Concrete Cloth

Ladies and Gentlemen, Please welcome a brand new avatar of our most adored building material of the 20th century,The Cement Concrete, infused into fabric which is easily transportable, highly reliable and durable, fire-proof and water-proof!

Do we need anything more?! No.. I certainly don’t think so!

Like the 2-minute noodles, we here have the 2-hour habitable and safe structures! All you need to do is: wrap/fold it up in any shape/size and add water. Leave it to absorb water for 2 hours..tada!!
Your structure is all set and ready to be occupied!

Concrete Canvas, a UK-based company won the award Material of the year 2009- by Material Connexion for their innovative creation of a fabric that is concrete-infused, cement layered between fabric, that can bond with water, backed with PVC.

The fabric can be set to any shape or form, then allowed to absorb the water, causing it to set after 2 hours. The material can be used structurally. It is also a fireproof and a waterproof fabric which turns this as an excellent choice of material for disaster relief, military and commercial environments.

Some pictures below of the fabric by Concrete Canvas:

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A Recreational Drug..

This is a never seen before drug can. We have soda cans like diet pepsi and colas. This is a drug/ pain reliever which comes in this beautiful package. This can has been designed by Loren Kulesues from New York. He is a specialist in Industrial Design, 3-D modelling and Art-direction.

I came across this product design while I was just randomly surf the net, the thing which I’m inevitably addicted to. But I’m glad I’m learning something here! I like the design. Symbolically it conveys it’s a canned-drug, of course which it is supposed to be. Quite innovative and unique, like the attention grabber kind. Honestly, I would jump to take my meds everyday(without fail) if such kind of drug cans are introduced in the market. Just imagine the impact and possibilities of such designer cans and bottles for the pediatric medicine.

1The designer called this as a Recreational Drug.

2

Very interesting!

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Regional Architecture: Bengaluru-2

Continued from here….

Ironically, today’s buildings have ended up being concrete structures with glass façade as the reminders of the globalized way of living, existing with support systems like artificial air-conditioning and lighting. The buildings are sensitive. They need constant supervising to keep running things smoothly. In the city which has vast multitude of cultural and technological uniqueness and exquisiteness it becomes the prime responsibility of the Architect to identify, deal and offer a judicious and dateless solution which connects and appeals to the masses.

At all costs Aesthetics and Function has to clasp each other’s hands and set out on this tough journey in times of speedy cultural, technological and psychological shift happening, where world is shrinking not only by the virtue of technology but also due to the liberal mindsets of the inhabitants of the city called Bengaluru and not to forget the honor of being included as one of the most lively, progressive and a peaceful cosmopolitan city.

A Bengaluru architect named Arunjot Singh Bhalla, from a reputed Architectural firm in the city is constantly involved in modern day projects like these where the emphasis is on adopting global- style of Architecture, Work and Living Culture. He says “The Architectural character of this city has been in rapid flux. From ‘curtain glazing revolution’ ushered by IT Park in Whitefield to almost nostalgic, return to the ‘classic’ as seen in few recent projects. Bangalore’s skyline continues to evolve.” He also adds that “the new materials like Structural Glazing, Aluminum Laminate, Profile sections, Perforated Metal etc, have been only evolving since the IT revolution started. The new façade teamed up with potential labor and ample real estate opportunities attracted thousands of foreign companies along with their well-travelled professional desirous of having a ‘world-class’ experience at Work-place. The region is undergoing a turn-around like revolution which is making way for an International Style of living and Working with gated housing communities (usually self-sufficient) which are near to the work-places allowing the employees to practice the trend of Walk-to-Work.”

The style and materials adorning the skyline of Bengaluru has a crucial role to play in terms of showcasing the global-employee revolution that is happening in the economy. This shows that the trend is moving from closed door operations to the brand new concept of transparency in all dealings, while the latter concept is nowadays being used to symbolize Openness, Honesty, and Integrity.

Symbolism, in today’s world plays a major role in Architecture. The city’s density has compelled to go in for Vertical Architecture. Skyscrapers are becoming more and more visible when one looks up at the sky. The conceptual evolution has helped the modern day architects to explore and validate ways of combating the constraints of the city’s environment and other important factors. Ex: UB city on Vittal Mallya Road is at the heart of the city. An excellent example representing today’s contemporary transition happening in the city.

