Architecture Student Chronicles

A Green Infrastructure Unlocks Several Successful Environmental Initiatives

d.grifen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:56:13 +0000

The world is in a constant state of flux and the environment is no different. Lately, it seems as though flash flooding, earthquakes, and hurricanes are occurring all too often. The severity of them is seemingly unprecedented. Additionally, cities like Washington, D.C. – normally accustomed to mild winters – are experiencing record snow fall while those that expect heavy precipitation, like Syracuse, NY, are setting records for not having any of it. While this may or may not have anything to do with global warming, it certainly is a reminder that the environment is capable of a lot of unexpected changes and we should be doing what we can to balance our use of natural resources and minimize our carbon footprint. Otherwise, the odd, eyebrow-raising nature of weather patterns we’re currently experiencing may end up being catastrophic events down the road.

Yet, what can be done that isn’t currently being done? Cutting down on carbon emissions and recycling have been at the forefronts of the go green movement. However, some initiatives that target a completely new, green infrastructure have gone unnoticed but are essential to competitiveness, long term sustainability, job growth, energy independence and national security.

According to the Department of Energy, heating and cooling account for 50 to 70% of the energy used in the average American home. A large proportion of energy is lost through cracks in walls and ceilings. In terms of energy conservation, individuals can make immediate improvements to their energy profile simply by adding insulation to their home. Arguably, the best insulation for any green home is Cellulose which, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, requires less energy to make and is made of 75% recycled material. This is great for air quality in the home and also for the environment. There’s also renewable Cotton, abundant Fiberglass, and even Soy based foam insulation, which has the highest percentage of renewable resource ingredients in the industry with 60%. By doing this, any homeowner can add value to their home while conserving energy and reducing their utility bill. Long term savings outweigh upfront costs. The implementation of Smart Meters can help them find other areas of their home where energy can be used more efficiently. In some locations, local governments are providing residents with them for free. This seems to be the best strategy for getting residents the tools necessary to cut energy costs. The theory suggests that consumers will make necessary changes to their energy consumption if they can actually see exactly where it is being used inefficiently.

Aside from individual efforts, there are a lot of groups and organizations that people can get involved with that tackle larger projects. The University-National Park Energy Partnership Program (UNPEPP) is a great example. UNPEPP is a public private partnership (PPP) that puts federal grant money in the hands of young, impressionable university students eager to change the United States landscape one national park at a time. Universities all across America use the federal grant money to create internship opportunities for students to travel to a national park in their area and work with energy and environmental professors, experts and park personnel to perform energy audits, recommend energy conservation measures and implement renewable energy technology (RET) that ultimately save the parks thousands in energy costs and significantly reduce their carbon footprint. The UNPEPP 10 year Report is posted on the website. This type of partnership is a rewarding experience for everyone involved and similar PPPs should be on the forefront of the green energy movement.

A third component of building the green energy infrastructure involves business owners. While individual efforts generally result in relatively smaller improvements and PPPs sometimes get delayed by energy policies hung up by the legislative process, private businesses march to the beat of their own drum. They are in a position to tackle large scale projects that can create a large impact without delay. A lot of businesses see the potential for going green. Many of them have come on board. There is actually a scoring system that was devised in 1998, called LEED Certification to help gauge just how far a company has gone to incorporate green initiatives into their designs. Specifically, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System provides a benchmark for the environmentally sustainable creation and use of buildings and neighborhoods. According to USGBC, 72% of electricity consumption and 39% of energy use come from buildings in the United States alone. LEED certified buildings use efficient resources to improve performance with energy conservation, CO2 emissions reduction, and water efficiency all while enchaining the ecosystems they are a part of – rather than diminishing them.

One major company, Globetrotters Engineering Corporation (GEC), an architectural company founded by engineer and CEO, Niranjan Shah, is an example of a company that adheres to LEED certification. GEC is responsible for the management of many facets of modernization and expansion of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago (the first privately managed terminal in the United States). Niranjan Shah proved that implementation of green design can be successful, helpful to society and profitable all at the same time. An example of another company that earned LEED Certification is the Washington D.C. based mortgage company, Fannie Mae, which was responsible for the first-ever LEED data center. There are countless other companies that are earning LEED certification. Government incentives given to companies that earn LEED certification is a way to boost the number of participants and achieve the environmental sustainability results that environmentally friendly federal energy policies target but can’t necessarily get passed through legislation.

On a much larger scale, organizations like the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), founded by Bill Clinton and counselor Doug Band, are doing their part to bring the strongest political leaders together to tackle world problems. However, small projects at home, public private partnerships and LEED certification are methods that combine to allow everyone a chance to get involved to curtail inefficient energy use. The necessity to highlight them cannot be understated. The planet is home to all of us and the best way to ensure sustainability is to live and work as environmentally friendly as possible.

Le Corbusier | Legendary Trendsetter of Modern Architecture

BenzuJK — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:32:48 +0000

“Architecture is the play of forms under light.”

Le Corbusier - The legend

Charles Edouard Jeanneret was born at La Chaux de Fonds on October 6, 1887 and later adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier. He came from a family of watch engravers in Switzerland, and his mother was a musician.

He grew to maturity in the intellectually stimulating city of Paris and adopted French nationality. He travelled extensively and learnt many lessons from the classical architecture of Greece and the Europen cities.

He became a powerful thinker of new urban theories and propounded a bold, modern architecture. In 1951, he was appointed Architectural Adviser to the Punjab government for designing the new capital city, Chandigarh. This city represents the expression of his revolutionary ideas and is where his greatest monuments have been erected.

Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright became the pioneers of Modern Architecture….

He lived his austere life and admired the simple and the useful. He was not only an architect and a planner but a painter, a sculptor, in secret a poet, a visionary whose view encompassed all that concerns man. Above all, Corbusier was a great humanist whose primary preoccupation was the welfare of man. He worked in India for a pittance and did not die a rich man.

He became a world renowned architect. He made revolutionary architectural designs…

Some of his Legendary projects are as follows:

Palace of League of Nations
Chandigarh City
Villa Savoye
Ronchamp Chapel
Le Corbusier Centre
United Le Habitation
United Nations Headquarters

Apart from designing buildings, he also designed the furniture. In 1940s, he entered into a partnership with his cousin Pierrie Jeanneret. Le Corbusier made plans and Pierrie Jeanneret executed them.

Theme and philosophy

Le Corbusier was the most influential architect of the twentieth century. His works, ideas and writings laid the foundation for modern architecture and planning. In 1942, he developed his modular system of measurements based the human scale and the golden section.

Five Point Programme

Le Corbusier developed a five-point programme for a new and contemporary architecture:

The Pilotis (posts)
The roof garden
The free plan
The horizontal strip windows
The free façade

Le Corbusier famously said that ‘architecture is the play of forms under light.’

Le Corbusier completely followed his five point programme in his project called “Villa Savoye, Paris”.

Villa Savoye, Paris

The Villa Savoye is considered by many to be the seminal work of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Situated at Poissy, outside of Paris, it is one of the most recognisable architectural presentations of the International Style. Construction was substantially completed ca. 1929.
The house was emblematic of Le Corbusier work in that it addressed “The Five Points”, his basic tenets of a new aesthetic of architecture constructed in reinforced concrete.
The pilotis, or ground-level supporting columns, elevate the building from the damp earth allowing the garden to flow beneath.
A flat roof terrace reclaims the area of the building site for domestic purposes, including a garden area.
The free plan, made possible by the elimination of load bearing walls, consists of partitions placed where they are needed without regard for those on adjoining levels.
Horizontal windows provide even illumination and ventilation.
The freely-designed facade, unconstrained by load-bearing considerations, consists of a thin skin of wall and windows.

