What are the modern architecture trends in India?
In
earlier days landscapes were perceived essentially with nature and the
natural beauty of nature with the sky, hills, trees, forests, rivers
flowing, endless meadows, undulating mounds on hill slopes, vast open
green spaces, the endless sea, limitless horizon, deserts, sand dunes
and oasis. With extensive growth, industrial & commercial
development and rapid urbanization, land has developed new versions of
landscapes. Hence we have cityscapes, urban landscapes and rural
landscapes. Most places in the world went through this transition
associated to the disconnect they experienced in rapid mass development
in a planned or mostly unplanned manner that left out nature while
construction and built form took over. The immediate relief that open
spaces and natural green spaces offer could not be achieved in voids
within or outside the build mass; the experience of recreational spaces,
play grounds surrounded by trees, walking paths and driveways below the
soft dappled light of trees or the softness of the arched tree canopies
drooping towards the ground while the trees rise high above the ground
themselves. Visionaries in history like Le Corbusier, Frederick Law
Olmsted, perceived, planned and proposed the need for spaces that enrich
the quality of our lives through gardens, grounds and water bodies,
vistas, proportions and a planning strategy that could be implemented
and sustained over time. Some historical references of envisioned and
well planned landscape architecture spaces include, Sir Ebenezer
Howard’s vision of The Garden City, The city of Versailles, founded by
King Louis XIV, Taj Mahal in Agra, Pinjore gardens in Haryana, Shalimar
Baug in Kashmir, many more Moghul gardens and palatial properties of
India, Amer/Amber fort and palace and the surrounding settlement and The
Vijayanagara Empire and similarly well-planned Princely states of
India.Some present day references of well-planned urban landscape
architectural spaces in the world are La Défense, France, Le Corbusier’s
planned city of Chandigad, India, Copenhagen, Denmark, city planning.
These are few examples of conscious planning efforts made time and again
by the community and the civic authorities in partnership with the
development authorities and various developers and commercial houses to
encourage people to congregate and celebrate landscape in an energy rich
built environment. The effort lies in including nature into the built
form by integrating landscape in architectural spaces, town & city
planning not only as a makeover to conceal the flaws or beautify the
built mass, but to enrich the quality of space and balance the robust
built form with the openness and softness of structured landscape
architecture. Landscape architecture has various faces in India. In the
Urban context the character of landscape architecture changes from one
city to the other as we travel through the country and the climate and
geography of India plays an essential role in this. However the planning
and allocation of spaces, growth of a city, the religious bindings,
commercial and political structuring and role of the city in India has
played an equally important role in the strategic planning of these
cities and quality of spaces they have to offer to the viewer and
inhabitants. Developers are considering this to be an ideal time to make
improvements and upgrades to their holdings. As important as structural
and interior refurbishing can be, a building's exterior and surrounding
property create that all-important first impression. Today, the modest
exterior landscaping projects include adding visual, aesthetic and
practical dimensions that transform a nondescript commercial property
into a handsome and desirable acquisition. For larger facilities,
landscape architecture includes redesigning the outdoor parking lots and
making the parking area more attractive to passersby and users. As a
city and commercial center of India, Mumbai has grown from spanning a
radius of 15 kms and having its commercial center in Fort and Nariman
point to many more nodes with time. Worli, BKC, Powai, Andheri, Airoli,
being a few prime zones in the corporate sector. As the population and
city grows, new residential, commercial and corporate hubs develop at
critical junctions of the city. Similarly expressways and the sea link
have bridged the gaps between these three parallel belts. With a fair
deal of support from the planning bodies, developers, corporate and
commercial houses have realized the significance of decentralizing from
fort Mumbai, to these new nodes, with the advantage of reduced travel
time for their employees and the ability to provide new state of the art
facilities in their residential neighborhood be it for work, shopping,
dining or watching movies. World over there has been technological
development over time and this has reflected in the construction
industry too. Today cities are planned to grow vertically unlike in the
earlier centuries when they were perceived to grow horizontally. There
has been a tremendous change in lifestyle and facilities and amenities
that define our life today. A need to explore how nature can reach no
bounds of imagination or in reality has made landscape architecture
today an integral part of one’s lifestyle at home or at work. With these
changes landscape architecture has also started developing a new
language. Techniques today allow plants to grow without their natural
ground or soil. Green walls, Bio walls, hydroponics, green roofs, podium
gardens, land bridges are the new terms in the landscape dictionary
that show the transition from hills rivers and the horizon to sky being
the limit in the Urban landscape. This language reflects in the new
corporate landscape architecture of our country too today. Conscious
efforts are being made not only to build high-rise buildings but also
include building methods and solutions that are energy efficient.
Creating a healthy work environment, with room for sports, canteens,
open outdoor relaxation spaces that can be used for group discussions,
workshops, or a breath of fresh air that takes away the mundane boredom
of a desk job and revive us. Cleaned, well-managed, maintained,
accessible, safe, structured, welcoming and refreshing work environments
play an essential role in ensuring our happiness and wellbeing.
Elegantly designed spaces only enhance this experience and show a level
of concern that the creators, builders and investors have taken to
facilitate a notch above the rest in quality of life you could enjoy be
it at work or where you stay. These are some of the key criteria that
went into designing and integrating the architectural and landscape
spaces of Birla Aurora, a project of the Birla Group at Worli. The
Company along with the architectural and landscape architecture design
consultants have carefully nurtured the presence of Century Bhavan and
restored some of the relevant aspects of this building prior to giving
rise to the new building Birla Aurora. We have, with subtlety, yet
elegantly designed spaces right from one’s arrival to the buildings
through the every moment you spend within the building premise to ensure
you take home a pleasant experience. 
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