We recently received these unpretentious photos from @aravind_ramanan_ following his two-day photoshoot @urbsindislibrary . He elegantly captured each of us settling into the space more than a year after we moved in.
These images remind me of the power of spaces to be springboards for our lives and each of our unique interests. Whether it is playing the piano, cooking, looking at maps, or gazing into tree canopies, meaningful spaces empower us to pursue our heart's desires with focus and intensity.
Aravind was supported on the shoot by @aditya.meya . Special thanks to both of them for their hard work! More images soon.
#urbsindislibrary
#bangalorearchitecture
#photography
A few weeks ago, *Murali Abbemane @murali_m_abbemane showed up at the @urbsindislibrary . With his phone out he roamed quietly, observing, absorbing and unknown at the time, filming. Then, shortly before leaving, he asked if it would be OK to create a short film. Of course. And this is the wonderful piece he crafted, full of lightness and simplicity. The sounds he has captured are fantastic and, in my opinion, one of the most transformative aspects of the space.
Thanks Murali for sharing your gifts with us so generously.
*Murali Abbemane is a photographer and an architect based out of Udupi, Karnataka. His works mainly revolve around architecture and the mundane life around it, capturing it in its raw form. He has also been working on documenting untold stories and the intangibility of art and culture.
#urbsindislibrary
#urbsindis
#library
#film
#shortfilm
#life
#architecture
#contemporaryarchitecture
#bangalore
#bangalorearchitecture
On 2 September 2024, Tina, Kairav and I (along with close family) celebrated the completion of a very special set of spaces.
Our Home
The Urbs Indis Library and Garden
The Urbs Indis Architecture Studio
We are located in Krishnappa Garden, Bangalore, a stone's throw (15 minutes brisk walk) from Indiranagar / CMH Road, and 20 minutes walk from SV Road Metro Station.
The Urbs Indis Library and Garden will be publicly accessible from October 2024, and an Open House date will be announced in the last week of September.
If you love contemporary architecture, open wells, rare books on urban India, fine carpentry, 100-year-old teak wood, sculpted granite, hand-cast glass, natural water treatment and solar energy systems or buildings without compound walls, then this space will be a delight to your heart.
We look forward to welcoming you home soon!
Deepest thanks to Tina's parents, my parents and grandparents, without whom none of this would be possible.
Stay tuned to learn more about this special set of spaces and the incredible team behind it.
With full hearts, the Stephens Family. Vivendo Discimus.
#urbsindis
#urbsindislibrary
#contemporaryarchitecture
#urbanindia
#krishnappagarden
#castglass
#home
#library
#rarebooks
#patrickgeddes
#bylivingwelearn
#bangalorearchitecture
#bangalore
The idea behind the book cover gallery @urbsindislibrary is simple: To celebrate the creative work of those who design the covers of books. While libraries often hide creative covers due to overwhelming density (leading to books being defined by their spines…just imagine if humans were defined by their spines only), UIL attempts to turn this dilemma on its head, with the face of each book being seen from the adjacent bathroom.
During the recent Walkthrough, Yash happened to notice Mafia Queens of Mumbai a book cover which he designed many years ago. He graciously signed the second title page (joining Jane Borges’ @janeborges87 inscription from 2025), making this publication the second book in the collection to feature signatures of both author and book cover designer. The other is City Adrift, A Short Biography of Bombay, signed by @nareshfernandes and @kritimonga .
#urbsindislibrary
#bookcoverdesign
#architecture
@urbsindislibrary a space where a home architecture studio and a public library come together under one roof.
Loved how the place blends creativity, design, and community so naturally. Spaces like this remind us that architecture is not just about buildings, but about creating experiences and connections for people.
Really inspiring to see such thoughtful and innovative concepts growing in Bangalore. Looking forward to seeing more ideas like this shape the future of community spaces ✨📚🏡
#Architecture #Bangalore #UrbanDesign #CreativeSpaces #Library InteriorDesign CommunitySpaces DesignInspiration ArchitectureLovers Bengaluru
Talk Alert: I'll be speaking in Rotterdam on Friday 29 May at the Utopian hours International Festival of City Making, amongst a fabulous lineup of speakers from around the world.
As always, I am very excited and twice as nervous. I'll be sharing about Mumbai, the city's deeply imaginative past futures and the lived Utopia that is the @urbsindislibrary .
If you happen to be in the Netherlands, I would love to see you there! (Or share with a friend who may be interested)
Thanks to @stratosferica_org_ for the trust and invitation!
#bombayimaginedbook
#urbsindislibrary
#utopianhours
What is it?
A few weeks ago, as the well diggers carved and then lifted earth from more than 22 feet below ground, blocks of semi-translucent quartz caught my attention. Soaking wet from the saturated underground, I knew it would just be a matter of hours before they would dehydrate and become relatively opaque, their current transparency evaporating like a fossilized memory.
Curious if the crystalline object was as fractured and rotten as its surrounding saprolite neighbours, I applied pressure on the quartz….only to have it crack in half. Peering inside, a plant-like form revealed itself....
What was it? The red/purple mystery did not seem to be a fossil, for it scrapped off with the lightest touch. Was it alive? Was it polysiphonia, an endolithic lithophyte? In other words, was it the water-loving red algae that grows and lives in crevices of rocks without contact with soil?
But how could the mystery being grow and live without sunlight? The quartz rocks in which the unknown entity was quietly dwelling have been buried more than twenty feet below ground for (likely) tens of millions of years. So what exactly is it? The ground beneath our feet is the abode of mysteries.
If anyone reading this knows a geologist who would be interested in helping to identify this beautiful mystery, please put us in touch! Thanks in advance for any geological assistance.
Image 1: The mystery being, close up.
Image 2: The mystery being, as seen immediately after the quartz was cracked.
