POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND FINE ARTS

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III

BY: ABUSO, CHRISTELLE DELGADO, KRIZZA GONZALES, ELAINE JAN IBO, KEITH NAZARIO, XANDRA ELAINE NOVERO, JOHN ANTHONY PANGANIBAN, IVY KATHLYN TAPAR, MA. DARISH (BS ARCHITECTURE II-2) TO: ARCHITECT JOCELYN RIVERA-LUTAP

S.Y. 2012-2013

HISTORY OF INDIA
1. Harappa Civilization 2300 BC to 1700 BC Centered around the Indus River Valley Large, well-planned cities Traded with others System of writing (we are unable to read it). 2. Indo-Aryan Civilization 1500 BC Northern India Language was an early form of Sanskrit, which is still used for religious ceremonies Religious beliefs and customs mixed with Indian groups already there (Beginning of Hinduism). 3. Muslim Kingdom 1000 AD- 1200 AD Established at Delhi Gained control over most of northern India Became leading center of Islamic art, culture, and science Most did not convert to Islam. 4. Mughal Empire (Babur) 1500s Founder Babur The Tiger Descended from Genghis Khan Took over most of northern India At his death land divided between sons 5. Mughal Empire (Akbar) Akbar (Baburs grandson) reunited the Mughal Empire Expanded into central India Akbar reorganized the government and tax system. 6. Mughal Empire (Akbar) Trade flourished as demand for Indian spices and tea grew Became rich and powerful Golden Age of poetry, painting, architecture Akbar was tolerant and curious about other religions. 7. Mughal Empire Cont The Empire grew weaker in the 1600s and 1700s as revolts drained money Taj Mahal built under this Empire. 8. East India Company East India Company, a British trading company, won rights to trade in the Mughal Empire in the 1600s Took control of India during the 1700s and 1800s As the Empire grew weaker the East India Co. expanded its political power and military force By the 1850s the Company controlled more than half of India. 9. Sepoys Indian troops commanded by British officers. 10. Indian Mutiny - 1857 Sepoy Troops revolted and killed British officers and residents Violence spread British troops sent in Rebellion was crushed. 11. RESULT of Indian Mutiny British government gained control of India. India became a British Colony. 12. British Control Brought in the railroad shipped raw materials to England for British factories Goods then shipped back to India as a market for British goods Indians were treated as secondclass citizens. 13. Indian National Congress Created in 1885 Wanted fair treatment from British. 14. Nonviolent Protest Led by Gandhi Finally led to British giving India independence In 1947 Britain divided the colony into 2 independent countries India mostly Hindu Pakistan mostly Muslim.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN INDIA

1. The Development of Modern India Imperialism to the 21st Century 2. Mughal Empire Founded in 1526 and lasted for 300 years The empire united the people of south Asia Experienced a golden age under Akbar the Great Akbar adopted policies of religious toleration, commissioned the construction of the Taj Mahal blending Islamic and Hindu styles of architecture His successors ended the policy of religious toleration against Hindus and civil war broke out throughout the country Europeans begin arriving in India

3. The Taj Mahal Everyone knows Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is a masterpiece of architecture and is generally assumed that it was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Johan in loving memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. This tomb is therefore regarded as the symbol of love and is a great attraction among all the romantic people and lovers around the world. One mystery associated with this sculpture says that Shah Jahan wanted to be the only possessor of such a masterpiece and so as soon as the construction was complete, he cut both hands of the thousands of workers and its also said that the main architect knew beforehand that this might happen so he kept a flaw in that masterpiece. There is one hole in the construction somewhere which no one is able to decipher yet and so one of the ceilings always has water dripping there and no one knows where the water comes from. Another interesting thing which adds to the mystery of this place is that many recent researches on the monument provides evidences that it was actually a palace of Hindu King Mansingh and that its architecture hints at it being a temple of Hindu God Shiva. This new breed of believers say that it has the Hindu symbol OM in the flower carvings, also its direction is not towards Mecca, unlike other Muslim structures and other such hundreds of proofs try to shackle the age old belief of it being a Muslim tomb. Like a beautiful woman and the beautiful moon which have a mystery behind their beauty, Taj also is hiding many secrets behind its outer magnificence. 4. European Imperialism With the decline of the Mughal Empire, British and French colonists begin arriving in India By 1760, the British dominate India British East India Company becomes a dominant force in India, collecting taxes from the locals and taking over their land

