Hijab; Live it or Leave it

Looking back at our history we find a young boy named Moses help two young women; sisters trying to water their animals as their father was too old and weak, he volunteered to help by asking the girls to step back and letting him do it for them. Thereafter, when the father sent the younger daughter to collect Moses requesting a meeting to thank him for helping the girls, he chose to walk in front of her as they walked against the wind towards the village, to maintain a mental and physical screen between them.

Such an occurring is not just of the past but of relevance even today and an example that says loud and clear that Hijab is a lifestyle, you either live it or leave it. Hijab is not just for one gender but for both to observe. And yet it beckons for one gender; women to commit to it to a degree no man possibly can. Presumably it is through this very acceptance and adornment of hijab that a woman’s beauty is sanctified and celebrated equally, and not the excuse for women to be pushed into the dark ages. No my dear ladies it is not the enemy that holds you down in fighting for your rights rather, through its very acceptance you shall find yourself winning far better than just your rights. 

You have to let yourself be identified by it once you choose to walk its path. Choose to let its drape "define" you as an object of attraction or define you as a woman worthy of respect and honor. Look back at the women we know through our history and question 'have those women been looked up to, for their choices of lifestyle?’ and if they have, then is this lifestyle one of 'putting themselves out as women commanding respect through their speech, attire, attitude,  and choices’ or as ‘women who beckon society to look to them for how they display themselves and then proceed further or sometimes even ignore their winning attributes of who they are and what they stand for’.

In the Holy Book of Moslems, it is clearly stated that women of the household of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) as well as other true believing women, be advised to lower their gaze and cover their heads and private parts and true believing men to lower their gaze as well. There are historical instances where the optimum way of how a woman is to interact with the opposite gender through this hijab and as a significant member of the Moslem community are best shown by the women of the household of the Prophet (P.B.U.H). No, we cannot compare our sinful selves to these revered personalities but we can aspire to better understanding and observing their characters and teachings.
To a hefty number this draping of one’s beauty may seem as a burden and a cultural obligation in many Moslem countries, why do you think then that certain women of the faith have been recorded in history as pioneers of examples of how a Moslem woman should be in her daily life as well as in pressing times. Women have fought injustice in times of oppression through veils and screens and fought for their right of hijab.

In the past few years, the Islamic dress code, and specifically the hijab observed by Moslem women, has been the subject of a number of controversial laws and regulations in European and majority Moslem countries. In France, young Moslem girls were banned from wearing the hijab in public schools as of 2004. In Turkey, an overwhelmingly Moslem country, women are prohibited from observing hijab in schools, universities, and government offices. An observant Moslem woman, who was democratically elected to the Turkish parliament in 1999, was prevented from taking her seat in parliament because she observed the hijab. 

Women need to observe the hijab for their own protection and modesty and do so in response to the commandments of God, not those of any man. It is also worth pointing out that the hijab has a basis in Jewish and Christian scripture as well, and it is as a result of this that Catholic nuns are seen observing a type of covering similar to hijab. The Moslem woman's hijab is a symbol. It is a symbol of her independence and liberation from the glares of strange men and an affirmation of her right to be treated according to her character and intellect, not according to her looks. We are stronger and steadfast through the choice of this lifestyle in representing ourselves as members of the community commanding recognition for our attributes over physical attraction. There is no middle ground to it but a complete acceptance of the lifestyle, a choice that commands respect and though it is commendable for whatever little form of hijab women take up, it is incomplete till it is observed in its entirety; physically and mentally, because hijab is a lifestyle, you either live it or leave it.

'Place' is to Architecture

I lay awake in a cave

I learned to read under a tree

I planted trees all around me

I marked an ‘X’ for me to ‘be’

I felt the wind talk to me

As I stood on the place to ‘be’

I found each day, as the trees grew

Many new places around me

Places to sleep

Shades to eat

Places of warmth

Shades to read

I took some branches from the trees

Put them up to surround me

I marked each place with these sticks

Letting vines grow around me

In these creeping vines I found

Wrapping me, places to ‘be’

I found myself looking around

Asking the question repeatedly

What is this place, this ‘place to be?’

Is it not the place I seek?

A place barren and undefined

A space I made to be mine

This place, a space, belonged to me

The lines I had put on the ground

Marking points to grow the trees

With growing vines, I visualized this ‘place’

As the space for me to ‘be’

As the space took its shape

It became from a space to the ‘place’

The place I now know to be

The place I designed for me!

