HTemp: 38c
Rain: 0.0"
`-$: 44.99
Our final stop and residence for the next two years, Chennai. As usual, we arrive around midnight and the trip from the airport is a blur of dimly-lit buildings and fast moving traffic. No highways, no grid, no skyline, just block after block of mysterious structures. It looks a little desolate, but you can tell from the haphazardly-parked vehicles and the streets crammed with carts and piles of trash, that things come alive with the sun.
Chennai does not have a skyline.
Buildings top out around 20 stories and there's no central concentration of them. Due to random urban renewal, a 20-story office or apartment building can stand next to a one-story concrete bunker of a store built in the 30's. While there's zoning for commercial versus residential, taste and building size don't seem to be regulated.
We live in a neighborhood in South Chennai called Bishop Garden. To make things a little more confusing, the street we're on is also called Bishop Garden. It's tree-lined, not noisy, and features old semi-deco style houses mixed among more modern apartment buildings like ours.
There are trees to offer a little shade when walking to commercial streets but only random sidewalk expanses, both in appearance and width. Stroll at one's peril would be a good slogan to heed.
The apartment building is a rock fortress, concrete bones covered in stucco and plaster and then tiled in marble. Wood is reserved for occasional trim and doors. In such a hot, humid town, the developer knew what materials work best to stay cool. More on the inside of our apartment coming up.
Being from Miami helps serve as a good reference for Chennai: traffic, weather, beach, flora. Chennai's architecture is similar to Little Havana and the surrounding western neighborhoods. Sprinkle it with more dirt and trash, some overall traffic/people mayhem and a random layout, and you'll have a good idea of our new home.
Rain: 0.0"
`-$: 44.99
Our final stop and residence for the next two years, Chennai. As usual, we arrive around midnight and the trip from the airport is a blur of dimly-lit buildings and fast moving traffic. No highways, no grid, no skyline, just block after block of mysterious structures. It looks a little desolate, but you can tell from the haphazardly-parked vehicles and the streets crammed with carts and piles of trash, that things come alive with the sun.
 |
| Looking East toward the Bay of Bengal. The tall buildings are on the beach |
Chennai does not have a skyline.
Buildings top out around 20 stories and there's no central concentration of them. Due to random urban renewal, a 20-story office or apartment building can stand next to a one-story concrete bunker of a store built in the 30's. While there's zoning for commercial versus residential, taste and building size don't seem to be regulated.
 |
| What passes for a street or neighborhood sign. A bit random. |
We live in a neighborhood in South Chennai called Bishop Garden. To make things a little more confusing, the street we're on is also called Bishop Garden. It's tree-lined, not noisy, and features old semi-deco style houses mixed among more modern apartment buildings like ours.
 |
| A bit deceptive- the area is more urban. And smells it. |
There are trees to offer a little shade when walking to commercial streets but only random sidewalk expanses, both in appearance and width. Stroll at one's peril would be a good slogan to heed.
 |
| Our apt. is the second floor and part of the third |
The apartment building is a rock fortress, concrete bones covered in stucco and plaster and then tiled in marble. Wood is reserved for occasional trim and doors. In such a hot, humid town, the developer knew what materials work best to stay cool. More on the inside of our apartment coming up.
Being from Miami helps serve as a good reference for Chennai: traffic, weather, beach, flora. Chennai's architecture is similar to Little Havana and the surrounding western neighborhoods. Sprinkle it with more dirt and trash, some overall traffic/people mayhem and a random layout, and you'll have a good idea of our new home.
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