‘Modern buildings cannot breathe’
Kolkata-based architect Laurent Fournier tells how ceilings can float and why bamboo-reed-mud make more sense than brick-concrete-steel
An urban puzzle
India’s population and cities are set to double by 2030. Can it cope with the pressures?
‘My mentor Laurie Baker’
BENNY KURIAKOSE began his architecture career in 1984. He was one of the privileged few who worked under the tutelage of Laurie Baker which …
Greenest of all
Model building design that helps save energy and money by exploiting the sun’s movement
Built to last
A Rajasthan village has cylindrical houses that help people cope with extreme weather events
The great wetland grab
Guwahati allows construction on wetlands, but will not spare poor settlers on hills. A photo narrative by Sayantan Bera
Fixing old houses on Himalaya
German architect Andre Alexander has been restoring old buildings in the Tibetan capital Lhasa for 15 years now. Over the past few years he has …
Public spaces make cities
Street activities work as ‘eyes on the street’, that keeps cities safe, and Jane Jacobs said create neighbourly environment. Public …
Land over nature
Cities are expanding indiscriminately across the globe, at the cost of rich biodiversity
Who messed it up?
Guwahati indicts poor settlers for flash floods, ignores damage on wetlands by construction work
Signal, interrupted
By allowing high-rises around an advanced weather radar in Mumbai, IMD sets a bad example for the rest of the country
Green buildings: it’s common sense
Frenzied growth in real estate and changing lifestyle in Indian cities are inciting resource guzzling. Architects have innovative ideas to build …
Watery grave
Encroachment is killing Guwahati's only river and wetlands that can save the city from perennial floods
Future cities: New challenges mean we need to reimagine the look of urban landscapes
But we must open up the opportunity to conceptualise these futures to a wider and more diverse set of people
Preserving India's pachyderms
The recently-concluded 'Gaj Mahotsav’ in Delhi celebrated the Indian Elephant, an animal that is fast losing its habitat in India
City on trial
Chandigarh resists luxury residential project but fails to rehabilitate its slum population to preserve its master plan
Boom
Problem: Terrain forbids sprawl as in cities in the plains; Status: Alarming population density (people per sq km); Challenge: Policy question is:…
Rapid urbanisation in Delhi-NCR creating heat stress, abetting climate change
Urbanisation has exacerbated air pollution levels, shrunk water bodies, increased temperature and heat emissions
Bringing order to streets
Centre legalises street vending and gives the profession its due respect. But accommodating vendors is a challenge
Reflections on glass
Use of glass in construction has become a fad. But it is not the right choice for Indian climate
Is the world hurtling towards an ‘Insect Apocalypse’?
New study warns that more than 40 per cent of insect species are declining and a third are endangered
Simply creative
General principles of architecture are imaginatively applied to create a green building in Gurgaon
An order of chaos
National Green Tribunal's decision to declare an area of 10 km radius around Okhla Bird Sanctuary as ecologically sensitive has put the future …
Ten dead, six injured in Mumbai building collapse
Yet another building collapses amid allegations of illegal modifications; number still trapped unknown
New Delhi is running out of water
Access to clean and regular water remains a challenge for New Delhi, a city that could easily tackle its water crisis with greater effort