The Design You Are Making Today Is For Next 50-100 Years

Finding the right balance between adopting sustainable solutions along with being effective in getting the results is the challenge of the present times. Speaking at the recent Future of Design event, Akshat Bhatt, Principal Architect at Architecture Designing, stated that we need to come up with designs that meet the needs of the people without overstepping the planet. The third edition of the Future of Design conference and award program organised by BW Businessworld on the 10th of April, 2021.

Bhatt spoke about the people-planet approach. He said in this approach we need to come up with designs that meet the need of the people without exhausting the resources of the planet. “As cities are becoming our habitat (more and more people are moving to cities) with every passing year, we need to make sure that the places we live in are sustainable and healthier to live in,” Bhatt said. “Space should not only be provided for people to live, eat, interact etc. but also for the well being of the people. The important issues such as resource consumption and utilisation need to be addressed; we must find ways to generate our power, treat our waste and grow our food as individuals and as well as collectively,” he added. 

Bhatt said, “One needs to understand that if they are engaging in the greenfield development then your designs should be built for the future. You should keep in mind that the design you are making today is for the next 50 to 100 years and they are not rooted in the past.” Apparently, the cities are filled with residual spaces like township buildings, dilapidated houses. Bhatt said, “You can’t ignore that and let them be waste, so you need to give them some kind of life and some kind of a new start.” He prescribed the idea of ‘regeneration’. “For instance, there was a dumping ground in Jodhpur, which has been cleaned by us and a water rejuvenating body has been built at its place. So, these are some of the things which we have to do not only in historical context but also otherwise in terms of what India has to offer us,” Bhatt said. 

Pandemic Impact 

The pandemic has demonstrated how change can be accelerated, and what we see now all the systems that we will anyway have to adopt sometime in the future, as a part of our everyday life. “Virtual meetings, with video conferences, working from remote locations and travelling only when it is necessary, are some of the new habits which we have adopted and is going to stay with us even in the post-pandemic world,” Bhatt said. He added, “When we went in the lockdown, we also realized that our cities need to change and become more sustainable nut as are the remote locations, and our social interaction also needs to change.” “So, we have developed something called a choker, which one can wear as a band, a non-tracking device which functions on the mesh wifi and is used to detect whether or not you are safe,” Bhatt stated.

 Another interesting project which he spoke about was the ‘emergency healthcare facility’ built by the shipping containers. “In times like these, when there is an emergency, these containers can be transformed into heath units and service can be provided.,” Bhatt said, adding, “In the long run, they can be turned into different spaces such as community centres, primary schools, etc. thus reducing the environmental impact.”