Roman Pantheon Architecture

Roman architecture is renowned in whole world and there is long history to boast on the finest architectures in Rome. There are many masterpieces in Rome that are built long ago. The buildings and historical monuments in Rome are center of attraction for the travelers. Tourists visiting the capital city cannot miss the fascinating buildings which are still awesome to watch. Roman Pantheon is one of the finest architectures in Rome which was built long years before but it was damaged many times. Government took the charge to develop it again and make it building of cultural heritage.


Following pointers throw light on the Pantheon:

1. Pantheon is huge construct and wonderfully maintained by the Romans. You can see the different views of the building from various sides. Pantheon means temple of Gods and it is one of the edifice of religious importance. It is the building which is constructed by the Romans and it exists from nearly 1800 years.
2. The architecture of this building is magnificent to define. Doorway which is the entrance of the building is made up of bronze and it is of 40 feet height. There are many doors made up of bronze and are about 20 feet in width. There is a dome of 20 feet diameter. Light enters from the dome and make the area bright.
3. Interior of Pantheon is designed magnificently and it is rounded architecture with many designs on the walls. The great width of the dome and spacious area make it wonderful. Many things are made by the recent rulers but Marcus Agrippa was the first person to construct the real building and since then many times renovation took place.
4. There are many carvings in the interior of the monument and you can still see the old bronze doors which are left after so many disasters. Material used for the construction was very strong and it is the reason why we are able to see the building still in that place. Bricks were used for constructing the building in those days and now stones were also used for making the building strong and attractive.
5. There is too much wait on the pillars but the design of Pantheon is awesome architecture which is responsible for making pillars holding the wait from long time. Pillars are very strong and pressure of building has been reduced greatly by great engineers. Marble is used for making floor which is quite beautiful and make it attractive.

Romans feel proud of the massive master pieces of architecture and Pantheon is one of the best in the world.

The Pioneers of Interior Design

Jean-Henri Jansen (1854-1928)
Dutch designer, Jean-Henri Jansen, launched one of the first ever international interior design companies ‘Maison Jansen’ (House of Jansen) in 1880, which became renowned for designing and creating exceptionally beautiful and high quality furniture which would be utilized in a multitude of interior decoration projects. House of Jansen opened branches in 8 of the major cities of the world. Jansen worked closely with the talented interior designer Stephane Boudin whom he made director of the company. The clients of House of Jansen included Royalty and the rich and famous.

Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950)
The first lady of interior decoration, Elsie de Wolfe considered herself an ‘ugly child’. This Victorian stage actress was a rebel of her times and was credited by many to be the inventor of the modern profession of interior design, even though there were already established interior designers in her time. Elsie disliked Victorian tastes altogether, her designs were therefore generally made up of light and bright colors, contrary to the drab and gloomy Victorian décor coupled with unnecessary excesses such as heavy velvet draperies. This was a pioneering departure from the contemporary designs of the time. Elsie’s influence continues to be felt in the modern world of interior design.

Ogden Codman (1863-1951)
American interior decorator and architect, Ogden Codman spent his childhood in his birthplace of Boston before heading to France in his youth for a period of time. Codman had two uncles who influenced him tremendously - architect John Hubbard and decorator Richard Ogden. Some of Ogden Codman’s works include Edith Wharton’s Newport home, Land’s End, the Rockefeller family estate of New York client John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and the Newport summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Along with novelist Edith Wharton, Codman co-authored a guidepost of American interior design, ‘The Decoration of Houses’ in 1897.

Frances Elkins (1888-1953)
Born in Milwaukee, Frances Adler Elkins was one of the most prominent interior decorator and designer of the previous century. Sister of the famed Chicago architect David Adler, Elkins was known for her futuristic designs that brought together different styles and elements from various periods. They included country French styles, chinoiserie and art deco. The furnishings featured in her designs included designers such as Jean-Michel Frank and Alberto Giacometti. The career of Elkins that spanned over three decades is glittered with many high profile commissions in Hawaii, the Midwest and northern and southern California, none more interesting than the restoration of the 1830s structure, Casa Amesti in Monterrey, California.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
Frank Lloyd Wright was an interior designer and architect whose career included more than 1000 projects, 500 of them that have been complete. Wright was known for his promotion of organic architecture, an example of which is Fallingwater. The Robie House is an example of Wright’s leadership of the Prairie School architectural movement, while the Rosenbaum House depicts Wright’s Usonian home concept. Wright also had refreshing ideas for every kind of building, be it church, office, school, hotel or museum. Along with excellent architectural renderings, Wright also designed much of the interiors of his buildings including the Décor, layout and furniture.

