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Design in Action

We trail behind the students of Love Grove, a BMC school run by Muktangan, as they present their design solutions to enhance Mariamma Nagar, the neighbourhood they live in

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An odd procession makes its way to Mariamma Nagar, Worli, on a not-too-cold winter morn. Two gigantic metal containers, 26 kids, mosquito nets in varying sizes, three teachers, a 2x3-foot metal sheet comprising nine-blocks of orange-painted metal soldered onto a metal net, seven volunteers, a lockable tin with a postbox-like opening, an architect, a kitchen garden in a plastic crate and a pregnant woman.  

Fight the (mosquito) bite
They first stop under a tree just outside Mariamma Nagar. The tree is one of just five in the neighbourhood, according to a survey previously conducted by the kids. Here the kids set up door- and window-sized mosquito nets velcroed to wooden frames. They proceed to explain the benefits of mosquito nets in a locality landscaped with construction work and stagnant water. Idlers make their way to the tree and people on their way to work stop and listen. Disease-preventive properties aside, the nets also have aesthetic value the kids say, highlighting a gigantic sequinned mosquito and other embroidered designs on the net. How much do they cost? The kids don't seem too sure; but are smart enough to tell the gathering crowd that they can be made at home with leftover net or fabric and could cost 'nothing'.

A fine idea
At the next stop, surrounded by buildings whose residents peek out to see what the commotion is all about, a group of five presents a metal ‘fine-box’ for residents to drop `100 into every time they fight or use foul language. “Don't worry, no one will steal the money, we have a lock”, says one student. “Also, any money we collect will be used to do good things for Mariamma Nagar,” another points out. So who will enforce the fine? “We and our families,” the kids say. What if people don't listen? “We will get  the police to help,” is the simplistic solution.  

Waste wise
From here, we walk into the heart of Mariamma Nagar, trying not to slip on the mud in the narrow water-logged lanes. Past open gutters where rats play hide-and-seek, fattened roosters dart around houses that share walls, and shops that sell everything from 3G packages to fried breakfasts, we tread gingerly stopping before a pile of rubbish mid-lane, where another batch of kids explain the need for disposing waste responsibly, with the help of two metal containers painted green and brown, meant to host wet and dry garbage. “What if the rain gets in?,” someone asks. “That's why they have lids,” we're told. “Won't the metal rust?” is another question. “No! They're painted with oil paint,” is the prompt response.

Going live
We're now trying to find a reasonably-sized open gutter. The procession has grown longer and now includes a ragtag group of kids who aren't at school, some carrying toddlers on their hips. Soon we stop again and the kids demonstrate how metal panels soldered to a metal net will keep mosquitos that breed in the gutters from getting out and infecting people, whilst being strong enough to walk over and ensure no one will fall in and get hurt. The oil-painted metal is also waterproof, so there's no need to worry about rust. We make our way up a metal bridge that runs over a green stream flooded with garbage—a shortcut back to where we began.

Eco-logical
Under the tree again, a team of six explains the kitchen garden they have designed to combat the lack of greenery in Mariamma Nagar. Lemongrass and tulsi sit beside other saplings in a rectangular plastic crate with a sleeve embroidered with trees, plants and ‘keep the environment safe’ messages by local artisans. Whilst the affordablity and durability of plastic makes it ideal for the kitchen garden; the kids are also promoting the use of sturdy, capacious sling bags in cotton and denim to reduce the use of plastic bags.  
Do the kids intend to take their ideas ahead? “We have to plan,” they tell us.

 

Behind the scenes
Nicola Antaki, who's been designing schools in the UK for several years now, started working with the Muktangan kids about four years ago, when she decided to look at how architecture can be used to learn better. The Architectural PhD student at The Bartlett School of Architecture and the Development Planning Unit at University College London, UK, has been holding six double-sessions every December to February, during the kids’ art and craft or work-experience lessons. The children's designs in the first year included bamboo insets for their classrooms’ concrete windows to reduce noise pollution; then there was a fresh-air desk with plants to enhance concentration and a helmet of sorts to aid reading sans distraction.

The blueprint
Since learning happens beyond the school building, the next year they surveyed their neighbourhood (cameras in hand) and mapped it out to try to understand what it was about their home that helped them learn. The map was subsequently converted into a tapestry by local embroiderers and is being kept safe until an opportunity for exhibition presents itself. The next year they selected five issues that their neighbourhood faced and developed design solutions for them; issues such as spitting and poor lighting between homes lost out to more important matters when put to a vote. They went back to the neighbourhood, questionnaires in hand to determine whether the inhabitants’ perception of issues that required solutions mirrored theirs.

Hard day’s work
The kids chose the material for their solutions and which craftspeople they wanted to work with based on their explorations of Mariamma Nagar, which is home (and workshop) to tinmakers, tailors of couture wedding dresses as well as hand- and machine-embroiderers. By the end of last year they had conceptual drawings that the craftspeople used to make prototypes whilst the kids were on holiday. “We wanted to demonstrate that their design drawings needed more detail, so a fabricator had everything needed to make something. We used the prototypes to kickstart the December 2015 series of sessions—to check if the colours and concepts were right and if not why; then we developed a more rigorous method of design drawings, like annotations and colour specifications”. This year they actually built their solutions with the help of local artisans and a £750 grant Nicola applied for through UCL.
What is the purpose of these lessons one might ask? Nicola is attempting to use the design process to  develop critical thinking to solve problems. “Basically, it's using a method of designing that architects use—observe, think, document, conceptualise, brainstorm and then develop a design,” explains Nicola.  
@AverilNunes

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