My Karachi is Burning

Amidst the smoke and the dust and the blinding sun of the afternoon, one can see little of what lies beyond and walks on, through the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Is this road always this overcrowded? Are the roads always this clogged? Why is everything hidden behind large clouds of smoke? Struggling through, making way for my colleague and myself from encroached foot paths, to on the road, squeezing through vehicular traffic and groups of people standing around, we moved into the cloud of dust and walked through on the M.A. Jinnah road.
Through the blinding light of the sun, silhouettes of Snorkel vehicles appeared, large groups of people crowded around them and as we followed their gaze, our eyes set upon the horrifying sight of arson-hit buildings. Buildings dating back to pre-partition set next to buildings from the contemporary period, stood ahead of us, damaged from the fires of 12/28/09, after an explosion ripped through the main Ashura procession earlier that day.
As my colleague and I surveyed the damage, I was amazed to see the variation in the extent of damage caused to the buildings from our heritage and the buildings of today and I was reminded of the phrase ‘set in stone’. It was inspirational to see the heritage stone buildings standing exceptionally and comparatively, in a much better state than the buildings constructed in concrete, amidst the aftermath of the fires leaving shop owners jobless, citizens’ homeless and offices abandoned. The composition of stone and limestone definitely proved stronger than that of concrete and mortar; nevertheless, the damage caused by the fires has left not only our architecture to shambles, but also the civilians of the area, as well as the people of the city down-trodden and perplexed.
The efforts of the victims of this condemnable destruction for repairing, renovating or reconstructing damaged and demolished buildings in all the chaos was elating and surely deserves appreciation, unfortunately, in all this efficiency or shall we say haste the people fail to realize that plastering or painting over these stone buildings will only ruin the natural beauty of the material while a little careful touch of the brush for simply cleaning the surfaces, will do wonders.
Melancholy is set about in the effected vicinity where burnt and carbonated facades speak of their misery, regenerating the image of Karachi burning on the day of Ashura, and as one walks down the road, the trail of buildings reveal the aftermath of the raging blaze, surrounded by victims struggling for solace, struggling for reconstructing their shops, to once again return to their hard earned business’.

I AM CONCRETE

Of the many building materials of construction, I am one that is crucial, most suitable and perfected, having historical value. The unison of two towns to one in 1909, gave way to my name, Concrete. Before me, my co-building material, Wood was used for the construction of an entire building, but Wood being flammable burnt down due to the fires in the early 1900’s. The humans thus wanted an inflammable material for their buildings, that would also be economical and ample in supply, therefore many Wooden Buildings were replaced by me by 1921. After they found me strong and capable to withstand fires and many other accidents, be it natural, depending on a properly proportioned mixture that gave birth to me every time, the humans soon constructed different structures with me, such as dams and bridges.
Properly Proportioned Mix is what makes me just right, without the ratio of the constituents that unify to make me, I am incapable and worthless. I owe my life to cement and water that bind me together, along with a hard, chemically inert particulate substance, known as aggregate; usually made from different types of sand and gravel.
According to the history of Humans on Cement, the Assyrians and Babylonians used clay as the bonding substance or cement. The Egyptians used lime and gypsum cement. In 1756, a British engineer, John Smeaton made the first hydraulic cement by adding pebbles as a coarse aggregate and mixing powered brick into the cement; this they said was a modern version of me. In 1824, English inventor, Joseph Aspdin invented Portland cement, which has remained a dominant cement type used for my production. Joseph Aspdin created the first true artificial cement by burning ground limestone and clay together. The burning process changed the chemical properties of the materials and Joseph Aspdin created stronger cement than what using plain crushed limestone would produce.
The other major part of me besides cement is the aggregate. Aggregates include sand, crushed stone, gravel, slag, ashes, burned shale, and burned clay. A Fine sized aggregate is used in making slabs and smooth surfaces with me. Coarse (rough,graded in size) aggregate is used for massive structures or sections of cement.
I am one that is weak in tension but strong in compression, tension and compression being terms of physics. Humans, always experimenting and reaching for newer goals, trying to reach for the sky with a desire to make their mark on it, required a material strong in both tension and compression, in order to make buildings as high as the sky and structures with large spans. In 1849, Joseph Monier, a Parisian Gardner, who would make garden pots and tubs from me would also reinforce these pots by an iron mesh.
Once metal, usually steel, is embedded within me, I am known as reinforced concrete of ferroconcrete. Joseph Monier exhibited his invention at the Paris Exposition of 1867. His invention and ideas promoted the reinforced version of me for use in railway ties, pipes, floors, arches, and bridges.
Now that I am reinforced, my compression strength combined with the tensile or bendable and flexible strength of metal, I withstand any and all heavy loads, be it a dam, a bridge or a skyscraper, I stand tall, spanned and strong.

Bibliography:
http://www.concrete-wa.com/history.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blconcrete.html

For an architect, architecture is a kind of memoir.

For an architect, architecture is a kind of memoir.