Modern interior decorators offer services such as Home Remodeling to improve the chances of selling your house. This process is also known as Home Staging and is designed to make the house more appealing to a wider demographic.

Review: Le Corbusier: The Art of Architecture in Liverpool

Ellis Woodman on Le Corbusier: The Art of Architecture in The Crypt, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

There is a moment early on in Liverpool’s new Le Corbusier retrospective which perfectly encapsulates its subject’s public persona.

It is a short film, from 1925, showing the man known to his mother as Charles Édouard-Jeanneret peering out from behind those fearsome thick-rimmed, circular spectacles that he invariably wore.

He is explaining his proposal for the construction of the Plan Voisin, a modest scheme to bulldoze much of central Paris and replace it with a series of 60-storey cruciform towers laid out on a grid.

As he turns to the map behind him, draws a large rectangle around the proposed site and calmly proceeds to black out the medieval street pattern, you can’t help thinking what a magnificent Bond villain he would have made.

Such moments of provocation proved wildly effective in promoting Le Corbusier to international fame. They also, however, served to caricature him as a deranged technocrat, an image that the work of his lesser post-war followers did much to reinforce.

And yet the exhibition powerfully conveys that this is only a fraction of the story. Yes, the urban plans still look absolutely barmy – thankfully, very few of his large-scale projects were realised – but Le Corbusier was also a painter, sculptor, furniture designer and, of course, an architect of some of the greatest buildings of the 20th century.

At Liverpool, all these aspects of his output are brought together, giving an indication of how developments in art – notably Cubism and Surrealism – played as large a role in shaping his architectural imagination as did developments in reinforced concrete technology and the growth of motor car use.

The show also describes a figure who was Picasso-like in his quest for reinvention. His early work draws on both classical architecture and the vernacular buildings of his native Switzerland.

It is only when he arrives in Paris in the 1920s that he adopts his pseudonym — which can be translated as “the crow-like one” — and begins to produce the series of highly abstract, spatially complex houses that bring him to the world’s attention.

The post-war work is as different again: muscularly sculptural, where the earlier work had been composed of thin planes; and in rough, exposed concrete and brick where it had previously been painted a pristine white.

One wall of the exhibition is devoted to Le Corbusier’s very substantial influence on the British architecture of the Fifties and Sixties. However, he never built here, and visiting much of his greatest work — the church at Ronchamp, the La Tourette monastery, the string of major buildings that he realised in India in the 1950s — demands a considerable trek.

The Liverpool show represents the next best thing, offering an Aladdin’s Cave of original models and drawings. As a bonus, it offers a rare opportunity to see inside the crypt of Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral, the only part of Lutyens’s original design for the building to be built.

However, quite what Lutyens would have made of the show being staged here, I dread to think. On admission to his office, new staff members were notified that ownership of Le Corbusier’s books was considered a sacking offence.

Futuristic architecture goes beyond green building

Architect David Fisher has taken the charming notion of revolving floor penthouse restaurants and turned it into something much, much bigger: a skyscraper in which every floor revolves, resulting in the first building which constantly changes its architectural shape.

The first two such skyscrapers are planned for Dubai and Moscow. The Dubai building already has 1000 reservation requests.

The building isn't just compelling because it looks really cool, either: it is an environmentally revolutionary concept.

The Dynamic Tower, the world’s first building in motion, takes the concept of green buildings to the next level: the Dynamic Tower will generate electricity for itself as well as other buildings nearby, making it the first skyscraper designed to be self-powered.

The building generates electricity from wind turbines mounted horizontally between each floor. For example, an 80-story building will have up to 79 wind turbines, making it a true green power plant. While traditional vertical wind turbines have some environmental negative impact, including obstruction of views and the need for roads to build and maintain them, The Dynamic Tower’s wind turbines are practically invisible. The Dynamic Tower turbines are also extremely quiet due to their special shape and the carbon fiber material they are constructed from.

Another environmentally green element of the Dynamic Tower is the photovoltaic cells that will be placed on the roof of each rotating floor to produce solar energy. At any time of the day, approximately 20 percent of each roof will be exposed to the sun, so a building that has 80 floors will equal the roofing area of 10 similar sized buildings.

In addition, natural, recyclable materials including stone, marble, glass and wood will be used for the interior finishing. To further improve the energy efficiency of the Dynamic Tower, insulated glass and structural insulating panels will be employed.

