Readings in the Shed

This is the second episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest” with Hardik Pandya, Sr. VP of Design at Unacademy Group. This series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design. I have a co-host with me, Shreyas Satish. He is the founder of ownpath.com, ownpath is a platform for designers to upskill, find community, and unlock exciting opportunities, and also helps companies grow their design teams. I had Shreyas as a guest in episode 218 when I did a series “Where are the designers” talking to 12 top influential Design leaders from India. Hello Shreyas, welcome back on Audiogyan and also a welcome as my co-host And for today’s episode which is also my domain of designing Digital products, we have a perfect guest and a common friend, Hardik Pandya. He is a Design leader with an innate love for building products with good design. Currently He is a Senior Vice President, Design of The Unacademy Group. Previously a Design Lead at Google Search, G Suite and Google Cloud, Ola and more.   Questions How did you get into Design? You are a lateral entrant? What were early days like? Can you walk us through your journey towards being a lead designer? Were there things that came fairly naturally, like taking ownership and initiative, and were things you had to deliberately learn? In No Career Conversations in Isolation, you write “The way to get to the work you want to be doing in the future is earning the trust of your manager. Are there any stories or examples you can share where earning that trust unlocked the opportunity you were looking for? Now that you are heading teams, how does your typical day look like? Do you happen to work hands-on still? From where and how do you hire? Do you look for talent laterally? How do you spot talent? Junior / nerdy / geeky / high end colleges / pedigree? Is hiring a gamble? What are some traits you look for when you’re hiring a senior designer? How do you actually tell if they possess those traits? What are some common mistakes you see designers make with portfolios? Who have been your best hires and why? Which background did they come from? A lot of hiring conversations tend to be very backward looking i.e the work they’ve done, the situations they’ve been in and so on. But, I believe the real alpha, especially from a company’s point of view is being able to gauge what they can do in the future. What’s your take on this and how do you try to identify potential in designers? What skills do you expect from designers for the future in the world of AI? Reference links https://twitter.com/hvpandya https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardikpandya/?originalSubdomain=in https://medium.com/@hvpandya https://hardik.substack.com/ https://www.ownpath.com/ https://hvpandya.com/ https://www.instagram.com/godrejdesignlab/ https://www.godrejdesignlab.com/ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrrt1Y8BkAyph0bmVRVsRF1UTgsf1Lxo9    

This is the first episode of a 10 Part series, "Designer’s Digest”. This series is about Design as a profession, it’s daily grind, the secrets to climbing the design career ladder and what edge we’ll need to thrive in the captivating world of design. We start with Ayaz Basrai. Ayaz has been on Audiogyan’s 104th Episode where we spoke about “Designing interiors for your city.” He is the founder of The Busride Studio based in Goa and Mumbai along with his brother Zameer. Ayaz Graduated in Industrial Design, specialising in Product Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 2003. Ayaz studio ‘The Busride’ as an independent Design Studio specialising in the design and creation of environments, ranging from Hospitality, Entertainment venues, Film and Production to Exhibitions and temporary installations, and more. Questions asked in the episode Who according to you is a designer? You have been questioning this a lot. What according to you is a role of a designer when they mature in their practice. Do the lines blur with art and then things become political or social in nature? You have been engaging with very young talent like Prathmesh Jaju and others. Whats the reason for going so wide in our interest areas? How does it enrich your practice? Eliel Saarinen’s famous line, “Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan." What’s your take on it? Is it a pyramid kind of a thinking? You have been tinkering a lot with rizhomatic thinking? Tell us a little bit about it. Does the other node need to have equally good to understand the larger context context to pass it on? You talk about intergenerational kindness by giving the Oxford examples. What is it and how can that be