Vedasri Siddamsetty

Keeping faith at twenty-eight!

April 5, 2015

There are dreams abound

where hopes surround

Fervent wishes are made

for grand plans laid

In a jiffy of sorts

the world comes tumbling down

Hardly any pieces remain

of the demon that’s slain

For all the tearful years

bright rainbows cure fears

With no aim no ambition

but for a steady premonition

The tomes of years appear

like a mountain arreared

How does one trudge on

in shores of dust and grime

For a diamond is but a diamond

no consequence of its predicament

Ever trapped in a safety net

the butterfly flutters albeit

Slow to move in yonder

winning strokes no blunder

The wings come dashing out

on desires of cerebral clout

A thing or two of destiny

it’s a rather fine epiphany

A shore a new beginning

the cross-roads clearly ending

There never is a better time

to make up a new rhyme

The clocks chime in unison

as time blends a revelation

Good times round the corner

a touch of spring after November

Pretty flowers bloom together

a sign from every splendor

A lesson in patience

never comes in haste

Keeping faith for all that’s late

wonders wait at twenty-eight!
50 shades of taupe!

March 29, 2015

Nimbly wedging within the city’s famed natural rock formation, the Trident Hotel in Hyderabad is much of an architectural delight. The architect’s at C&T Bengaluru made sure that the heritage rock falling within the precincts of the site was kept intact as a strategic design move right from the very beginning.

The two fold rectangular massing of the hotel block in it’s steely demeanour looks out at the average passer-by with much reserve.

The reserve is all lost as one drives up to the hotel lobby that is largely welcoming and spell-binding. The high proportioned ceilings provide a fancy greeting, holding up the glazing looking out into a delicious portion of greenery, seamlessly bringing the outside in.

In contrast to the steely exterior breezy taupe shades extensively used in the interiors readily brighten up the interior spaces. A wall art-work at the far-end of the lobby in royal blue strikes a chord leavening up other bursts of the bright color in the decor, through flowers or cushions, the blue lends a royal touch. The art work adorning the interior spaces are themed on the city’s marvelous history. Photographs of erstwhile Hyderabad and the city’s ruling Nizams are thoughtfully spaced within the hotel. Much to the art-lovers delight it also is home to the city’s most dynamic and effervescent gallery space, run by Kalakriti art gallery.

For though one can hardly recover from the 50 shades of summery yet classy taupe running seamlessly from the floors to the walls, transforming into the staircase punctuated only by black stone robed water-bodies, the rooms specifically are a personal favorite. The decor is classy but the space is truly legendary, winning with its proportions and a generous spread of space. Though the layout is conventional, with the walk-in closet and the bathroom flanking the entrance lobby, the laisse-faire gesture of angling the solid wooden desk facing the bed as against the wall enlivens the space. All the rooms in this property are all rooms with a view! Views of Hyderabad’s bustling and happening district of Gachibowli are offered up to every guest. Watching the ever-busy youthful district of the city transform through the day is quite a treat in itself.

Through its four acclaimed restaurants, Trident whips up delicious ensembles from Italian to Indian, from continental to fusion food. In Tuscany, the Italian restaurant one could vouch for a revisit through the famous italian wood-burned thin crust pizza or the perfectly rolled cannelloni. The desserts though undoubtedly are their prized possessions!

P.s. The Chocolate mille feuille is one such recommendation for the dark chocolate lovers!
Its a man’s world and a woman’s universe!

March 8, 2015

Or so we would like to believe. This aint a feminist post, blasting away at how superior women are, but more like a blast away on how indispensable both men and women are!

Though I do subscribe to the hackneyed notion that women make better care-givers and are natural nurturers, life, of this age demands a lot more from the female kind. Rising up to life’s challenges women have grown over the past couple of decades playing perfect yins easily donning the hats of intelligent mothers or considerate bosses. We are today, continually made aware of the strides women have made to become empowered in recent times, but I personally am very smitten by the lives my Grandmothers led, or the heroines of Austen’s tales. Though lacking in formal education they exhibited exemplary prudence and wisdom with commendable grit and courage.