Article courtesy : Michele Lerner

McAslan, AHMM and BDP top shortlist for BD’s Architect of the Year Awards

The finalists for BD’s Architect of the Year Awards 2008 have been announced, with Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, BDP and John McAslan & Partners all gaining four nominations.

Maccreanor Lavington and Shedkm are nominated in two of the 14 categories, both competing with Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for Private Housing Architect of the Year (over 14 units).

The winners will be announced on October 30 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

BD’s Architect of the Year Awards 2008 shortlist

Affordable Housing Architect of the Year

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Jestico & Whiles

Levitt Bernstein Associates

Maccreanor Lavington

Stock Woolstencroft

Private Housing Architect of the Year (over 14 units)

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Broadway Malyan

Maccreanor Lavington

Richard Murphy Architects

Shedkm

Private Housing Architect of the Year (one to 14 units)

Alison Brooks Architects

Julian Cowie Architects

Shedkm

Simon Conder Associates

Education Architect of the Year

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

DSDHA

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

John McAslan & Partners

Penoyre & Prasad

Wright & Wright Architects

Healthcare Architect of the Year

BDP

Buschow Henley

David Morley Architects

Toh Shimazaki Architecture

Interiors Architect of the Year

Adjaye Associates

BDP

Bennett Interior

David Archer Architects

Pringle Brandon

Masterplanning Architect of the Year

BDP

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

John McAslan & Partners

Stephen Taylor Architects

Office Architect of the Year

Atkins

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

Make

Shedkm

Public Buildings Architect of the Year

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Denton Corker Marshall

Gareth Hoskins Architects

Keith Williams Architects

Marks Barfield Architects

Retail Architect of the Year

3DReid

Adjaye Associates

BDP

Foreign Office Architects

John McAslan & Partners

Sport & Leisure Architect of the Year

David Morley Architects

Dyer

EPR Architects

HOK Sport Architecture

Hopkins Architects

Transport Architect of the Year

3DReid

Grimshaw

John McAslan & Partners

Pascall & Watson Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects

Accordia wins the Stirling Prize

Accordia in Cambridge by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Alison Brooks Architects and Maccreanor Lavington has won the 2008 Stirling Prize.

The judges commented: “This is high density housing at its very best, demonstrating that volume house-builders can deliver high quality architecture – and that as a result they can improve their own bottom line.



"The whole scheme is about relationships: between architect and developer/contractor/client; between three very different firms of architects – Feilden Clegg Bradley, Maccreanor Lavington and Alison Brooks Architects; and between private and public external spaces, providing a new model for outside-inside life with interior rooftop spaces, internal courtyards and large semi-public community gardens.”

Peter Clegg, senior partner with Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects, told BD: “I predicted all of the other winners but I couldn’t have predicted this one. What we are doing is changing the mould of housing.”



When Accordia was shortlisted, BD Buildings Editor Ellis Woodman said: “By rights, Accordia should have been on last year’s shortlist. However, when the RIBA jury visited the scheme they found that they couldn’t get access to any of the houses so decided that it couldn’t be put forward for an award. The Stirling hasn’t had a great record of recognising quality housing developments. After BedZed, Accordia is only the second housing scheme to be shortlisted in the prize’s history. However, it would make a very worthy winner.

“In a period when the housing sector has become increasingly focussed on the construction of inner-city apartments, Accordia addresses the urgent need to build quality family homes at large scale and a sustainable density.”



The judges’ choice of Accordia will certainly be of relief to the bookmakers. Going into the final day, the Cambridge housing scheme was sixth with odds of 5/1 at William Hill.

RIBA special awards

Also announced on Saturday night were the RIBA special awards:

Manser Medal for the best one-off house or housing scheme: Oxley Woods

Stephen Lawrence Prize for the best example of a building with a construction budget of less than £1 million: The Sackler Crossing in Kew by John Pawson Architects

RIBA CABE Public Space Award which celebrates publicly accessible external space: The Old Market Square, Nottingham by Gustafson Porter

Crown Estate Conservation Award, for the best work of conservation which demonstrates successful restoration or adaptation of an architecturally significant building: St. Pancras International by Alastair Lansley (for Union Railways)

RIBA Sustainability Award: The Manchester Civil Justice Centre, Manchester by Denton Corker Marshall

Sorrell Foundation Schools Award: Westminster Academy at the Naim Dangoor Centre by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.

The Oval Tower, Another Landmark For Dubai

The Oval Tower is the latest piece of architectural whimsy to come out of Dubai. As you might guess, it is shaped like an oval. The tower in the Business Bay area will be home to 19 floors of office space and a leisure deck with a gymnasium with a sauna, shower and lockers.



