Students design and build farmers’ mart in Karur

The C.A.R.E. School of Architecture had joined hands with Bezalel Academy to bring innovative methods of learning architecture.

BRICK BY BRICK: Students build a farmers mart at the Saraswati Krishi VigyanKendra at Puzhutheri in Karur district. Photo: B.Velankanni Raj

Twenty six third-year architecture students, 15 from Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem, and 11 from the C.A.R.E. School of Architecture have teamed up to design and build a farmers mart at the Saraswati Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Puzhutheri in Karur district.

Split into six groups, they constructed six structures each measuring 15 square metres to function as gathering spaces for farmers who come to the KVK to display their produce and share their experience with other farmers.

The C.A.R.E. School of Architecture had joined hands with Bezalel Academy to bring innovative methods of learning architecture. Sharon Rotbard, architect and a senior lecturer at Bezalel Academy, who led the students on the trip to India, is the founder of Studio for Spontaneous Architecture, where students invent, experiment and build their first building of their career. Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Rotbard said the students were given 21 days, of which the first five or six days were taken for designing their structures. The students designed and built the entire structure including the foundations. They were encouraged to use locally available (within a seven km radius) and discarded materials and were required to come up with innovative methods to reuse the same to suit their design. The six units were designed in such a manner that it could function as an amphitheatre to accommodate about 40 farmers, said Vijaykumar Sengottuvelan, Director, C.A.R.E. School of Architecture.

The ‘design - build workshop’ helped the students gain hands-on experience in designing and constructing spaces, identifying and sourcing local material, experimenting in structures and construction techniques in addition to understanding sustainable architecture.

Liza, a student from the Jerusalem academy, observed that they had to plan everything, make the sketches and calculations, all by themselves. Her team had used bamboo extensively in their structure. “We wanted to have something natural and coherent with the environment,” she said. Asked about the experience working with their counterparts in India, she said it was a great to work together as they could learn from each other and respective cultures.

“We learnt so many things as each detail took so much time to execute. It is much different from what we design on paper. The next time we build, we will be wiser,” observed B. Krithika, a student from the C.A.R.E.School.