Lunaganga

Lunaganga

Lunaganga is in Bentota, Sri Lanka. It was made by Geoffrey Bawa between 1948-1998. it was a residential and landscape project and was used as a private residence and garden.
The journey to Lunuganga begins on the doorstep of the house in 33rd Lane, whence the car sets out on the harrowing journey along the coast road to Galle. After 60 kilometres the road crosses the Bentota River over the old Dorman Long Bridge, providing glimpses of the Bentota Beach Hotel, Bawa's lost masterpiece, and the sea beyond. On the left a narrow, bumpy road snakes through a dense hinterland of small villages to a causeway that crosses the neck between the Bentota River and the Dedduwa Lake, offering the first distant view of Lunuganga's northern terraces. But, like William Kent's scenario for the great eighteenth century English garden at Stowe, the road now leads off in a circle so that the final approach to the house is from the other side. At last a laterite track leads through a paddy field and towards a thickly wooded hill where an overgrown portal announces the boundary of Lunuganga and a steep driveway swings up through the trees to arrive at the foot of a cascade of steps that climb to the bungalow's southern terrace. The view from the entrance terrace towards Cinnamon Hill and a distant temple comes as a complete surprise. It is as if, having been spun around in a game of blindman's buff, the blindfold has suddenly been removed to reveal the centre of a magic kingdom.
The bungalow lies at the hub of the composition and it is the only point from which all of the garden's separate elements can be comprehended. The estate sits astride two low hills on a promontory jutting into the Dedduwa Lake, a brackish lagoon fed by an estuary of the Bentota River. A mile away to the west, the waves of the Indian Ocean roll in over coral reefs to break onto a white beach fringed with coconut palms. To the east, beyond serried ranks of rubber-tree-covered hills and rice-carpeted valleys, lies the mysterious Sinharaja Forest, Sri Lanka's last surviving area of primeval rainforest. The area around Lunuganga is the wettest and most fertile region of the island, a vast hothouse of exotic trees and plants. But, like so much of Sri Lanka's landscape, Lunuganga is a man-made creation, which in its previous incarnations has been a Dutch cinnamon garden and a British rubber estate.
In 1948 there was nothing more here than an undistinguished bungalow surrounded by 25 acres of rubber trees, enjoying only limited views northwards across the Dedduwa Lake. Since then hills have been moved, terraces cut, woods replanted, new vistas opened up and the old estate road has been buried within a ha-ha. The house itself has been turned inside out, but the original shell survives within a cocoon of new verandahs, courtyards and loggias.

Falling Water

FALLINGWATER
Fallingwater, also known as the Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence, is a house designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The house was built partly over a waterfall in Bear Run at Rural Route 1 in Mill Run, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains.
Fallingwater was the Kaufmann family’s weekend home from 1937 to 1963. Fallingwater (The Kaufmann House) is now a museum. Since 1964, when it opened to the public, nearly four million have visited the house (as of July 2006).

It’s a masterpiece both for its dynamism and for its integration with the striking natural surroundings. This organically designed private residence was intended to be a nature retreat for its owners. The house is well-known for its connection to the site: it is built on top of an active waterfall which flows beneath the house. The fireplace hearth in the living room is composed of boulders found on the site and upon which the house was built - one set of boulders which was left in place protrudes slightly through the living room floor.
The stone floors are waxed, while the hearth is left plain, giving the impression of dry rocks protruding from a stream. Integration with the setting extends even to small details. For example, where glass meets stone walls, there is no metal frame; rather, the glass is caulked directly to the stone. There are stairways directly down to the water. And in the "bridge" that connects the main house to the guest and servant building, a natural boulder drips water inside, which is then directed back out. Bedrooms are small, some even with low ceilings, perhaps to encourage people outward toward the open social areas, decks, and outdoors.
The active stream (which can be heard constantly throughout the house), immediate surroundings, and locally quarried stone walls and cantilevered terraces (resembling the nearby rock formations) are meant to be in harmony, in line with Wright's interest in making buildings that were more "organic" and which thus seemed to be more engaged with their surroundings. Although the waterfall can be heard throughout the house, it can't be seen without going outside. The design incorporates broad expanses of windows and the balconies are off main rooms giving a sense of the closeness of the surroundings. The experiential climax of visiting the house is an interior staircase leading down from the living room allowing direct access to the rushing stream beneath the house.

Villa Savoye

Villa Savoye







The Villa Savoye is considered by many to be the seminal work of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Situated at Poissy, outside of Paris, it is one of the most recognisable architectural presentations of the International Style. Construction was substantially completed ca. 1929.

The house was emblematic of Le Corbusier work in that it addressed "The Five Points", his basic tenets of a new aesthetic of architecture constructed in reinforced concrete:
1. The pilotis, or ground-level supporting columns, elevate the building from the damp earth and allow the garden to flow beneath.
2. A flat roof terrace reclaims the area of the building site for domestic purposes, including a garden area.
3. The free plan, made possible by the elimination of load-bearing walls, consists of partitions placed where they are needed without regard for those on adjoining levels.
4. Horizontal windows provide even illumination and ventilation.
5. The freely-designed facade, unconstrained by load-bearing considerations, consists of a thin skin of wall and windows.