When we graduated from the nation’s premier college for architecture, we girls were forever cautioned by our wary professors with phrases by the likes of, it’s a man’s world, and architecture is a male-dominated profession. In line with their views, research suggests that women are not designed to bear excessive stress, finding the “fight or flight” mentality suiting men absolutely inapplicable, women they say are more likely to “tend and befriend”. Now as an interior designer I smile when people verbalize their preference over having women designing. In a rare case of gender bias I have begun to notice that suddenly many a times, life and its myriad offerings are fairer for the fairer sex!

This, 8th of March, is International Women’s Day, or rather International Working Women’s Day, at its onset marked to celebrate the social, economic and political achievements of working women. Preventing it from turning into a mix of Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day the United Nations give the day, every year a different theme with a strong undercurrent of hope that serves to laud the struggles women went through, or still go through to become empowered and face that thing called life!

The UN theme this year is Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it! As key figures or rather backbones of every family, empowering women does literally empower humanity. I can hardly stress upon the crucial role our mothers play in bringing us up and holding us together. While the general theme for the International Women’s Day is “Make it Happen”. Urging everyone to pitch in to empower women and hence empower humanity.

Man or Woman, this women’s day do look at the bigger picture, doing your bit to the cause of a better humanity. For when we come to think of it, we are literally on a blue planet in a pink universe.

Men, on their part, are starting to raise the bar helping break the proverbial glass ceiling that is not confined just to the workplace. Here’s an instance: http://www.heforshe.org/

P.s And to be fair to the boys, November 19^th is International Men’s Day!
Po(ar)try

March 3, 2015

Poetry is a form of art, ever-so delightful and ever-so philosophical, but when it is used as embellishment on a sari it certainly charms! On a Gauri Khan creation for Satya Paul.

With spring round the corner, the breezy tropical feel rendered is rather refreshing. The northern hemisphere of the blue planet is heating up, and here’s a toast to the spring season or rather must I say the summer!

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

-The Daffodils, by William Wordsworth

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March 3, 2015

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Strokes from a small state!

February 13, 2015

Goa is not a small place.

Viraj Naik curates a collection from India’s most loved state that exudes laissez faire living. Where the air is ever so balmy and life is mostly about breathing. Also known as the party capital of the country apart from being endowed with spectacular natural beauty. The place maketh the man, quite popularly and Goans, much like Goa carry the reputation with great aplomb.

Kalakriti Art Gallery, synonymous with great art curation from Hyderabad, launched the collection showcasing artists from across Goa. Some artists are sons of the land, while others decided to base themselves out of India’s smallest state while becoming eventually champions of the land. Galleried in the Trident hotel, the 2015 art show curated by Naik displays works of the ever popular Mario Miranda, VS Gaitonde, Walter D’souza, Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal, Rajeshree Takkar, Kedar Dhondu, Pradeep Naik, FN Souza and fourteen others.

Borrowing the title of the exhibition from Estado Novo, articulated by the Portuguese who ran the state from the 1930s to 1974, Naik insists that Goa’s smallest territory does not by any measure restrict it’s diversity. A fact clearly seen and felt at the exhibition. The artworks cumulatively essay various perspectives and insights that is observed within the precincts. Visual art of all kinds, including photography, video and sculpture are included in addition to the traditional categories of paint on canvas, pen and ink and the likes.

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Artists are rightly said to know no religion beyond art. Naik affirms that they are positively never divorced from politics much against the romanticist notion of artists standing apart from society. Pradeep Naik presents his work as a protest against the devastating effects of iron-ore mining in the state during the 1940s. Kedar Dhondu’s video installation screams, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; it only leads to evil”. While Krishna Divkar’s photograph, “Sao Joao-A Perilous Leap of Faith” showcases a cultural sentiment of flower-crowned Catholics jumping into a well in the monsoon, Asmani Kamat’s “Memory that Scandalous Lies” eschews any valorisation of the past. In sculpture Karl Anto’s “Minds Eye” catches one’s eye.

Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal’s “Divine Journey” was a magnet at the show, attracting passer-bys encompassing fascinating vibrancy through mix media on canvas. Sabharwal cleverly reworks the Catholic icon of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt while in concurrence also engaging Puranic deities and Hindu festivity. My personal favorite at the exhibition however is Walter D’souza’s pen and ink composition titled, “The Great Indian Rope trick”, that to me expressed the effervescent human brain, sometimes left and mostly right!

Patronizing art for over a decade, Kalakriti is constantly catalyzing artists and art-lovers into an ever invigorating and productive synergy. The gallery also provides art prints of the collection through humbler reproductions on mugs, calendars and other paraphernalia for that ever so curious, art-lover. They do the same for this collection too at a fraction of the value. One could buy a vivid painting or a print cause after all everyone deserves a little bit of Goa in their homes!
Smart City Series: Of beautiful urban spaces

February 3, 2015

Punctuation’s matter more in written text than the words itself, similarly urban spaces matter more in architecture than buildings themselves.

On recent marriage hopping trips to Mumbai and Indore I had enough time to mull over India’s bustling metropolis, Mumbai and Indore, a rather smaller city with equally enthusiastic denizens. While Mumbai is winning with its charming old colonial buildings and a busy skyline, Indore is more humble with a dainty past displaying an ambitious future in its buildings. Mumbai has its ever-busy local trains to ferry people and Indore meets its traffic requirements through a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system. Everyone, regardless of where in Mumbai or Indore, agree on how we shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us. But what is more crucial to note, is we as humans tend to thrive on our public spaces just as much as we need our private retreats. After all no man is an island.

The Mumbai Skyline from Marine Drive

Pic courtesy: Snigdha Bathina

From the Spanish steps in Rome to the lawns of the Rajpath in New Delhi, history has more often than not happened in urban squares and parks or gardens. It is thus a sad state of affairs that our country has discredited these very essential compunctions. With global warming and rising pollution levels, not to forget littered arenas, one cannot bear for long even the few and fettered urban spaces anymore. Lack of trees, the harsh sun-rays and dangerous encounters only add to the discouraging conditions. Malls therefore are but for natural places to retire to. All equipped with false trees, blue skies painted on ceilings and even a made-up river if possible.

What if the urban spaces in our cities were to receive more attention and made convenient? Maybe with walking paths, delightful benches, tree-lined vistas or even bunched shades, and what if we actually took them seriously. After all the Central Park is largely indispensable for the well-being of New Yorkers?

A stroll along the Marine Drive and then later at the Bandra Bandstand in Mumbai, reinstates to one the need for open clear, urban spaces. The sea may be the best part of India’s fastest city, but the urban promenade along the crashing waves contributes to it’s largely delectable nature. Cities must be designed to encourage walking as a means of commuting for its citizens an essential criteria of smart cities. Walking is only possible in any metropolis with provisions of larger footpaths, cleaner air, tangible greenery, pre-planned walking routes with measured distances, urban infrastructure to allow for seating/pit-stops and finally public transportation systems that allow for a break from walking when required tied into urban spaces that open out as plazas, shaded promenades and walk-ways connect individual estates as public space, ofcourse.

While the largely successful BRT system in Indore is well defined meeting the numbers quite efficiently. Urban transportation systems contribute a great deal in how a city works, is smart or not and the design of a city. More car-pooling, could effectively reduce choked roads we face in almost all urban cities of India. The large amounts of time spent in traffic jams reduce quality of lives and invite even more lifestyle problems if not diseases. Therefore its not just our buildings that shape us like Winston Churchill mentioned, but urban design and the quality of our cities shape us even more then we could imagine.

PS. Smart cities are made of smart citizens ofcourse. psst. take the hint. Get smart! Use those urban spaces more conscientiously.
2014: Belting out the Radiant Orchid!

December 31, 2014

New leaders, sparked fury, spectacular achievements, bold ideas, new campaigns, innovative thinking, reined encounters are phrases that spell out decidedly most years, and they do summarize this year too! For some it doesn’t matter how hard one tried unless you succeeded, for others it doesn’t matter if you failed as long as one tried! Whatever your thoughts, time does move on, ushering in another new year, prodding one to get busy with making your life yet again.

