After food, fashion and art, finally I move on to architecture, clearly my favorite indulgence...During my short last visit to New York, I had the opportunity to hear two great architects talk about their work in the recent years, Enrique Norten from Ten Arquitectos and Charles Renfro from Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Images of One York Street in New York designed by Enrique Norten

Enrique Norten is a Mexican architect with several design awards under his belt. I have always admired his building - One York Street in TriBeCa in New York (We have at one point seriously considered living in it too !!). The building incorporates and rises out of two 19th Century industrial loft buildings. I love the way the new building has a distinct identity but did not demolish the old buildings or start from scratch to achieve that distinction. The building while preserving the old, still manages to look extremely contemporary and modern. One York is located at a busy street intersection and in between 3-4 neighborhoods. The building does a great job of providing a fitting landmark at this junction without being gimmicky. It is just a piece of very good and slick architecture.

We have spoken about Diller Scofidio + Renfro on this blog before as they are the visionary designers of the magnificent High Line. As a side note, Diane von Furstenburg who we spoke of earlier (Part I of this series of posts) is one of the largest benefactors of the High Line project and occupies a sexy building right next to the rail line. (Read about it

 here 

). It is an old warehouse with a contemporary steel and glass addition on the top. This rooftop addition houses DVF's bedroom. The funky building has a quirky mural on a 3-storey high side wall (a clever piece of branding, I say) and is also lit up in multicolors after-dark.

DVF's live-work loft with the rooftop glass addition along the High Line in NY (

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Rooftop addition at DVF's live-work warehouse along the High Line in NY 

Charles Renfro spoke about the firm's constant effort to integrate public space into their buildings. Examples include the new Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, where they integrated the public harborwalk into the building by carving out a public amphitheater space at the ground level of the building; the Image and Audio Museum in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where they have designed the front elevation as a public ramp-way that takes people up to the building allowing a user to look into the building, its exhibits and activities; and the addition to the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, where they sliced the building to create a public amphitheater seating while exposing the studio spaces providing a barrier free view from the street, once again making the public a part of the building and its activities and vic-a-versa.

Very inspirational out-of-the-box thinking... I love them for slicing and dicing the buildings while dissecting the conventional concept and perception of particular building. Admire them for their ability to step back from the obvious and give each building a new identity. Applaud them blurring the lines between private and public; and making buildings open up to the city.

The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (

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The proposed Image and Audio Museum at Rio de Janiero, Brazil (

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The proposed Image and Audio Museum at Rio de Janiero, Brazil (

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Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York (

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YUMMM !! Six different Bagels with six different toppings (above) and fried Montanara pizza (below) 

Just returned from a quick whirlwind tour of New York. Along with my usual New York fix of bagel and cream cheese, pizza (this time it was the fried Montanara !!) and beer, J Crew and Anthropologie, I put in the needed effort to expose myself to cutting edge design and designers. This is my way to continue to be inspired. Nothing seems impossible when one is in this great city and one does not have to look far for inspiration. There is a more than average concentration of talent and creativity here. I aim to soak in as much as I can whenever I am back.

Dress by Norma Kamali, Oscar de la Renta and Rudi Gernreich (Photo Credit)

First, I made it to a great fashion exhibition commerorating designs and American designers that have had a notable impact on fashion in the last 50 years. The exhibition was conceived by Diane von Furstenberg, who is one of my favorite designers. I love her use of bold colors and playful prints while keeping the outfits fairly simple and elegant in cut and design.

Photo 1: A dress by Halston, Photo 2: (from L to R) Dress by Thakoon, Yeohlee Teng and Proenza Schouler, Photo 3: Dress by Sidney Wragge (Photo Credits: Link)

The exhibition ranged from fairly simple clean designs to the very detailed over-the-top designs including the gorgeous Norma Kamali, black parachute cloth and feather jacket, skirt and turban, circa 2011, and Oscar de la Renta, silk taffeta gown with black Guipure lace bodice, spring 2012 (shown above in photo).

Peter Woytuk Sculpture at Columbus Circle with the Museum of Art and Design in background

Next was a walk along Broadway on the Upper West Side to see some site specific sculptures by Peter Woytuk.These sculptures are playful and whimsical. They comprise of oversize animals and fruits in the little green strips or plazas along busy Broadway. They are great as they bring a touch of surprise to the commuters and travelers. They appear out of nowhere and their scale, size and sometimes color forces one to stop and take notice. It is a way for nature to reclaim the city while providing the busy New Yorkers with respite from the everyday....