The Villa Savoye was designed as a weekend country house and is situated just outside of the city of Poissy in a meadow which was originally surrounded by trees. The polychromatic interior contrasts with the primarily white exterior. Vertical circulation is facilitated by ramps as well as stairs. The house fell into ruin during World War II but has since been restored and is open for viewing.

This design project was the best example of his derived principles of design….

Death of Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier died suddenly on August 27, 1965, while swimming a Cap Martin. Besides his legacy of architecture, he left behind a huge compendium of ‘think sketches’, futuristic ideas and books containing his theories on architecture and town planning.

Slums in Cities | Providing Low-Cost Housing to End Slums

BenzuJK — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:38:57 +0000

In the last few decades, there had been a tremendous growth in emerging countries like India, Brazil, Mexico and China. This had been mainly due to a rapid expansion in the manufacturing sector.

Thus, there had been a massive immigration of workers to cities and production centers. These new workers cannot afford housing. This is what gives rise to slums, as the homeless make temporary shelters which get transformed rapidly into semi-permanent housing colonies. People migrate to cities because the comparative poverty and hardship involved in their alternatives (ie. subsistence farming) is worse.

Dharavi Slums, Mumbai, India

According to UN-HABITAT, a slum is defined as a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. It is estimated that one billion humans live in shanty towns. One in every three people in the world will live in slums within 30 years unless governments control unprecedented urban growth, according to a UN report.

Europe faced the same problem of slums during the Industrial Revolution and after World Wars. Due to the rising population, the number of slum dwellers is rising. One billion people worldwide live in slums and the figure will likely grow to 2 billion by 2030. Slums have been a major problem in Mumbai, Mexico City and Sao Paolo. 55% of the population of Mumbai live in slums, which cover only 6% of the city’s land. Slum growth rate in Mumbai is greater than the general urban growth rate.

Migration brought the proportions needed to expand the economy of these cities. The reason these slums come up is that there is a severe lack of public transportation in developing countries. Cheaper accommodation is available very far from the centers of production, but the workers cannot travel so far. Hence, slums were formed very close to the industrial areas.

Mumbai Slums

Another major hurdle in providing cheap accommodation to worker class is the arbitrarily set FSI (Floor Space Index) limit set my muncipalties, which create an artificial shortage of housing units, thus raising its costs. Poor migrants have no place to go other than to live in slums.

Slums are semi-permanent shacks which provide housing to the poor. They are unplanned, and thus lack drainage and drinking water facilities. This might lead to piling up of excrement and garbage. There is no electricity either, but is generally stolen by hooking wires to electrical poles. Add to it, there is an increased strain on the limited infrastructure and resources of the region, which might lead to deterioration of services.

Overstretched Infrastructure, Mumbai Trains

There have been many efforts by various governments to eradicate slums. But none of it seems to work. Poverty and hunger forces people to migrate to wherever they can make a living. You cannot stop free movement of people. No city in history worth remembering has ever prospered by closing its doors and denying itself to those who seek it.

In the article Urbanization: A Majority in Cities, UNFPA says,

The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history. In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities. By 2030 this number will swell to almost 5 billion, with urban growth concentrated in Africa and Asia.

Government-subsidized public housing

Slums become breeding grounds for unlawful activities and criminals due to lack of opportunities and a vast disparity in the standards of living of people. As more and more rural folks migrate to cities, the problems would only exacerbate. Government-subsidized public housing is not the solution. Government subsidies, infact, worsen the problems of slums, as they attract new people looking for free homes.

Rent Control laws do not work either. They worsen the situation by artificially lowering the rents. This does not make homes more affordable to slum dwellers, but infact increases its consumption and reduces supply as new projects would not be undertaken where the return on investment is low or negative.

Sometimes, the government steps in and says that rents shall not exceed “xx dollars” a month. The consequence of such indirect housing subsidy, of course, is that those tenants who are most fortunate will expand into living quarters more spacious than they would consider necessary at the competitive market price. Most tenants who can find two rooms for the price of one will occupy the two rooms instead of one.

Slum clearing campaigns periodically throw tens of thousands out of their only shelter, while planning agencies and state land ownership makes the production of adequate housing impossible.

The solutions to these problems as I see it are…

Development of industrial areas in smaller towns and help in their development so people don’t have to migrate to large cities.
Improvement in local transportation so that people can spread outwards instead of living near production centers.
Revocation of FSI limits and Rent Control acts which impose undue shortages of housing and thus force the formation of slums.

No related posts.

Elements of Garden Design | Water

BenzuJK — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:21:47 +0000

It is difficult to imagine another element so central and so vital both to basic life and to a diverse range of aesthetic and recreational pleasure. The use of water in the built environment is thousands of years old and is interwoven throughout its long history with symbolism and religious rites as well as with sensual delight. Aqua landscapes or Water Gardens, as they are known, have been prominent in English Imperial Gardens, French Baroque Gardens, Chinese Classical Gardens as well as the Moorish Royal Gardens.

Water Gardens typically include the integration of artificial ponds, streams, waterfalls, statues, rocks, aquatic plants, fishes, watercourses and fountains with the natural surroundings and environment in order to create a pleasing atmosphere.

General Historic types of Water Gardens & Landscapes

Water gardens have been designed for thousands of years for a variety of reasons. Here are a few interesting applications of water landscapes.

A. The Embellished Spring | Greek origin

Served as a source of potable water endowed with medicinal, legendary properties.

B. The Nyphaeum | Architectural city fountain

Highly developed by the Romans. Derived from the Greeks.

C. The Fountain of Ablution | Hindu and Islamic origin

Serves as a vehicle for obligatory cleansing before entering the mosque or a temple.

D. The Sculptural Fountains | Greek and Roman origin

Appeared in renaissance. Centerpieces for plazas, courtyards and intersections.

E. The Imperial Fountains | Bureaucratic, over-scaled version of the sculptural

Commissioned by the Pope or King to perpetuate his memory. Only at a fairly gross level, one can sort into categories many of the uses of water in design. Even then such classification inadequately describes the full reality and the parameters of the areas so defined.

F. Motion in Water feature | Kinetic sculpture fountain, London

Surge or wave action can be created. Prohibitively expensive mechanical systems required. Water used to turn sculpture. Water effects with water pressure. Economics and vandalism cannot be ignored.

G. Utilitarian Water features | Sculptural Fish Ladder, Michigan

Utilitarian projects can be expanded to exploit water as a recreational tool and educational tool.

H. Roof Gardens | Kaiser Centre, Oakland, California

Constructed over concrete slab roof deck. Water in motion by underwater jets. Structural requirement to be worked out at preliminary design stage. Periodic maintenance for watertight conditions is a must.

Garden Pond (Click to Enlarge)

An Aquatic landscape designer might modify and manipulate the naturally occurring features in a given place to improve its visual attraction. Artificial ponds might be dug up, new watercourses might be plotted, aquatic plants and fauna might be used to integrate the place with nature. Artificial waterfalls and fountains might be erected, which act as a cooling oasis in the summer season. Design of water gardens is a way to bring nature closer to human beings, to add beauty and serenity to the landscape.

Conservation of Water

Today, with the ever increasing human population, the world faces a terrible shortage of resources, including water. Hence, an important part of water gardens in landscape architecture is recycling and reusing water, as well as limiting the wastage of water as much as possible.

Water-efficient landscaping offers many economic and environmental benefits, including:

Lower water bills from reduced water use.
Conservation of natural resources and preservation of habitat for plants and wildlife such as fish and waterfowl.
Extended life for water resources infrastructure (e.g., reservoirs, treatment plants, groundwater aquifers)
Decreased energy use (and air pollution associated with its generation)

Hence, water recycling, pumping and storage is housed in the facility to decrease dependence on external water supply. The water in ponds, fountains and watercourses is periodically replaced as it is moving water, thus preventing the growth of algae or mosquitoes. It keeps the climate cool and serene. Hence, water gardens nowadays play an important part in the landscapes of mansions where they are integrated along with swimming pools and gardens.

