Archinect - News

SOM completes ‘terminal in a garden’ for India’s Kempegowda International Airport

2024-01-04T11:25:00-05:00

The Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed Terminal 2 at India’s Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru has opened to passengers. Inspired by the ‘garden city’ heritage of Bengaluru, the designers describe the airport terminal as “a serene multimodal transit hub that radically reimagines the airport experience.”

Image credit: Ar. Ekansh Goel © Studio Recall

Designed in collaboration with landscape architects Grant Associates and designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla (AJSK), SOM’s vision for a “terminal in a garden” sought to heighten the presence of nature in the airport experience. The main terminal block, housing check-in, immigration, security, retail, arrivals, and baggage claim, is separated from the terminal’s departure gates by a 295-foot-wide, multilevel “forest belt” housing native plants, pathways, and bamboo-clad, multistory pavilions.

Image credit: Ar. Ekansh Goel © Studio Recall

“For Terminal 2, SOM’s design inverts every expectation of how an airport can look and feel,”...

MIT team tests open-source cooling chamber using 75% less energy than refrigerated cold rooms

2023-07-27T11:18:00-04:00

MIT researchers have published details of a new open-source forced-air evaporative cooling chamber. Described as being less expensive than refrigerated cold rooms, the chamber is intended to offer accessible cold storage for smallholder farmers, as well as significantly reduce post-harvest waste in hot and dry climates.

The chamber, which can be housed in a used shipping container and powered by either grid electricity or solar panels, has a capacity of 168 produce crates. The design uses industrial fans to draw in hot, dry air, which is passed through a porous wet pad. This creates cool, humid air that is directed through crates of produce, allowing rapid cooling. The air is then directed through the raised floor and to a channel between the insulation and the exterior container wall, where it flows to the exhaust holes near the top of the side walls.

The project was led by MIT Professor Leon Glicksman of the Building Technology Program within the Department of Architecture and Res...

andblack design studio creates a modular, prefabricated black box theater with multifunctional use

2023-06-22T17:37:00-04:00

Kanika and Jwalant Mahadevwala, architects and founding partners of andblack design studio, have created a multifunctional black box theater design that uses parametric models to "allow customization of several variables to achieve the specified volume." Their design prototype, Darwin Bucky, is a prefabricated kit of parts made of wood, aluminum, steel, and glass.

Designed for Abhay Mangaldas, founder of India-based startup Darwin, the lightweight modular panel design is a flat-pack system that emphasizes versatile on-site assembly.

Darwin Bucky assembly. Image © Vinay Panjwani.

According to the architects, Darwin Bucky is a "black box that can be used as an exhibition gallery, a town hall, an expo center, a performance arena, or even serve as a bar or a nightclub. It is designed to be placed in public gardens, exhibition grounds, or even in a city center."

Aerial view of Darwin Bucky site. Image © Vinay Panjwani.

Without the need for a ...

Adjaye debuts preview of India's new Kiran Nadar Museum of Art project in Venice

2023-05-17T00:01:00-04:00

As part of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, David Adjaye will be on hand to present an architectural model of the new Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) project in New Delhi.

The model will be staged inside the Arsenale as part of the Curator’s Special Projects Mnemonic section, which runs from May 20th until the close of the Biennale.

Once it is completed in 2026, the museum building is expected to become India’s largest cultural center. Offering space for the museum’s collection of over 10,000 modern and contemporary works, the project is being undertaken in collaboration with S. Ghosh & Associates and will consolidate its currently disparate locations in New Delhi and Noida into a 100,000-square-meter (one-million-square-foot) new home on a plot adjacent to the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Architectural model of the new KNMA, New Delhi. Courtesy David Adjaye Associates and KNMA

The museum’s founder and namesake explains: “Our presentation at the Biennale Architett...

Apple's first flagship store in India, designed by Foster + Partners, opens to the public

2023-04-18T15:30:00-04:00

Apple’s first flagship store in India, designed by Foster + Partners, is now open. It is located in the Bandra Kurla Complex, a business and residential district in Mumbai.

Employing many design elements synonymous with Apple stores around the world, Apple BKC attempts to blur the boundaries between inside and outside: A 26-foot-tall glass façade highlights the double-height volume within and the outdoor areas. Greenery is invited into the store, with a row of ficus trees slotted along the inside of the glazing.

