Design Jatra is unique architectural firm with its roots in rural area of Dahanu, Maharashtra; striving to establish the link between architecture and society, primarily through community engagement. Their designs are based on local architectural elements, employing local laborers and spaces are shaped by community needs. Design Jatra strives to create ‘socio-architectural’ practice to build a healthy community and not just construct a building. Here are abstract of our conversation with the team. Here are the extracts from the talk with the founders of Design Jatra: Pratik Dhanmer, Shadul Patil and Vinita Kaur Chiragia.

Mr. Purushottam S Uttarwar is an Architect and Urban Planner with more than 4 decades of experience in government sector. He is currently an advisor (Urban Planning and TOD/TDR) to Chief Administrator, Hariyana Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) of Hariyana State, India and also leading a team of planners for preparing Draft Master Plan for Greater Noida through a consultancy firm. With education in Architecture, Planning and GIS, Mr. Uttarwar has headed planning and architectural teams at Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) and was Additional Commissioner (Planning) at Delhi Development Authority (DDA). He has led and worked on several significant projects including station redevelopment projects across India, Transit Oriented Developments (TOD), Unified Building Bye Laws for Delhi, Masterplan for Cities like Delhi, Dwarka and Rohini, amongst others. He has authored numerous publications on planning related topics and presented his papers in various national and international conferences. He is a visiting faculty at School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, India. Mr. Uttarwar has also authored a book “Delhi: An Emerging Megacity Region” published in Nov 2016. Team Woarchitect have interviewed Mr. Uttarwar to learn about his professional journey.

Mark F. Madura has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of DATACAD LLC since October 1996. Prior to that, Mr. Madura was with Cadkey Inc. from June 1995 to October 1996 as Vice President AEC Product Group. Prior to joining Cadkey, Mr. Madura was the President of Madura Studios Inc. (a Boston-based CADD consulting firm) from August 1990 to June 1995. From 1982 to 1990, Mr. Madura held various drafting and design positions in the fields of engineering, landscape architecture, lighting design, architecture, and design-build. Madura studied engineering at Boston University and architecture at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. The team at WOARCHITECT interviewed Mark Madura to learn about his professional journey.

This article intends to look at the low-income group of cyclists, understand their organic contribution to the city’s sustainable transit connectivity, and advocate to include them in the future bicycle infrastructure planning of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Ruchita Samel, an ‘Immersive Media Designer’, born and brought up in Mumbai. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Architecture in 2017 from the University of Mumbai. She did a Master's in ‘Immersive Media Design’ from the MIT Institute of Design, Pune. Currently, she has been working with Dassault Systèmes 3DExcite at their office based out of Pune in the domain of ‘Immersive Media’ for over a year now. The team at WOARCHITECT interviewed Ruchita to get insights into her career profile. This interview was conducted in April 2022.

Prof. Amit Bose, an educator, visionary, motivator, institution builder and an inspiration to many. He has done his architecture from University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee) in 1971-72. He is a visiting professor to many IITs, NITs and private Institutions. Prof. Amit Bose, is currently Director of DDF Consultants Pvt Ltd, a leading research and consultancy organization in Asia. DDF’s head office is located in New Delhi, India. Prof. Amit Bose has been consultant to World Bank UNDP, many MNCs, State Governments and Public Sector Undertakings. Recently, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India has conferred on him ‘Award of Excellence’ for preparation of comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) for Agartala, capital town of Tripura, India. Prof Bose has been associated with Planning Commission of India and Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) in various capacities. Team at WOARCHITECT interviewed Architect and Planner Prof. Amit Bose to learn about his professional journey.

Today, the water crisis in rural areas is due to the rapidly changing climate, population explosion, increased urbanization, migration, and unsustainable practices. It is a global issue. Add to that, the water crisis is not just limited to access, it is a complex issue. Water crisis often exasperates social-ecological issues. Extreme poverty, absence of education, health degradation, and gender inequalities are a few of the issues that are exasperated due to lack of water infrastructure. To understand this global issue, we look at a community in Maharashtra, a western state in India, to understand how a lack of local and regional sustainable water infrastructure exasperate social issues. This article intends to highlight the plight of a community while addressing a global crisis and importantly engaging with the issue with a solution-oriented approach.