The contemporary regional architecture of Bengaluru cannot be categorized. It is evolving day by day with due respect to the existing heritage buildings which once savored the limelight of the city. Change is arriving into every nuke and corner of the city and its dealings (Including the most prominent stone structure, Vidhana Soudha which was built in mid-fifties is expecting a change in accordance to time only to bring in the symbolical concept called Transparency on its façade.)

The current trend in regional architecture is ‘to be in sync’ with the modern-world in parallel ‘connecting’ to the city’s history and cultural heritage which forms the complete circle meeting all the constraints and shortcomings of yesterday, today and tomorrow, Uniting all the forces of nature, art and architecture giving the sense of United /Common/One Architecture.

Regional Architecture: Bengaluru-1

Bengaluru, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka is located on the Deccan Plateau in the south eastern part of Karnataka. Bengaluru has an estimated metropolitan population of 6.5 million, making it India’s third most populous city and fifth largest metropolitan area.

The historical references to the city predate to 900C, a modern written history of continuous settlement exists only from 1537, when Kempe Gowda I, who many regard as the architect of modern Bangalore, built a mud-brick fort at the site and established it as a province of the imperial Vijayanagara Empire. The first ever structure Bengaluru had ever seen on itself. Thus, it won’t be unfair if we say that mud-brick-stone construction was naturally adopted in Bengaluru owing to its abundant material infrastructure in the home city making way to the guesses that these were regarded as the basic Regional architectural materials in Bengaluru.

Regional architecture encompasses methods of construction which use locally available resources to address local needs. This kind of architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural, and historical context in which it exists. The building knowledge in traditional architecture is often transported by local traditions and is thus more based on knowledge achieved by trial and error and often handed down through the generations rather than calculated on knowledge of geometry and physics. This of course, does not exclude architects from using traditional architecture in their designs or being firmly based in their regional architecture.

Regional architecture often showcases the result forms of ultimate inspiration drawn from the surrounding nature of the specific region. It promises for the eternity to bring back the human and spiritual element which existed back then resulting to establish a different meaning to the word ‘Region-al Architecture’. Architecture back then, succeeded in forming a long-lasting relationship with its built environment. This reflected Humanity, Humility, and Honesty in terms of serving the purpose of the built form to its inhabitants and surroundings adopting the most unobtrusive way of existence.

Continued in the next post…..

Bollywood, Film-making & Architecture:part 2

Continued from part 1…

Pre-production: this is the process where the technical crew and equipments are hired. All the legal and other documents are set right and the filming process is ready to begin its glorious course of time. Can you recognize this phase? This is the phase where the architects have their drawings (of all kinds) ready with all the legal documents ready and signed by the producers (clients)?

Production: The shooting begins. The site is excavated. The mason asks the foundations to bury themselves firmly into the ground, holding it like they both had lost each other at a local fair that had happened 20 years ago. The foundation almost instinctively starts supporting the pillars, columns, structure with the live and dead load of responsibility thrown upon by its director.

With these kinds of pressure and stress, we humans only last for about 50 to 60 years or so in this unpredictable economy and life. Then what about these poor structures? Let’s be realistic and take the half of it? 25-30 years? Yes. It does.

Post-production: This is the part where the interior designer swings into action and transforms a skeletal frame into a beefed up good looking space. A space which, when filled up with people calls itself home/habitable space and not a square foot space.. This is the part where the Director fills up the film with background score, sound editing, visual effects and what not?!

The Director(architect) also creates a space with its own sounds,smells and charm. How much he succeeds in creating the sounds and smells in the spaces is left to his creativity and there lies a challenge for the designer. How can you make a living room smell the way the clients want it to? How do you teach the space to make its own music or pre-program it with the sound its owner likes? Complicated.

I am talking about spaces that are in the same frame with the lead actors, Light and Ventilation acting with Smell and the sound. This is a stellar star cast! A multi-starrer flick! A cocktail of dance, drama and comedy- on the rocks.