A quote that stayed with me this year, is William Blake’s, “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man; I will not reason and compare; my business is to create”. What you make, create, design is essentially a part of you that you put out in the world! While India proudly designed and launched a Mars Orbiter Mission successfully, the year of the Radiant Orchid had some very beautiful pieces making their entry into the design scene.

Here are 6 design picks for the year 2014:

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Pantone, an authority of color in our modern world, sets a color for each year. And 2014 was the year of the Radiant Orchid.

In continuance, Marsala is the color of the year for 2015.

Here’s wishing you all a year as deep and meaningful as Marsala, if not for gorgeous, year of the Sheep. May the coming year be exuberant, cause after all Exuberance is beauty! Another phrase from the Blake stables.

And yes, from the rolling hills of Switzerland here’s a dose of Swiss Bliss!
Design in India

November 16, 2014

When celebrated artist Rajeev Sethi announced his presentation consisting of 625 slides the crowd remained unfazed. Documenting his journey as a scenographer, art curator and artist over a career spanning various disciplines, over 4-decades, the Padma Bhushan awardee shared not just his artistic accomplishments but also his take on modern day politics.

From the humble Lotta (or the indian jar) to the house of India’s wealthiest Adani’s, from Indira Gandhi’s reception space for over a hundred state dignitaries to wedding planning for his God-children, Sethi easily stuns with his versatility. My personal favorite of all his works is the Basic Needs Pavilion he put together as a scenographer, for the EXPO 2000. The expo housed work by artists of the subcontinent fetching Sethi vast critical acclaim.

When he bellows, much like our charismatic Prime Minister, to not just Make, but Design in India, he does have a point. For inspiration or rather motivation, Sethi highlights proponents that had their beginnings in the Indian sub-continent, from the earthern ware, the rolling pin, tin jars and containers, the Indian cloth weave, to modern day yoga. We must he says revive the Indian industry and do our part to not let the local arts and crafts of our country wither away. Arts and crafts emerging from the Indian subcontinent are known for their diversity and great composition. After all ours is a country that is deeply inspired by beauty, beauty and emotion, the stalwarts of all great art.

Quoting from the Puranas, addressing a crowd of architects and designers, he recites that one cannot be a great architect if one is not a dancer, one cannot be a great dancer if one is not a musician, one cannot be a great musician if one is not a sculptor, while one cannot be a great sculptor if one is not a mathematician. Going on to show how unbelievably inter-connected the world really is. Another great piece of work Sethi has done is for Louis Vuitton, forming an indigenous connection with the deities of Lakshmi and Vinayak.

Today the Jaya He walk at the Mumbai Airport hosts a rather impressive collection of art from the depths of the country, a collection curated by Sethi under the patronage of the Reddys. Just like sound does not end, it resonates, Sethi quite like an admirable artist prods one to consider in chaste Hindi, translated to, “do I pass through life, or does life pass through me”. Urging one to live sensibly, that is with all the senses, to feel rather than to simply think!

Through feeling, he says we can prevent ourselves from being like the Musk Deer that searches frantically for the fragrance that lies within itself.
A whiff of Paris!

November 14, 2014

Tucked away in the busy alley of Jubilee Hills, off the buzzing Road no 36 is a little bakery, nestled in a large compound that looks like it is largely inspired by little birds. What with all the minuscule detailing and use of softwood in the decor. Of all the delightful offerings stocked here I must recommend the fresh cream and blueberry stuffed ‘Paris Brest’! It did transport me to the art filled, delightful City of Love and is finger-licking good! Though I swear by chocolate in my desserts and am forever smitten by the finest bakery in town, Labonel, this one dish from Concu, as the quaint shop is called, does deserve an ovation.

Just look at it!

For the more culinarily gifted folks out there here is a recipe from my favorite chef and possibly the only one who has ever inspired me to cook. For a good measure violins do play in the background when madame chef takes over the reins or should I say the measuring cup!

Recipe for Paris Brest

from Chef Arti Shroff

Choux paste or pate a choux

Ingredients:

Water 115 ml

Butter 40 g

Flour 60 g

Eggs 2 nos

Vanilla essence 5 ml

Process:

1.Heat together water and butter till the butter melts and the mixture starts bubbling.

