Page 17 - Norman Foster Foundation Re-materializing Housing Workshop

2021 Re-materializing Housing Workshop
Contents Report
Selected Scholars
Dev Desai
Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture and Environmental Studies, Mumbai, India
Dev Desai is currently completing his bachelor’s degree of Architecture at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture and Environmental Studies in Mumbai, India. His research currently focuses on the application of artificial intelligence in architecture as a democratic means of design for affordable housing. Delving into decentralised methods of construction, materials and implementation, Desai’s work studies how building off the technological zeitgeist of the modern area can make architecture more accessible and sustainable for local communities, particularly in times of crises. As a student, he has taken part in internships at Vo Trong Nghia Architects in Vietnam and at Toyo Ito and Associates, where he worked on the design and development of the Ikeuchi Shopping complex, the Ningbo Huamao School library in Japan and the Lijiang Hot Springs in China.
Aarti Dhingra
University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Aarti Dhingra is currently pursuing a postgraduate specialisation called ‘Building Beauty: Ecological Design and Construction Process’ in Sorrento, Italy, which explores the qualities of beauty and wholeness in architecture as grounded in Christopher Alexander’s principles. She completed her master’s degree in integrated urbanism and sustainable design at the University of Stuttgart in Germany and, after completing her undergraduate degree at the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi, worked with Muni Ashish Ganju on developing sustainable building practices with Buddhist nuns in the Himalayas. As a practicing architect, she now works in the rural Himalayas of Kumaon, where she leads architecture, planning and interdisciplinary research projects with local craftsmen and NGOs, designing rural home-stays while also learning techniques of native-forest and heritage conservation in the region.
Page 17