Bringing Back Park with the REBEL
An eventful day here in the SMA Studio as we held the first of its kind “Design Charrette” together with local governing bodies and NGOs, and also the third episode of our coveted SPOT-S (Speaker Of The Studio) series.
We conducted the design charrette for the "Bring Back Park" initiative in collaboration with the artist- activist Milan Rai who has been working closely with the Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC) on its noble initiative to design and build pocket parks in various parts of the city to make the sprawling urban spaces more livable and breathable. LMC has identified a total of 7 different spots in and around the city as of now.
To discuss and analyse the design process until now and a way forward to come up with the best possible design solution to these pocket parks, we had two presentations from the team of Vriksha Foundation and AFA (A for Architecture). The design was reviewed by Prafulla Man Singh Pradhan, Senior Advisor at LMC and Sr. Ar. Prabin Shrestha, LMC, Prof. Dr. Sudha Shrestha, HoD, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, IOE and Dr. Inu Pradhan Salike, IOE and Prof. Anne Feenstra. The charrette was a major success as we had a pool of 44 people, young and old of varying disciplines including media personality Samriddhi Rai.
Artist-activist Milan Rai then took us on his journey, from a rebel kid to a promising artist and from an artist to an activist, from a studio bounded by walls to a studio of streets and sight. His love for nature and its well-being is so pure and profound that it is infectious.It was awe inspiring to hear his journey of self-reflection, of his patience and relentless and never ending spirit. He is a rebel, a rebel with a cause.
We, at SMA are glad to have collaborations like these that help improve the overall architectural scenario and will always have our doors open to voice creative artists like Milan. Let this be the first of many. Cheers to charrettes and chats!
