Cross-synergy for innovation

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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What we hear from subject experts on matters of specific subject is important, what is most important is what we hear or yet to hear on any given subject from experts who are outside domain or belonging to a different field, sometimes not even an expert. Cross-synergy is the key element of any subject area to grow holistically, promote innovation and bring inclusion. While we require to get increasingly specialised in sub-verticals of various subject domains, at the same time we also need to make sure to break the stubborn compartments of each domain, built sometimes by very expert guardians of subject. Cross-synergy example can be for instance a #Chef may have an interesting take on #UrbanFarming and #EdibleLandscape as part of #UrbanPlanning subject, a #Mathematician having a sound perspective on traffic congestion resolution as part of #TansportPlanning subject and so on. 

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[Recent update

Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.

Please Note, that I am also conducting a FREE 45-minute online individual consultation on your interior design and home decor needs and aspirations if you are in the Netherlands or even internationally. Drop me an email at anoop.jha@gmail.com 

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

Instagram interior design page @urbantenets 

Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional 

My LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anoopjha/

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Cities as overlapping layers of supply chain networks.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Cities can be looked at as an overlapping layers of supply chain networks where city function is characterised by transfer and exchange of resources and commodities sometimes physical and sometimes virtual. Where physical supply chain network comprises of resource and commodity distribution namely supply of distributed labour to centres of production (work place) as well as from food supply chain to e-commerce delivery network, to retail supply chain to hierarchy of logistics distribution. Virtual supply chain network may be understood as communication supply chain where information is being transferred and exchanged as knowledge commodity through a complex network of embedded channels like social, professional and educational media. Hybrid nature of network is also witnessed like in form of print media, which still essentially deals with transfer and communication of knowledge, again a commodity.

 

That being said, there is immense untapped potential of these network of supply chain which can be harnessed in a city or region, in a business as usual scenario (though some innovative use of such network is witnessed in times of crisis). Two clear advantages are there, first if each of these network could do some improvement in its existing network configuration, making network suitable for repurpose to serve additional objectives without much expenditure. Second, if these networks (like a conduit) could leverage each others network strength in some part of its supply chain, it may immediately yield in optimisation, and better rate of return for businesses.

To leave with some thoughts, in a hypothetical scenario, WHETHER, businesses of similar nature and trade, widely distributed in a metropolis (with their individual labour supply network) will collaborate, brainstorm and swap/ exchange with each other, some of their employees who commute from a very long distance every work day, with those employees (with comparable qualification) who live in neighbourhood of these businesses; in a way that both set of employees swapped get to live and work in its original neighbourhood. It may be a win-win situation for both businesses and individuals.

Likewise for instance global aid networks (like those dealing in emergency food and nutrition), who have reach to remotest parts of world, can use their existing distribution network to support and exchange other noble global causes by joining hands - like supply of frugal innovation test kits, knowledge and awareness OR documentation of native cultural traditions and craft OR linking native art and craft to global market using its existing food supply network for instance.

Author: Anoop Jha

#urbanmanagement #urbanplanning #supplychain #network #smartcity #sustainability #resilience #future #innovation

Must watch Google Trend - India online search trend in last 4 crucial hours of demonetisation!

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Interest over time ......while US election results are also awaited!!

A den of your own in a public realm!

Soon you will be carrying your very own personal space in your pocket or purse!

Yeh true we all like crowd, faceless crowd rather, even the cloistered ones ocassionaly dream of getting lost in the sea of masses. Social animal they call us though everyone's  "social" is different. In a crowd called social some prefer dialogue, some monologue, some play observant and some like to withdraw in a safe corner.  But for sure everyone's life revolves around this thing "social" and everyone craves for this thing called "personal" (space) at the same time!

Like duality is a natural phenomenon observed in nature, "bittersweet taste for example", this perpetual  duality also transposes and gets reflected in human psyche,  "should I? Shouldn't I?" Hence as social is natural to our instinct, so is the craving for personal.

