Superlative Show

Inspiring Presentations, Intellectual Discussions and Informal Conversations Kept the Audience Engaged Throughout the Igen Design Forum 2017

The writing was on the wall in the lobby of the banquet space at Sahara Star in Mumbai, where India’s top architects and designers gathered for the 6th annual iGen Design Forum. Better than ever! Super show! The generous compliments were backed by experience, as the enthralled audience consisted of industry stalwarts who mark their date on the calendar as soon as our knowledge and networking event is announced... to ensure that they do not miss out on the opportunity to be inspired and, in turn, to inspire others.

In his keynote address, Sanjay Puri started off by saying how international exposure, through platforms such as the World Architecture Festival, has changed the way design is perceived and executed. This experience is then fleshed out in everyday practice where “architecture needs to be contextual and sustainable, at the same time create something that is new to proceed.” Walking through four different projects, of varying scale and set in different contexts, Puri highlighted how he and his team arrive at a design and the factors that are at play.

For instance, while designing Studios 18, a small housing project in Rajasthan within a 100-acre township, Puri looked at regionally-inspired organic housing as a successful model to emulate. He observed, “You look at the streets, no street goes straight. You don’t know where it’s going to finally end, or [if it will] converge to another street. Each one of these junctions become very interesting places for people to meet.” The project housed sets of units oriented differently towards the northeast and the northwest, and organically along the site contours.