Excavations Add 6000 Years To Istanbul

Historians had believed modern-day Istanbul was first settled around 700 BC. However, a grave that has been recently discovered at the site of a rail project instantaneously added 6000 years to Istanbul’s history. “We found the grave, pots and other artifacts. There were signs of houses made of tree-branches and next to the settlement was [...]

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Tagore Theater: Name To Design Or Design To Name

Tagore Theater of Chandigarh in India, designed by Ar. Aditya Prakash, is one of the master prices of modern architecture and symbolic of Chandigarh’s architecture style. Dr Vikramaditya Prakash of University of Washington shares the very interesting story of how the Tagore Theater of Chandigarh was designed,  built, and named. The key players here were [...]

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Aditya Prakash: The Indian Modernist

On August 12, 2008 city of Chandigarh (India) lost an eminent architect, designer, painter, a theater enthusiast, academician, Le Corbusier’s associate. He was Ar. Aditya Prakash. News Release- Aditya Prakash, Indian Modernist He was on his way to Mumbai for staging the play Life Never Retires, created by G.S. Channi, in which he played the [...]

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Holistic Reality: Mumbai’s Cybertecture Egg

India has been on world architecture news for a while now. Antilla has hardly left the headlines,  Cybertecture Egg has already taken a place on top. Talk of intelligent design- this building will surpass all that fall in this category. You will see it built by 2010. The concept. The concept was inspired by considering [...]

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Piano to Build at Corbu’s Ronchamp Chapel

Construction plans for the site of Le Corbusier’s chapel of Notre Dame du Haut (1954) in Ronchamp (France) commissioned by the Association Oeuvre Notre Dame du Haut (the same organization that commissioned the chapel by Le Corbusier), has ignited a serious debate and disagreement between organizations seeking to preserve Le Corbusier’s legacy. The New Plan. [...]

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Pashkov House: Moscow’s Jewel Now Restored

Paskov House one of architectural jewels of Russia was under restoration for 19 years, was closed down due to its dilapidated state. Pashkov House is named after its first owner Petr Yegorovich Pashkov, the lieutenant commander of the Life Guards of Semenovsky Regiment and the son of Peter the Great’s batman. Designed by Vasily Bazhenov [...]

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Antilla Stands High As World’s First Billion Dollar Home

To everyone’s surprise, price tagged at $ 2 Billion, Antilla (named after the mythical island) is in India and is world’s first billion dollar home. Indeed, like its name, it houses stuff that surrounds myth! Owner is India’s richest, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance fame whose net worth was 43 Billion in March of this year [...]

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Neutra’s VDL Threatened With Closure

Seventy-five years ago, in Los Angeles, with a no-interest loan from Dutch philanthropist Dr CH Van Der Leeuw, Viennese-American architect Richard Neutra, rightly called ‘second only to Frank Lloyd Wright’, built a radical “glass house” with rooftop and balcony gardens on Silverlake Boulevard. This is the place where Neutra had designed hundreds of projects over [...]

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Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture

The idea of designers and architects working together is nothing new, from the Tokyo store collaboration between Prada and Rem Koolhaas to Hussein Chalayan’s techno virtuosity in morphing dresses into chairs. We all live in buildings and wear clothes. Traditionally, fashion and architecture have remained quite distinct. However, since 1980s the two disciplines have become [...]

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First Peep Into Beijing’s ‘Bird’s Nest’ Stadium

Beijing’s $500-million Olympic stadium opens its doors to the media. Finishing touches are still being added to the 91000 seat venue. Bird’s Nest, as it has been nicknamed, cost more than 500 million US Dollars and took fours years to build. It is called ‘Bird’s Nest’ due to the structural form of its roof. The [...]

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Death Defying Architecture: A Reality?

Architects Arakawa and Madeline Gins believe that you have a right not to die. Reversible destiny comes as part of their services to you as an architect and designers. “We believe we can help extend your lives,” architects’ claim. They recently completed a house (not for mortals) in East Hamoton, New York. The house is [...]

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The New Fields of Dreams: Super-Stadiums

A sports business model that originated in America and is now spreading across the globe. Hungering for the kind of revenue needed to field top teams, a wave of stadium construction is sweeping through sports. But not just any stadiums. Super-stadiums. The formula: Build new facilities with fewer seats and more luxury boxes, charge higher [...]

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