Category Archives: Visual Culture

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 →

Architecture, History, Places, Projects, Visual Culture

ATMA on a Winter Evening

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Changing light, dramatic spaces and Le Corbusier’s masterful compositions in space frames the Ahmedabad Textile Millowners’ Association building in its many moods.

The structure reveals itself in its many layers.
The structure reveals itself in its many layers.

Continue reading ATMA on a Winter Evening →