Pair (Spooning) at 107th Street

The Acorn Bench at 73rd Street

My favorite, Kiwi at 72nd Street

My favorite was the giant kiwi at the 72nd Street station. At least 5meters in height, with an equally large belly, this bird in bright blue sits on its butt and seems to be very happy ! The sculpture somehow made me think of the animated movie 'Happy Feet' and I imagined this kiwi skidding through ice and having the time of its life....screaming 'wooohooooo'!!...... Such is the power of art, it can transport the viewer from a dry hardscaped train station to icy glaciers and feelings of childlike exhilaration !

More on architecture in Part II, to be continued...

OMG! How does one build like this... 

The pictures above show the twisted, bent and warped facades of the stainless steel clad Frank Gehry's Beekman Towers, Frank Gehry's IAC Headquarters, Jean Nouvel's 100 11th Ave, and Thom Mayne's new Academic Building at Cooper Union, all in New York.

The question I ask is not how one thinks of these buildings, dreams them up at night or during a drunken creative breakthrough. The key question for me is how does one take these magnificent forms from paper to reality. Maybe I am jaded. But the quest to understand design to execution has dictated my professional journey, where I started as an architect who believed that design was supreme and then went on to studying and practicing as a city planner and real estate professional in an attempt to unravel the processes that translate design dreams to reality. I still think that design is supreme but really it can be so much more if implemented correctly on budget and on time. My architect friends may hate me for saying this but in a way I am their biggest proponent. I think that architects are supremely talented, way ahead of the times, and therefore I believe that their creations need to be built so the world can be a better place.

Renderings showing the proposed Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York

So going back to the question of 'How does one build like this?'. The above rendering shows the new Barclays Center under construction in Brooklyn, New York. The project is being built by developer Forest City Ratner as part of the very controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, New York. Interestingly, I had the opportunity to work with their parent company Forest City Enterprises in 2008-09 on mill redevelopment projects as part of the development team. Forest City Ratner is also the developer for the stately Beekman Towers (image on top).

Detail of the facade at Barclays Center made with pre-weathered metal lattice

Last week, I attended a talk by Jonathan Mallie from SHoP Architects and Construction who are the architects on the job and are facilitating the construction.

The building's external form is designed with concentric helical bands that are superimposed on each other. To mask this snaking form, the building will be skinned with a weathering steel latticework system. The lattice system goes over a glass curtain wall. Before installation, the metal lattice panels are pre-weathered to obtain a patina that makes them look older (weathered) in a design attempt to resemble the historic brownstones of Brooklyn.

And here is the kicker in the whole story, the proposed skin is comprised of 12,000 uniquely designed mega panels; each unique in size, shape, and individual pattern of folds and bends. Yes, I know....CRAZY ! Imagine implementing something like this. Imagine manufacturing each panel individually, imagine producing 12,000 individual drawings for each panel and then imagine coordinating the whole process, managing delivery and installation....

Photo of the lattice panels being installed on-site at Barclays Center

How does one go about a challenge like this? In this case, SHoP Architects have a sister company called SHoP Construction who played the key role of coordinating all design and construction efforts. They employed technology and created a Catia based 3-dimensional model that integrated all the building components with a back end database that recorded the details of each component (so size, individual design and special characteristics). As an example of attention to detail, SHoP actually analyzed the optimum size of panels and optimum stacking for road transportation (panels are being manufactured in Indianapolis and the project is in New York, 700 miles away from each other). After this exercise, they actually modified the design of the lattice panels to ensure efficient transportation. This is also an example of how an entity like ShoP Construction was critical to project implementation that allowed for communication between designers, manufacturers and contractors, who in spite of being in the same industry generally speak different languages, meaning have very different roles, scope of work and motivations.

The centralized model and database was also used to generate the 12,000 unique drawings for individual panels. And then they did another cool thing, implemented another idea that has probably never been done before.. Each panel was assigned and identified by a bar code. So each drawing had a bar code that was repeated to tag the panel once manufactured, was scanned when the panel was put on the truck to be transported to site, again scanned when it reached site and then again once it was installed. Taking it all the way, this electronic information was then made available real-time through a project website that kept all team members from the owner, architect, manufacturer, contractor up to date on where each of the 12,000 panels were at any given point in time. All this is so cool, that I just can't type fast enough to tell you all about it... just thinking about it makes me jittery with excitement...Oh and of course, the electronic tracking system was also available to the project team as an IPhone application... 

Learning about these wonderful stimulating innovations in design and implementation left me wanting more...The mantra to successful project implementation is seamless communication between all parties. With technology this communication can improve by leaps and bounds. For our project, we rely on digital photographs, skype calls and in-person meetings with all project leaders. It works well for now, but I will end the post hoping that in the future we will endevour to design and build more complex buildings and embrace cutting edge technology to do the same.