2. Sieve the flour. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and vanilla essence together.

3. Add the flour to the hot water mixture and beat it well till it forms a smooth ball. Cook for a few more mins till the raw smell of flour is fully gone.

3. Cool the mixture slightly then gradually add the egg mixture and beat it well. Make sure you do not cook the eggs.

4. Pipe the mixture into a big disc shape and bake it in a preheated oven at 200 c for 20 mins then at 180 c for 10 mins or till cooked. The ring should sound hollow when tapped with a fingernail.

Pastry cream or creme patissiere

Ingredients:

Egg yolks 3 nos

Sugar 125 g

Cornflour 40 g

Milk 250 ml

Vanilla essence 5 ml

Butter 15 g

Process:

1. Beat the yolks with sugar and cornflour. Boil the milk and gradually add to the yolk mixture beating continuously. Make sure you do not cook the eggs.

2. Cook over a low flame till the mixture is thick and creamy.

3. Beat in vanilla essence and melted butter. Cover it tightly with a clingfilm and let it cool completely in the refrigerator. It should thicken further when cool

Assembling the Paris Brest

1. Slice the choux ring in half all around.

2. Slightly scoop out the dough from the lower half and fill generously with pastry cream.

3. Top with the upper half and dust with icing sugar. Refrigerate till ready to eat.

Chef Arti Shroff with her munchkin!

P.s. In the recipe you could add blueberries I suppose! (For the vegans attempting this, egg-replacers should do)
Project Focus #1: Featherlite Retail Store

November 12, 2014

If space is a canvas, one on which life enfolds, then retail spaces are a prima donna kind of canvas. A space where the product on display is the star, where space itself then takes a back-seat, mostly illuminating the goods while other times iterating as a showcase. The design of the Featherlite showroom tries to do just that, mostly illuminating the fine office-furniture and at other times transforming into a showcase that angles the goods. As a brand that deals in top of the line fine office furniture with a scientific bent, as a brand that believes in innovating work-spaces, the firm required a retail space that complements its philosophy. Rendering the store a minimal and zen-like quality the entire space is en-robed in a palette doused by emphatic levels of the pristine color white. The brand’s logo adorns the signboard in striking white letters on a red aluminium sheet while the show window is decorated by a C-shaped angular shelf framing the display pieces, here dapper-black chairs are assembled. The angular frame also is a pedestal that focuses on the latest range orchestrated off the glazed display window. Brand graphics are mounted on the external granite wall showcasing visual imagery of the merchandise.

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Envisioned as a pure white canvas that draws attention to the office furniture, the flooring is kept to one single level, for ease in testing out the furniture, in gleaming white, on which the products stand out. As the products on display are office furniture, mainly chairs and modular systems, tables and storage systems, flexibility of space is kept paramount. The gleaming white floor kept at one level facilitates easy sliding of the chairs in and out of their designated spots when required. A host of chairs provide a cheery greeting at the entrance in the centre, while each of the adjoining walls are used for display. The Northern wall for instance, has double-decked arrangement, a tiered level of chairs while the Southern wall has premium products settled in a prescribed space with graphic manuals showcasing their features on square panels secured above corresponding chairs. Lighter products that can be easily lifted of the solid wooden shelf are placed on the upper tier. Placed below on the Northern display wall, are the more robust or heavier products. As an extension to the shelf, are caved in display units housing quirky models produced by the brand. These display units along the wall are finished by a seamless unit holding up the television that showcases additional products and projects completed by the 3-decade old company. Flushed in white the television panel is used as a shelving unit from its one side. The Southern wall is finalized with vertical longitudinal members in white demarcating one unit from the other. The information graphics housed above the chairs help explain the functions and use of the premium office chairs that are displayed. The idea is to read the information in tandem, allow for easy comparison and hence help to make a well-informed decision of which product to buy!

