Meghal Arya
Tekton
Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2018
pp. 46 – 55
Meghal Arya is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad and a partner at Arya Architects. She has been teaching design studios for almost two decades that include guest professorships at several international institutions. She is currently a guest professor at the Politecnico di Milano. She is also involved with faculty development through workshops with other teachers of architecture in the country.
Her interest in traditional architecture led to several publications and a PhD in the Water Architecture of Arid India. Her architectural practice engages with the design of public spaces in India as inclusive dignified realms and includes projects for transit, education and special buildings like zoo.
arya.architect@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The design studio is central to architectural education prompting investigation into its nuances, and several scholars are now engaged in its analysis, mostly in the western world. Hardly any work has been undertaken in the Indian context, and this essay aims to initiate such research, necessitated largely due to the lacuna in any form of support for teachers who form the backbone of any system towards better teaching. It dwells on the modes of knowledge production and application in the design studio and the role of a design teacher.
This essay raises a question of authorship in a design studio having a bearing on the learning process of the student. The structure and design of the studio emerges from this question, and two possible collaborative models are discussed. This essay challenges certain assumed roles of the teacher to encourage reflective practices for a richer learning and teaching experience. It is based on personal experiences and is penned as a process of sharing through analysis.
KEY WORDS:
Design Studio, Design Pedagogy, Authorship, Open-ended