The Villa Savoye was designed as a weekend country house and is situated just outside of the small village of Poissy in a meadow which was originally surrounded by trees. The polychromatic interior contrasts with the primarily white exterior. Vertical circulation is facilitated by ramps as well as stairs. The house fell into ruin during World War II but has since been restored and is o pen for viewing.

Corbusier designed the building to use a flat roof, a move he said was for functionality, though may have been partly due to way it looked for him. Indeed the roof failed its functionality, as the roof leaked, causing the owners to attempt to take Corbusier to court. However at the same time WW2 broke out, and Corbusier left the area, leaving the building in a state of disrepair.

Happy dappy independence day

uff it feels wonderful to be free free to do everything

free to live, free to speak , free to be me

i wore green yesterday, and forced the whole class to wear green too.it was luking soo cute. everyone in green, truly felt
pakistanis spirited enough to show it off.

there were people who laughed. but it didnt matter to me. i said " people who dont have the spirit should not laugh at the
ones who have it" and walked off.

and today we all went to this nice indian coffee shop chain outlet and had a nice breakfast to show solidarity . that we
Pakistani's celebrate happiness with everyone. and that we are tolerant of those who dont share the same views, same religon
and same ideals as us.

i know some might say, we should have gone to a pathan's dhabba instead. but khair,there were people in the group who
thought this seemed a more grand gesture on our part.


its seems nice when we sit and talk about ideals and how we can actually shape pakistan image abroad. and what we want to do
when we grow up and how we can change other people's opinions.

oh, and my bf was looking cute in green . and his car was looking patriotic with the flag on it.

Canteen Kahani

Ooooo. this new show on ARY , it comes on monday. its so cute.

i just love it. there's this guy sarmad, he s a big flirt na. keeps telling getting girls and dumping them and what not. till lyk this girl comes in. cornetto girl. she makes him dumbstruck . haha , girl power i say. we can make any idiot who flirts fall in love with us. we have all the charms na. :p

khair, so i have this new obsession with having a fan site for this show, so i asked my dear bf to whip somethin up for me and we designed this site na . its so cute. we are going to keep updating it for every episode and like put in stuff too na . jus like any other fan site.

hehe

oh yes, the link to the blog is >> "link" <<

i love my bf for doing this.
uff.
:)

oh and incase the link doesnt work
the address is www.canteenkahani.com

hehe:)

love in every bite .

Battle of the Banks

There is this war between banks to see who has the tallest building, which appears more technologically advanced. UBL is building its new building on I.I. Chundrigar Road opposite the State Life Building,someone told me that. which might have underground parking in it.
The MCB tower now stands as the tallest building in the financial district now outshadowing the Habib Bank Plaza. waise the plaza was made to represent a stack of coins .



here are a few stats i dug up regarding the MCB tower.

Location: Karachi, Pakistan

Construction: 2005

Architect: Nayyar Ali Dada

Plot Area: 2090 m²

Floor Area: 21,285 m²

Building Height: 166.00 m

Levels: 3 Basements + 29 Floors

Parking Space: 136 cars

Elevator Count: 6

MOHATTA PALACE

Mohatta Palace is located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It was built by Shivratan Chandraratan Mohatta, an ambitious self-made Hindu businessman from Marwar as his summer home in the late 1920s. However, he could enjoy this building for only about two decades before political upheaval and the partition of the subcontinent forced him to leave Karachi. He built the Palace in the tradition of stone palaces in Rajasthan, using pink Jodhpur stone in combination with the local yellow stone from Gizri. The amalgam gave the palace a distinctive presence in an elegant neighbourhood, characterised by British colonial architecture which was located not far from the sea.

The palace has an area of 18,500 sq. feet and its facade is trimmed with windows, stone brackets, spandrels, domes, balustrades with floral motifs and exquisite railings. There are nine domes, with a centre doom in the middle; while the windows in the front portion opening out into the garden are of blue colour and those in the rear area are arched windows with stained glass. The palace has large stately rooms designed for entertainment on the ground floor and more private facilities on the first floor, where there is a terrace provided with a shade from intense sunlight. The palace is solely made up of teak wood with a polished staircase, long corridors and doors opening within doors. The "barsati” (terrace) of the Mohatta Palace had a beautiful family temple dedicated to Hindu God, lord Shiva.

After Mohatta's departure to India, the Government of Pakistan caused controversy requistioning the building. They used it for the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but soon it was handed over to Fatima Jinnah. In the '60s Mohatta Palace was dubbed Qasre-e-Fatima, becoming the hub of her presidential campaign against Field Marshal, Ayub Khan. After her questionable sudden death, her sister Shireen Bai moved in to occupy the ground floor for many years. The palace was sealed and left to decay for years, after her demise.

Currently, the Mohatta Palace houses a museum which houses exhibitions showcasing the early history of Sindh, the freedom struggle, and the city of Karachi.