While we are busy planning our cities and communities we often tend to forget about individual needs and craving for secure personal spaces. A space of their own in a public realm- A need which was never talked about, never asked, never fulfilled and not intended to be given any time soon by urban planners and designers.  If you think you have been considerate enough on this issue as a planner, an urban designer or a landscape architect can you think of when did you last design a chair for a park or street instead of bench? Or for that matter when did you even last see a chair instead of bench in any public space? Why do one has to share a sitting space or bench with some stranger in a park or street, charming or otherwise. A solitary chairs in public space is a rare sight if so exists.

Its unfortunate that a solitary person in public realm usually has threat perception attached to it though this very crowd is made up of multiple individuals, seeking their own private space and identity.

So till the time virtual-reality  and holographic spaces takes over the public plaza and streets and parks to cater to personal spaces, we can have an intermediate solution today-Something like  a "space foam" or "3d reinforced fiber mesh" or a "statically charged reinforced siderweb polymer" or "anything which is light, structurally stable and yes biodegradable with self ufolding,  collapsing, binding or with "Spray ability", any one of these in a pressurised Can, something like Shaving Gel Can or Pepper Spray container.

Imaging you 3d spraying (not 3d printing) your own space, like a Cocoon, a temporary human scale shelter when u feel like running away from the crowd, and all from a disposable refillable container you can carry in your pocket or purse.

Join Anoop on Linkedin  

or follow on Twitter @urbanoregional

Unfathomable data: are you still scratching the surface?

Take for instance images!

If you have reached at the end of Google image search page, while looking for a random object or word like say "chair" and if you think this is it, here we are staring at the last image of  chair in world ever uploaded online and you start having this feeling that lets change the key word to "modern chair" and next  changing it to "modern designer chair" ; probably you are going in the wrong direction, probably you are approaching it too casually.  Online research is a  serious business whether its data or image. Its far easier to get lost or get disorientated in the   convoluted maze of online data while it needs a serious approach and focused objective to reach where you want to.

Just to get the hint of quantum of information that is floating out there freely online, if you are searching for any image for instance on Google you might get few hundred results now if you search using each of those images using this option called "search by image" you will get another few hundred distinct results for each original image now if you use a  combination of "search by image" and "text" -any text of your choice - you will get another thousand results now if you keep changing the text or combination of text you will keep getting different new results even if you don't change the image used in "search by image". Easy, we are not done yet. Now if you keep changing the "choice of  color" offered  by Google search results you will keep getting further unique results. Other option of image search is to use "random" text along with "text of your choice". 

Now another way is to search for photographs instead of images. Are they any different? Yes, and we are not even talking about twitter or instagram photograph;we are talking about photograph search through Google. Millions of photographs out there, all you have to do is to search for your  choice of text or subject with the several dozens extension names by which different brands of cameras save their files.

True, while still looking for chair, you might not get only "chair" in your search results if you search using above methods but possibility is that you might come across things in course of your search which will inspire you to the core and which might give a whole new direction and meaning to your research, which you can call accidental learning. We haven't  talked about ever flowing ever growing image database of flicker, twitter or instagram even. We haven't talked about text search yet.  

Its not just about research, its about the real fun part of it. Just take a dip in the unfathomable ocean of data its addictive. Be a smart netizen.

Join Anoop on Linkedin  

or follow on Twitter @urbanoregional

Decoding secrets of good visuals - What makes some images and photographs stand out from the crowd

Some tips, tricks and subjects of images, graphics and photographs which is bound to cast a spell

1)     B&W background subject with semi-transparent bright techno/pop color in      foreground

2)     Picture with range of depth and focus

3)     Green appeal in innovative way

4)     Lush rainy/moist green landscape in terra incognita

5)     Realistic corporate affair capturing the mood of subject and vibes of business  minus ( - ) plastic smiles

6)     Simple things in perspective view

7)     Pattern or geometry unseen before

8)     A well framed shot of pets or wildlife with serious engaging looks

9)     Capturing Interactive and playful pets

10)  Green appeal in innovative way

11)  Bird’s eye view of Rooftop innovation

12)  Well framed commercial subject

13)  Black & Yellow Composition

14)  A well framed worm’s eye view of skyscraper or anything towering

15)  Caves or any undulating interior, lit with bright morning sun displaying    excellent interplay of light and shadow

16)  Translucent colored containers

17)  Hand drawn-water color effect in this era of 3D Simulation

18)  Morning sun rays filtered through simply anything

19)  Innumerable colorful interplay of sunlight and cloud at dawn, dusk further  accentuated if captured in hills

20)  Laughing giggling girls

21)  Asymmetrically captured frame of symmetrical building or symmetrical  something

22)  Translucent building glowing from inside - filtered hint of colors further acts  as charm

23)  White doodle on black background, call it old school blackboard nostalgia or  whatever!

