Author: Mrunmai Sujit Patil Site Location: Pandharpur Wari, Maharashtra Institute: D Y Patil School of Architecture Advisor: Anita Shyam
Description
The project explores equitable design interventions along the Pandharpur Wari, focusing on temporary settlements, transitional villages, and urban streets. Typology A addresses rural temporary villages, creating modular clusters that provide uniform accommodation, shared resources, and sanitation facilities for pilgrims while minimizing permanent impact on the land. Typology B intervenes in semi-developed villages like Sansar, where the design balances the seasonal influx of pilgrims with the needs of local residents, enhancing community facilities, circulation, and economic opportunities post-Wari. Typology C focuses on urban areas, transforming streets and open spaces into safe, accessible, and multi-use zones that support both daily city life and the pilgrimage. Across all typologies, design decisions prioritize inclusivity, accessibility, and adaptability, ensuring that diverse user groups—including women, children, the elderly, and differently-abled—are accommodated with dignity. Sustainable materials like sugarcrete and temporary infrastructure strategies are employed to reinforce the principles of circularity and minimal environmental impact. By integrating cultural practices, social behaviors, and ecological sensitivity, the project seeks to preserve the inherent equitability of the Wari while providing contemporary, functional, and context-responsive interventions.
Author: Syed Affan Site Location: Hyderabad Institute: BMS School of Architecture Advisor: Ar. Anjan Kumar
Description
The Post-Modern Acropolis proposes a two-strata city that relinquishes the ground to vehicular movement and the podium to people. At grade, vehicles run in a de-conflicted network of roundabouts, lay-bys, and separated lanes, improving flow with fewer stops while keeping service, emergency, and deliveries efficient. Above, a continuous, car-free podium becomes the neighborhood’s living room—step-free, universally accessible, and richly programmed with markets, schools, play courts, gardens, and civic spaces stitched by open terracing and active frontages. “Mandi” terraces anchor local livelihoods, giving micro-retail and fresh-produce trading a dignified space that is visible, safe, and walkably close to homes. The topography enables direct emergency access to the podium without long ramps, while discrete cores handle waste, loading, and back-of-house services without crossing pedestrian desire lines. Climate comfort is designed in: tree canopies, high-albedo paving, and bio-receptive moss concrete temper heat, absorb noise, and clean the air; terrace gardens and permeable soils manage stormwater. The result is an urban equity uplift—more public space, safer streets, and everyday amenities within a 10-minute walk—delivered alongside smoother, more predictable traffic below.
Author: Ishita Agarwal Site Location: Ahmedabad Institute: NMIMS Balwant Sheth School of Architecture Advisor: Suprio Bhattacharjee
Description
The project addresses a pressing urban inequity – the absence of dedicated spaces for recovery between hospital treatment and home care. In cities like Ahmedabad, a major regional hub for healthcare that draws patients from smaller towns and rural areas, the lack of transitional care facilities amplifies existing disparities. Patients discharged after major treatments often face inaccessible or unaffordable rehabilitation options, particularly those from socio-economically weaker backgrounds. Many are left to recover in overcrowded or unsuitable environments, compromising their physical, emotional, and social well-being.
To bridge this gap, the project proposes an Adaptive Spatial Model for Transitional Care – a decentralized, modular framework that can be embedded into diverse urban contexts. By situating such centers within the city’s everyday fabric, the model ensures that quality care becomes a shared urban resource, not a privilege. Each module includes a complete set of essential programs, from rehabilitation and counselling to accommodation for patients and families, supporting holistic healing across conditions. Rooted in the principles of healing, the design integrates nature, sensory engagement, and community interaction to restore dignity and accelerate recovery. The model’s flexibility allows it to respond to varied site conditions, resource constraints, and cultural contexts, while maintaining an unwavering commitment to equity and inclusivity. By reimagining healthcare infrastructure as accessible civic space, the project presents a replicable vision for embedding recovery into the fabric of Indian cities – starting with Ahmedabad.
