[SIZE=4][COLOR=green]Importance of design sensitivity[/COLOR] [/SIZE]
img:22:Tara Chandrasekhar Being in the creative profession of interior design is a fulfilling and enriching experience. Especially since it involves a committed attempt to cultivating enterprising young minds to meet the needs of whimsical clients whose demands keep changing by the day.
Design is nothing but a willful act, a purposeful endeavour. It revolves around solving problems that cannot be formulated before they are solved. An interior designer is an individual who identifies, engages in research and offers creative solutions to problems pertaining to the functions and quality of interior environments.
At the outset permit me to disabuse those who subscribe to the popular viewpoint that interior design is a flippant vocation best suited for flighty socialites. On the contrary interior architecture or design is a serious discipline whose objective is to improve living and working environments which deeply impact domestic harmony and workplace productivity — the prerequisites of national socio-economic development.
Having been associated with the Jain School of Interior Design, a division of Jain Group of Institutions (JGI) which offers a three year study programme in interior design through MATS University, I am convinced a design curriculum should give budding designers the freedom to expand their creative potential and discover their innate talent.
Certainly designers have a major role to play in society and should draw inspiration from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who has called upon the people to transform India into a developed country by providing urban amenities in rural areas (PURA). This is indeed an overdue initiative and some individuals have already taken up the challenge. A case in point is Jain Vidyaniketan, a free school for underprivileged children in rural Bangalore established by JGI.
To make a difference in society, aspiring designers should bear the PURA concept in mind and undertake some of the projects visualised by Dr. Kalam as a humble contribution to the task of nation building. Students of architecture and design need to develop low cost materials to meet the requirements of those living in rural areas and to expand the market for their services. Young designers need to assimilate the rich traditions and designs of ancient India and build upon them to produce original work. In this way, they will be able to execute abstracts of images by applying design principles, create 2D and 3D images that both professionals and lay persons can comprehend, understand site analysis, which literally requires measurement of the allotted space and surveying the entire area, including climatology. They should also work towards developing a thorough understanding of the needs of their clients and meet their requirements through utilisation of low cost materials keeping in mind the standards of anthropometry while building applicable models which can be scaled up to ensure excellent end products.
Thus on completion of their course, designers will be equipped to combine our rich architecture and design heritage with contemporary concepts to meet the requirements of the most demanding clients. Simultaneously, by getting involved with low cost rural design they learn the importance of matching technical capability with financial viability.
Fortunately these considerations have been factored into the JSID curriculum. There is a commitment in it to enhance students’ entrepreneurial skills, to provide them a solid grounding in basic skills, and entrepreneurial encouragement to manage projects independently which may persuade them to open their own firms to market their designs. We give them complete charge of live projects in the fifth semester to enable them to learn and execute the intricacies of business. To this end, during the summer break, students are given apprenticeships under architects, engineers and designers. This helps them expand their knowledge and develop the ability to decipher the inner motivations and aspirations of their clients and meet their expectations.
Apart from understanding the design of residences, hotels, banks, institutional spaces, commercial establishments, airports, hospitals and stage designs, students need to become involved with hands-on activity and acquire exposure through site visits besides conducting inter-collegiate competitions such as Mystique, the annual exhibition of JSID.
Overall, the need to be tutored by architects, designers and civil engineers who pass on their experience and knowledge to budding designers about materials, technical drafting, metaphor inspiration and design, design communication, exhibition design, history and theory of design, visual arts, graphic design, et al is so vital that students are chiseled and shaped in such a way that they acquire the confidence to take on assignments in different parts of the world.
Last but not the least, contemporary designers need to be aware of eco-friendly concepts such as rainwater harvesting. It should be their endeavour to create aesthetic spaces that function efficiently by paying careful attention to supportive systems such as lighting, airflows and finishing so that personal productivity is enhanced and corporate images are embellished.
[B](Tara Chandrashekhar is principal of the Jain School of Interior Design, Bangalore)[/B]