society it is becoming a largely urban society. The biggest story in India today is the drama of India transforming its cities to accommodate ever larger numbers of people, and, Indians learning how to live in cities and learning to make sense of them. Will India’s cities add to, or address, the difficult environmental problems the world faces? Will India build cities that make the life of all its people more livable, or will it find ever more ingenious ways of excluding the poor from the hope and promise of city life? Will India transform governance of its cities to strengthen the idea of democracy or will it choose a more authoritarian course? Will India teach the world a new way to think of and live in cities? Answers to these questions will determine the fate, not only of India, but of the world as a whole. I suggest that in this symposium, we keep these questions in the forefront. Hopefully, at the end of it we will have a better sense of how, if at all, India is changing the meaning of what it is to be urban.”

Symposium Note by Bimal Patel, August 20, 2009

Bimal Patel will inaugurate the event through a general overview and the introduction of the audience to the leading questions of the symposium. These will be picked up again in the final discussion.

Housing

Affordable housing needs a holistic look

Post author By arzan
Post date August 29, 2009

By Rajshri Mehta & Ranjona Banerji in DNA India

Is the housing situation in Mumbai going to get any easier for the middle class person who aspired to own a home? To find out, we invited the realty men over to discuss the situation.

The panel had Sitaram Kunte, principal secretary (housing) for the Maharashtra government; Parag Munot, director with Kalpataru Constructions; Gautam Chatterjee, CEO of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada); Vikas Oberoi, MD of Oberoi Constructions; Aditi Vijayakar, executive director (residential) at Cushman & Wakefield; Boman Irani, MD of the Rustomjee Group; Nabil Patel, director at DB Realty; Santosh Naik, CEO & MD of Disha Direct Pravin Doshi, chairman of Acme Housing and Brotin Banerjee, CEO of Tata Housing.

While rates are still high, our experts feel that prospective buyers should take advantage of the economic recession to buy now when rates are a bit lower than they were even last year. As far as affordable housing in general is concerned, it seems that a public-private partnership is the best available option.

Cities Infrastructure News

Tallest in Asia: Maharashtra moots Asia’s tallest tower

Post author By arzan
Post date August 3, 2009

This article appeared in the Business Standard today. Is it just me or does anyone else think this is a really ridiculous idea? Just building tall for the heck of it makes no sense at all. There is no infrastructure to support such a tower, and getting into the tallest tower race is really doomed. There will always be another one. Funnily the excuse for building this is equally stupid. Arguably, the whole idea of Maharastra was a step down from the State of Bombay that existed before being splintered. People of our parents and grandparents generation could throw a lot more light on this.

The Maharashtra government is marking 50 years of the state by planning 50 ambitious projects, including Asia’s tallest building in the city.

“We have proposed the building as an iconic tower, which would be Asia’s tallest and have invited design and construction bids for it,” a senior official from the urban development department said.

The 531-metre high tower will be built at Wadala in Central Mumbai over 14 hectares of land, the official said, adding that the proposal has been submitted to the government. The tower will have commercial, recreational, academic and entertainment facilities, he said, adding, “the place has been chosen in such a way that it would be a conversion point for the proposed Monorail and Metro rail.”

To mark the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the coastal state, formed in 1960, the Congress-NCP Government is planning several projects. Chief Secretary Johny Joseph has convened a meeting of all departments tomorrow in this regard, the official said.

Original article here.

Cities Environment and Climate Master Plan

Height Restrictions Removed: A Boom for Skyscrapers ?

Post author By arzan
Post date July 28, 2009
3 Comments on Height Restrictions Removed: A Boom for Skyscrapers ?

Scorpiogenius makes a compelling arguement for “Taller, Greener, Better”.

The Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airport Authority of India have trimmed down the height restrictions for constructions around our airports. This allows for buildings to sprout higher into the skies above our cities, almost double to what was permitted until yesterday.

I expect Kerala to significantly make use of this waive in the existing law. Kerala has been the only state outside the megapolis Mumbai, and to a lesser extent Gurgaon, to embrace the highrise culture. The trend which was kicked off in Cochin in the early 90s slowly spread to even the smaller Municipal towns of the state. Its become a fashion statement with even towns like Thiruvalla and Kottayam with just over 1 lakh population hosting 20+ structures.

Even though it may take some time for our local self Govts to adapt themselves to the law, it is certain that the Architects and builders would be licking their lips to make full use of it. Kerala is only second to West Bengal in population density; with 35 million inhabitants @ 825/sq km and severe scarcity of de-notified habitable land, it is common sense to understand that this model of urban development suits us best.

I’m a sucker for tallies, yo! I admire the style of urban development followed in North America and Australia which plots a highrise CBD, with suburbs harbouring midrises and housing estates. Each suburb is planned to be self-sufficient on its own for their shopping and entertainment needs, with residents travelling to city-center only for business and work. The CBD builds and rebuilds itself with major improvements necessary only in the transportation network.

Continue reading at Scorpiogenius.

Design Urban Transportation

Bumpy Rides: Redesigning Indian Transport

Post author By arzan
Post date July 28, 2009

Darpana Sawant-Athale writes on transportation modes and the lack of ergonomics there in.

I slipped forward along with the seat, when the car braked. Then I adjusted myself, pushed the seat back in place and sat into an upright position, until the brakes were pressed again. By the end of the journey, I had a vague sense of my backbone and lower back becoming a single unit. The pain that followed left me with no sense of either in place.

Continue reading at Designology

Architects Architecture

Remembering the Howard Roark of India: Nari Gandhi

Post author By arzan
Post date July 27, 2009

It was not his surname that prompted Nari Gandhi to wear khadi. He embraced the fabric because it was self-reliant, natural and allowed easy breathing. Just like the 30-odd structures built by a man who is often called the Howard Roark of India.

Gandhi–one of the four Indians to have appretinced under the legendary American Frank Lloyd Wright-was an iconic architect. He liked to work without an office and discarded conventions like floor-plan drawings and time-tables. Gandhi, who learnt pottery, would work with masons on each project, share his tiffin with them and use a wooden stick as his pencil. He sketched on the ground to explain his plan. If he wasn’t happy with a construction, he would immediately tear it down. Each of the homes Gandhi built, including actress Asha Parekh’s stone bungalow at Juhu, were products of a happy marriage between art and architecture.

Today, though, this marriage is being battered by builders, bulldozers and bahus. Fifteen years after this maverick Parsi architect died in a car accident, most of his built works (except for Jain House in Lonavla and the Bajaj House) have either been renovated or destroyed. One bungalow in Versova was used recently as the set for a saas-bahu soap. It is now a party venue, replete with a bar that glows in the beam of UV lights. Of course, none of these elements, including high-pitched melodrama and alcohol, is in tune with Gandhi’s organic philosophy.