Author: Tanvi Loyare Site Location: Lado Sarai, New Delhi Institute: SMEF’s Brick School of Architecture Advisor: Ar. Ninad Rewatkar
Description
Today, the cultural and architectural spaces of our cities remain ocularcentric, leaving this vast community excluded from one of the most fundamental human experiences “art”. This project, a Tactile Art and Training Center, responds to this urgent need by reimagining the museum as a place where every sense touch, sound, smell, and even thermal shifts becomes a medium of perception. At its core lies an art gallery designed beyond the visual domain. Here, sensory pods, each defined by distinct materials, textures, and thermal properties, create cocoons of experience. Skylights and contrasts of light and shadow guide those with low vision, while fragrant plants and embedded auditory landmarks help in orientation. Complementing this, a vocational training center empowers visually impaired artisans to create, learn, and sell their work transforming the space into both a cultural hub and an employment opportunity. The project gives back to the community by opening its landscaped public spaces to all, fostering child-like wonder for younger visitors while nurturing a shared sense of belonging across generations.By making art accessible to all while placing the visually impaired at its center, this project is not just a museum but a model of equitable design, a living demonstration of inclusivity that we urgently need today.
Author: Yadav Krishnan U Site Location: Bengaluru Institute: V-SPARC, Vellore Institute of Technology Advisor: Rituparna Das
Description
Rapid urbanisation in Indian metropolitan regions has exposed critical inequities within transport infrastructure. Public transit nodes, which should function as central points of accessibility and interaction, frequently remain overcrowded, directionless, and non-engaging. These deficiencies generate a domino effect of challenges, including reduced efficiency, social exclusion, and compromised safety, ultimately undermining the equitability of urban mobility.
The thesis project PRAVEXUS, located in South Bengaluru, proposes a multi-modal metropolitan transit hive that redefines the role of transport hubs within the city. The design positions equitability as a core principle, ensuring affordability, inclusivity, and accessibility across age, gender, and working class. Anchored in the conceptual framework of arches as symbols of movement and rebirth, the project integrates transit with commercial and civic functions to create a dynamic urban interface. Through contextual analysis and circulation-driven spatial strategies, PRAVEXUS addresses systemic inefficiencies while promoting mutualism between public infrastructure and socio-economic activity. The project demonstrates how multi-modal hubs can extend beyond transit efficiency to act as catalysts for equity, engagement, and urban identity within rapidly transforming metropolitan contexts.
Author: Anish Shinde Site Location: Poladpur, Maharashtra Institute: Aditya College of Architecture Advisor: Rita Nayak
Description
This thesis examines the vital relationship between water, human culture, and ecosystems, highlighting how water influences the identity, livelihood, and rituals of rural communities. Set in Poladpur, Maharashtra, a region with high rainfall yet chronic water scarcity, the project addresses the ecological and infrastructural failures behind this paradox. In response, it proposes a multifunctional rural node that combines water infrastructure, rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, and runoff management with community-focused spaces for gathering, health, agriculture, and learning. Drawing from traditional systems like johads, kunds, and stepwells, the design blends indigenous knowledge with sustainable practices. Rooted in field research and local engagement, the project also tackles outmigration, declining traditions, and the loss of communal spaces linked to water insecurity. Reimagining water as both a sacred resource and social connector, the design seeks to restore ecological balance, cultural pride, and community cohesion. Crucially, the intervention creates a space for all villagers, wildlife, livestock, aquatic life, birds, and visitors, fostering a shared environment where water becomes the central unifying force, nurturing coexistence, biodiversity, and an inclusive rural future.
