The unknown wonders of Ancient World

Asvini Foundations was awarded the CREDAI REAL ESTATE AWARD - 2012 for the most affordable residential property (Metros)

The CREDAI REAL ESTATE AWARD - 2012 is received by Mr.Sivagurunathan, Director, Asvini Foundations.

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Laurie Baker: The legendary-visionary British born Indian Architect

“I can never understand an architect who designs 500 houses all exactly the same. It doesn't take much to put all the components into at least half a dozen other combinations. It's perfectly easy to mix materials on any given site so the possibilities for variety are endless... If only we didn't level site and eliminate trees but instead plan to go around them, then we wouldn’t get the long monotonous rows to begin with.” - Laurence Wilfred Baker (Laurie Baker)

Laurie Baker 1917-2007

Laurie Baker, as he is famously known is a British born architect who came to India as part of the missionary work in 1945. Baker studied architecture at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham and graduated in 1937, aged 20, in a period of political unrest in Europe. He is said to be immensely influenced by Gandhiji. During one of his trips to India he was waiting for his ship back to England when he accidentally met Gandhiji. Gandhiji told him that it is not the cities but the rural areas were his knowledge is required. It was Gandhiji’s idea that it would be possible to build a home with materials available within 5 kilometres of the site, which did influence him in his later life.

He started his initial commitment as an architect for World Leprosy Mission; his responsibilities were to convert asylums for lepers into treatment hospitals. He married Elizabeth Jacob and lived in Pithoragarh for sixteen years before moving to Vakamon in Kerala in 1963.

Chengalchoola Slum colony
Courtesy: Lauriebaker.net

He observed that the architectural knowledge acquired by him was not useful in Indian conditions. He started learning vernacular architecture and applied his knowledge to discover new low cost construction materials and procedures. His architectural style was to build beautiful homes at low cost & high quality suiting the needs of lower middle class people. The homes had irregular pyramid like roofs with one side open such that the wind flowed freely inside and perforated brick walls for air movement keeping it naturally cool. The initial designs would completely change on-site by the architect based on the surroundings and the requirement. And his love of nature was immense that he rarely tampered with the topography and never uprooted a tree.

And he created a unique cooling system, a porous brick wall near a small pond such that the air pressure difference would draw cool air through the house. And all of his structures look different.

The Hamlet: This is Baker’s home built along the slope of a hill in Trivandrum. A remarkable & beautiful home built for his family with materials from un-conventional resources. This place has limited access to water and no one other than Laurie Baker would dream to build a home.

Birds eye view of the Hamlet
Courtesy:Lauriebaker.net

He has constructed for many institutions, built residences and few of his notable projects are International Leprosy Mission, Welthy Fisher's Literacy Village-Lucknow, Andhra Pradesh Quaker Cyclone Project, Latur Earthquake Proof Housing Project and Tsunami-proof Housing Project. He has built more than 2000 buildings in Kerala alone.

Throughout his life he has received many prestigious awards including the nomination for the Pritzker Prize (considered the Nobel Prize in Architecture).  And many institutions have conferred a doctorate on him. He lived till the age of 90, and he died on April 1, 2007. Though he is dead his “Baker Style” is gaining popularity. Though Laurie Baker conceived his style for the poor today it is being commoditised.

He was called as ‘the Daddy” by his students and workers. His work has awed many architects and many of his writings have been published. Though he is no more, he has left an impeccable impact with his work. His buildings will live to speak about this legend. 

Source: http://lauriebaker.net/

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The funside

Urbanization: The changing face of Indian Society

A COUPLE of centuries ago, India was just a conglomeration of villages and small towns. The kind of lifestyle and practices followed were those inherited from our forefathers. A dramatic shift came about after the arrival of the Portuguese, Spanish navies followed by the French and the English.  During this period the whole of Europe was being transformed by the Industrial Revolution which lasted till the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century India was slowly being consumed from within by the British crown for various obvious reasons.

The metrics in India changed with Bombay, Calcutta and Madras becoming centres of governance for the British rulers. A rash of activities started mushrooming in these cities like roadways, railways, trams, colleges, hospitals, and the manpower required was to be filled by the natives. Though most of these were done for their convenience, the infrastructure boom and the opportunities that arose resulted in the migration of people to these places.

The tradition bound people started observing a new way of westernised behaviour from their rulers and the change started ticking. The end of World War II resulted in a major shift, with countries across the world realigning and of course an independent India came into being.  Though the English moved out of India, they left an indelible footprint of their culture and practices. And the craze to impersonate the white skin was deeply embedded on the Indian society.

