“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness” - Frank Gehry

MEASI Academy of Architecture april 2017 edition

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STUDIO PROJECTS

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

UPCOMING EVENTS &COMPETITIONS

SITE VISIT

RURAL DESIGN STUDIO

THESIS

The rural study for this year was carried out with a focus on how the building typology has been influenced by socio-economic conditions, religion, caste, local crafts and vocation, built spaces, culture, available materials and so on

4. Ar. Ayshwarya; an alumnus of MEASI spoke on sustainable and green buildings. Her prime focus was on the use of Design Builder and its features and how the software enables an user to explore features based on the climatic data obtained from the weather file. She is currently practising in Sydney on the concepts of Green buildings.

A dialogue with Ar. P. T. KrishnanIMAGINE

1. MEASI Graduation Day 2017 is planned to be held in the newAltaf Ahmed Auditorium.

2. MEASI Sports day 2017 is scheduled to be held in May 2017 with students grouped under 4 banners to increase the competitve spirit among students.

3. 15 3rd year students accompanied by our HOD, Prof. S. Kesavalu are participating in the DESIGN OF A PAVILION competition to be held at Westminster University, London in July.

Our Director Prof. N. Altaf Ahmed hosted a a lunch for the faculty members on 30th Jan 2017.

With the completion of their 4th reivew, thesis students will now face a new panel for the 5th review starting 18th Apr 2017. They will face their final viva voce on the 18th & 19th May 2017.

“This newsletter is an initiative to bring to light and acknowledge the larger spectrum of activities and initiatives happening within our campus” - Shilesh Hariharan (Editor)

archEASI newsletter08 INTERVIEW

(01) As part of Building Construction III, the 4th semester students were taken to SERC Chennai on 21st Mar 2017, where they were taught by research scientists about current trends in cost effective construction technology in the building industry.

(02) The students of 6th semester A & C batches were taken on a site visit on 12th Jan 2017 to Oceanic, ECR and Hiranandani, OMR as part of their case studies of mutilevel apartment buildings. At these sites they were briefed by Ar. Srikanth on the functioning of apartment buildings.

(03) The students of 6th semester B & D were taken on 9th Jan 2017 to Lala Towers designed by Ar.Arvind for their case study of a mutistoreyed ofiice building.

(04) The 4th semester students were taken on a site visit to Kilpuk & Koyambedu water treatment plant, on 3rd & 10th Feb 2017 for Building Services 2 subject which deals with water supply and waste water treatment.

In my days, it was necessary to pass a test in free-hand drawing to qualify for the architecture course at Madras University. It involved making a sketch of a ‘still – life’ object which was placed in the centre of the hall. When I took the test in 1962 the still life we had to sketch was a brass vase with a flower arrangement! In those days, Architecture was seen to be more closely connected with the arts than to engineering or science. There were schools of art and architecture, like the JJ School in Bombay and I understand that before the architecture department was set up at the Madras University, there were serious discussions on making it part of the Government School of Arts and Crafts at Egmore. It was widely believed that such a test was required to see if you were ‘gifted’ and artistic enough to design buildings. On further analysis, what the test did was to evaluate: a) Your powers of observation – light and shade, textures and colours, shapes and scale. b) Your ability to replicate what you saw accurately on paper while capturing the mood or spirit and c) Your familiarity with the media to enable this transfer. These skills which are the building blocks of what one refers to as ‘creativity’ were further honed, in the early years of architectural training with courses in Solid Geometry, Sciography and Perspective construction. You learned how to construct complex shapes like tetrahedrons in three dimension, slice them at angles ranging from 0

o–90

o and plot the shape of the resulting plane. You learned to differentiate

between shade and shadow and also how to plot complicated shadows such as one cast by a square capital on a round column with flutings. These skills enabled the stu-dent to imagine complex forms and interpret its physical attributes accurately. Using these skills one could actually make two dimensional elevation drawings appear three dimensional. Thinking in three dimension became second nature and also powered creativity. Why? Because the student was obliged to imagine what he or she could not see. When one is challenged, usually one does one’s best.In the digital world of today when everything is available at the click of a button it important to remember that technology, like fire, is a good servant but a bad master. In order to put it to beneficial use you need to master it – and that can come only through a sound training in the basics. Did you know that in 1969 man went to the moon without the aid of computers? (Watch the film ‘Hidden Figures’, if you haven’t already). A mainframe computer was installed at NASA just before the moon-shot and its results were actually verified manually by mathematicians who were called computers. They assisted the engineers in doing their math. With their knowledge of analytical geometry and traditional mathematics they worked out the exact point and speed at which an elliptical orbit could seamlessly connect with a parabola – shapes that you as architecture students must be familiar with, which had never been done before, but which was crucial to bringing an object in orbit back down to earth. It is the software programs that were developed from these humble beginnings that are used to manage NASA programs today and it is also these very same programs that Frank Gehry uses to design his mind blowing buildings like the Guggenheim Museum at Bilboa. But in most of the photographs I have seen of him, he is surrounded by rolls of paper, pencil in hand and not by computers and flashing lights. Ever wonder why? It is because before you work with your ‘shape’ on the computer you have to imagine ‘it’ and only old fashioned creative skills can give you that edge, the edge that will help you master the digital technology that you are fortunate to haveSo it is up to you whether you wish to conquer the medium or be its ‘slave’. The trouble with being human is that you have both choices!

