Seventeenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

In the world of creative industries, the seemingly interconnected domains of design and architecture exist in stringent silos. As a professional, I work parallely in both these environments on a daily basis - running a design institute and an architecture practice in the capital city of India; and I am constantly confronted with the explicit commonalities of the two environments and the obvious lack of knowledge exchange within the ecosystem which is physically as well as metaphorically in close proximity. The education, manifestation, scale, and hierarchical professional positions, pronounce the differences in the domains of architecture and design. Our globalized world today is faced with a multitude of societal challenges like climate change, food crisis, population, poverty and immigration among others, we increasingly see that many designers and architects have transitioned to becoming transformational designers - looking at new ways to change behaviors and the society (Jonas, et. all, 2015). It has also been discussed that such “wicked” issues cannot be tackled as they are inherently intertwined in a meta system of issues and therefore cannot be addressed in isolation.(Rittel & Webber,1973; Özbekhan, 1970). Complex situations therefore require a transdisciplinary approach (Jantsch,1972). My inquiry is at the helm of the domains of architecture and design to come up with a transformational approach in line with the context of The New European Bauhaus movement. To conceptualise a universal transformative approach/ framework/ methodology/ pedagogy/ policy applicable to the domains of architecture and design to shape society in a more holistic and purposeful way.