24)  Futuristic ambiance and setting seemingly within reach in near future, not  just another fancy unreachable idiosyncrasy

25)  Anything overwhelmingly luxurious and classic specially interiors

More to come….

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15 things I learned in 10 minutes about photography - Flipping through a reputed travel guide book

Next time you are bullied tell them you are on an exponential learning curve!

Is it "the right time" for education system to introspect on its evaluation and certification process?

You see, you have been bullied every now or than for apparently no good reasons especially in your early growth phase as you can recall from your childhood memories and being bullied even today while you undertake every new challenge. Take a pause and rewind, being bullied for not performing as well as the next bright child in your class or neighborhood, not been able to memories the obvious answers to the obvious questions asked in the endless class tests, being bullied for not performing financially as well compared to people with similar background in life.

Let’s see what's the DNA of this bullying business and has it any significance in the light of the fact that learning and absorption capacity of a person is mostly independent of their childhood performance due to several unknown and very unpredictable environmental influences and opportunities available in one's life as they grow compared to limited and intentionally restricted options available/ provided to them in early childhood. Has it any significance at all in today’s rapidly changing world with emerging technologies, accessible and free resources of knowledge and why this business of bullying should fade away real fast, at least why its high time for the same to happen. Let’s see why the boundaries of education system should and will disappear very soon.

If you will closely observe the peripheral resources of learning available today while tracing the chronological changes in streams of information dissemination and future possibilities of technological infusion in informal learning process which all cumulatively presenting a new and broadened learning process, this informal learning process is getting so inclusive, so fast every passing day that it will make your head spin. These informal learning tools are mostly ignored in education process at present. 

Let’s look at the parallel growth in education system, which apparently seems way behind the real life real time pace of development when it comes to learning process - internet, smart phone, social networking just couple of examples though, you know! Unfortunately none of these wonderful tools of information exchange and knowledge transfer which have become core of everyone's everyday life are in the priority list of education system at all, and neither going to be an area of interest or exploration very soon for them, rather they will make sure that this plethora of life changing tools shouldn't get into the education system in the name of discipline, in the light of childhood vulnerability! Of course you need some kind of regulatory mechanism.

If we go with the current ideology of educational evaluation system then people in their life should be arranged in the exact same order of professional success as they were arranged in their school or graduation class, as evaluated based on their marks gained, based on their knowledge of the curriculum, but take a look around and you will realize it’s not true, it can’t be and it will never be true. The current evaluation system doesn't acknowledge the real potential of individual; they just care about the part of potential confined to their established boundary of curriculum, including peripheral limited activities like cultural and sports participation, ignoring the future environmental influences especially technological ones.

Present educational evaluation system seems somewhat flawed and bit dangerous as well; this whole process of establishing and certifying who has what capacity at the very early stage of individual's growth period while the growth of a person is directly proportional to what kind of opportunities he or she received in post schooling or later part of educational or personal life. Imagine a hypothetical situation in which an institution firmly establishes this fact that some particulate child has capacity of a D+ grade performance in primary or high school level, imagine if he or she could not get through selection process of a good school at secondary or higher secondary level and hence could not further got enrolled in a good university because of that D+ grade. Now imagine, what if that same child becomes extremely knowledgeable and efficient few years down the line after completing primary or high school education possibly due to new environmental influences, due to the latest learning tools and vast knowledge resources available today, what if he or she is the first one to grasped and master the latest tools of learning and research, what if that D+ grade student is technically the soundest candidate for higher secondary or university entrance but couldn't secure admission just because some institution had long back established and authoritatively certified the poor grade of student based on some skewed benchmark. A dream might get devastated due to early certification of knowledge on a discreet fragmented evolution system often within a limited bandwidth of educational framework. Couple of questions for you to answer - Can you justify assessment establishing poor performance of a geek child in cultural and sports activities or visa-versa? Can you justify assessment based on questions asked in class tests, answers of which you can find out in less than 20 seconds in Google? Can you justify bullying of that poor student who does not know the one word answer of that textbook question, when he or she can find out a precise and elaborate answer of that question within seconds while learning much more in the process only if you could have allowed him or her to use their smart phone? What’s the validity of asking such questions today and what is the validity of educational assessment based on such questions today at all? Don’t you think it’s the right time for the education system to introspect?

