*A tribute to artist Satish Gujral who passed away on March 27 Much before I started writing about art and architecture, I read about Satish Gujral. And as a teenager, craned my neck from the window of a taxi to catch a glimpse of the glorious Belgian embassy he had designed in Delhi. Something about […]
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Category: Architecture
Lunuganga-Where Geoffrey Bawa’s soul resides
A visit to Lunuganga, the famous home cum estate of Sri Lanka’s much lauded architect Geoffrey Bawa, is almost like a rite of passage for architects. Located in Bentota, a few hours out of Colombo, Lunuganga is a mesmerizing place, a carefully orchestrated landscape, all light and space and beauty. Geoffrey Bawa was born in […]
Modern Indian Architecture At Its Best
Contemporary Indian Houses publication InCITE’s +91 RESIDENCES exhibition on contemporary Indian architecture was first presented at Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore in 2010. The exhibition showcased 91 architect-designed dwellings, 19 works-in progress and a model display of over 40 houses designed by over 75 architects in more than 25 cities and towns across India between the years […]
The Woman Corbusier Envied
Eileen Gray, was an Irish architect and furniture designer. Born in Ireland in 1878, Gray was from an aristocratic family; she became the nineteenth Baroness Gray in 1895. She attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London where she studied painting. In 1900 she went on her first visit to Paris and visited the Exposition Universelle, an international design […]
A Dose Of Design Inspiration
I recently gave away a decade -old collection of interior design magazines. Packed in them were my dreams of owning a space I can call my own. A home made with sun-baked bricks, lime-washed walls embedded with coloured glass to let in the sun in rainbow beams, recycled wood doors, a verandah that has […]
Correa :The Architect Of Inclusion
At about 7.50 am on Wednesday, architect Bijoy Ramachandran of Hundred hands messaged his acquaintances: “Sad news. Correa passed away at 11.45 pm, Tuesday night.” For those who had heard 84-year-old architect, planner, activist and theoretician Charles Correa at the JN Tata Auditorium in Bengaluru last year, this moment brought a sense of personal loss […]
Bhopal: Exploring The Enchanting Ruins-1
The city of Bhopal is like a mysterious old bard. In a tattered gunny bag swung over one of his atrophied shoulders, he hides a treasure trove of rare gems plucked right out of history books. It takes effusive flattery, gentle persuasion and an unrelenting perseverance to get him to allow a peek into his […]
Charles Correa: Cities are not just buildings and streets
Last year, over 100 Broadway stars, directors, producers, musicians, choreographers, designers and technicians gathered in front of the police station in Times Square, New York, while a poem titled ‘I Can’t Breathe‘ was rendered by Daniel J Watts. This was done to register a protest and start a conversation about police violence, which had claimed […]
Charles Correa: The Wagner Of Architecture
It’s architect, planner, activist and theoretician Charles Correa himself on the stage of the JN Tata Auditorium in Bengaluru and what he once said about Corbusier’s architecture in Chandigarh, comes to mind, “Corbusier has sought to create an architecture of passion. No sotto-voce, no politeness but like Wagner-thunder in the concert hall.” * Correa’s voice is weak and broken but […]
The Master Of Spirit And Space
In Bangalore to address the students of Indian Institute of Management, legendary Architect B V Doshi strolls around the campus. As he pauses to make a point, he is framed by a flowering creeper, crests and hollows of green grass and thousands of trees. It is simple to see in this snapshot, the sum of […]
South Park Street Cemetery: A Photo Feature
There are cities where you let yourself be pampered. There are cities where you cannot help but complain about the chaos. And then there are cities where even though you complain, you still revel in its charm. Its character. Kolkata – truly a city of the lords, that now seems at least two decades behind […]
“Am I The One Lost?”
When a spokesperson for NDTV GROHE Design and Architecture Awards, called up Professor Krishna Rao Jaisim and told him that he had won a Lifetime Achievement Award, he hung up. Even though he is one of the country’s most eminent architects with a distinctively green design idiom, Jaisim’s immediate reaction to the good news […]