Image: Foster + Partners

The connection between the interior and exterior spaces is further emphasized by a hand-crafted timber ceiling that extends beyond the glass façade to the underside of the exterior canopy. The ceiling is made up of a triangular grid of 450,000 individual timber elements. Each of the 1,000 ceiling tiles is formed using 400 pieces of oak timber (reportedly sustainably sourced) arranged in a lattice woven pattern. This was inspired by the work of cane an...

A ‘ham-fisted ego trip’: Rowan Moore delves into Modi's divisive Central Vista project

2023-04-06T11:02:00-04:00

It is the centrepiece of the Central Vista Project, an ambitious plan to make over the city’s British-built administrative centre. Critics of the new building say that it is an unnecessary replacement of the existing parliament, that short cuts were taken with its procurement and the obtaining of permissions, and that there was minimal consultation with parliamentarians and the public.

The Prime Minister’s Bharatiya Janata Party has maintained the US$150M project is a “necessity” and expects its inauguration to take place soon after previously redying for a debut by the end of October.

Modi appeared encouraged on a “surprise” hour-long site visit last Thursday. The more modernized four-story facility will offer 40 square meters of office space to each of India’s 545 parliament members in addition to holding a lounge, dining areas, library, 5,000-piece art collection, and constitution hall meant to honor its now 75 years of independence.

A futuristic spa hosts Joshua A. Dawson’s latest cautionary tale on climate change

2023-03-16T13:19:00-04:00

Designer and director Joshua A. Dawson has published his latest short film which strikes a cautionary note on the confluences of climate change, architecture, and capitalism. Titled Spa Sybarite, the three-minute-long film is set in a futuristic wellness spa in which users are offered treatments in response to the planet’s degrading environmental conditions.

Dawson’s cautionary film presents a commentary on how the climate crisis "provides a perfect excuse to make every business a climate business." Far from science fiction, the treatments offered in the film’s spa are familiar to today’s industry, including bathing complexes, IV therapy, nutrition-specific hydroponic systems, and Immersive virtual reality caves.

“Wellness is a multi-trillion-dollar industry,” Dawson told The New York Times in a recent article on his work and influences, “and it’s only a matter of time before someone takes the obvious opportunity to market wellness as the solution to climate-based illness, the bigg...

Acclaimed Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi passes away at 95

2023-01-24T07:24:00-05:00

The acclaimed Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi has passed away at the age of 95. As reported by Architectural Digest India, Doshi died on Tuesday, January 24th in Ahmedabad, India.

Throughout his 70-year career, Doshi oversaw the construction of 100 built projects, influencing the direction of architecture in India and adjacent regions through both his practice and teaching. Accolades awarded to Doshi for his services to architecture include the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize and the 2022 RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

Atira Guest House, Ahmedabad, India. Photographer: Fabien Charuau (c) Vastushilpa Foundation

Born in 1927 in Pune, India, Doshi studied at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, before working for four years with Le Corbusier as Senior Designer in Paris from 1951 to 1954. Along with a decade-long collaboration with Louis Kahn, Doshi founded his own practice, Vastushilpa, in 1956. He since became internationally known for his visionary urban planning and social housing pro...

Foster + Partners sues in India for missed payments related to the scrapped Amaravati master plan

2022-08-18T17:29:00-04:00

A row between an Indian government contractor and Foster + Partners over supposedly unpaid design fees related to the abandoned Amaravati master plan has reached the country’s Supreme Court after the London-based studio entered a lawsuit there last week.

The UK Architects’ Journal is reporting that the suit was brought against the state-run Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development Authority (AMRDA) over their repeated inability to respond to payment requests from Foster + Partners that date to 2019.

Foster + Partners had worked alongside AMRDA for a period of several years to develop an administrative city for the state of Andhra Pradesh that included a new legislative building, judicial facilities, and a complex of office buildings at a reported price of £500 million ($600 million USD).

Previously on Archinect: Foster + Partners develop a master plan for Amaravati, the new capital of Indian state Andhra Pradesh

The effort was called off in 2019 (shortly before Prime Minister Naren...

Record high temperatures are making European cities look elsewhere for future heat mitigation plans

2022-07-20T15:16:00-04:00

Cities across Europe are scrambling to implement public infrastructure upgrades to combat rising temperatures. As a result, many areas are "melting" under the strain of heatwaves that have already claimed more than 1,900 lives in Spain and Portugal alone. Not to mention the record high temperatures in England this week, where the area reached 40°C (104 F) for the first time.

