Being an architect

Designing for public is always a challenge. Be it a railway station, a cashier desk in a bank, a scooter parking area, a public library,  a round-about in a busy street,   or a pub, we cannot judge the design until it is used by the intended users for a specific period of time. Its very easy for designers to get carried away by the opportunity of creating something which is noticed by a large spectrum of users. We often try to "design" it such that it stands out and calls for attention. Seth Godin observes the process of designing public interfaces in general in his blog . First, do no harm--three rules for public interfaces When we think of design, we usually imagine things that are chosen because they are designed. Vases or comic books or architecture... It turns out, though, that most of what we make or design is actually aimed at a public that is there for something else. The design is important, but the design is not the point. Call it "publi...

Surprisingly, it was 'nostalgic'  for one of my NRI friend to check in to the Lulu hyper market in the recently opened Lulu shopping mall. This was the first time I heard about the feeling in a reverse situation! Touted as the largest shopping mall in India, it stores enough of surprises and indulgences for one of the most consumerist society in the country. Our studio was very much excited about the event not only because of the sheer chance to experience the mega mall, but because of the opening of the Mantra boutique showroom  inside the mall , which was designed by us. The mall was opened to public with much fanfare on 10 th of March.

well, in almost all cases..! Client is right even though he is wrong... At one point of time every design professional realize that arguing with a client is not the way to prove a point. You may win over logic, but most of the times client will not take the advice. The case stands strong when the client in question has a very strong ego. The subjective issues gets harder to get convinced as the fine line between logic and aesthetics mostly is a matter of better taste. History teaches us that there is no any constant right . An absolute right today can be (and most surely) be wrong tomorrow. Your right choices are way different from the ones made a hundred years ago. A right choice in one geographic area/social fabric may not be right in another; examples galore. The glass boxes may be the right choice in a cold climate but can bring disastrous results in a hotter climate if not thoughtfully detailed. Similar is the case with different movements in art and architecture follo...

Planned on the lines of    Venice Biennale,  Kochi-Muziris Biennale has started in Cochin with much fanfare on 12-12-12. The Biennale being a first of its kind event in India, was expected to offer unparalleled and   novel experience for both art lovers and connoisseurs. Apart from the love for art, I had a great interest in the event primarily because of the context of its settings. Most of the installations are in and around Fortcochin and Mattancherry except for Durbar Hall. The raw power of the spaces itself provides artists enough challenge to match with the tension it creates. The spaces are magnificent and overwhelming, to say the least. It was a joyful act to watch the internationally acclaimed artists expressing themselves and claiming the attention it deserves. Some of the artists, like Sun Xun from China, left a very strong impact with their work. They constantly challenged our notions of art.  "IT IS A GIANT LEAP ...

Masters of any art form has been invariably connoisseurs of their field. A connoisseur is defined by dictionary as a person with special knowledge or appreciation of a field, esp in the arts . You can find many analogies for the observation. Take the field of music, photography, fine art, motion pictures or wine tasting for that matter. Being a connoisseur automatically equip the creator to critically judge her work during the process itself. She thus knows where the work stands in comparison to the works of masters and most importantly, under varying contexts. She can appreciate the subtleties without getting carried away.  " THERE IS A GREAT CHANCE THAT A CONNOISSEUR WHO PRACTICES HER ART BECOMES AN 'OTAKU' WHO INFLUENCES MANY."  A connoisseur in the field of architecture need not be a great architect. But without failing, all great architects are famously connoisseurs of their craft. They could easily differentiate between a quality sp...

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