|
|
| Archive for the 'Engineers' Category |
Glass in Construction
The great industrial revolution that began in Britain and subsequent urban development paved the way for wide use of quality glass. Two hundred years later, the use of glass will become unavoidable in buildings especially after 2010, as none of the other materials can equal the physical attributes of glass like transparency insulation and radiation levels in achieving the ECBC that will become mandatory then. Glass making was originally discovered by potters in Mesopotamia which is roughly the present geographical location of Iraq and Syria. Clay tablets bearing 'secret instructions' for furnace building and glass making trace the beginnings to 1300 BC.
The power of 3
According to legend three Mahadeva (Siva) temples in Kottayam District of Kerala are reported to have a special effect on devotees if they visit and offer prayers in all three on the same day. Though no recent occurrences or miraculous happenings have been recorded or attributed to the triumvirate, the belief still lives on. Some parts of the legend can be corroborated; the three Sivalings are said to represent the head, left hand and right hand of Lord Siva in a fight with a demon so huge he had to use all three to destroy it.
Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction
The 2nd Holcim Awards – a competition to promote sustainable construction world-wide has been thrown open to nominations and entries can be submitted online up to February 29, 2008, by logging on to www.holcimawards.org. The prize money for the 5 regional competitions and the global awards totals US$ 2,000,000 and is an initiative of the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation to encourage and inspire a built environment that goes beyond convention to address the challenges of sustainability.
Tata Power aqcuires stake in Indonesian company
India’s largest private power utility company, Tata Power Company Limited, has signed definitive agreements to purchase 30% equity stakes in two major thermal coal producers in Indonesia. The companies are PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) and PT Arutmin Indonesia and the package includes a related trading company –all owned PT Bumi Resources Tbk. For its part Tata Power has signed an off-take agreement with KPC that entitles the former to purchase about 10 million tonnes of coal per annum, linked to the purchase deal. This deal is logistically useful for Tata Power to leverage their upcoming power projects in the West Coast of India consisting of 7,000 MW to be developed over the next 5 years, and requiring approximately 21 million tonnes of imported coal that Tata Power intends to secure through a combination of purchasing equity shares in coal mines besides entering in to of-take agreements.
Repairs and restoration of the historic town hall - Calcutta
Structurally, the Town Hall was built with brick and wood. The Ground Floor measures 23 feet high containing a marble hall and smaller rooms. The upper floor is 30 feet in height. The building on the whole was a solid rectangular block with two protruding porticos on the South and North. A series of grand steps from Esplanade Road lead to the colonnaded front portico while a second entry from the rear side used to serve the way for carriage ways. The building demonstrates a load bearing structure with brick masonry of 975 mm thick and circular columns 775 mm thick. The mortar was lime, sand and brick dust. The average thickness of plaster was 20 mm. The Central Hall has two rows of 22 columns each in the East-West direction. The Basement has been constructed with barrel vaults spanning between the walls and the columns with a cross vault running along the central axis in the North- South direction. The wooden beams of the first floor had sagged and could no longer take the load of the first floor. As a result a series of cast iron pillars were placed along the brick columns to support the first floor.
|
|
|
