A Place for Her - Preliminary Workshop Report

On 20th December, Do Din 2014 hosted a workshop called A Place for Her in collaboration with the Architecture and Design Foundation of India. Here is a preliminary report of the outcomes of the workshop put together by the ancors!
Thanks to Srinivas Murthy and Tauqeer Ahmed for anchoring this workshop and thanks to all the participants!

Intipanta Meeting at Do Din 2014

This  meeting will highlight a new phenomenon in Hyderabad and in many Indian cities – urban agriculture. Many families in cities are turning to rooftop and kitchen gardens as a way to produce vegetables and other necessary food items on a small scale. These urban agriculturists often from middle class families and living in the concrete jungle find such home based food production to be contributing their quality of life. They have also been communities of practice – networks through which techniques and resources are passed on.

Photo Exhibitions by Vedya Rao Gandra

Vedya Rao Gandra, a photographer from Hyderabad, will be putting up two photo exhibitions at Do Din 2014!

Automobiles in City Slums

On the edges of the elitist Banjara Hills in Hyderabad is the city’s largest slum, Jawahar Nagar. The fancy fleet of automobiles on its main roads assume a different role, form, meaning in this slum- the spoils of accidents, the chained vehicles that speak insecurity, the pride of owners shown in the ornamentation of two wheelers and autos. These vehicles speak so much about the inequality in the city s life, even within a radius of couple of kilometers.

Here are some of the photos: (please click to enlarge)

On the Edge – Golconda Fort

These photographs speak of the precarious state of the world heritage site of Golconda fort in Hyderabad. The delicate state of the structures are ready to crumble down anytime. A symbol of the history and culture of the of Deccani region needs to be protected. The doorway that fell down recently is a sign of what will be left if immediate action is not taken in conserving and preserving Golconda Fort.

Here are some of the photos: (please click to enlarge)

Workshops at Do Din 2014

We have 3 workshops lined up for Do Din!

Discovering Khairatabad – Walkabout & Workshop

December 20th – 7.30 am onwards – Starting point at Vidyaranya School

RSVP for the walkabout here: https://www.facebook.com/events/749244731818217/

Discovering a city neighbourhood: Most of the times people only know the typical “touristic” information about a particular city or the locality they live in. Information and knowledge about one’s own neighbourhood is one of the first steps towards developing that sense of belongingness and pride for it.

Does this translate into better planning and upkeep? Does it result in better civic amenities, social bonding and security for the locality? This workshop is an attempt to discover, understand and document some key miles stones in the growth of a Khairtabad as one of the central and important constituent of this vast city fabric.

Join us in discovering a new Khairtabad! Please RSVP on the facebook event, click here.

This workshop is open to all! School and college students are especially invited!

20th December 2014. The Walkabout is scheduled from 7.30 am to 9.30 am, starting at Vidyaranya School, i.e. the Do Din venue.
The Workshop will follow on returning the Do Din venue!

Discovering Khairatabad is anchored by Architecture and Design Foundation of India.

Toilet Republic – Design Workshop

December 20th – 1st Session from 10 am to 12 pm – 2nd Session from 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm.

December 21st – 3rd Session from 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm

Intake for this workshop is limited! Please register here – http://goo.gl/forms/ZzZJbKwNCj – now!

In light of the Swacch Bharat Mission, talk of open defecation, clean cities and public toilet infrastructures has seemingly entered the mainstream discourse. But public toilets have been constructed for several years now and a variety of models have been tried to attain optimal results. The issue remains salient, though, due to a conjunction of inadequate (leave aside non-optimal) infrastructures and certain engrained attitudes towards sanitation.

Not only are public toilets sparsely distributed, they are poorly distributed. Not only are they badly designed, they are unjustly designed. Not only are they poorly governed & regulated, they evidently are not at all regulated. Not only do they not attract users, they deter them. This makes one wonder what kind of thought is put into designing/constructing/operating public toilets?

Toilet Republic, a workshop at Do Din 2014, seeks to bring together citizens and provoke them to think about public toilets. Why are they important? How have they been built and operated so far and what have been the problems? What would it take to come up with a feasible design? What will have to be the considerations and what resources will be needed?

The workshop will focus on public toilets from 4 different lenses:

• Community & Location
• Economics & Viability
• Governance & Operational Management
• Design & User Experience

Rajib Ghosh of D-Labs and Arvind Lodaya will be the anchors for this workshop. Both of them are  accomplished designers who are passionate about finding innovative solutions for tough problems and to improve quality of life.

A Place for Her – Design Workshop

December 20th – 10 am to 12 pm

Most women in the city confess that they do not have the time for any kind of leisure, or recreation, or self-enrichment!