Technical Transformations in Architecture | Impact of Industrial Revolution

BenzuJK — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:24:58 +0000

Architectural transformations were the main focus since the beginning of industrial revolution.
Three major types of architectural transformations were brought about:

Cultural transformations that we discussed in the earlier article
Technical transformations
Terrotorial transformations

In this article, we will deal with “Technical transformations in Architecture”.

Kew Gardens - Cast iron house at the Botanical garden

Industrial revolution brought about in the development of machines working on steam power which brought about the development of railways.

Rotary steam power and the iron frame came into being at around the same time through the interdependent efforts of three men:

James Watt
Abraham Darby
John Wilkinson

Of these three men, John Wilkinson was the iron master of his days, whose invention of cylinder boring machine in1775 was essential to the perfection of watts steam engine.

John Wilkinson - The Iron Master (Inventor of boring machines)

Because his cylinders were so accurately bored, he became the main supplier of these for Boulton and Watt, and also licensed steam engines from them to assist in his ironworks. He also encouraged them to provide steam engines to operate forges, and rotary engines for driving mills, the first rotary engine being installed at Bradley in 1783.

He suggested the use of cast iron for many roles where other materials had been used for ages.

He was profoundly known as the “Iron Mad Wilkinson”

The first cast-iron bridge was built which was 30.5m (100ft) span over the severn near Coalbrookdale in 1779.

The area around Ironbridge is described by those promoting it as a tourist destination as the “Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution”

Coalbrookdale Bridge 1779 - first cast-iron bridge

IN 1796, a 71m (236ft) cast-iron bridge was built across the wear of Sunderlands to the designs of Thomas Wilson who adopted ‘Paine’s voussoir’ method of assembly.

Telford pioneering career was brought to a close with his brick encased, iron-framed warehouses at St. Katherine dock in London designed by Philip Hardwick and erected in 1789. They were based on the system of fireproof multistory mill construction in the Midlands during the last decade of 18^th century.

Main structural antecedants for St. Katherine were William Struts’s 6-storey Calico mill, built at Derby in 1792, Charles Bage’s spinning mill erected at Shrewsbage’s in 1796.

Both of these structures has cast-iron columns, the pressing need to perfect the fireproof system for mill buildings. It replaced the timber beams. T-section iron beams were being used.

The beams carried shallow brick vaults, the whole assembly being stiffened by an outer shell and by wrought-iron, the rods retaining the structure in lateral direction.

For example: Theatre Francais has a wrought-iron roof.

Theatre Francais - wrought iron roof

An iron roof with a hollow-pot, fire proof, fire proof floor structure, which was derived from the Roussillon vault.

First Rondelet and then Durand codified a technique and a design method whereby a rationalized classicism could be brought to accommodate not only social demands but also new techniques.

Brown’s wrought-iron flat bar links were patented in 1817 and applied with lasting success to his 115m span of Union Bridge built over the Tweed in 1820. The Collaboration no doubt informed Telford’s design for his 177m span.

Menai Straits bridge, which after 8 years of arduous work was finally opened in 1825.
The strait varies in width from 400 metres from Fort Belan to Aber Menai Point to 1,100 metres from Traeth Gwyllt to Caernarfon Castle. It then narrows to about 500 metres in the middle reaches (Port Dinorwic and Menai Bridge) and then it broadens again. At Bangor Pier it is 900 metres wide. It then widens out, and the distance from Puffin Island to Penmaenmawr is about 7.5 km.

Menai Strait Bridge - cast iron bridge

Originally this carried rail traffic in two wrought-iron rectangular box spans, but after a disastrous fire in 1970, which left only the limestone pillars remaining, it was rebuilt as a steel box girder bridge. Between the two bridge crossings there is a small island in the middle of the strait, Ynys Gored Goch on which is built a house and outbuildings and around which are the significant remains of medieval fish traps – now no longer used.

Architectural & Cultural Transformations after the Industrial Revolution

Beautiful French Gardens | Magnifique Baroque Style

BenzuJK — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:19:31 +0000

The French are practical people. They were the ones who launched the French Revolution, a revolt against the ruling class while the rest of Europe bled under the thumbs of despots. But the French have a deep love for beauty and liberty. They have an open mind for new experiments, and thus French Architecture French Food and French Gardens have no match.

French Gardening Style

There was little chance to apply renaissance principles when the garden was within the fortress as in medieval France. Orchards and kitchen gardens were a part of this garden. By the beginning of the 17^th century, royal palace gardens in Paris were largely Italian in plan. But it all began to change. The royal gardener Claude Mollet is credited with the creation of the parterre de broderie and the importance of the avenue.

Another genius garden designer was Le Notre, who worked for Claude Mollet. He was really very impressive and creative. Nicolas Fouquet, Chancellor to the King of France, Louis XIV, met Le Notre and commissioned him to design the gardens at Vaux le Vicomte.

Vaux Le Vicomte - The French Garden (Click to Enlarge)

Fouquet’s garden turned out to be so mesmerizing that the King of France wanted one like it too. The chancellor’s gardener Le Notre was immediately ordered to design a Royal Garden for the King and took along with him the famous French style or Baroque garden. The garden had an enormous scale. The King was spending money on the garden like a drunken sailor. Flat land as opposed to the hilly Italian countryside characterized French garden sites.

Le Notre’s canals ran many kilometers and his avenues and allees stopped only at the horizon. Sheer scale made his work revolutionary. But his success came from the application of certain principles.

Le Norte’s Principles of Garden Design

The planting was always pushed back from the building making it stand from flat parterres or water implying the dominance of the resident over all he surveyed.
The Italian axial plan was used with a vast clearing as the main axis defined by trees with symmetry.
The main cross axes were always at right angles.
Between the axes diagonals and clearings and jeux d’esprit may be developed.
Long reflecting canals were designed.
Fountains in all varieties and shape as possible with technology were used.

Versailles Grounds (Click to Enlarge)

Versialles was Le Notre’s greatest work. There was a dominating central axis, from the centre of the garden front, across the open parterres, along the broader of the many rides as far as the eye can see. The Grand Canal that runs for more than a mile mainly occupies the axis. The trees along the rides or allees consisted of mixed kinds clipped into hedge fronts in dense blocks. Statues and vases lined these rides.

In the blocks of woodland, countless architectural incidents were hidden ranging from fountains to theatre. This did not detract from the main walk but added tempting diversions to walk unto. Dutch improvements in floriculture encouraged the planting of flowers in pots. There was a secondary palace within the garden called the Trianon where the smell of tuberoses was strongest. The box edged parterres were most elaborate close to the palace and became simpler further from the building. The orangery at Versailles had 3000 plants. It was, and still is, a magnificent piece of art.

French Garden Style (Click to Enlarge)

In 1761 Jean-Jacques Rousseau published what became an extremely influential novel: Julie: ou la Nouvelle Héloise in which he criticised the old gardens of France for their unnaturalness and ‘false taste of grandeur’. By the 1770s detailed descriptions of the new English gardens and their designers were being published in France. This revolutionized the gardening style across France and a new era of landscapes and gardens emerged and the era of classical baroque gardens was over.

The new French gardens borrowed many concepts from the English and Chinese gardens, and developed some of their own. But it all came to an end and by 1815, a mixed style of garden design was being adopted, which incorporated latest trends from American, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and other eclectic gardens. Victorian gardens came to be characterised by their mixed collections of areas laid out in different styles. Later, in the beginning of the 19th century, Italian gardens became the most popular styles.

Architectural & Cultural Transformations after the Industrial Revolution

BenzuJK — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:47:17 +0000

Industrial Revolution had a great impact on the field of Architecture. Technological innovations brought about a great deal of change in the work of an Architect. This was the period of “expansion of creativity” and brought about various Architectural Transformations.

