Design

The Design Studio is the backbone of the course. The KRVIA aims at training the students to make sensitive interventions in complex cultural landscapes through analysis and design. This search is consistently informed through readings from sources like film, literature or the visual arts that are introduced in the history and theory.

First year

Challenging Foundations
The first year design studios include Architecture Design and Basic Design. The aim is to deconstruct preconceived notions and introduce the students to new possibilities of conception. The design studio investigates the student’s own environment and experience. Issues of scale and environment are crucial at this stage. Methods of representation are developed through inputs from the visual studies and graphics courses. We hold a 10 day introductory foundation workshop at the beginning of the academic year.

Second year

Reconstituting the Self
The second year design studio includes Architectural Design and Interior Design. These aim at understanding tectonic and spatial possibilities through an investigation of domestic within a strong cultural context.

Third year

The Self and the Other
Architecture Design and Landscape Design constitute the third year design studio. Institutions and relationships of power and identity within architecture in them are examined here. A Student understands that architecture emerges from these and needs to engage with them. Issues concerning the environment are a part of the project and are elaborated in the landscape design studio.

Fourth year

Investigating Community Processes and Networks
The fourth year design studio investigates the complex social and economic forces that are shaping the city today. The first project might be institutional or infrastructural in nature, in the second we look at housing for community living within the pressures of a large metropolis. The Urban Design Course runs parallel to the Design Studio, informing and refining the projects.

Fifth year

Responsibilities and Critique
The Final Year Dissertation is where the student begins to articulate his or her concerns as a practitioner and is asked to understand the role that he/she as an architect can play in society. The Research Methodologies course encourages and facilitates this search.