Mutation of educationsystem due to technological infusion is an emerging area of exploration which educational strategists should focus on. Learning is a constant process, and with the exponentially growing free and accessible resources of knowledge, learning process is bound to be an exponential phenomenon. So, if you are a parent or a teacher or educationalist think twice before bullying your child or student or to those supposedly less knowledgeable than you today, because they are going to come back tomorrow loaded with knowledge and laced with such innovative tools of precise knowledge acquisition which we can’t even imagine today. Today's comparison of two kids has no realistic relation or reflection at all with the actual success in their life in future when they will be at the highly accentuated curve of learning, the only deciding factor would be who shows how much interest in the emerging technologies and sources of learning, who familiarize himself or herself how much and who absorbs how fast and all of this is totally independent from the performance and potential assessment of today.

It’s not just the fault of education system which apparently fails to timely acknowledge the impact and possibility of technological development which has and will always outpace the development of educational system. Education system has its own constraints which we should also acknowledge, which is that they need to thoroughly investigate, assess and validate everything before letting it into the curriculum of education system, they can’t really merge the trending knowledge into the mainstream education without thorough understanding of the trend and its possible impact on the students, young or mature, and by the time they understand the trend and tame it down to the extent to be eligible for the mainstream educational inclusion, that trend becomes outdated, hence this constantly lagging process of chasing new knowledge and hence this outdated dissipation of knowledge through structured education system. And since the benchmark of assessment is outdated, there is grossly wrong process of assessment of students as well. For another example, no matter what and how extensively that particular student knows about some area of his or her interest, it is not going to help him get the good grade unless that knowledge is about one of the couple of subjects specified in the curriculum. That student is supposed to stick to the curriculum diet imposed on them by the institution; apparently every other knowledge is irrelevant in the eyes of education system at least that’s what they think is important to secure a good job at the end of the day. A fundamentally wrong notion of educational performance at least a highly irrelevant model of evaluation of talent in today's world when you are not just solely dependent on schools and universities for your learning, while you are learning wherever you are, whenever you want, in that very moment, learning on your mere wish. In spite of all this free and immense knowledge the existence of educators can’t be negated, what is needed is to have a holistic approach towards talent evaluation and fast inclusion of technological shifts.

This is "Learning on the go" generation and we can’t confine it in the predefined boundary of education, we can’t impose on others what they should learn, rather they should decide what they want to learn and it’s our responsibility to provide them the customized curriculum of their individual interest, education system will increasingly have to be much more flexible, it’s inevitable and its need of the hour. What needs to be done here is that to create a macro framework for the education system, flexible, fast and inclusive enough to quickly notice, sanitize and accommodate the changes occurring in technological field and otherwise, into the mainstream education system. A framework which makes the educational system sensible and smart enough to allow unlocking the true potential of unique individuals rather than mass production.

A Portrait In Mirror

Mirror, A subject of art itself - Fluid and Subjective!

Still untapped potential of raw satellite images for city planners!

Urban Planning satellitexted

Satellite view of urban alphabet

Love exploring cities from the eyes of satellites! they tell stories which were never written, imprints of time still visible, you see a city, you see it growing, you see where its going, you learn where it comes from. They say you need to travel if you want to learn, you confront with knowledge and experience while travelling. Some tools like free or else satellite imageries were not available for planners decades back or even recently, by the time it arrived for planners as a tool, GIS and satellite image interpretation etc. also accompanied and hence all the focus shifted towards degitising the whole world including your neighborhood street and front yard, making layers after layers, though they sure help planners in many ways, but you know at times on feels that in this whole process of mechanization and automation and interpretation, the shear beauty of raw, as it is satellite images and views are loosing its significance. 

