Category Archives: Design

Louis I Kahn: IIM Ahemdabad

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Blast from the Past. In my recent (and ongoing trip in South Asia) I have been visiting many places. Ahmedabad, in Gujarat is one of them. It is the only city in India that can boast to having the works of two of the three Great Masters of Modern Architecture. Louis I Kahn and Le Corbusier. It is rumored that Frank Lloyd Wright was also supposed to have a commission here but that project fell through…Otherwise it would have been the ONLY city in the WORLD that has projects designed and built by all 3 great masters of Modern Architecture.

A bit about A’bad. It is HOT. Brutally. Even in the winter, the sun and glare is merciless. So Kahn has a peculiar challenge. How to make the buildings cool and stay cool without using power. And of course how to let the brick be itself!

(I’m sure you know that anecdote about Kahn. When asked for his inspiration for IIM and other marvelous brick buildings he built here and elsewhere, he has said, “I asked the brick what it wanted to be, and it said it wanted to be an arch.or something like that!!)

Without further ado. here is Indian Institute of Management (IIM), old and new campus. Fascinating sun protection, deep seated classrooms to keep them cool, marvelous brickwork- then and now of modern architecture and the best of Louis Kahn!

Sunshade (New campus. Not Kahn but very good all the same)
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Sunshade Detail with concrete
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Walk to the old campus
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I am an arch today
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LKP: Louis Khan Plaza
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Deep windows mean less sunlight
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A building in a building
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Corridor
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For more goodness visit my flickr photostream

Lohri Chairs

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There is a festival called Lohri here in South Asia-particularly in the north sometime around January 13th. It is called Lohri. It signifies the end of winter, the coming of spring and the time to plant (or harvest-I cannot remember which) of the wheat crops. We wish our friends and family “happy Lohri” and burn a bonfire with fresh and scrap wood in the house.

Lohri time is also a good time to spring clean your home of old furniture, (non VOC of course!) when many an old piece finds its way into the Lohri Fire.

This is a story of some dining/lounge chairs that were on its way to the Lohri fire of 2011. There were saved from the flames since someone just could not see them burnt. Then they were lovingly tended to by some wood worker, an upholsterer, and a polisher. And the before and after is below. They have since been rechristened Lohri Chairs. Obviously.

Before.
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After.
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Environs II

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So as StyleSponge suggested, Good design does deserve good pictures. Here is an updated version of environs plus more gorgeous details.

My Blogging Nook: This room has undergone several iterations to become this space. In one of its previous “versions” the permanent fixtures in this room used to be a drafting table with a “tubelight” (an longish tubular light, about 3 feet in length, something that is mostly found in this part of the world), a drafting table and a house lizard. My constant companions through the nights of work. I think it looks much better now! Although the wall does transform into a writing desk…:)
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Some accent detail and wall textures in the background.
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Better? You bet.
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In another world

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So as promised, here is the first of many posts from a new land. Where I grew up, I was surrounded by good, nay, great design. Colorful and full of life. Vibrant.

Taken with the phone camera but you’ll see the beauty of the idea regardless.

A nook in my old home
Window dressing idea

Seating area with handmade tapestry on display
Seating area

Centre table made from old block printing blocks-gorgeous!!!
Centre Table

A Glassy Affair!

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We would like to present the ethereally glassy works of Jamie Harris here within the KidSpace and LightSpace series. Jamie is a glass artist with a difference. He believes deeply in his ability to create from glass, but true to any artist, he is never satisfied and is almost humble about his experience with the material. The spectrum of work of Jamie Harris Studios, shows maturity of content, a deep understanding of material and aesthetics, pleasing contours and striking forms. And one begins to respect his ability all the more when one learns that he learnt glassblowing through the age old method of apprenticeship in addition to be educated in the craft.

By self proclamation, Jamie loves the use to color in his work. His experiments with hues and pantones create a playful quality to even the most mature of his creations.

We were drawn to the Mod Series for children’s spaces. Designed to be sculptures, with scoops that show the depth and layering of color within, the Mod could just as easily be a set of lights in a child’s room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also love the 2 color glass sculpture from the Infusion Collection which may be famous someday.

Glass sculpture (Infusion Collection) waiting to be finished

Finished Glass Sculpture Infusion Collection

And finally we love the Rock Pendant Chandelier Lights. The form of these lights was imagined with the retro fixture that illuminates it, giving it an almost electric quality. See for yourself.

Rock Pendant Chandelier

Good luck to you Jamie. Carry on creating beauty with glass! More of JHS’s pictures here and here.

RRobots on the wall

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Art by R. Nicholas Kuszyk, in Williamsburg. More on his work here.

Details here.
Robots

Willamburg

Torso in Japanese amongst other things

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I have been coming across these 3-D puzzles and toys that are fascinating for kids and adults. Not only do they teach one to see in a non-linear manner, the craftmanship is amazing. I suppose 3-D computer modeling makes this kinda easy, still the idea is what is fascinating  One example is the D-Torso range from Aki Corporation, Japan, these “toys”, or one of them, was awarded the Good Design Award in 2001.

Warthog

Penguin

Rhino

Packaging

Packaging

Sketchbook Project 2012

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So long ago, I signed up for the signed up for the 2012 sketchbook project. And then as all human being do, I sat on the project for a bit. And now the deadline draws closer, and nails are being bitten. So I are embarking on a frightful personal journey and starting work on my Sketchbook.

Although there are many things that people do with their sketchbooks-make them colorful, make them crafty and unique (Check our Natalie Malik, and Riyo’s books shaping up), I am going to do the plain thing. I’m going to treat my book like a sketchbook and just sketch. My theme is Monochromatic. My tools are below. And you can find the direct link to my progress here.

I plan to sketch one thing each day now until Jan 16th, 2012. It will be a thing that inspires me, or just makes me curious. I’ll try to write a little note on the location of the object. And maybe, just maybe, if you are lucky, I’ll post the Latitude and Longitude of the object. Just because I’m a geek like that.

Digital Fix

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Check out Dijitalfix– this great digital products shop in Brooklyn. Although Brooklyn’s offerings are covered extensively by Design*Sponge Grace Bonney, we think we may have found something that has not featured on D*S yet ;).

It is the coolest store for the gadget-ally inclined, like myself. What draws you in are the custom chairs that the owner designs and builds. What keeps you there are the high end products that they carry.

Turntable Chair @ Dijitalfix, Brooklyn

And this cool suspended table–I went ga ga over it. The suspension detail is to die for-so simple and elegant! Check out the cool bamboo toothbrushes, and other paper goodies on it.

Hanging desk at Dijitalfix, Brooklyn

Hanging desk details @ Dijitalfix, Brooklyn

Something’s come up…

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Dear Readers,

We hope you enjoyed reading about Canstruction here. We were also live tweeting as the awards were being given out-hope you caught that on Twitter (@ASMDESIGN1) last night.

This past week has been unusually weird and busy in a number of ways. Things are changing elsewhere and at ASM Design- professionally as well as personally. During this time (and it may be for the next 2 months or so) there are happy moments, planned travel overseas (India and around) and some necessary tasks that must be taken care of. In the midst of this, we will try our hardest to maintain regularity of our featured posts, but sometimes we may not be able to make our daily schedule.

Posting is a commitment we take very seriously. We work quite hard to make sure that you get something unique each time you visit. And if we blog about what others are blogging about too, then we try to make it unique in our own way-either by being the only LIVE blogger or by providing our own spin on it.

We hope that you will pardon our occasional absence from now until the end of the year. Keep checking back for fun stuff, more KidSpace, UrbSpace and LightSpace!

Love- ASM DESIGN