Archinect - News

Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi's plea for a Biological City

2018-12-10T15:29:00-05:00

Unfortunately, we have since forgotten this soulful approach to architecture and design, following instead the prevailing planning model of big budgets, large-scale structures and isolated behaviors. Consequently, our habitations have become fragmented and we fail to see the city’s infrastructure and life in an integrated way.

Celebrated Indian architect and 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate, Balkrishna Doshi, pens a passionate NYT opinion piece in which he calls for a renewed harmony of human settlements with nature rather than pursuing more resource-consuming megastructures.

The Balkrishna Doshi-designed Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, 1977. Photo: Sanyam Bahga/Flickr

"In addition to such quietude, other aesthetic measures of settlements include grace, love, compassion and humility," Doshi writes. "To animate a settlement one must create humble and tender connections, which encourage humans to come together and to share and to feel themselves a part of a larger order, a part of Mother Earth."

Zaha Hadid and New York Review of Books/Martin Filler resolve legal dispute

2015-01-27T12:05:00-05:00

After a highly publicized five-month battle, the dust has finally settled on the lawsuit that Zaha Hadid filed against New York Review of Books (NYRB) and critic Martin Filler.

The following announcement was released:

On January 22, 2015, following extensive settlement negotiations, Ms. Zaha Hadid withdrew her lawsuit against the New York Review of Books and Mr. Martin Filler. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, which remain confidential, Ms. Hadid has accepted the apology of the New York Review of Books and Mr. Filler, and is pleased to announce, in conjunction with the settlement, the donation of an undisclosed sum of money to a charitable organization that protects and champions labor rights.

Previously:

Zaha Hadid sues architecture critic Martin Filler over book review - Aug 22, '14
Martin Filler issues a retraction regarding his "mistake" in his critique of Zaha Hadid - Aug 25, '14

Israel-Palestine: Hope through architecture

2014-03-26T13:27:00-04:00

NOT only in 2013 did the building of Jewish settlements on the West Bank, the core of a would-be Palestinian state, grow at twice the rate of 2012; its uniform architecture is increasingly attracting Palestinians. In place of their distinctive rough-hewn stone houses, Palestinian builders now tend to prefer the uniform style of red-roofed houses that mark out Israeli settlements. “People always look up to the colonial power, even if they resent it [...]”