practised by us who are future ancestors? What is India Futures Project? Why do you engage in speculative fiction from a designer’s lens? Why create these future looking narratives? Are there instances of this done in the past of which we, inadvertently, we are part of? How real these narratives were back then, if any? You have an article about placeless-ness. What provokes you to think of these future spaces while we are still having cows and camels on the road. Would you venture into these 15 minute cities or explore shapes and forms of cities in the meta-verse? On which principles of foundations these exploration happen? We are looking at how AI in the cradle is smiling at us. What kind of skills do Centaur Designers will need to have? How would designers of the future look like? Not just in the software and industrial realm but textile, graphics, interiors and so on… Reference reading https://www.architectandinteriorsindia.com/lists/ayaz-zameer-basrai-co-founders-the-busride-design-studio https://www.instagram.com/thebusride/ https://www.thepracticecept.com/thebusride https://thehardcopy.co/in-conversation-with-ayaz-basrai/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEiJMVjMyrE https://issuu.com/thebusride https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQWAJBpfzp8 https://www.stirworld.com/inspire-people-arthur-mamou-mani-x-ayaz-basrai-cross-border-conversations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMEaLTat3wE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZJ4T50o95E  

Einstein once said “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” He also said, “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.” Why I am talking about this? In today’s episode, we’ll documenting all about Play and Work. For this, we have Nitesh Mohanty and Sonal Choudhary with us on Audiogyan. Nitesh is a Educator, Photographer, Art Director, Writer, Curator. A JJ and Bombay boy, now in Goa. He did his post-gard from NID, Ahmedabad, specialising in Textile Design. Sonal is a Visual Communication Designer, Writer, Educator. We’ll be discussing about their new venture, or should I call it “school of thought” - Plork. Well, lets find out in this case study. Questions NM & SC: Tell us a little bit about your background. Which school of thought are you coming from? NM & SC: What is Plork? Why are you doing this? Who is it for? SC: Paula Scher said, “Great design is serious, not solemn”. What is your take? NM: What makes you go so broad with poets, chefs and philosophers, while education these days is task / job oriented? NM: What is taste and how do you acquire taste during education? (aesthetic, intellectual) NM: You teach, “Ways of Seeing”. Tell us more about it? NM & SC: How do you define a ‘mature’ designer? NM: What is the role of “play” in corporate structures? When there are clear objectives and deliverables, is play required or possible? SC: What are key big gaps in today’s design or art education? NM: What do you think the future of design education in India? Reference Reading https://www.instagram.com/nimo_obscura/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitesh-mohanty-46562777/?originalSubdomain=in https://www.jioinstitute.edu.in/faculty/mr-nitesh-mohanty https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-creators/nitesh-mohantys-nowhere-is-a-visual-story-of-resilience-amidst-tragedy-and-despair https://medium.com/@artwintent/the-art-of-visual-storytelling-4b1ad2e159b0 https://studioanugraha.com/Nowhere-Now-here https://www.instagram.com/sonalchoudhury/?hl=en https://www.behance.net/sonalchoudhury1 https://www.instagram.com/plorkschoolofthought/?hl=en

“The characteristics of jazz help. Its sense of improvisation, individualism, sound, and rhythm are all present and important in graphic design, too.” - Niklaus Troxler, who have been improvising with letterforms like Jazz Musicians since 1960s. In my opinion, a Poster is a mix of typeface and graphics communicating something. In here, typeface matters a lot. To discuss this and more, today we have Sarang Kulkarni with us. Sarang is a type designer and co-founder of Ektype. He also has his own agency called as The White Crow where he does branding and typography work. This Audiogyan will be in English and Marathi. Questions What according to you is Type / Akshar? Massimo Vignelli said that he is comfortable with half a dozen typefaces lasting a lifetime. Rest all is visual pollution. What's the need for more typefaces? What triggers a need for new typefaces? Medium, Language, Expression, Enhancement, Technology, Content? Are there ways to systematically study and distinguish between an improvisation of a typeface versus