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As the brand sells, chairs and tables, modular systems and storage’s, the internal space is designed to create an optimum and well laid out floor plan housing all the products the brand offers. Once the chair display ends, a huge square-grid beveled mirror panel is installed that adds artistic depth to the showroom and hints at an additional flow of space. The diagonally arranged table in front of the beveled mirror panel is a discussion space that is the keystone between the two major products of the store, and this is where customers learn more about the products. As the day progresses, sun-light streams into the store, also marking the gradual movement of the sun. From noon on-wards, in the afternoon, sunlight strikes into the middle area of the store, thereby the mirror is deliberately and precisely placed to harbor the day-light into the deeper ends of the store. The huge beveled mirror thus creates a dazzling effect during the day serving two purposes of heightening the space and achieving optimum levels of daylight within the entire store space.

Ahead the store takes a dynamic shift to the left into the area that is used for the display of executive cabin furniture. The speed and route map of the wandering customer is predetermined by the cautious diagonal arrangement of the furniture. Placed at angles, the patron is cajoled to slow down and appreciate the furniture from all angles. Assessing the furniture from all directions also is beneficial to envision the furniture in different possible locations they are likely to be subscribed for. At the far end of the store, the office space is planned, all equipped with the needs of a retail space. By tucking in the workings, the entire store is dedicated and designed keeping in prime view, the needs of the buyer and the product solely.

Topped over is a sleek white ceiling dimension, one that drops down a notch and works its way through dynamic angles leading a consumer into the store. From its start it adopts a dynamic tangent and follows into the store indicating a rough idea of the space within. At the entrance the ceiling is punctuated by deconstructed ribbon-like stainless steel lights highlighting the dapper-black and luxury chairs that take center-stage. LED lights are geometrically placed across the leveled ceiling and the recessed ceiling, casting ambient light across the store. Optimum lighting levels are maintained to allow for a non-disruptive clear display. Additional track-lights are included to create accent lighting within the store creating pockets of focus lights for the staged display.

The store is thus a white box wherein the work-space possibilities are conceptualized in a seemingly endless space, a canvas, a setting that showcases the product as a background-score. White is expansive, white is non-debilitating, white is exhibitive allowing for free-thinking, vastness, openness and symbolizing space. In the retail space it is used as a canvas taking different forms, sometimes caving in, sometimes standing out, sometimes with a hint of gloss, other times in matted simplicity, in sleek angles, in shy joinery, in bold grooves or as a framed legacy.

Project Data

Architects : Form and Space

Location : Hyderabad, India

Area : 1350 sft

Project Completed : November, 2014

Construction Time : 1 month

Photograph credits: Vishal Siddamsetty
TBT Stop 7: Colombo

October 26, 2014

Colombo is the capital city of Sri Lanka and the city where Bawa practised architecture. His house, office and the paradise cafe are must visit places for the Bawa-fans, those who do the Bawa trail like a pilgrimage.

Residence no 11 on the 33rd lane was Bawa’s residence and office at one point of time, today it serves as a museum and boutique address of guest residence. When we visited his house, Jhonty Rhodes, the cricketer and his wife were guests.

Though small in comparison to all the luxury hotel properties Bawa built, his house located in a posh locality is a combination of three houses that Bawa bought over the years and he reworked the spaces every time. Sealed in white the interior spaces are punctuated by smaller pocket-sized courtyards and skylights to let in light into the framed spaces of the house.

The house is home to many pieces of art work and books that make up the architect’s cultural collection. Some are done by friends, some by his colleagues, some by local artisans and others bought over his frequent travels. Another hobby of Bawa apart from landscaping was that, travel and over years of travel his collection of books and art is laudable.

Completed in a neat facade, his house carries his trademark style throughout. His love for cars is also quite well-known, even today his Rolls Royce is parked in the garage a haunting memory of the architect who built for the classes, with the spirit of the masses.

Apart from Bawa’s home and office, Colombo as a city is the capital for 20 million people. A colonial past, a cricketing legacy, cleanliness, infrastructure in terms of buildings and roads, by the Chinese (!), great textile industry, barefoot – the store, odel, a promising skyline are a few striking things about Colombo! One of my fellow traveller noticed the large number of ‘broom-shops’ all over the place! Cleanliness is a top priority, and it shows. Colombo though, is indeed a microcosm of the nation.