Young Bangalore-based architect Nithin Jois M.S. (21) has already established a national reputation. On January 25, Nithin was crowned gold champion (interior design) in version 10.0 of the Asia Young Designer Award (AYDA) India 2017 Contest held in Chennai, which attracted participation of 350 students from 100 undergrad colleges countrywide.
After an online round of ideas submitted in December 2017, Nithin bested seven designers in the final round of one-on-one interviews with members of an eminent jury, to bag a cash prize of $1,000 (Rs.65,000), and an all-expenses paid trip to Malaysia (March 13-18) to compete in the AYDA 2017 Platinum Award Contest.
Organised in 15 Asian countries including India, by the Osaka-based Nippon Paint Holdings Co. Ltd, the AYDA Contest is open to fourth and fifth year architecture students and fresh graduates. National gold champions from all countries face off in Malaysia at the AYDA Platinum Award Asia Contest.
In the recently concluded AYDA 2017 national finals, Nithin used new-age virtual reality (VR) technology to recreate a 200-year-old Gothic church in Hassan (Karnataka) for the benefit of tourists and historians, a first-of-its-kind innovation which impressed the eminent jury.
An alum of the Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur (Karnataka) and currently employed with Collective Projects, a Bangalore-based architects firm, Nithin is an enthusiastic history student. “On one of my recent exploratory jaunts, I came across the Shettyhalli Church built by French missionaries in a village in Hassan district in 1860. Although the building is a ruin without a roof, I was able to visualise its magnificence and present it to the public using VR technology. This voluntary project was my entry for the AYDA India 2017 contest,” explains Nithin.
Impressed with the creative power of revolutionary AV and VR technologies, this accomplished young architect is working on designing a new digital topology as a plug-in for tourists visiting Unesco heritage sites in India.
“Currently, I am working on designing a unique mixed reality (MR) interface and will file a patent application soon,” says Nithin.
Wind in your sails!
Sruthy Susan Ullas (Bangalore)