According to new projections from the United Nations, the effects of heatwaves are expected to continue in frequency until at least the 2060s. As a result, nascent Heat Actions Plans in cities like Paris (where only 35% of Metro cars have air-conditioning) are planning for tests that will likely be further exacerbated by an expected influx of climate refugees from some of the most-affected regions during that same timeframe. As news continues to break, architects and urban designers try to face the worsening impacts of climate change's increasingly moribund demands.

For example, efforts to alleviate the heat is...

Delhi-based architect Swati Janu awarded the 2022 Moira Gemmil Prize for Emerging Architecture

2022-05-03T14:14:00-04:00

The W Awards, formerly known as the Women in Architecture awards, announce this year's Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture winner. The awards program was created to recognize the work and achievements of female and non-binary designers in professional practice under the age of 45.

Last year's prize was awarded to six female architects part of the architecture practice Lacol. This year's Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture goes to architect Swati Janu.

Social Design Collaborative's ModSkool in Delhi, a modular, low-cost school designed to help communities quickly dismantle the structure as a means to protect it from demolitions. The Modskool was awarded the Beazley Design of the Year 2020 in Architecture. Learn more about the project here. Image courtesy of the Architectural Review.

The Delhi-based architect, writer, and community artist is the founder of Social Design Collaborative. Her practice focuses on integrating architectural activism and community engagemen...

India will complete the world's tallest railway bridge in Kashmir by 2023

2022-03-22T11:39:00-04:00

An engineering marvel in the making, the world’s tallest railway bridge being constructed over Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district is likely to come up by December next year This railway bridge is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar- Baramulla Rail Link Project, which is the most challenging project being undertaken post-independence by Indian Railways.

The viral bridge is slightly higher up than the Najiehe Railway Bridge in China, which stands a total of 305 meters (about 1000 feet) in height. Fears by some about a potential terrorist attack had to be engineered into the span with blast-proof steel and other military-grade components owing to its connection with the volatile Kashmir region, which lost its special administrative status by order of parliament in August 2019.

India is hoping the bridge project, one of several that connects the capital region of Delhi to the strategically important city of Srinagar, will feature into its newfound push to kickstart the country’s economy through infrastructure enhancements. Last year, Prime Minister Modi unveiled a plan that would pay for such upgrades through a tax on cryptocurrencies in order to herald a 25-year period of prosperity the leader calls “Amrit Kaal.”

Architect Gita Balakrishnan embarks on 1,000-mile walk to spread awareness on importance of design

2022-02-15T16:39:00-05:00

Kolkata-based architect Gita Balakrishnan has embarked upon a 1,700-km walk from Kolkata to New Delhi on Sunday to spread awareness on how good design can play a substantial role in changing lives. Doing 30-35km per day, she plans to reach Delhi in two months on April 16.

The walk aims to shed light on the role the architecture and design industry plays in society and the issues it seeks to address. The initiative was conceptualized by the Ethos Foundation, which Balakrishnan founded in 2002 as a means to connect students and professionals in the AEC industry, in collaboration with the Council of Architecture (CoA) and the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA).

Balakrishnan will travel through West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. She is a graduate of the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and she completed her practical training at the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon University.

India is taxing cryptocurrencies to finance its push for new infrastructure

2022-02-01T19:12:00-05:00

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has included hefty spending on infrastructure projects in its annual budget, looking to spur growth and improve its popularity just ahead of key state elections. The budget also includes a proposed 30% tax on income from cryptocurrencies.

India also introduced a new digital rupee (after previously attempting a ban on cryptocurrencies) and plans to declare data centers and large energy storage systems as infrastructure in an effort to increase access to institutional funding. Hopes are that the investment in building projects will create employment opportunities which will thus pour money back into the economy. Current forecasts have India’s GDP growing at an 8% rate for the fiscal year.

The country’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the package includes $2.68 billion in allocations for highway expansions and funding for 400 new trains that will be manufactured in the next three years. The money constitutes a major shift as about $4 billion less is being spent on healthcare delivery than was included in last year’s budget. Prime Minister Modi has said very publicly that he feels it is his responsibility to make infrastructure development a top priority for the world’s second-most populous country.

...

Balkrishna Doshi awarded the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA

2021-12-09T15:32:00-05:00

Renowned Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi has been announced as the recipient of the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA, one of the highest architectural honors in the world. By receiving the award, Doshi joins past winners including Sir David Adjaye (2021), Grafton Architects (2020), and Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (2019). Doshi is also the 2018 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

RIBA President Simon Alford described Doshi as an individual who was “influenced generations of architects through his delightfully purposeful architecture.” The ninety-four-year-old architect has seen over 100 built projects throughout his 70-year career, influencing the direction of architecture in India and adjacent regions through both his practice and teaching.

