Urban Design Workshop
In the tough times of COVID 19 impacting the education of students across the world, an initiative was taken to make the young aware about the public realm. The two months of rigorous studying revolved around the basics of mapping, climate-responsive architecture, the way public spaces function, the infrastructures that run in cities, and also designing universally accessible spaces for people. This in depth learning of different basics and bringing awareness about how things could be made better for the public, resulted in giving the students the vision and understanding to self navigate and explore the people-centric approach of urban design.
Words by the mentor:
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When the situations changed amidst the sudden lockdown, a lot of foundation year students went clueless about what lies ahead. They didn't have an understanding of how to make a portfolio, select studios, or even how to approach the higher level studio scenario when they lacked a lot of understanding about the basics of Urban Design. At this point, I thought that it'll be great to utilize these eight weeks in building their basics of Urban Design. In a short period of time, I created an 8 week: 8 modules plan to help them out.
In this learning platform, I incorporated eight modules that would help them grapple with the higher level studio requirements. The scope of this learning was limited to the basics of each module due to the time constraints. The key idea was to help them get familiar with the topics and be able to self-navigate in the future for in-depth learning.
Every module had its individual learning outcomes which were covered in a span of 7 days. Two to Three google meet sessions of 1.5 to 2 hours were kept every week for discussions where all students presented their work for feedback and discussions in order to enhance the quality of presentation and also build upon the understanding of each aspect.
Below are the modules covered through the learning platform:
Module 1: Mapping
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Module 2: Climate​
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Module 3: Systems of the city
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Module 4: Streets
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Module 5: Public Spaces​
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Module 6: Site Analysis
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Module 7: Utopian Design
Module 8: Contextual Design
Through these modules, I have tried incorporating multiple aspects through which the foundation students will have a thorough understanding of the basics of all of these which might help them in foundation program and also in higher-level studios. We have tried to the level best of utilizing these limitations into learning and doing something productive.
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The students have just started using and learning software. Despite challenges, the students were really focused and excited to make the most of it. A draft booklet is compiled by them and now they are working on the final version which will be updated shortly. They have also shared their experience in the 'Youth Talks' section.
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~ Arnav Prakash
