Boy! This has got to be the most boring post title I have ever come up with.
Anyways, The place I am working in, in Cairo is called 'Smart Village' (or Akara Zakaiya locally). Think of it as the Egyptian equivalent of our own Hi-Tec City or Electronic City. Its just about the same, located a bit away from the city with leading brands displayed in impressive buildings.
Except....
Unlike us, the Egyptians seem to have realized that they have a rich architectural style which can be reflected even in their modern buildings. We on the other hand, have chosen to blindly ape the American glass boxes. Granted, a few of our new buildings do look impressive, but are they Indian?
The Western buildings are probably designed to minimize heating costs by using a lot of glass. But our major cost is not heating, but cooling. And these mammoth greenhouses we are building for our software houses are certainly not helping keep the electricity bill low.
Coming back to the point,take a look at some of the buildings here at the Smart Village. I loved the way they have fused classical Egyptian architecture into these buildings.
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What crap! The Indians use glass for natural lighting. Most glass used in these glass buildings are sun reflective and they cut out the heat. Yeah I agree, there are idiots who pull the blinds and switch on the lights, but don't blame that on Indian architecture, blame in on you. You want to pitch the people who built the Karnak temple?
ReplyDeleteObviously you have never been inside my office buildings. But you have been at my previous office, and noticed how friggin hot it was in the lobby.
ReplyDeleteWhat's more expensive, lighting up a place or pumping cold air into it?
As for the idea on the Karnak temple, will post one more pic of a building which actually looks quite like it. Though it did not appeal to my aesthetics to be honest.
One more example (of blending local styles) I would like to quote is of the Taipei 101. It looks like a goddamn bamboo shoot. How cool is that?
Ah, now I know why you asked the copy-paste version! Here goes:
ReplyDelete"Ah!
That was good observation! (ref : Modern Egyptian architecture) And even nicer pics, you’re having a good time huh?
Btw, what do you suggest indianised buildings look like? Fort like will actually be a bit too expensive! J
You still have water issues? Do you remember us telling that we used have the awesomest meals on board the cruise, but NO water! We had to buy water, and it was sold at almost 5 times the prices outside. So we smuggled some bottles from outside, and drank water before and after meals but not during the meals. Breakfast was better, atleast there was juice!"
Well again, don't blame Indian Architecture. Blame your cheap company who wouldn't use the proper glass to save a few for the shareholders. Taipei 101 is an exception, not all buildings are bamboo shoots or anything to do with the chinks. When we have a few Trillions in the kiti, we'll build a coconut tree shaped building in malu land.
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