5. British Domination Indians were very upset with British rule Hindus were outraged when the British outlawed traditional Hindu rituals British charge high taxes Indians resent the efforts of Christian missionaries trying to convert them

6. Sepoy Rebellion Sepoys are Indian troops who were forced to serve in the British army Sepoys heard rumors that their rifles were greased with beef fat (cows are sacred to Hindus) The British passed a new law that required Sepoys to fight for the British in foreign lands The Sepoys rebelled in 1857, but their rebellion was quickly put down by the British

7. India: A British Colony In 1858, the British government officially took over India as a colony Positive Effects improved infrastructure (roads, railroads, and communication systems) Negative Effects Indians had to buy over priced British goods, cash crops (tea, pepper, and coffee) grown instead of food crops resulting in famine, and schools taught the English language and culture promoting ethnocentrism

8. Indian Nationalism Nationalistic feelings were the strongest among the British educated Indian elite While studying in British schools, they were exposed to the enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality Hindu nationalist emerge, wanting to blend Hindu and western culture Hindu nationalists gain support from the working class and the peasants (power by numbers Nationalists reject foreign rule and demand independence The INC (Indian National Congress) is established in 1885 to fight for independence

9. Mohandas Gandhi 1920, Gandhi takes over as leader of the nationalist movement Tensions begin to emerge between Hindus and Muslims The Muslim League is founded, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah By 1930, Jinnah believes that India should be divided into two separate countries, one for Hindus and one for Muslims

10. Mohandas Gandhi

Known as 'Mahatma' (great soul), Gandhi was the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, and is widely considered the father of his country. His doctrine of non-violent protest to achieve political and social progress has been hugely influential.

11. Gandhi Contd. Gandhi continues to lead the independence movement throughout the 1920s and 1930s Gandhi teaches non-violent protest and civil disobedience (refusal to obey unjust laws) Gandhi encourages all Indians to boycott British goods Leads the Salt March to protest the British tax on salt, marches over 200 miles to the coast to make his own salt from the sea water Gandhi and 50,000 followers are arrested by the British

12. Hindu Muslim Conflict A conflict emerged between Hindus and Muslims in India Muslims, led by Jinnah, feared their rights would be denied in a Hindu dominated country 1946, widespread violence breaks out throughout the country Fearing a full blown civil war, in 1947 the British pass the Indian Independence Act which ended British rule and divided India into two countries, Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan Jawaharal Nehru becomes prime minister of India and Jinnah becomes leader of Pakistan Gandhi refused to celebrate Indias independence because of the violence between Hindus and Muslims In January of 1948, Gandhi was shot and killed by a Hindu extremist

14. India and Pakistan

15. Dividing Forces within India Caste System The Indian government has tried to weaken the traditional caste system and open up opportunities for the lower castes This often comes with strong opposition from members of higher castes Individuals in higher castes are usually well educated and have good jobs Urbanization and modernization has weakened the traditional caste structure Sikh Separatism a group that has blended Hindu and Muslim culture and wants their own country

16. Leaders of India Nehru ruled India for 17 years, hoping to create a casteless India In 1966, his daughter Indira Gandhi, is elected as Prime Minister Both wanted to modernize and industrialize India

17. India Today Industry has grown rapidly, especially high-tech industry The population is growing rapidly, leaving many unemployed and impoverished Irrigation systems have been improved, using canals and reservoirs to store water from monsoons The Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s has increased agricultural output (The Green Revolution was a movement that improved farming methods to increase agricultural output)

EXAMPLES OF MODERN STRUCTURES

TORRENT RESEARCH CENTRE
The TRC (Torrent Research Centre) is a complex of research laboratories with supporting ancillary facilities and infrastructure located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Almost the entire range of pharmaceutical research is carried out here with the cleanest requiring a Class 10000 atmosphere, and the dirtiest emits obnoxious gases. The 30-acre relatively flat site is located in the vicinity of other institutional buildings. The brief was well defined as the need to optimize overall project costs so as to achieve a balance between all the needs, with the worth of the money spent fluctuating within five per cent. The architects attempted to use innovative approaches that struck a satisfactory balance between the varied requirements without compromising. The design, therefore, maximizes the use of locally available natural materials, minimizes the use of artificial light, and attempts to minimize the use of conventional air-conditioning with the introduction of the PDEC (passive downdraft evaporative cooling) system. The aesthetic language represents the inherent character of the building. The TRC is the result of the efforts of Abhikram, which started, with the involvement of Brian Ford & Associates for the design of the typical laboratory building. After attempting to several design solutions including the passive cooling techniques the present section of the typical laboratory block was jointly evolved by them. Consequently, the administrative block and the laboratory core block were designed by Abhikram but vetted for their sizes, heights, and volumes by the Solar Agni International, Pondicherry. The Torrent Research Centre uses wind catching intake towers to pull in air and cool it by diverting it through a fine mist. The cooled air descends through an open central corridor and is drawn into work spaces on each level. Exhaust towers around the perimeter of the complex vent hot air at night. Climatic Zone Architect(s) Client/ Owner Year of Start Year of Completion Built-up Area Builder/ Contractor(s) Hot and Dry Nimish Patel and Parul Zaveri Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd 1994 1999 19,700 sq.m. Laxmanbhai Constructions (India) Pvt. Ltd; M B Brothers Ltd; Shetusha Engineers and Contractors Pvt. Ltd; Materials Corner; J K Builders