Aranya Low-Cost Housing, Indore, India. Photographer: John Panicker (c) Vastushilpa Foundation

Born in 1927 in Pune, India, Doshi studied at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, before working for four years with Le Corbusier as Seni...

MoMA's next exhibition will explore the role architecture played in shaping post-colonial South Asia

2021-11-11T16:53:00-05:00

MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design has announced a forthcoming new exhibition that will examine the way in which the modern architecture of former colonial enterprises helped shape the post-independence era of self-determination politics in latter South Asia.

Woman carrying cement at the Capitol Complex, Chandigarh, India, in front of the Secretariat (1951–58) designed by Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, 1887–1965). 1956. Photograph: Ernst Scheidegger.

Comprised of over 200 photos, architectural models, and other media taken from institutions in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, the exhibition highlights key projects from some of the region’s most prominent designers, including Mahendra Raj and 2018 Pritzker laureate Balkrishna Doshi.

Chittagong University, Chittagong, East Pakistan (Bangladesh). 1965–71. Vastukalabid (est. 1964). Muzharul Islam (1923–2021). Master plan. Ink and pencil on paper. Muzharul Islam Archives.

The exhibition was organized by MoMA...

OMA's Prestige Liberty Towers break ground in Mumbai

2021-09-21T17:24:00-04:00

OMA has announced that construction has begun on the Prestige Liberty Towers mixed-use complex in Mumbai, the firm’s first project in India.

The development is situated in the historic textile mills area of Mahalaxmi in the heart of Mumbai. The complex is another contribution to the city’s rapid transformation from industrial city to global financial center, along with its new transport networks, high-rise residential, retail, and office spaces.

As per the architects: “OMA’s design takes advantage of the views overlooking the Mahalakshmi Racecourse to the Arabian Sea with two staggered towers of 200 and 290 meters — at 270,000m² [2.9 million square feet] one of the largest office developments in the city. The rectangular column-free floors, combined with full-height curved glass facades, are designed to maximize the office plan efficiency with light-filled, high-quality workspaces. The restrained material selection of Indian black basalt and glass provide a counterpoint to the urb...

'Her architecture is elegant, ecological and always intriguing' — Architect Anupama Kundoo wins 2021 RIBA Charles Jencks Award

2021-08-17T16:53:00-04:00

The RIBA Charles Jencks Award has been given to architects and firms who have made "a major contribution to both the theory and practice of architecture." This prestigious award has been presented to Débora Mesa and Antón García-Abril of Ensamble Studio (2019), Herzog & de Meuron (2015), and Eric Owen Moss (2011) to name a few.

The notable shortlist of nominated architects includes MASS Design Group, Emilio Ambasz, Alexander Brodsky, Nigel Coates, Beatriz Colomina, Francis Kéré, Peter Salter, Marina Tabassum, and Eyal Weizman.

This year's RIBA Charles Jencks Award is presented to Indian architect and researcher Anupama Kundoo. Her winning the award is a great reflection of influential architectural practices and academic work in South Asia.

Wall House by Anupama Kundoo. Image © Javier Callejas

Trained in Mumbai, Kundoo's focus on housing initiatives, material research, sustainability, and community-driven design has positioned her as an advocate for socially responsible architectur...

India's controversial parliament redesign draws increased criticism as country battles new Covid wave

2021-04-27T13:36:00-04:00

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rebuilding part of New Delhi, but the mammoth undertaking is drawing fire [...] The massive project — which local media have estimated could cost about 200 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) — has grown more controversial as India’s coronavirus cases have exploded. On social media, some questioned the need for spending on new government structures at a time when the nation is dealing with severe fallouts from the pandemic.

As India struggles to contain a new devastating wave of Covid-19 outbreaks throughout the country, opposition is further growing to Prime Minister Modi's controversial redesign plan of the historic Central Vista in the capital Delhi which will include a new parliament building and several government offices. The criticism centers around the project's lack of public consultation and transparency as well as its enormous price tag at a time when the country is facing economic challenges due to the ongoing pandemic.

The undertaking officially launched in December 2020 but was briefly halted (and subsequently approved) by India's Supreme Court shortly after.

Indian firm HCP Design, Planning and Management Ltd. is in charge of the Central Vista urban master plan and architectural design of the parliament building.

