Category Archives: Places

Conservation, Contemporary Practice, Design Thinking, Places, Projects, Visual Culture

Houses of Mylapore

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A public initiative, Houses of Mylapore intends to generate interest and involvement of the community to harbour an awareness about the preservation of a transient past – the cultural and architectural ethos of Mylapore – through Heritage Walks, installations, souvenirs and other activities.

“The challenge here,” explains Tahaer Zoyab of Chennai-based Triple O Studio, one of the co-founders of the Houses of Mylapore initiative in a televised interview, “is that not too many people associate an individual house as a heritage building so that is a notion that we have been trying to change through this project itself.”

Since November 2015, Tahaer and his partner, Anupriya Subbian have directed a part of their studio’s efforts along with several other volunteers to an ongoing endeavour of documenting and thereby, preserving the eclectic suburban fabric of Mylapore.

01 Continue reading Houses of Mylapore →

Places, Visual Culture

Palitana [The City of Temples]: Radhika Pandit

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by Radhika Pandit

A photo-essay that extends the sublime quality of spaces of monumental and religious significance in Palitana – The City of Temples, the sanctimonious temple complex in Gujarat and tirtha for pilgrims in the Jain community. 

Palitana © Radhika Pandit

Jain temples are called as derasaras. This is world’s only mountain that has 900 temples. These temples are also called Tucks. According to Jainism, since ancient times Palitana has been a major site of salvation and nirvana of Jain saints and sages. Palitana temples and whole mountain are considered the most sacred pilgrimage place (tirtha) by the Jain community, and it is the world’s largest Temple Complex. Continue reading Palitana [The City of Temples]: Radhika Pandit →

Architecture, Essays, Places, Visual Culture

Dharmapuri

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Remnants of a Fast Disappearing Way of Life

A photo-narrative by Sneha Parthasarathy of the quintessential Indian village culture, lifestyle and architecture, against the backdrop of the Godavari River Festival. 

The Pushkaras, occurring annually, are river festivals celebrating in a cyclic manner each of the 12 important holy rivers of India. This year was that of the river Godavari and was said to be a ‘Maha Pushkara’ – occurring once every 144 years. The 12 day festival saw over 11 crore devotees, from Telangana-Andhra region rush to the river banks of Godavari to take the emancipating dip and pray for departed souls of their loved ones. There is something very powerful and beautiful about belief but mass hysteria and hype is worrying. Worrying because it leads to herd mentality; when you do something not because you deeply believe in it but because you do not want to be left out. Continue reading Dharmapuri →

Architecture, Essays, Places, Visual Culture

Badami…the capital of Vatapi Chalukyan Kings

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By Viplav Sahu

Caves, Lake and the Life of People: Badami, a living Heritage City, has many faces one can explore here every day. The life in the town changes significantly from morning to evening.

18-armed Dancing Shiva Sculpture situated at entrance of Cave no. 1 representing 18 Dance forms.
Ceiling carved out with the Swastika motif in Cave no. 2
Sculptures on the right wall of Cave no 2.
Inside view of Cave no. 3.
View of the panel on the right side of Cave no. 3 showing Trivikarma.
Beautifully carved Cave no. 3 where the columns are carved in such a way that they induce a feeling of motion.
An artist sitting and trying to capture the sculpture through his painting.
Traces of cave paintings which are still found in Cave No. 3

Badami is located in the northern Karnataka. The region is characterised by a hilly terrain comprising of steep cliffs and valleys. The present town of Badami which was also known as Vatapi in ancient times was the capital of the Early Chalukyas in 6th to 8th century AD. Continue reading Badami…the capital of Vatapi Chalukyan Kings →

Architecture, Contemporary Practice, Essays, Places, Visual Culture

Palmyra House in Monochrome Photographs

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Monochrome images reveal the many dimensions of Bijoy Jain’s architecture as light interacts with surfaces of changing quality.

The wood contrasts against glass that reflects the landscape.
The pool makes way for a frangipani.
A composition is textures – the cuboid of the house is broken by a cantilever – a projection that becomes the balcony
Water carrying channels – remnants of an irrigated plantation co-exist and become a part of the landscape that composes the site.
The bath – thematic spaces that connect with the outside.
The cuboids set within the plantation – the trees render scale and enclosure to the site.
Water.
From the sea-side: the house is installed in the plantation.
On a wet day, the breeze flows through the façade – a breathing, permeable skin.
Water contained in the pool reflects the precise form of the house.
The complete transparency of glass and the selective permeability of the screens that compose the façade frame the trees and the ocean.
Made with skill, the house sits lightly on a hand-made plinth.
The pool – clear water on screed.
Water flows to the trees following a very subtle gradient on the site.
Spaces within open out to plantations on the site – the plantations, the well, the pool and the channel compose an intuitive landscape – a garden that has little human trace.
A simple cuboid reveals itself in many layers.

Monsoon has a very peculiar mood at the Palmyra House. Set in a landscape of a palm plantation, the house has a very tactile quality.  The unique atmosphere that the landscape and the structures of the site compose is elevated by the strong monsoon breeze that blows from the Arabian Sea. Continue reading Palmyra House in Monochrome Photographs →