Key Concept: Wind Catcher is a traditional Persian architectural element to create natural ventilation in buildings. Wind catchers come in various designs: uni-directional, bi-directional, and multidirectional. Wind catchers remain present in many countries and can be found in traditional Persian-influenced architecture throughout the Middle East, including in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf states.

CII SOHRABJI GODREJ GREEN BUSINESS CENTRE IN HYDERABAD, INDIA

One of the best examples of passive architectural design in the world. President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam inaugurated the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (GBC) in Hyderabad in July 2004. The most environmentfriendly building for use of water and energy efficient technologies and recycled material has been built as a unique public/private partnership as a demonstration building for the industry in India and other countries of the world. The GBC, was built on an area of five acres near HITEC City in Hyderabad and is designed as a demonstration building, as well as research and development center. The Concept of the building is What derives itself from nature returns to it. A building gives back to nature even as it takes from it. Godrej said that the 80 per cent of the material used in the construction of the building was recycled. It included fly ash, a waste material coming out of cement and other industries. The building discharges zero water as all of its used water is recycled. It has a huge capacity for the collection of rain water. "The building has used many innovative ideas including a waterless urinal in which the chemicals are used to store and recycle urine without any odor. The building is also highly energy efficient and uses 55 per cent less energy than a conventional building. It has been constructed in such a way that the intake of natural lighting is high and there is no need for external lighting. There are two air conditioning towers in which the incoming air is cooled 7 t 8 degree by spraying of water. The pre-cooled water is fed into the air conditioning system further lowering the energy costs. The 60 per cent of the roof of the building is covered by the roof garden as a good insulating property and to cut down the load on the air-conditioning system.

The balance portion of the roof is covered by solar photo voltaic with 24 KW capacities. The 100 to 120 units of power generated per day is fed into the grid meeting 20 per cent of the total energy cost of the building. India held its first-ever green-roof conference in Indore in 2011. Sponsored by the World Green Infrastructure Network in collaboration with a local company, Green Takniki, the symposiums ambitious agenda was captured in its title: Green Technology for Green Roof, Green Home and Rain Harvesting to Combat Urbanization for Sustainable Future. The green-roof industry has tremendous potential in Indiato save electrical energy, cool buildings and boost the economy, says Suresh Billore, Green Taknikis executive director.

NAGA TOWERS
Naga towers, described as the Guardians of the City with 54-story, was designed as a modern Indian architectural interpretation of the cherished Indian cultural symbol of the Naga (snake) and is just one of the many towers coming up in Indias Largest Greenfield mega project, the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT). While designing the said structure, great care and thought has been put into the symbolism and design of these commercial towers as Indias traditional rchitecture to push the boundaries of the futuristic one. The scale is singularly massive, unparalleled in the world excepta handful of Dubai megaprojects, none of those which can hold a candle to GIFTs goals of economic sustainability, integration and scalability. As to fully explain the relevance of Naga Towers design, the symbolism attached to Naga must be explained. The Naga, or snake (Shown in the left), plays an integral part of Indias cultural ethos, philosophies, traditions and religions. Reverence, of the Naga as the anthropomorphic symbol of the spiritual truth and energy a date back to the dawn of civilization in India and has Figure 1 Naga Snake (source: http://djcadteam8.files.wordpres spread throughout Asia with s.com the spread of Hindu and Buddhist symbols. The symbolism attached to the Naga is extensive. The coiled body of the serpent rising represents the symbolic rising of the Kundalini, or spiritual energy, and the many heads represent a manifold seemingly disparate perceptions of reality actually unified in form, and the hooded head represents the mastery emotion and materialism. In Indian architecture, as well as in the Hindu and Buddhist architecture of Southeast Asia, its influence of the Naga on art and architecture can be seen back from its Harappan-Saraswati cities and to the present day. It is this powerful symbol of the Naga that has been re-interpreted in commercial-use Naga Towers.

