I once read that some of the world’s most glorious sights can only be experienced if you crane your neck. I am very fortunate to have developed that habit when I got to work overseas, here in Riyadh. I can now boastfully asseverate the statement. I could not blame my neck for Saudi Arabia, particularly in Riyadh, is adorned with spectacular ceilings that are surely meant to make one’s neck stretch out.
From what I can remember back in the day, the ceiling was nothing but an essential part of a building, used to hide pipework, ductwork, and/or cabling. Nobody wants to look at it.
It was a humbling era for ceilings then until I got to a place where interior architecture is like everything when it comes to buildings particularly business establishments (i.e., restaurants and malls)—an essential element of a building services. It is high time to make them…
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The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly known as Victoria Terminus Station, in Mumbai, is an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in India, blended with themes deriving from Indian traditional architecture. The building, designed by the British architect F. W. Stevens, became the symbol of Bombay as the ‘Gothic City’ and the major international mercantile port of India. The terminal was built over 10 years, starting in 1878, according to a High Victorian Gothic design based on late medieval Italian models. Its remarkable stone dome, turrets, pointed arches and eccentric ground plan are close to traditional Indian palace architecture. It is an outstanding example of the meeting of two cultures, as British architects worked with Indian craftsmen to include Indian architectural tradition and idioms thus forging a new style unique to Bombay.