The three major divisions of the Architectural Transformations are as follows:

Cultural Transfromations
Technical Transformations
Territorial Transformations

Cultural Transformations

The architecture of Neo-classicism seems to have emerged out of two different but related developments which radically transformed the relationship between man and nature.

Neoclassical style - Monticello House

There was a sudden change and increase in man’s capacity to have control over nature, which by 17^th century had begun to advance beyond the technical frontiers of Renaissance. There was change in the nature of human consciousness, in response to major changes taking place in the society. It gave birth to the cultural transformation taking place in the society.

The change in human consciousness yielded new categories of knowledge and historic mode of thought, that was reflexive to ask question to its own identity.

The over-elaboration of architectural language in the Rocco interiors of the Ancient Regime and the secularization of enlightenment. Their motivation was not simply to copy the ancients but to obey the principles on which their work had been based. In England, Rococo had never been fully accepted the impulse to redeem the excess of Baroque found its first expression.

By the end of 1750s, however, the British were already pursuing in construction of Rome. Neo-classicism proponent could be found in the construction of residences. The final development of British Neo-classicism came first in the work of Dance pupil John Soane, Adam and even from the English Baroque.

Sir John Soane, (10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English Architect. He was renowned specialist in the Neo-classical style of architecture.

Some of the characters of the Neo-classical style are mentioned below:

Clean lines
Massing of simple form
Decisive detailing
Careful proportions
Skilful use of light sources

The influence of his work, coming at the end of the Georgian era, was swamped by the revival styles of the 19th century. It was not until the late 19th century that the influence of Sir John’s architecture was widely felt.

Bank of England – Best known work of the Neo-classical architecture which gave a boost to the spread of commercial architecture.

Bank of England - Sir John Soane

An early awareness of cultural relativity in the late 17^th century prompted Claude Persault to question the validity of proportions and refined through classical theory.

Apart from insisting on the judicious application of classical elements, cordemoy was concerned with their geometrical purity in action against such Baroque devices as regular columniation.

The Abbe Laugier in his Essai Sur l’ architecture reinterpreted Cordemoy to poist a universal natural architecture, the primordial ‘primitive hut’ consisting of 4 tree trunks supporting the pitched roof.

After Cordemoy, he asserted this primal form as the basis for a sort of classified Gothic structure in which there would be neither arches nor pilasters nor pedestals nor any articulation.

Such a ‘translucent’ structure was realized in Jacque-German Soufflot’s Church of St. Benevieve in Paris begun in 1755.

Origin of the Italian Garden Style | Influence on Modern Landscape Architecture

BenzuJK — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:22:23 +0000

Italian Garden Architecture is another style that evolved after the Persian Gardening Style… This added another element of interest in the “Development of the Modern Garden Architecture”.

The possibility of building a villa arose at a time when control of the hinterland by cities rendered fortified rural settlements unnecessary. Existing country houses belonging to the large land owning town nobility could be converted and newly built villas built solely for enjoying rural life did not need to be defensible as a castle. Both types represent the cultural ideal of rural life the so called villeggiatura.

Italian garden Design Style

Italian gardens are characterized by the abundance of architectural features or built features in the garden. Staircases, balustrades, cascades pavilions and pavements – even the cypress avenues are imitations of colonnades. The origins of the style are to be found in ancient Rome. They took the pains to site their villas on the countryside with exceptional views, where cooling breeze would reach them above malarial valleys. Within the villas there were courts and colonnades designed for every phase of wind and weather.

A cloister for exercise would face the southeast to catch the low winter sun but escaped the summer heat. With outdoor dining rooms and swimming pools that were heated the interpenetrating of house and garden was total. Spanish patios give some idea of the principle. Today California has examples of such outdoor living areas in gardens e.g., Hearst estate.

As the renaissance gathered force, in Florence under the Medici Family, percepts for gardenin were gleaned from the classics, notably by the architect Leone Batista Alberti (1404-72). The artificial arrangement of nature was dictated by the cultural world of a ruling class.

Villa Medici Sitemap

The most revolutionary garden was the Villa Medici built in 1460 at Fiesole. The garden was enclosed with grottos, statues along a linear axis.The full-fledged renaissance garden first emerged as a prelude to building St. Peters.

Villa Medici

In 1503, Pope Julius II commissioned Bramante, who was later to draw up the plans for the Basilica., to build the Vatican Gardens – and build was the word. The Cortile del Belvedere at the Vatican became the prototype for imaginative roofless architecture.

Vatican Garden Style

The elements are stairs colonnades, stairs, and statues in niche and fountains. Bramante’s successors, Ligoria and Vignola brought the Italian garden to its climax with their masterpieces of mid 16^th century – The Villa d’Este at Tivoli and the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the Villa Lante (1566) near Viterbo.

As time went by, the dominance of nature in the garden once again took hold. In the 17^th century, the French eclipsed the Italian style.

Evolution of Persian Gardening Style | The Paradise Gardens

BenzuJK — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:48:58 +0000

Persian Garden Style evolved after the Egyptian Style of gardening. It marked the beginning of “Modern Garden Architecture”. The Persian garden was an answer to the aridity of the local climate where the high walled garden and the shady trees with its air cooled by streams and fountains, was a simple recipe for paradise. Mediterranean and hence all Western Gardens have their origins in Egypt between three and four thousand years ago. Since Egypt is a natural desert depending on the Nile for its fertility, its gardens were planted along reservoirs and irrigation canals.

Taj Mughal Gardens - Persian Style

The canals were straight for practical reasons; trees planted followed straight lines along the canals, It was also natural for the canal to have fish, lotus and supply of water. Hence, the theory goes that axial designs and layouts of gardens, the ‘formality’ of all classical Mediterranean inspired gardens to the present – via the Persians whose style swept eastwards to India and westwards via Spain with spread of Islam, and by the Romans whose adaptation of the Egyptian Style was repeated in the Renaissance.

Naghshe Jahan Square Isfahan

The Persian garden was an answer to the aridity of the local climate where the high walled garden and the shady trees with its air cooled by streams and fountains, was a simple recipe for paradise.

The word ‘paradise’ originally is believed to have meant a hunting park in Persian and it is still a Persian word for garden. The Persian garden is resolutely formal and is an elaboration of the Egyptian Plan. Two main waterways divided the garden into four – representing it as the four quarters of the universe. The centre of the cross was often a brimming tank lined with blue tiles. In larger gardens subsidiary canals subdivided the garden. Small jets of water made sounds such that water was heard and seen. Tall Chenar trees shaded the centre while the edge of the garden was lined with cypress, pine, poplar, date palms, almonds, orange and other fruit trees. Flowers were sometimes planted along the canals or in the long grass under trees. Tulips, iris, primula, hollyhock, narcissus, evening primrose, violets, anemones, carnations, lilac and jasmine have been mentioned in literature. Some bulbs were native ti Persia but others were brought from plant hunting expeditions abroad. Almost certainly trade or conquest introduced the perpetually flowering Chinese rose. By the 13^th century, following the conquests by Mongol emperor Changez Khan, the routes to China were well established and the Chinese influence can be seen in Persian painting. All surviving paintings date from this period or later. They show naturalistic streams and rocky margins, which were features of Chinese Gardens.

Taj Mahal Garden

The key to the gardens of the Islamic world was the idea of an oasis. All around stretch bare hills in the burning sun. Within the garden wall, the essentials are cool shade and the sight and sound of water.

Common features of Persian gardens

A high surrounding wall
Straight tile-lined channels of water
Bubbling fountains
Trees for shade and fruit
A Pavilion or gazebo
Strong emphasis on flowers in beds and pots

Taj Mahal Garden - Built by Shah Jahan (It exemplifies Persian Garden Architecture)

There are no statues as Islamic law forbids idols in human form. The Gazebo or baradari may rise to several storeys depending on the size of the garden and were completely surrounded by water. Persia’s native rose includes the brilliant yellow and the red Rosa Foetida. Lacking flowers in summer, the paving tiles on every surface and their pattern provided colour in the garden. Low hedges line flowerbeds near the gazebo. Ornamental fowl and peacocks introduced from India and Ceylon brought colour to the gardens. The name Charbagh meaning a four-fold garden is still common in India and Persia.