Figure 2 (Photo source: http://img16.imageshack.us/img

The snakelike design is evident from a cursory look at the building. According to ECADI architects, the springing and leaping action of the snake is reflected in the form of the buildings in a symbolic indication of awareness and vitality. The inspiration doesnt end there, as the Naga concept of duality and contradiction is represented in the double motif that eventually joins to make one building. In Indian and Southeast Asian architecture, the statue of the Naga, is placed flanking the entryways of the city, the temple and the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, symbolically guarding the approach to a higher spiritual truth. Taking a cue from this, the Naga Towers are directly situated on the Dream River waterfront, the dominating the main water approaches Figure 3 the GIFT skyline, with Naga Towers on the far left to CBD. The tower will be commercial in use and rise to a maximum height of 230 meters and 54 stories tall. Its total above-ground and below-ground areas are 4, 704, 000 and 1, 927, 500 sq ft respectively and will be developed as Block Package O in the master plan.

NAMASTE TOWER
W Hotels has just announced plans for the Namaste Tower, a new W Hotel in Mumbai that is due to open July 2015. To follow the long tradition of great Indian architecture, the striking 984-foot-tall building will house 62 floors combined into a hotel, office, and retail space. The design of the tower is actually meant to reflect the namaste yoga gesture where two wings of the hotel are clasped together like hands greeting the city of Mumbai. The summit of the building will have a quadruple height atrium space which will enclose the Sky Restaurant and Bar with a stunning view of the busy city. Atkins Design Studio was one of the masterminds behind the upcoming Namaste Skyscraper in Mumbai, India. Namaste is the traditional greeting that sparked the entire inspiration for the project, leading to the peaceful choices in so many finishes, shapes and especially the Mehndi patterned glazing on the facade. The 62 story concept houses residential, hospitality and commercial spaces all within a beautifully patterned glass exterior. Also taking heed from the Namaste roots, the hotel sections of the building are linked together in a manner that hands might clasp to give the traditional greeting. A beautifully serene structure for such a modern day giant! Say Namaste to the Namaste tower! Designed by the Atkins design studio, work IS currently underway on this 300m-62 storied mixed use tower that will encompass a hotel, office and retail space. The location is Ambika mills which is a couple hundred meters south of the Shangri-La hotel. The developer of the project is unknown.

The renders and text were submitted by Atkins to the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona (3-5 Nov 2010). Link to project page Namaste: Hotel and Office Tower Category: Future Projects - Commercial Location: Mumbai, India Architects: WS Atkins, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Atkins, United Arab Emirates Following the long tradition of great Indian Architecture it was our aim that the Namaste Tower will stand as a landmark structure, representative of the burgeoning economic and cultural significance of India. We aimed to design a building that would become representative of the city: the picture postcard of Mumbai. Key Statistics: 120,000 m2 of Gross Construction Area 380 key luxury hotel Exclusive restaurants, bars, banqueting and spa facilities 9,000 m2 of A grade office space 6,000 m2 of world class retail space 300 m overall building height Namaste" The traditional Indian greeting of Namaste, where the hands are clasped together in greeting, is the inspiration for the design of this tower. In Sanskrit Namaste` means I bow to you`. It has a spiritual significance of negating ones ego in the presence of another. The Architecture of the Namaste Hotel builds on this ancient Indian expression. The two wings of the hotel are clasped together like hands greeting the city of Mumbai. In this way the architectural design of the hotel provides the ultimate symbol of hospitality and welcome, as seen in the as seen in the cultural context of India. Visual Relationships to and from the Site With a proposed height of 300 m the tower will be seen from a distance of more than 40 km. Therefore the visual appearance of the project as a major landmark is of great importance to the city of Mumbai. Views from the tower will extend to the South over the Mahalkshi Race course towards the Mumbai Peninsula and to the South West over the Indian Ocean. The views to the north East are towards a number of adjacent towers that are currently being constructed. The orientation and massing of the tower have been designed in order to make the very best of these visual relationships. The Building Skin The tower has been designed to cater for large scale Indian weddings. The occasion of a Mehndi ceremony (where the hands and feet of the bride and groom are decorated with henna) is often one of the most important pre-wedding rituals in India. The design seeks to build on the theme of the clasped hands by referencing the intricate Mehndi