Author: Syeda Nabila Fatima Site Location: Hyderabad Institute: Poojya Dr. Shivakumar Swamiji School of Architecture Advisor: Ar. Anju Wanti
Description
The Humanitarian Monastery is conceived as a place of peace, learning, and community that transcends religion and embraces universal human values. Planned across a 10-acre site, the design approach emphasizes harmony between people, nature, and the built environment. The site layout follows a flowing, circular, and oneness, and the rhythm of life. Each pathway, landscape, and structure emerges as part of a larger ecosystem, where movement feels natural and interconnected, much like the flow of water. The project is structured around the idea of equitability through design. Public areas are positioned near the main approach for accessibility, while contemplative and private monastic spaces are placed deeper within the site to ensure tranquility. Curved roads, gardens, and water bodies create transitional zones that balance openness with seclusion. The contours of the land are integrated into the planning, allowing the landscape to guide placement and orientation of spaces, reducing intervention and enhancing sustainability. This thesis is not just an architectural exploration but a humanitarian vision—where planning, landscape, and design techniques unite to create a sustainable, inclusive, and spiritual environment. It demonstrates how architecture can become a medium of healing, equity, and coexistence.
Author: Muhammed Swaleh Beg Site Location: Margao, Goa Institute: Goa College of Architecture Advisor: Dr. Uma Jadhav
Description
Metamorphosis of Sonsoddo – Bridging the Gap Between Waste and Public Consciousness reimagines the Sonsoddo landfill in Margao, Goa, as a catalyst for renewal rather than neglect. Once a peripheral site, now encroached upon by residences and schools, Sonsoddo symbolizes both environmental degradation and systemic failure in waste governance. This thesis proposes a transformative model that integrates waste management with public life, positioning the site as a shared urban resource.
The project critiques the prevailing linear “take-make-waste” economy and instead advances a circular approach, where discarded materials are reintegrated into productive cycles. Facilities such as upcycling workshops, training centers, an eco-market, awareness spaces, and landscaped trails transform the landfill into a place of learning, opportunity, and ecological restoration.
At its core, the proposal envisions a pilot ecosystem where enterprises, artisans, craftsmen, students, and the elderly work alongside each other, creating social, economic, and cultural value. Recyclable materials and RDF become resources for industry, while other materials are recycled, displayed, and repurposed, breaking down barriers between waste, knowledge, and community.
Through thoughtful site planning, sustainable infrastructure, and inclusive programming, the thesis positions Sonsoddo not as a symbol of exclusion but as a model for collective growth, resilience, and renewal.
Author: B Vishnu Priya Site Location: Sonagachi, Kolkata Institute: Department of Architecture and Planning, College of Engineering, Trivandrum Advisor: Arun Cherian
Description
Going into Sonagachi and identifying the real issues inside is one of the most challenging tasks known to India. Over the years, It has formed impenetrable layers of security within itself making it difficult to leave once trapped inside. A sexworker’s desire to escape from the cycle of prostitution, abuse and illness is overshadowed by fear and a lack of sufficient support systems.
This project aims to provide the sexworkers and children the freedom of choice by providing all required facilities to leave the profession and transition back into society as strong independent citizens. Once a sexworker has chosen to leave Sonagachi behind, this project welcomes them to join the process of reintegration.
The design program involves a newly curated administrative and architectural self-sustaining ecosystem to provide housing, opportunities for upskilling, assistance with child care and access to education, leisure and sense of belonging.
Exclusion can only be addressed by involving the public in the sustenance of this project. Hence the project forms 3 layers of privacy on site. The site level zoning forms a market area where the people of Howrah and Kolkata can freely move about. The second level stacks the housing of the women on top of the commercial zone creating a secondary street network exclusively accessible to the tenants. The third layer addresses the need for institutional facilities required for liberation.
The future of Sonagachi is not written in stigma, but in the strength of its women. A city that no longer defines them by the walls they were once confined within, but by the possibilities they are free to pursue. This project is a step toward an urban fabric that chooses inclusion over exclusion, dignity over neglect, and liberation over silence. In reimagining the lives of the women and children of Sonagachi, we are reminded that architecture is not just about structures—it is about lives, choices, and the collective courage to create change.