Read more about,

The weathering process for lattice panels

 at Barclays Center

Video of construction sequencing at Barclays Center

Read New York Times architectural review of,

Frank Gehry's Beekman Towers

Frank Gehry's IAC Headquarters

Jean Nouvel's 100 11th Ave

Morphosis's Cooper Union New Academic Building

Page from Anthropologie India Spring Catalog

I am back in New York after a four month sojourn in Goa. If you read my last post, then you know that the project in Goa is progressing on-track and it was (somewhat) safe for me to travel across continents and get my seasonal dose of inspiration, motivation and aggression from New York. More than anything New York makes me push myself. New Yorkers are super-beings, who manage high paced jobs, families, friends while looking great all the time and being in the know on everything... it is a lot of pressure to be all that but New Yorkers do it so effortlessly and I love them for it. When I am in New York, I feel that anything is possible.. It empowers me and gives me another tiny push to continue to follow my passion.

For the past year now, I have been spending around 3-4 months in Goa working on a pilot development project and then a month or so back in New York. Lines are beginning to get blurred now about where home is, what I expect to find in my fridge, friends and conversations...

When in New York, my main agenda (apart from continuing to micro-manage the Goa project) is to see, hear and learn so I continue to get inspired, find ways to put new ideas to work and not let the little things bring me down. The idea is to think big picture, learn from innovations from around the world and absorb the energy from my favorite city.

Interestingly, in Spring I was in New York for the Festival of Ideas and this time around my trip coincides with the Urban Design Week and Climate Week but I narrowly miss the Architecture and Design month...

On my last trip in Spring, I was struck by the focus on India in several places where I typically look for inspiration. I found that more people are looking towards India with hope, attempting to unravel its complexities, blend in with India's treasures in culture, design, history and diversity. Here are a few notable encounters:

Poster for 'Jugaad Urbanism', an exhibition at Center for Architecture in New York

1. 'Jugaad Urbanism', an exhibition at the Center for Architecture

As the name suggests the exhibition and related programs highlighted the innovation in urban design, architecture and building material found in unlikely places in India often without assistance from design and construction professionals or public funding. The exhibition was interesting; I particularly remember a study on the Chawls in Mumbai, with an extensive report and a detailed graphic documentation. More here.

But to tell you honestly, I have very little patience for long studies of problems and solutions that are merely theoretical, snazzy difficult to understand design solutions, and solutions with no implementation plans. Not sure why but solutions from design professionals in India often lack thought on implementation. Most people actually do not care about that aspect at all. I am not saying that theoretical exercises are wrong but only that I have little patience for them as I feel that the time to take action is NOW.

2. Anthropologie May fashion catalog on India.

Anthropologie which is on of my favourite stores picked India as the location and inspiration for their Spring catalog and I have to tell you, the design, photography and fashion blew me away. It made me so proud of being Indian. After looking at that catalog, I bet everyone in the world wanted to be that girl in India. It was a skewed version of reality. But design is for dreamers and the Anthropologie catalog urged us to dream on. Sadly, I can’t seem to find the catalog anywhere online, but you can see some more pictures here

Cover Page of Wallpaper Magazine June 2011

3. 'Reborn in India', June issue of the Wallpaper magazine. 

Wallpaper did an entire issue solely looking at design in India. It highlighted fashion, furniture and architectural design. It was great to get the focus on an international platform but for me the compilation left a lot more to be desired. I felt that they took the easy route and covered all the established big names in the industry. I agree that the big names in the industry have earned it. But I would have personally liked to see a bit more from the new, emerging designers who are either innovating new ways of thinking, or resurrecting traditional techniques and design while working with local craftsman and artists. See more here.

Excerpt from book, 'To India with Love: From New York to Mumbai'

4. Finally, came across the book 'To India with Love: From New York to Mumbai' at a cafe in the Village. Another dreamy collection of India experiences and inspirations from global designers, travellers and revellers presented with great kitschy style. I loved reading through it. You can find some excerpts here.

The agenda for this trip is to: WATCH Spiderman on Broadway; LISTEN to speakers about Leveraging technology in the design process, Governance in Hyderabad and alleviating poverty; VISIT the Brooklyn Flea market and New Dekalb market (built with shipping containers); and SEE Public art by Sol Lewitt.

Hopefully, I will be able to blog about at least a few of these, so stay tuned.

Postcard from High Line exhibition at MoMA that I have saved as a design inspiration since 2005

The High Line Phase 2 opened in June, a few weeks after I flew back to Goa. It makes me sad to not be there and experience it for myself.

I have been tracking the High Line project since 2003 when there was a design competition to transform an abandoned freight railway line in Manhattan into a public park system. The competition was won by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

In 2005, there was an exhibition at MoMA with a large scale detailed model of the highline that was suspended within the gallery and hung in mid-air. The design and exhibition was so very inspiring for the young architect/ planner in me. I marvelled at the way the architects had proposed a design that preserved the historic legacy of the space, while introducing a new park system that balanced planted green areas along with paved usable spaces.

