The Design Village (TDV) organized a week-long Joint Summer Atelier for Students from TU Delft, Politecnico di Milano, and TDV
The Design Village (TDV) organized a week-long joint Summer Atelier in Noida and Chandigarh for students from TU Delft, Politecnico di Milano and internal students of TDV. The atelier theme was “Reimaging Context & Repositioning Paradigms”. This workshop aimed to empower students to envision and design mechanisms that enable critical understanding, appreciation, and identification with cities and their unique characteristics. The goal was to contribute to the development of sustainable, inclusive, and people-centric cities.
Throughout the intensive workshop, students were encouraged to think beyond, to reimagine and to assess through multiple lenses, employing interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies. TDV aims to nurture innovative solutions that transcend conventional notions of urban design, helping individuals forge a stronger connection with their surroundings by fostering critical observation and engagement.
Dr. Paul Hekkert Founding member at tdv and Head of Industrial design at TU Delft said “The Atelier was a transformative experience for all students: Traveling together in India, negotiating worldviews, and making sense of cultural peculiarities. It has been a week they will not easily forget. The experience was insane, and we learned so much. This should be the beginning of a yearly signature event for TDV.”
Dr. Valentina Auricchio, Phd,Assistant Professor at Politecnico Di Milano said “The summer workshop held in Noida at The Design Village has been a very intense experience for all international students. It was their first time in India and it was the first time we were bringing together three institutions in a full week of design exercises applied to reading cities. In my international experience I have worked in many contexts around the world to facilitate workshops with locals, but this was the first time I was bringing my students in such an experimental context. My aim was to encourage Italian students to go to India and allow them to experience the cultural differences given by working in such a diverse context. Beyond the design activities, observation and analysis, I believe that the students have lived a life learning experience which will for sure leave a mark for their future. As a professor, I have enjoyed allowing this to happen and I believe that this kind of educational activities should become part of a students curriculum.”
Speaking about the workshop Lena Ragade Gupta (B.Arch), Associate Dean, International Practice in Habitat Design at TDV said, “ Cities can be imagined, perceived, recorded, analyzed or assessed through multiple lenses. Chandigarh was designed as India’s first modern city; a grandiose acropolis, symbolic of a capital of a region and of an newly independent nation-state on the move. It was imagined as a European imprint in an Indian context. It therefore seemed most interesting to observe and analyze the city through unusual yet pertinent lenses built on a collection of perspectives of designers from very diverse backgrounds. “
Participants explored Noida and Chandigarh, two vibrant cities with distinct architectural styles and urban landscapes, drawing inspiration from their rich history, cultural heritage, and contemporary challenges.