Workshop on Conservation and Adaptive Reuse by Aishwarya Tipnis

As aspiring interior architect and designers, students need to be sensitive towards judicious use of resources in their design explorations. Keeping this in mind, an interactive session was conducted for the Level 4 Interior Architecture and Design students at IIAD, on the theme of conservation and adaptive reuse. The first half of the day-long session reflected upon conservation and the various principles that regulate it. Conservation needs to be infused in our value system and culture such that it governs the design choices of all practicing designers. Conservation is a highly sustainable concept that drives home the message of making design choices that positively influence the present and future.

The second half of the session revolved around adaptive reuse within the context of temporality of space and material. As designers, students need to develop an awareness of using resources and utilising space, time and material in a manner that proves functional to the end-user. Aishwarya Tipnis, an architect by profession, shared her experience on ‘The Haveli Project’, which happens to be a splendid example of adaptive reuse involving a derelict haveli amidst a busy wholesale market in Kashmere Gate, New Delhi. She laid emphasis on how as designers, it is important to effectively communicate your ideas to the clients as well as convince them about the viability of the same. The sole motive of this informative session was to help students comprehend the fundamentals of adaptive reuse by understanding and using time, space and material to change functionality of a building shell.

About Aishwarya Tipnis

Aishwarya Tipnis is an alumnus of the School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi and holds a Masters Degree in European Urban Conservation from the University of Dundee, Scotland. She is a recipient of prestigious awards like UNESCO Award for Heritage Conservation in the Asia-Pacific Region. In addition, she has also received the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship in 2011, Bonjour India Travel Fellowship in 2010 and the Scottish International Scholarship in 2006. Owing to her expertise, she has represented India at the Global Cultural Leadership Programme as part of the European Union’s Cultural Diplomacy Platform in 2016. Further, she has also shared her domain expertise in the capacity of a visiting faculty at the Department of Urban Design at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. Being a design practitioner, she has also extended her services as a consultant with renowned international organisations like UNESCO, Asian Development Bank, World Monuments Fund New York and Vieilles Maison Française, Paris amongst others. At the moment, she is an integral member of the expert team at UNESCO and is working on preparation of the CCMP for Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (a World Heritage Site).