Specialising in sustainable design is an idea that has picked up within this decade, with several renowned institutions offering sustainability focused programs. Predominantly these programs choose to enroll a multidisciplinary batch of students for promoting interchanging of diverse ideas. Whether this is beneficial for specialising in sustainability is something that remains questionable. For understanding how such programs truly work and what do they equip a student with, DesignTerrains held an interview with Krithika Prakash, who is an alumna of the National University of Singapore and had undertaken masters in their leading sustainability program.

About Krithika Prakash

After graduating in 2015 with a bachelors in architecture, Krithika worked as an architect in Bangalore and Hyderabad before bending her career towards sustainability. She has a masters from National University of Singapore in Integrated Sustainable Design and at present is with Arth Design Build, Singapore as a BIM Coordinator.

MSc Integrated Sustainable Design, NUS

Focused on sustainable urbanisation of Asian cities, this one year post professional course at National University of Singapore is one of the top ranked sustainability course in the world. It encompasses a multidisciplinary approach and covers technical and spatial knowledge required to work in the domain of sustainability.

However, it is imperative to know whether the course is able to achieve what it claims. To understand its strengths and shortcomings, we are thankful to Krithika for taking out time and giving our readers an inside overview of the ISD program.

If you are considering applying to NUS for this course, this piece of conversation will benefit you in many ways!

DesignTerrains (DT): How early in your career, did you realize your inclination towards sustainable design?

Krithika Prakash (KP): Sustainability is at the forefront when it comes to tackling most major issues globally today. As an architect and a designer, I felt we as a profession are morally obliged to play a bigger role in this and set a path for the future. During my undergrad and then while I was working post that, I constantly read about what’s happening in the field of Building Design and Construction in terms of sustainability and it eventually seemed like the obvious path to choose if I were to pursue a Master’s Degree.

Tunisha Mehta

Tunisha is the founder of altARQ collaborative and is currently working with the Bihar State Government to spearhead an international collaboration of volunteers from multiple disciplines for new urban studies’ exploration and implementation.

As an architect, she had her professional training from Design Atelier – Bangalore, Junya.Ishigami+Associates – Tokyo and Mangera Yvars Architects – Barcelona. Having worked in India, Japan and Spain, she firmly believes a deep contextual understanding is key to any veritable set-up.

altARQ

altARQ collaborative is a consultancy practice rooted in architecture and urbanism for The Global South. They work with crossovers of multiple disciplines to system think and design for problem-solving with r-urban resilience, sustainability, and spatial equity as their core concepts. The practice is anchored in the r-urban development of Bihar, India.

Project Patna

A research-driven call-to-action initiative by altARQ to rethink Patna’s Urban dynamics, generating new insights for urban planning and governance. The project is in the team-building phase and is openly inviting architects, urbanists, geographers, economists, and policy analysts to join in. Tunisha believes that the germination of this project has a distant vision of adopting urban resilience and spatial justice in the existing Indian cities.

The Carbon Casbah

The project is a design exploration into Carbon Sequestration and Negative Emission Schemes as a material allegory to the Sundarbans’ Mangroves. It is designed with locally available and low embodied impact materials like bamboo, wood, soil, and biochar-concrete, that sequester carbon than with materials that emit carbon in their lifecycle. It was designed as a housing solution for the Sundarbanis, as scaling it up into social collectives- according to the needs of the populace- with careful adoption of alternate economies favouring the conservation of biodiversity should help create sustainable communities and generate resilience to climate change.   

In conversation with us, Tunisha brings forth the true meaning of an unconventional practice and the need for compassionate research on civic issues. Read on to find interesting insights into her practice and projects!

DesignTerrains (DT): altARQ is a great initiative! When did you first conceive the idea of a research-based practice?

Tunisha Mehta (TM): Thanks, so is DesignTerrains! It’s so critical to foster among students and professionals empathy towards the climate.
So the distant goal is to have a larger, more meaningful impact on the planet and all its beings. The idea germinated very early on during the final year of university as “alternative architecture.” Those days, I was a huge fan of alt-rock and prog-rock music; these genres are quite distinct from mainstream and commercial music. Inspired by this and hence, altARQ does not recognise itself as only an architecture studio, it’d rather be a testbed for ideas and innovations.

The practice intends to break boundaries of mainstream architecture practice and go beyond the disciplinary silos. Gradually, I hope to shift the practice of altARQ to international development with architecture and urbanism feeding insights to it.  

Farah Naz Ahmad is a Registered Architect with NCARB, LEED AP, a sustainable design professional and now working as a government official on public projects in New York. She graduated in 2012 from City College of New York, with a bachelors in architecture. Her role as Student Communications Project Leader for the CCNY team at Solar Decathlon 2011, has had a huge impact on her current career choice.

She also served as the President of American Institute of Architecture Students chapter at CCNY. As an observer, she attended the signing of Paris Agreement for Climate Change on Earth Day 2016, and has shared few clips from the day at UN headquarters on her blog. She actively engages with students and professionals via Twitter @farah_arch and Instagram @renewablefarah.

Born and brought up in New York, she has a keen interest in the way city is responding to the climate change and green architecture. In conversation with DesignTerrains, she hints on the factors influencing building sustainably in the US and her personal journey as a sustainable design architect.

DesignTerrains (DT) : How early in your career did you start thinking about energy efficiency in buildings?

Farah Ahmad (FA) : Professionally one of my first role was working on an energy engineering project in the public schools of New York city. That particular project involved energy savings for public schools that were 30,000 sq. ft. buildings to 300,000 sq. ft. buildings. What we were doing was replacing older lighting fixtures with more energy efficient ones.

Led by a team of two, atpX is a multidisciplinary international design practice that has evolved out of curiosity for a balance between the innovation and tradition.

With GenRes 18 (Generate Resilience) being the founding community project, the practice is now immersed in research and innovation based – LivingLab, Project Neer, The Oasis, 100 Doors, The Router, along with many others.

atpX team : Alisha Raman & Sarvesh Singh

Alisha Raman and Sarvesh Singh began their design quest for bamboo construction early in their graduation in India, which has now proliferated as design derivative exploration of community practices, technological and material alternatives, parametrics, traditional crafts and more.

In conversation with DesignTerrains, the team brings forward their journey so far along with upturning reflections on their practice and projects. Read on to discover more about the visions steering their work!

DesignTerrains (DT) : You have come a long way since GenRes18 at Majuli Island in Assam. How do you look back and consider its success in establishing atpX?

atpX (AX) : So kind of you to say this. Reflecting on that experience, there has been one key learning – that the most effective solutions often stem from the most uncertain places and not knowing can potentially be a blessing.

We’re still not sure if the project is a success, at least in conventional metrics, probably because so much of it doesn’t conform to what you would call industrial norms. But, it certainly tries to respond mindfully to its environment and perhaps this awareness led to the genesis of our praxis.