Ar.CHITRA VISHWANATH ON SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE & 'BIOME'

Architect Chitra Vishwanath has an illustrious career, working on projects that are quintessentially sustainable, rooted in the ecology, employing alternate technologies and construction solutions to reduce our impact on nature and resources. Here, she talks about her work and on the creation and activities of 'Biome'.


PREPARATION OF AN ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

I have been receiving a lot of requests from students for details on HOW TO PREPARE A GOOD ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO. 

Taking this into consideration, I have compiled a detailed booklet on how to create a great portfolio, which will guide you through the detailed process, including identification of materials, ideal layouts, graphics and rendering styles, text placements, photographing your models....an exhaustive list which will guide you step by step.

You can now avail this great resource for creating your best portfolio, which is essential in this highly competitive age - either to get into good firms for internships, applying for your masters or for getting that coveted job.

Get full access to 'How to prepare an Architecture Portfolio' !!!

So go ahead and mail me at ar.sujithgs@gmail.com to order today! 

WORKS OF PETER ZUMTHOR, PRITZKER PRIZE WINNER 2009

Saint Benedict Chapel, Sumvitg, Graubünden, Switzerland, 1988 
Photo by Helene Binet

Homes for Senior Citizens, Chur, Masans, Graubünden, Switzerland, 1993 
Photo by Helene Binet

Thermal Bath Vals, Graubünden, Switzerland, 1996 
Sketch by Peter Zumthor

Thermal Bath Vals, Graubünden, Switzerland, 1996 
Photo by Helene Binet

Kunsthaus Bregenz, Vorarlgerger Landesgalerie, Bregenz, Austria, 1997 
Photo by Helene Binet

Swiss Sound Box, Swiss Pavilion, Expo 2000, Hanover, Germany 2000 
Photo by Thomas Flechtner

Brother Klaus Field Chapel, Wachendorf, Eifel, Germany, 2007 
Photo by Walter Mair

Protective Housing for Roman Excavations, Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland, 1986 
Photo by Helene Binet

Zumthor Studio, Haldenstein, Graubünden, Switzerland, 1986 
Photo by Helene Binet

WANG SHU - 2012 PRITZKER PRIZE WINNER

Ceramic House, Jinhua, China
Photo by - Lv Hengzhong

Ceramic House, Jinhua, China
Photo by - Lv Hengzhong

Ningbo History Museum, 2003-2008, Ningbo, China 
Photo by Lv Hengzhong

Ningbo History Museum, 2003-2008, Ningbo, China 
Photo by Lv Hengzhong

Ningbo History Museum, 2003-2008, Ningbo, China 
Photo by Lv Hengzhong

Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Phase II, 2004-2007, Hangzhou, China 
Photo by Lu Wenyu

Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Phase II, 2004-2007, Hangzhou, China 
Photo by Lu Wenyu

Five Scattered Houses, 2003-2006, Ningbo, China 
Photo by Lang Shuilong

'residence NEXT' International Design Workshop in Kerala

Residence Next is an international workshop bring organised in the month of September in Thrissur in Kerala. The 3 day workshop will feature 7 prominent architects from around the world, participating with 14 young architects and 21 students, to evolve a new direction to residential design in Kerala. The timing and the aim of this workshop is relevant as Kerala is going through a particularly directionless phase in its architectural scene, with no noteworthy ideas coming about. Most of the works are mere adaptations of ideas evolved elsewhere, without any true concepts being generated to really suit the local context. After the Laurie Baker phase following the traditional architecture of Kerala, presently Kerala is going through a pseudo-traditional phase, with designs trying to blindly copy from tradition without understanding the logic and soul, and most often trying to match traditional elements with modern vocabulary and materials, in the process arriving at some truly hideous creations.

Thus, the time is ripe to have new ideas on the direction of architecture in Kerala, to evolve a truly regional vocabulary which is contemporary and relevant. In this regard, the workshop is a great way forward, as a harbinger of change. The basic premise of the workshop is that 2 young architects and 3 students, under the guidance of an eminent architect form a group. Each of these seven groups would work as an individual team to come up with solutions for a ‘live site’ in Thrissur. With architects like Kevin Low, Dominic Dube, Rafiq Azam, Bijoy Ramachandran, Madhura Prematilleke, Shilpa Ranade & Rajesh Renganathan, the event is sure to generate a lot of dynamic ideas and concepts.

You can find more details at http://residencenext.wordpress.com/

CHARLES CORREA QUOTES

• Certainly architecture is concerned with much more than just its physical attributes. It is a many-layered thing. Beneath and beyond the strata of function and structure, materials nad texture, lie the deepest and most compulsive layers of all. And these can manifest themselves not only in epic monumental architecture, but in projects of a much smaller, more humble scale as well.
• There is something intrinsically awesome in mountain ranges like the Himalayas, and in great seas and oceans, that triggers the metaphysical in us and turns our thoughts towards the non-manifest.
• For our habitat is not created in vacuum – it is the compulsive expression of beliefs and aspirations (implicit & explicit) that are central to our lives.
• The complex and ambiguous relationship between man and nature is central to Indian architecture
• In fact, if you think about it, all great architecture, from the Oak Park Houses of Frank Lloyd Wright to the temples of Kyoto, is – in that sense – regional. The buildings speak to us powerfully and eloquently of their time and place – that is why they become universal. Those Wright houses in Chicago’s suburbs could not have been built in London, or in Delhi. Like Chartre & Fatepur Sikri, they are rooted in the soil on which they stand.
• Architecture is not a queue in which we all have to line up, with perhaps the Americans ahead, or the Chinese behind. No, each of us has the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of where we live. No one else can do that. It’s up to us to understand that opportunity.

PREPARATION OF AN ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

I have been receiving a lot of requests from students for details on HOW TO PREPARE A GOOD ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO. 

Taking this into consideration, I have compiled a detailed booklet on how to create a great portfolio, which will guide you through the detailed process, including identification of materials, ideal layouts, graphics and rendering styles, text placements, photographing your models....an exhaustive list which will guide you step by step.

You can now avail this great resource for creating your best portfolio, which is essential in this highly competitive age - either to get into good firms for internships, applying for your masters or for getting that coveted job.

Get full access to 'How to prepare an Architecture Portfolio' !!!

So go ahead and mail me at ar.sujithgs@gmail.com to order today! 

STUDIO MUMBAI - BIJOY JAIN INTERVIEW

One of the very interesting practices is Studio Mumbai, founded by Bijoy Jain. It is interesting mainly due to the unique process followed, where it is more of a hands-on approach with artisans, carpenters etc. creating prototypes of details and spaces. One of their most talked about work is the 'Palmyra House'. This short video helps one learn more about the practice and about the man himself.


PREPARATION OF AN ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

I have been receiving a lot of requests from students for details on HOW TO PREPARE A GOOD ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO. 

Taking this into consideration, I have compiled a detailed booklet on how to create a great portfolio, which will guide you through the detailed process, including identification of materials, ideal layouts, graphics and rendering styles, text placements, photographing your models....an exhaustive list which will guide you step by step.

You can now avail this great resource for creating your best portfolio, which is essential in this highly competitive age - either to get into good firms for internships, applying for your masters or for getting that coveted job.

Get full access to 'How to prepare an Architecture Portfolio' !!!

So go ahead and mail me at ar.sujithgs@gmail.com to order today!