The building as two distinct parts, the tower and the podium. The podium of the tower will hold a dining area with a panoramic lift and staircase. There will be parking in both the podium and the basement for 651 cars.

A canvas in concrete: Architecture as Art?

His bare apartment blocks and austere interiors transformed 20th-century architecture. But could Le Corbusier's forms be called art?

Le Corbusier was, arguably, the most influential architect of the 20th century. Every time you walk past the Barbican, you're in Corbusier territory; the same applies if you explore the ruins of the extraordinary seminary at Cardross designed by Gillespie Kidd & Coia, or if you happened to be strolling through the Sussex University campus designed by Sir Basil Spence. Should you travel on a Virgin Pendolino to Liverpool, where the first major British exhibition on Corbusier's work for 20 years is underway, you will pass through a tranche of post-Corbusian urban planning known as Runcorn.

More than three decades after drowning while swimming off the coast of the Côte d'Azur, Corbusier's importance makes him almost impossible to discuss, or view, without lurching into prejudice. He saw the future and designed it decades before anybody else. Correction: he tainted the future with the allure of concrete, and surfaces stripped of texture or decoration. His designs proposed a sensually socialist world. No, he was an utter solipsist who wanted very little to do with people who weren't as over-dressed, bourgeois, creative and mother-fixated as he.

Le Corbusier, The Art of Architecture is embedded in the crypt of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. And there's a nice conceit to this: the launch-pad architecture of the so-called Paddy's Wigwam was designed in the Sixties by a Corbusian, Sir Frederick Gibberd, but rose from a crypt designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1931 as the foundation of a cathedral that would have been as big as St Peter's in Rome. Under those beautifully bricked vaults, in a show sponsored by the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Vitra Design Museum, should we bury architecture's Caesar – along with those heavy, circular spectacle frames that said: I see things you don't – or praise him?


The futuristic form of Saint-Pierre de Firminy church, built in 1960

The first thing to say about the exhibition, created by Graeme Russell, is that it has been arranged with considerable virtuosity. Russell, working with Dieter Theil, has deferred with some grace to Lutyens' marvellous spaces, yet managed to create thoroughly modernist sets: the tableaux and linked perspectives are precisely set out, and we are drawn through the show by subtle glimpses ahead at key points.

Perspectives relating to the fountainheads, and riddles, of Corbusier's art and architecture are less certainly portrayed. The genius of the Swiss architect is certainly apparent, but not in an obviously progressive narrative; we don't quite get to the root of his obsessions. Nor is there any subtext of humanity, or of humane architectural commodity. Corbusier's conflations of art and architecture are mostly presented as a kind of orderly collage or scenography in which time, or the critical moment, seems absent. The material in the three sections of the exhibition – Context, Privacy and Publicity, Built Art – often seem interchangeable. In this, the show reminds us just how brilliantly seductive, and ultimately ungraspable, Corbusier could be. "I am an acrobat of form, creator of form, player with form," he declared in 1951. "Form means to express all plastic emotion. Form, expression and style of mind." Architecture, he said, was "a pure creation of the mind".

Today, in an age of styled minds, and sanctified immateriality, the very idea of purity or formal playthings seems as museum-worthy as a Bakelite telephone. Corbusier still matters – not so much as an architect, but as an engrossing case-study of a designer who began by referring to houses as machines for living in (Huxley saw through that clinical nonsense in his 1932 satire on modernism, Brave New World), and ended in the thrall of primitive abstract art, not to mention breasts (drawn, on collected postcards, carved, concretised).

Most architects, even arch-modernists, think of themselves as artistic. They are not, but they want to be; a drawing board, computer screen or the now -virtually unused Rotring pen are ultimately Nanny Whips, rather than naked models. Corbusier was the first of the post-Bauhaus massive to bring arbitrary abstraction, and the body's sensuality, into major architectural works, and tens of thousands of ordinary architects have since tucked into that vaguely sexy design slipstream with no intention of pursuing the profound creative conflicts and risks that generate the best architecture.

The risk is that we should think of Corbusier's art and architecture as interchangeable. Fortunately, the exhibition demonstrates only juxtapositions between his art and architecture, rather than fusions. Architecture, however artful, is almost always extruded through a conflicting mesh of imagination, rationality, cost and functional imperatives. If you are Zaha Hadid, you will have clients who can pay for a vast sculpture in the Emirates that might also happen to be a concert hall; if you are Jacques Herzog or Rem Koolhaas, you can deploy outlandish amounts of steel to create a stadium or a state television headquarters in Beijing whose forms are perceived as being in some way artistic. But the art-response is mendacious and activates a pernicious trip-wire: architecture plus art equals entertainment; entertainment is fleeting, therefore architecture is fleeting and we needn't trouble ourselves to think too deeply about it.

