Irish architect Angela Brady is a graduate from Dublin DIT School of Architecture and has a post graduate scholarship from Kunstakademiet, in Copenhagen. She spent a year in Toronto, before coming to London to set up Brady Mallalieu Architects, along with Robin Mallalieu. She was in the city recently to attend NASA 2015, a four-day touring convention organised at MIDAS, MARG Architecture College. Let’s see what she has to say about design and architecture principles.
Your design philosophy…
Our design studio specialises in contemporary sustainable design. My focus has always been to work with nature, not against it. Creating buildings with low carbon footprints using local materials is what defines our work.
How has your experience been in designing for cities across the globe?
Architecture in most cities relies immensely on fossil fuels, and this needs to change. Architects tend to ape the West and use steel and glass — materials that don’t suit their cities. We need to design sensibly using local materials and tap into renewable energy forms such as solar and wind. Technology can be used to enhance such designs but shouldn’t be relied on. For instance, Vietnam incorporates the use of bamboo into construction — a material available locally that suits their climatic conditions and has great benefits. We need to identify similar materials in India.
Architecture in Ireland and India has a lot in common. What lessons can India learn?
I strongly believe that people can bring about change and India has the advantage of ‘people power’. Both Ireland and India have a strong British influence and we have dealt with all the issues that India faces today, be it waste management, polluted rivers or other environment concerns. We launched the ‘Litterbug Campaign’ to tackle issues of waste generation and disposal, and the campaign was a huge hit. We started at the neighbourhood level and were successful in creating zero-plastic cities. Architects play a huge role in influencing the way people look at cities, and sensitising the public on environment issues is important. India must adopt similar campaigns for cleaner roads, water bodies, etc., that engage the community, and change will take place eventually.
What do you think about the role of women architects in society?
In Britain, there are twice as many women architects as their male counterparts. In comparison, India sees many women architects giving up practice post-their marriage. Women play a vital role in architecture and must be encouraged by companies to pursue practice come what may. Women must lead, get politically active and demand for well-paying contracts.