The naked and raw satellite images of earth like as seen in google earth can tell things and give clues which even high level high resolution satellite image interpretations can't tell, the judgement of human eyes and brain, not just the computer processor, once in a while for sake for fun learning at least. Urban planners, transport planners and so on planners need to see and understand the random behaviors of random cities across the world, travel wont be possible and you don't have enough time to wait for that as well so go explore a city, any city or settlement or villages on google earth or something, every time you will go there you will learn something. Don't get simply spoon-fed by other's version of what that particular city is  all about, go learn yourself through your own version of experience, through satellite images, if you are not familiar with the streets and terraces and vegetation of a city from its aerial or satellite dimension, your all efforts to become a good planner is halfhearted. Explore to understand and share with the world or simply use this learning in you next city planning or development project. There is always more than you can explore there!

Changing landscape of rural architecture

While scrolling, zooming in to google earth or something you find satellite image of villages across the world very fascinating very different from the urban settlement, it’s almost enchanting to look at their wonderful spatial patterns, their distributed uniformity, their hierarchical cohesiveness in terms of architecture, spatial arrangement and surprisingly it all evolved without any development blueprint, without an preconceived vision, without any kind of architectural bylaws at least in the case of India, but with long sustainable past, at least it was the case decades back and beyond.

Now today when you look at the same villages of India you will find usually two sets of clusters in most of the cases, one organically evolved village settlement with impression of time, with wonderful lively streets, with hierarchy of spaces, driven by family needs, scalable with demand, a symbol of community effort and cohesion, built by local materials, crafted by passionate local hands, using indigenous skills, planned by intuition, nourished by centuries of experience, in the guidance of wise old people, architecture by personal choice and collective regional aesthetics.

Though many of them are financially weak, but they usually have a place they can call home unlike urban poor.

The other distinct set of cluster you will see in the adjacent part of village, which is either a result of recently accumulated wealth by the young generation of villagers who live in metropolitan cities of India for better livelihood opportunities and who bring wealth to their village along with new architectural exposure and experiences, new construction techniques and remote aesthetics of cities when back home. It is architecture in transition from traditional to contemporary from thatch-&-mud to brick-&-mortar and may be its need of time as well, but little confusing at the same time. This new strikingly different grid iron pattern of recently developed cluster of village can also be a result of some development efforts by government, not so surprisingly way different an architecture and planning from the traditional settlement and sentiments. An imagination of planners and architects sitting thousand miles away with their own perception and impression of what an ideal village should be, while being most cost effective replicable, scalable and with speedy construction possibilities, neat and clean imported village with all the amenities. Hundreds of thousands of house arrays being constructed throughout the countries, apparently job done! Similar is the case of several villages and outskirts of cities across the world. 

View Larger Map

It’s good idea to provide shelter to poor rural inhabitants, but their traditional architecture and planning needs and sentiments cannot and should not be ignored. It doesn’t cost much to incorporate century old traditional planning and aesthetic of the rural settlement of different regions in the contemporary rural architecture and planning solutions which need to be tailored for specific regions, it’s just demands a little more  communication and careful investigation as well as understanding of spoken and unspoken lifestyle and perceptual needs of rural communities. 

Let me Complicate it for you!!

Human mind needs complexity to appreciate design and aesthetics

If it’s too obvious it’s boring. If we have seen it earlier or something similar, it’s boring anyway. We always look forward to see and appreciate a piece of design or work of art or architecture which is refreshingly new, but still with a stubbornness  of design expectations since we also love the nostalgia attached to the familiarity of object or subject.

Possibly the reason abstract and modern art emerged is because people were fed up of realistic and photo-realistic portraits and other painting subjects and demanded something new something avant-garde to appreciate. Though there were complexity of techniques and process involved in those elaborately detailed classical or miniature paintings but abstractness of modern art gave viewers infinite possibilities to perceive, interpret and appreciate the artworks.  Though the artwork and style was new, people were still able to relate to it because of carefully chosen subjects of contemporary importance of that era or region. Similarly with architecture, possibly the abstract and minimalistic  architecture emerged because people were tiered of those architectural details and geometrical orders, people later demanded purity of geometry not the order of geometry, they demanded thematic abstractness of elements not the sensory overload of detailing and Minimalistic architecture provided them all they wanted.

