SEA Pavilions 2024
FORECAST INDIA: CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR PAVILION DESIGNS RESPONDING TO THE MONSOON
AND CLIMATE CHANGE
On its 10th anniversary, the School of Environment and Architecture, in conversation with Raqs Media Collective, Delhi and Invisible Dust U.K. and in partnership with the Design Village with the support of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai
invites proposals from architects and artists below the age of 30, to conceive of pavilions and other ephemeral architectural forms to be constructed in December 2024 at SEA Mumbai.
We would like proposals that embody radical and sustainable new ways to think about the question of shelter in a time of climate change. The pavilion will be part of ‘Forecast India’ along with talks, screenings and events curated by SEA, artists Raqs Media Collective, and art and climate organisation Invisible Dust, gathering artists, scientists, architects, and philosophers to explore storytelling about nature and the transitioning weather in India. ‘Forecast India’ events are planned in Mumbai and London 2024/25.
There was a time when the monsoon was called bandhavo nirvikarah, the constant friend. Poems would be written in honour of its well-timed arrival. Clouds were given messages to carry as they hurried upcountry because they were as faithful as postmen. Farmers would know when to sow by sensing the wind. Ears would stay cocked, alert in anticipation of the first notes of the song of the Clamator Jacobinus, the crested cuckoo, the chataka bird, that rode the monsoon into the waiting interior of India. Hearing the chataka bird’s song, sensing the fragrance of the first raindrops on parched land, lovers would arrange assignations in advance, knowing that skin irrigated by rain after the arid interval of summer longs for contact with other skin. But the constancy of the monsoon - this gigantic seasonal emotional reservoir - is now a memory without memory. And despite tapestries of satellite imagery and clouds of data, it is as impossible to foretell its arrival or intensity with accuracy as it is to predict the turn and fall of an addicted gambler’s die. What is not constant can no longer be a friend.
- Raqs Media Collective
Climate change has meant that warming seas give rise to erratic monsoon departure and arrival schedules. How does a city plan, calmly, rationally to live and sustain itself, after the waves have risen beyond belief? These questions need urgent attention. They need the attention of science, architectural thinking, urban planning and de-planning, of imagination, of poetry, of theatre, and cinema. They need to be thought through in terms of equity, justice, and well-being. They need as many minds, as many ways of new thinking and doing, as possible.
How can one be mindful especially of the many different ways in which we welcome the monsoon as well as prepare for its excesses, as well as its frugalities? How does a city like Mumbai cope with the question of too much, or too little, rain - both of which are likely consequences of climate change? How to find shelter from unpredictable weather? What form does the shelter take? What are its material properties and affective construction details?
partners:
Goethe Institut - Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai
Raqs Media Collective
Invisible Dust
The Design Village
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Application Process
Applicants are asked to conceive of an emotional, affective response to the changing monsoon in a city like Mumbai as the key aspect in their design response. The pavilion will be site-specific and built on the campus of SEA. The ground or the roof of the building will be available as sites of intervention. You can visit the campus and choose a site in consultation with us.
30 proposals from those received will be selected by a jury comprising members of SEA, Raqs Media Collective, Invisible Dust, and eminent practitioners to be exhibited in a specially designed pavilion conceived as a ‘shelter for shelters’. One of these will be selected to be built on the SEA campus
A total production cost of INR 3 lakh for the actual building and all costs involved. An honorarium of INR 50,000 will be provided.
The pavilion should be able to accommodate the exhibition ‘Shelter for Shelters’ and a discussion space for a small group of people. We would like applicants to be open to engage in a dialogue with a team of UK designers and scientists at a later stage.
ELIGIBILITY
- Individuals and groups are eligible to participate.
- All participating individuals and group members shall be under the age of 30.
- A group participation shall have a maximum of 7 persons.
- You could be an artist, architect, designer, musician, engineer, physicist, mathematician etc.
- Multi-disciplinary groups are encouraged.
ESSENTIAL SITE INFORMATION DOCKET
Download Site Drawings and Images
SUBMISSION DETAILS
Please upload via the Google Form link below, a combined pdf file containing:
- Design Statement (A4 sheet, max. 400 words, font Arial, header font size 14, body text font size 12)
- Design Proposal (max. five A3 sheets, landscape orientation)
IDENTIFICATION
On the bottom right of all the sheets include a code generated as below (font Arial, font size 10):
'ID'/'GR' - Last 4 digits of your phone number (Team Lead)
Select ID for Individual / GR for Group
For example: ID-XXXX or GR-XXXX
GOOGLE FORM LINK
Click here to submit your entry via the Google Form
KEY DATES
Last Date of Submission: April 30, 2024
Announcement of Award: May 31, 2024