Author: Yashashree Pimple Site Location: Near Aathawada Bazar, Teli Ali Ratnagiri Institute: Aayojan School of Architecture and Design Advisor: Ar. Divya Makhijani
Description
In the heart of Konkan, the rhythms of rituals, marketplaces, and seasonal festivals still echo through the streets—but the Tambat coppersmiths, once central to this living heritage, face quiet decline. Their tools are outdated, their knowledge undocumented, and their presence fading from the city’s evolving fabric. Rooted in the coastal town of Ratnagiri, Kasaykaar is a cultural center designed to revive the declining legacy of local coppersmiths—artisans whose knowledge, once central to the region’s economy and rituals, is now on the verge of disappearance due to lack of documentation, generational discontinuity, and limited adaptation to modern techniques. Despite high demand, most craftsmen struggle to meet market needs owing to outdated tools, absence of design innovation, and diminishing local recognition. The center acts as a bridge—where tradition, technology, and equity converge. Equipped with shared workshops, material labs, and collaborative studios, it empowers artisans while engaging youth in reviving the craft through modern design tools and knowledge exchange. It also celebrates the cultural richness of the Konkan region by creating a platform for endangered practices like Konkani Ranmus, supported by local activists striving to keep these traditions alive. Strategically located between a temple and an active marketplace, the center integrates with its surroundings—offering shaded verandahs, transitional courtyards, and public thresholds that invite spontaneous engagement. More than a building, Kasaykaar becomes an evolving identity—an inclusive space where artisans, locals, and visitors shape culture collectively, ensuring that heritage is not preserved in silence, but practiced through living participation.
The Charles Correa Gold Medal is an award initiated in 1998 by Indian architect and urbanist Charles Correa. Through the format of the Gold Medal, the Charles Correa Foundation intends to not only challenge students and schools of architecture to focus on pressing issues, but also to emphasize the role that architects can play in society as “agents of change”.
For the next 3 years, the Charles Correa Gold Medal will focus on thesis projects that address ‘Equitability through Design’. By raising the question, ‘Who are we designing for?’ the Gold Medal seeks to reflect on the opportunities and responsibilities that we as architects have in creating spaces that are equitable and inclusive. This encompasses equal access to space, shelter, infrastructure and the commons.
The thesis projects will be evaluated in terms of how they address current spatial injustices through design, and how they approach equity and inclusion at different scales.
This year, the Gold Medal will be awarded along with a cash prize of ₹25,000.
Join us for the Charles Correa Gold Medal Award Ceremony 2025! The proceedings feature three events – the book launch of ‘Designing Equitable Cities’ (proceedings of the Z-axis 2018 Conference), a talk by Samir D’Monte, the Principal Architect of SDM Architects, Mumbai, and a discussion with the jury members on this year’s theme, ‘Equitability Through Design’.
Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Time: 06:00 to 08:00 pm IST
Venue Partner: Ice Factory Ballard Estate, Mumbai
Discussion with Jury
Join us for a discussion with the jury, as they deliberate this year’s theme ‘Equitability through Design’ and the thesis entries that most accurately addressed the prompt, tackling spatial injustices through design.
Talk by Samir D’Monte
Join us for a talk by Samir D’Monte – “My journey as an architect, and how to save Mumbai city.” – on the occasion of the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2025 Award Ceremony.
Book Launch – ‘Designing Equitable Cities’
We are happy to announce the book launch of ‘Designing Equitable Cities’, proceedings of the Z-axis 2018 Conference. The book will be launched by Mr. Amit Chandra, Cofounder – A.T.E.Chandra Foundation, Chairperson – Bain Capital India Advisors at the Charles Correa Gold Medal Award Ceremony 2025 tomorrow, 16 September 2025 at IFBE, Ballard Estate, Mumbai.
The Charles Correa Gold Medal is an award initiated in 1998 by Indian architect and urbanist Charles Correa. Through the format of the Gold Medal, the Charles Correa Foundation intends to not only challenge students and schools of architecture to focus on pressing issues, but also to emphasize the role that architects can play in society as “agents of change”.