There will be a host of factors, along with gender, such as class and geographical location that create this condition. This made us wonder, however, whether an additional problem might be the fact that there are very few spaces in the city where women can seek leisure or self-enrichment. We are all well aware of the proscriptions imposed on women (of all classes) in public places, besides, even community spaces (for the poor), or commercial spaces like malls and cafes, present peculiar obstacles to women pursuing their self-enrichment. Can we think of a different space for women?

Do Din 2014 will be hosting a workshop in collaboration with Architecture and Design Foundation of India. The aim of this workshop is to engage with women from different parts of the city and from different social situations, to think through the obstacles presented by their particular situations and locations and to think about possible designs for institutions or infrastructures that will present avenues for women to seek recreation. A place for them.

City Address - Art Installations at Do Din 2014

City Address is a set of art installations addressing the issues of the city by four artists. This is an ‘Art for Change’ initiative ,curated by Avani Rao Gandra for Do Din 2014. Visit the facebook event page for updates.

Concept Notes for Installations
1) Food On My Plate

by artist Avani Rao Gandra
Food on the urban plate speaks a growing disconnect from its natural sources – the emotional bond of growing food , inter dependence of nature and man, connecting with rain, drought, sunlight , animal ,bird, are lost in the long food miles . The ideas of self-sustenance, the sense of working for food is replaced by food for work, in city’s life. The local produce is ignored and a chemical laden import from all over the world in form of fast food , grab a bite attitude , food for recreation , build wider gaps in the Indian traditional beliefs of food as sacred .
The pots in the installation are symbolic of food producing rusticity around the city , sometimes empty , at times full or may have just fallen apart . The broken shreds at the center represent the food in the city, as a degraded identity and disconnect with a wholesome, holistic, natural food experience.
The viewers are encouraged to walk around the installation leaving foot prints, to create a consciousness, as an act of deeper reflection.
Material to be used : Earthen pots , Sand , Rice husk .Dimensions of actual installation 15ft x 15ft .

2) Green Bangles

by artist Nirmala Biluka
The idea of the present installation is to create a confined space made out of hanging glass bangles in a circle. The city of Hyderabad is popular for its bangles. The green colored bangles are not only symbolic of ‘womanhood’ but also of tradition, honor and auspiciousness viagra 50mg. The bangles are used here to show the fragile and vulnerable nature of a woman’s life in a growing urban milieu.
The audiences are invited to enter into the space, feel the anxiety as well as the celebration of being a woman and reflect for a moment on issues related to women’s safety and security in our everyday lives.
Material to be used:
1. Circular ring made of metal.
2. Readymade Glass bangles.
3. Velvet cloth to be placed on floor.
4. Wire or thread to join the bangles.
Dimensions:
Height – 8ft (app)
Diameter – 4ft (app)

3) Time lapse in urban life

by artist Pavan Kumar D
In the hectic life in the city there is no time to reflect on time space and memories . The installation is about humans who have become rigid in their day to day chores , in their taxing work cultures they have lost their connect with nature and of being human . .. it’s like holding the changing shadow of a tree against a time lapse and forgetting the tree .
In this installation I am trying to hold this time called ‘do-din’ by holding the shadow of a tree, which is impossible , but by giving the shadow a shape , form and colour its my attempt to bring notice to the missing essence of todays urban living , an attempt to bring attention to beauty of nature, of time that passes by and living in a certain space with consciousness

4) City- Heard and Unheard sounds

by artist Ravi Kumar
Sound installation addressing the sounds of a growing city- The obvious sounds of traffic, construction site s, breaking of heritage rocks and structures and the not so obvious hidden muffles of insecure women and girl child, within the unseen structures of the city . The mute silences that are bigger threats of anticipating violence.
Material used : Sound boxes and voice player

Discovering Khairatabad - Walkabout & Workshop

Hello world!

Do Din 2014 Schedule!

Here’s the schedule for Do Din 2014!

Note: This schedule is roughly finalized. We still have to add a couple more events whose timings have to be finalized with the resource persons. One is a panel discussion on startups in the city. The other is a roundtable on housing rights that will consist not of scholars, but of community-based advocates and activists.

Pre Do Din Event on 19th December 2014
11 am to 5 pm – Do Din 2014 Data Expedition – at the Hyderabad Institute for Liberal Arts

All Day Exhibitions – 20th and 21st December

Art Installations curated by Avani Rao Gandra

Photo Exhibitions curated by Aditya Mopur and Harsha Vadlamani

Day 1 – 20th December 2014

Day 2 – 21st December 2014

Toilet Republic - A Workshop at Do Din 2014

In light of the Swacch Bharat Mission, talk of open defecation, clean cities and public toilet infrastructures has seemingly entered the mainstream discourse. But public toilets have been constructed for several years now and a variety of models have been tried to attain optimal results. The issue remains salient, though, due to a conjunction of inadequate (leave aside non-optimal) infrastructures and certain engrained attitudes towards sanitation.

