Make me Sustainable (yoo-hoo)!!!
Being an architect by profession..I came across this interesting(??) piece of conversation with a certain ...mm.....I prefer calling that certain someone "It". Designing sustainable buildings and studying different ways to make one; my mind has become one tracked with the word....hopefully not after this any more!
I: "Sustain what?"
It: " My essence.."
I: " But you have many ...which one or all of them?"
It: " I have different aspects.....essence is only one..."
I: "Means...."
It: " Aspects may change, but those changes should not change the essence"
I(arching eyebrows): " mmm.....hmmm..."
It: " you don't look or sound convinced."
I : ".................."
I (fumbling): "uh...hh.....you mean according to the contemporary thinkers...the essence of a being simply is, independent from the question of existence. Essence is what-ness as distinct from that-ness. no more, no less.?" (looking at "It" to search for some facial expression)
It: You practise some religion or the like of it??
I(nod in affirmation):......
It: In understanding any individual personality, a distinction is made between one's own law of action(essence) and personality (mental habits and conditioning of ego personality). Latter is the nature of a person, which is a result of his or her impressions created in the mind due to one's interaction with the external world. These impressions create habits and mental models and these become our nature. While there is another kind of naturethat is a pure internal quality, we are here focusing only on the nature that was created due to impressions; because to discover the pure internal nature, one should become aware of one's impressions and take control over them.
The "higher truth" which is also referred as "Dharma" in Vedshastras is which holds an entity together. That is, which gives integrity to an entity and holds the core quality and identity (essence), form and function of that entity. It is also defined as righteousness and duty. To do one's dharma is to be righteous, to do one's dharma is to do one's duty (express one's essence)....
Now do you think you can make me sustainable.....?
I(excitedly) : yes yes!!( gleeful croaking continues) I want to!
It (exudes a "come hither" smile): Very Well then!
The rest of the story to be continued...............
Labels: appearance, aspect, buildings, coffee, essence, existentialism, hindu, sustainable
Eating with the Dead!
Mad rush hour, perfect foundation and powder combo faces, crisp formal wear but the easy to walk
sneakers/chappals, men and women with an urgency alike…yes this is the famous maddening Manhattan: the place of mother of professionalism. Sucked into my second week, I am enjoying a change from the human scaled
DC to a behemoth scaled
NYCFirst day at work my friendly colleague Ms. Muddy Girl introduced herself and took an oath of introducing me to the co-workers she knows given the fact that she was just a month old at work. I pat her silently in my imagination of being a helpful soul. Now this Ms. Muddy Girl is a lady who loves the City, attributes her present day life and events to it , plainly put she basks in being called a New Yorker. I have occasional lunching sessions with her at the plaza near our bldg. amidst an exchange of inputs from our vastly different lifestyles…..
Coming back to the present 2nd week I was introduced to Ms. Horns and was asked out for lunch by her and my eternal Ms. MG. Went to a Polish deli, bought a 3”X4” sandwich as a take-out as the weather demanded attention by being delightfully bright.
And then we walk up to
Trinity church and into the graveyard next to it!! The cemetery is on the west side of Broadway which is known as "Canyon of Heroes" on that particular stretch. Aptly named; the graveyard houses the
dignitaries next to the holy Trinity Church. The in-between spaces in the graveyard is being used as a paved walkway for what they term as "park in the cemetry".
The Hindu in me looked at it as a respectful place where the departed rests and the tombstones stand as an ode to their life ! An eerie feeling took over me; whereas the architect in me marveled at the brilliant use of the urban land and converting it into an interactive community space which is much needed in a cityscape.
I would promote and even suggest such ideas....but as a user hmmm….that’s an open ended one…..:-)
Labels: cemetery, grave, luncheon, lunchtime, new york city, trinity church
Hmm....coming up after a long hiatus...sure am I coming up??!!
Ever heard of “Size matters”!! …lo and behold now you will see it.
we are living in a capitalist world and believe me I love being in it in every sense of it. I think the ideology behind capitalism is extremely testosterone driven and that gives all the more reason to be drawn into it. You educate yourself in the school with academicians trying to direct you against it…but Zoooopp….put your first foot in and there you are being sucked into it feeling exhilarated with the adrenaline rush.
With the lobbyist around you calling these buildings “ugly” as they see them as a propagation towards eco-terrorism, I wonder if at all they are really so! I guess capitalist are the futurists and now towards a sustainable one as that holds a sustainable future for their ventures.
Buildings that soar up with imposing slenderness and functionality could also incorporate the effect of minimizing energy requirements and the impact of itself on the natural environment.