Looking at the world around us, we believe it is crucial for everyone to understand how to build sustainably and use our resources judiciously. Continuing the theme from the previous year, the Charles Correa Gold Medal will focus on thesis projects that address climate concerns through architecture design. Charles Correa coined the phrase ‘Form Follows Climate’ and often said “to build in India is to respond to climate”.
PANEL DISCUSSION
ARCHITECTURE THESIS PROJECT – WHAT CAN THEY SAY, WHAT CAN THEY DO?
As a part of the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2024, the Charles Correa Foundation organized a panel discussion on the present and future of the graduating thesis projects at architecture schools in India titled, Architecture Thesis Project – What can they say, what can they do?
The discussion was led by Dr. Kaiwan Mehta, and the panel consisted of Ainsley Lewis, Vandana Sinh and Mustansir Dalvi.
Jury
The jury for the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2024 is Sameep Padora (Architect and Author), Edoardo Narne (Architect, Academician and Author), Vyjayanthi Rao (Anthropologist, Writer and Curator), Melissa Smith (Architect and Urban Planner) and Kaiwan Mehta (Architect, Academic and Researcher), where they mainly looked for entries that consider the site and context of the proposed project with clarity in the formulation and addressal of real-life issues.
Gold Medal 2024 Winner
‘Water Edges: Navigating Inequity and Dilemmas related to Urban Water’ by Dweep Jain
The project is laudable as it works on multiple scales, addressing complex challenges at the urban scale as well as very detailed solutions to everyday problems, such as street furniture, building envelopes, and toilets. It is a sensitive response to the cultural framework, and incorporates astute observation into its design framework. As a result of this intensity, it sets an example of flexible thinking in its loose structure that allows change over time. It is putting the same importance on sacred space, scale, and the quality of details on a human scale. It also takes into account the larger time scale, placing it not only in the present but perhaps also in the future.
Honourable Mentions
‘Land.Water.Life: Majuli’s Symphony of Survival’ by Abhay Rajesh
It is evident from this project that a good student can control the scale, the section, details, and the environmental environment inside the projects using only a limited number of materials, underlining an architectural intelligence. The design is sensitive to the materials available and to the traditional architecture, but also projective, in the way it imagines how this format can be expanded to create new spaces and forms. It effectively creates spaces for livelihoods while simultaneously addressing how spaces could be used at times of catastrophes. It is a project that efficiently communicates a high quality of architectural space and structure.
‘Re-imagining Social Housing through everyday infrastructures’ by Neha Dalvi
The project responds both practically and sensibly to a need for rehabilitation housing that is ubiquitous in Mumbai. It highlights certain qualities of sociality, which is connected to work, care, and maintenance, as opposed to an imagined social life of leisure. This design is contrasted well with the surrounding high rise landscape. The way the exterior spaces connect the houses and the pathways adds to the value of the design by creating a sense of community. The design is well considered within the space constraints that exist. It understands the way small spaces are used temporarily, and imagines the function that might take place in small spaces at the level of the unit as well as in its aggregation at the level of the settlement. The planning here is not only sensible but makes the project economically viable, adding another layer to the design.
Award Ceremony
Watch the Award Ceremony of the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2024 above.
Mustansir Dalvi is Professor of Architecture at Sir JJ College of Architecture (retired). He is on the Board of Governors of the MMR-Heritage Conservation Society and a Trustee of Art Deco Mumbai.
Dalvi holds degrees in architecture and a diploma in Indian Aesthetics from the University of Mumbai. He received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay. He is the author of The Romance of Red Stone: An Appreciation of Ornament on Islamic Architecture in India (2011) and The Past as Present: Pedagogical Practices in Architecture at the Bombay School of Art (2016). Dalvi is the editor of 20th Century Compulsions (Marg, 2016), a collection of writings about early Indian modernist architecture. His latest book, Citizen Charles: a biography Charles Correa, by Niyogi Books, is scheduled to be published in October 2024.
