Book: Christopher Benninger: Architecture for Modern India

A monograph on the work of Prof. Christopher Charles Benninger chronicles buildings that express his transition from an architect in India to an Indian Architect outlining and emphasising on the core values of his work and the changing nature of the context that it negotiates with.

A 1972 Photograph shows Christopher Benninger with Balkrishna Doshi on the CEPT Campus, Ahmedabad.
A 1972 Photograph Shows Christopher Benninger with Balkrishna Doshi on the CEPT Campus.

Continue reading Book: Christopher Benninger: Architecture for Modern India

Book: Boombay: From Precincts to Sprawl : Kamu Iyer

As a memoir-cum-historical and cultural repository, Boombay: From Precincts to Sprawl by Kamu Iyer captures the zeitgeist of an era in Mumbai from 1940s to the present.  

Boombay
Cover

“This book is different. Kamu Iyer is an architect who has lived in Mumbai all his life. He is observant, analytical and visual. He understands how people use spaces – especially public spaces. And he has a sense of History.” writes Charles Correa in his foreword to Boombay. Continue reading Book: Boombay: From Precincts to Sprawl : Kamu Iyer

Palitana [The City of Temples]: Radhika Pandit

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

Design.I.Y HOUSING: S+PS Architects

The Design.I.Y HOUSING project offers a refreshing perspective to the monotony that otherwise defines contemporary commercial housing. In the context of Lonavala, this project by S+PS Architects proposes an alternative approach wherein the preferences of the inhabitants become integral to the development of architecture and essential to the richness of design. Continue reading Design.I.Y HOUSING: S+PS Architects

Building as an Agent of Change

The recently concluded conference : Z-Axis, curated by the Charles Correa Foundation [Goa], ‘Buildings as Ideas’ witnessed a meaningful shift in the discourse of architectural paradigm. The conference, presented in diverse contexts, was collectively driven by a strong intention of ‘influencing a positive change’ with the physical manifestation of a ‘building as an idea’.

As designers and visionaries of the built environment, we are in a weighty profession that has the potential to condition the societies we live in. In this, it assumes a tremendous responsibility to the many unseen layers of complexities and concerns which rattle our inner subconscious each time we alter that which is naturally on this earth to accommodate that which we ideate. As individuals, each of us contributes to the shaping of the built environment in our own way, but as architects, we tend to disconnect ourselves from this reality more often than we should. Continue reading Building as an Agent of Change