Around 350 architecture, design, and construction firms are showcasing collaborative exhibits and award-winning projects at the fifth edition of Designuru 5.0. The four-day festival opened at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath on Thursday, with a focus on how design shapes everyday life and cultures.
The theme of human-nature interconnectedness runs through most of the 20 installations on display. In ‘City Lights and Lost Flights’, a bird named Maya returns to the city with her flock to find their former habitat overtaken by concrete and harsh lighting. Moved by their distress, residents choose to make amends, says a volunteer, explaining the concept. Nearby, a block of jagged marble hangs from a sprawling tree, held up by high-tension wires. A mock leaf shaped as a diya rests on it, lending it the feel of a “sacred ground”. The installation depicts that when nature informs design, even hard materials can appear “softer”.
‘What Knot’ is a series of twisted yet continuous bolster cushions, and it conveys that humans are not superior but just one part of biodiversity. ‘Our Understanding’ drew many visitors for both its engineering and message. A volunteer exhibitor describes it as a “tensegrity structure” where a 100-kg tiled ceiling remains suspended, counterbalanced by a marble base. In nature too, survival depends on forces that oppose yet support one another, he explains.
Eight colleges are showcasing their work as well. One comprises five stained-glass panels with a ribbon motif running across them. It is an ode to cancer survivors.
Architect Neelam Manjunath, known for her work with bamboo, is exhibiting a model of the award-winning Toda 2.0, which adapts traditional huts of the Toda people in the Nilgiris for contemporary use. She has added windows, and utilised regenerative materials. Another highlight is a section of drawings by South African architect Peter Rich.
The Indian Institute of Interior Designers, Bengaluru chapter, is hosting the festival. Its chairperson, architect V Vishwanath, says the next three days will feature an exhibition of homes designed for compact sites, a demonstration of 3D printing for residential projects, and workshops for students.
Until December 14, at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Kumarakrupa Road.
10 am to 8 pm. Entry free.