Dean D'Cruz
Goa Foundation, Goa
Dean D'Cruz, a graduate of Sir J J College of Architecture, Mumbai, set up practice in Goa in 1989, continuing to co-found Mozaic Design architectural wing in 2001. Sustainability has been at the core ofhis design ethos, gradually gaining shape and recognition with the urgency of climate change since 2012. He has conducted numerous workshops and seminars on architecture, planning and environment, with works and articles published in leading magazines in India and abroad. He has collaborated with the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Oxford Brookes University UK, and PRATT Institute New York, on architectural and planning programs in Goa. Having designed over 250 houses, 50 hotels, 30 housing complexes, 30 institutions, offices, and factories, he is a recipient of multiple awards. His strength today is in the hospitality industry, from boutique hotels and jungle lodges to 200+ room resorts. His current efforts are aimed at improving academic standards across the country through awareness of criteria that address environmental and social issues in architecture and planning.
Session 1F - Public Lecture
Umesh V Waghmare, JNCASR, Bengaluru
The art and science of design
In the last couple of decades, design has been visibly at the forefront of shaping the lives and aspirations of people, but very few have understood what design is all about. Its broad footprint spans seemingly frivolous areas like fashion design to serious technologically intense iconic multi storey buildings. We have seen companies like Apple and Tesla using design to drive their products where designers not just cater to user needs but create products that set the future. Besides this, design is now playing a great role in addressing the world's environmental and social problems and not just catering to an elite. Design involves many stages of researching user needs, defining the problems, challenging assumptions and creating ideas, prototyping possible solutions and testing these solutions out before actually making the product. It involves the rigour of the engineering sciences with the creativity and human connect of the arts. Thus, like the sciences and the arts, which develop and change through the years, design is also dynamic, responding to our lifestyle, materials and technologies that are available at the time. This presentation will touch upon these aspects and also share examples ofworks by Mozaic over the last few decades.