Rest of world architectural (reading) guide

My architecture writing heyday between 2012-2015 was the pre-kids period when I was traveling a lot more than today. Some of the following posts thus have a little travelogue ring to them. With Tokyo and North America done, let’s take the remaining buildings geographically, and go on a little tour down memory lane to Latin America (mainly Argentina, but also Brazil), Europe (mainly Germany, but also London and some other places), Africa, and Asia. What is missing in all this is a post from my current whereabouts, Australia. In what time I have left here, I shall strive to find that one tell-all building. Until then, I shall seek inspiration in the following pages.

Continue reading

Return to India

We finally visited India again after an eternity. The last time we went was in 2014. With our move to Japan, having kids and then COVID, it just wasn’t possible earlier.

Continue reading

Mumbai urban governance

Antilia, Mumbai

For some comparative research on intra-urban inequality, I started looking at Mumbai’s urban governance structure, and, wow, it’s complicated. While in Tokyo you had and have a fairly clear-cut division between central government, TMG and wards, the Indian megacity appears to have many more layers and parallel structures. Some notes to get my head around this below.

Continue reading

Bangkok – Mumbai

For the lack of better photography, but in need of some color on this page, this tree from Bangkok photographed during a nightly stroll

I am trying to put together a comparative paper on slums in Mumbai and Bangkok, which draws some inspiration from my work on Tokyo. It is basically about comparing the spatial distribution of slum populations across the cities. Some thoughts following the jump. Continue reading

Benjamin Polk

During the research for our Yangon Architectural Guide, we came across this American architect. He built the Tripitaka Library (Pitaka Taik), also known as the Great Buddhist Library in Yangon. Some scribbles below the jump.

Tipitaka

Tripitaka Library, photo by Manuel Oka

Continue reading