mzreport.com

All those who would love to decorate their apartment and diversify interior are highly welcomed to pay attention at the following stylish Magnetic Cloud Keyholder by Duncan Shotton.

I am talking about the wall mounted cloud is made from plastic and has 3 hidden magnets to hold your keys. We deal with an elegant, functional and minimalist gadget that is so pretty.

Despite its fragile appearance, this gadget does exactly what its supposed and what is more, it decorates your interior.

To my mind, when you have all three keys dangling from the gadget, you’ve got the impression of rain falling down from the cloud. The cloud measures 97 mm across and its embedded neodymium magnet can hold items up to 220g. A

Don’t miss!

ArtStyleOnline

If you belong to those who adore reading books and you have tons of them, then the Falling Bookends series by the Art Ori design studio is something your interior needs for sure. This design useful piece of furniture shows books falling on tiny people.

The Falling Bookends series by the Art Ori design studio is perfect for people who are always overwhelmed with reading material.

By the way, this shelf is also a great opportunity to show to the rest of the world, I mean all your friends, your past or future reads.

Books at these bookshelf look as if they are about to squish a very small, metal man. Love this fresh idea!

ArtStyleOnline

The balloon with thorn by Nancy Fouts. Are you into it?

ArtStyleOnline

Just a couple of words about a giant bird nest bed was designed by Merav Eitan Merav Eitan and Gas-ton Zahr.

The bed was a part of the Green Gar­den Exhibition. It looks so cool and invit­ing, am I right?

To my mind, such a bed will suit everybody – it is stylish, comfortable and very unusual, unlike the most of beds we have.

Would you love to live like a bird?

ArtStyleOnline

One of the most highly-awaited car shows – aka Geneva Motor Show is finally live and it brings numerous surprises and mouth-watering cars. One of them is a new great-looking hatchback Volvo V40. Enjoy Volvo’s fun and smart advertising campaigns!

The new Volvo is the smart family five-door car and it is definitely the best looking Volvo I’ve seen in years! This cutie is equipped with everything even the most demanding driver needs including the world’s first pedestrian airbag.

The Volvo V40 is a stylish, practical and highly functional vehicle from Swedish luxury car manufacturer. The car will go on sale in Europe later this year.

Check out one more catching advertising video of Volvo V40 and make your mind whether you are ordinary or out of the ordinary.

This post is sponsored by Volvo.

ArtStyleOnline

What will be Cost of Construction?

QUOTE

Dear Mr.Thomas,

I got your contacts from your website, I am attaching here with my purposed house plan (first floor), I would like to know how much it will cost to build it , the ground floor already built  10 years back(attached the photo), now I need to add a first floor on it

My house situated in Anakkayam Panchayath,Malapuram District

Looking forward to hear from you

My reply

You have already got a Plan and Elevation for the house from some body else.Naturally you would have asked this question to him and he might have given you some answer.To counter check his answer you are simply sending this email to me.

I do not have any magical capability to say cost of construction just by seeing a plan or Elevation of a building.No body will know exactly how much a building will cost till the date of completion of the building.All cost estimates are only assumptions.Nobody knows what will be the cost of materials and labour tomorrow or in months to come.

Apartment and Villa builders sell at almost three times their cost and there is no quality of construction checking by any body.No two contractor do the construction in the same manner.So cost for each will be different.Apart from making profit,practically no contractor bothers about quality of construction or even structural stability of building.There is no government agency to verify and check quality and strength of construction at each stage of construction.If at all such an agency is there,in our corruption country,such an agency will simply turn out to be another government agency for corruption.

So when you want to build your house with best possible engineering,architecture and quality of construction,if you are not willing to accept compromise on quality of construction,there is no way of predicting exactly how much building will cost.Cost also varies from place to place,with different land levels,soil conditions,design variations etc.

If I can visit site,study site conditions,improve on plan already prepared based on site study,I can prepare an Engineering Estimate using engineering methods.Cost thus arrived is the nearest cost calculation possible and just by looking at a plan I cannot predict or estimate cost of construction.