Corbusier thought deeply about architecture – even the Edwardian Lutyens, who disliked his architecture, recognised this – and he designed and built for posterity. Even his models were built to last. The massive wooden model showing the artfully symbolised topography and buildings of the government site in Chandigarh, India, is utterly engrossing; its undulations and objects form a richly surreal tableau, a dreamscape rather than an architectural setting. In the mind of Corbusier, reality always follows dream.

Or almost always. The illustration of Corbusier's Plan Obus, a 1931 scheme that would have demolished two-thirds of Algiers' kasbah to make way for a continuous serpentine apartment block hundreds of feet high, several miles long, with a motorway on top of it, could be described as a "plasticised" primitive relief. In this case, art threatened architecture: a wonderfully revealing perspective drawing shows a single man standing on a narrow central walkway between the two lines of traffic, with the Gulf of Algiers far below. In one image, we see the brilliance and potential vacuity of Corbusier as the artist of a floating, ferroconcrete world that mostly wanted very little to do with the ground (messy) or people (ditto), and vastly more to do with cars and aeroplanes and houses such as the seminal Villa Savoye (which hardly touched the ground). The exhibition succeeds admirably in showing facets of this eternally debatable aspect of his architecture.

Obus means bombshell in French. Graeme Russell's exhibition has given us the shell fragments of Corbusier's architectural impacts, but not the tensions that underlay them. We encounter much that is of interest: films, models, carving, letters, magazines, fly-through visuals; and all of it set out to suggest fairly distinct connections between his art and architecture. Yet what really matters (and the exhibition avoids this important provocation) are the dynamics of their estrangements. The show proves, unintentionally, that Le Corbusier was – and in no small way – a great architect because he was a minor artist.

Backen Gillam Architects

Howard J. Backen cautions against believing the stereotype. “It’s a misconception,” he says, “that an architect’s ego should overwhelm the work. In actual practice, a vital part of any successful project is the collaborative architect-client relationship.”



Northern California-based Backen Gillam Architects (a 40-person firm he leads with his partner, James Gillam) adheres to a design philosophy based on siting a building in harmony with nature and in accordance with the client’s goals.

“I’m interested only in making happen what a particular project wants to happen. I take all the factors involved—the clients’ thoughts and living patterns, site, location, budget—and they tell me what to do. There are no preconceived notions.”

Coop Himmelb(l)au - BMW's Delivery Centre

Coop Himmelb(l)au’s BMW delivery center in Munich is, marvels Giovannini, “a huge building supported by a funneling column that looks like a tornado. It rivals the Guggenheim in Bilbao in sheer spectacle and intelligence.”

Wooden Inspiration : Ocho House

For those wooden furnishings fans out there, I have something for you. The Ocho House in the Santa Lucia Mountains, California, doesn’t look like a lodge but thanks to its extremely cozy arrangements it does make you feel like living in one.



The interior seems large because of the large windows and the tall ceilings, but comfortable at the same time thanks to the materials and colors used : butter beige, white, natural wood, dark brown and black.



What I like most? The wooden staircases, the huge door and the living room view down the valley. You?





But more than the wooden inspiration this is a highly sustainable house that uses overhanging green walls and a smart solar roof. That’s the reason it got the green Energy and Sustainability Honor award from the American Institute of Architects.

Ancient Indian buildings, Earth Quakeproof

Researchers believe that ancient buildings in India's northern Uttarkashi district have been built to resist devastating earthquakes.

Studies showed that the Koti Banal architecture - named after a village in the district - relied on stone-filled solid platforms and careful use of wood, The Telegraph reported.

The ancient four-storey and five-story buildings have survived the 1720 Kumaon earthquake and the 1803 Garhwal earthquake, both of which had destroyed buildings in the region.

“This earthquake-safe architecture may have evolved after an earthquake that occurred around BC 1100, which was particularly devastating,” said A. Srivastava, a scientist at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, Lucknow.

Dating back to about 880 years ago, the buildings have a solid platform at the base, wooden beams, and walls and floors covered with wood panels.

Engineers believe the wood-based structures are more flexible than other material, giving it the ability to absorb and dissipate energy and therefore reduce the risk of collapse.

“Surviving specimens of Koti Banal architecture need to be protected as heritage buildings,” said heritage

Tips for quake-resistant buildings

The Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, has issued amended bylaws for the Delhi area to ensure the coming up of earthquake-resistant buildings. The incorporation of safety measures will be the responsibility of owners.

