Hi,

I am Anusha Gill or Blogsbyanusha,

By profession I am an architect/interior designer. A total nerd still pursuing her architecture while working in the same field. Decided to take you along my journey telling you about the insights of this field.

Blogsbyanusha is for all the architectural enthusiasts who love to read and incorporate some design ideas in their home spaces. Hope I inspire you all in some way or other

All the posts are written by me and the pictures are clicked by me unless mentioned otherwise.All the views expressed are personal and texts/images are copyright to author unless mentioned otherwise.

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Hey guys after an amazing vacation (at least in my head) I am back with one of my first travel edition blog post. In this segment I shall be speaking about the places I visited while being in Chandigarh. as an architectural enthusiast, we obviously visited those places looking more on architectural details.

So here it goes guys the places we visited and their significance.

1. Nek Chand rock garden

One of the most beautiful gardens I have seen shall be this one. This is an informal garden made all from waste and surplus materials. Thus, all the sculptures made and all the flooring done is done with surplus materials.

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One funny fact about this was, the person who did the first installations was doing it illegally and did not have permission of the government. Later on, when the government realized how useful his installation was for the tourism, they converted this whole area into the park by imitating his works later on.

The planner wanted to depict the lifestyle of an Indian throughout the park, his emotions, the way Indians lived etc. Thus, throughout the park you see installation depicting the same. Specially at the doll museum you will see the life of a person in the partition. The door heights are kept small, depicting that we Indians bend over to greet our guests every time. Small details like these really impressed me.

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The whole garden as said is an informal garden with fortress architecture within. Other elements which will attract the viewers is the fact of designing the park to touch the senses of the passer by. Lots of waterfalls created in different scales to soothe the ears.

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You will not feel as in you are.

• Capitol complex

Capitol complex is a set of three main government buildings which govern the whole state capital. High court, Assembly and Secretariat building. All designed in brutal architecture while being climate responsive.

Corbusier designed these buildings while considering the climate of Chandigarh being at extreme condition. Thus, outside the palace of assembly and the high court you shall see a water body for hot and dry summer of Chandigarh.

Lot of wind movement is allowed throughout these buildings. And as the massing is done with beton brut in cold temperature the heat is maintained within the buildings. to make sure that these buildings have their own privacy, Corbusier installed a hill as a landscape element which blocks the view from the approaching road.

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• Le Corbusier centers

To those who do not know, Corbusier designed and planned the city of Chandigarh post-independence. Thus, his then office is converted to the le Corbusier museum now. Usage of concrete, bricks, jute lack panels and glass are extensively used here.

Jute lack panels are used over the doors and windows. The roof was a combination of sloped structures and thin shell structure. Lots of ribbon windows to provide ample amount of sunlight within the interiors.

Museum talks a lot about how the planning was done, the letters exchanged for the discussion taking place etc.

There is also an modular man installation by him to pass on his legacy to the generations of architects after him.

Overall for any architectural enthusiast and for travel enthusiasts, Chandigarh is the best place to visit to.

In the previous blog I have discussed about the different elements in general. In todays segment we shall speak about them and how they help us, in detail.

As an architect and designer, we tend to plan our projects in simple forms. That means we tend to draw inspiration from certain examples we see in our routine. But what if at one point, we get exhausted and run out of ideas? The solution is still easy and at our doorsteps. Take a pen and start drawing grids. Most of our ancestors have always chosen geometry over anything else. For example, Charbagh gardens, the planning of this type of gardens has come from a square grid.

Down below I have adopted few elements of design to make you understand even more.

1. Grid pattern

The best way to organize something or plan is by grids. Specially if your site is just like mine (30’ * 60’).

For this always we need to understand certain aspects of planning that project.

The different functions of the house, Vaastu if necessary, the flow of all those functions.

By function I refer to which room has to come where (private and public access). By Vaastu I refer to the climatology that we shall see while zoning. We can actually have a different segment on Vaastu! lastly after you know the function based on which is more private like dining halls, living area we can organize them in that sense.

• Line it away!

Now how to make a grid? Simply take your pen divide the plot by different lines. Few examples are below. You can go for complex grids to if you want.

• Mend it!

 After dividing the grid and choosing the one which suits you, mend it, blend it according to your wish. More you change, you will realize how amazing it looks. You can add partitions, stairs and other such elements. Just remember one thing do not go overboard.

• Final look

In the final chapter you shall have something which looks fabulous yet simple. This type of planning works great in housing. You can plan number of floors with different types of grids you can use.

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Designing is a tough job to complete. We as designers have to think about lot of aspects to make that perfect design. Thus, sometimes it’s easy to come up with certain basics which will help us in doing so. These are called elements of design. These elements are not only helpful to architects but artists and also fashion designers.

So, all the designers reading this, take your notepad out and start recording all this. You can thank me later 😊.

1. Point

Point or a dot is the first key element of all. It defines the starting point of any design or a line.

Let’s try something, take a paper and pen, in the middle, draw a dot. After staring at it continuously, you will see that your brain starts making up notions automatically. Just a dot will create an artistic picture in your head. Now add one more to this, your brain shall make a line out of it. Many artists have creating a painting an art form with dots called pointillism. It also serves as a calm therapy to your mind.

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• Line

Two dots when joined together forms a line. Now you may think, what will a line do to create a design. The line creates a pattern which make your eye move along with them. Example of a wood, the lines on a wooden log make you travel along with them. Our floor tiles have plenty amount of lines in them, which make them interesting. Try placing two or more line together and create wonderful patterns. Combination of vertical and horizontal lines create patterns which are highly used in today’s world.

• Shape

A shape is a two-dimensional body. When two or more lines join together to form a particular closed form it is called a shape. There can be geometric shapes like rectangle, square or there can be organic shapes which have a certain free flowing pattern in them. Earlier the shapes were inspired by nature, the shape of a mountain, sun, spider web, shells etc. These days we opting for a combination of all the geometric shapes to create a certain play in our design.

• Form

A shape having depth is called a form. For example, a circle is a shape but a sphere is a form.  These forms can be either geometrical or organic again. Organic forms are inspired by natural organic shapes, like the streamline shape of a fish, jelly fish, trees and branches etc. All you have to do is observe all the forms around you and take inspiration from them.

• Texture

Textures is the feel of the form or a surface. Textures in a design tells us about how we feel when we look at them. For example, when we use wooden furniture, we know how a wooden texture is. The rough textured on the walls is the best way to enhance a plain empty wall.

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• Space

Where a shape of form occupies, it is called a space. Mostly we categorize space as positive or negative. We define a positive as a solid form, and negative as a void. Space is very important because that’s where everything exists. Always create a pattern of positive and negative forms or shapes to make the best of designs.

• Color

Color play is one of my favorites of all. Color adds character to your design. Using the right color palette always works. Try also adding, shades and tints. Shades of colors can be added by using black in the color, whereas tints are the lighter hues of that color. Using of a lighter color with something bright is the best way to achieve a good design.