CHARUPADY  FOR HOUSE

QUOTE

Dear Sir

I am from Madhya Pradesh .I visited the Kerala in last march and observed a wooden design in almost all houses in porches and balconies. What does it called. I am building my house in Bhopal and use the same thing in the front porch of my house. I visited your site and the houses designed by you also have the same design. Is that wooden material available in Kerala readily are it can be get it be done here by local carpenter.

C K Santani

My reply

It seems what you are referring is “Charupady” mostly made in teak wood.This cannot be made there in Madhya Pradesh using local carpenter as the technology used will be unfamiliar to them.Again this is manufactured to suit site requirements,client preferences etc.

For each house this will have to be specifically designed and manufactured.There is also traditional  Kerala Window which is used to cover entire Balcony open space while giving ventilation and traditional look

NEW HOUSES AT OOTTY AND MANNAR

QUOTE

Hi Thomas,
A very good day to you,
This is Sanjay with you, me and my wife are presently working in Dubai…
Was browsing through some websites and found your blog.
I own a small plot of 12 cents in Ootty opposite Good Shepherd Intl School & would like to construct a 2 BHK villa-(intent to rent). I have taken an approval from the panchayat a year back for the same.
Wanted to know whether you could look into it if I send you the approved drawings. (do you take construction jobs in Ootty?)
 
My other property is in Mannar-Alleppey Dist…22 cents with an old house, with 2 "aras" need to keep that intact and construct new house.
need a feedback on both..
 My reply

I have designed and built a 6000 sft house at Ootty for a local Software Engineer couple some time back.Details of this house is available at my blog

 http://tamilnadu-houseconstruction-ootty.blogspot.in/

I will have to visit site at Ootty,design the house and then only I can comment on possibility and feasibility of directly taking up construction there.Similar is the case with your Mannar property

NALUKETTU HOUSE

QUOTE

I would like to build a home in Varkala.
my budget estimate is 20 lakhs.
My plot with an area of 12 cent.
i want  a traditional two storied house plan
with Nadumuttam,Charupadi and four bedroom facilities.
kindly send me the details of such a plan.

Sheeja

My reply

Nalukettu type house has following essential features

1.Nadumuttom at centre of house

2.Poomukham at entrance to house

2.Sit out with Charupady at front and side

Adding these features will naturally cause higher cost for the house.With Rs.20 lakhs it will be practically impossible to have all these features going by present cost of inputs of building construction.As cost of construction is only going up,you need to go for Nalukettu type construction only if you have sufficient funds.

Typical Tharavadu type house

QUOTE

Dear Mr.Thomas,
We are planning to build a  typical Kerala model traditional house,I mean ‘Odu’ type tiles and ‘kaavi’ type flooring with modern bedroom and wash rooms..The external outlook has to be of a typical ‘tharavad’ type house with a traditional Poomukham and a small ‘court yard’(Nalukettu) model..We have an existing studio type house which we normally use as a holiday home,when we come down.
The land is in Trissur, 1 acre.The plan is to built a 3 bedroom,hall + dining,kitchen,storage and a car porch.
 
I would like to know from you, your views on the same and how we can move ahead on this..
 
My reply

Your dreams about house are fine.As a professional I need data and details not simply dreams.A site visit,detailed study of your requirements are the first requirements to start the project

Can we move step by step?

Cast iron gate and Interlock tiles

Quote

Hi Thomas,

I am looking for cast iron sliding gate for my new house location at Alleppey.

Also interlock for external areas.

Are you doing for the same? If you are interested, please let me know so that I  shall send u the details.

My reply

As a professional organisation we need more details to offer our services for supply of cast iron gate and to provide interlock tile laying details.To study the case in detail and to give you offer suitable for your site conditions,we have to visit your site.Naturally we will have to charge you for site visit and related study

Normally people expect the supplier to do site visit at their expenses and give an offer which client may or may not accept.Supplier is supposed to bear the cost as his promotional expenses.But when the supplier has enough business,he may not be willing to spend time and money on such promotional site visits

Are you willing to spend from your side?