Shalimar Garden, Kashmir

The Moghuls made the grandest of these gardens in the 16^th and 17^th century in India. The Shalimar Bagh in Kashmir shows a similar layout. Shah Jahan built it in 1642. However, these gardens lacked a high compound wall in India.

Persian Garden Architecture was then followed by Italian and French Garden Architecture…

Elements of Garden Design | Landform

BenzuJK — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:31:20 +0000

Garden design is a major part of Landscape Architecture. Study of the landform helps us in site planning and Landscape design.

Topography and slopes determine, framing, screening of views, plant growth with which the former is achieved. siting of built surfaces and artefacts in landscape. However, the topography and the associated slopes when based on geology and soil characteristics assist in economic and sustainable landscape design.

Castle lake garden

All of landscape design ultimately depends on soil and water retention. At large or small scale, the shape of the earth indicates geological forces at work or of modern landuse, hints at the work of our ancestors or of ancient people.

Three important factors to consider in Garden design:

Shape of the ground
Provision of Circulation
Vertical elements of Planting and Enclosure

The shape of the earth has primary consideration since reshaping has to consider existing levels within and adjacent to the site. This avoids flooding and accommodates surface drainage enabling quick reuse of the site after rain. In small sites ground modeling can give depth and mystery to the site in directing the view and the focus of the user. At its most elemental earth shaping is a sculptural concept, a rearrangement of mass and void, a subdivision of space. Technical conditions for stable earth shaping are contouring and slope stability.

Lake garden

Existing drainage systems, swales, streams, gullies seasonal floods need to be recorded through survey. Settlement and consolidation of new slopes has to consider existing trees that may become unstable or die due to absence of water retention in new slopes.

Slopes need to accommodate access to all parts of the site and for planting and landscape treatment.

Ramps should have slopes of 1 in 3 and never more than 1 in 10
Steps – 1 in 4
Ddisturbed soils should be graded 1 in 5 for safety
Agriculture – 1 in 6
Forestry – 1 in 4.
Grass does not grow well in 1 in 1 slope. Machine mowing slopes are usually 1 in 4.
Grassy slopes for pedestrian use should be 1 in 10 for comfort or else tend to get muddy.
Football and other grounds – 1 in 30 to 1 in 80.

Slope and Planting depend on quality of subsoil drainage since waterlogged sites are unstable and the soil itself is devoid of air necessary for roots. The soil water flows through these spaces and carry bacteria. Roots tend to go deeper in fast draining soil leading to healthier soil and stability. The open and healthy nature of soil that is ideal for plants can be achieved cultivation, drainage and applications of compost. Soil is created when living organisms colonizes mineral detritus. It is the interface between the solid rocky globe and the biosphere; the term for the mere life-supporting elements , oxygen above all that envelops us. It is normal to distinguish between the top soil, where the marriage of rocky matrix and biological life has gone furthest, and the subsoil where the influence of the biosphere is comparatively slight.

The significance of understanding the landform lies in the fact that designing plant groups belonging to those specified in specific slopes and soil type, will thrive with least maintenance with substantial savings and sustainability of designed landscape.

Development of the Modern Garden | Landscape Architecture

BenzuJK — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:53:26 +0000

Our present set of ideas as to what constitutes a garden has long roots back into history. As far as we know gardening started quite independently in two different places – Egypt and China.

Chinese Garden

Egyptian gardens were based on irrigated small land holdings in the desert and Chinese Gardens were based on Imperial Hunting Parks. These two sources started two diametrically opposite traditions that can be termed as formal and informal; the straight edge and the flowing; the architectonic and the naturalistic.

Until the beginning of 18^th century the Egyptian tradition had no influence on east of India. Then suddenly the English started gardening in the Chinese way. There is no direct evidence of influence. However, it is hard to believe that there is no direct link waiting to be discovered.

Egyptian Garden

Though these two styles reigned supreme after the late 18^th century there was greater emphasis on the horticulture aspect or variety in plants rather than on design. Where layout is concerned, the departure from the styles mentioned is only the abstraction of garden design as in painting and sculpture especially that of Picasso, Moore and Mondrian.

The 7 Elements of Unity | Aesthetic Components of Design

BenzuJK — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:38:41 +0000

The principle of Unity deals with visual composition in design. Composition means the relationship between the visual elements. The brick work, timber and concrete which we use as building materials for protection from weather or for structural support form the visual composition of architectural composition. To get a good composition, the elements of unity should be chosen carefully.

Unity therefore deals with the arrangement of building materials and building parts (floor, wall, roof, column, beam, etc) to create a good composition.

7 key Elements of Unity

Texture
Colour
Tone
Direction
Proportion
Solid and Void
Form and Shape

Consider materials such as stone, glass and steel. They are available in a variety of colours, tones, textures, shapes, proportions, etc. Various compositions of these material properties are possible-the challenge lies in arising at the most pleasing composition. The texture or colour of a single brick or wood panel will differ in effect when it forms a part of the larger composition such as brick wall or a door frame set in a wall.

Texture

The word texture generally refers to the appearance and feel of a surface. However, it could also mean the physical composition or structure of something, especially with respect to its size, shape and arrangement of its parts.

In this figure, a variety of textures can be seen in the roofs, walls and paving. Strongly identifiable shapes in roofs and battered walls are seen as repeated units, presenting a definite and distinguishable feel of the surface.

Individual dwellings within a group, as well as decorations and carvings in buildings can create an effect of texture.

Colour

Here colour refers to hue (colour range). Colour is one of the pronounced elements of aesthetics and its selection is very crucial to the overall effect it has on aesthetics. A variety of effects can be produced by varying luminance, fullness and its transparency.

Tone

Tone is related to the colour theory and varies from the neutral scale of white to black through a range of greys. This plays an important role in drawings used to represent buildings.

Direction

Every building has elements which suggest direction. In most buildings, these are strong elements that suggest vertical and horizontal direction. The total shape of the building, or parts of the building or its structural components (beam, column, wall, ceiling etc) its windows and other openings all suggest the direction.

Example: City Theatre, Helsinki, Finland

This building shows a strong dominance of horizontality given by the roof line and overhang in contrast from the columns. The directional emphasis is reinforced by the use of a strongly ribbed cladding tile, which can be seen running horizontally on the eaves soffit and the beams linking the column heads and the solid parts of the wall behind them.

Here a dominantly vertical composition is shown where the verticality is reinforced by the faceting of the envelope. Contrast is given by the generally horizontal emphasis of the fenestration. The curving round of the plan affords more window space for the living accommodation of the southerly side relative to the service and circulation space on the north i.e., stairs, lifts, passage access to flats.

Proportion

In this context, proportion is the geometric relationship of the sides of volumes (e.g., rectangles). It is also the ratio and comparative size of individual parts of the composition.

Ducal Palace, Urbino, Paris illustrates the concept of unity through proportions.

Ducal Palace, Urbino, Paris

We cannot measure these relationships accurately by eye, but we can compare them and try to judge the relationship of one to another on proportional basis.

Buildings belonging to Classical and Gothic Architecture have better proportional relationships than most buildings today.

Solid and Void

The relationship between solid (walls, roofs, etc) and void (windows and other openings) structural units is very important to form a good composition.

Cemetery Chapel, Turku, Finland

Cemetery Chapel, Turku, Finland shows the relationship between solid and void structural units. In this structure, the dominance of solid material contributes to the sense of enduring unity.