a different typeface? For eg, Mukta and Modak have different anatomy, so we can say that they are 2 different fonts. But can we say that Inter is an improvised version of Helvetica? You deal with a lot of abstract forms as well. At letterbox, for eg: “k” (Marathi) can be identified if one looks at the flow or series of iterations of representing ‘k’. Can a letter form be identified in isolation? What's the extent of improvisation? How abstract one can go and still make it palatable? When can one start improvising on a typeface? When the base font is registered in everyone’s mind. For eg: Can we improvise on a newly launched font set? Does improvisation in a typeface done only as an experiment can transform into the usage of mass communication? What's going on with 365 days of type and more such practices and movements? Are those improvisations? How easy or hard is it today to experiment and improvise on open-source fonts? When does the author know that the improvisation is done? Reference Reading https://www.instagram.com/1sarangkulkarni/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/ektype/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/letterbox.india/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarang-kulkarni-5898857/ https://www.behance.net/SarangKulkarni https://www.dandad.org/profiles/person/664731/sarang-kulkarni/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXwkZaIRLI4 https://whitecrow.in/ https://twitter.com/sarangkulkarni7 https://www.typoday.in/2014/sarang.html http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-86975.html https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/being-a-mumbai-type-designer-is-about-more-than-great-work-you-gotta-get-the-lingos-and-theres-hundreds-of-them/ https://design.google/library/anek-multiscript https://kyooriusdesign.awardsengine.com/?action=ows:entries.details&e=135402&project_year=2023 https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-voices/ek-type https://www.adi.org.in/events/adiamd-many-worlds-of-type https://vimeo.com/133792269

Abhinit has been building digital products for past 15 years, he was head of Design at Gojek and scaled the design and research function from 6 designer to 200 plus including research. He is currently on a sabbatical.  Questions You wear multiple hats - designer, programmer and Product. Your twitter bio says, App Maker. Pixel Hinter. Leak Checker. Who do you associate the most with? What does scale mean in the world of tech? What does “designing for scale” enable us to do? Why design for scale? What’s the role of design & research in this? Is process driven culture a recipe for scaling? Doesn’t process hinder innovation and out of box thinking? When lean, one can move fast. When we have legacy how do we change? Apple being an exception, who else has designed for scale? I know you will say, Stripe. Any other brand / product? When you are market leaders, what can make us strive for excellence? We are already at scale. :) What were the biggest challenges and if you were do it all over again, what is one thing you’ll change? We are in a process of improving our design system, which we hope will help us scale. Who should be the key stake holder and why? I know you must have answered this many times, does creativity come in the way when we have design system. For eg: How do we personalise or customise for different segments while maintaining unified language? Reference links https://www.instagram.com/abhinitial/ https://twitter.com/abhinitial?lang=en https://audiogyan.com/2020/04/22/abhinit-tiwari/ https://audiogyan.com/?type=wrtd-series https://www.propertyguru.com.sg/ https://www.propertygurugroup.com/joinus/

Potter Stewart an associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court once said, “Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself.” Censoring artists, intellectuals is not a new thing. Today to discuss more about censorship we have Ajit Rai with us on Audiogyan. We’ll be talking about banning and censorship in films in the Indian context. This episode will be bi-lingual but mostly in Hindi. Listeners have to bare with my Hindi questions but Ajit sir will cover my shortcomings. 🙂 He wrote a best seller book " Hindujas and Bollywood'(English ) that is launched in London by actor Akshay Kumar & "Bollywood ki Buniyaad"(Hindi ) launched in 75 th Cannes Film Festival by Mr Apoorva Chandra Secretary Ministry of I & B Govt of India last year 2022. It is a global journey of about 1200 Hindi films introduced to World by Hinduja Family. He is invited and travelled and reported from more than 50 countries in many prestigious International Film Festivals and Nobel prize ceremony as well. His credentials are as follows  1.Presently working as Advisor and Film Critic Bharat Express National News Channel. 