Kerala Architecture and House construction

CONSTRUCION IN BANGALORE

Dear Thomas

I have visited your blogs and websites and found interesting.

I am planning to build a house near Yelahanka, Bangalore. Let me know whether you have a team here in Bangalore from your office who could execute construction of a 30 x 40 plot size. This plot is located in Rajanakunte town limits (next to Prestige Oasis Row Houses and diagonally opposite to Prestige’s Angsana Resort). It’s 7 kms away from Yelahanka town limits (on the way to Doddaballapur Road).

My reply

Most important part of building a house or any other type of building is to get the most appropriate Plan of the building considering Architectural aspects which ensure proper utilisation of every bit of built up space,deriving maximum utility from every bit of building space,Cost reduction and better external appearance.

A person who has undergone a professional course in Architecture get enough insights to design most appropriately.More than the formal training a true Architect study and experiment a lot while designing and building.Over a period of years he develops his own unique style and approach which keep on getting fine tuned and improvised  as study never ends in the life of a professional

Any one with a bit of drawing training can draw a plan of the building.If you consider such a plan of the building which you may get for a name sake payment  equal or similar to one you can get from an established experienced Architect who has proven his capabilities,it is you who is going to suffer by wastage of lakhs of money in building.As an end user you come to know about deficiencies in design only when the building gets completed.Then it will be too late to do anything by any body.

Difference with you and an established professional is that he can visulaise and see clearly in his mind every minute detail of the building which he visualises using his training and experiences.You can only see the external appearance of what he may draw for you to see.Even that drawing keep on getting improved in his mind as work progresses and he make suitable changes in his mind depending upon varying site inputs.

So even when you build in Bangalore or any where else,a good design is the most important part of building.Let us first get that appropriate design and then think about contract work for the building

SEND ELEVATION AND NOT PLAN OF HOUSE

QUOTE

sir,

We are from Malappuram. we come across some of your nice designs. we plan to construct a house around 1500 sq. ft. could u please send d Elevation for three bed room house designed by u

Chitra

My reply

See,this is how people think!

” Any one can make plan of house.Only an Architect can do a good Elevation.So get a good Elevation from an Architect.Give it to a local draftsman.He will make a plan!”

See how ignorant our people are on these.Quite often I hear people willing to pay for Elevation ,but not for plan of the house!

2000 SFT HOUSE IN 4CENTS OF LAND

QUOTE

Hello sir,

Can we build a 2000sq.ft. house in 4 cents of rectangular plot with all minimum necessities

My reply

Cents is only area of land and it does not give any idea on dimensions of plot on all four sides,which is the information a designer need to design the house.Positions of roads near plot is also important.For Vasthu compliance,information on direction is also required

In general terms without information on dimensions of sides,I can give a vague indication that 4 Bed room house with all normal facilities can be built in a 4 cents land,as I have done so even in 3.5 cents land

Kerala Architecture and House construction

All those who still adore reading tree books and believe in their magic, should pay attention to the Albatros is a new kind of bookmark.

Everything you have to do is to install thin bookmark once at the start of your reading, and you will never have to remember to place it. Thanks to the special design it will be at your open page at all times. Feel free to pre-order bookmarks for for a set of 6.

I am ready to bet for a lot of you this bookmark will be simply indispensable. It’s simple and brilliant.

ArtStyleOnline

I am so into Java Jacket by Brock Davis, and you?

ArtStyleOnline

Have a look at these pictures, you can easily mistaken them for photographs, but all of them are created with the help of simply a pencil. Meet incredible pencil art by Guram Dolenjashvili who makes really realistic black and white landscapes.

I can’t take my eyes off the pictures, the way the artist uses light and shadow is especially stunning. It’s magic what he does with a pencil!

Guram Dolenjashvili is a Georgian painter who prefers working in monochrome using ink and pencil (and I do understand why – all his pictures are flawless).

All the works are impressive and I can spend hours looking at them!

ArtStyleOnline