SAMEEP PADORA >>

Lately the exposure of Indian designers to international contemporary works has vastly increased…compared to, say 5 years ago, when colleges were abuzz with works of Kahn and Mies, today more students are aware of Daniel Libeskind and other contemporary architects…how has this affected the general perception of design awareness and you as a designer…
There is definitely a growing awareness of contemporary architecture from the world over but I think there is need to exercise caution in transcribing to international high profile works as in a formal translation and to contemplate the essence and process rather than its literal manifestation.

In the Indian context, in the post Correa - Doshi - Rewal era, India is looking for new heroes… your comments on the work young architects are doing and the kind of impact they can have in shaping the Indian built environment.
In view of the present condition shaping the Indian built environment I think there is a need to weave personal aesthetic/design language with larger paradigms of socio-cultural reform. The work of Rural Studio in America and the work of Barefoot College and Rajendra Singh closer home are references to directions that the young guard should take to address matters pertaining to social reform.

India still does not have a culture of educating the masses about design and aesthetics of the built environment, unlike Europe and of lately the US, where public competitions and debates are a commonplace. Comment.
The social structure of India is a logistical nightmare, with its ever increasing population and its demands on the economic fabric. The priority of the majority that still lives in rural India is far removed from imposed aesthetic manifestations. To truly address a design sensibility that has validity in conditions apart from the urban, one must reevaluate the role of design and its nature in everyday life.
An effort to educate is of paramount importance and needs to be initiated at a grass root level, to attempt to negotiate a growing insular attitude in the younger members of urban society.
But I think that the awarding of public projects must be routed through the media of open competitions with great transparency to encourage the younger generation to assume greater responsibility in the public realm.

Sameep Padora has also been featured in the The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture.

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