Amidst a number of studio projects displayed at CEPT, lies a screaming hard-work of the students. The project taps on the most debated issue, a subject that needs to be addressed across educational institutes in the country: A space for students to express without fear or judgment.
Realizing the fact that while students at CEPT have a lot of views and opinion to be shared and talked about, 19-year-old Arya Dhanda, of Faculty of Architecture, found that the campus lacked such a space.
Dhanda took it up as her studio project and began interacting with students, faculty and alumni members. Her studio 'Co-producing spaces of potentiality' draws an interesting comparison between open spaces and upcoming construction on CEPT university campus.
For her, the problem statement was the disappearance of open spaces on the campus as they are the breathing spaces and students use them for a variety of sports, cultural and informal activities.
Her project said, "The campus timeline revealed drastic changes in the way the university area runs in the last few years. Starting from an increase in the number of students to a lot of upcoming construction, the future of the area is at stake. Hence the idea of a programme that secures the future came up."
Speaking with DNA, she said, "We as students have a lot of views and opinions we want to voice out and various issues and concerns that need to be heard. The Navnirman andolan is a strong example of how students voices matter as it compelled dissolution of the elected government. Thus, my vision for the campus is to create a space where one could freely express oneself without any fear or judgment through graffiti."
She also found that most college campuses in the area are closed in the evenings. Students are forced to go back to their accommodation after working hours. They are often seen in cafes or window shopping as they lack a place to hangout after college. There is very less interaction between the students of different colleges on the same campus. Few psychological barriers present in the minds of students hold them back from interacting, for example, MG Science college students often do not talk to students from Ahmedabad and CEPT university due to their inferiority complex, she said.
Arya proposed a path between MG Science playground and the Gymkhana, which can be used as a Grafitti wall for students to express themselves, invoking interactions and chance encounters.
Her studio comes at a time when the university is undergoing massive infrastructural changes to meet the demands of the future. In 2015, students and alumni had written to the management to not restructure buildings designed by architect BV Doshi.
