Revitalisation of Nala's of Belgavi Site Location: Belagavi, Karnataka Project Type: Revitalisation of network of nalas Network Length: 38 Kilometers Site Area: 169 Acres (approximately) The City of Belagavi lies at an altitude of 784m. It is a valley surrounded by mountains, and therefore situates itself into a system of natural streams - which over a period of last two centuries have been converted into a network of nalas (drains) that carry out the city’s waste. Today t

The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery situated in Hyde Park, London. Every summer since the year 2000 it has been commissioning Architects design a pavilion in the gallery’s lawn that portrays contemporary architectural practices; this year’s being designed by Herzog & de Meuron, Ai Weiwei. Image 1: Plan of Serpentine Pavilion 2012 (Dezeen) Unveiled beginning this June, the Pavilion is a low roof space with many small and large steps. The idea of the designers was to dig

The hill ecosystems form a major environmental resource. But today, in India, most hill stations are facing the onslaught of industrialisation, urbanisation, commercialisation, destruction of heritage sites and deforestation. This has resulted in landslides, loss of catchment areas and frequent floods in the densely populated plains. The ecology and environment of most hill stations, has suffered to a large extent. It is becoming evident that without appropriate planning and

Walking through the morose streets of present Lucknow, these massive building structures dating from the days of the Nawabs rear out of the surrounding anarchy like monuments from some lost civilisation, seemingly as disconnected from the present as it could be. At times it seems almost impossible to believe that they date from less than two hundred years ago, and that at that period Lucknow was famed as one of the richest kingdoms in Asia. In the middle of 18th century, the

Cities in the present scenario are both shrinking and expanding. Shrinking, as the virtual becomes more realistic and provides a platform for social, communal and economic activities; eliminating the need for physical space. And at the same time expanding because of the shear need to cater to the growing urban population, by providing new physical infrastructures. Due to this immense need for growth the pressure is increasing tremendously on the planning organisations. The tr

"Capillary Infrastructure" is a collective research and dissertation of Shantesh Kelvekar and Stanley Chuang on the revival of Jintang Island, a 100 sq.km. island on the east coast of China. The government initially proposed a haphazard development with no consideration to local community, culture or traditions. The proposal was driven through in capitalistic framework. Reviewing the proposed solution by the government, Shantesh and Stanley provided an alternative approach th

Shantesh Kelvekar presented his collaborative research with Stanley Chung at the AA School of Architecture, London as part of the Architectural Association's Graduate Programme's course review. The panel comprised of directors of the AA Graduate School - Brett Steele, Mike Weinstock, Mark Cousins, Mariana Lathouri, Jorge Fiori, Douglas Spencer and Eva Castro to name a few. The panel reviewed the quality of the research and research methodology. The intent of the presentation

Shantesh Kelvekar's undergraduate thesis titled, "Mutating Culture in an Urban Milieu - A Synthesis in Time" was shortlisted by Archiprix International in 2011. The thesis, as part of top 300 thesis was exhibited at MIT, Cambridge (USA) in November 2011, and further was shortlisted to be exhibited at Moscow in June 2012. The thesis received a critical review from the Jury members of Archiprix. The thesis was shortlisted from the entries received from 74 countries worldwide. T

Shantesh Kelvekar presented his thesis at Kurula Varkey Design Forum (2010-11) held at CEPT, Ahmedabad. Among the panelists were Architect B. V. Doshi, Prof. Neelkanth Chhaya, Architect Stephane Paumier and Prof. John Sergeant. The thesis was shortlisted among the top 20 thesis of the SAARC Nations. Later that same year, the thesis was published at Archiprix International too. #KVForum #KurulaVarkeyDesignForum #CEPT #Ahmedabad #BVDoshi #NeelkanthChhaya #StephanePaumier #JohnS