When the vision comes first
by Shagun Singh
The Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation for an upcoming National Institute of Design at Jorhat in Assam. It is one of the first of four which are in the pipeline for the next 11 years. The government has allocated a good amount of funds towards this initiative. A request for proposal has [...]
An insight into the Sabarmati riverfront development project
by Shagun Singh
Designwala recently organized a panel about local people regulating local spaces. The panel was timely given the political unrest in the Middle East and Africa with people standing up to reclaim their rights. The video for the panel will be posted shortly. Our three panelists Jyoti Hosagrahar, Lina Srivastava and John Geraci come from different [...]
Rethinking low incoming housing in India
by Shagun Singh
A lot of affordable housing work in developing nations like India is handled by the government. Government of India is not exactly known for its taste in architecture and design. An interesting story that I read in the Knowledge Wharton blog goes like this – the Tamil Nadu government built low income housing for milkmen [...]
Gaining ground – making a new homeland : Understanding Parsi architecture through Parsi people
by Shagun Singh
A new publication on Parsi housing in India, was recently released by the SID Research Cell, Center for Environmental, Planning and Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad. The book that has been titled – ‘Gaining ground – Making a new homeland’ is a set of explorations based on history, migration, growth, architecture and lives of the Parsis in [...]
Most expensive house in the world – wasteful or lavish self-indulgence?
by Jasem Pirani
A few years ago who would have imagined that the most expensive house in the world would be in Mumbai. But then India is full of surprises – on one end you have the most expensive house in the world at the same time 42% of India’s population is below the poverty line. In the [...]
The Sustainable Urbanist – Jyoti Hosagrahar Part 1
by Shagun Singh
Jyoti Hosagrahar is faculty at Columbia University, New York and Director of Sustainable Urbanism International at Columbia University, and Bangalore, India. Architect, planner, and historian, she advises on urban development, historic conservation, and sustainability issues in Asia. Her research interests include urban heritage, cultural and environmental sustainability of cities focusing on the intersections of nature, [...]
A Grand Idea | Inhabit – winners announced
by Shagun Singh
The Mobile Activation Station by Holobiont The Mobile Activation Station designed by Holobiont (Haruka Horiuchi & Frank Hebbert) has been selected as the winner by our three esteemed judges – Raul Smith Correa of ‘Faiscas‘, Soo-in Yang of ‘The Living’ and Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai. They win a grand or $1000 to make their [...]
A Grand Idea – Inhabit Section Finalists
by Shagun Singh
A Grand Idea -Inhabit Section competition culminated on June 17th. A lot of interesting entries came pouring in from all round the world. The ones published are a few that stood out. Our judges Raul Smith Correa from FAISCAS and Soo-in Yang from The Living are going over the entries and plan to pick a [...]
“A Grand Idea – Inhabit” Competition Brief
by Shagun Singh
What is this competition about? This competition is focused on design solutions that can change our immediate urban environment into places that we can truly inhabit. The first series of ‘The Grand Idea Initiative’ is called ‘INHABIT‘. The ultimate challenge of which is to create solutions that introduce fun, sustainable, and innovative ways people use [...]
Jay Thakkar : Bringing vernacular architecture to a wider audience
by Shagun Singh
Jay Thakkar’s first book, Naqsh, is reaching out to individuals from varied backgrounds and his second, Matra, was just named ‘Best written work on Architecture 2009’ by India’s ‘Foundation for Architectural and Environmental Awareness’. Jay Thakkar, author, designer and faculty member of the School of Interior Design at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, talks to Designwala about [...]
Jaaga – Creative Common Ground
by Ria Rajan
Having spent a long weekend with Archana Prasad –Co Founder Jaaga, National Institute of Design alumnus and Bangalore based artist, in Pondicherry, where she was performing with her group The Manjunauts, (she is also a VJ) at the Freedom Jam; I had the chance to engage in a dialogue with her about Jaaga. Jaaga’s name [...]
India: Design like you give a damn
by Shagun Singh
FrontlineWorld had an article about building sustainable communities in India post Tsunami. An Architecture for Humanity initiative led by Cameron Sinclair and an Indian Architect trained in America, Purnima McCutcheon were responsible for helping out this village in Tamil Nadu to rebuild their community which was in pieces after the Tsunami hit the village a [...]