patterns through the treatment of the building skin. The tower is will be clad in fritted glazing that combines to form an architectural scale graphic on the exterior of the building. This will create a sense of transparency and depth to the building while at the same time helping to maintain the thermal qualities required to meet the buildings envelope design criteria. It is proposed that the large scale canopies over the drop-off points area support an array of solar thermal collectors. Given the available surface area and annual sunlight conditions these have the potential to provide 12% of the energy required to heat the hot water for the hotel. General Arrangement The tower is made up of two separate wings (or hands) which together form the architectural expression of Namaste. The space between the wings forms the corridor spaces. At either end of the corridor space a pair of open atria will offer hotel guests dramatic framed views out over the city. Internal Atrium Gardens These atria also serve to bring natural light deep into the plan. At the plant floor levels these atria are broken with internal gardens that serve to bring greenery into the corridor and atrium spaces. It was a central design aim to ensure that the circulation areas of the hotel, (including corridors) are just as impressive as the rooms themselves. The Podium The geometry of the podium is designed to integrate fully with the design of the tower. Thus it is a highly symmetrical form that responds to the wing like canopies above the drop off. Containing mostly retail, the facade of the podium is activated with water features and fountains that cascade down to street level. The Summit At the summit of the building a generous quadruple height atrium space encloses a Sky Restaurant and Bar which will provide a unique vantage point for patrons to gain panoramic views out over the city.

LOTUS TEMPLE
The Lotus Temple, located in New Delhi, India, is a Bah' House of Worship completed in 1986. Notable for its flowerlike shape, it serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent and has become a prominent attraction in the city. The Lotus Temple has won numerous architectural awards and been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE LOTUS TEMPLE Award Winning Canadian architect Arthur Erickson has described the architecture of the Lotus Temple as one of the most remarkable achievements of our time, proving that the drive and vision of spirit can achieve miracles. The temple is so excellently designed that its discernible at a distance of more than a kilometer at night. The 27-petal, half-opened lotus is surrounded by delicately kept lawns and nine pools. The 40 m tall temple was opened to worshippers on 24 December 1986. Since then it has attracted over 70 million people. Currently an estimated 10,000 people visit the temple every day. The base of the lotus spans approximately 70 m and the hall inside can accommodate over 1,300 people. STRUCTURE All Bah' Houses of Worship, including the Lotus Temple, share certain architectural elements, some of which are specified by Bah' scripture. `Abdu'l-Bah, the son of the founder of the religion, stipulated that an essential architectural character of a House of Worship is a ninesided circular shape. While all current Bah' Houses of Worship have a dome, this is not regarded as an essential part of their architecture. Bah' scripture also states that no pictures, statues or images be displayed within the House of Worship and no pulpits or altars be incorporated as an architectural feature (readers may stand behind simple portable lecture stands).

Inspired by the lotus flower, the design for the House of Worship in New Delhi is composed of 27 free-standing marble clad "petals" arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides. The nine doors of the Lotus Temple open onto a central hall slightly more than 40 meters tall that is capable of holding up to 2,500 people. The surface of the House of Worship is made of white marble from Penteli mountain in Greece, the very same from which many ancient monuments and other Bah' Houses of Worship are built. Along with its nine surrounding ponds and the gardens, the Lotus Temple property comprises 26 acres (105,000 m; 10.5 ha).

The site is in the village of Bahapur, in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The architect was an Iranian, who now lives in Canada, named Fariborz Sahba. He was approached in 1976 to design it and later oversaw its construction. The major part of the funds needed to buy this land was donated by Ardishr Rustampr of Hyderabad, who gave his entire life savings for this purpose in 1953. A portion of construction budget was saved and used to build a greenhouse to study indigenous plants and flowers that would be appropriate for use on the site.

