Since the existence of human mankind, the innate desire of humans have been to longing a more comfortable living but at the same time challenging human potential to seek more exposure and explore more around the world. This natural tendency to create and produce is quite a natural and intuitive instinct of the human race. Thus Architecture and Design is one of the professions which allows you to continue to seek for exploration and create impeccable experiences for the humans to witness and imbibe which is quite an innate tendency of human instinct. Anyhow, the profession in turn also needs a certain kind of dedication and discipline of its own which is quite unlike to other professions on the row. It is quite well articulated in words that "Architecture and Design is a lifestyle and not merely just a profession".
The Architecture and Design colleges have to cultivate a culture of design well infused into their lifestyle and embellish it in their attitude
The main goal of the Architectural education as a college degree is quite distinct from the other types of contrasting technical education, creating technically sound professionals. The Architecture and Design colleges have to cultivate a culture of design well infused into their lifestyle and embellish it in their attitude. To nurture such sort of culture into the students with a completely different set of prejudices in their head is a big deal which not many design colleges are able to create. However, there are colleges in India which have kept this sort of inclusive culture of education quite intact and some, which have been successful in creating one.
The Requirements
As mentioned before, the profession demands from their professionals a certain discipline and dedication to avoid rusting their creative mind refraining to move back to wanted ones. There are certain set of principles which an architect, designer and other creative folks shall abide by in order to keep their brains fertile and alive.
1. The power to question: In practice, the power to question act as quite a vital tool to prove your purpose, function, and need of particular design. This enables you to think why and what happened in the past and what shall be used to cater for the needs further.
2. Think Unconventional: This is a very important tool to remain creative and not get habituated by the rules of the past. This motivates you to do problem-solving with a completely different set of mindset to the one which actually created it.
3. Forecast future: This set of principle takes you on a journey to predict future and jot down its needs and challenges. This kind of visualization lets you think freely and prepares one for the challenges further delving into new researches tackling issues on Design, construction, demography, climate change etc.
4. Transform and Evolve: These principle aspects are very necessary in order to maintain the pace of the quick evolving and transformational characteristics of the world. This requires the creative folk to quickly adapt to emerging needs of the society and equip themselves with skills and techniques which would be needed tomorrow.
Architecture and Design Education:
Architectural and Design education has got a very distinct set of challenges in India as compared to other countries. However, it is still evolving and much emphasis is being led on making it more interactive, practical and holistic. Firstly, the students are trained to jettison their preconceived notions and think freely in great fervor. This challenges their complete upbringing and their trapped mindset and makes them think beyond limitations. Secondly, the colleges try to inculcate in them a design culture to alter their perception to look at things. This enhances their power to observe thinking critically and twist their approach to problem-solving completely.
Thirdly, this education requires the creative folk to create their unique identity with specializing knowledge and interests which helps them further to create their own niche in the industry. Fourthly and lastly, the approach to education to students of design is quite informal and practical to make them not fit in the box but inspires them to break and create their own rules to design, approach projects, clients, and handling. Thus the overall zest of Architectural and design education is to create professionals with unconventional thinking and out of the box approach to problem-solving while teaching them informally for quite a formal sector.
The Architectural and Design education in India is one of the fulfilling professions of the time which uses an amalgamation of logic and design sense combine with technology in appropriate proportions to cater to the needs of the audience. Thus, to impart such an education, the challenges are quite diverse and distinct to other streams. However, there are few new Design schools sprung up which have been quite successful in imparting such an ambiance to their students. Schools with interdisciplinary disciplines have got an amazing potential to exposure and leveraging skill and expertise among its distinct departments for a more collaborative and sound learning with explorations and diverse pool of knowledge to share and excel.
Adil Afsar
Graduated in B. Arch, Post graduated in M. Design from SPA, New Delhi, he is a practicing Architect/Product Designer and founder of "Adil Design Stoodio", specializing in Interiors, Lighting and Product Design. He is also a guest faculty to renowned institutions like Sharda University, Pearl Acadamy, Amity University and Sunder Deep School of Architecture.
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