Architecture students come up with ‘Ideas’ for smart Nagpur
| Date :22-Jul-2019 |
Principal Correspondent:
NAGPUR is no doubt trying to become a smart city, at least, on paper. But citizens are trying hard to draw attention of authorities concerned towards the things which can be put in place to make Nagpurlook smart. One such attempt was made by Institute of Design Education and Architectural Studies. It organised a summer studies workshop, a15days studio program for students.
This was done to explore the co-curriculum academic activities which could not be covered in regularsyllabusand give students an exposure about architecture,culture society and their own city. Responding to it, students came up with several ideas. The topics of the study were - UrbanDesignStudies, GreenDesign Studies Landscape Design, Appropriate Technology Studies, Vernacular Design Studies, Rural Design Studies, Art Appreciation Studies and Tracing Climate Responsive Studies. The aim of the Summer Study was to make students aware about the wide range of studies in the field, which they can use in their further design projects. Of the seven studies, three -- Landscape Design Studies, Green Design Studies and Urban Design Studies -- focused mainly on making Nagpur a Smart City.
Landscape Design Studies had a very unique approach towards process-oriented design; the objective of this studies was to trigger clues through literature describing constitution and us age of open space and its creative process of developing abstract through derived key words, leading to a design proposal of open space for identified relevant city pockets. Various abandoned and underutilised sites like Medical Garden, Shantinagar, Futalalakefront,Police Talao within the city were selected and studied thoroughly for assessment of present day requirement to frame the proposal.
Innovative landscape proposals for these areas like -healing garden,plazas,water fronts and others were resulted. The project gave the students an altogether unique way to study and analyse spaces andanchor clues fromtextto arrive at solutions. Green Design Studies, was about dying Nag river, which has lent its name to the city. Of the 18 km, long path,fourpatcheswereidentifiedand worked on by documenting the past image of the spot, the history of the river, the growth of civilization around the patch, the current scenario and the situation that have led toit.Andanalysed thedetails tohave come up with the solutions, which are applicable on the approachable basis. Two out of the four patches, i.e.Sanagmeshwar and Tulsi Baghare the heritage worthy spots whose present pictures are pitiful.
With the help of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and through interview and questionnaire-based survey the project has initiated a public participation.This had left aninerasable mark on the minds of future architects to work more on theworthy river of the city. Urban design studio had groups working on urban level in 2 cities, Nagpur and Kolkata. Nagpur city study was done with the objective of understanding and analyzing evolutionin formal of vegetable markets or bazaar in the city, based on various parameters through which 3 majorbazars inthecity- GokulPeth, cotton market and Budhwar Bazar, Mahal were studied. The process of the design studio was in itself a learning process. Documentation gave the students a better insight about the working and mood of the market area. This has sensitised them about acknowledging and considering various aspects of the market and public, whicht hey will use incoming up with contemporary and modern proposals for the market in future project.