The intention of the Kurula Varkey Design Forum has been to curate discussions centered around the thoughts of students and young graduates. It has constantly tried to bring the agency which students hold, to forefront; to provide a platform for students to display their opinions to the profession they’ll be entering soon. Writing becomes a tool to examine one’s own thoughts; at the same time it provides an important platform to express one’s voice to a larger community.
Theme:
The processes which create, alter, and dismantle the built environment, are layered by multiple influences forming a complex ecosystem. These influences include but are not limited to political, social, ecological, and economic aspects. Within this system lie various entities, for example, communities (professional/non-professional), flora and fauna, natural resources etc. These entities use various methods and agencies, ranging from local to global; existing to potential; introspective to outward-looking, thus forming a web of (inter)dependencies.
The existence of these dependencies and their influence on the built environment is undeniable. With the world advancing towards a more collaborative paradigm, does it become necessary for the profession to assess its standing in this network? What is the locus of a professional in this complex ecosystem? By acknowledging and factoring these ties of the lattice within which it operates, would architecture become increasingly serviceable to a larger sphere?
