Railway Station, Guindy

     Guindy  is one of the important neighbourhoods of Chennai. It is the entry point or the gateway to Chennai city from South Western suburbs of Chennai. Being such an important place the Guindy railway station dont have a proper vehicular entry and parking facilities for four wheelers. In case of emergency it is almost impossible for a fire engine to access the station during peak hours. Because the entry to the station is less than 3mts wide. 

Setbacks

     Setbacks are the minimum required open spaces between the plot boundary and the building proposed to be constructed in a plot. They are meant for providing light, ventilation and privacy not only to the development under consideration but also to the neighbouring buildings. In larger developments, they serve as circulation spaces around the buildings and facilitate parking of vehicles. In the case of high-rise buildings they are required not only for the movement of fire tenders around the building but also for preventing the fire from spreading to neighbouring buildings. Hence they are considered an important planning parameter. But there is a lack of this  important parameter in many Apartments in chennai.

     

LIVING UP TO THE BUILDING

This a crazy question that any one coould ask. An architect is not an architect if he does not look for the both, the aesthetics and the comfort of living in the building. Its like i will make a car which looks extremly good, but it wont function good, its only to show off. It will be suitable for persons who are rich. Same way, a good looking building may be suitable to show off so that a person going on the road may stare at the building comenting good about it. Only the person living in the building will know if he is living in a hell or in a heaven.
These mistakes are done by great architscts also. For example, if you look at VILLA SAVOY, the building on the whole looks good, but it has many functional defects. When the architect was questioned, he told, it was a piece of art, and he connot disturb it. Only the resident know how difficult it is to live there.
Similar thing happened with Le Corbusiers Pessac Housing. Later when the inhabitants altered the residence, he comented that "Life is right, Architect is wrong"
One thing we can conclude out of this is that the person viewing the building from outside may enjoy it, but the people living in the building may suffer.

HAGIA SOPHIA

Hagia Sophia is a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520. The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 A.D. on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and was in fact the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site (the previous two had both been destroyed by riots). It was designed by two architects, Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. The Church contained a large collection of holy relics and featured, among other things, a 50 foot (15 m) silver iconostasis. It was the patriarchal church of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly 1000 years.
In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque.[1] The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over. The Islamic features — such as the mihrab, the minbar, and the four minarets outside — were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey.
For almost 500 years the principal mosque of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia served as a model for many of the Ottoman mosques such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque of Istanbul), the Şehzade Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque, and the Rüstem Pasha Mosque.
Although it is sometimes referred to as Santa Sophia, the Greek name in full is, Church of the Holy Wisdom of God. It was to this, the Holy Wisdom of God, that the Church was dedicated (Sophia being a Latin phonetic spelling of the Greek word Wisdom). So Santa Sophia should be understood as the title of the church, Holy Wisdom, rather than a reference to some Saint Sophia.

ART DECO

v Art Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until 1939, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts and film. At the time, this style was seen as elegant, glamorous, functional, and modern.
v The movement was, in a sense, an amalgam of many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Art Nouveau, and Futurism. Its popularity peaked in Europe during the Roaring Twenties and continued strongly in the United States through the 1930s. Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.
v Art Deco experienced a decline in popularity during the late 30s and early 40s, and soon fell out of public favor. It experienced a resurgence with the popularization of graphic design in the 1980s. Art Deco had a profound influence on many later artistic movements, such as Memphis and Pop art.
v Surviving examples may still be seen in many different locations worldwide, in countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, Spain, Cuba, the Philippines, Romania, New Zealand and Brazil. Many classic examples still exist in the form of architecture in many major cities. The Chrysler building, designed by William Van Alen, is a classic example of this, as it is one of the most notable examples of Art Deco architecture today.
v Surviving examples may still be seen in many different locations worldwide, in countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, Spain, Cuba, the Philippines, Romania, New Zealand and Brazil. Many classic examples still exist in the form of architecture in many major cities. The Chrysler building, designed by William Van Alen, is a classic example of this, as it is one of the most notable examples of Art Deco architecture today.
v These were the buildings of the future: sleek, geometric, dramatic. With their cubic forms and zigzag designs, art deco buildings embraced the machine age. Yet many features of the style were drawn not from the Jetsons, but the Flintstones.
v During the roaring twenties and the early thirties, jazzy Art Deco architecture was the rage. Like any style, it evolved from many sources. The austere shapes of the Bauhaus School and streamlined styling of modern technology combined with patterns and icons taken from the Far East, ancient Greece and Rome, Africa, India, and Mayan and Aztec cultures. But most of all, Art Deco expressed excitement over a stunning archeological find in Egypt.


BUILDINGS AND ARCHITECTS OF ART DECCO

v Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, New York City (Almirall, Githens & Keally, 1941)
v Buffalo Central Terminal, Buffalo, New York (Fellheimer & Wagner, 1929)
v Fisher Building, Detroit, Michigan (Albert Kahn, 1928)
v Paramount Theater (Puerto Rico), Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
v Telegraph Building, Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
v Daily Express Building in Fleet Street, London
v New India Assurance Building, Mumbai, India
v Park Hotel, Shanghai, China (László Hudec, 1934)

FOLK STYLE OF TAMIL NADU

BRUTALISM