Balance Need and Sustainability in Post-flood Rebuilding: Experts at #Design Kerala Summit

KOCHI:
Striking a proper balance between development and sustainability is crucial in post-flood rebuilding of Kerala to avoid future shocks, emphasised leading architects and designers in their key-note presentations at the #Design Kerala Summit 2018 here on the second day of the event on Wednesday.

Noting that this approach called for taking a critical look at the prevailing practices and evolving a new set of design and construction parameters, they said that recognising the codes of nature and its own defence mechanism is important in this process.

A paradigm shift in building practices demands “unlearning and re-learning” by architects and designers to ensure that the future constructions go in tune with the ecosystem, they said. Kicking off the discussion, Durganand Balsavar, Editor, Journal of Architecture, Arts and Ideas said “We need to build, but we need to look into what we build and find the balance between development and sustainability”.

Dr. Darlie Koshy, Director General and CEO IAM, ATDC, and former director NID, said it is necessary to know the land before building on it. Abhimanyu Nohwar, Founder Kiba Designs, said a designer is a catalyst, a channel and a facilitator of change who helps build the solution by incorporating the ideas and the experiences of many others including those who live in sync with the ground reality on where we presume to rebuild.

Bijoy Ramachandran, Founder, HundredHands, said disaster-affected communities have rich knowledge of the ecosystem they live in, which can be harnessed when building solutions. He showcased projects in tsunami-affected Tharangambadi and Chinnangudi in Tamil Nadu, which used local techniques and engineers at low costs in rebuilding.

“Buildings and settlements should be repositories of meaning; a sustainable place needs to be beautiful too,” Ramachandran added. The two-day summit is organized by the Kerala Government to leverage path-breaking design solutions in rebuilding the flood-ravaged Kerala.

The summit forms the key segment of India’s largest design festival, ‘Kochi Design Week’, at Bolgatty Convention Centre, attended by leading design luminaries, architects and decision-makers from around the world.