NE EDUCATION BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, FEB 20
Arsh Kania, Hetanshu Pandya, and Sharan GS were announced as the winners of the CEPT Gujral Excellence Award at CEPT University, Ahmedabad on January 24 and the award ceremony was held on February 10, a Gujral Foundation release said.
The jury panel for the academic session 2019-2020 consisted of eminent industry leaders, including Bobby Desai, architect, and chair of the jury panel; Walter de Souza, artist; Archana Shah, textile designer, and entrepreneur and Dinesh Sharma, product designer. The first three awardees of the academic session 2019-2020 were announced at the beginning of August 2019.
Some of the key attendees at the award ceremony included Dr. Bimal Patel, President, CEPT University, Samir Shah, Architect, KSA Design, Kartikey Shodhan, Architect, Kartikeya Shodhan Associates, Prof. Tridip Suhrud, Provost, CEPT University, Hamid Raj, Senior visiting faculty, and Mahendra Kothari, CEPT University alumnus, among others.
The projects of the awardees were showcased at The CEPT Excellence Award Exhibition, supported by The Gujral Foundation. The exhibition showcased the 10 best student projects and 5 best studio units in the form of drawings, models and portfolios from CEPT University’s Architecture, Design, Construction Technology, and Planning Faculties.
Arsh Kania was awarded for his studio project titled ‘Visitor’s Centre, Jaisalmer’. Through the project, he deciphered the unique architectural vocabulary and grammar of Spanish Architect, Enric Miralles, as well as derived the architectural syntax of a proposed Visitor Centre in Jaisalmer. Hetanshu Pandya’s studio project ‘In-between Architecture’ focussed on how the present step-well and its architecture has grown to be irrelevant in today’s time and further builds on the dire need of the city to have a public place which is in its true sense, public. Hetanshu proposed a pavilion structure without any program or function which acts as a platform for the city and its everyday life to unfold upon. Sharan GS’ studio project ‘Rethinking Lost Space’ was conceived by articulating the important aspects of a Narrative – Plot, Conflict, Characters, Atmosphere, Climax, etc through various tools like the narrative arc and the storyboard. He focussed the project on a space located at the centre of Rajkot, Gujarat with two huge overhead water tanks supported by five stories of a regular concrete column beam grid situated in the Jubeli Garden and surrounded by a historically rich and dynamic urban fabric. The intent was to redefine the lost space of the tanks such that it can contribute to the urban setting and become a part of it.
Commenting on Arsh Kania’s project, the Jury Citation read, “Arsh’s proposal captures the spirit and dynamism of Miralles’ architecture in plan and section, which he skillfully manipulates to generate a building that responds uniquely to the various constraints and opportunities of the site. It has a complexity and scale, which acts as a delicate counterpoint to the brooding mass and bulk of the adjacent fort.”
Commenting on Hetanshu Pandya’s project, the Jury Citation read, “The motif and form of the existing, decaying, arches of the stepped well are appropriated in the proposed design, giving the new architecture its language, and it’s site and program specificity. This is a highly relevant and potent project, which is illustrated with elegance and sensitivity.”
Commenting on Sharan GS’ project, the Jury Citation read, “A poetic narrative, threaded through an existing, yet evocative ensemble of urban infrastructure. Sharan’s intervention creates a field of potentiality, opportunity and the unexpected. The potency of the proposal is a result of the acute juxtaposition of the intervention and the heroic concrete frame of the host structure.”
As part of a broader five-year collaboration with CEPT University, Ahmedabad, The Gujral Foundation has instituted the CEPT Gujral Excellence Award, which is a cash award of Rs. One lakh each, awarded to six students annually for studio excellence at CEPT University, Ahmedabad.
The Gujral Foundation in its first-ever long-term partnership with an educational institution has collaborated with CEPT University, Ahmedabad, one of India’s leading institutions by committing to five years of programming. Mohit Gujral returns to his Alma Mater by initiating a long-term partnership with CEPT University.
