Nikon D300S : )

After months of planning I've finally got my hands on an upgarde - a Nikon D300S!!!

Above photo taken by my sis using her (my ex) Nikon D50 at
Payyambalam beach, Kannur, Kerala, South India...

Yellow caterpillars go for a walk in Bandra

Went to see the much talked about 'yellow caterpillars' of Bandra East and loved it! I think it works beautifully connecting people almost effortlessly from the Bandra Kurla Complex to the Railway station above some uncrossable roads, slums and murderous traffic. Even the design of this elevated walkway is quiet nice with its simplicity and lightness, sadly thanks to a few narrow-minded historians and critics the design of the other elevated walkways being constructed across the city has been changed to a much more heavier and bulky look and feel.!

Here's lots of photos of it:
As I walked on this I was constantly thinking of two amazing Utopian visions for the city: Constant Nieuwenhuys' New Babylon and Yona Friedman's inhabitable bridges.

Wouldn't it be great if this simple need to get people to and away from the railway stations could in fact be the genesis for an alternate model for the growth of this crazy metropolis?

So what would happen when these structures start growing - longer and taller - spreading a web of streets in the sky... Couldn't they start housing small shops.. houses... and eventually an entire city - a New New Bombay perhaps!!

To all the short-sighted critics out there I will quote Yona Friedman :

“We all know
how cities are
they can eventually,
become different”

Here's a few interesting links on how different architects/planners have dealt with various urban visions using bridges and elevated walkways:

• Some projects from bldgblog
• Interview with Yona Friedman
• The highline, New York by Diller-Scofidio-Renfro
  

Is Dubai finally a metropolis?

Like most things in this crazy City the metro was planned conceived and built over night! Three and a half years to built one of the most advanced public transport systems in the world.

Over the last few days I've taken a few rides on it and as expected it's a great way to see the city; from a completely different angle. This is a much better way to travel in a city - as opposed to catching an underground tube or being stuck in traffic in a bus - so if the city has the resources in should take the aerial route.


Here's a series of photos taking you from the Airport to the Mall of the Emirates shopping mall on Sheikh Zayed road:
As the global recession wreaks havoc with Sheikh Mohammed's grand dreams of turning Dubai into a global powerhouse - in an attempt to show the city's economic stability the RTA (Road and transport authority of Dubai) was forced to stick to an insane date that Sheikh Mo had set for the launch of the metro last year when Dubai was having a real-estate boom!

Although only a small no. of the proposed stations are now functional the Dubai Metro was offically inaugurated at 9:09:09 PM on September 9, 2009.
Most of the station that are operational follow the same layout and was designed by Aedas (which is a global architectural firm with presence in some 25 global cities)
And to end this entry here's a photo from inside the driver-less, fully automated train

Soaked!

I had gone to see a great exhibition at NGMA, Bombay called SOAK sometime last month.

The exhibition explores city and its relationship with water.
The lower two floors traces the geography of the city through an amazing series of historical maps and detailed East West cross sections of the city.
The upper most floor (inside the dome) exhibited a series of design proposals along existing streams and the Mithi river - these were however quite disappointing both architecturally as well as visual exercises and were not very successful at re-imagining public spaces the city.

Overall it was real nice to see an architectural exhibition of this quality in the city. Do check out SOAK's official website - http://www.soak.in