Design Brief

Design Brief

1.1 Introduction

India has a rich and vibrant variety of climate and culture across its length and breadth. This automatically translates into architecture. Common sense and context have always been the ideology guiding buildings. This is why we can see a great number of ageless buildings that have sustained the onslaught of time, both in their structure and activity.
We, the youth of India, have experienced a sea of change within our lifetimes. After the liberalization of the economy in 1991, global forces have influenced our lives in a big way. Though this has done wonders for education, employment and the G.D.P., it is sad when one pauses to think what all we have lost in the way.
Today life has come full circle. Resources are running low and architects the world over are grappling for green and sustainable solutions. We, a developing nation, have seen both-the simplicity of a traditional lifestyle revering and respecting nature and the current high consumption attitudes. The knowledge of the difference between the two should be our armory as future designers.
Study of the local vernacular styles does not feature in our regular undergraduate syllabus and is sometimes added as an elective. So by the end of five years we accept steel sections and artificial air conditioning as the norm but are at sea about adobe, sloping roofs and wind tunnels. Maybe we are done severing our connection to the very roots that sustain us. It is time to make a journey back home.

2.1 Stage One : Tradition
Duration: June 15th-July 30th

Students are encouraged to pick a structure which exemplifies local architectural traditions. It may be their grandmother’s house where they have spent many a summer holidays, a building they pass by everyday to college or their very own houses. It may even be an urban open space, market or some aspect of indigenous town planning. The aim is to study and explore the structure in terms of its natural, social and traditional context. The uniqueness of the construction style, materials used and technologies adopted must be explored. Original research work and associative links will be given precedence.

Teams - maximum two undergraduate students of architecture can participate.
Registration- Teams can regester by mailing the following information to translatingtraditions@gmail.com -
1.Name of participants
2. College and address
3.Year of study
4.contact numbers
Regestration deadline- 22nd July,2009

Submission- photographs, plans, elevations, sections, views, sketches and text composed on a maximum of 5 A3 sheets and submitted online. Students who wish to hand draft can post the sheets with scans or photographs of the same posted online.
Submission deadline- July 30th,2009

August 5th - top 25% of all the entries qualify for the second round.

2.2 Stage two: Translation
Duration: August 5th -September 10th, 2009

Students are required to prepare proposals on how they intend to maintain the continuity of the structure and the wisdom it carries when the values and customs that sustained it are fast eroding. These may be schemes to adopt constructional wisdom to make new buildings cost-effective and green, to successfully bring the building back to life and integrating it with everyday community life or something radically different.
Submission- Plans, elevations, sections, views, sketches and text composed on a maximum of 4 A2 sheets and posted to Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi.

Winners announced – 15th September,2009

Winners will be invited to Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi. All final stage entries will be exhibited. A seminar session with lectures by the jury members and presentations by the winning teams followed by an open discussion with the audience will be organized.

3.1 Prize

First Prize - USD 1000
Second Prize - USD 750
Third Prize - USD 500
Special Mention- USD 250

4.1 Contact -

Translating Traditions
Department of Architecture
Birla Institute of Technology
Mesra, Ranchi -835215

email- translatingtraditions@gmail.com

5.1 2009 BERKELEY PRIZE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FELLOWSHIP

In 2008, the BERKELEY PRIZE Committee established the Architectural Design Fellowship Competition. This prize aims to foster the study of the social art of architecture by sponsoring local and regional design competitions developed and run by students.This competition challenges the candidates to produce a thorough and practical proposal for a design competition that would benefit a selected region or institution. Your competition should be based on some aspect of the Essay you have submitted in response to the current year’s topic of Sustainable Design/Traditional Wisdom. It is intended that your competition should be concluded before the end of 2009.The successful candidate will be provided with funds to support the competition and to provide individual cash prizes. You will be asked to name a Faculty or Administrative Advisor within your academic institution for your competition. He or she must agree to assist you with any professional guidance needed to make the competition a success. It will be up to you, however, to decide the scope of the competition, how you intend to publicize it, establish the entry requirements, select judges, and determine the awards. You will be asked to provide the BERKELEY PRIZE with periodic updates on the progress of your competition and a final report on the results, all of which will be posted on the BERKELEY PRIZE website.
For more information- http://www.berkeleyprize.org/