Welcome to SNAP Studio!

Snap Studio is where design meets play – a hands-on series of 6 mini design challenges that blends learning, creativity, and social engagement. Each of the short engagements invites you to explore, imagine, and design for change. Each SNAP engagement blends creativity, curiosity, and social impact to bring together real design themes. This also allows participants to gain early access to the BAC ecosystem and join a community of curious minds who believe design can make a difference.

Every SNAP Studio round features a series of mini design prompts – quick, creative, and open-ended. You will receive curated video primers and short briefs designed to spark your imagination.

  • This initiative is about learning to observe, question, and respond to the world

  • Well, it’s that simple

    Watch the prompt, create your idea and share it with the world

  • Here’s what you will discover

    Think glocally, build a portfolio that tells real stories, communication with purpose & adapt and empathize

Submission Process

Step 1: Watch the Prompt video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MszG4Jhynx0

Step 2: Put down your idea as a response in any medium of your choice. This could be a sketch, a model, or a instagram reel/story/post

Step 3: Share it with the world by 

  • uploading it Instagram as a story/post/reel on your handle

  • tagging @acedge.in, @thebacboston, and your Institution handle. 

  • Mandatory hashtags: #SnapStudio #BACxAcedge #designforall 

Other hashtags that you could add to your upload to increase outreach would be #TraditionalWisdom #SustainableDesign #TraditionalCraft #DesignInnovation #CraftRevival #ContemporaryArchitecture

In case a participant chooses not to participate via social media, they can fill up the google form only and submit their work. Project relevant images will be shared by the organisers on social media platforms only if consent is given by the participants in the Google form. 

THEMES FOR THE SNAP PROMPTS

  • Universal Design / Accessibility

  • Sustainability / Climate Justice

  • Traditional Wisdom

  • Design Literacy

  • Affordable Design

  • Social Justice

PROMPT 3: Craft in the City

Traditional Wisdom / BODH

  • Task

    Select a local craft technique such as weaving, pottery, stone carving, or bamboo work and study its core qualities. Instead of simply copying its motifs, reinterpret its technique into a functional modern urban design element like a bus stop, public seating system, façade screen, lighting installation, or pavilion. The goal is to translate the craft’s structural intelligence into contemporary materials and urban needs

  • Format

    Moodboard: Showing craft references, textures, and urban inspiration / Collage: Blending traditional and modern contexts / Visual: Sketch, or digital illustration / Optional: Short reel (1 min max) narrating your story visually or orally.

  • Tag

    #TraditionalWisdom #SustainableDesign #TraditionalCraft #DesignInnovation #CraftRevival #ContemporaryArchitecture

CONTEXT

Across India, local craft traditions like weaving, pottery, stone carving, and bamboo work have shaped our cultural and material landscape for centuries. These techniques were never merely decorative — they were intelligent systems of climate response, resource efficiency, and community identity. From breathable woven structures to cooling terracotta forms and light-filtering stone jalis, traditional crafts demonstrate a deep understanding of environment and material.

Yet, as cities expand, these craft logics are often replaced by uniform, industrial materials that disconnect us from climate-responsive design and cultural memory. If design is about reimagining the future, then perhaps the wisdom embedded in these crafts must be brought back into contemporary urban spaces. By reinterpreting traditional techniques into modern public infrastructure, we can create cities that are not only sustainable and functional but also rooted in heritage and identity.

Design Prompt

Select a local craft technique such as weaving, pottery, stone carving, or bamboo work and study its core qualities — material logic, patterns, structure, joinery, texture, and cultural meaning. Instead of simply copying its motifs, reinterpret its technique into a functional modern urban design element like a bus stop, public seating system, façade screen, lighting installation, or pavilion. The goal is to translate the craft’s structural intelligence into contemporary materials and urban needs — for example, weaving can inspire ventilated metal façade systems, pottery can inform modular cooling benches, or stone carving can become light-filtering concrete panels in metro stations.

  • How can weaving inspire ventilated metal façade systems?
  • How can pottery be used to inform modular cooling benches?
  • How can stone carving become light-filtering concrete panels to use in metro stations?

Dragana Bogavac on Local Craft Traditions for Snap Studio Prompt 3: Craft in the City

About BAC

The Boston Architectural College began as a professional club in 1889. In 1971, they became the first accredited architecture program with a work component in the US. Since then, they have introduced programs in interior architecture, landscape architecture, and design studies.

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About Ethos | Acedge | Arcause

In the dynamic world of architecture, design, and construction (ACED), staying updated with the latest techniques and materials is crucial. Ethos | Acedge has been at the forefront of providing quality education and nurturing young talents in the industry since 2017, while Ethos has been working on outside-the-classroom efforts since 2002. With a mission to instill essential human values alongside professional skills, Acedge has emerged as a trusted online education platform for architects and designers across the country.

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