Le Corbusier proposed
radiant city which was depicted in the post-revolutionary era in many of the present day cities……
Taking this idea further by
Mori Minoru in his
vision of the future he talks about building a city vertically up keeping in mind the space constraints in the development of the global village.
Much said and done, tall buildings "can be"
sustainable and this idea has just started to warm up............
Labels: buildings, capitalism, skyscrapers
Revolutionary idea in Architecture......
"Blob Architecture"....
Architecture's Claim on the Future: The Blob
by Herbert Muschamp, New York Times
"The Venice Biennale's Seventh International Architecture Exhibition, which opened last month and runs through Oct. 29... features the latest strain to emerge in architecture in recent years: "blob" design... Biomorphic and invertebrate, with seldom a trace of the T-squares most architects long ago abandoned, blobs look like things you would expect to see rising from an electronic version of the primordial ooze. As if to signal the origin of a species, previously lurking in the depths of the Lagoon, the Biennale rounds up blob projects by Greg Lynn, Lars Spuybroek, Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, Jesse Reiser and Uneko Umamoto, Hani Rashid and Lise Ann Couture, and other pixel prodigies..." read on - ny times - requires free registration
Hmm....Last weekend when I spent 24 hours at the office finishing up drawings....I was greeted by "uh!oh! poor you!" by my friends and alike.
Well it is paradoxical! Architects start off as 'poor' ones, in sense of wisdom, architectural capabilities(no matter which school one went to) and the precision for detailing. Its one hard and a long way.....Those nights of burning the mid-night oil, not seeming to get enough of your input, at times your 'innovative' idea being rebuked. It makes you tough and cold maybe....
Let me start with the very beginning. After getting a degree in architecture from an accredited school in the US, one has to gather 700 units from different categories to satisfy the
IDP training requirement. Best part is one training unit equals eight hours of work in one particular category;-)
So that makes 5600 hours in total. Going by the assumption that you are 'always' employed fulltime which is 2000 hours per year; one would need 2.8 years approximately 3 years to get the architecture license. Whoah!
For people like me there might be glitch which may be beneficial, it says that "maximum credit allowed for foreign experience in architecture is 235 trainings units if under the supervision of an architect not registered in the U.S. or Canada." So that means 1880 hours of work from a foreign country (ie approx a year's experience from one's home-country if applicable). Also, for people who are more experienced there could be an alternative to the IDP Training Requirement.
So this is about long way....now about the hard one....
Frank O' Gehry derives his building concepts from 'Carp-Fish'. Well, realization of that concept, into a sketch, then a model and a building is something that is rare and he is blessed with it.
Many such pioneers of one or the other style of architecture are made of sheer and utmost dedication to their work. Work for them literally comes before them before anything or anyone else does. They know their pulse and they know what keeps it alive. This is the hard part I was talking about. Pursuit of that dedication and that desire to find the pulse and keep it alive is something which takes it toll on many mortals.
Came across this article....Celebrating one more addition to the concrete jungle of Chicago. Nevertheless the structure never ceases to amaze me:-)
Daily News
FordhamÂ’s new twist nationÂ’s tallest proposal
By Ebony Horton
A developerÂ’s latest proposal could make Chicago the site of the nationÂ’s two tallest buildings.
The $500 million
Fordham Spire, a twisted, 115-story building that would be 2,000-feet high, could be built by 2009, according to Fordham Co. chief executive Christopher Carley, who unveiled his plans July 27. The structure would be built along the cityÂ’s lakefront near Navy Pier, northeast of the loop.
Santiago Calavatra, the architect and engineer known for his design of the Athens Olympics Sports Complex, designed the hotel and condo building to resemble a drill in order to deflect wind. The design calls for concrete to be the primary building material.
According to Chicago Architecture, an information website for projects in the city, the skyscraperÂ’s main obstacle will be zoning. The land selected is zoned for a 540-foot-tall building and 350-foot building.
Carley said construction would start when there were sales agreements for at least 40 percent of the skyscraperÂ’s units. No financing has been arranged yet.
Donald Trump, who is constructing a 92-floor, 1,360-foot skyscraper in Chicago for luxury condominium buyers, told reporters Carley's proposed building would not be economically viable in the post-September 11 climate. TrumpÂ’s building would be a little less than 200 feet shorter than the Fordham Spire.
Connie Buscemi, a spokeswoman for the Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, said the city has not received any formal plan from Carley yet. “When we receive the plans, we’ll move forward,” she said.
The Fordham Spire would be eight feet taller than the 110-floor Sears Tower, currently the tallest building in the country. If completed, the skyscraper's height would also top that of New York's planned Freedom Tower, which would be 1,362 feet tall, plus a spire to stretch it to 1,776 feet. The Freedom TowerÂ’s expected completion date is in 2010.
