Shared Runner up
Excellence-Hospitality
Meghana Dutta, Studio Decode, Bangalore
Meghana Dutta is a founding partner of Studio Decode, an award winning architecture and urban design firm with green and technology centric initiatives, seeking sustainable transformations through architecture. She leads the firm’s initiatives in research and implementation for their sustainable efforts. She is also engaged in holding conversations and panel discussions with government officials on ‘Reimagining our Urban Space to ensure Sustainable Urban Development and Equity’.
Do you think architecture has the power to build better communities? How?
Holistic urban development that addresses inequality and improve the quality of living, has the power to build resilience in communities. In particular, architecture of social engagement, be it design of public spaces, libraries, parks or social housing can create robust communities. Through responsible design of buildings, environmental justice and social justice can be addressed. An excellent example is the transformation of Bogota, Columbia. In 1990’s Bogota had the reputation of being the most unsafe city of Latin America. Through design of urban spaces that was accessible to all, Enrique Penalosa, the mayor of Bogota, transformed a city that was sinking in corruption, drugs, murder and violence to a city filled with hope .
How has interactions with artists, architects and designers in WADE developed your perspective towards art and architecture?
Dan Rice, the Philanthropy Architect has said, “there are three forms of visual art: Painting is art to look at, Sculpture is art you can walk around, and Architecture is art you can walk through”. Architecture has always been influenced by art, be it baroque or renaissance. Rather than collaborating with artists as an add on, collaboration with them from the start can help us architects visualise design solutions with a new perspective. WADE has provided the platform for us to meet artists from across the country and engage with them in meaningful conversations.
WADE has successfully year after year provided this opportunity to meet architects from across the country with different strengths and varying backgrounds.
“WADE Asia has grown leaps and bounds in a very short span of time. The idea of Water Warriors as the theme for WADE 2019 is the need of the hour. As Dr Vandana Shiva has rightly said, responsibility of water has always been in the purview of women. If as women we do not find solutions, we will see millions of women already affected in the rural areas, soon become water refugees.”
As a WADE Woman & WADE Winner, how would you contribute towards other fellow professionals?
There are millions of talented girls in the underprivileged sector, who can and are more apt in solving simple but critical urban issues through design. Design of garbage push carts, vendors cart, innovative use of waste etc. could be looked at from a different perspective through their eyes. With WADE’s support, my firm could evolve our simple efforts for the last 10 years with these talented children, to a more professional collaboration with them, by providing design education that will serve a larger social cause.
What is your biggest takeaway from WADE ASIA?
Professional networking at WADE for me personally, has helped me widen the sphere of my professional connections, and has helped me create new strong relationships with like-minded people. WADE, the only platform dedicated to Women in Art, Architecture and Engineering has strengthened the bonding within this fraternity immensely.
Note: This article was originally published on Surfaces Reporter December 2019 Issue.
Winner
Excellence-Public Building
Jesal Pathak, M9 Design Studio, Bangalore
Jesal is a strong professional with a Masters in Design focused on Product Design from Domus Academy. She worked as a lead design team member at Ajay Shah Design Studio, Mumbai before moving to Bangalore to join M9 Design Studio. The firm works at multiple scales with various organisations, right from private clients to corporates and NGOs. M9’s design approach is to reconnect architecture with nature, make optimum use of space, materials, lighting and landscape to reinvent living environments and urban spaces.
Do you think architecture has the power to build better communities?
In the urban context, architecture is becoming more about the ability to build something that has a real social function rather than just being aesthetically pleasing. Projects should be really about the fact that you are living together and could become a community. People forget that your neighbours can add value and create social
cohesion. A place where people can hang out and be together is more important than creating a nice building that does well on front page of an architecture magazine. The idea of creating a meeting space is evident in Mongkok Skypark (C), a rooftop recreation space for residents living in the densest part of Hong Kong.
How has the interactions during WADE ASIA shaped your perspective towards art and architecture?
The design discourse paradigms are always changing, because design is also materialised mirror of any cultural and social condition. On one hand our resources are limited, and on the other hand, the number of participants in the consumption process is constantly increasing. Design is about producing orientation and behavioural systems for a complex, yet simultaneously, fascinating open world. It is about seriously considering how to make this world a place where we can offer a tomorrow worth living for everyone.
A place where people can hang out and be together is more important than creating a nice building that does well on front page of an architecture magazine.
As a WADE Woman & WADE Winner, how would you contribute towards the cause & other fellow professionals or the sector in general?
My focus will be on encouraging women to go out there and do their best and not be bogged down by any bias voice they encounter.
Your opinion on WADE ASIA.
WADE is surely an amazing initiative and a great platform for all the women in the industry.
The result of all this is an architectural movement that makes people’s quality of life central in a genuine and creative way. The shortlisted projects look snazzy but they also challenge conventional thinking about how to deal with city life in the future. And as this way of doing things gains even more approbation it will also have a knock-on effect on developers and urban planners.
Note: This article was originally published on Surfaces Reporter December 2019 Issue.
Second Runner Up
Emerging – Interior Designer
Farah Ahmed Mathias, FADD Studio, Bangalore
Farah Ahmed has had an interesting exploratory journey before stumbling upon Interior Design. While Farah is creative, she is also very Type-A. She likes Excel almost as much as she likes Photoshop. She believes that a person is a sum of their experiences; that all her various jobs/careers have made her who she is today and added skills she would otherwise not have picked up, had she chosen a more linear path. Her career in advertising made her acutely aware of business, branding and strategy; photography trained her eye to work with darkness and light, which is extremely essential for interior design. FADD studio is her equilibrium between business and creativity.
How has interactions with other women in design shaped up your outlook and work?
Meeting new people always helps in opening new doors and creating new ideas. In the post renaissance era, creativity flourished when artists sat over coffee and discussed new ideas. In this generation of designers and architects, a similar camaraderie is brewing and the result is several collaborations.
As a WADE Woman, which area would you contribute?
Mentoring and promising to always innovate and hopefully one day inspire.
How important it is to network for women professionals?
Networking is and has always been important for any profession. Knowing people and what they do and more importantly creating a lasting impression is key. WADE connects like-minded people and establishes a platform for them to work together.
Your opinion on WADE ASIA and its objectives.
It’s a great venture to bring together women in the arts as arts itself is a tough space to crack and women in general have had it tough all along in workforce. So this is great combination for us.
Note: This article was originally published on Surfaces Reporter December 2019 Issue.
Winner
Excellence – Landscape
Aparna Rao, FICUS, Bangalore
Landscape architect Aparna Rao is the founder partner of FICUS. She leads the firm along with Sriganesh Rajendran. Their practice is recognised for its commitment to designing and creating sustainable sites, with a design approach guided by the local idiom and ecology. Being a Landscape Architect, she believes, “Landscape Architecture has greater power and ability to transcend beyond communities and do greater good to the way we live, adapt, understand and accept the world we live in.”
As a WADE Woman & WADE Winner, what will be your area of contribution?
Well, I personally believe that women are far more hardworking, sincere and resilient. It is important that women know about the power of being able to make a choice. What they also need to be aware of is that the professional challenges that one faces, whether men or women are all the same and that puts them on equal ground. It is this simple truth that I would like to bring to young professionals.
Any suggestion for the future?
Maybe, WADE should look at recognising professionals involved in research related fields. It could have a session which involves theme based paper presentations by artists, art historians, architects etc.
“WADE is a great initiative and Vertica is doing a great job in bringing women and men across Asia to share their success, failures and a lot of issues which are otherwise unspoken of.”
Note: This article was originally published on Surfaces Reporter December 2019 Issue.