For an architect, architecture is a memoir, whether on paper or in the form of a building piercing through the sky, it’s a record of events by a person having intimate knowledge of the works based on personal observation.
Architecture begins in an architect’s imagination of what he/she perceives the space to be, and initiating from a single thought it develops step by step taking form, into a particular building type. Architecture has its own language, its own way of communicating its purpose. Functionally and ‘Form’-ally suitable architecture of any building can teach its surroundings a better standard of living, a better way to operate.
It is through the architects knowledge, understanding and vast imagination, that an architect gives shape to his buildings, and in continuation these very buildings shape their surroundings.
Architects and Architecture play a vital role in portraying the culture of any country. The choice of materials, the layout of spaces, and the degree of enclosure reflect the climatic conditions, religious state and political philosophies of the context in which the building is to be placed. The way in which people organize their places is related to their beliefs and their aspirations, their world view. A world varies, so does architecture, may it be at the personal, social and cultural levels, and between different sub cultures within a society.

"Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall."- Frank Lloyd Wright

Every man's work, whether it is literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself, and this is what makes architecture so dynamic, as every man changes according to the times, developing and evolving his thoughts according to the demands of the world revolving around him. Therefore architecture becomes a canvas of confession with the artist/ architect revealing himself either through his work on paper or his use and delivery of words. Even a building reflects its architect’s way of perceiving the space to be. It is every man’s desire to come across a challenge in their professions, but how well they overcome the challenge can be best seen done by an architect.

“All architects want to live beyond their deaths."- Philip Jhonson

Architecture coming from the Mesopotamians, Greeks and Romans still reflect much of the architecture of today, providing the basis of the elements of architecture. So much has been taken up by us, from the past civilizations, in designing the buildings of today.
The Pyramids of Giza, the fortified defensive walls of citadels, the 3 dimensional orientation of the Parthenon have left an important mark on the face of the earth, not only because of how they appear to the eye but also because of the experiential understanding of the spaces. When a design is taking form, various additional factors come into play, which change with time, enlightening and heightening our actual experience of the spaces.
It is a true architect who considers the 4th dimension while designing a building and is successful in providing his clients with a complete experiential tour of the space designed.
Light plays an important part in redefining spaces.

"Light, God's eldest daughter, is a principal beauty in a building."-Thomas Fuller

Le Corbusier uses a dim religious light to illuminate the side altars with daylight softened by its reflection off white roughcast walls in Notre-Dame du Haut at Ronchamp. Through the absence of interior partitions in Villa Shodhan, Le Corbusier was able to bring natural light into certain spaces as an architectural material. This, along with the free passage of the warm Indian breeze created a tactile and ever-changing environment with a strong connection to the natural site. In effect, the Villa’s openness is its most tangible trait. . The doors of ancient Greek temples faced the morning sun, the red light from the east dramatically illuminating the figure of the God within. In view to all the various architectural building types, light has been used in various ways to give identification to different spaces and in all these buildings a real building is one on which the eye can light and stay lit.
There’s plenty of intelligence in the world, but the courage to do things differently is in short supply, and it is this irresistible urge in a creative architect that characterizes true architecture. How well an architect understands the clients requirements and the context of his building depends on his vastness of imagination An architect does not sleep, as the great thing about being an architect is that they can walk into your dreams.
For every architect each of his designs in sequence of building through time is like an open visual book, to which he can refer to, while designing the next building innovating his designs to the fullest, in accordance to his previous buildings. With help to such a visual reference of his own buildings, an architect can improvise on his designs, and become a part of history, engraved in millions of thought processes altering their life forever.

"When we build, let us think that we build for ever." -John Ruskin

How Cities Grow

The wheel of time, the spur of city life, the growing/ multiplying city, spreading- spilling outwards like bacteria. Life for the human becomes a blur. How does one channel or control the growing city?
The increasing population of the world has impacts all over the world, none of us can deny that. How does one form a solution to the problem?
In Le Corbusier's "Towards a New Architecture" the option for building a vertical vity has been discussed. To keep the ratio of solid and coid balanced, he proposes to lift the buildings on pilotis/ columns, in order to achieve open public spaces.
Aldo Rossi in his book " Age of Humanism" proposes to design cities with infrastructure planned for a specific population growth, once the number of people goes beyond that, another city be populated.
Do these proposals justify as solutions? What implications will a "Land of Towers" have on the human? How many cities will be formulated? Will the earth be all land and no water?

How Cities Grow

The wheel of time, the spur of city life, the growing/ multiplying city, spreading- spilling outwards like bacteria. Life for the human then, becomes a blur. How does one channel/ control the growing city?
The increasing population of the world has its undeniable impacts all over the world. In Le Corbusier's ' Towards a New Architecture', the option for building vertical cities has been discussed.
To keep the ratio of solid and void balanced, he proposes to lift the buildings on pilotis/columns, in order to achieve open public spaces.
In the 'Age of Humanism' by Robert Venturi, it has been proposed that cities be designed with an infrastructure based on a particular population number, and once the population grows beyond that, another city be designed and populated. This will help in having an effectual infrastructural system for each city.
But do these proposals serve as solutions to the problems of growing cities? What will be the impacts of a vertical city on humans. How many cities will be created? What effects will it have on the ecology?