Designing space and society

From interactive street plays to mud construction– Design Uru 3.0, the design and architecture event , promises a good mix of creativity and utility

NT Features

DesignUru 3.0 is an eight-day grand design festival inspired by the Government of India’s initiative ‘vocal for local’. It aims to promote local artisans and handcrafted work. The various themes of this design fest are Vocal for Local, Save the Artisans and Sustainable Architecture -- local, social and sustainable.

The Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID), a non-profit organisation focused on promoting architecture and design, will be hosting the third edition of DesignUru.

Announcing this at a press conference, architect Kavita Sastry, Chairperson of IIID said: “This Design Fest is organised to promote the Make In India Initiative by using locally available materials, and in turn, helpi and promote local artisans from across the states. We have tied up with organisations working at ground level with artisans. It is not an elitist affair happening in a five-star hotel but instead on the streets of Bengaluru for public engagement.”

Each of the four participating organisations is from Karnataka and will be hosting two-day participatory workshops and demonstrations on traditional arts during the Design Fest week. The week-long design festival will also host a crafts bazaar by Naisargik Santhe, selling the works of artisans. The festival will have three, week-long exhibitions; one is an exhibition hosted by IUDI on urban design. The second is an exhibition of restoration works done by INTACH. The third is the exhibition of a competition hosted by IGBC curated by team Mistry.

The design festival will also have 2 installations -- one made from waste, which will serve as an area to host workshops, interactions, presentations. This is erected by ASSOCHAM GEM Karnataka Chapter. The second installation is an experimental stone structure created using the interlocking technique without cement by architect Senthil Kumar.

The keynote speaker of Design Uru 3.0 will be architect Anupama Kundoo, the RIBA Charles Jencks award winner. Dinesh Verma, Immediate Past Chairperson, IIID, and Gayathri Shetty, National Joint Secretary also addressed the press conference.

“We want to make the city a better place. The festival will be a place for people to discuss and debate design, it will facilitate the coming together of the fragmented design fraternity. This year is extra special since it is our 50th anniversary”, said Shastry.