At IES College of Architecture, we are constantly trying to raise the bar in providing quality education in architecture. As a stepping stone to this progressive path we have introduced an Outreach Program. To bridge the gap between the profession and education we are trying to equip the students with a better understanding of the society and the world around them. This is our idea of reaching a wider audience and in turn contributing to not only to the students but also to the architecture fraternity and the world as a whole.
The IESCOA Outreach is mainly responsible for international relations, publications and workshops. It creates ways for faculty, staff, alumni and students to collaborate with external groups in mutually beneficial partnerships. It aims to increase and encourage scholarly research amongst faculty and students. Research projects, teaching activities, civic engagement or service learning are a part of the program; facilitation of seminars, workshops and published material are being undertaken. Together it aims at making IESCOA a community of engaged scholars. It will also be the voice of the college to the world.
This is achieved by creating compact educational sessions supplementing existing classroom education; through hands-on learning experience and learning by travel and perception. The outcome we are aiming at is to build a large knowledge repository through an ‘advanced development curriculum’ entailing workshops for students, professionals and teachers. They are designed as compact educational sessions encouraging experimental learning.
In this direction, we have taken up some initiative as described below:
Open studio is a set of workshops for students, professional and teachers, outside of the curriculum. The idea is experimental learning. We will create compact educational sessions supplementing existing classroom education. It will involve short-term intensive courses and integration of students of different classes and possibly multi disciplinary relations.
Caravan will involve with participants going to actual sites to understand the project. The sites could be under construction, completed projects or places of historic importance on a guided tour.
Mimansa is Sanskrit for ‘salon’ of old the times when intellectuals would meet dine and have lively discussions on various relevant topics.
Rhetorics are a set of seminars. It will involve experts from the field of architecture and other allied fields presenting/talking about their ideas and works. It will hopefully garner a deeper understanding of the field to the participants.
'In this day and age the world is becoming smaller and the vast oceans of knowledge is accessible at the tips of our fingers in this the age of internet. Therefore it has also become important for every educational institute to collaborate, research, exchange and contribute to the greater good of the society. In this direction IESCOA Outreach is also opening the doors for national and international co-operation between schools of architecture.
We are already partnering with schools from Italy, Hungary and Malaysia and hope to reach out all over the world.'
If you wish to know more, please email us at outreach@ies.edu
Engaging Architecture in India: Localization within Globalization
In 2013, IES College of Architecture commenced a series of five annual conferences on India-specific themes in an effort to encourage a deeper understanding of Indian architecture. The need was felt due to the growing internationalization of architecture in India without a critical assessment for adaptation to specific Indian realities. The idea was also to bridge the chasm between architectural education and the industry.
The forst two conferences have been wildly successful. The first conference in the series was titled Engaging Architecture in India: Localization within Globalization. The second conference, Transitional Rurality: Lessons from the Indian Hinterland attempted to look at traditional knowledge systems in the rural parts of India which are, presently, relatively lesser influenced by global architecture and its attendant tendencies of homogenization of design.
In the third conference, we aim to continue the high quality of discussions by inviting accomplished speakers from across India and abroad. We hope that by the end of the series, we will have addressed most of the important issues that confront our country’s progress into the global future.