The amended bylaws are to serve as the model for the states which have been directed to enact similar bylaws. It has been made mandatory to provide a certificate along with building plans and an undertaking that the plans submitted for approval "satisfy the requirements as stipulated by the NBC (National Building Code).

The certificate, as also the building plans, will have to carry the signatures of the building owner, the architect and that of a structural engineer. A similar certificate will have to be furnished at the time of obtaining the completion certificate for the building that it has been built strictly according to the plans and design approved.

So, a person desiring to build a house will have to be fully aware as to what constitutes a safe design for an earthquake-resistant building. This write-up is an attempt to list the common pitfalls which make a building vulnerable to earthquakes.

An interesting publication on the subject has been brought out by the Indian Standards Institute (renamed the Bureau of Indian Standards), New Delhi, entitled "Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction of Buildings". Several expert agencies have worked together in bringing out this book. The various recommendations listed in it have been verified experimentally on models tested on the "shake-tables tests".

The earthquake force imparted to a building is a function of mass. So, the building should be designed as light as possible, consistent with structural safety and functional requirements. Thus the roof and the upper storeys of the building in particular should be designed in this manner. The different components of the building should be tied together in such a manner that it acts as one unit. The concrete slabs should be rigidly connected or integrally cast with the support beams.

Additions and alterations to the building should be accompanied by the provisions of "separation" of the "crumple" section between the new and the existing structure.

Cantilever or projected parts should be avoided as far as possible. But where necessary such a construction should be properly reinforced and fully tied to the main structure and adequately designed. A prefabricated construction has been found, after the American earthquake of 1988, to be prone to collapse due to the post-tremor impact.

Ceiling plaster should be avoided as far as possible, but where necessary, such a plaster should be kept as thin as possible. Suspended ceiling should not be provided as such a construction is most prone to falling down during tremors. Where provided, suspended ceiling sections should be adequately framed and secured.

In order to minimise "torsion and stress concentration", a building should have a simple rectangular plan, and should be symmetrical, both with respect to the mass and the rigidity of the structure. The length of the rectangular section should be kept not more than three times its width.

The centre of rigidity is defined as the point where a lateral force, if applied, would produce equal deflections of its components as at any one level in any particular direction.

If the symmetry of the structure is not possible in the plan, elevation or the mass, provision should made for torsion and other effects due to an earthquake in the structural design, or parts of different rigidities should be "separated through the crumple section".

No structure should be founded on loose soil (such as fine sand, silt). In case loose fine soil or expansive clay soil cannot be avoided, we should either provide a "raft foundation" or a "pile foundation" with the piles transferring the load to the firm soil. The other option available is the "foundation improvement" by either "sand piling" or by "vibro-compaction" of the loose soil.

All the "individual footings", or the "pile caps" where adopted in soft soil, should be connected by reinforced concrete ties extending in at least two directions at right angles to each other.

For buildings with a basement, the ties be placed at the level of the basement floor. These ties should be designed to carry the load of the panel walls also if located on them.

Such ties will not be needed where the structural floor connects the columns at or below the plinth level. These ties should be designed to "tension" and "compression" loads, in addition to the axial load not less than the earthquake force acting on the heaviest column connected. While working out the "buckling strength" of the ties, the lateral support provided by the soil should be taken into account.

Where necessary a complete separation of different parts of the building should be made except below the plinth level.

The foundations have to be equipped to face the lateral force whose magnitude may be found from the "design seismic coefficient" or from dynamic model tests on shaking-tables.

It may be mentioned that the commonly adopted individual footings have virtually no strength to meet the lateral forces. But if the individual footings are tied together with structural members of adequate strength to transmit tension or compression forces, from one footing to the group, the chances of survival increase.

Basement walls provide a "thrust area" which reduces the lateral force required to be carried by the foundations. Raft foundations located on the well-compacted soil require less rigid lateral support to ensure greater "damping" and absorb a greater amount of energy.

Doors and windows in the walls reduce their lateral load resistance and hence these should preferably be small and centrally located. The top of all openings in any one storey should be at the same level so that a continuous band is provided.

Band of reinforced concrete or reinforced brick work, provided in the walls is to tie together and to impart horizontal bending strength, which is a desirable feature against earthquake forces. One such band should be located near the plinth level and other just below the roof. Such bands provide the overall integrity of the building so that all the walls act simultaneously together under the earthquake force which then get distributed on the walls.