2.He is regularly contributing as Film Critic for Jansatta / The Indian Express group, Navbharat Times/ The Times of India group, Dainik Bhaskar, Prabhat khabar, People Samachar, Jan Sandesh Times and more than 25 digital media outlets. 3. Ajit Rai has been a member of Media Committee International Film Festival of India Goa in 2010 and Selection Jury Member (Preview Committee) in 2014, 2015 & 2017. 4. He is a guest speaker in knowledge Series of NFDC Film Bazar in IFFI Goa many times. 5 .Ajit Rai has been invited by Film & Television Institute of India as Guest of Honour in  2013 & 2015 in Student Film Festival and National Students Film Awards ceremony. 6. He is a Member of Jury in Life After Oil International Film Festival Sardenia Italy.  7. Cannes Film Festival - the most prestigious festival in the world-  granted Ajit Rai the top priority Press Badge considering him as one of the most important film critic of the World  He is covering Cannes Film Festival & many other international film festivals and IFFI Goa since 2004. 8. Ajit Rai is only film critic of India who wrote maximum articles on  International Film Festival of India IFFI Goa around more than 500 from 2004 to till date. 9. He has been Consultant Jagaran Film Festival in 2012, 2013 & 2014 in 16 cities of India by the largest circulated Hindi newspaper of the world- Dainik Jagran. 10. He is Advisor and Member of Jury in Rajasthan International Film Festival Jaipur 11.  (a) He has started Raipur International Film Festival in collaboration with Govt of Chhattisgarh and Directorate of Film Festival DFF Govt of India in 2015.  (b) He has Started Haryana International Film Festival Yamunanagar in 2008 in collaboration with Govt of Haryana. (c) He has started Azamgarh International Film Festival in 2018. (d) He has started Faridabad International Film Festival in 2012. (e). He has started Sardar Patel International Film Festival in Patiala Punjab    12. (a) He has started Indian Film Festival Moscow Russia as founder Director in 2014 (b) Indian Film Festival Uppsala Sweden in 2013 .  (c) He has started  Indian Film Festival Berlin Germany in 2012.  (d) He is Consultant Bollywood Film Festival Oslo Norway since 2013 . 13. He has been invited by President of Iran in 2012 as a special guest in New Horizon Film Festival Tehran . 14. Ajit Rai is one of the leading Film & Theatre Critic & Cultural Journalist of India with wide and vast experience of more than 30  years  in almost all leading National Newspapers, reputed Journals and Electronic media as well on Cinema, Theatre, Literature & Cultural discourses. His about 5000 published articles are pioneer in Film & Cultural journalism. Some of his innovative reports has been debated in Indian Parliament . 15. He has been Editor - Rang Prasang.. an international journal of Cinema & Theatre,  National School Of Drama, Ministry Of Culture, Govt. Of India. 16. He is a Member of Jury Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the largest theatre festival of the 3rd world by National School Of Drama, Ministry of Culture Govt of India. 17. He is a Member of Jury Meta Awards by Mahindra Company for theatre.  18. Founder Editor - Drishyantar, a monthly magazine of Cinema TV Culture & Media by Doordarshan Ministry of I&B Govt of India. 19. Worked as consultant Doordarshan Ministry of I & B Govt of India. 20. Worked with All India Radio, Patna & New Delhi. Ministry of I&B Govt of India. 21. World Record - (a) -Ajit Rai made a world record in film journalism in Cannes Film Festival 2018.  He published 75 articles in various Indian Newspapers in 15 days on Cannes Film Festival This is a world record that one journalist wrote 75 articles about one event. (b) He made a world record in Theatre Criticism in 2010 when his 25 articles published 25 days daily without break during International Theatre Festival by National School of Drama New Delhi. (c). He is covering Cairo International film festival,   EL Gouna Film Festival in Egypt and Red Sea International Film Festival regularly and wrote 25 articles every year. 22. He wrote a book Hindujas and Bollywood in English and Bollywood ki buniyaad in Hindi on contribution of Hinduja Brothers to Indian  Cinema.. It is a global cultural journey of about 1200 Hindi films introduced to World by Hinduja Family. 23. Pioneer in personality journalism in India in 1995 in India Today magazine. 