Form and Shape

Form and shape can be clearly observed in the overall arrangement of a building or in parts of a building (windows, doors etc) which have geometric shapes. Repetition or variation of a particular form can provide strong elements of composition.

Parts of a building, for example, windows depicting form represent geometric shapes such as a square or a rectangle. Repetition of a window unit form a good element of composition.

Shape helps to identify different forms, for example, the pitch of a roof will provide a certain form which is easy to identify and also easy to relate to other roofs which have a similar pitch. When a roof is of a distinctly different shape, it will look strongly dissimilar.

World Renowned Projects of Architect Frank Lloyd Wright

BenzuJK — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:02:31 +0000

Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867 in Richland Centre, Wiscosin. Wright contributed the ‘Prairie’ and ‘Usonian’ styles to American residential architecture. Elements of his designs can be found in a large proportion of homes built today.

Wright studied civil engineering briefly at the University of Wisconsin. At 20 years of age, he joined a Chicago architectural firm as a draftsman. Wright eventually became chief draftsman and supervised the firm’s residential designs. Wright started his own firm in 1893, and began developing ideas for his ‘Prairie House’ Concept and later on became the pioneer of ‘Organic Architecture‘.

Organic architecture seeks superior sense of use and a finer sense of comfort, expressed in organic simplicity. – Frank Lloyd Wright

Wright designed the Robie House in Chicago (1906-10). It is designated as the cornerstone of Modern Architecture. This house project exemplifies his “Prairie Style”. In 1909, he went to Europe and worked with European Architecture for two years. Between 1915-22 he introduced a new construction technique to safeguard buildings against earthquakes and used this to build the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

Robie House, Chicago (1909)

He developed certain pre-fabricated concrete parts which were used in Millard House. Frank Lloyd Wright recognized it as the earliest ‘Usonian’ house, La Miniatura is also the first residence to utilize Wright’s highly inventive “Textile Block Building System”.

Millard House

The Millard House is internationally recognized as one of the world’s most important works of architecture.

Backyard of the Millard House

Interior Pictures of the Millard House

Living Area in the Millard House

Close-up of Textile Block System

Wright contributed new ideas on town-planning in the title Broadacre City. Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright late in his life. He presented the idea in his book The Disappearing City in 1932. Broadacre City was the antithesis of a city and the apotheosis of the newly born suburbia, shaped through Wright’s particular vision.This was a model for a community of car-driving families.

Broadacre City

One of his most intelligent works is the house “FallingWater” where he has demonstrated an excellent example of Organic Architecture.

He designed the S. C Johnson Wax Building, Wisconsin.He used exposed Brick walls for the external facades of the building. The most important aspect of the design of this building is the construction of “Dendriform Columns”.

S.C Johnson Wax Museum

The main office work space is articulated by dendriform columns capable of supporting six times the weight imposed upon them, a fact Wright had to demonstrate in order to obtain a building permit.

Wright also used unusual designs like a spiral form for Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York. This Museum is one of the most popular museums in the world. It also serves as a great example of Modern and Organic Architecture.

Wright has 800 designs to his credit and has written many books and articles. He has explained his concept of Organic Architecture in his Book, The Future of Architecture (1953) and The Living City(1958).

Of all buildings two are universally known and uniquely linked with his name – ‘Falling Water’ and Guggenheim Museum.Falling Water is recognized as the landmark of Modern Architecture and work of a genius.

Natural Landscape Vs Artificial Environment

BenzuJK — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:36:01 +0000

Landscape Architecture is the art of designing the environment with the help of natural elements like stones, bricks, water, landforms… etc.

Italian Gardens

If we design a building aesthetically good and also decorate it beautifully from inside, yet if its surrounding outside area is rubbish, then the beauty of the building will be considered reduced. As such the building must have a beautiful surrounding. This is achieved by landscape development.

Landscaping is an art of planning the drives, walks, lawns, shrubs, gardens, flower-beds etc. so as to form a beautiful setting for a building. The main purpose of landscaping is to create a joyful environment round the building and give the occupants a healthy breath, good appearance and natural beauty.

Landscape design enhances the aesthetic appeal of a building. It entails planning the space outside or surrounding a construction or a building.

The job of the landscape designer is to manipulate and shape the natural layout of the site to suit his uses and create aesthetic pleasure. The outdoor environment could be designed with natural or man-made components i.e., it could be natural or artificial.

The importance of Landscape Architecture should not be undermined.

Natural Environment

A landscape derived from the natural habitat of the region constitutes a natural environment and depends on the type of existing natural surroundings such as a forest or a desert. Such an environment exists even in man’s absence.

Natural landscape

Natural landscape is one that is not affected by human activities. Natural landscape remains intact if the living and non-living elements of that natural environment are free to move and change.

There is no place on earth that has remained undisturbed by the human activities. Human beings are also a part of Bio-diversity. But their cultural influences exert such pressure on the Bio-diversity that it completely modifies the natural environment. If an area is abandoned by the culture and is left free to the nature, the natural forces will act on the modified environment and bring it back in nature’s control.

Artificial Environment

Man alters the natural environment by creating an artificial environment such as fields and farms and landscaped gardens.

Irrigated Fields

Man designs his own environment

Man designs the landscape around the built environment for its pleasant and aesthetic appearance. He designs it either by merging the building with the natural environment or by creating Parks and Gardens. In doing so, he makes the environment pleasant to live in.

Maintenance of Artificial Landscape

Artificial Landscape

A man-made landscape once created, needs constant care and maintenance. Some landscape elements get worn out and destroyed over a period of time, and need to be replaced. Weeds should be periodically removed. Proper watering of plants should be done. Cutting and pruning must be carried out periodically. All this involves cost and skill.

The Evolution of European Gothic Architecture

BenzuJK — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:33:10 +0000

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period.

Originating in 12th-century France and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known during the period as “the French Style”, with the term Gothic first appearing during the latter part of the as a Renaissance stylistic insult.

Kylemore Gothic Church

It evolved from Romanesque Architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance Architecture. The Goths contributed many architectural ideas. Those ideas have been used in various structures in the Gothic Period most importantly in the construction of Cathedrals. Renaissance Architecture which flourished after the Gothic Architecture adopted some of its ideas but modified it according to their architectural sense of understanding.

The elements that developed during the Gothic Period are as follows:

Pointed Arch
Fan-like Vault
Flying Buttress

Gothic Architecture greatly emphasized on the construction of several Gothic Churches in Europe.

The Pointed Arch

The arches appeared in 2nd millenium BC in Mesopotamian Brick Architecture. Later on, the sophisticated and systematic use of arches to span huge structures was started by Romans.

The ancient Romans learned the arch from the Etruscans, refined it and were the first builders to tap its full potential for above ground buildings.

The Romans were the first builders in Europe, perhaps the first in the world, fully to appreciate the advantages of the arch, the vault and the dome.

The main feature of Gothic Architecture is a vaulting framework of intersecting, pointed arch ribs, which support thin stone panels. The ribs were constructed as the permanent ‘formwork’ and the space between them was filled with a pointed arch.

The Gothic pointed arch was derived from the Islamic Pointed Arch of Moorish Spain.

Reims Cathedral is the best example where the use of pointed arches is very prominent.

Reims Cathedral, France

Fan-like Vault

Vaulting system was adopted as structural elements.

Since, they did not use beams as structural elements, they discovered vaulting system that acted as ornaments and served the purpose of giving structural strength to the structure.

The interior of Gothic cathedral gives a feeling of spaciousness and great height. One can appreciate the piers blossoming out into a fan-like vault.

One of the famous example for Fan-like vaulting system: Vaulted Staircase of Christ Church, Oxford

Vaulted Staircase of Christ Church, Oxford

Flying Buttress

Flying Buttress was another principle element that developed in the Gothic Period.

A flying buttress is a free-standing buttress attached to the main structure by an arch or a half-arch. Flying Buttresses were used as structural elements.