The bands at the plinth level, the lintel level and the roof level should be joined by the vertical steel (MS bar of 12 mm diametre for a single-storey house, and an 18 mm bar located at the junction of the walls is considered adequate.

Le Corbusier design show opens in Liverpool

Exhibition will celebrate architect's multidisciplinary approach to design



An exhibition of le Corbusier's work will open on Tuesday in Liverpool as part of the city's European Capital of Culture events.



The show includes models of the architect's most influential buildings, from the arts-and-crafts houses in his native Switzerland to the Ronchamp chapel and his designs for Chandigarh in India.

It will also explore Le Corbusier's multidisciplinary approach to design, combining art and film with urban planning and architecture.



The exhibition will be the first ever staged in the crypt of Liverpool's Roman Catholic cathedral. It will remain there until 18 January, then move to another UK location – the Barbican Arts Centre in London, where it will be on view from 19 February to 24 May.

Construction World Awards India's Top Builders, Architects

The 3rd Construction World Architect & Builders Awards were distributed by the Governor of Maharashtra to recognize exceptional work done by Architects and Builders in various aspects of infrastructure and real estate industry.

The awards for the first time used the perception mapping process and conducted an exhaustive survey to select the winners.

The winners included Niranjan Hiranandani, Managing Director of Hiranandani Developers, Milind Korde, Managing Director of Godrej Properties, J C Sharma, Managing Director of Shobha Developers, architects Hafeez Contractor, Noshir Talati, Abhin Alimchandani and I M Kadri among others.

The awards were organized by ASAPP Media Information Group and supported Builders Association of India (BAI) and Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) and represented by national and international firms.

LIST OF WINNERS - ARCHITECTS (Alphabetically)

1. Abhin Alimchandani - Stup Design Forum

2. Arunjot Singh Bhalla - RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (India) Pvt Ltd.

3. Hafeez Contractor - Architect Hafeez Contractor

4. I M Kadri - Kadri Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

5. Kamal Malik - Kamal Malik Architect

6. Noshir Talati - Talati & Panthaky Associates Pvt. Ltd.

7. Prem Nath - Prem Nath & Associates

8. Raja Aederi - Raja Aederi Architect

9. Sanjay Puri - Sanjay Puri Architect Pvt. Ltd.

10. Shahrukh Mistry - Mistry Architects

LIST OF WINNERS - BUILDERS (Alphabetically)

1. Brigade Group - M. R. Jaishankar, Managing Director

2. DLF Group - Rajiv Singh, Vice Chairman

3. Godrej Properties - Milind Korde, Managing Director

4. Hiranandani Developers - Niranjan Hiranandani, Managing Director

5. K. Raheja Corp - C. L. Raheja, Chairman

6. K Raheja Universal - Ashish Raheja, Managing Director

7. Kalpataru Constructions - Mofatraj Munot, Chairman

8. Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. - Cyrus Mistry, Managing Director

9. Sobha Developers - P N C Menon, Chairman

10. Unitech - Sanjay Chandra, Managing Director

6th Le Corbusier Research Center to be Built in India

The world is soon to have a new Le Corbusier research center/museum. It's been announced that the sixth such building will be constructed in Chandigarh, India, a city for which Corbusier laid out the master plan for in the 1950s. It's the second building in India, and it will feature a museum, like in all the other locations, but also plans to be a destination for architects and designers to work in their respective fields (though much more like a research library and most of it will have to do with the famous designer/architect himself). What's more, it will also be built to resemble and function in the way Le Corbusier would have likely wanted it designed, the planers hoping that it will resemble how things operated when the man was there working lo those many years ago.

Here's a bit:

The centre will be divided into six sections portraying the archival records, original plans, elevations, sketches and studies, maps and models, documents, photographs and furniture. Three rooms will serve as reception, reference and digital library with internet facility.

"We will establish a 'Chandigarh heritage conservation cell' for monitoring the conservation activity within the city. The materials that will be displayed in the centre will be collected on a permanent loan basis from various public, private and international institutions," he said.

The open courtyard would be used for the temporary exhibitions to promote ancient, medieval and Contemporary art and architecture in the region.

Atlantis Hotel in Dubai

The Palm Atlantis Hotel is due to open its doors to the public in September 2008.

The new 1,539 room mega-resort has been accepting reservations since February 2008.

Room rates will start at around Dh1,600 per night and guests will find around 3,500 staff on hand to make their stay more pleasant.

A 30 meter high Ziggurat will house seven waterslides in the Atlantis' 17 hectare water park



Some of the tanks will only house fish native to the UAE.



The resort is surrounded by marine lagoons and will be home to more than 65,000 marine animals.



