Ahmedabad is to design what Kolhapur is to chappals and Surat to diamonds. It is the only city in India that boasts of four buildings designed by the legendary architect Le Corbusier, including the privately commissioned Sarabhai Villa. His disciple, well-known Ahmedabad-based architect B.V. Doshi, founded and designed the Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology (CEPT) in the city, a leading institution for urban planning. The Sarabhai Foundation has created the most comprehensive exposition of textile design while Ahmedabad also houses the National Institute of Design (NID).

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CREATIVE FLOW: A giant tap fountain that seems to hang in mid-air

That should serve as adequate inspiration for architects and urban planners, and it has, but with somewhat quixotic results. Ahmedabad, which recently acquired the status of a mega-city, today resembles a crazy mix of architectural styles, some bordering on the bizarre, others contemporary and cutting-edge, but all combining to create a unique urban landscape that includes commercial and residential buildings, fountains, gardens, under-bridges and lakes.

Take Pelican, a 10-storey tower on Ashram Road, built by N.G. Patel, a leading city builder. Light maroon in colour, it is in the shape of a space shuttle that looks poised for launch. Another residential building that has an eye-catching design is Shaligram, the twin-towers built by Ahmedabad's most sought after builder Dushyant Pandya of Vishwanath Constructions. The entrance has a waterfall and an artfully lighted Shaligram (a symbol of Lord Vishnu). Says Pandya: "Apart from jazzy building designs what catches the eye in Ahmedabad is landscaping. The Ahmedabadi is no longer looking for cheap deals. He wants to spend on items of conspicuous consumption. More than anything else, the change in Ahmedabad's landscape is market-driven."

What is certainly a dramatic change is the use of colours in recently designed buildings, ranging from violet, red, blue and black to purple and flashy yellow, never used before by architects and designers. Says architect Bhaskar Sen: "Some architects are imitating the designs of buildings in Dubai and Singapore. It is anathema to those who insist on correctness but people like it. It is like remixed songs, abhorred by the purists but in demand at the moment." What is also in demand, however impractical it may be, is the extensive use of glass in all shapes, sizes and colours. Most new commercial buildings use glass extensively for the exterior look, despite the fact that glass traps heat, leading to higher temperatures inside. Says Yagnesh Vyas, who has designed over 1,000 buildings in the city, "We don't approve of glass for the exteriors as it is unfriendly to Ahmedabad's hot weather, but builders force us to use it."

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JAZZY TUNES: The Maruti Arcade (above); the Pelican building (left)

The city's craze for funky design extends to public spaces as well. The one that literally stands out is the giant fountain shaped like a tap at the Law Garden crossroads. The tap appears to be suspended in mid-air with no visible connections or support and yet water flows from it in a constant stream. A clever design conceals the pipe carrying the water to the giant tap. Another example of design getting prominence in public works is an underbridge in Naranpura known as the Sardar Patel Open Air Museum. Well-known sculptor Rajesh Sagara was commissioned to depict episodes from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's life on the walls flanking the bridge. One mural shows a barefooted Ironman seated on a chair, sporting a long, drooping moustache, while another has him standing alongside Mahatma Gandhi.

In fact, while the design revolution may have gone way over the top in terms of private buildings, it is official urban planners who are spearheading the city's beautification programme. The Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) has shown a farsighted, business-like approach to the city's development plans and the results are encouraging. Bimal Patel, who has designed some of the city's best institutional buildings, believes that the way it is developing, Ahmedabad is set to become the city of tomorrow. Says Patel: "Ahmedabad is the only big city which has its plans in place in terms of roads, water, power, plotting of urban land and even design." Adds auda Chairman Surendra Patel: "Ahmedabad's fundamentals are perfectly in place. So it is poised for a better expansion than most other cities."

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UPLIFTED: The Vastrapur lake has gardens and walkways on its banks	ARTISTIC RELIEF: An underbridge with Sardar Patel as its theme

Surendra Patel's latest campaign is to revive and beautify the city's lakes. One, the Vastrapur Lake, has become a walker's paradise with the coming up of beautiful walkways and gardens on its banks. Bimal Patel is working on a unique scheme to develop the Sabarmati riverfront. Under the Rs 800 crore plan, gardens, walkways and roads will be built on the two banks of the Sabarmati, which has a 9-km-long course through Ahmedabad. This is being done by reclaiming land in the riverbed.

Such efforts, however, have been totally overshadowed by the high-rise extravagance that has changed the city's landscape. Like the eleven-story Abhijeet complex. The first two floors house a glitzy Pantaloon showroom while the others form a vertical row of funky looking "cubes". Rivera, another commercial building, makes use of aluminium strips to form appealing geometrical forms. Trapped in a buyer's market, builders and architects are catering to the public craze for flashy, even outlandish, designs. In most cases, the patterns and architectural styles that are emerging were never taught within the precints of the city's famous institutions for design.

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