Image 3: The uncracked quartz.
#urbsindislibrary
#geology
#bangalorerocks
Still carrying the warmth from this one.
As a small space trying to host conversations like these, we’re also learning along the way, one of them being to document better. Sound, video, the little details. Content has a life of its own today, and we’re only just beginning to understand that. We promise, mics are coming, for now, headphones might help 🙂
This session felt like real gold to us. The kind that stays with you long after it ends.
Robert Stephens brought such ease to the room. His presentation was so captivating and thought-provoking. Speaking about his book Bombay Imagined and sharing glimpses of the house, library, and studio he’s built in Bangalore, he made the session feel both intimate and expansive at the same time.
He’s set the bar for the next People’s Project very high.
Dean D’Cruz reminded us what it means to practice with care, to build with the environment, not against it. And to protect Goa, not just in words, but through everyday decisions in architecture.
And Vivek Talwar the way he holds a room, introduces people, and carries a conversation…effortless. Never taking away from the speaker, always adding just enough. It’s rare, and we don’t take it for granted.
A proud moment for us to be the space where these conversations unfold, and where people choose to gather, listen, and share.
Grateful for everyone who makes Ethico feel like that space.
#ethicoindia #peoplesproject #unbuiltcities #conversations #gratitude
Special thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday for Walkthrough #30 @urbsindislibrary !
We began the afternoon in a communal circle, around the memory of a fire that transformed the direction of our lives in March 2021. From fire we explored earth, gazing deep into the mystical underground, an open well that graciously gives us water and a forever intertwined relationship with the ground beneath our feet. Slowly the day progressed, as did our group that included a textile recycling artist, IT professionals, urban planners, a lawyer, a photographer, lovers of music and literature, and of course, a few architects. I love love love such variety, because diversity is beautiful.
As we rose through the built space (which I equate to entering the mind of an introvert...it may look quiet and calm from outside, but its all kinds of intensity inside), we encountered the element of air, and experienced the timeless principle that moving air cools. Three hours later we began winding down, processing all we had experienced, and of course, taking our mandatory group photo. This is my favourite part of Walkthroughs as I observe (time and time again) the erstwhile group of strangers become something new. Friendships are born, new connections are made, and we collectively embody the fifth element, the invisible ether that binds us all together.
Fire. Earth. Water. Air. Spirit.
Our hearts are full.
PS: The linguistic highlight of the afternoon, for me, was the realization that I had been pronouncing “Melina Kere” (the name of our ancient neighborhood tank) absolutely incorrectly. Awfully and terribly incorrectly. So now I have a month to practice correct pronunciation! Life goals.
Upcoming Walkthroughs:
Sunday 14 June
Saturday 11 July
We would love to welcome you here! Register at or at the link in bio.
#urbsindislibrary
#elements
#architecture
Yesterday I spent about eight hours standing at the edge of the well @urbsindislibrary , watching as well-master Ramakrishna and his team descended into the earth in search of water. The last time they were here was late 2021, as they opened the earth and created a 20’-deep open well, which would go on to satisfy all of our water needs during construction, as well as our water for life. They were back on site because the well appeared to have gone dry, a tricky condition given the fact that we do not have a Cauvery connection or a bore well. We only have what the ground beneath us gives, and what generous neighbors (Tina's parents) share.
So we have no choice but to go deeper.
Only one glitch….at 20ft below ground it appeared as if we struck rock. After digging in each corner of the 6’ diameter space, the conclusion was grim: Rock. I could not help but silently ask myself, “Had we been foolishly idealistic?”
And then, masters of the earth that they are, Ramakrishna’s team struck hard with a rod, revealing a small fracture in the rock. And again, and again, and again. And slowly but surely, the rock crumbled before our eyes, followed by the glistening of water molecules.
We had encountered Saprolite. A rock that is rotten, and a trickster. While it looks like gneiss, the more than two-billion-year-old bedrock upon which it rests, and which it used to be, it is no longer gneiss. Thanks to Bangalore’s relatively flat terrain, millions of years of tectonic stability and a humid tropical climate, the rock has been weathered immensely…..breaking down the various minerals into individual parts. Yet, with nowhere to go deep underground, it had retained its structural form and shape of the rock it used to be. As Saprolite from beneath our feet rose to the earth’s surface and met a human for the first time, our son Kairav handled the rapidly crumbling enigma and exclaimed, “Whoa! Beach sand!”
Yes, Gneiss had become like sand. And a life-saving reservoir of water deep underground.
#urbsindislibrary
#geology
#saprolite
Last weekend I had the privilege of sharing about the mysteriously intertwined lives of @bombayimaginedbook and @urbsindislibrary , @ethicoindia in Goa. There were so many highlights, and here are three:
1. Being at Ethico, a conscious home store created by dear friends Rabia and Indranil (founders of the @mahimbeachcleanup , see image 2). Speaking in their space, with a growing and diverse community felt like participating in a cozy house concert.
2. Sharing the stage with the ecology-loving Vivek Talwar @vivektalwarphotography and architect Dean D’Cruz @mozaicdesigncentre . I had never met Vivek, yet he put in the work before our time together and introduced me without looking at a single piece of paper. Vivek forever set a new benchmark in how to introduce someone.
3. Shortly after our session ended, someone wrote to Indranil and said “Probably the nicest talk I’ve attended in over a decade. I had all kinds of busyness in my mind from the moment I woke up. As soon as the presentation began it all washed away...”
Gosh. We often think of sustainability as being related to the materials we use, the foods we eat and the lifestyle choices we make. But perhaps sustainability is also about the way we help sustain one another. Through the words we say, the way we say them, and the stories we share with the world.
Deepest thanks to everyone who joined!
#ethicopeopleproject
#bombayimaginedbook
#urbsindislibrary
