What Next?

Monish Kumar Siripurapu graduated from the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi in 2009 and started Ant Studio in 2010. Monish is a Tata scholar and received the prestigious JN Tata scholarship in 2015 for his PG Diploma in Robotic Fabrication from Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Spain. In collaboration with his colleagues, he has won many national and international architectural competitions. His works have been published in well-renowned architectural journals. Recently, out of 180 start-ups from 22 countries, Ant Studio was awarded one of the 12 winners of the Asia Pacific Low Carbon Footprint Challenge by UN Environment Programme for his CoolAnt Product.

- Shriti Das

There is a single line of consensus that designers, engineers, planners, environmentalists and perhaps every practice and vocation will agree upon. It is the undeniable fact that technology is an inevitable part of the future. Monish Siripurapu, the founder and principal architect of Ant Studio reiterates that technology has enabled digital fabrication, virtual reality and much more over the last few years. These possibilities trigger a larger question; what is next? Monish questions if there will ever be an end to the technologies and innovations. And further argues that, while structural systems become more sophisticated, computational tools are getting more efficient by the day; each of these contraptions leaves an impact, a carbon footprint on the earth. And with time this impression has spiraled into large repercussions of climate change, calamities and more.

While technology cannot be denied or stopped there is always room for intervention. Monish advocates using material alongside technology that leaves nil or minimal carbon footprint. Tracing the trajectory of his practice, Monish discussed his journey of design that began from architectural projects with common briefs to projects that enabled some ingenious works.