Got a call from my client in Pune to say that we’d probably build just a single level bungalow after all. Right from the start, I’d been advising them that 4 bedrooms – for a family of 3 – was a complete waste of space and money.

Better late than never.

Now the only problem is I have to re-work the layout and, more importantly, the built form. Permissions from the municipal corporation have already been obtained, so I have to stick to the same footprint for the structure.

Updated on 19th March 2005

The revised plan was frozen yesterday. The puja will be on 6th April when, as architect, I must dig a token hole in the ground.

Yesterday was the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the office building I’ve designed at Khairne – Navi Mumbai.

Permissions from the Pune municipality for the bungalow I’ve designed there, came through a couple of days ago. Three cheers!

Now I have to get cracking with the services plans!

The office building that I’ve designed at Khairne is coming along at full steam, now that the monsoons seem to be subsiding. The external plastering is almost complete and very soon the interior work and finishing will begin.

Am trying my level best to explain to the clients that double-glazing will pay for itself in the medium term because of reduced air-conditioning costs. Have also specified water-saving cisterns for all the WCs. This is an area where water is relatively expensive, so for a change, that argument is easier to make.

I’ve had this project on the back-burner for a while since the papers have been submitted to the Pune municipality and it will be another month at least before they come through. In the meanwhile, I’ve worked on most of the details and am happy that the clients like the results.

I know; I’ve been promising to make a separate dedicated page in the design section for a while now… It’s a matter of getting down to it and spare time has been relatively scarce these past few months.

Made a flying visit to Pune yesterday to try and decide on a builder for the Bungalow project there. The client and I agreed on a young man called Manoj Kanase. He seems to have a fair bit of experience with rain-water harvesting and recycling of waste water etc, so that should make life easier.

Along with the bungalow at Pune (I still haven’t got around to making a separate page for that one), the other current architectural project is an office-cum-laboratory building at Thurbe (New Bombay) for an ISO 9001 company for whom I had also designed a logo a couple of years back. Project Architects based in the area were appointed to get the required permissions, do the working drawings and supervise on a regular basis.

All was going well until we found, during excavation, that the neighbouring industrial unit had leaked acidic water into our site. Apparently they had a a broken storage tank which was promptly removed when we pointed it out to them. However, just a few days ago when we dug another pit, we found some more corrosive liquid.

Precautions had already been taken to protect the foundation but those chaps next door should really be hauled over the coals or, better still, be made to jump into their own acid!