Whereas the book readings helped students understand the world of practice in theory; the visits to 15 architectural offices in Ahmedabad gave students a first hand experience of architectural practices. These practices were curated to give an exposure to a variety; variety in terms of structure, scale, ideology, design processes etc. An internal presentation of the practice based on secondary literature was done prior to the visit. The framework for the interviews as well as post-interview analysis was drawn from critical theories proposed by Dana Cuff and Jeremy Till. Several rounds of iterations and discussions, both individual and common lead each student to find a lens through which they sought to analyse and interpret their takeaways from the office visits. Upon looking at select reflections, one may begin to observe various narratives and models of practices.
Through the course of her book, Dana Cuff presents a set of dialectics that she presented in the form of dualities. These dualities were used to analyse and study the nature of the various practices that were visited, in an attempt to draw conclusions regarding correlations between the various aspects of the practice. Scroll down to find out more about each practice.
(Click to expand)
Click to find out more about the dualities exhibited by each practice
(Click to expand)
The students visited 15 firms spread across Ahmedabad, and interviewed the principal architects using a framework drawn from Dana Cuff's theories.
Click the links below to find out more about each firm.
The students takeaways from the visits.