Being an architect

Google in 'Sydney' and you will find Sydney opera house as one of the first image results. Its not uncommon that a city gets synonymous with its architectural icon. One cannot undermine the importance of such an icon on the urban fabric. Sydney Opera House is the result of a design competition. Design competitions are always exciting. It shows how a similar brief gets varied responses from talented designers. It also give chances for the newcomers(except when they prefer to invite!). But most importantly, invariably, we expect something remarkable to get built, which makes it real exciting. [Design for NAMOC Museum by selected architects which include Zaha, Gehry, Safdie, OMA, UNStudio] The post " Are you in the wrapper business? " worries about architecture community giving more merit and importance to wrappers than its content. Not many competitions end up in disappointments though.  But there are cases which, if observed closely can give valuab...

We all are familiar with wrappers. It comes in all forms. There is a chance that you recognize a product mostly by the wrapping. You may want to disagree. But, honestly, many a time you buy the wrapper and not the product. You paid Rs 300 for the music CD that you bought last week. Now, it is very unlikely that you will pay that amount to just few songs once the labeled CD and its beautiful cover is removed. You may still take the music, but you may not buy it. You are most likely to open and read through a document arrived on your desk in a FedEx envelop than one received through mail though the content could be perfectly conveyed through a mail. A FedEx envelope has made the document look more important. Surely, the wrapping has done the difference.                LETS BUY THE WINE, AND NOT THE BOTTLE

Fashion: Noun: A popular trend, esp. in styles of dress, ornament, or behavior. “I hate everything that is driven by fashion. From the beginning I was hating in the 60s the American way of styling, especially cars. They changed their styling things every two years and designed new ones which is nothing to do with good design” . Dieter Rams Dieter Rams is considered to be one of the most influential industrial designers of the 20th century. He is believed to have inspired the designs of iconic Apple products like iPod.  His observation is strikingly relevant in the field of architecture. "DESIGN TODAY HAS BECOME MUNDANE AND BANAL; FRIVOLOUS AND EFFETE. IT IS PLAYING ON CHEAP EMOTIONS, LIKE BEING THE TALLEST, THE LARGEST, OR THE MOST STUPID! BRIGHT COLORS, REFLECTIVE METALS AND USING A SURFEIT OF MATERIALS GET CRASS ATTENTION." [Now, a word of caution: the rest of the post may not be popular among or pleasing to all readers. The observations a...

Research shows that 95 percent of people do not use 90 percent of the features on their video-recorders – because they are too complicated. What can you tell about a family where the clock on the video recorder is not flashing? They have a teenager in the house. In one country small businessmen have to cope with 16,000 laws in order to carry on their business. In another country the tax laws run to 40,000 pages. In another country the farmers rioted because they could not understand the new laws they were supposed to obey. It is said that Ken Olsen, the founder of DEC, once complained that at home he had a microwave oven that was so complex that he could not use it. An old woman spent a week in a shopping mall in Holland. She could not find her way out. She bought food during the day and slept on a bench at night. Instructions for machines, computers, etc., are always written by those who know the system and are not much help ...