India with a strong culture & heritage had practices like festivals, melas, community gatherings and even marriages happening to be reasons for socializing. The sands of Time worked and these events moved out from the social calendar. Though the Western culture imbibance was a factor, the socio-economic demands became a decisive factor. In this process the traditional joint family splintered into smaller nuclear families. This resulted in a paradigm shift in an individuals’ behaviour which by and large impacted the society as a whole.

The traditional joint families did teach an individual about interpersonal behaviour, civilised behaviour, self-management of finance, respect for elders and more importantly, it had mentors inside a home, whereas in a nuclear family all these were missing.  But with the advent of gated communities a major shift is happening.

In cities like Mumbai where such gated communities came into existence almost 20 year back, the traditional values are being imparted in the form of celebrations, get-togethers and many activities. Eventually this will spread and communities which come together because of socio-economic demands will evolve into traditionally modern society teaching our younger ones a new way of life.

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Urbanization: Need for larger townships

MANKIND HAS evolved from being a nomad, to dwelling in a fixed place, the predominant reason being food. Civilization, thus, grew in fertile places and gradually spread to places connected by sea, which eventually became commercial hubs. Commerce developed, giving raise to many a non-traditional jobs. With the steady in-flow of people in a place, the demand for decent living conditions compelled the need for town planning. The study of the Indus Valley civilization suggests that Harappa had sewerage facilities designed by its town planners.

Today, the need for proper housing and urbanization is not just about sheltering people but much more. As the cities grew with new urbanized facilities, migration from rural areas became inevitable. Today, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. It is predicted that by 2030, 6 out of 10 people will live in urban areas which will grow to a mammoth 7 out of 10 by 2050, in contrast to just 2 out of 10 people, who lived in urban areas, a hundred years back.

This kind of rapid growth leads to massive revamp in the housing and infrastructural requirements. In modern day towns, mobility is an important criterion in town planning, besides housing. While these demands evolved over a period of time the societal behavior (we will discuss this in our next article) of people has also changed. All these changes are fuelled by technology.

Housing facilities combined with necessary infrastructure is the need of the day. This leads to the development of satellite cities which have all the facilities & opportunities. The only best example in India is Navi Mumbai, which is the largest planned city in the India. The only major problem is, there are only two roads connecting Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

These kind of satellite cities are much needed in India, since all the major metros have become over-populated. In Chennai, though specific areas have grown, the Greater Chennai plan that was promised, never came to reality. The Government of Tamilnadu is contemplating on amalgamating Kanchipuram and Chengalpattu, while the other options are to expand Chennai till Gummidipoondi and Uthukottai taluks in the north, Sriperumbudur in the west and Chengalpattu in the South.

This expansion cannot be compared to that of Greater Mumbai or Greater Noida since the socio-economic scenario, culture and climate in the region play a vital role in the success of any satellite township. Though dubbed as the Detroit of Asia, Chennai needs a much larger visionary plan like the Navi Mumbai city since, Chennai is bound to attract much more foreign investments which are bound to increase the demand of housing & infrastructure of this city.

Testimonials from those families who live in apartments built by Asvini foundations

Mentioned below are a few testimonials from our customers. This is not to boast what we are; but to underline the fact that we thrive hard to stick to our philosophy to create a happy life for those who trust us.

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Sudarsan Ranganathan
CEO, Veeras Infotek Pvt. Ltd
Rekha Sudarsan
Pshychologist

In the crowded jungle of Chennai, we went hunting around for an apartment which would give us the security of a flat and the independence of an individual house. We hit the bull's eye by signing up with Asvini. The space they promise is the space they deliver. The ceiling is 10' and it doesn't crowd on us. Their commitment is the extra perk we got. Asvini-Abhinita overlooking the vast expanse of the sea is a landmark now. "Our Pride, Neighbour's Envy".
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Shanmuga Velyutham
Chief Manager, HDFC BANK, Coimbatore

I was placed in Bangalore when I opted to buy a flat from the first ever project of Asvini, namely Asvini-Aksara. Every time I visited Chennai during the construction time, I could see my flat growing rapidly. My wife proposed lot of changes to suit our need and they never ever showed any sign of discomfort. After all, "AS VI NI" is "As We Need, Indeed"

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Gayathri Ramachandran
Deputy Manger, Finance
Brakes India Ltd
I am an occupant in Asvini - Athish at Mandaveli, I wish to state that the design, nature of construction of the flat, versatility of the facilities in the individual flat and the building complex, the landscaping, the play area and finally the elevation of the building are all done in the most admirable manner. I am just making a statement of fact when I say that I have began to enjoy life better now than ever before.
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K. Balasubramaniam
Senior Manager, IOB
B. Karthik
Audit Senior, KPMG

We had no second thought of choosing Asvini, for several reasons but we would like to express some of them:

1. Service       : At Asvini, our suggestions are respected and are flexible according to our needs
2. Building     : Their buildings have innovative designs and attractive front elevation.
3. Punctuality : Timely delivery of the project.

