Session Highlights
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Ar. Gita Balakrishnan will reflect on the journey of Ethos and the experiences that have shaped its work and evolving ecosystem. Through anecdotes and stories from across the Ethos ecosystem, she will bring out the diverse career pathways, choices, searches and turning points that have shaped the journeys of the people who have been part of it.
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The session will bring together different career trajectories emerging from design education from architectural practice and research to media, materials, technology, entrepreneurship, community initiatives and other allied fields. It will look at how the skills developed through design education can translate into diverse professional roles, and how careers are often shaped through exploration, experimentation and unexpected opportunities.
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For students and young architects, the conversation will offer a chance to discover possibilities beyond a single definition of an architectural career, learn from real professional journeys, and reflect on where their own skills and interests could take them.
About the Speaker
Ar. Gita Balakrishnan
Ar. Gita Balakrishnan, founder of Ethos and founding trustee of Ethos Foundation, is committed to making design socially responsive, inclusive and empathetic. A graduate of SPA New Delhi and trustee of AVAS, she has actively promoted Designing with Empathy and Designing for All through her initiative, Walk for Arcause.
Across six editions including a recent 100 km walk in Goa as part of the International Purple Fest, which promotes inclusion and accessibility, she has walked over 2,900 km across 14+ states in around 134 days, engaging with communities and raising awareness. Her first journey is chronicled in 1700 in 70, published by Rupa Publishers. Gita has been a speaker at over 200 events, including TEDx, and is known for her advocacy of thoughtful, empathetic and sustainable design. Her contributions have earned her multiple accolades, including the Woman of the Year Award 2023 by D-arc Build.
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.
The 22nd SNS, Gendered Realities of Everyday Urban Spaces, featured Ar. Madhavi Desai and Ar. Rosie Paul in conversation. The session explored how gender shapes the way cities are experienced, inhabited, and constructed in everyday life.
The 23rd SNS, How Spaces Store Stories: Mapping Memory Through Architecture, featured Ar. Shreyas Srivasta and Dr. Simin Patel in conversation. The session explored on how spaces become vessels of memory, culture and lived experiences.
The 24th SNS, Designing What Matters: People First. Better Places. Shared Futures. featuring Ar. Harshad Bhatia and Ar. Ruturaj Parikh in conversation. The session explored a dialogue on how designing matters to build better places and shared futures.