Session Highlights
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Ethos Foundation highlighted six key pillars that reflect its holistic approach: ShramA (Shramik Action): Supporting the hands that build – our construction workers. SAaTh (Sustainability in Action and Thought): Promoting sustainability in action and thought. SVa-Des (See Value in Design): Enhancing design literacy. UDita (Universal Design is the answer): Fostering inclusivity through universal design. BODH (Building on Design Histories): Preserving traditional design wisdom through building on design histories. ADaR (Affordable Design, a Right): Advocating for affordable design as a right, ensuring equitable access to good design.
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Madhavi Desai, architect, researcher, and writer, has been instrumental in foregrounding questions of gender within architectural history and discourse in India. Through her extensive research and publications, including Women Architects and Modernism in India and her editorial work on gender and the built environment, she examines how domesticity, modernism, and everyday life intersect in both private and urban spaces.
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Rosie Paul, co-founder of Masons Ink Studio, leads gender initiatives within the studio’s practice. Her work engages closely with women construction workers and site-based labour, bringing attention to the often-overlooked contributors to the built environment. Through participatory processes and grounded engagement, her practice challenges conventional hierarchies within architecture and foregrounds collaboration, equity, and lived experience in construction ecosystems.
About the Speaker
Madhavi Desai
Madhavi Desai is an architect, researcher, writer, and teacher. She was an adjunct faculty at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, (1986-2018). She has held Research Fellowships from the ICSSR and SARAI, Delhi, as well as the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT and the Getty Foundation in the USA. She is a co-founder of Women Architects Forum and, more recently, the Feminist Collective in Architecture. She is the co-author, author, and editor of 7 books on Indian architecture, especially (Editor) Gender and the Built Environment in India, Zubaan (2007, 2023) and (Editor) Gender and the Indian City, South Asia Press, New Delhi (2022) and (Author) Women Architects and Modernism in India, Routledge (2017).
Rosie Paul
Before setting up her own practice, Rosie Paul was the Head Architect at the Auroville Earth Institute. She holds a postgraduate degree in Earthen Architecture, Local Building Cultures, and Sustainable Habitat from CRA Terre, France - The UNESCO Chair for Earthen Architecture. She has been involved with several projects executed using earth technologies both locally and internationally, including Egypt, Morocco and France. She is an issue lead on women and gender with Climate Heritage Network and has represented South Asia at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 and COP27.
About Sense N Sensibility
Sense N Sensibility (SNS) is a lecture series by ACEDGE, to allow access to expert viewpoints, from across the globe. These experts would demonstrate, through their choices, experiments and lessons, multiple vantage points for 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 are 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, travellers, industrial entrepreneurs, and many others.
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.
The fourth lecture was by Ar. Rafiq Azam of SHATOTTO Architecture of Green Living on Phenomenal Practice and Thought-provoking Explorations on the field of Architecture and recent Urban Interventions.
The fifth lecture was by Ar. Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan's first female architect. She spoke on lowering the Carbon Footprint: Humanistic Architecture for Post-COVID-19 World.
The sixth lecture by Ar. Krishna Rao Jaisim and Ar Narendra Dengle iterated the relevance and applicability of the underlying concepts of the Gandhian philosophy.
The seventh lecture conducted by Ar. Shirish Beri talked about the importance of architecture in shaping human behaviour.
The eighth lecture by Ar. Prasanna Desai and Ar. Amit Gupta elaborated on Design Research in Practice and Pedagogy.
The ninth lecture by Dr. Anupama Kundoo talked about the social and environmental duties of an Architect.
The tenth lecture by Prof. Neelkanth Chhaya was an edition to commemorate the Teacher's Day as he shared anecdotes and insights on Learning and Teaching in Architecture.
The eleventh lecture by Prof. Habeeb Khan, former president of CoA, was a deliberation to discuss NEP, Admission and, Exit test and much more.
The 12th lecture by Poonam Natarajan and Ar. Shivani Shah shared how Universal Design can be the guiding principle to shape our spaces inclusively.
The 13th lecture was by Jugadopolis, Ronojoy Sen and Shyamal Datta on Traditional Wisdom and Vernacular Architecture.
The 14th lecture focussed on Construction workers under the ShramA-Project Dignity. We spoke with Nari Puraskar winner Rani Mistry, Sunita Bhagat- a conversation of resilience, teamwork, and the skills of construction workers.
The 15th lecture was by Ar. Lakshmi Swaminathan on exploring the wisdom of Didi Contractor, followed by a discussion with Naresh Bhai on indigenous wisdom in contemporary architecture for World Indigenous People's Day.
The 16th SNS was a lecture by Neelkanth Chhaya, Riyaz Tayyibji, and Tridip Suhrud sharing insights from their book Gandhi’s Places: An Architectural Documentation. Discover the architectural significance and cultural impact of Gandhi’s key locations through their expert perspectives.
The 17th lecture was dedicated to a discussion on harnessing rainwater for sustainable living by Vishwanath Srikantaiah a.k.a. The Rain Man of Bengaluru also known as the Zenrainman followed by a lecture by Kalpana Ramesh - ‘Water Warrior’ known for The Rainwater Project.
The 18th Sense N Sensibility, featured Chitra Vishwanath and Sanjay Prakash. They discussed sustainable design approaches. This event also marked the launch of the Mphasis F1 Mentorship Program. As they talked about various strategies and explored project demonstrations.
SNS 19.0, Designing from the Ground Up, featured Ar. Zeenat Niazi & Ar. Pooja Khairnar in conversation. The session explored how circular economy & community-rooted studio practices can reimagine design responses to real-world challenges.
The 20th Sense of Sensibility, Forms of Freedom: Voices of Earth and Voices of the People, featured Ar. Aditya Sharma and Ms. Sushma Iyengar in conversation. The session explored how the unique voices of people, communities, and ecosystems stand apart in their individuality but come together in harmony to shape a shared future.
The 21st Sense of Sensibility, Materials of Meaning, featured Ar. Areen Attari and Ar. Neelam Manjunath in conversation. The session explored how materials speak beyond form, serving as signifiers of cultural and social contexts in built environments.
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