Dates: Jan 23rd, 24th, 25th, 2012

Students at work on the first day of the workshop. More photos here.

Format: 3 full days workshop mixing practical work in small groups and collective brainstorming sessions + Mini-exhibition (internal to the school).

Aim: Dig further in the conceptual, architectural and creative thoughts so that students express their own visions on affordable housing through the development of proposals. Confront their learning and ideas to the expertise of professionals in the field. At the end of the workshop, the students must have a direction for their final project. The aim of the workshop is not to produce final proposals but to lay a solid foundation for their studio projects.

Description: This workshop is between the phase of deconstruction and reconstruction phase. Students will present their mid-term project : the architectural analysis of what they have seen during the seminar (deconstructing phase). They present it to the lecturers as an introduction. Then we talk about everything that comes into the production of a house (finance, labor, materials, technical) and try to the optimize as much as possible with the help of invited experts from the fields of architecture, planning and development. The students proposal will be evaluated by the contractors with whom they have worked during their fieldwork.

Invited Experts:

Rajeev Kathpalia: Born in Roorkee, India in 1958. A Graduate of the College of Architecture, Chandigarh 1979 and of Washington University at St. Louis, 1984 with a Masters Degree in Architecture and Urban Design. He has Worked in Delhi, Kuwait and in St. Louis and currently Practices from Ahmedabad. He co-founded Mansar with Radhika Doshi in 1987. Mansar – is a Fusion of two Sanskrit Words, Mana – Proportions and Sara – Essence. A design Laboratory for experimenting with architecture, urban design, fashion, photography and exhibition design. On going projects include. Large urban design and planning projects, including revitalization of the historic core of Hyderabad and very high density low income urban mass housing. Architectural projects integrating conservation and recycling of fast depleting water resources is another area of exploration. He is visiting faculty at the School of Architecture and the Urban Design program at CEPT, Ahmedabad. He has Also taught at the Urban Design program, School of planning and Architecture, New Delhi.

Marco Ferrario graduated from the Politecnico di Milano. He has been running his own office in Milano and carries experience in residential, commercial and institutional projects from his work in firms in India (Romi Khosla design studio), Singapore (scda architects) and US (CBT architects). He has links with a vast network of international architects, urban planners and designers.

Rakhi Mehra is co-founder of mHS and determined to make people and players think more creatively about urban housing and building inclusive cities. A Rhodes scholar and an MBA from Harvard (‘09) she has many years of international development experience with CARE, Ashoka Fellows, Grameen Bank, RABO Bank, Jeffery Sachs’ office at Columbia University. Rakhi was a competitive swimmer for India, swam in the winning English Channel Relay for Oxford University and remains an enthusiast for outdoor sport. She studied Economics at St. Stephens College, Delhi (2001), and read Politics, Philosophy & Economics at Oxford University (2001-03).

Sameep Padora is the principal of sP+a (Sameep Padora & Associates). Having studied Architecture and Planning in Los Angeles & New York, Sameep Padora graduated with a Masters in Design Studies from Harvard University in 2005. Based out of Mumbai and New York, Sameep’s portfolio includes Master Planning, Architecture and Interior Design projects many of which have been featured extensively in design publications in the country and abroad. Sameep Padora’s approach is marked by conceptualizing designs tailored to the specificity of projects, and through intensive design investigation building inventive spaces embracing an innovative use of materials and form.

Poonam Mulchandani moved to Auroville in 1997 after graduating from the Kamla Raheja Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies. She has an independent practice since then, indulging in diverse projects, all incorporating sustainable design practices encompassing climate response and environmental sensitivity, while maintaining cost and time efficiency. She most enjoys working on public buildings and projects with a social purpose.

Alexis de Ducla grew up in Paris, France and graduated from ESSEC MBA Paris, with a specialization in social entrepreneurship. After a 3 years of work in NGOs, he has been involved in diverse enterprises from textile to food industry, always looking at the social impact of businesses and empowering through economical activities. Since 2010, he heads the project for affordable housing at Lafarge, where he has been developing strategies to access the bottom of the pyramid business for the group. He has been living in Chennai for the past ten years.

Ritu Mohanty-Padora is an architect, urban designer and planner. She is currently with Edifice Consultants, Mumbai, as Project Head for the Urban Design Vertical. Her educational qualification includes a Master of Science degree in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, New York (1999). Before joining Edifice, she worked at BFJ Planning and Cooper Robertson & Partners in New York. She has done her Bachelor of Architecture from the Institute of Environmental Design (I.E.D), Vallabh Vidyanagar (1997) and had won the INTACH scholarship for her dissertation on settlement planning in tribal Orissa. She is an AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accredited professional.

Jean-Michel Laye is Head Quality and Product Development Lafarge A&C India since Jan 2009. He graduated with a BS Chemistry / Chemistry Engineering from Deust GBM-PAC Montpellier University II and then obtained a Master I3F-Materials – CNAM at Montpellier. He has been working as chemical engineer with Lafarge since 1987, where he held several position including WW Technical Transfer Manager Lafarge Research Center; Agilia SCC  Project Manager Lafarge Research Center; Product Development Manager North America Lafarge Research Center.

Thomas Demschner studied 5 years at a technical colleague (Moedling, Austria) and 6 years at the Technical University in Vienna (Austria) where he graduated as structural engineer in 2003. During his study he worked in total more than 6 month at the construction site doing masonry and carpentry work. Thomas started his career as structural engineer in the field of tunneling. He worked more than 3 years in Los Angeles as structural engineer (residential, commercial and industrial buildings). Since 2007 Thomas works for Lafarge as senior structural engineer, first in Austria and since 2010 in France (sustainable construction and affordable housing) and is involved in many international projects.

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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

Date: March 30th – 31st 2012

Description: A selection of the best projects is presented to the public at JJ College. The exhibition could travel elsewhere thereafter. Speakers from India and abroad comment the projects and present their own work in the field.

Guest Speakers: To be announced.

For more info about the program, contact us.