GEOMETRY The beautiful concept of the lotus, as conceived by the architect, had to be converted into definable geometrical shapes such as spheres, cylinders, toroids and cones. These shapes were translated into equations, which were then used as a basis for structural analysis and engineering drawings. The resultant geometry was so complex that it took the designers over two and a half years to complete the detailed drawings of the temple. An attempt is made below to describe this complex geometry in simple terms. Entrance leaves and outer leaves. The shell surfaces on both sides of the ridge of the entrance and outer leaves are formed out of spheres of different radii, with their centres located at different points inside the building. There is one set of spheres for the entrance leaves, some of which define the inner surfaces, and others which define the outer surfaces of the shells. The diameters of the spheres have been fixed to satisfy the structural consideration of varying shell thickness. Similarly, for the outer leaves, another set of spheres defines the inner and outer surfaces of the shells. However, for the outer leaves, the shell is uniformly 133 mm thick towards the bottom, and increases to 255 mm up to the tip, beyond the glazing line. The entrance leaf is 18.2m wide at the entrance and rises 7.8m above the podium level. The outer leaf is 15.4m wide and rises up to 22.5m above the podium. The inner leaves. Each corrugation of the inner leaf, comprising a cusp (ridge) and a re-entrant (valley), is made up of two toroidal surfaces. A toroid is generated when a circle of a certain radius, 'r', is rotated around the centre of a circle of much larger radius, 'R'. A cycle tube is a typical toroid. The shaded portion of the toroid is a part of the inner leaf shell. The inner leaves rise to an elevation of 34.3m above the inner podium. At the lowest level each shell has a maximum width of 14m. It is uniformly 200mm thick. The arch. All around the central hall are nine splendid arches placed at angular intervals of 40 degrees. The shape of these arches is formed by a number of plane, conical and cylindrical surfaces. The intersection of these surfaces provides interesting contours and greatly enhances the beauty of the arches. The nine arches bear almost the entire load of the superstructure.

The interior dome. Three ribs spring from the crown of each arch. While the central one (the dome rib) rises radially towards the central hub, the other two (the base ribs) move away from the central rib and intersect with similar base ribs of adjacent arches, thus forming an intricate pattern. Other radial ribs rise from each of these intersections and all meet at the centre of the dome. Up to a certain height, the space between the ribs is covered by two layers of 6Ommthick shells.

THE IMPERIAL TOWERS

The Imperial is a twin-tower residential skyscraper complex in Mumbai, India that were the tallest buildings in the country till June 2012 when Palais Royale topped out. The towers are located at the sea front in Tardeo, South Mumbai. Construction was completed and the towers were inaugurated in 2010. Designed by Mumbai architect Hafeez Contractor as his most recognizable project to date, were designed as Mumbais tallest towers. The Imperial Twin Towers are built on former slum land where the current re-development model of builders providing free land and rehabilitation to slum dwellers in exchange for rights for property development, was first put into practice on a big scale. This model was used for slum and mill land redevelopment across the city, and across India as a whole. A private observation deck is present at the top of each building by the cone spires. It's not open for general public contrary to popular beliefs. Construction started: 2005 Height: 210 m Opened: 2010 Floors: 60 Address: Mumbai Architect: Hafeez Contractor

Mumbai's first major skyscraper project, and really, the project that can be heralded to have paved the way for the boom, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Ltd./SD Corporation's twin Imperial Towers, designed by Mumbai architect Hafeez Contractor as his most recognizable project, was designed as Mumbai's tallest towers. Then called "SD Towers" or "Tardeo Twin Towers", the years long litigation and hardwon battle for construction rights was the change that heralded the 'new India' economic boom model of urban redevelopment over the paralyzing nexus of 'old India' socialists and specialinterest groups that for years had kept Mumbai underdeveloped. The towers are built on former slum land where the current re-development model of builders providing free land and rehabilitation to slum dwellers in exchange for rights for property development, was first put into practice on a big scale. This model became the standard for slum redevelopment across the city, and across India as a whole. The towers are ultra-high end residential towers that sold out even before the first brick was laid. The Imperial offers sea-views by virtue of its height, and a resort-like gardens and fountains on top of the parking-structure podium, with hanging gardens that mask the structure itself.

REFERENCES

http://ccrtindia.gov.in/modernarchitecture.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imperial_(Mumbai) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher http://guides.wikinut.com/Taj-Mahal/1eod63xl/ http://inthralld.com/2012/10/62-story-namaste-tower-in-mumbai-india/ http://netpogo.blogspot.com/2011/08/namaste-tower-in-mumbai.html http://span.state.gov/jan-feb2012/eng/02-05-sky-garden.html http://www.archidev.org/article.php3?id_article=1115 http://www.bahaihouseofworship.in/architectural-blossoming http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/gandhi_mohandas.shtml http://www.culturopedia.com/Architecture/modarchitect.html http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1297345 http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=471390 http://www.solaripedia.com/13/94/godrej_green_business_centre_in_hyderabad.html http://www.sustainablebuildings.org/index.php?option=com_cstudy&task=details&sid=32