24. He has been invited to deliver lecture on Cinema ,Indian culture, Theatre  & society by United Nation ( UNO) New York, British Parliament, London, President House Tehran Iran, Uppsala University Sweden, Bollywood Festival Oslo, Norway, Indian Film Festival Berlin Germany & Moscow Russia. Dubai UAE ( Indian Embassy, Sardenia Italy and many more. 25. Ajit Rai is one and only who has been  invited in  Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony Oslo Norway in 2014. 26 . He is pioneer of Cinema movement in Educational Institutions of India and abroad and started many Film Festivals & Film Appreciation Courses  in DAV Girls College, Yamunanagar,  Haryana, Kurukshetra University, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab,  Mahatma Gandhi Hindi International University Vardha,  Maharashtra. DAV Centenary College Faridabad , Hariyana etc. 27. Work Experience-  He worked with various newspapers and magazines from 1988 to till date- 1. Dainik Hindustan, Patna & New Delhi ( Hindustan Times group) 2. Navbharat Times, Patna & New Delhi ( Times of India group) 3. Jansatta. New Delhi ( Indian Express group) 4. Dainik Bhaskar, Bhopal 5. Dainik Jagaran, New Delhi 6. Rashtriya Sahara New Delhi 7. Sahara samay New Delhi 8. Swatantra Varta, Hyderabad 9. News Break , Patna 10. Amar Ujala New Delhi 11. Prabhat khabar, Ranchi Jharkhand  12. India Today. New Delhi 13. Outlook, New Delhi 14. Hans New Delhi  15. Aaj ki Jandhara, Raipur Chhattisgarh 16 Jan Sandesh Times. Lucknow . 17. People s Samachar Bhopal Madhya Pradesh. 18. The Sentinal. Guwahati Assam. 28. Educational qualification -  (a) M. A. in Psychology ( 1989), 1st Division,  ( b) M.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication, (2007).  1st Division. Note - Ajit Rai always got 1st Division & 1st Class through out his education ie from Class 1 to 12, B.A. (Hons.) & M.A.    29. Professional qualifications  (a). Diploma in Psycho Analysis,  Educational- vocational Guidance & Counselling , 1st division. 1993, NCERT, New Delhi. (b) . Diploma in Journalism.1 st division( 2006, ) Kurukshetra University. (c).  Diploma in Film Appreciation, 1st division 2003. Film & Television Institute of India FTII Pune.  29. Awards 1. Beat Film Critic National Award, Rajasthan International Film Festival, Jaipur . 2020. 2. Best Film Journalist Award, LIFFT India Film Festival, Lonawala, Mumbai, 2020.  3. Pride of India Award, Khajuraho International Film Festival, 2020. 4. Jaiprakash Narayan International Award for Journalism, Delhi 2020 5.  Nat Samrat Best Theatre Critic Award, Delhi , 2020. 6.  Rang Sameeksha Samman, Ashirvad Rang Mandal, Begusarai, Bihar. 2018 7. . Rang Sameeksha Samman, Abhinaya  Rang Manch, Hisar, Haryana, 2016. 8. . Pride of India Award. 2012 9.  Natya Sameeksha Samman, Manch Rangmanch, Amritsar. Punjab.  2010 10 . Kala Sameeksha Samman, Abhinav Rang Mandal Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. 2008.  11. Best Auther of the book 2022 Award. Rajasthan International Film Festival Jaipur 2023. 30. Published Books 1. Hindujas and Bollywood 2. Bollywood ki Buniyaad 3. Drishyantar 4. Andhere Men Chamakati Awazen 5. Two Decades of Jis Lahore Nai Wekhyan . All published by Vani Prakashan New Delhi.   Questions What is censorship in the context of films? Why do establishments feel the need of banning or censorship? When and why did it start? What’s Hays Code and what were the few important milestones in the evolution of censorship? May be just in the Indian context? Can you tell us if there is any official framework or guidelines for censorship in India? If yes, what are those guidelines? Who made these? When and why were these made? How objective are these? I guess, rules in censorship should be treated like Smrutis. They should change with time. Whats the challenge today? You strongly believe in that nothing should be censored. How do you justify it? Whats the difference between banning and censorship? What are your thoughts on banning? We as creators believe, movies are powerful, it can change narratives - so establishment will always interfere - What can be done as creators and also audience? Many people like Gorge Carlin challenged the establishments and boldly used “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”. We have many such examples. In my conversation with Varun Grover, even he mentioned that an artist never know the line until he/she crosses it. How can we see a society that allows these line to be crossed. Who can cross these lines? Is this a right question? What according to you is the future of censorship in India till we have authoritarian regimes. How do you see censorship in a realistic world? Is there a utopian world in film making? Reference links https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Rai https://kalingaliteraryfestival.com/speakers/ajit-rai/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y5Qb5mdaDY https://twitter.com/AjitRai16022961

