TA: Ann Shojan Equity, Agency and Proximity in Architecture
Architecture,in most cases, is seen as an intellectual exercise that operates in the realms of thought experiments and ideologies. In practice, however, architecture needs to respond to contingencies brought on by meanings of places, concerns for equity and resource boundaries. This studio will address this question of contingencies in design and detailing by engaging closely with complex sites in the city of Ahmedabad. The studio will be one long project divided in four parts, where the first part would introduce the site with all its complexities. The second part will get into tools and methods of engaging with the place and its stakeholders to understand the contingencies of the site. During this time, the participants will also identify feedback mechanisms that will be used to test their interventions. Part three will deal with transformative interventions and part four will focus on testing the intervention through feedback loops developed during part two.With this studio, the participants will learn to identify contingencies that will affect the architecture tectonic and arrive at tools and methods to address them in a particular context.The participants will also be able to critically articulate their individual agency as architects and the collective role of the profession.
