It was after XII std when Aniket Rajiv Satone realised engineering was not his calling. Having always loved sketching and designing, he veered towards architecture and has not looked back since. The fact that he is one of 21 finalists from the 2019 Asia Young Designer Awards (India) edition furthers his ambition and focus. He was announced as a finalist on December 24 2019, and participated in the finals in Chennai on January 24. The contest is a flagship movement by Nippon Paint and Ethos.
Aniket’s design concept, ‘Architecture of waste: Landfill Visitor Center: Creating Hub for public engagement with trash’ sheds light on the role of architecture in the space of waste management as one of the integral solutions to improve the relationship between users and the city’s main infrastructure. He is originally from Chimur, Maharashtra, and recently completed his Bachelor of Architecture from School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada.
The completed graphic design concept ‘Architecture of waste: Landfill Visitor Center: Creating Hub for public engagement with trash’ by Aniket Rajiv Satone
“I referred to the Deonar landfill near Mumbai, a city which generates around 6,000 metric tonnes a day. This is extremely sad as most of that waste which is recyclable or reusable builds up in the landfill. My design concept is ideally to help people across all generations really get acquainted with the waste that builds up; I want researchers, artists, regular people and more to come and discuss the life journey of a waste product,” explains Aniket. “Hyderabad is a megacity doing a lot of green things but there are also a lot of waste management issues here. We need to also get the government involved to really see a potential benefit becoming a real thing.”
What does his design concept feature? “There is an interior planned as well as an exhibition centre,” he responds. He does not go into too much detail, given this is purely a design competition. Would he like to bring this to fruition? Yes, he responds, but he is well aware of the realistic obstacles — such as bureaucracy, funding, finding land — to even plan such a centre. As one of the finalists, Aniket worked closely with design experts from across the country: Swanzal Kak Kapoor of SAKA Studio, interior designer at The Orange Lane, Shabnam Gupta, Eugene Pandala of Centre for Sustainable Built and Natural Environment, Sheila Shri Prakash of Shilpa Architects Planners Designers and architect C R Raju.
“Designers, architects, city planners: these are all jobs that involve problem solving,” concludes Aniket. “And when larger companies and governments see design possibilities, maybe we will see something actually happen.”