Not only are public toilets sparsely distributed, they are poorly distributed. Not only are they badly designed, they are unjustly designed. Not only are they poorly governed & regulated, they evidently are not at all regulated site fiable viagra. Not only do they not attract users, they deter them. This makes one wonder what kind of thought is put into designing/constructing/operating public toilets?

Toilet Republic, a workshop at Do Din 2014, seeks to bring together citizens and provoke them to think about public toilets. Why are they important? How have they been built and operated so far and what have been the problems? What would it take to come up with a feasible design? What will have to be the considerations and what resources will be needed?

Arvind Lodaya and Rajib Ghosh will be the anchors for this workshop. Both of them are  accomplished designers who are passionate about finding innovative solutions for tough problems and to improve quality of life.

The workshop will focus on public toilets from 4 different lenses:

• Community & Location
• Economics & Viability
• Governance & Operational Management
• Design & User Experience

This workshop is for those who are concerned about sanitation in our cities, for those who work with communities and understand the meaning of lack of access to sanitation facilities, for those who are interested in public health and better planning and above all for those who are willing to accept the challenges of the city and willing to take the next step towards innovation and transformative action.

The workshop will run over both days of Do Din.

There will be limited seats in this workshop, so we will have separate registrations. If you wish to attend this workshop please fill the following form:

Loading…

Cover image designed by the newest member of our team Hui Ying Ng from Singapore.

Hyderabad's New Free Urinals: A Toilet Review

One thing about the new toilets which we absolutely support is that they’re free of cost!

But let’s look at them a little more carefully. We thought of dividing the review on the basis of Design and Maintenance.

Although most people in Hyderabad will have seen these toilets, here are some photos. (click to enlarge)

Design

1. One thing that troubles us is that we are still seeing only men’s urinals coming up across the city.

2. The good thing about the design is that it’s compact and can be easily installed. It does not take up too much space on the footpath. However, the drawback is that the interior space is quite cramped and the door is quite narrow.

3. They have good signage, using both symbolic representation and instructions in English and Telugu (some of them also have Urdu).

4. The urinals will be water-free. This is interesting. Hopefully, the no spitting signs will be enough to dissuade people from spitting pan, chewing gum or tobacco into the urinal and clogging them.

5. The drawback of being water-free is that there is no wash basin either. Maybe a dispenser of hand-sanitizer can be included?

6. The toilets are also aesthetically designed, so we need not worry that the closest RWA will complain and have them (re)moved.

Maintenance

We have more questions than comments on the maintenance front.

1. The water-free toilet means that the toilet is only cleaned by hand. Who are these workers? (Are we repeating India’s ugly history with dry toilets?) Are they provided with gloves, face-masks or other protective gear?

2. Where is the discharge from the toilet released? There is no septic tank, so is it flowing directly into the drains or other water bodies?

3. They are open for only 14 hours in a day, although they do not require full-time maintainers. Why so? We speculate that there could be good reasons for this, but we would like to know the actual specific reasons.

Besides the comments on design and maintenance, one troubling aspect is the lack of transparency in the process. The location and design of the toilets have been determined through private consultations and it is difficult to find any trace of “Ultimate Concepts” (the company/organization responsible for building these new toilets) anywhere online. The location of toilets is a problem that Hyderabad Urban Lab has specifically been indicating and once again we find one of these free urinals emerging across the road from an existing public toilet complex.

At Do Din 2014, we are hosting a Designthinking workshop dedicated to the question of public toilets. The objective of this workshop is to firstly review existing models of public toilet design, construction and maintenance from the perspective of multiple stakeholders. With a clear understanding of this existing situation, the workshop further seeks to give a sense of what are the kinds of resources that would be required to design implementable solutions.

Arvind Lodaya and Rajib Ghosh will be the anchors for this workshop. Both of them are  accomplished designers who are passionate about finding innovative solutions for tough problems and to improve quality of life.

There will be limited seats in this workshop, so we will have separate registrations. If you wish to attend this workshop, write in to us at indivarj@gmail.com

Cover photo from The Hindu.

A Place for Her - Design Workshop

Most women in the city confess that they do not have the time for any kind of leisure, or recreation, or self-enrichment!

There will be a host of factors, along with gender, such as class and geographical location that create this condition. This made us wonder, however, whether an additional problem might be the fact that there are very few spaces in the city where women can seek leisure or self-enrichment. We are all well aware of the proscriptions imposed on women (of all classes) in public places, besides, even community spaces (for the poor), or commercial spaces like malls and cafes, present peculiar obstacles to women pursuing their self-enrichment. Can we think of a different space for women?

Do Din 2014 will be hosting a workshop in collaboration with Architecture and Design Foundation of India. The aim of this workshop is to engage with women from different parts of the city and from different social situations, to think through the obstacles presented by their particular situations and locations and to think about possible designs for institutions or infrastructures that will present avenues for women to seek recreation. A place for them.

Join the workshop on 20th December, 10 am to 12 pm!