Vandana Sinh
Vandana Ranjitsinh is an architect and educator who is a Founder Principal of Ranjit Sinh Associates. A graduate of the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, Vandana began her career with prestigious firms like Atelier Dolf Schnebli Associates, Switzerland; with Kamu Iyer at Architects Combine, Mumbai and Kuenleg Professional Consultants, Bhutan. At Ranjit Sinh Associates – established in Mumbai in 1982 – her work focuses on a commitment to design and environmental sustainability. With over three decades of experience, the firm has been widely recognised and won competitions and awards, including the AESA Gold Award in 2008 for the Best Project in Group Housing for The Woods, Wakad. As an educator, Vandana has taught Architectural Design and Theory at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai since 1993, where she has previously held the position of Chairperson of the Academic Forum. She has conducted workshops and has been a juror across various universities. In 2011, she was awarded Best Architectural Design Teacher by the Maharashtra Association of Schools of Architecture.
Ainsley Lewis
Ainsley Lewis, Dean of M. Arch program at USM’s Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies( KRVIA)., is an urban designer and a distinguished academician for more than two decades. His pedagogical philosophy centers on the synergy between architectural research and manifestation, grounded in semantics and phenomenology. He has contributed significantly to architectural education through capacity-building workshops and lectures on Architectural Design, Informal Housing, and Conservation. Professionally, his firm’s exploration of spatial nomenclatures has earned him national and international recognition, including the UNESCO Asia Pacific Cultural Heritage Award of Merit in 2019 and IIA National Award winner 2021. He recently presented a paper at the UIA2024KL international conference of architects.His work is published in professional journals of architecture, conservation, urban design and interior design.
Kaiwan Mehta
Kaiwan Mehta is a theorist and critic in the fields of visual culture, architecture, and city studies. Mehta has studied Architecture, Literature, Indian Aesthetics and Cultural Studies. In 2017 he completed his doctoral studies at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru, under the aegis of Manipal University. In April 2022 he was appointed as the Dean at Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, at NMIMS University. He was recently elected to the coveted International Committee of Architectural Critics (CICA).
Sameep Padora is an architect and author. Born in Chamba, Northern India, Sameep Padora established his Mumbai based practice in 2007 after graduating from the GSD, Harvard University. The studio’s work has been widely published and has in the past received the Wallpaper Design Award for Best Public Building, Beazley Architecture Prize, Wienerberger Brick Award, Archdaily Building of The Year, Wallpaper Design Award for House of the Year, as well as the Architectural Review’s Emerging Architecture and the AR Library Commendation Awards.
Besides the architectural practice, Sameep also runs a not-for-profit sPare that researches issues of urbanization in India with a focus on housing. sPare’s research publications; In the Name of Housing, How to build an Indian House and (de)Coding Mumbai are projects attempting to unravel the production of affordable housing in Indian cities. Sameep has presented the studio’s projects and built work at numerous forums including te Seoul Biennale and at various universities including the GSD, Cooper Union, Cornell and TU Delft amongst others.
Sameep serves on the academic boards of a number of educational institutes and is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at CEPT University.
Edoardo Narne
Edoardo Narne is an Associate Professor at the University of Padua. Visiting Professor in 2002-2003 in Architectural Design at the Alfonso X University of Madrid, in 2011 at the IUAV in Venice, in 2018 at the Goa College of Architecture in India, occupying the international chair Charles Correa, and in 2019-2022 at ENSTP Youndè, Cameroon. Since 2017 he has been Director of the inter-university Master, University of Padua and University of Catania, “Forms of Contemporary Living”. Member of the teaching staff of the PhD program “Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Sciences” at the University of Padua. He is the author of about one hundred scientific publications. In many of his writings, the themes of living on an urban scale are analyzed with strong attention to the typology and morphology of buildings and to the experiments of social housing and cohousing. Since 2019 he is coordinator and Tutor for the G124 project on the suburbs of the Architect-Senator Renzo Piano.
