| Architecture Student Chronicles

Architecture Weekly | 19th May 2012

May 19, 2012 by Architect

Architectural drawing Approach

Architecttural drawing is a subject taught in Architecture as well as Civil Engineering colleges. Hence, it is important for students to pay special attention to the subject since it requires concentration and dedication to achieve excellence in this particular subject.

This article is about past art, Contemporary art and architecture, importance of learning fundamentals of architectural/engineering drawing and the distractions to be avoided in order to excel.

Site Planning guide

Site planning is an important aspect of Architectural design. It is important that designers are completely aware of all the factors that are to be taken into consideration while designing.

This article has been written in order to explain various factors that are essentially to be considered while taking up Site planning. The site planning considerations that have been discussed in the article are as follows:

Environmental factors
Identification of site and its preparation
Natural factors which include Geology, topography, Hydrography, soil, Vegetation, Wild life etc.
Climatic factors
Cultural factors
Existing land use

Site Documentation and Site Analysis

The importance of Site documentation and site analysis cannot be denied. It is the role of any designer to perform a complete detailed documentation and analysis of the site before designing and construction.

The article has been written in order to address various aspects to be considered while analyzing the surroundings of the site. It also addresses important requirements to be incorporated in site planning in order achieve a greener environment. The important design features that are to be necessarily incorporated in your zoning layout are also mentioned.

It is a must for every architect/engineer or a designer to have complete knowledge of site documentation and site analysis.

New concept of High Speed Rail Development

May 18, 2012 by Architect

Concept of Elimination of High Speed Train Stations | Revolutionary or a total failure?

Yesterday, I was searching for some information on High Speed Railways development. HSR is an upcoming field in which rapid development is taking place.

I came across a very interesting article on “A new concept of rail travel”.

Boarding a Moving train – the core concept

Sounds really fascinating, isn’t it?

A British designer Paul Priestman came up with this new idea of boarding a moving train. According to him, this is the futuristic solution of speeding up rail travel. He is proposing the idea of MOVING PLATFORMS. He wants to completely eliminate the need for stations and not make any changes in the engines or tracks. According to his concept, Passengers would cross between the tram and train without either vehicle stopping. He does not want the passengers to get down on the stations and wait for the trains to come rather he wants complete integration of Tram – train crossing so that passengers can travel seamlessly and reach their destinations without having to stop at any intermediate station and wait for another train to come…

The image shows the Train-tram connectivity concept which will in future eliminate the need for train stations (This image has been taken from "edition.cnn.com" for reference and education purpose)

Sounds really cool…! But is it really possible? Forget about the possibilities. Technology can make everything possible. But the right question to ask would be; is it really feasible to do so??

Would it be as wonderful as it sounds? It is truly a very debatable concept.

A reason why Moving Platforms concept could fail

I would not deny the creativity of the concept but of course I would definitely question its feasibility. We can do so many better things than evolving a concept that will increase the burden on our economy. In United States of America, the rail stations are in a complete state of despair. So, wouldn’t it be great if we could work towards renovating and rehabilitation of stations. It would be more cost effective as well as it will help preserve the Architectural style of the past.

Restoration Architecture and Design

September 21, 2016May 13, 2012 by Architect

Architectural Restoration and Design

It is an Architecture design theory which deals with the process of reviving the material, historical design integrity of the heritage structure.

Restoration of the structure will help in prolonging the life of the structure and also make it functionally usable for the future. This can only be done through planned interventions.

The aim of Restoration Architects is to revive the age old Architecture and make it functional to be used in the future.

The external facade of the historic structure is the functional value of the structure which is very important to be restored to maintain the aesthetical integrity of the structure.

What is the first thing to be done when working on “restoration of a structure”?

Assessment of the building is to be done in terms of its historical significance as well the structural technology used in those days.

Why is “Building Assessment” important?

Every heritage building has its own historical importance, its own character. Studying the character of the building makes the designer get involved into designing. It helps strengthening the imagination of the designer to achieve the results.

The knowledge of the life of the building is essential with architectural point of view. If the life of the building is studied carefully, you would get a complete idea of its features and problems of the building.

Types of Columns | Architectural Details

May 2, 2012 by Architect

Different types of Columns

In our previous article, we discussed “Different types of Arches“.

In this article, we will move on with our discussion on three basic columns types in brief. The whole idea of writing this article is to make you aware of the basic column types.

Different column types are as follows:

Doric columns

Doric column from the Greek Architectural style is the oldest column style of Ancient times. These types of columns could be found on the Parthenon, Athens, Greece. The column has fluted sides with a smooth rounded top which is called capital with no separate base.