Archive for November 24, 2007
November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu : Due to scarcity of space in their households, many store their books in cartons while some others arrange them in metal racks. Having a separate home library-cum-study room is always desirable where space permits. The smallest of the bedrooms can serve as a home library in an apartment. However, the library must be protected from natural and manmade hazards.
While many assume that a library needs plenty of sunlight, the assumption is not always true. Excessive sunlight is sure to harm the books by draining out the colours and breaking down the paper while the total absence of ventilation will foster the growth of mildew.
Only judicious amounts of light and air are permissible to maintain books in good condition. The library should not share its walls with either toilet or kitchen, nor should it have an overhead cistern or a neighbour’s toilet over its roof. Leaking walls can totally damage a library.
It should not be freely accessible for outsiders if book thefts are to be avoided.
“There is no standard size of a home library. It wholly depends on the number of books one has and the space one could spare. Ideally the size should not be less than 6X6 feet,” says G. Sunil Kumar, Deputy Director of the Institute of Architecture and Design. He suggests a minimum entry size of 30 inches, preferably closed by glass doors. “Glass insulates the library well from external disturbances as it blocks vibrations effectively. It is even better if a side of the library is completely closed by glass,” he says.
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November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu : N.C.S. RAGHAVAN
ARVIND RAGHAVANThere is no specific definition in the Constitution of India about individuals who are to be treated as foreign citizens. However, it is clear that if an individual is not a citizen of India in any one of the ways mentioned in Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Constitution, such an individual will be treated as a foreign citizen.
Once an individual becomes a citizen of India by virtue of the aforesaid articles, such an individual shall continue to be citizen of India unless otherwise provided by any law that may be made by Parliament (Article 10).
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November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu : Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, is fast reaching out for a place on the world business map. A dependable and efficient energy management system is a basic necessity to power the digital economy.
Power is the key to any successful city. And for a digital nerve centre like Bangalore to arrive on the world business map, self-sufficiency in power is an absolute must. The world-over, while looking for a base, multinational organisations first evaluate the civic infrastructure on offer before going into other parameters. And among these, power comes high in the pecking order. One of Bangalore’s major problems has been distribution systems, be it power or water. And the stakeholders can hardly be blamed considering the unnatural explosion in population and geography. This city was just not ready to take the sort of influx it saw post the beginning of the IT era. There is no way any civic authority can plan, budget or cater to a population that increases in geometric proportions. At the same time, not gearing up the systems will lead to potential business moving away to another city in the region.
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November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu :
| Suits involving radical architecture are relatively common, writes Jason SzepIts walls buckle and bulge and its windows pop out from twisting corners with the whimsical air of a cartoon.
But the three-year-old, $300 million building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology just outside of Boston is drawing more scrutiny and provoking more emotion than usual since a lawsuit announced last week by MIT against its celebrated architect Frank Gehry.
MIT’s accusations of persistent leaks, drainage problems and mold are nothing new to Ulas Ziyan, a 28-year-old graduate student who has worked in the building since it opened to critical acclaim in 2004.
“It seems like every summer they do testing and try to prevent the leaks and every winter it leaks again,” he said. “When it leaks they put these big buckets out and move things around so it doesn’t drip onto the computers.”
In an e-mail to Reuters, the 78-year-old Gehry defended his work, for which he was paid $15 million.
“I am immensely proud of our firm’s work on the Stata Center,” he said. “I fully stand behind the centre’s design and have no reason to believe that it contributed in any way to the problems, which are relatively minor and easily addressed.”
Gehry won architecture’s highest honour, the Pritzker Prize, in 1989, and his best-known work, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, made him one of the world’s most sought-after architects.
His current projects span the world, including the large-scale redevelopment of downtown Los Angeles.
“Tension between architects and the client is a very usual thing,” said Jay Chatterjee, a professor of architecture and dean emeritus at the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, where he oversaw development of several radically designed university buildings. “It sounds very routine to me.”
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November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu : Insects invade every dream home. Cockroaches, mosquitoes, flies, spiders, honeybees, ants, woodborers, termites and bugs — the list is endless — sometimes conquer a part of the house or the whole.
Many people have devised their own mechanisms to prevent these creatures from entering their houses. They succeed in keeping commonly found insects away to a large extent.
Today, various anti-insect, anti-fungus, anti-bacterial and anti-dust-mite products are available in the market. These include the Artilin series of products from France.
