PUNE, India, September 19, 2018
The Grand Finale will be held on Saturday, September 22nd 2018 at the prestigious Dr Bhanuben Nanavati College Of Architecture For Women
Rohan Builders has announced the 10 finalists that will get a chance to present at the grand finale of the 3rd edition of The Drawing Board competition for architects. The Jury Members consist of Marina Tabassum – Principal Architect, Marina Tabassum Architects (Bangladesh) and winner of the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture; Soumitra Ghosh – Partner, Mathew and Ghosh Architects; and Medappa – Partner, Mindspace Architects.
Now in its 3rd year, The Drawing Board competition was conceptualised by Mindspace Architects and Rohan Builders as an attempt to provide students with real design challenges in real environments. The driving aim of the competition is to help students understand how architecture can play an important role in shaping the way communities live.
With this vision, the competition has received great support from the architecture community. The judges at The Drawing Board 2017 included Ar. Bijoy Ramachandran – Partner HunderdHands, Ar. Rahul Kadri of Kadri Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Ar. Sanjay Patil – Founder Envision Planners, and Ar. Prasanna Desai – Director, PVPCOA, Pune.
The Drawing Board competition is held in 2 stages. In the first stage, the students are shared the design challenge with the location, extent, contours, terrain, and the design expectations. The students submit their designs online. The entries are then shortlisted by a panel of architects, and top 10 are will a chance to present to a jury. The winning team of The Drawing Board gets to intern with Rohan Builders along with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000. The first runner-up gets Rs. 35,000 and the second runner-up gets Rs. 25,000. This year, the problem statement involved design of a multipurpose activity center located at the foot hills of Parvati hill temple.
Suhas Lunkad, Chairman & Managing Director of Rohan Builders, and the driving force behind The Drawing Board says, “How spaces and buildings are designed really affects how people feel and how they behave. So it becomes our responsibility to use architecture to improve the construct of our society. Ultimately, design is a tool to enhance our humanity. With ‘The Drawing Board’, we are making a small attempt to inculcate this ethos amongst the student community, who are the ‘architects’ of our future.”