We have reached a time in the human evolution where we seem to have cracked the base code of aesthetics, analysing the rich history of art and architecture and documented enough in course of time for generations to come, while accelerating fast towards future. Now when we have tested basic design flavor and aesthetics of almost every kind how will we satisfy the design and aesthetic urge of humanity which is always looking out for something new to appreciate.

History shows, we have and we will find out new ways to provide the world with new design aesthetics which they will enjoy and appreciate. Fortunately there are ways to do that. Apparently there are two fronts on which we can innovate. One is technology; other is complexity of design itself. Technology will provide us materials, techniques etc. to innovate on design front and complexity of design will give us opportunity to challenge and satisfy the demanding aesthetic urge of curious human mind in field of art, design, architecture etc. What is complexity in this context? Complexity is to give them a piece of work , art or design or architecture which is difficult to grasp in one go like a puzzle, but quite familiar, contextual and easy once decoded, something which challenges the mind. Complexity provided by emerging materials, techniques and tools as well as complexity of forms, and abstractness.

By- Anoop Jha

Defying purpose of sidewalks: its story of many developing cities

They sleep, they socialize, they play, they construct, they're born, they die, they live, they beg, they sell and they do everything on that thin and broken strip of exposed sidewalks, but walking. They defy the very purpose of sidewalk.













Apparently It’s not their choice; for some its fate, for some its livelihood, for some its entertainment for some its greed. Sometimes it’s the only piece of land available in a big crowded city for those poorest of urban poor, sometimes it’s the most accessible everyday market place for those returning home from work, sometime its paradise for street food lovers, sometimes its playground for street kids, sometimes its breeding ground of crime, sometimes abandoned sometimes encroached sometimes its provider and sometimes victim of business greed, used for everything, but walking. It’s the story of almost every city of developing countries. In the absence of regular, appropriate, continuous and user friendly sidewalks and footpaths across the city and without better livelihood opportunities and ample urban housing, this phenomenon is going to inevitably present itself in different forms.

Deprived of design aesthetics?

Politics of Design and need of Design democracy

Apart from invention of wheel and some other similar historical or contemporary breakthroughs or design innovation which have served humanity to achieve better life and lifestyle, design has evolved in a very controlled manner at least in recent history and apparently it’s not by coincidence, it’s by choice, the choice of few able hands and minds who have manipulated the evolution of design for their personal monetary benefit. Design has lost its freedom and meaning since the commercialization of design has taken place. Contemporary design process has become less of necessity and more of luxury, apart from those which are for advancement of mankind like computers, rocket science and all.

Apparently designs are manipulated across the length and breadth of product industry to skew and control the market demand and trick the customers, whether its car or washing machine or laptop or handbag or any household product. You see, every item has a line of product to cater to every economical strata of society, that makes perfect sense – something for everyone! Story doesn't end here, it’s just the beginning, beginning of whole gimmick of manipulative product development and market control philosophy. Have you ever questioned why the product “X1” that you bought at cheaper price is average in looks, in its aesthetic appeal and in design than the similar high end product “X2” with its classy elegant look? Ever wondered why the products of same company has different aesthetic appearance across its product range, though its same materials, same product DNA, same manufacturer, same factory, almost same production time, same technology? Is it coincident that if you pay less you will get an inferior looking product no matter what is the product and higher you pay better aesthetical products you will get, no matter what is the product or is it that they have purposefully handed over average design to you and deprived you of the great design of the higher range product so that you will come back to buy the better looking product next time? We are not talking about imbedded technology, of course technology comes at a price.