The evolution of exterior is an outcome of interior, and also the method of construction. In vaulting system used, the pressure due to the vault and the arch was transferred to the ground by buttresses which were called Flying Buttresses, thrusted on top by a pinnacle.

Notre Dame, Paris is an excellent example of Gothic Architecture.

Flying Buttress of Notre Dame, France

Gothic Architecture was an intricate system of construction, which was practiced by generations of experts consisting of masons, artists and supervisors, who were both engineers and architects. They were the “Master Builders”.

How to conduct a Case Study?

BenzuJK — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:54:12 +0000

When students begin studying Architecture at a University, the first thing that they are supposed to become excellent at, is doing a documentation or a case study. It could be a case study of a small village, town, a villa, a bus-stop, or a high-rise commercial or residential building. A case study is an in-depth investigation of a single individual, group, incident, or community. Other ways include experiments, surveys, or analysis of archival information

What is the purpose of conducting a Case Study?

As the term Case Study suggests, it is the study of a particular case that is similar to your topic of design project. Doing a case study will help you understand the various aspects that you have to consider while designing.

Literature Case study

Before you start with your live case studies, first of all do a complete literature case study. Literature case study consists of reading everything you can find on the subject. You can refer books in a library, use Google to look up research papers, check out Standard Code books and statutory laws or from technical journals.

A literature case study would give you a vague idea about your topic. There will be various questions arising in your mind after you are done with your literature case study. To find the answers to those questions, you will have to go for minimum two live case studies….

Always possibly go for more than two different case studies, because a comparative case study of two or more different cases is very important and helpful.

While you are doing your first case study, say a Villa, go for a smaller Villa first so that you can figure out the basic minimum requirements.
In your second case study, go for an extremely lavish Villa so that you are aware of the maximum requirements you could give.

(Being able to provide maximum or minimum requirements in your design is very important)

If there are some requirements that you haven’t come across while doing your case studies but you went through it while you were doing a literature case study, then try implementing those requirements in your design.

Eleven most important things to analyze in any Case Study

Environment and micro-climate
Analyzing the surrounding environment and the micro-climate of that place will help understand the reason of the orientation of the structure, the kind of roof chosen and the materials used in its construction.
User behavior and requirementsStudying the functioning of a particular place, say a Hospital, is very important; without which you will not be able to figure out the requirements and the area that should be allotted for each of the requirements.Talking to people working at that place (Hospital), will help you figure out if the requirements that are provided are adequate and he area that is allotted is sufficient for its efficient working.
Utility and space enhancement
Study of Utilitarian facilities of a particular case is also important. Various measures taken to enhance a particular space should be analyzed.
Form and Function
Analyzing the reason behind the form of that particular building…and how it merges with the surrounding environment. Form and Function go hand in hand. The form of the building should be able to convey the function of the building. A lot of Architects say “Form follows Function”.As an example, an institutional building should not end up looking like a museum or a disco.Some other Architects might disagree with that philosophy. They’d say that the function of a structure keeps changing but changing the form of the building everytime its function changes is not possible. They say, Adopt a “Universal Design Scheme”.
Horizontal and vertical circulation
Horizontal circulation consists of elements such as the corridors and lobbies. Vertical circulation includes elevators, staircases, ramps etc. The efficiency of the placement of these services should be analyzed.
Site Planning and Landscape detailing
Refer to the Article on the blog “A Guide to Site Planning”, which deals with different aspects considered in site planning in greater detail.
Structural details such as Column and Beam Design, Steel and Composite structures
Understanding and analyzing the structural details is also important. For example, large span structures such as Auditoriums use trusses or heavy I-section steel beams and sometimes shell-roofing that involve construction of Ring beams whereas in small span structures, RCC construction is used.
Building Services such as Fire Alarm system, HVAC, Water supply systems
The working of Fire Alarm system, HVAC and Water supply systems should be examined and their space requirements are to be analyzed.
Design detailing considering the Barrier-free environment
Implementation of the Barrier-free architecture for comfortable access to disabled people. Most public buildings have mandatory accessibility systems for the disabled. Check out Guidelines to the Disability Standards for Access to Premises 200X. (Australian law)
Socio-economic profile of user group
It might also be important to find out the socio-economic profile of the people using the services so as to determine their requirements and available resources.
Parking details and standards
Measure the allotted parking area on site, say for ten cars, then calculate the average area for each car and compare it with the areas specified in TSS (Time Savers Standards).

Conducting a case study is hard work. Sometimes, it is so small, it could be done in days, but on other occasions, it takes weeks to document and compile all the data. It involves going on-site, meeting and taking to people, lots of traveling, plenty of photography, and some fun. It is the most important of assignments you might get as an architectural students.

This is where you learn from reality, actual stuff, as opposed to only theoretical knowledge. Looking at places first hand and documenting information would give you many insights and ideas and let you peek into the minds of professional architects and designers who have used years of experience and improvisation to design and create incredible structures.

Case studies of some of the famous Structures mentioned below:

NIT-Trichy | Documentation and Analysis

Case study | SPA – Delhi

Hong Kong (Chek Lap Kok) International Airport, China

BenzuJK — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:54:01 +0000

Hong Kong International Airport is the main airport in Hong Kong. It is also known as Chek Lap Kok Airport, due to the fact that it was built on the island of Chek Lap Kok by land reclamation. Hong Kong is based on an island and there is a severe shortage of land near Hong Kong. So, a mega-project was undertaken to reclaim the ocean to build a world-class international airport.

The airport opened for commercial operations in 1998, replacing Kai Tak Airport, and is an important regional trans-shipment centre, passenger hub and gateway for destinations in China, East Asia and Southeast Asia. The old airport was insufficient for the growing needs of Hong Kong and hence had to be shut down. The new Chek Lap Kok airport can easily handle a lot more volume of passengers and goods.

The Old Hong Kong International Airport

The old airport was located in a densely populated area, and had become quite frustrating and dangerous for pilots. Landing on that airport required considerable expertise, and was a serious risk for large aircraft. The old airport had also become inadequate to handle ever-increasing traffic and goods, as well as new-generation aircraft. Hence, it was closed down in 1998, after the completion of the new Airport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PCOcyt7BPI

Construction of Airport

On July 6, 1998, Hong Kong opened its new International Airport 16 miles out at sea, But First, Engineers had to build not only the largest passenger terminal on Earth, but a whole new island to hold the airport, the miles of tunnels, bridges and roadways to connect it to the mainland.]

The construction of Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok was one of the biggest operations in the industry. The core programme cost more than $20bn and involved four major sponsors, ten separate projects, 225 construction contracts and over 1,000 critical interfaces.

The airport covers 12.48km² of reclaimed land between the two islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau. The airport increased the land area of Hong Kong by 1%. The airport opened for business in July 1998 taking six years to build.

Terminal Building

The passenger terminal claims to be the world’s largest enclosed space with 70 moving walkways stretching more than 2 miles, a pilotless electric train, 150 shops and a 1100-room hotel.

The flat-island housing Hong Kong International Airport was actually two mountainous islands when the construction began. But the mountains were pulverised and their rocks recycled to fill 1.5 miles if sea now connecting Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau.

Access to Airport

Click to Enlarge - Hong Kong International Airport

A new transportation corridor stretches 34km from Hong Kong Island to the site of the airport, incorporating a high-speed rail system, two tunnels, two bridges and a six-lane expressway. It contains the world’s longest double-decker suspension bridge.

Designed for the rapid movement of millions of passengers, the airport has 288 check-in counters, 200 immigration desks and 80 customs positions. The new airport also boasts 2.5km of moving walkways and around 120 shops.