Vyjayanthi Rao
Vyjayanthi V. Rao is an anthropologist, writer and curator, teaching at the Yale School of Architecture. Her work explores the role of culture and speculation in shaping built and living environments. Her understanding of speculation expands beyond the financial realm into practices that center around the imagination such as design and art. In addition to observant participation through fieldwork, her research draws on sound, image, mapping and collaborations with visual artists and architects. She has published extensively on these subjects, co-curated exhibitions for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (2022) and the Center for Architecture in New York (2023) and participated as an artist in the Kochi Biennale (2016) and the Chicago Biennale of Architecture (2023). Since 2023, she has been one of the Editors in Chief of the journal Public Culture (Duke University Press).
Melissa Smith
Melissa Smith is an architect and urban planner based in Ahmedabad, India, and founding partner of BandukSmith Studio, an architecture and (urban) design practice which builds, and also asks questions of the way we make our built environments, and how this can impact the realities of practice. She completed Master of Architecture and Master of City & Regional Planning degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, where she was a John K. Branner Fellow in 2010. At CEPT University, where Ms. Smith has been teaching in the Architecture and Planning faculties for the past decade, she served as the founding Program Chair to establish the first Bachelor of Urban Design program India. Her research interests are interdisciplinary, and generally follow how inhabitants tend to restructure their built environments over time.
Kaiwan Mehta
Kaiwan Mehta is a theorist and critic in the fields of visual culture, architecture, and city studies. Mehta has studied Architecture, Literature, Indian Aesthetics and Cultural Studies. In 2017 he completed his doctoral studies at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru, under the aegis of Manipal University. In April 2022 he was appointed as the Dean at Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, at NMIMS University. He was recently elected to the coveted International Committee of Architectural Critics (CICA).
Author: Abhay Rajesh Site Location: Majuli Island, Assam Institute: Avani Institute of Design Advisor: Ar. Thushara K
description
In response to the annual floods and relentless soil erosion on Majuli Island, this architectural thesis explores how spatial adaptation can enhance resilience and improve the inhabitants’ lives. The “Land Water Life – Majuli’s Symphony of Survival” project focuses on creating multifunctional community spaces that dynamically respond to the island’s ever-changing landscape. The design investigates architectural strategies that facilitate living during and after floods, aiming to extend the functionality and safety of the spaces on the island.
The project delves into the intricate relationship between land, water, and community, highlighting the resilient negotiations the people of Majuli undertake to coexist with their environment. By reimagining traditional Satra spaces and integrating essential healthcare facilities, the project preserves cultural identity while improving access to critical services. This holistic approach underscores the interconnectedness of cultural preservation, environmental resilience, and community well-being.
The thesis emphasizes creating structures that not only adapt to the island’s flooding but also support the community’s socio-cultural revival. Through innovative design strategies, the project aims to serve as a beacon of resilience and empowerment, ensuring that Majuli’s way of life can endure and thrive despite the challenges posed by floods.
Author: Dweep Jain Site Location: Nashik Institute: L.S. Raheja School of Architecture Advisor: Ar. Mridula Pillai
description
‘Water edges or boundaries’ are challenging to define due to water’s inherently fluid and dynamic form. In the rapidly urbanizing society, water in the urban realm is increasingly vulnerable. Such is the plight of the Godavari River also known as the as the Dakshin Ganga, is India’s second-longest river. The river is enshrined in scriptures as one of the four sacred rivers worthy of reverence and worship. Godavari not only harbours a strong cultural significance, being the stage for the Kumbh Mela, but also is home to delicate ecosystems. Despite people worshiping the intangible idea of the river, its tangible form has been subject to abuse in the name of development. The inequities become especially severe at the source, in Nashik, where rampant concretization, illegal encroachment etc have severely compromised the river’s health and its ecological network, creating an alarming situation in need of immediate intervention.