In late 1800s, A Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudi, said, “There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature. Therefore, buildings must have no straight lines or sharp corners”. But where does the nature stop and where does the building begin? Lets explore more about architecture and history in this 3 part series called, “An insert into the history”. This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I had partnered last year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India. TDB has been actively running Architecture competition for under graduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders. This year, the program is to redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, in Karnataka. Submission deadline is 9th Oct 2023. More details on thedrawingboard.in Today, in this concluding episode of this series, we have Ar. Sherman Stave with us on Audiogyan. Sherman is a Principal and Landscape Architect at STX Landscape Architects. With more than 30 years of experience. He has practised extensively in Asia and North America. His exposure to diverse cultures from an early age has lent him broad global perspective, and a deep appreciation of how shaping our environments can change our lives in fundamental ways. These are critical lenses that continue to inform his design approach. Questions Who is a landscape architect? What are the principles and strategies on which a landscape architect work? BV Doshi, once said, “Is the Architecture defined by theory or it’s a convention, or it is something which is rooted in the place?” How big or small overlap do you see between the landscape and the actual building or architecture? Incase of Badami, where and how would you draw the line? Brian O’Doherty’s famous line, “We have now reached a point where we see not the art but the space first.” What does it mean and where are you on this? How can landscape design contribute to the interpretation and visitor experience at any archaeological site? For instance, Badami, where the landscape itself is an integral part of the site's history? What considerations can be taken while designing architecture in such high sensitive historical landscape? When designing an archaeological site like Badami to ensure minimal impact? Since you are staying in Singapore and even I have recently moved there, I see some amazing work done by humans. The overall landscape is well thought. Can you share your learnings and experience? How can we be so close to nature yet seems to have so much command on it? Can you share any (2) examples of good museums or public spaces where they blend organically with nature? Reference reading The Drawing Board Architecture competition for Undergradute student 2024 Talk by Prashanth Pole | 27 Mar, 2021 | FA S21 Lecture series Gandhi Ashram Sabarmati Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures Badami- Learning from the Context- WCFA, Teepoi Mindspace Architects Rohan Builders https://www.siww.com.sg/home/attend/siww2021-online/thematic-webinars-tw/speakers-and-moderators/sherman-stave https://www.stxla.com/profile/ https://www.world-architects.com/en/stx-landscape-architects-singapore/team https://www.mnd.gov.sg/urbansustainability/webinars/liveability/abc-water-seminar-(liveability) https://www.ura.gov.sg/uol/publications/research-resources/plans-reports/Master%20Plan/~/media/User%20Defined/URA%20Online/publications/research-resources/plans-reports/pwip_urban_villages.ashx https://kimbellart.org/art-architecture/architecture/kahn-building https://www.salk.edu/ https://www.archdaily.com/61288/ad-classics-salk-institute-louis-kahn https://www.designcurial.com/news/louis-kahn---six-most-important-buildings-4323752/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kahn

Frank Owen Gehry, a Canadian-born American architect and designer once said, “Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness”. How can we long for timelessness in architecture if the place itself keeps changing? Lets explore more about architecture and history in this 3 part series called, “An insert into the history”. This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I had partnered last year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India. TDB has been actively running Architecture competition for under graduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders. This year, the program is to redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, in Karnataka. Submission deadline is 9th Oct 2023. More details on thedrawingboard.in