Master ‘Competition’ Class

And in no time there goes another two weeks of my life .. With much more of the usual (sleepless nights, skipped meals and days of horrible back ache) … But this time in the name of a Masterclass that was disguised as a competition between ten of the ‘supposedly’ most important architecture schools in the world today ..

[One of these being CEPT Ahmedabad… It was great to have you guys here … Was great to be able to talk in Hindi (once again) and Malayalam (for the first time) at the Berlage : )]

A Masterclass with Elia Zengelis (seen talking at the head of the table above)and Joan Oakman (seen below).

The Project at hand was to design ‘prototypical’ community centre projects for the lesser half of the city of Rotterdam – it’s south side – Zuid (in Dutch). The ‘bad’ half of the city across the Maas river.

The brief of the ‘competition’ Masterclass to design NON-Iconic projects to tackle issues of everyday for the community.. from small schools to community centres to sports facilities.. However, a large no. of projects short-listed and awarded where in my opinion exactly contrary to this plea. Having said that I have to admit I had a great time with a lot of people.. learned a lot ..and enjoyed myself.

POWER !!!

After loosing track to sleepless nights, skipped meals and days of horrible back ache .. it’s finally done … All our stuff made it well in time .. and in relatively good condition to the Kunsthal for the opening of the Third International Rotterdam Architecture Biennale titled ‘POWER – producing the contemporary city’.

Our project – ‘The completion of Brasilia’ – is part of the Visionary power exhibition in the main gallery hall of this fabulous building.

It is part of the Capital cities ‘egg’ (as these wooden blobs have come to be known to all of us, who have been struggling to fit into or next to it).

Each ‘egg’ is dedicated to one topic all related to cities however – Corporate, Informal, Hidden, Spectacle and Capital cities.

And as you walk to the Capital cities – there it is .. Our project .
Here’s a better view...

And don't miss the ‘big books’ on either side – Melisa and myself killed our selves for this book … I have to say I’m quiet pleasant with how it turned out .. Only worry is that with all that weight I hope the binding can hold till the beginning of September!

Though I was there for the opening of this important exhibition, I was too tired and worried about the Masterclass (also part of the Biennale that began a couple of days back) to check probably on all the ‘eggs’ and the projects done by small offices and research groups from around the world. Hope to be back to see them when things calm down a bit at the Berlage Institute.

After weeks of milling .. drilling.. cleaning and gluing .. it’s finally done …The grand model that they (Zhongping, Miha, Shanshan and Adolfo) promised is finally ready … well in time for the Rotterdam Biennale .. and also for our green light review…

Way to go guys !!!

But this occasion obviously calls for a group photo .. cos even if we didn’t work on the model .. there was other equally important stuff to be done .. the Collages, the drawings and not the least – ‘the big books’.

Here’s one more of the group …

And the model …Check out a detail of the model showing some of the satellite cities of Brasilia and our interventions …

The Devastated City unveiled

Snaps from last night ...

On 14 may 1940 Rotterdam got bombed by the Germans during the second world war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotterdam_Blitz) ..

This year to commemorate the 67th anniversary of that fateful day - an artist (sorry, but i can't manage to find his/her name) made this huge installation of lights that plotted the periphery of the area of the city that got bombed...

Bollystan?

In an article for ‘Foreign Policy ’(Jan/Feb 2005) - titled ‘Access Bollywood’ – S. Mitra Kalita (a reporter for the Washington Post) wrote – “Finally, , there is a word for where I live: Bollystan.”

The term - Bollystan - was first used by Parag Khanna, when he guest edited the UK's ethnic lifestyle magazine Another Generation in Fall 2004. In his words “Bollystan is globalization desi-style (“desi” is Hindi slang for “from our country”), the universal consciousness of a Subcontinent. To describe it simply as core nation and diasporic periphery, however, would be anachronistic.”

This snap was clicked a couple of months ago in London, or as comedian Russell Peters calls it ‘Our (Indians) Motherland ’ !!!

Read more about Bollystan by Parag Khanna here – http://www.egothemag.com/archives/2005/03/bollystan.htm
And the article ‘Access Bollywood’ here - http://www.egothemag.com/archives/images/artculture/Foreign%20Policy%20review%20-%20Jan%202005.pdf