“The Artilin range consists of various paints. The anti-insect paint, on application, kills all flying and crawling insects that land on the painted surface. It gives houses a clean environment and keeps the home free of insects, fungi and bacteria,” says K.M. Basheer, chief executive officer, Ubique Distributors Ltd., based in Kozhikode city.
BIJU GOVIND
November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu : Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai have emerged as the top retail locations to have witnessed high street rental growth across India, according to a Cushman & Wakefield survey. Banjara Hills in Hyderabad was the highest gainer in India with an annual rental growth of 114 per cent over last year.
Khader Nawaz Khan Road in Nugambakkam, Chennai, also witnessed high rental growth of 106 per cent making it the second highest riser while S.P. Road in Begumpet, Hyderabad. and Koramangala 80 Feet Road in Bangalore were among the highest risers with increase of 100 per cent and 92 per cent respectively.
Rajneesh Mahajan, National Head, Retail, Cushman & Wakefield India, says “The economic growth in southern India has provided a large consumer base with increased spending power. The retailers are enjoying better revenues in these markets not only from the existing retail destinations but also in the suburban locations.
As the store revenues become comparable to Delhi and Mumbai the demand for retail real estate would push the prices closer to these two markets.”
International real estate consultants opine that rental market largely defines the affordability characteristics and this is in tune with Hyderabad and Bangalore with the IT salaries dictating the real estate trends with respect to housing.
In Chennai, the factors that have helped Khader Nawaz Khan Road gain so much on rentals are rise in branded wear showrooms, a mushroom growth in lifestyle malls and a steep difference in people’s approach to home-décor shopping.
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November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu : If a city is poised for growth entailing a shift in its profile and economy, it is first reflected in its real estate market which picks up tempo as evident in Mysore.
Another key factor indicating the undercurrent of change is the healthy growth in the retail market segment and most Tier-2 cities which witnessed a boom on the real estate front are now witnessing a significant change on the retail market front.
And Mysore is no exception, proving that the change and the growth is for real fuelled by investment in the IT and manufacturing sector followed by a slew of infrastructure projects that will only stimulate further growth.
While experts aver that Bangalore may have reached the limits of its growth, the spill-over impact is being felt in Mysore which has just begun to emerge from the shadows of the Silicon Valley of India. The city of palaces is set to absorb a sizeable chunk of the new labour force in the knowledge industry led by the IT and the BT sector.
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November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu : In a lighter vein, people often say “rules are meant to be broken.” This becomes true in the case of Indian democracy, as even the lawmakers do overcome many cases of court decisions going adverse by enacting another law! It may look like a mockery of law, but sometimes such action may be in the interest of the people. How do such steps by the authorities help in solving many pending issues? Let us examine the position in the real estate field, in particular the construction area, in the light of Sakrama 2007 initiated by the Bruhat Bangalore Development Authority (BBMP).
What are the violations or irregularities in the real estate field?
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November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Real Estate
The Hindu : Owning a house at the age of 30 is no longer improbable, given the rising income levels among today’s youth who prefer purchasing a house than shelling out money on high monthly rentals, a study by Assocham has said, says a release from the PTI.
The average age of house owners has come down by nearly 20 years to 30-38 from55-58 that was prevalent 15-20 years ago, Assocham said in its analysis on “Emerging age trends for buying dwelling units for self-use.”
The factors leading to the trend includes high rentals, non-sustainable lease agreements between property owners and tenants, rising income levels and easy availability of finances, the report said.
About 20 years ago, not many people in the working class purchased property as a majority of them chose to settle in their native place, Assocham President Venugopal Dhoot said, adding that today youngsters preferred having their own home. Assocham received feedback from real estate developers DLF, Prasvnath, Omaxe and Unitech.
November 24, 2007 at 10:00 pm
· City · Youth Affairs
The Hindu : PAVAN KUMAR H.
| They won the team championships at the National level CBSE chess tournamentMANGALOREThe Rook, Bishop, Knight and Queen are the closest friends of this year’s under 14 national level CBSE chess team champions – Nihal Manjunath, Adith Jagadish, Yashas Salian, Rammohan Bhandari and Akash Harendranath. The ‘famous five’ are eighth standard students of Lourdes Central School and trained by Derik’s Chess School participated in the national chess competition held at Chennai last month. The team scored 19.5 points in the six rounds to win the title. “Every day I practise for three hours at the chess school and sit in front of laptop for two more hours in practising chess. I study previous games of great players on the Internet net and try to solve them online”, says Nihal, the team captain. He doesn’t believe in sparing himself and makes sure he works very hard to sharpen his skills. …More |
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