The Indian Institute of Art & Design (IIAD) unveiled its exhibition, "Reimagining Heritage," at Sunder Nursery in New Delhi. With the collaboration of The Aga Khan Trust for Culture the third year Interior Architecture and Design students exhibited their work amidst the monuments.
Under the mentorship of Prof. Snehanshu Mukherjee, Course Leader for Interior Architecture and Design, Madhu Pandit, Associate Professor, and Mani Sharma, Assistant Professor, the students presented out-of-the-box designs for transforming historical sites into interactive spaces, without altering the existing structures in any manner. Four monuments were selected for this project, all of which are situated within the Sunder Nursery complex: the monuments are, The Garden Pavilion, Sunderwala Mahal, Lakkarwala Burj, and Sunder Burj. The design intent of the project was to increase visitor engagement with the historic structures while preserving the original architecture of these buildings.
The designs presented in the exhibition are the result of extensive research into historical and socio-cultural issues and their relevance to the present context.
Students demonstrated their concepts to visitors and faculty members. Students also provided them with an informative walk-through of the four monuments explaining the proposed design ideas. This created an interactive and immersive exhibition experience for the visitors.
Prof. Snehanshu Mukherjee, Course Leader, Interior Architecture and Design, emphasised how the students' interventions proposed a solution for repurposing these structures without causing any damage and all proposed measures could be completely reversed without any harm to the monuments.
Usha Patel, Director of Academics at IIAD, highlighted the project visits to Sunder Nursery and the students' work in reimagining the monuments in the IIAD studios. She expressed pride in the students' and teachers' efforts and praised their achievements.
Dr. Jitin Chadha, Founder and CEO of IIAD, also appreciated the work done by the students and faculty members, and said that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the students to showcase their talent at such a beautiful public park that was visited by residents of DElhi as well as by people from across the world .
The exhibition will run from 3rd to 13th April 2023. This initiative by the students of IIAD, successfully highlights the importance of India's cultural legacy while presenting innovative methods and concepts for popularising the lesser known historical structures, generating a curiosity about them amongst laypeople.