Lantau Link

The 1.3-mile long Tsing Ma Bridge is teh world’s longest span suspension bridge, linking cars and railway traffic between Lantau Island and the rest of Hong Kong. Part of the comprehensive transportation network, its concrete towers rise nearly 700 feet. It is the world’s seventh longest span suspension bridge. It has two decks and carries both road and rail traffic, which also makes it the largest suspension bridge of this type. The bridge has a main span of 1,377 metres (4,518 ft) and a height of 206 metres (676 ft). The span is the largest of all bridges in the world carrying rail traffic.

The 41 metres (135 ft) wide bridge deck carries six lanes of automobile traffic, with three lanes in each direction. The lower level contains two rail tracks. There are also two sheltered carriageways on the lower deck for maintenance access and as backup for traffic when particularly severe typhoons strike Hong Kong. Though road traffic would need to be closed in that case, trains could still get through in either direction.

Facilities at Airport

The shopping and leisure facilities include the airport’s SkyMart with 160 shopping outlets and 40 restaurants spread over 39,000m². The facilities also include free and pay internet lounges, Wi-Fi access, many lounges and TV screens and a children’s play area. The superior facilities have meant that the airport has been voted the world’s best in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 (came first in Skytrax’s world airport awards in 2007) and is consistently in the top-five list.

Technical Transformations in Architecture | Impact of Industrial Revolution

Aesthetic Components of Architecture

BenzuJK — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:19:22 +0000

Architecture is a design process which involves planning, designing, creating, erecting, constructing and executing construction of various types of buildings that are functionally efficient, economically viable and aesthetically pleasing.

The two most important factors in the design of a building are Form and Function. Functionality is the most important aspect of building design. The other aspect is building form or aesthetics.

Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty.

Aesthetics is one of the major principle of Architecture that students and professionals alike have to worship. It concerns beauty or appreciation of beauty. In other words, it is a philosophy behind a pleasing appearance.

A set of principles followed by the Architectural designers or any designers for that matter for the evolution of the end product that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, is called aesthetics. It is directly influenced by the artistic taste of an individual.

Aesthetics is concerned with bringing art into the daily lives of the people. Like people need colorful, designer clothes to wear and taste and presentation of food. Likewise, people like to live and work in places that are beautifully designed and are aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

When a building is designed, the aesthetic aspects can be satisfied using elements such as sloped roof, decorative columns, roofs for window elements, and semicircular and segmental arches.

The philosophy of aesthetics can be mastered by any designer if he follows these key elements listed below…

Mass and space
Proportion
Symmetry
Balance
Contrast
Pattern
Decoration
Massing

Aesthetic Qualities

Aesthetic qualities may be sub-divided into a number of basic elements…

Unity
Proportion
Scale
Balance
Symmetry
Rhythm

All these qualities are collectively important, and can have an important impact on the design. Architects bend these rules all the time. We all know about Organic Architecture and Deconstructivism. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. It is just a perception of the person viewing them. If your design is functionally efficient and aesthetically good, and the client likes it, then you don’t need to worry about anything.

Study Architecture | Challenging And Fun

BenzuJK — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:54:50 +0000

Architects are inventors, innovators, trendsetters… Their job is to create good living and working environments. Throughout the ages, Architects have proven themselves to be no less in stature than great artists, painters or sculptures of ancient times, for their creations still remind us of the great inventiveness and creativity these individuals had. Leonardo Da Vinci was one of them. So was Frank O. Gehry, Frank Lloyd Wright and many others like them who have left their mark on the sands of history by their novel and innovative ideas.

Life of an Architectural student can be tough at times. Students who chose this line of career are bustling with enthusiasm. When they join an Architectural Institute, their hearts are filled with anticipation of all the fun things they’ll do. These students have the urge to demonstrate their creative genius, to redesign the world according to their ideals, to prove their worth to the world.

But in reality, Architecture is a very difficult field of study. Creativity does count, but you do not have the leisure to wait for that inspiration to come to you. College assignments and projects will ensure you’ll have to spend more time doing clerical work than creative thinking. There are sharp deadlines when your assignments have to be submitted. You have little time to think about your work. In the end, you’ll find yourself juggling between multiple unrelated subjects, multi-tasking between your assignments to complete them before the deadline. There are but few opportunities to exhibit your talents.

A student has many choices to make… architecture being such a vast and varied field. It comprises of not just the art of designing the buildings and their surrounding environment, but we also have to deal with history, geology, engineering, climatology… and a host of other subjects. Artistic students may prefer Architectural Design over Electrical Systems. A more technical oriented student may immerse himself in studying Structural Engineering rather than wasting his time learning about the ancient History of Architecture which is no longer relevant in today’s society. There are so many different options.

It is a tough choice to make. An architect may not only plan buildings and design their elevations, but may also designing the landscape. It would be a part of Landscape Architecture. Some purists try to blend the original landscape itself into the building, in such a way that the building seems like a natural growth and not an artificial construction. Then there is Interior Designing, which is a very important and specialized branch of Architecture. A student may decide to major in any of those fields. Architecture is fun… it is exhaustive, but the pleasure you get from seeing your ideas coming to life is exalting.

Nothing can top Professional Architects and students of architecture from letting their dreams run wild and them trying to achieve the impossible. Its always a pleasure to know that there are people who are really pushing the limits of what we think as possible. They may be called heretics or insane, but they are the real builders of a nation. The Visionaries… who have the art and the craft of astounding the masses with their brilliant designs…

Architecture is Tough… Architecture is Challenging… Architecture is Fun…

Solomon Guggenheim Spiral Museum | Frank Lloyd Wright’s Masterpiece

BenzuJK — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:11:39 +0000

This project is a Masterpiece. It was designed by the Great Architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the early forties.

Althought the design process started in 1943, Wright’s inverted-ziggurat design was not built until 1959. There were a number of reasons for the delay. Architect Wright had to produce six separate sets of plans and 749 drawings before one was finalized.

Solomon Guggenheim Museum

The Solomon Guggenheim Museum was constructed to display the collected works of Guggenheim – his sculptures, paintings and pictures.

In order to give a completely original form for the building, Wright invented a radical new shape for it. The seven-storey building that he developed has a spiral form around an open well, with a huge skylight as a roof.

Wright’s purpose was to develop a new kind of museum in which each work of art did not merely form the part of the wall but stood out on a slightly curving surface. The unique feature of this design is that while looking at any one painting, all other paintings are always visible, since the whole exhibition can be seen at any point on the ramp. He gave special importance to lighting. By using both daylight and artificial light, a three dimensional effect was created.

Guggenheim Museum - roof skylight

The individual storeys project outwards at each level. The paintings are planned so that they hang on the external skin which follows the spiral.

The circulation pattern is very simple. Visitors are taken up to the top floor by lift directly upon entering the museum, then they walk down the gentle slope of the spiral ramp on the ground floor, viewing their exhibits on their descent, with changing colours and forms. There is a library and a book shop on the ground floor. The circular form of the spiral adds to the sense of movement. The museum’s administrative office is in a separate building to the north, which is also spiral shaped.

The main construction material is concrete in a variety of forms such as reinforced and sprayed concrete, as the spiral ramp design depends on the character of the material. The circular, inverted, and truncated conical main space is lit by a dome and a ground floor is left as an open circular court. A single, self-supporting, reinforced concrete spiral beam forms the structural system. The flat beam acts like a continuous ramp. This ramp is the architectural space.

Guggenheim Museum - spiral ramp

Wright’s concept is three-dimensional and links the visitor, the picture and the environment into a single unit such as structure, space and circulation come together to form a tremendous unity. The continuous seven-storey ramp is based on the principle of the unbroken wave.

This unique architectural masterpiece, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, is arguably the most important building of Wright’s late career. In the words of Paul Goldberger,

“Wright’s building made it socially and culturally acceptable for an architect to design a highly expressive, intensely personal museum. In this sense almost every museum of our time is a child of the Guggenheim.”

Truely, it is a Masterpiece…