Dubai residents will be able to use the hotel's facilities if they buy a day pass.



The hotel says its Dolphin Bay will also serve as 'the first marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation centre in Dubai.



Fish will be housed in tanks containing more than 42 million liters of saltwater.



A team of 165 marine workers will be working in the underwater tanks each day.



The Atlantis water adventure system uses 18 million liters of desalinated freshwater.



The resort has been modeled on the already world famous Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.

Optical Illusions of Eureka Tower Carpark

These fabulous 3D drawings, a creation of Axel Peemoeller who developed it as a way-finding-system for the Eureka Tower Carpark.

The irregularly shaped letters on the wall can be read perfectly when standing at the right position. This project won several international design awards.











We have seen similar work in the past like Design Interior and Anamorphic Illusion Of Cardiff Bay.

Le Corbusier Center to open in Chandigarh

The Sector 19 office of Le Corbusier, the place where the architect sat and drew plans for the City Beautiful, will be converted into the Le Corbusier Centre this October. The centre will preserve, interpret, research and display Corbusier’s works and maintain his legacy.

The centre will have six sections displayed in the six rooms of the building, while three rooms will serve as reception and information centres, reference and digital library with Internet facilities. The open verandah will be used for temporary exhibitions to promote the ancient, medieval and contemporary art and architecture around the region.

Besides various government institutions, the Administration is also getting support from various international organisations, including the Foundation Le Corbusier, Paris, Centre Le Corbusier, Zurich, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the Museum of Architecture and Design, Chicago.

According to the Administration’s plans, all sections will recreate the ambience of the original office of Le Corbusier. For the purpose, it will also seek help from those who had worked with him.

From decade-old maps and models, including that of the Secretariat, the open-hand monument, the High Court, the Governor’s Palace, to plans, sections, elevations, sketches and studies of Corbusier’s works, everything will be available at the centre.

V N Singh, consultant, Museum and Art Gallery, STEPS, said: “The centre is going to be the first museum and research centre of a well-known architect, planner and designer in the country. There will be display boards, showcases, digital boards, reference as well as digital library. These will also be available online. I have also visited local architects, artists and senior citizens of the city, asking them to provide us with anything they can that is related to the architect and can be displayed.”

Construction World Architect & Builders Awards: 2008 To Be Held on Aug 22

The 3rd Construction World Architect & Builders Awards will be held on August 22 at the ITC Grand Central, Parel. The awards organized by ASAPP Media and supported by the Builders Association of India (BAI) and Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) will be presented to a total of twenty recipients – ten architects and ten builders. His Excellency S.C. Jamir, Governor of Maharashtra, Dr. J.M.Pathak, Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and over three hundred senior professionals from the construction industry across India will be present at the event.

Russell Gilchrist from Skidmore, Owings & Merril, Chicago, designers of Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world will deliver the key note address. Russell, with a history of working on innovative and world-renowned projects, will provide valuable insights on unique trends in architecture and the growth of international high-rise construction in his keynote address.

Constituted by ASAPP Media, the awards recognize exceptional work done by Architects and Builders in various aspects of infrastructure and real estate industry over the years. The selection was based on a survey conducted amongst the professionals from the industry.

“We have used the perception mapping process to select winners. An exhaustive survey was conducted among professionals within the industry. The highlight of CW Architect & Builder Awards 2008 is that it is recognition and admiration by peers. The awards are given by the industry to the industry. The value of the awards is highlighted by the fact that the whole industry is participating in the awards,” says Pratap Padode, Managing Director, ASAPP Media Information Group

Padode, who has been instrumental into getting the awards constituted adds, “Our consistent efforts in documenting success, recognizing talent, addressing pertinent issues, and creating the awakening for a transparent and well-governed industry are bearing fruit in the form of a community that is more forthright about sharing information”

The Millau Viaduct - The Tallest Vehicular Bridge In The World.

The tallest vehicular bridge in the world - The Millau Viaduct is a large cable-stayed road-bridge designed by the structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster.





Its a part of the A75-A71 auto route axis from Paris to Béziers, formally dedicated on 14 December 2004, inaugurated the day after and opened to public two days later.





What makes it special is the fact that it's slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower with its one mast's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft) and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building.





Apart from this, its construction broke three world records: the highest pylons in the world, the highest mast in the world and the highest road bridge deck in the world.

Scheduled for completion in December 2009, the Chenab Bridge in the Reasi District of Jammu and Kashmir (India) will be 359 metres (1,180 ft) high, and its likely that Millau Viaduct will lose its position as the highest bridge deck in the world.