Contemporary water infrastructure is not designed to connect with the common people, resulting in loss of value and engagement with the dynamics of water. Reviving this relationship is important to create awareness and imbibe sensitivity to align modern life with the natural dynamics of water in a semiarid climate. This studio identified and analyzed multidimensional water systems that have evolved from protohistory to modern day, in order to design a socially operative design insert for the modern city. The studio mapped natural water systems as well as physical and sociocultural (management) attitudes to water, historical as well as modern. Inferences from each system and attitude were used to build a systemic thinking web and tested against contemporary attitudes. Students explored brief making through transformations in linkages between elements. These transformations were abstracted to arrive at a design framework that integrated physical as well as social operations. The design framework was applied to selected sites in order to create a hypermodern water infrastructure that mimicked a natural continuous loop while also engaging with the society.
