Sense N Sensibility 4.0
A web lecture series on holistic thinking
About Sense and Sensibility
Sense n Sensibility (SnS) is a lecture series by ACEDGE, to give institutions access to expert viewpoints, from across the globe, on the Indian Subcontinent. These experts would demonstrate, through their choices, experiments and lessons, multiple vantages of developing and exploring design.
Sense n Sensibility is about integration and the big picture. We seek to dishevel the older notions of compartmentalisation of knowledge and introduce learners across the country to collaborative and interdisciplinary studies. Many of our speakers will be experts from varied fields- a mayor, a grassroots social worker who works towards community empowerment, an engineer working to resolve water-crisis, sustainability experts, social scientists, travelers, industrial entrepreneurs, and many others.
Our young designers need to have a holistic understanding of concepts, systems and processes. They should be sensitive and empathetic towards the needs of all strata of the society. They should learn to balance ecology and micro-environments in their sites. They should appreciate bottom-up planning proposals as well as participative processes. They should also understand the political scenario, be actively involved with the bureaucracy and suggest ways to improve central and local systems. We need our young designers to connect with one another, share ideas, have healthy discussions and passionately speak for their cause. Architecture and design will, thus, balance nature and culture. Young minds will learn to reflect upon ecology, archaeology, anthropology, psychology, aesthetics and technology to develop holistic solutions.
The inaugural lecture for the SnS series was delivered by Architect George Ferguson, Past President RIBA (2003/5) and first elected Mayor of Bristol UK (2012-16). On the other side of the globe, Architect Ferguson, fought for the rights of a neighbourhood to remain ‘mixed’, against the monoculture promoted by developers.
The second lecture by Amit Pasricha celebrates the lesser-known built heritage of India and his Journey of the 'India- Lost and Found' Campaign.
The third lecture was by a Pritzker Jury member, André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, also Brazilian Ambassador to India. He spoke about Pritzker winning Laureates from the countries of India, Brazil and Japan.
SnS IV
Phenomenal Practice and Thought-Provoking Explorations in the Field of Architecture and Recent Urban Interventions
Md. Rafiq Azam
Founder, SHATOTTO architecture for green living
Md. Rafiq Azam is one of the internationally acclaimed architects from Bangladesh practicing for the last 27 years and developed a remarkable style of his own. His practice name is “SHATOTTO architecture for green living” since May 1995. In 2004, Rafiq Azam participated in “Glenn Murcutt Master Class” and selected as one of the ten emerging designers of the world by “Urban Land”, USA in 2008. He has won a line of national and international awards for his architectural contribution.
Previous Speakers
SnS I, II & III
George Ferguson
Past President RIBA (2003/5) and first elected Mayor of Bristol UK (2012-16
George Ferguson secured Bristol’s status as European Green Capital 2015, as a founder member of Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities and as a UNESCO Learning City. He has recently been appointed Bristol’s first International Ambassador.
From his Bristol based practice Ferguson Mann Architects he founded the UK wide group of architects, Acanthus, in 1986. He was also a founder of the Academy of Urbanism during his presidency of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
In the 90’s he developed the ‘Tobacco Factory’, a multi-use project, catalyst for the regeneration of South Bristol and a model for culture led city regeneration. He is also a restaurateur, brewer and social entrepreneur.
He has an international profile as an advocate for liveable cities and the global environment and has represented the European Commission, Eurocities, ICLEI, including at Paris COP21 and at the G7 2016 summit in Japan.
Amit Pasricha
Influencer
Amit Pasricha is one of the world’s celebrated panoramic photographers. He is well published and believes that photography, as the most powerful modern language of today, must be used to draw attention to those aspects that stand neglected.
Amit Pasricha’s lens looks at India the way few others do. One of the foremost panoramic photographers in the country, he uses a technique that stitches together multiple images to create a single image that is far larger or wider than a camera can capture, or indeed the human eye can take in at a glance.
A third-generation photographer, Pasricha, 51, has worked on several projects that have been turned into highly acclaimed coffee-table books. They include India at Home, a fascinating account of people from across India captured in their homes, and The Sacred India Book, which examines the role of religion in everyday life, all shot in his signature panoramic style.
André Aranha Corrêa do Lago
Brazilian Ambassador to India
André Corrêa do Lago is the Ambassador of Brazil to India and has served at the Brazilian Embassies in Japan, Madrid, Prague, Washington DC, Buenos Aires, and at the Mission to the European Union, in Brussels. Ambassador Corrêa do Lago, a recognised architectural critic, is also a distinguished author of several articles and books, including on the work of Oscar Niemeyer, Claudio Bernardes, and Paulo Jacobsen, and on Brazilian modern architecture. He was the curator of the Brazilian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2014, and is the jury of architecture’s most prestigious award, the Pritzker Architecture Prize.