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

A brief history of Indian town planning:

Did you guys know that Indian Town Planning is more than 10,000 years old. It was a part of treatise on applicable technology and was detailed out in many technical texts like Vastu Shastra in Sanskrit where the methods of planning and building towns and cities are described. That’s not it, broad roadways, streets running from North - South or East - West, with well planned sectors of residential zones, underground drainage systems, centrally located public spaces are typical of Indian town planning. Isnt that cool, I mean imagine all the Universities and colleges in India and around the globe think that town / city planning is 200 yrs old, and was started by the Europeans and modern town planning dates back to 90 yrs with the origin of Garden City Concept in America.Yes that is a big mistake and we have blissfully forgotten the science of city planning, what remains now is political planning of cities. Everything right from the location of airport to improvement of the city’s infrastructure is a political decision. I'd share more about the political aspect of town planning in near future after I have done some more reading.

Well even the Indian building industry dates back to the Indus Valley Civilisation. The archeological remains of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro stand to testify Indian building skills. Indian building industry was very advanced and you can read some interesting facts below.

Now about Vastu – a Prelude

Vastu and other related Arts and Architecture are a part of the Atharva Veda.Vastu is a science that deals with understanding the effects of the physical environment on a man. Climate, Magnetic fields, topographical conditions are the few aspects that were considered while building with Vastu.

Entire townships were designed based on this science. The direction of drainage systems, of entire road networks, buildings, public spaces were all designed based on the sun and wind direction, contours of the site and security to name a few aspects.

This is a very interesting and intense topic and in the near future we will look into case studies of Indian cities that used Vastu. Jaipur is one of the best examples of a city built on Vastu.

Interesting Facts:

• Kushinagar was a city dating back to 9^th century and they had constructed cylindrical structures on top of their buildings for better ventilation and light, the north light is a concept that developed from here.
• Every book of ancient Indian literature describes the city and civilization creating a context preceding the main theme of the book.
• Indians loved indulging in beauty care and that holds true for both the genders, the great bath in Mohenjo-Daro is the oldest existing SPA and a big one. Massages and steam bath were a part of the complex. West adapted this concept from east.
• India knew the science of baking bricks 5000 years ago. Kilned bricks were used in the Indian construction Industry more than 5000 Years back.
• The then British government used the 5000 year old bricks (instead of wood) from Harappan sites around for laying the first railway line to Lahore.
• The bricks were made in 15 standard sizes. (Ref.”Lost Discoveries” by Dick – Teresi Page 60)
• The science of building material construction- specially strengthening of bricks , lime mortar and related building material is detailed in “Mayamatha – Kalamula Sastra” written by Kapila Vatsyayana.

p.s.1-I would like to direct you to a few experts for more information on the above topics, will update later.

p.s.2- I have strengthened the article with facts from -Eternally talented India – 108 Facts, thanks to the editorial team.

something for all

Hi there,
Welcome to my blog. The url surely sounds ambitious and its meant to be.

The purpose of this blog is to understand better, about the fields of Architecture and Planning - about the very space we inhibit and live. Our entire life's efforts are about possessing , being a part of that defined space a city, a plot, a house, a shop, a park, a pub anything and everything. Its all about The Defined space, but we hardly know the factors that influence it, physical, social, economical,political, spiritual, etc etc. It will be interesting to share on these factors and discuss these issues in the upcoming posts.

So that's about the blog, hope you all have fun. Happy reading.

Cheers
Shilpa