Those Living in Glass Houses

Those Living in Glass Houses
In a city where architects are inspired by the glass and granite buildings of the West, Anil Bhaskaran is an antithesis of the trend. "I see no point in spending money on expensive glass boxes and offsetting the heat generated by them using air-conditioners and then running up huge energy bills," he says.

He is one architect who believes in the minimal use of glass. "We don't have to blindly follow the West. Most of us forget that we live in India, which is a blessed land. We can afford to have an open-to-sky kind of architecture." He refers to the old-world practicality of verandahs, pandals and courtyards. Indians have always had the right mix of internal and external spaces in their buildings, he says. But, unfortunately, use of glass-granite has become the soul of the IT sector today, he adds.

If this trend continues, Bhaskaran fears that Bangalore will go the Mumbai way. "Thirty years from now you'll have brown buildings because the buildings would have started deteriorating, apartments would have changed hands, and there will be no accountability or responsibility for maintenance."

In an effort to improve the cityscape of Bangalore, he started Idea (Initiative for Design Excellence in Architecture) Centre last year. "Our core strengths are creation of special and designer buildings with emphasis on cost-effective, environment-friend ly structures," he