Sales and Distribution: The movie is all over the place. On radios, TV, in-between commercials, newspapers, magazines and now on twitter too. The movie is marketed aggressively. Just the way the project manager and the marketing manager brainstorm, market the pieces all around and all-over the place.

Architectural form and spaces can be designed to accentuate the way an individual perceives and experiences a space or object or building. The designer/director/creator can creatively and sensitively manipulate or direct the way an individual should experience the project from the minutest detail to the larger whole by orchestrating how we experience it- visually,physically,emotionally and spiritually.

The design can be contributing to interaction or void of such, depending on the intent. The experience can be enlightening or awe inspiring or can be dull and uneventful, and all of this can be achieved by how you want the people to view and feel about a particular space or form.

The Creator is the Controller. All other things are wholly controlled and are mere slaves of the controller. The way the Creator guides them, they fall in line and follow the Commands as and when he demands.

Bollywood, Film-making & Architecture:part 1

Today is Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s birthday. A very happy birthday ShahRukh! I admire him for his achievements because he came from a simple middle class background and has achieved a lot in Bollywood where friends become foe overnight. He is a hard-worker. He seems to be extremely passionate about his work, film-making and acting.

When I look at film-making from the layman’s point of view or how much ever I have observed while watching Behind-the-scenes episodes just before the release, the creative head in me says:

“Architecture is like Film-making”.

You might say.. Interesting, but how?

Film-making is an act of making films, from an initial idea, story or commission through script writing, shooting, editing and distribution to an audience.

In Architecture, it all begins with a concept in the architect’s mind, like a story in the director’s head. The director is the Architect here. He is the one calling all the shots. He is the controller of the whole environment which he creates in and around his building just like how the Director gets the filming set done by the set designers and with the help of other technical professionals.

The drawing on his desk is his film in pre-production/production process. The main leads here are Light and Ventilation. Just imagine a flamboyantly designed building without these two and you’ll know why I chose these two as the main leads. Without light there is no vision and without ventilation a space becomes uninhabitable. Typically a film-making process involves several people and takes from a few months to years to complete, just like our building-construction process. It also has to deal with a huge range of socio-economic and political contexts and variety of technologies and techniques.

Stages:

Development: This is a stage where the director comes up with the concept and sits around with his assistant directors and the producer (client). Here the producer’s whims and fancies are heard and a product suitable to that is prepared. Nowadays, the producers give creative freedom to the directors. They seem to have this unflinching belief in their director’s concept. The producers are intelligent people. They are investing their hard-earned or hardly earned money on that and they want the product to be a success, a marvel in itself, a thing that breaks all box office records, creates history and an end product so remarkable that it eventually becomes a part of the producer’s and the director’s identity.

A producer chooses the director carefully. Either he goes to the master director or he approaches his assistants to branch out and don the cap of a director, which is every assistant director’s dream. This is why we should choose the place where we want to do our internships/apprenticeships very carefully.We should be choosers at all costs and not beggars. The teacher who guides us is equally important in this business, be it cinema or Architecture.So choosing carefully is the mantra. we are like a pound of clay. Gets instantly molded in the way the master molds it.

Cinema is highly glossed and gobbles up much media space and public attention.Nowadays Architecture too is looked upon as an unusual and an interesting profession. Strangely there is a huge increase in the matrimonial column with “Wanted an Architect-groom” or an “architect-bride”. People jump at the word Architect. Some of my non-architect friends say it is a sense of prestige to have an Architect as a spouse. Architects are sexy.  They are everywhere.. doing all sorts of things..creative,industrious,intelligent and fun-loving people who are notoriously known for their risk-taking ability and their readiness to experiments and experiences.

Bollywood is a big thing in India. We all hate it but can’t live without it. It’s like our local markets. We all hate it, don’t want to do a thing about it and the funny thing is we can’t survive without it. We casually ask people ” which movie did you watch recently?” but we usually hesitate OR it is uncommon to ask them “Hey! What book are you reading?” or “Hey! Did you visit that gallery? It has a showcase of paintings done by so-and-so artist.” The generation is changing.

We can’t help.We are like this only!

To be continued tomorrow…in part 2 of this series.