Architectural Education at CHRIST offers an opportunity to be part of creative innovation in design thinking, design teaching, and design learning. We are committed to providing a tremendous opportunity, to engage in an experiential learning environment using the Design studio space as a design thinking workshop, where ideas are explored and theoretical subjects are integrated. The Studio on Wheels the traveling classroom is a unique pedagogical approach adopted for an experiential teaching-learning practice in our education at CHRIST. These intensive studio sessions are designed to engage deeper learning and discourse on social and environmental issues, set within a selected geographic area or community precinct thus rendering a global perspective to the curriculum. It is built around community-driven skill development workshops, service-learning modules, master classes, outreach projects, and detailed documentation. The learnings set the premise and research questions for the design problem conducted in the subsequent three-quarters of the semester. The productions of these studios on wheels are documented comprehensively and released as publications or exhibitions in the public domain for wider dissemination, debate, and discourse.

Our close working relationship with the existing ecosystem of the University has rendered a unique identity to the curriculum, building a deeper social and environmental responsibility within students. As we embrace the new dimensions of National education policy we extend ourselves to examine and participate in the rural reconstruction of the region. The CHRIST Rural Studio rolled out as a social outreach studio project, at semester 4 level, explores poetics in bamboo while learning appropriate technology. This funded research project is primarily intended to encourage student research and publication at the undergraduate level. With challenges such as liveability, infrastructure, climate change mitigation, culture and heritage, enforcement of existing legislative framework, and governance remaining at the forefront, our post-graduation pedagogy recognizes the interconnectedness between ecology, urbanism, and architecture. The program intends a deeper understanding of urbanism across scales and sectors including ecological, regional, urban and infrastructural, institutional, recreational, heritage, and the like. The school is currently expanding the policy of inclusiveness and encouraging more involvement of a diversity of students, developing research as a culture of the School and new multi-disciplinary collaborations. In our efforts to build inclusive classrooms, during this pandemic, we take special care to build trust with students and to stay inspired.

Dr Anitha Suseelan
hod.architecture@christuniversity.in