Design Hackathon Output

There is a sculpture garden in the making in Eco Park. This is near the butterfly garden. I proposed the space for a "light sculpture" project to the Hackathon Team that worked on 29-31 March 2016 in New Town. The picture above shows the idea of it. I quite liked it and would take it forward in co-ordination with the Indian Institute of Architects in due course.

Here is a narrative of what happened (edited from an account by IIA; I was not able to be present on 31st March when the outputs were being presented:

"... 29th, 30th and 31st March 2016 – An Urban Design Hackathon with the objective of arriving at design solutions for six locations in the New Town area was organised at Rabindra Tirtha as a collaborative effort by The West Bengal Chapter of Indian Institute of Architects, NKDA and WBHIDCO . Mr.Debashis Sen, Chairman of HIDCO set the tone for the design charrette on the first day by asking all the participants to think out-of-the-box but at the same time urged them to ensure that implementable solutions emerge out of the ideation exercise.
‎     The effort brought together students of architecture, art and design from institutions offering these disciplines in West Bengal. The colleges that participated included Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology Shibpur, Jadavpur University Kolkata, Om Dayal Group of Institutions Uluberia, IIT Kharagpur, Silpa Sadan Santiniketan, and NIFT Kolkata. There were 6 areas of design ideation – a Canal front, a Sensory Park for the physically challenged, Metro pillars and the area in between, a Lighting Sculpture, Streetscapes and Vendor Kiosks. In around 40 hrs of non-stop work eight teams developed design proposals with each team being guided by a young architect as a team mentor. The three days saw different eminent architects and urban designers, graphic and visual artists and technologists spending time with the teams to support the brainstorming. Such coming together and interdisciplinary convergence as a team is indeed unique.
      The intense 40+ hours of brainstorming culminated in a presentation before an august audience including many eminent architects of Kolkata.
This collaborative exercise between professionals of the city and the government bodies could be the beginning of a new model for generating ideas for a better city...."

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Clipping:

Aajkal dt 7 April 2016