India's controversial new parliament building approved by highest court

2021-01-05T14:40:00-05:00

India’s supreme court has given approval for a new parliament building that critics have called an “expensive vanity project” for the prime minister, Narendra Modi. [...] Since the project was announced, it has faced criticism from civil society groups, environmentalists and politicians about its lack of transparency and public consultation and high cost in a time of economic crisis.

The $3 billion parliament plan, a pet project of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reshape the country's capital, was officially launched last December with the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone but immediately halted again by India's Supreme Court due to legal challenges over environmental and land use violations.

The Delhi central vista project has received sharp criticism, mainly over its lack of transparency and financial burden on India's Covid-stricken economy.

Louis Kahn buildings in Ahmedabad saved from demolition

2021-01-04T12:50:00-05:00

The board of governors (BoG) for Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has decided to withdraw an expression of interest (EOI) that was put out by the management last month inviting architects and designers to propose plans for demolishing dormitories in the campus built by American architect Louis Kahn and replacing them with new structures.

The school reversed its decision to demolish and replace 14 of the 18 dormitories built by Louis Kahn between 1962 until his death in 1974 following international outrage over the proposal.

A change.org petition to save Kahn’s aging IIM Ahmedabad structures has already attracted more than 15,000 signatures.

Related on Archinect: Louis Kahn's floating music barge is saved, finds home in Philadelphia. Point Counterpoint II. Image via American Wind Symphony Orchestra.

Narendra Modi launches controversial effort to redesign India's parliament complex

2020-12-14T15:23:00-05:00

Despite widespread opposition, the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has begun a £2bn overhaul of Delhi's grand complex of government buildings in a bid to sever the nation from its colonial past. At a ceremony held last week, Modi laid the foundation stone for a new building to replace Parliament House, designed by English architects Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker, which upon its completion in 1927 became the seat of power for British-ruled India.

The ambitious plan by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to overhaul the sprawling complex of historic, colonial-era government buildings in Delhi is off to a rocky start: despite ceremonially laying the foundation stone for a new parliament building on December 10, further spending on the project was blocked by India's Supreme Court within the same week.

Since its official reveal in May, Modi's plan to have the heritage-listed central vista redesigned by architect Bimal Patel has been sharply criticized as an "expensive vanity project," including by Indian-born artist Anish Kapoor. In his Guardian Op-Ed, he writes: "Architecture is an effective propagandist tool. [...] This is not the redesign of buildings, it is instead Modi’s way of placing himself at the centre and cementing his legacy as the maker of a new Hindu India."

The new parliament building is expected to be ready for India's 75th anniversary of independence in 2022.

Part modern studio, part forge or medieval workshop

2019-10-16T14:02:00-04:00

Here again were bare untiled floors and the constant presence of wind and earth. There was a stillness, a permanent air of afternoon and an interior that was magically cooler and airier than the exterior it felt so much at peace with. The site sloped downward, so the house had been set on many levels.

A profile of Bijoy Jain and the work of Studio Mumbai, wherein we learn Bijoy is a fan of Masanobu Fukuoka and the idea of subtraction.

India to decarbonize national railway network by 2030

2019-08-29T19:30:00-04:00

The government has decided to move towards achieving 100-percent electrification of railways, as part of efforts to curb carbon footprints, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. The railways minister also said he has a mission that in next 10 years, Indian Railways will be running on renewable energy.

Announcing the plan, India's Union Minister Piyush Goyal said, "We will be the world's first large railway...nearly [75,000 miles] of track, which will be 100-percent electrified. Imagine how much carbon we will reduce from the entire atmosphere."

We are aiming to make Indian Railways world's first 100% green railways.

We are setting up solar panels on unused land of railways. This will save land from encroachment, and the energy generated will be fed into the power grid. pic.twitter.com/GzkpNpvBTu
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) July 26, 2019

Charles Correa's Kala Academy needs saving

2019-08-06T18:58:00-04:00

Kala Academy, Goa’s cultural centre, which was designed by the renowned architect Charles Correa in the late 1970s, is threatened with demolition by the State Government in the near future. It is an exceedingly important building, not just among Correa’s international repertoire, but also in the State of Goa.

A petition has been started to save Goa, India's Kala Academy. It has served as a true cultural hub for its local community, being "the only government-run arts institution in the country with separate faculties for both Western and Indian classical music, and also offers courses in theatre and dance."

The Academy had also been the location of many music performances, film screenings, and dramas. In short, it has been a vibrant part of the local fabric and many hope for it to continue to be.

