Riya's Riyaaz

The first master's design studio was based in the Dayton neighborhood in Newark. We were put into teams by Justine Shapiro Kline, our studio professor and assigned topics based on our preliminary research interests at the beginning of class. This is the first time I would know the meaning of team effort. Apart from the group work, there was important base work to be done for the class, for which students volunteered happily.  We began by modelling our site on GIS(Geographic Information System) and Rhino, two software's that I was unfamiliar with but eventually got a hang of. The semester was structured in a way that we get plenty time for research in the beginning, create a narrative for our future goal, work at a larger scale to understand the context of the site, which would transition into familiarizing ourselves with the site, discussing various stakeholders and precedents; the knowledge of which would help us design and work towards our stated goal. Our group - The Data an

Life is like a movie     ~ Rupali Gupte Life at SEA (School of Environment and Architecture) has been extraordinary. February 7th, '20 called for a celebration, as SEA would complete it's first five years, the first batch would graduate. The preparations for the five year event was undertone, we only realized the enormity of the event later. Jury, rather scholars were invited from around the world for the event, followed by a SEA city event on the next day. The event took place in Nehru Science Centre, designed by Achyut Kanvinde, adding metaphorical significance. A week before the event I received a phone call from Shreyank, they would like me to present student work, along with five other students. I was thrilled and nervous at the same time. Us students, with Shreyank and Rohit spent hours preparing for the day. While the last day of school(in April), did not feel as the end, the anticipation of the event was a reminder that we were closer to saying

Streets of Goa Ini Chatterjee's house in the making Nisha's Play School Kala Academy Our everyday ferry ride  

Last year, in April, we began discussing research ideas and alternatives for our thesis dissertation with Prasad. Individually we listed our interests and as a class through discussions and arguments the ideas were sharpened. The process to be followed over the next 6 months was categorical and simple. Needless to say executing it was a complex and exhaustive task. Over the summer we would work on the What, Why, Where and How of our research topic. Notes of the various ideas discussed in class Architecture of Watching - The inquiry towards my research stemmed from a personal experience. We know that watching is a common act. We probably do not pay heed to this subject. Although it did intrigue me, to find whether architectural built form is connected to the subject. How does watching affect human behavior and architecture promote such watching conditions? Following is an excerpt from my research book - "When a person steps out of their house, their movement is seen b