By conceptualizing the evolving riverscape as a “form,” this approach responds to the impending climate emergency in Nashik’s precinct. The form is designed to sustain and adapt to its ever-changing environment, creating a resilient and equitable realm. It revitalizes the riverscape, ensuring it nurtures the neighbourhoods and ecosystems that rely on it as their lifeblood. Here, the ghats and built structures are not static; they adapt dynamically to shifting climatic and cultural needs. This approach moves beyond mere preservation, establishing a sustainable and equitable framework that addresses contextual and climatic challenges, ultimately fostering a resilient and thriving precinct. Architecture, in this vision, transcends its physical form, becoming a living entity that adapts to shifting cultural needs as well as, integrates, and mitigates climate emergencies.
Author: E Cynthia Site Location: Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu Institute: CMR University School of Architecture Advisor: Prof. Renuka
description
In the tapestry of our urban landscapes, waste has become an ever-growing shadow, woven from the threads of rapid urbanization and swelling populations. This thesis embarks on a journey to illuminate a path towards a harmonious coexistence between our cities and the environment. By embracing the philosophy of a second life for products, we transform refuse into resources, curbing the blight of landfills and the scars they leave upon our Earth. Through the lens of interdisciplinary research and collaboration, thesis seek to craft a climate-responsive paradigm, where waste management is crucial, empowering communities to actively reduce environmental impact. Waste management serves as a hidden thread in the fabric of climate response, weaving together efforts to reduce methane emissions from landfills and breathe new life into resources through recycling and reuse. This vision aspires to weave a new fabric of sustainability, where urban resilience and environmental stewardship intertwine, fostering a society deeply attuned to the delicate symphony of our planet’s needs
Author: Neha Dalvi Site Location: Mhada Transit Colony, Mumbai Institute: School of Environment and Architecture Advisor: Prasad Khanolkar, Milind Mahale
description
In contemporary times, the highest level of sustainable and technological advancement in residential building types is often recognised through the infrastructural amenities the building can offer; most popularly in terms of water harvesting, electricity and compost gardening for waste management.
Infrastructures are portrayed as the most sustainable and efficient infrastructural systems due to their capacity for space optimization and efficient service management, resulting in time saving. Thus, efficiency and sustainability today have become the chief advertising attributes that promise a better living, thus becoming aspiration generators among people from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
However, we fail to realize that these methods for achieving efficiency in residential building infrastructure are predominantly driven by the developers’ logic. This logic tends to perceive these systems as mere efficiency devices, often concealing them in smaller nooks and corners, which require separate maintenance and only caters to a particular class of people who have the economy to maintain it.
When the same infrastructural systems are installed in low-income housing societies, they not only break the existing socialities amongst the inhabitants but also tend to fail due to the lack of funds for maintenance. The thesis proposes a cooperative housing society for low-income housing that integrates both technology and sociality to create an inclusive and democratic space for living. A simple tweak that repositions these infrastructures is able to question the everyday practices of contemporary society through the lens of class, difference and caste.
Author: Charlina J. Dutta Site Location: Amchong Tea Estate, Assam Institute: GZS School of Architecture & Planning, MRSPTU Advisor: Ar. Amandeep Kaur
description
The thesis project envisions a transformative tea experience hub, set within a 24-acre estate, designed to immerse visitors in the art and culture of tea. The site is thoughtfully divided into two primary sections: a built-up area that houses key facilities and a cultivation zone dedicated to tea production.
The built-up area features a variety of carefully curated spaces, including a museum, a restaurant, guest accommodations, and recreational areas. Each structure is strategically placed to enhance the visitor’s connection with the surrounding landscape while offering insights into the tea-making process. The cultivation zone allows for direct engagement with the tea fields, offering a holistic experience that blends education with leisure. Central to the design are climate-responsive features that ensure sustainability and harmony with the environment. The architecture optimizes natural ventilation, minimizes solar gain, and integrates water management systems. Local materials further ground the design in its cultural and environmental context, creating a space that is both innovative and respectful of its natural surroundings.
