Surfaces Reporter- India’s 1st magazine specialized on “products & materials” for architecture & Interiors- has done its 9th The Talk of Town event at Radisson City Center Lucknow on 6th April.
The Talk of Town is a platform to connect, engage and expand the circle of architects, artists, designers and industry experts in order to facilitate learning, sharing and networking among the industry’s who’s who and the aspiring ones. The event is curated by Madhurima Chowdhury.
More than 100 architects, designers and industry experts became part of this one of India's largest architecture and design conference in the City of Culture, Heritage, Tehzeeb, Architecture & Cuisine.
The event started with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp by Pragath Dvivedi, founder, The Ply Reporter, Ar Virendra Aggarwal, Chariperson IIA Lucknow, Mr. Somil Matanhelia, Director, Vibrant Laminate (Panaash), Mr. C.P. Aggarwal, President Dealer's Association, Lucknow and Dr. Sandeep K. Saraswat, IID Lucknow.
Ms Vertica Dvivedi, founder of WADe Asia and Editor-In-Chief of Surfaces Reporter Magazine, thereby welcomed all to the Talk of Town and sharing how and WADe Asia came into being, its continuous growth, the essence of SR and more soon after the lamp lighting ceremony.After that, there was the launch of India Interior Retailing - IIR, the new knowledge platform for businesses.
The event gathered momentum with the beginning of the first panel discussion of the day. The topic was also of immense interest to the audience- ‘The Evolving City-Lucknow-Past Present Future Outlook’with valuable insights shared by the panellists- Dr D S Bhui, Director, Cosmic Designs ; Ar Shubhra Mittal, ARINEM Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd, Ar KK Asthana, IIA National Council Member; Ar Ashok Kumar, Arch En Design ; Prof (Ar) Vandana Sehgal, Principal & Dean, Faculty of Architecture AKTU ; Ms Sunita Aron, Senior Resident Editor, Hindustan Times, Lucknow ; and Dr Arun Kapur, Associate Professor, Amity University, UP, Lucknow Campus. The panel was ably moderated by Dr Binti Singh, Urban Sociologist/Author.
“To solve the problems first we need to understand who owns the city, ownership is important,” a great insight from Ar K K Asthana was one of the intetestibg outcomes of the first Panel Discussion.
Prof (Ar) VandanaSehgal Principal & Dean, Faculty of Architecture AKTU, shared a beautiful thought on the topic. She said, “Lucknow has a soul. Intrinsic things are getting lost, architects and designers need to take care of this as well.”
The audience participatIon at the end of the discussion was also excellent, building the perfect environment for a presentation by Magnus Plywood on its products and its commitment to the environment.
Moving on,the Talk of Town includedsplendid mini-talks by ArGaurav Gupta on "Low Cost & Sustainable Construction technology” &ArTulsi Prasad on "Fakeness of architecture, why we need to curb it."
Our knowledge levels soared new heights as the second panel discussion on "Glocal - Thinking Global Building Local-The Lucknow Perspective” began thereafter. The Panel was an electrifying one with the presence of Ar Anupam Mittal, ARINEM Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd ; Ar Sandeep Kumar Saraswat, Srijan Shristi & Chairperson IIID Lucknow, Ar Gunjan Kapur, Gunjan & Associates ; Ar Ritu Gulati, SAKAAR - The Design Studio & Faculty of Architecture, AKTU ; Ar Shipra Singh, Studio 0522; Ms Asma Hussain, Asma Hussain, Fashon house. The panel is being moderated by Ar Vipul B Varshney, Sthapati Associates & Convenor INTACH.
The atmosphere got all charged up as we entered into the discussion of going GLOCAL. What do we need to do - Go totally global and lose all our culture or go midway the best we can - a question worth pondering upon was raised at the second panel discussion.
Ar Anupam Mittal from ARINEM Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd shared, “We remain local, but we think global. We adopt global technology but use it as per the local environment- that's the best way of 'Going Glocal'."
Following an active audience participation, the event had a presentation by Vibrant Laminate. To make the mood a bit lighter and bring our attendees' focus on theimportant issues of losing our culture to new design, theTalk of Town thought of an innovative way. Through a story, the storyteller Smita Bhatnagar brought a new wave of energy and enthusiasm to the event. Learning important thoughts on preserving our heritage, Smita built the perfect mood for High voltage discussions during the scrumptious lunch,
The event promised to gain its pace again post lunch with more engaging sessions, presentation and panel discussions, and kept the promise with engaging introductory sessions by Vertica Dvivedi and Pragath Dvivedi. They talked about the India Interior Retailing initiative, what all can be achieved through the initiative. The Talk of Town will continue to amaze the audience.