Chennai, India's sixth-largest city, is nearly out of water

2019-06-27T15:54:00-04:00

In India's sixth-largest city, lines for water snake around city blocks, restaurants are turning away customers and a man was killed in a brawl over water. Chennai, with a population of almost 10 million, is nearly out of water. In much of India, municipal water, drawn from reservoirs or groundwater, typically runs for only a couple of hours each day. That's the norm year-round. The affluent fill tanks on their roofs; the poor fill jerrycans and buckets.

Chennai, the Indian metropolis with a population estimated to be larger than New York City, is facing a grim water shortage, and residents hope that officials can come up with short- and long-term measures to prevent "Day Zero" — just like Cape Town famously did during its severe water crisis two years ago.

Tarun Gopalakrishnan, a climate change expert at the Indian Centre for Science and Environment told NPR that the situation was shocking but not surprising; a crisis as the result of "a toxic mix of bad governance and climate change."

Mumbai-based architecture firm NUDES thinks outside the box with an everyday material, cardboard

2019-04-02T15:30:00-04:00

Many may remember playing with cardboard boxes as children. The material is widely common and found almost everywhere. However, it is rarely seen in a contemporary design setting. Now imagine having coffee in a fully functioning cafe built almost entirely out of cardboard. Thanks to Mumbai-based architectural firm NUDES, that idea was made into a reality. The new Mumbai-based cafe Cardboard is turning heads with the use of a familiar, cardboard. From light fixtures to chairs and tables, corrugated cardboard fills the entire landscape of the cafe. The interior is comprised of flowing undulating walls made from carefully sculpted cardboard sections.

Diagram illustrating the relation between the ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ elements of the material. Image courtesy of Nuru Karim of NUDES

Many may be thinking what about the moisture and humidity in the area? However, NUDES founder Nuru Karim put much thought into transforming this common material into a ...

Studio Lotus uses adaptive re-use practices to transform a 15th century fortress precinct in India

2019-03-25T18:40:00-04:00

The New Delhi based practice, Studio Lotus, creates a winning project design that applies adaptive re-use techniques to transform the historic Mehrangarh Fort precinct in Jodhpur, India. The new Visitor Centre and Knowledge Centre is set to create an alternative entrance to the Mehrangarh Fort. By using a metal and dry stone construction, the new design helps soften the site's high footfall with a low ecological impact. According to the studio, "it was pertinent that any additions or modifications to this dense fabric intertwined with the existing structure through expressive and adaptable additions that make the most of modern construction technology, yet stand deferential to the historic site’s timeless magnificence."

The center consists of a series of interconnected decks that descends from the entrance of the Palac...

Sitting in the shadow of the Taj Mahal, the lush Mughal Gardens of Agra have been restored

2019-01-14T18:09:00-05:00

The World Monuments Fund [...] announced the completion of a conservation project at two historic Mughal gardens along the Yamuna riverfront in Agra, India, that had been threatened by pollution, traffic congestion and other urban ills. The sites, Mehtab Bagh and the Garden of the Tomb of I’timad-ud-Daulah, were newly inaugurated by the fund and the Archaeological Survey of India, its partner in the four-year effort, in a ceremony at I’timad-ud-Daulah.

Image via the World Monuments Fund on Facebook

"The project will finish with the completion of a visitor center at I’timad-ud-Daulah, to open in 2019," reports the World Monuments Fund. "Raising awareness and visibility of the gardens that are often overshadowed by their more famous neighbor, the Taj Mahal, was an important objective of the conservation. The enhanced visitor services will offer local residents and tourists an opportunity to learn more about the history of the magnificent gardens."

Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi's plea for a Biological City

2018-12-10T15:29:00-05:00

Unfortunately, we have since forgotten this soulful approach to architecture and design, following instead the prevailing planning model of big budgets, large-scale structures and isolated behaviors. Consequently, our habitations have become fragmented and we fail to see the city’s infrastructure and life in an integrated way.

Celebrated Indian architect and 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate, Balkrishna Doshi, pens a passionate NYT opinion piece in which he calls for a renewed harmony of human settlements with nature rather than pursuing more resource-consuming megastructures.

The Balkrishna Doshi-designed Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, 1977. Photo: Sanyam Bahga/Flickr

"In addition to such quietude, other aesthetic measures of settlements include grace, love, compassion and humility," Doshi writes. "To animate a settlement one must create humble and tender connections, which encourage humans to come together and to share and to feel themselves a part of a larger order, a part of Mother Earth."