In this second episode, “An insert into the history” (which is also the theme of the competition), I have a Prof. Durganand Balsavar. I interviewed him back in episode 249 in the last year’s TDB theme of designing a “Memorial for Charles Correa”. We spoke about intangible architecture. A quick introduction about Prof. Balsavar. He has been faculty for India Studios of Bartlett, Helsinki School of Architecture and involved in diverse cultural contexts - the Chandigarh Lab, IUAV Venice, Auckland, Indonesia, Nepal. He founded Artes-ROOTS Collaborative, which has been involved in an environment-appropriate architecture as a community participatory process. Questions If we look at Indian history and culture, how can one incorporate architectural elements that reflect diverse narratives in a museum projects? What can be the key principles on which this can be thought? History is told by the rulers. I believe you also have a special interest in Alternate Histories - What does it mean? So, If alternative histories often involve revisiting and reinterpreting established narratives. How does your architectural design support the reinterpretation of history within the museum context? Can you share your thoughts on the role of technology, such as interactive exhibits or virtual reality, in enhancing the visitor experience and storytelling within museums dedicated to archaeology and alternate histories? Can you share any unique architectural features or design elements that distinguish the Badami Archaeological Museum from other museums with similar themes? Badami is known for its cave temples and rock-cut architecture. What elements can be incorporated in storytelling and educational experiences? How do you see that helping the narrative of the museum in the modern world? Since the topic is, An insert into History, and your strong opinions on sustainability, What role does sustainability play in the design of the Badami Archaeological Museum, and how do you incorporate those elements into the architecture? Can you share any other museums you have studied or been part of that are worth studying and referenced? Nationally or internationally? Reference reading The Drawing Board Rohan Builders Mindspace Architects Charles Correa Charles Correa Foundation Culture Trip Down to Earth Durganand Balsavar Artesroots Duganand on Linkedin

BV. Doshi, once said, “A house is a grain, like a small sapling in the bio-diverse wild forest”. I wonder what a public space like a temple, a monument, museum, a park, an industrial zone, a 80 floor office tower or a man made landscape is? Lets explore more about architecture and history in this 3 part series called, “An insert into the history”. This series is brought to you by, The Drawing Board, with whom I had partnered last year. The Drawing Board is an international architecture platform based in India where students can test their understanding and skills in shaping the way communities live and thrive while preserving local heritage. TDB has been actively running Architecture competition for under graduate students since 2016. It is conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders. This year, the theme is to redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, in Karnataka. Submission deadline is 9th Oct 2023. More details in the show notes and thedrawingboard.in We begin this series with Ar. Prashant Pole. Prashant has a long and illustrious career that has spanned over three decades. His journey started with Naksha Architects in Bengaluru. He established his own firm, Genesis Architects in 1994 and has worked on single residences, apartments, offices, hotels and institutional buildings. Over these years, he has also been a visiting faculty at MCE Hassan, BIT Bangalore, SIT Tumkur, and USD Mysore. Aside from teaching, he has also been evaluating architecture design as a juror at various architecture schools in and around Bengaluru. We’ll be discussing what goes into making a museum. Questions What is the museum according to you? Why do we need them? Are there any special characteristics when it comes to Museum’s architecture? How can we optimise space to accommodate a wide range of exhibits while maintaining a seamless visitor experience? (Considering people coming from diverse background, language, ethnicity, abilities and more) Accessibility, sustainability, security, are few common and must have things for any architecture, what are few other guidelines when it comes to a place like Museum? Which are the famous museums in India and why? Since this year’s theme is redesign the existing Badami archaeological museum, how can we approach integrating the cultural diversity