I remember walking into the Great Court of the British Museum and being mesmerized by the structure. A fascinating piece of design, all encompassing, covered yet with a sense of space, weirdly it gave me a sense that i was free, of what? don’t know, maybe mediocrity in design?
The Potsdamer Platz in Berlin is another visual experience that dazzles the senses. Renzo Piano’s effort to restore the heart of the metropolis to its glory days is without parallel. New York City and its magnificently iconic buildings 40 Wall Street, Flatiron building, Chrysler Building. The rejuvenated Times Square is crassly commercial but definitely iconic.
Structures such as these not only give the city its identity but endow on the viewer a sense of possibility, that we can actually create things of beauty from nothingness by sheer force of will, brute strength, tempered with extraordinary vision and design.
So imagine my shock when i sat idling at Worli Naka and spent my time staring at possibly the ugliest building in this city. A giant cluster f**k of neo-classical, gothic and baroque architecture. We all know who the architect is, don’t we.
It got me thinking as to how many truly attractive or iconic buildings does this city really have? Discounting the pre independence buildings there are very few modern structures that actually standout and have a personality.
The last three decades of frenzied buildings the imagery is much the same. Lately its the all glass and concrete look, which while attractive, is just lost in the myriad of similar looking buildings everywhere (just a drive around BKC will give you a sense of a glitch in the matrix)
Bombay has so much construction going on its crazy, however no one is striving to build something beautiful. The buildings are cosmetically pretty but there is no soul. Its just a case of generic looking buildings offering a generic living experience. Bloody Boring.
Buildings with Soul
Charles Correa designed Kanchen Junga at Pedder Road
Prithvi (an old residence) at Altamount Road
Sterling Apartments at Pedder Road
The Taj Wellington & Mews at Cuffe Parade.
Imperial Towers, Tardeo (looks like something straight out of Fritz Langs 1929 classic Metropolis
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I’d like to add one other SUPERB Bombay building that often goes un-noticed. It’s the lovely curved LIC building at Nariman Point. It is a prime example of mid-century, soviet era architecture…thoroughly institutional and utilitarian. A great example of how form follows function!