Is it that we have accepted this hierarchy of design aesthetics as an integral part of business and our daily life? This is true for any product; let’s take car, for example.  Is it a coincidence that the same designer or company who produces that strikingly beautiful design of highest segment car with those passionate and careful curvatures of car body also produces average looking box like cars with primitive decades old design sense in its lower price segment? Is it a natural process of design or this vast aesthetic gap between cheap and expensive product has been created purposefully so that people will appreciate and crave for higher segment product? Otherwise what is holding back companies or designers to give a wonderful design and aesthetics to each of its customer irrespective of their economic profiles, with products prices varying primarily due to its embedded technology or robustness and uniqueness of inbuilt content or additional functional features?

But after all how does it matter, since there is no sense of design ownership and appreciation left in all of us after centuries of design exploitation and manipulation, since we seem to have accepted the fact that design and aesthetes are for rich and ultra rich and average person has no right to ask for a better designed product on an affordable price. Design democracy is only possible when people will feel the need for "right of design aesthetics". It’s high time that design community and product development companies should come forward and liberalise the covert design process and shed the design monopoly, which will only help them accelerate product growth process and a common man will get a better designed product in their budget. 

By- Anoop Jha

Interior Design - A reflection of self rather than a design platter

By - Anoop Jha

Indian homes tell rich stories of evolution and experience.

What is interior design for an average home in India? What is perceived notion of high end interior design by an average city dweller? Is it an extravagant expression of “new rich” in town or an effort of “not so rich class” to live classy rich life? Whatever it is they usually feel proud showcasing their home interior and décor, no matter whether they are rich or not so rich, no matter whether it’s extravagant or modest.



[Handpicked Books]

     

When it comes to average middle class home interior you will find few similarities, an overwhelmingly stuffed home, because they need and inherit too many things to make their life vibrant and cope with so many rituals, social events, festivals, changing seasons etc.  and they don’t generally discard old household items in India since they have emotional value attached to it like furniture inherited from grandparents, no matter whether they have already bought a pair of PVC chair and an steel wardrobe last festive season on a mega discount offer they will keep the old furniture and items as well. Minimalistic interior is either not their choice or maybe they can’t afford it. You will find multipurpose household items, like the steel or wooden trunk which is used to store many non-seasonal household stuffs along with hardly used inherited and memorial items and which can also be used as TV stand or temporary bed in case of long social visits like couch surfing. You will find same contemporary interior lighting unit or decorative fixture in majority of houses which they all buy from the same neighborhood market. Almost similar finishes, similar wall colors and textures, similar window grill design, similar exposed interior lighting, may be little different furnishing based on little varied choices of occupant. You will sense a fusion of different culture with miniature painting of Rajasthan hanging on the wall to Feng shui wind chime hanging on door. But they seem quite content in their home, that’s what matters! No matter how limited is the space inside home; they have huge space in their heart to welcome you.

                 

What is interior design for rich or even ultra rich in India? They can afford an architect or interior designer. You will find their home lavishly decorated and minimalistic at time, with all those wonderful finishes and concealed lighting, but you know what, story doesn’t end here. When the job or interior design is over now starts the real interior design and decoration process of Indian home. Don’t forget the real architects and Interior designers of Indian households are the lady of the house, who chooses the next big change in the interior layout and furnishing, she decides, where to adjusts, accommodate and place those ever growing inflow of household stuffs and home décor items of which they are very fond of. If the same architect or interior designer who did the interior of home returns after five years to that home he or she will be totally surprised to see how rich and diversified the interior has become in this short span of time, with all those variety of decorative items which have been either received in gift or collected over visit to different parts of country or world. None of which are matching either to each other or to originally perceived interior design. Some of the home décor items are from Japan, some from Singapore or Thailand may be Egypt or south Africa or might have been bought from neighborhood Sunday market, some inherited from generation some preserved from childhood, some ethnic or some space age, though they look wonderful together and presents an ever-changing interior landscape telling story of its evolution and rich experience, its reflection of occupants of the Indian homes.  They don’t just get their interior designed in a go, they create it with their own hand in course of time.     

McCormick Place to showcase 2012 AHR Expo

McCormick Place, Chicago

McCormick Place is one of the largest convention complexes in the world, located close to downtown Chicago, Illinois. It attracts around 3 million visitors every year.

AHR EXPO 2012, which showcases HVAC and ancillary industry products and services is scheduled in January (23 -25) and poised to be the largest AHR Expo ever. 


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