Being an architect

Seagram Building  (1954-58) Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Location: 375  Park Avenue , New York City "Take the beautiful tower made of bronze that was erected in New York. It is a bronze lady, incomparable in beauty, but you know she has corsets for fifteen stories because the wind bracing is not seen. That which makes it an object against the wind which can be beautifully expressed, just like nature expresses the difference between the moss and the reed. The base of the building should be wider than the top, and the columns which are on top dancing like fairies, and the columns below growing like mad, dont have the same dimensions because they are not the same thing. This story if told from realization of form would make a tower more expressive of the forces. Even if it begins in its first attempts in design to be ugly it would be led to beauty by the statement of the form." Louis Kahn Original text from "Voice of america - Louis Kahn. Recorded Nov

Nothing is as exciting as an idea. The power of an idea is the driving force for many design professionals. The contemporary architectural scene is shifting more towards idea-centric designs from the popular form-centric ones.  But not everyday that you will witness a barrage of ideas..! It was during mid May that I got a chance to visit the exhibition  “ HOT TO COLD : an odyssey of architectural adaptation “  featuring the recent works by  BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group in the  Great Hall inside Washington DC's National Building Museum.  "I had taught myself that my work had to be fresh, different, seemingly outrageous. From then on, I understood that nothing is as exciting as an idea."   George Lois T he Hot to Cold exhibition gives a comprehensive overview of their recent work across the globe, ranging from the hottest to the coldest climates and  hosts 60 models of conceptual and completed buildings, for  BIG 's first ever exhibition in North America. C

Take a while, and think for a minute. All the important decisions you took in your life; Career School College Football team (Marriage) Friends Clients .......... .......... Do you regret about any decisions? Do you regret of not being brave enough to take the right decision instead of the easy one? If you are given a chance to redo all, will you be doing the same again? You may be able to retrieve the lost opportunities, build up the lost relationships, avoid dead ends, start doing what u love and are still passionate about... Now, fast forward to 20 years ahead. What are we doing now to not regret then? Are we taking right and brave  decisions or are we flowing with the tide avoiding hard act?

A visit to th e holiest Sikh shrine in the world will not be the same again. The experience will be enriched by the much awaited entrance plaza which is about to get completed.  The entrance plaza is a befitting solution to the urban chaos existed at the entrance which attracts over 1 lakh visitors on the week days alone. An international design competition w as called for by  Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board   to redesign the entrance plaza of Golden Temple in Amri tsar. Entries poured in from all over the world and after much deliberation, Punjab Government selected the design by Delhi based Architectural firm, Design Associates Inc ., and rightly so. The design proposal aims to address the shortcomings of the current structure whilst creating an urban focus. The architect explains the salient features of the proposal:

"During the space race back in the 1960's, NASA was faced with a major problem. The astronaut needed a pen that would write in the vacuum of space. NASA went to work. At a cost of $1.5 million they developed the "Astronaut Pen". Some of you may remember. It enjoyed minor success on the commercial market. The Russians were faced with the same dilemma. They used a pencil." Fantastic story, right? Except that's not what happened. NASA originally used pencils in space but pencils tend to give off things that float in zero-g (broken leads, graphite dust, shavings) and are flammable. So they looked for another solution. Independent of NASA, the Fisher Pen Company began development of a pen that could be used under extreme conditions and they succeded . As architects, we always try to emphasise the importance of simplifying our design solutions. Simplicity has its own advantages. But not every situation deserves a simple solution. 

I was tempted to have the title as '10 Things that an architect should never tell a client '.! Not always that you happen to read an article on a different profession and wonder how aptly it describes yours.  Couldn't resist sharing the article titled '10 Things that a photographer should never tell a client' on the December 2012 edition of Better Photography magazine, because each line was relevant to architecture profession as well. Just exchange the specifics and see how it starts making sense.!