1. Can you introduce yourself in a personal and professional way?
My name is Rashi Karkoon and am currently studying at School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal in India. Being a second-year student, I can say architecture is relatively new to me and everyday I am exploring the vast scope of it. I have always loved writing and often try to question the existing world with fresh perspective. Trying to explore design and architecture with words, I am still at the very beginning of my journey of architecture and as well as life.

2. What is your design philosophy?
As I said, in this long journey of learning and exploring architecture, I am still at a very initial stage. While discovering new things every day, I am yet to find a design philosophy that I can call my own. However, for now, I get influenced by user’s experience and try to design buildings that would remain with the users in memories and within them through their experience. I understand the difference between place and space and strive to design a place for everyone in society.

3. What was your feeling when the winners were announced?
I didn’t believe it for a few moments. While writing the essay for the competition, we enjoyed the process rather than thinking about the results at first. It was one of our first competitions in architecture, so just successfully completing it was an achievement. But to receive such a recognition was a great honor for us. We were so happy and grateful for the opportunity to share our words and ideas with different readers at such a platform.

4. Can you briefly explain your essay writing process, the source of ideas and, your understanding of the topic?
Essay writing process for me starts with a spontaneous thought of an initial idea. It can be derived from something that I saw or learnt recently or even could be one of the many random topics that might or might not work. From the initial topic, starts a long cycle of research and study, which might result in solidifying my thoughts, changing my views or even changing the topic completely. Deciding what I can bring unique for the readers to think about, I start the actual essay writing exercise using words and phrases that can provoke thought and make the reader curious enough to question. However, I would like to say, I am still learning, trying new things with every essay and every word I write.

5. When and how you were first introduced to the topic of History of Architecture?
History of architecture was formally introduced to us as a part of our curriculum and spanning over a year, we learnt about history of world’s as well as India’s architecture. Over the years, materials changed, technology evolved, society developed yet the design thinking, to its core remain the same. The History of Architecture has always fascinated me greatly, learning about past and its influence on present really intrigues me. Thanks to the topic, I have come to see architecture as a journey of evolution, where experimentation is done at every stage, some fail, some success, some elements are forgotten and some returns after hundreds of years. It is the fascinating evolution that now we can be a part of and contribute to as well.

6. What measures will you take/ taking to introduce your understanding of the essay to the architecture practice?
Our essay, about Black Death and its influence on Gothic Architecture, on a surface level would seem like a recollection of facts and figures. It would seem a piece of writing about what has already happened in some century, that no one remembers now. However, our thought process was beyond that. Through the lens of history, we wanted to assess the present conditions as well. The current pandemic forced us to dwell upon the thought about how it could change the course of development of architecture in future. Studying about history where similar events took place, I could see how changes in current architecture style due to the situation is much required and inevitable.