Indian and French students to gather at Puducherry for a workshop on sustainable design 

The transnational workshop on Sustainable Design and Urban Geography in collaboration with the French Consulate is the first of its kind and will move from Bengaluru to Puducherry on February 27
Kids from France and India will rack their brains to create and develop Puducherry as a smart city
Kids from France and India will rack their brains to create and develop Puducherry as a smart city

Young adults from India and France will gather at Puducherry in the first week of March to learn creative and sustainable techniques to make Puducherry a smart city. Ten students selected on their academic merit from three schools affiliated to the LISAA School of Design will be part of the workshop. The workshop aims to foster an exchange of ideas between students of the two countries.

The participants include students of graphic design and interior and product design from LISAA schools in Bengaluru, Paris and Rennes. The Indo-French workshop will begin with bamboo art and design by sculptural artist and member of social enterprise Bamboo Pecker Shanthamani Muddaiah.

Excerpts from a conversation with Avi Keswani, Co-founder and Director of LISAA School of Design.

Why are you using Bamboo as the technical theme? How can it help in the vision for a smart city?

Bamboo is used mainly to develop an exhibition display. It's an easy flexible material that is also sustainable and gives students the chance to understand a key-component often used in traditional architecture but rarely in contemporary architecture.

How central is creativity and imagination to your workshops? 

Design-thinking is the heart of any design process. At this workshop, the students are developing projects, propositions and using research and imagination while also working hand in hand.

What do you intend to impart with the Bamboo workshop?

The Bamboo Workshop intends on finding sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to housing needs, interior and furniture design and household products by incorporating bamboo and it’s derivatives.

 

Yearn to learn: Co-founder Avi Keswani says design and creativity are at the heart of this project

What are your themes?


We have a technical theme and a conceptual theme. When the workshop ends, a "pop-up" exhibition will be organised to display the work of the students in a public space in Pondicherry. The conceptual theme is “Pondicherry”, the architectural, environmental and cultural relationship between the heritage city and the new town. Pondicherry is crossed by a canal which is a symbolic border between two worlds and cultures.The students will study the relations and communication between both cultures in the city. They will analyse the historical and cultural scopes and after the study concludes, will be developing future possibilities for developing Pondicherry into a smart city.

Our Technical Theme is “Bamboo”. The students in interior architecture are going to discover this material as an element of architecture, its aesthetic interest, its qualities, its applications, its sustainable character the modes of traditional constructions etc. A short technical workshop will take place at Auroville; all the students will participate in the construction of structure using bamboo for exhibition display.

The workshop is scheduled to conclude on March 5 and will have Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi and Honorable Consulate General Madame Catherine Suard in attendance. LISAA school Bengaluru is managed by the CREO Valley Group of schools and serves as a destination for specialised Diploma and Certificate Courses in performing Art and Filmmaking.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
EdexLive
www.edexlive.com