and historical significance of Badami into the design of a museum, ensuring it resonates with both local and international visitors? We say that “any place to be built should be built with the material found in 5KMs or it’s radius”. How true is it and why? How do you leverage local materials and craftsmanship to create a distinctive architectural identity for the museum, and what challenges might arise in this context? Lighting and climate control are crucial factors in preserving the artifacts. How can we go about creating and ideal environment yet ensuring it’s sustainable? We can consider Badami or any other museum (located in the such setup in India) What suggestions would you give those who wish to specialise in designing museums? Any extra attention in the context of Bandami museum? Reference reading https://wcfa.ac.in/staff/prashant-girish-pole/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj84z3FA0tU https://thedrawingboard.in https://thinkmatter.in/2020/09/15/an-ephemeral-lab-in-a-city-of-fixity/ https://www.bmsca.org/workshops.html https://www.gandhiashramsabarmati.org/en/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_U9rjdsmOg https://dbcic.org The Drawing Board Rohan Builders Mindspace Architects  

Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous line - “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about improvisation in dance with Avantika Bahl. Avantika is a dance practitioner and educator based in Mumbai. As an artist, she works towards creating inclusive performances that can be accessed by a larger community. Over the past few years, her choreographic choices have brought diverse voices and experiences to the mainstream. She studied at the London Contemporary Dance School and completed the Curriculum-in-Motion program offered by Jacobs Pillow. Avantika has a Masters degree in English Literature and completed her Level 3 certification in Indian Sign language.   Questions What according to you is improvisation? Where do we see it mostly happening? Is it seen in all creative endeavours? You have dabbled with silence, mundane chores, sometimes with just burst of sounds. What do you call your form of dance? Which category / genre does it belong? What does it mean to improvise in the context of dance? What guides improvisation for you - Body, Music, Theme, Story, Location or anything else? Traditionally dance (or most performing art forms) were considered to be performed effortlessly (Sahaj) and elegantly (simple). Does one need to know the rules to bend the rules? What does bending a rule mean? Improvisation? Your show “Say, What?” with a creative partner who is deaf. What is the extent of improvisation that a dancer can explore and still make it palatable? What the biggest challenge in experiments like these? You said, “We just have to be still and dance” - What do you mean? Tell us about your experience learning the Indian Sign language. How did it help? When and why do dancers improvise? When we fail or when we do something over and over again? Is it the boredom? Is it uncovering deeper layers as they keep performing or revisiting the movements? Is it that the medium falls short to express? Can improvisation be a starting point? Do smaller improvisations impulses land in changing the meta narrative? How does one come back to the main kathavastu / main narrative? May be you can explain in the context of “Look left, turn right”? What is the extent of improvisation when it comes to dance? Can you share any examples - names and artists who are doing and have done a lot in the past? What according to you is the future of dance and improvisation?   Reference reading https://www.avantikabahl.com https://www.instagram.com/avantikabahl/?hl=en https://prakritifoundation.com/artiseprofile/avantikabahl/ https://vimeo.com/user5724048 https://www.themovementartsco.com/blank-page https://narthaki.com/info/rev17/rev2058.html https://theideaslab.com/say-duet-celebrating-sounds-silence-movement/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merce_Cunningham https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/sep/16/dance https://sites.northwestern.edu/cageanddance/jcchoreo/ https://www.abt.org/people/john-cage/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/merce-cunningham-and-john-cage-discuss-music-and-dance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohad_Naharin https://www.dansedanse.ca/en/ohad-naharin https://www.gagapeople.com/en/ https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/arts/dance/review-ohad-naharin-hora-batsheva.html https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-secret-history-of-the-israeli-choreographer-ohad-naharin