Posts

Sustainable Architecture Part 2: A Wrong Approach

Image
Construction has been one of the most resource-hungry and least viable industries in the world due to which people in the 21st century have started adopting the principles of Green Architecture and Sustainability. Unfortunately, there is a big misconception regarding the concept of ‘Green Architecture’. As in, the people have a wrong understanding about the term “Green Buildings”. Green Buildings does not just imply on creating huge lawns and making the building look green in color. It is rather the creation and responsible management of a healthy built environment based on ‘resource efficient’ and ‘ecological principles’. Based on what Green Architecture really is, in order to achieve sustainability, people have begun to use expensive materials trying to make the building energy efficient but they fail to realize that the materials that are being used for the purpose are high energy intensive materials and are not serving much purpose in the context of Green Buildi
16 comments
Read more

Sustainable Architecture Part 1 : The Misconception

Image
Energy efficiency is just doing more with less-squeezing as much useful power from as little as possible. For example, the LED bulbs use 75 per cent less energy and last 25 times longer than the incandescent bulbs. Incandescent lighting and CFLs lose 90 per cent and 80 per cent of their energy as heat and Infrared Radiations to the surroundings, whereas the LED bulbs are cool to touch since they only produce minimal heat and no Infrared Radiations. Thus, we call them ‘Energy-Efficient’. This concept of ‘Energy-Efficiency’ in the 3D structures is used in the building sector and termed as the ‘Green’ or the ‘Sustainable’ Architecture. The buildings are designed to provide a significant reduction of the energy needed for heating and cooling, independently of the energy and of the equipment that will be chosen to heat or cool the building. The two aspects of energy-efficiency that are ‘minimizing the energy loss’ and shifting the resources of energy from non-renewable to renewable
21 comments
Read more

A Different Perspective

Image
Comparing the concepts of Physics to the designs of different buildings is what really drives me to think of the purpose of the Architect to place those bricks in that particular way. Both perspectives depart from different lands of thought but sail into the same harbor. Two of these analogies that I want to put forward are that of the Alphabetic Tower in Batumi, Georgia and Shanghai World Financial Tower. 1) Alphabetic Tower in Batumi, Georgia: Batumi created a landmark that symbolized the journey of the Georgian people, not only in terms of modern history but also throughout time as members of the human race. Its structure, information, and interactions form the language through which life grows and develops by taking the concept of DNA into consideration which is the alphabet of humanity. Alphabetic Tower in Batumi, Georgia To me, it seemed like the concept I had studied in 11th Standard-the passage of the sound waves in an organ pipe. Where people are the visual and audit
19 comments
Read more

RO-TRO-STRUCTUR-OLOGY #1

Image
I did not know that today I would be laying out analogies between the field of Astrophysics and Architecture. Observing a meteor shower makes me believe how the architects are trying to re-imagine the limits of architecture just the way the astrophysicists are trying to measure the limits of the universe. I think of how I connect the stars in the sky when I join the edges of the structure that I want standing firm on the ground. I think of the fundamental units of the universe, the asteroids and comets in the Kuiper Belt, when I look at the fundamental blocks of construction: the bricks. I think of the architects relating Robotics and Futuristic Architecture when I read about Time Travel or the portals to the universe. “The universe is not made up of atoms, it is made up of tiny stories,” makes me think how every architect has a story or a purpose behind placing every brick into his or her design!
36 comments
Read more

The Impact of Natural Light on the Mental Health of the People

Image
" The impact architecture has on a person's mood is huge. Arguably the fundamentals of architecture are not how it looks, but how we feel it, through the way it allows us to act, behave, think and reflect, ” says Dr. Melanie Dodd, program director of spatial practices at the Central St. Martins Art School. Would you really like to work in this place for nearly half a day? This kind of working space would be perceived by our minds as the picture given below. Natural light has a great physiological impact on our mental health. We can never imagine ourselves working in such conditions. We can never imagine ourselves spending 90% of our time in an office which has no exposure to natural light through windows. Visible light helps the human body to regulate the production of the hormone called Melatonin, which in turn helps to regulate our body clock, affecting sleep patterns and digestion. The work-efficiency of the workers, their alertness, and their ment
7 comments
Read more

Form Follows Function

Image
The First Skyscraper Bath Abbey Architects tend to focus on two major aspects of Architecture—functionality and form/beauty of a building. But which is more important? The first picture shows The First Skyscraper that was built in Chicago which demonstrates how the functionality of a building became dominant over the aesthetics or ‘the form and beauty of a structure’ in architecture. On the other hand, the second picture shows the Gothic Cathedral which indicates how our ancestors focused more on ornamentation than structural innovation. Gothic Architecture began mainly in France, where architects were inspired by Romanesque Architecture and the pointed arches of Spanish Moorish Architecture. It’s easy to recognize these buildings due to the pointed arches, ribbed vaulting, elaborate sculptures and stained glass windows. Our ancestors focused on the aesthetics of a building. It was believed that the structural design was determined to bring sunshine into people’s liv
6 comments
Read more

The Spaces We Inhabit Influence the Way We Act or Feel.

Image
What exactly strikes your mind when someone says, ‘Space’? One is certainly accustomed to think of it  as absence of mass, filled with air. Well, there is certainly more to that. Space is that immaterial essence  that the painter suggests and the sculptor fills, the architect envelops, creating a wholly human and  finite environment within the infinite environment of nature. Spaces that we inhabit influence the way  we act or feel when we are surrounded them. Let’s illustrate this concept with some examples. Parks Ranch Gypsum Caves, New Mexico How exactly will you feel when you enter such a place? Insecure? You will certainly not feel powerful. You will be very careful when you step inside such a place. But when you trek and reach a hilltop, you  feel powerful. You feel exhilarated. If we enter a gothic cathedral, the high walls closely confining us on two sides restrict our possible  movements, suggesting advance along the free space toward the altar; or their comp
19 comments
Read more