MAY

01- Anjali

17- Clisson

18- Anuradha

22- Chetna

24- Gajendran

JUNE

01- Jeyapandian

02- Prof.V.Balaji

20- Nithya

25- Febina

JULY

05- Arjun

20- Devanand

23- Rupalatha

25-Hariharan

29- Dr.Thooyavan

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AWARDS

EVENTS & LECTURES

3. Dr. S. Ganesan, Registrar, Anna University inaugurated MEASI Academy of Architecture’s new annex block & auditorium on the 31st of March 2017.

1. The design entry submitted by MEASI student team (Anusha, Gayathri, Edwin and Aghila) was shortlisted at the regional level for the National jury as part of INSDAG -National Award competition for students 2016.

2. MEASI students won 3rd place in MIDAS Trophy football competition held at MIDAS School of Architecture.

3. MEASI 3rd year students Akash Clive, Ummi Fathima & Zaheeb won the 3rd place in RETAIL category of Society Interiors competition 2017.

1. Ar. Jaggu Jaganathan shared his experiences with the students of 3rd and 5th years on the planning, design and construction of healthcare facilities on 23rd Jan 2017.

2. Ar. Satish from Nataraj & Venkat addressed the third year students on various aspects of apartment design using one of their office projects - OCEANIC, ECR as an example.

3. Ar. Arvind from Arvind Varuna Associates presented some of his office buildings to the 3rd year students on 5th Jan 2017, to explain various aspects of office building design.

4. Ar. S. F. Salma’s paper on “Climate Resilient Communities of South India” was published in ISOLA magazine 2017.

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STUDIO PROJECTS

MEASI ACTIVITIES

COMPETITIONS

INTERVIEW

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

SITE VISITS

EVENTS&LECTURES

AWARDS

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

EDITORIAL BOARD

Mentor

Prof.V.Balaji

Editor

Ar.Shilesh

Hariharan

Team

Ar.B.Subhasree

Ar.Anuradha Menon

Ar.Radhikha Senthil

Ar.Abiraami K

Ar.Divyalakshmi

Ar.Devanand

Layout Designer

Ar.Divyalakshmi

“As an architect you design for the present with an awareness of the past for a future which is essentially unknown”. – Sir Norman Foster

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COMPETITIONS

We congratulate Ar.Shilesh Hariharan M. Arch., on getting the “Young Teacher Award” from IIA, Chennai Chapter on 6th Feb 2017.

1. A seminar on Current Trends in Real Estate was organised at MEASI on 22nd Mar 2017 by Dr.Thooyavan, Design Chair, M. Arch (R.E.D.) sponsored by CREDAI. Eminent personalities from the construction industry presented their perpectives on the status and future of the real estate industry and employment opportunities for architectural students. Speakers : Mr. Suresh Krishn, President CREDAI| Mr. Shankar, National Director, Startegic consultancy JLL| Dr. Kumar, MD Navin Housing| Mr. Ajit Chordia, Khivraj group| Mr. Mehul Doshi, Doshi Housing |

2. A guest lecture by Ar. Paul M. Schwartzbaum, an Aga Khan Awardee for Architecture, Chief Conservator of the Solomon R. Guggengeim Museums was organised by MEASI Academy of Architecture, INTACH (Chennai Chapter) & IIA (Chennai Chapter) on 22 Mar 2017 at our campus. His talk was on “ The Conservation and Restoration of the Bomb and Fire Damaged Paintings and Stuccos of The Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem”.

3. As part of the M.Arch (Gen.) subject, Contemporary processes in Architectural Design-II, students of the 1st year had an interactive workshop on 21st & 22nd Mar 2017 with Ar. Kavitha Mohanraj (Director of INTO Design | Research) on 3D modelling in Rhinocerous and Grasshopper software about generative design exploration.

Our Dear Director Prof. N. Altaf Ahmed, was felicitated by the MEASI board, presided by Janab M.Mohammed Hashim Sahib, patron & past president of MEASI on 31st Mar 2017, on being awarded the “Madhav Achwal Gold Medal” for his life long contribution in teaching.

(05) The students of 1st year B & D batches were taken for a case study on Rural Health Centre to Moratandi, Rayapudhupakkam on 7th Jan 2017.

(06) The students of 1st year A & C were taken to SOS children’s village on 9th Jan 2017 for a case study of rural health centre and rural library.

(07) The students of 2nd semester M.Arch Real Estate Development did a detailed study and market survey in February 2017 on the real estate dynamics of Hyderabad and its corridors of development. The study is part of the mixed use mega township project.

(08) As a part of the Academic program, the 8th semester students were taken on a study tour of New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Ahmedabad accompanied by Ar. Anuradha Menon, Ar. Radhika Senthil, Ar. Shilesh Hariharan & Ar. Febin Mohamed.

03 MEASI ACTIVITIES

07WORKSHOP & SEMINARS

11BIRTHDAYS

1. We welcome our new faculty members Ar. Mohamed Anis K.A., Ar. Silvinus Clisson Pragash, Ar. Thasin Basha, Ar. Gajendran T.

2. We extend our best wishes to our ex-faculty Ar. Gayathri A. & Ar. Sara Mathan.