High Line exhibition at MoMA

I love the contemporary use of material along with new age designs for every element including the precast concrete finger like paving that weaves into the planting beds, the floating street furniture, and special areas for seating and congregation that celebrated the city by framing views and entrances. The relationship to surroundings is further heightened when buildings bridge over the High Line (few older industrial buildings and of course the new Standard Hotel). The entire project represents the brilliance of the architects and embodies their passion for the city, contemporary design and building materials.

The original tracks that were carefully replaced back in their original position after the restoration work

The finger-line pre-cast concrete paving that weaves into the green spaces. Planting beds are planted with native species of grasses and wildflowers so they require less maintenance and water

Floating landscape furniture in new age contemporary design

Amphitheater that looks onto the city streets and celebrates the chaos

Our takeaways from the High Line for our project in Goa are as follows:

- Need for a comprehensive understanding of the site and the project's relevance to its surroundings. Preservation of this understanding and relationship in the proposed design.

- Excellence in design and attention to detail with a passion for perfection

- Integration of contemporary design while preserving the historic legacy of the place

- Fearless new and innovative use of material

- Use of native species of plants to propose a landscape that requires little maintenance, water and other resources

Hotel Standard built over the High Line

My favorite view from the High Line framing a Gehry building and a Jean Nouvel building. 

In September 2010, We moved to Goa after living in New York for 5 years and Boston before that for 2. This does not mean that we have left New York for good. That would be unthinkable. My husband and I want to live in both places.

To most people that sounds crazy and not 'something that one does'. To some extent they are right, we have picked 2 locations that couldn’t be further apart from each other but really it is not that bad. The 15 hour direct flight from New York to Mumbai helps...

I guess the next big question is why? My simple answer to most people is 'to build a house in Goa'. The longer and more insightful answer is complex. It is mainly driven by my training as an architect in India, a planner and real estate professional in the US and being passionate about the rapid development occurring in India.

I am an architect and planner. I left India in 2003 when the sharp upswing in India's development had just started. As a result, I have observed most new developments from afar while simultaneously studying and learning about the best and worst practices in city planning and real estate development around the world.  In all the years that have followed, I have brainstormed, researched and written about the many ways in which India has the potential to leapfrog to a new sustainable developed future nation, by learning from the past mistakes of the West (that they are struggling to correct like over-dependence on cars, urban sprawl, a highly energy dependent society, corporatization of food, and rich man’s diseases like obesity, diabetes and heart ailments). If India must mimic the West then we should mimic the future that the West is trying to create rather than the past that they are leaving behind.

These are interesting times in India. There are masses of consumers with increased spending power demanding new products. This is also a time where one can set standards and put forth products that become benchmarks for future developments.

As an observer of the real estate market in India, I have been shocked at how the sale prices have shot up to be directly comparable to other ‘hot’ and ‘desired’ real estate markets in the world but the quality has remained very much what it was in the last century. Home owners still complain of cheap quality of construction, water seepage, floods, termites, high energy use, worsening micro-climate, loss of green cover, unplanned parking and zero space for recreation.

These observations are ofcourse not new and not just mine alone. There is a large community of thought leaders in India and abroad who know and advocate similar thoughts and principles. The problem in my mind is that the folks actually implementing development works are not actively engaged with the thought leaders. Most implementers are thinking short term and not changing their ideology and processes based on a long term view of sustainable development. In commercial real estate development in India, most developers are so busy profiting from the surge in demand that they see no incentive in changing their age old business models and construction practice.

Among global consumption of resources, buildings account for: 20% of water use; 25-40% of energy use; 30-40% of solid waste generation; 30-40% GHG emissions; and 40% - use of raw materials.

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This statistic alone proves how important the building sector is and why construction is a big responsibility.

I find it frustrating to see that most intellectual talent who claim to know how to do things right are completely removed from all commercial building activity. I get frustrated when great ideas stay on the drawing board because there is a divide and a feeling of distrust among intellectual and commercial sector. I want to take the great ideas and build them. I hope to show that attention to good architecture and high quality construction is needed and that consumers deserve better.

While building a house in Goa, we will utilize principles of good architecture, sustainability and high quality construction to build a home that we will then sell in the mass market. The idea to build responsibly and create a model in real estate development that is responsible, innovative yet economically feasible.

This is an effort to offer new and better alternatives to the innovators, visionaries and leaders of the new sustainable future India.

Along the way we are learning new ways of living and building in lovely Goa, while getting inspired and motivated in amazing New York City.

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(Source:  The World Business Council for Sustainable Development, UNEP, OECD)