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Cola Bharath
Licensing Specialist
Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd.,
Mala Bharath
Founder, Aathmalaya
Choosing the right construction company for a lifetime investment in an apartment needs a lot of thorough insight into construction players. Today's corporate work culture gave us little time to get to the nuances of construction business and we vested all our trust on Asvini, in our maiden venture to own a flat.
We are elated to share that Asvini lived up to their commitments, matched all our expectations and gave more in the project Asvini – Astitva, restulting in we owning today a beautiful, airy, roomy and a classy apartment.
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J. Nagarajan
Customer Support Technical service Engineer
ROCHE Diagnostics, Doha, QATAR
Krithiga Nagarajan

We were impressed with the overall creativity and craftsmanship that went into the construction of our home. Before building our home we considered several builders in the area. We found that what was standard for ASVINI would be considered an "Upgrade" for the other builders. Throughout the entire process ASVINI and its team met our standards of excellence both in quality and ingenuity. When you build with ASVINI, you are truly getting a custom home!"

"Also the wide open space in between the row of blocks with a good landscape, fountain, jogging track etc., is excellent. It is very rare to see buildings with lot of greenery like in ASVINI AMARISA, in the heart of the city. Their response to our needs was also appreciable.

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Sumithra Mathew
Satyam Computers
Chennai
Purchasing an apartment in Amarisa was a spur of the moment decision. We drove in with our family to the site during the promotional day. We were floored with the professional approach of the team, the methodology followed in explaining the project details and also the very friendly approach of the entire team. We signed on the dotted line, provided the advance and then did a very key activity. We went to our legal counsel to seek opinion on the documentation and the project as such. From somebody who had been asking us to reject earlier plans to invest in property or land due to lack of improper or incomplete documentation, we were given the green signal right away! So there we were…. a proud investor in this wonderful project. Our various interactions with Aarti and her team have been splendid and we truly value the relationship we have built. We wish them the very best in all future projects. 
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R. Narayanan
Manager – QA & C
Harris Pye Gulf L.L.C,
Dubai

It gives me immense pleasure to receive the end Product ie my dream home. I felt very comfortable and secured from the day one I booked my flat at Amarisa. One can not get such a comfortable feeling unless if it is not dealt by a PROFESSIONAL, STRAIGHT FORWARD AND CUSTOMER FRIENDLY APPROACH people. All the above Qualities added with good Architecture makes Asvini a worthy choice in the Building Construction Market. I take this opportunity to thank the Management and staff of Asvini-Amarisa and wishing them very best in all their future endeavours.

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K. Sivaram Kumar
Branch Manager
ICICI Bank Limited, Chennai
Right from the moment we saw the plan, we were impressed with the free space of the project and ventilation available in blocks/houses. We immediately booked a flat and little did we know that it will turn out to be a very memorable experience for us. Today we are very happy that we made the right decision of purchasing that flat in Asvini Amarisa, as it has provided all that we thought of in a flat project. Entire experience of changes in our house plan, handing over date landscaping, possession formalities have been done with utmost care and we are very happy for the same. In fact handing over has been done more or less within committed date which is far better that many of the so called "reputed" builders in the city.
We are proud owners of a Asvini flat. 
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Dhasaratha Kumar Devadoss
Project Manager – Xchanging
AET Tankers Ptd Limited

I am one of the flat owner of Asvini-Amarisa at Ramapuram, Chennai. In a hot and crowded Chennai myself and my wife went hunting for a flat with clear thoughts on what is our requirement when in comes to own a private apartment. Asvini team has guided and helped to identify and meet our needs with no compromise to our expectations and quality. 2 year of journey with the Asvini team was excellent and worth to remember and mention on the continuous support and on time delivery (Compared to other branded leaders in industry). Asvini as a team commitment to customer is excellent, I wish them growth with no end to their journey………

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We thank all those proud owners for choosing us.

Walk through-Asvini Atvarika, Kelambakkam located in between Kelambakkam and ECR Road in a prime location overlooking back waters.

ASVINI TO LAUNCH SEVEN RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS