Portfolio

Open publication - Free publishing - More architecture

This is my portfolio, which I am sending out to some architecture firms to look for an internship. Let me know what you think!

Curriculum Vitae

Photography! some favorites...

Memory Map!

Alipore, Kolkata

A google maps snapshot, to spot the differences

I have been visiting my Nani’s place in Calcutta (I still call it that, sorry) twice a year, ever since I was born. Every summer Cal has been pretty much the same. Its like the house and everything around it is stuck in a time warp, and whatever little change there is, is subconsciously ignored. 

The house, ‘Tara’ is located on Raja Santosh Road, in the posh south Calcutta district of Alipore. Most plots in and around this area are bungalows or high end apartments. It’s a fairly pleasant neighborhood with ample greenery and shaded streets. But what strikes me most is the scale. Coming from Delhi, everything in Calcutta seems so close by! my Nani’s house, my aunt’s flat and my Nana’s office are within 5 minutes of each other, by car. Ah, The convenience! There’s a daily needs store next to a very un-mosque-like mosque, familiarly called ‘Masjid Dukaan’ which suffices for basic things like snacks, toiletries and stationary. All in all, a compact and sustainable neighborhood.

Despite all its advantages, this area has one major drawback, and a persistent one at that. Monsoons in Cal are crazy - it can rain incessantly, often for a full week, without stopping. This leads to severe water-logging. The roads are submerged in any case, but to top that even the lobby of my aunt's apartment building is not spared! Every monsoon, she shifts to my Nani's place for a few days, because it is physically impossible to reach her building, without swimming!

Calcutta has always been considered a very safe city, especially in comparison with Delhi. In Delhi, on the other hand,there is virtually no mutual trust between citizens, because of which we erect boundary walls - everywhere! This particular neighborhood does have some plots with boundary walls, and that is understandable in most cases, however, it also has a pretty active street culture. Especially the apartment buildings,which open onto the road, often cul-de-sacs (like my aunt's building). This not only promotes a feeling of community but also activates the street and makes it safer. The potential is tremendous and Cal should try and preserve this trust.

After all these years, it is today, as a curious student, that I realize that despite the short distances I’ve never really walked in the area. We are so  dependent on  the car that we don't even think about walking. Its a matter of habit which can and should be changed. On the other hand, some areas around the house are also not particularly safe. Every now and then, the Muslim dominated, highly politicized, slum-like development across the road, erupts into mini communal riots, with occasional stone pelting and what not. The development on the east is one I've hardly seen, because I've always heard my family telling me that its full of 'Goondas'. As a result of this, even while going to office from home, we always take the longer west-ward route than the faster east-ward one!

Like I said earlier, the city seems to be in a time warp. Its not that it hasn't progressed, its just something about the people and the trees and the ponds and the streets that is constant. Despite all the good and the bad, Cal will always be special to me.


Critical analysis - why the differences?


- Proportions are warped, the sketch is a little squatter than the map...
This is probably because I tend to use the western side a lot more. My perception of whatever lies to the east is dependent on the few times that I actually venture that side


- Most roads I've made are cul-de-sacs, whereas the have been shown as continuous, on google...
I've rarely visited these streets and also, towards the middle are apartment blocks, which take one's attention away from the street to the skyline.


- The size of the masjid and the shop  are much bigger on my map, than in reality...
This is obvious, as those are the only two significant features on  that stretch of the road as far as I am concerned.


- The crossing on the right is not a 'gol chakkar' like the rest...
The crossing on the right actually has a red light. However there's never much traffic there, because of which it functions as smoothly as a round about!

Begumpur ka 'Qila'!

http://dillidallying.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/begumpur-ka-qila-2/

TOD - Photography

Transport sculpting city form

Sourced from web

There was a time when the only way you could go from point A to point B was by hopping across walls and roofs, cause there were no streets, just a densely packed habitat of humans. Then with increased security, we made streets, with buildings close enough to shade each other and the pedestrian. One would walk through what was more of a market than a thoroughfare.

Then came the horse-cart, followed closely by rails for the carriages and the city changed. The streets  became wider  the extents increased too. What followed were the railway lines, which fragmented the city, adding to convenience as

 well as pollution. But a revolution came about after 1873, with the invention of the Motor car.

Now for more than a 100 years, the form of the city and  its architecture, has been determined, among many other factors, by the whims of the car and the person inside it. What is extremely  amusing is that the very basis of our basic city planning and street design is governed by the ergonomics of a machine. In fact, the ultimate goal of the modern grid iron, consisting of hierarchal and fractal based road networks ,is the ease of mobility.

The car has resulted in the formation of various forms of transit development including highways, flyovers, underpasses and bridges which has led to a very marked change in the urban cityscape.  In fact, its no longer just the car, but imost  newer modes of transport such as buses, metros, and speed trains, which have had an impact. Their effect is not restricted to the planning level, They have affected the design of individual buildings as well.

This leads us to the question of perception. A lot of the architectural changes due to these faster modes of transport are actually not in response  to the car itself, but to the person sitting in inside the car. For instance, the facades of buildings, are getting simpler by the day so that they are easier to comprehend when being observed at a faster speed. Similarly, the position and size of billboards has changed drastically, so as to make them more perceptible and readable. However, it is also true that a lot of these changes can be seen mostly, only be seen, in the commercial parts of the city.

Now, the car has  both, pros and cons. Its effect on the city has also been detrimental to an extent but one cannot disregard the shear convenience of having a car. In my opinion the pros outweigh the cons . However, the  question is not whether the car is good or bad, the question is how best can we respond to our  need for mobility through sensible design. The future will only see an exponential increase in technological advancements, and the challenge is to be able to design buildings and cities which accommodate them, not as a superimposition but as an intrinsic part of the city.