Architect and designer Namitha B Ramaiah and her collaborator, student, Siddharth Kaul, are on a mission to beautify public spaces in Bengaluru. Namitha says, when she returned after studying architecture in Barcelona, she started exploring the city. “I studied how it influences the public. One thought I had was if these spaces can be used in a meaningful manner.”
Living in Barcelona, Namitha realised, public spaces were designed so that people could use them to the maximum. “Bengaluru also has lovely parks, lakes and vast spaces, but most of them are abandoned or unmaintained. Hence, our idea was to dedicate our weekends to make these spaces look pretty and interesting in such a manner that could draw people out of their homes to experience them.”
Namitha and Siddharth got on their social media platforms to announce beautifying projects. They got responses for donors and volunteers.
“We had a couple of people who bought us paints and brushes and about 40 volunteers, who have been a part of our beautification process, working with us on weekends.” Namitha says they make painting walls and creating art works, a community activity.
As an architect with a keen eye on public spaces, Namitha believes in looking for spaces to beautify, which would also impact people’s lives”.
Some of their works | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Namitha and Siddharth have organised a painting day at the government school in Halasuru, worked on the beautification of a government school in Yelahanka and a hospital that is dedicated to COVID-19 patients.
The school in Halasuru Namitha said is in a 100-year-old building, which became their canvas while for the hospital, their theme was safety precautions. “If more people can share a similar outlook, we can have more beautiful spaces around us,” believes the arhictect, who says that she wants this idea to reach across the city so that they find more donors and volunteers. “We are open to beautifying schools parks, walls and any public space as long as there is a donor who provides the raw material. Currently we are working on getting the persmission for the ESI hospital wall in Halasuru.”
