More of Brisbane

Adaptive Reuse of a Power station

Shown below are the pictures of St.Johns Power station. It is along the river that people used to sqat on, so the govt. decided to reuse the building as an art gallery and hang out place for family and friends. However they maintained the graffitie on the walls, made by the sqatterers.

I must say Im impressed with the way the building is now, part of the revenue generated from its use , goes for its maintainance. Exterior view of St. Johns Power station

Graffitie retained in the power station
The Art Gallery section

The exterior view

Me with the exhibits

The stop for St.Johns where you board off from the Cat

It also has a bar and restaurant, where people come and hang out. Its a very intresting way of avoiding degeneration of public resources, using them to generate resources and maitaining t.

Green City Brisbane

March 1-5 2009 was the Green cities conference,
there is alot to write, however Id first share the intresting part, the pictures
happy viewing

At the Brisbane Convention Centre

The Pedestrian Walkway that runs parallel to the main roads, I just loved it

In the Catamarone, called Cat by the locals, it takes one along the Brisbane river which runs right across the city. The ride is a very pleasent one. Cant think of a better way to unwind a busy day, by travelling back home in a Cat.
View of the famous bridge across the river....hmm i forget the name, but its beautiful, the proportions and use of iron is just great.

There are many more pictures that I will share in the upcoming write ups.

Cheers

Shilpa

Green building Technology

Im in for it big time and Il tell you why each and every one has to atleast understand and know what Green Architecture is

• you reside on planet earth for straters n i think you wish to continue doing so, (unless u plan to fly in the next Chandrayan)
• you live in an enclosed space called "house"
• the "house" is an entity that does quite a bit of "Garbage in and Garbage out" every single day (assuming that people live in it)
• and that GIGO is being disposed in/ on earth, the toxic remains effect water tables, the drinking water quality etc etc
• also if u burn the toxics ur releasing more toxins not only on land but in air too
• n if u are in any way just about to build a house or in the process of building a house then you are contributing to 40% of the worlds Global warming

so thats very very basic stuff n i want you all to visit n see "Story of stuff" from www.storyofstuff.com

n then come back we will take this very crucial and important discussion forward...

love n peace

shilpa

Change - change what......

For the dearth of a good topic/s I have refrained from writing. Im yet to come to terms with the fact that I have a blog,( that no one visits as of now) and that I need to feed it with articles that people would like to read.and since the blog url is written so loud and clear the topics have to be atleast relevent.

So here I am and this is an article based on a bit of knowledge, a bit of observation and lots of (processed) experience.

We will talk about CHANGE....yes change the big C word. Change is a very common word used at all levels of existance.

You may want to change anything right from a safety pin to a mobile to a house to a companion. Change is the easiest way the mind perceives to get out of an existing uncomfortable situation.However that may not be the best option. Well Il be a little specific here, take for instance your city govt. You voted for them hoping that they would atleast provide you with the basics that they proclaimed to give, free toilets @ 1 per 4 families in slums or maybe better transport or better connectivity so on and so forth, Im sure they have the best of the intentions in mind. How much of it really gets translated? and even better you know that it may not really happen but then you wait and start complaining again and there goes the cycle.

So what really changes is your state of mind, your expectations, your perception, but things otherwise remain the same and even if you think that they are different, im sure you will want it to be different from the difference that is.....

Ok now for another one, Singapore was a marsh land with a few fisherman and a port city in the early 20th century. The expectations of the people then was very limited due to their exposure. However the goverment has taken all measures to provide the people with the best infrastructure in terms of public transport, in terms of housing, in terms of jobs et all. Its preety close to perfect Id say and do you think that all the Singaporeans are happy content people, tending towards enlightenment? to be very honest its not the case. People get tired even of the best , they want something else, you know what they do, rent transport or drive down to less developed or greener areas for vacations or any free time they have and its vice versa for the neighbouring countries.

