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The Hindu : Adding water to Portland cement to form the water-cement paste starts a chemical reaction that makes the pastea bonding agent. This paste holds the aggregate particles together. This reaction, called hydration, produces a stone-like substance — hardened cement paste.

Both the rate and degree of hydration, and the resulting strength of the final concrete, depend on the curing process that follows placing and consolidating the plastic concrete.

Hydration continues indefinitely at a decreasing rate as long as the mixture contains water and the temperature conditions are favourable. Once the water is removed, hydration ceases and cannot be restarted.

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The Hindu : When the city is flooded with so many products related to home, from the latest in security devices to kitchen needs, can the latest in the air-conditioning be far behind.

The real estate boom and the consequent demand for improved living style has resulted in the best and the most modern equipment in air-conditioning, which otherwise would have taken a decade, landing here at the earliest.

‘Sol Cool’ has come out with its latest armoury in ensuring conditioned air. The new system, made available for the first time in the country, offers cooling and heating arrangement that runs not only on conventional energy sources but can be operated on other options such as solar and wind energy too.

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The Hindu : Most of us end up looking at property as an investment option due to various reasons. While the prospects of earning good returns is a driving force, the tax sops has been another motivator in recent times. As a result, families with double incomes have often looked beyond a single property. The congenial interest rate atmosphere did its bit as home loans with an annual interest rate of 8-9 per cent didn’t pinch the Indian middle class or the high net worth individuals.

However, the sharp rise in interest rates in the last 12 months coupled with the slow-down in appreciation in property prices have made many take a fresh look at their home loan commitment. It is not completely misplaced as every fresh hike in home loan rate, even by a 0.25 percentage, adds to the EMI. As a result, many borrowers have been forced to readjust their home loan commitments.

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The Hindu : Isn’t architecture something that links spaces? And through spaces, people, queried Australian builder Tom Haynes, who was in the city recently to deliver a lecture on eco-friendly architecture. “How does one explain the science of building? Do the styles convey a culture and heritage of the place or do they reflect the lifestyle of the user? Although it is an expression of all these factors in varied degrees, true architecture is about understanding people andthe moorings of the place with specific details of living that contributes to green living, he said. “Relevant architecture can rise to the occasion of using ideas, design and material that are local and climate specific.”

Living amidst brick and mortar expressions that scream of a daunting development boom, it is time for city dwellers to sit up and take notice of Haynes’ warning of the World Health Organisation projections which highlighted death due to negligence of environmental factors in building dynamics.

Haynes exposed the WHO forecast that spelt chronic illness that would double by 2030, the seriousness of the issue being man’s interference with nature and de-focussed methodologies that do not let in green lifestyles.

Reading out from media reports of mushrooming unplanned structures with materials that are more or less perilous to the environment, Haynes highlighted that construction materials need to be health and climate friendly, as they would minimise global warming.

“Trade, invasion, cross-cultural influences and knowledge transfer have always influenced architectural solutions,” opines senior architect K. Jaisim. “Thereby, regional architecture has not only lost its identity and importance, but is also not considered when working out solutions. The confusion starts when hybrid solutions are produced under the pretext of creativity,” he says.

Village homes predominantly used mud. The muddy floors soon turned red with oxides that lent a sheen that enabled easy maintenance. But when the old styles are being tried for a come-back, it is termed ‘ethnic’ ‘traditional’…More

The Hindu : H.R.Vishwanath, former Principal, BMS College of Engineering, and president, International Federation for High-rise Structures, will chair the 8th International Conference on multipurpose high-rise towers and tall buildings with the theme ‘Innovations in conquest of vertical space reaching for the skies’ from December 10-12 in Abu Dhabi (UAE). The conference has assumed importance since some towers currently under construction including the Shanghai World Financial Centre with 101 floors have posed a challenge in preparing for safe designs to resist direct hit by aircraft, fire hazards, natural disasters and high velocity winds.