On Dec. 17, first year Master of Architecture students from professor Shannon Bassett’s Graduate Architecture Studio class presented their architecture and urban design proposals for the Old Walled City of Delhi at Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture, the result of their travels to India from Oct. 7 through Oct. 22.
“It was when the plane hit the tarmac in Delhi that I truly realized how incredible this experience would be for the students,” said Bassett in a release from the school.
While there, the team was primarily based in New Delhi but also travelled to other key cities in India as examples in best-case practices in Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design.
While in India, the group worked in collaboration with faculty and students from the renowned Delhi School of Planning and Architecture. They met with elected officials and members of the community who advised them on their designs. These designs are part of a larger Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council entitled, “Reducing Risk, Raising Resilience: Recovering the Public Spaces of Shahjahanabad Through Participatory Conservation and Ecological Urbanism.”
“Through action-oriented design research, this grant helps us to address issues being faced by Shahjahanabad, the Old Walled City of Delhi, which faces architectural decay and degradation, in addition to the ecological fragmentation of a once ecologically resilient urban fabric and cultural landscape, with its innovative and sustainable interconnected public space systems,” said Bassett. “We hope that we can help shape the build environment and its future sustainability, as well as serving as a useful best-case practice model.”
Natalia Sawant, a participating graduate student originally from Mumbai, India, who was raised in Dubai, United Arab Emirates said in the release that participating in the graduate studio has been an insightful experience.
“Through various scales of groundwork and field research, we have been able to organize creative interventions that are meant to aid or improve on the existing and historical structure of Old Delhi within its urban context,” said Sawant. “The trip itself deeply aided in the design process, prompting us to think about the larger and deeply cultural context of architecture within an international milieu.”
Another participating student, Jan Paolo Masangkay, originally from Manila, Philippines said the trip was an eye-opening experience for many. “The culture in New Delhi was a drastic change to our familiar setting in Greater Sudbury; this experience has led many to think, research, and design their architectural interventions in ways that prioritize and highlight the rich history, culture, and people of India."
Bassett said in the release that as this project is further developed, she looks forward to a return voyage with select graduate students to assist with the implementation of design proposals and to present them to the community.There will be an ensuing publication of the project as well as a travelling exhibition which will feature the student’s design proposals in it.
For more information, visit the project’s website, found here, or email Shannon Bassett at [email protected].