To be able to find that point of reference through all change is very challenging but possible and the best that I've experienced came in the form of an NGO that I volunteered for - WAYE World Alliance for Youth Empowerment.WAYE treats change as change so the factors that they work on creating is the reference thats not changing thats the self. Once you feel empowered then you can take on change. Therefore results are more long lasting, effective and immediate. The Clean Up campaigns post UTSAV, all over the country was the best example of this. When you work with constants, then result is replicable, scalable and sustainable.

So all Im sharing is that even change is changing, how aware are you?

Thats enough a food for thought......

for details on some terms like WAYE, UTSAV you can log onto www.wayeonline.org

Cheers

Shilpa

Architecture and Planning????????

Hello all,
this should have been the first post but nonetheless......let me share with you what Architecture and Planning are all about..

about Architecture : Id call it applied technology with the beauty of art infused to consciously create 3d spaces for homosapiens to fulfill their inscicent needs.

how to become an architect : its a Bachelors Degree program offered in more than 160 colleges across India. Designed as a 5yr program, its one of the most fun way to spend the most crucial 5yrs of your life 17-22yrs and still get away with a degree...
Its live, so most of the time you are either traveling in the name of case studies or bunking classes on the name of site visits or having plain fun in the name of activities...ok its not just fun, there are quite a few sleepless nights and submissions too....for more info log onto the council of Architecture website....

about Planning
there is a four year bachelors course and then you can also take up specilisation in Planning including the subjects like transportation, housing, environment, urban and regional planning. ITPI - Indian Institute of town planners are the main body. check out their website for more details.

both architecture and planning have their apptitude tests apart from the broad exam marks, that are counted for admissions........
that was just a breif, do look into their webites for details....

Cheers
Shilpa

something very interesting......

Dear all,
it is said that the perceived world is a reflection of what you are inside.
i'll just give an example - when you look at a glass with 50% water in it, do you think its half full or half empty? each one of us reacts to the same situation in a different way, why? this question has always fascinated me. In search of an answer, I came across something interesting, so sharing it with you, happy reading.........


The Changing World

Illuson is an error of the perception and knowing illusion as illusion is knowledge. Our experience of the world is based on our perception. Since every perception is erroneous, the world is an illusion. Experiences are based on perception. The one who experiences is the only reality. Look for the seer, the one who experiences, in between the experiences. Every experience leaves a residue that clouds the intellect. Wake up this moment. shake your head of all past experiences and look at the pure Being that I am that you are.
Question - "how do you distinguish the experience from the one who experiences?"

Are you really here? are you listening? now close your eyes and see who is listening, who is questioning, who is sitting and who wants what. who is confussed? This is the one who experiences.

That explains alot, our media is a classic example of this. We make an understanding about a situation from what we see, or based on someone elses account. with the invasion of 24x7 news chanels we perceive our world to be based on facts from these chanels. Now every reporter has a perception of the situation right, but we beleive in what he sees as the truth and thats not it, we make a perception of the perception and share it with all.
can you imagine what a big lie all that is? I mean yoU are lying all the time cause you dont really know the truth, how can you? cause you will know the truth when you experience it.
my words may sound wierd to some of you, for many of you who have experienced will know. I felt the same sometime ago, but now with experience I feel different. My world has truly changed.Hope that is some thing to chew about.
This expert in blue is taken from "Celebrating Silence - talks by H.H.Sri Sri Ravishankar"

Why Square ?

Why is history so squared? many of my friends ask me, not just Indian but world as well.
all that you saw in Harrappa or Mohen-jo-daro or the base of a pyramid or the temples in India or Greece or the monuments of Rome, its about a square base?

So whats the big deal with square?
In a Square or rectangular structure, the five elements - earth, water, air, space and ether- enhance and support your life in the most optimum way. An irregular shaped structure, interrupts the natural flow of five elements. The free flow of these five elements creates positive energies and eliminates stress in the environment. its like a river that winds in so many directions then it forms gullies and water stagnates. A straight line ensures free flow.

I think thats enough for the day.

one very interesting reading for those who want to know more about Vastu is "the Way of Vastu" by Micheal and Robie Mastro - Balanced books publishing.

Cheers
Shilpa