Travelling is an essential part of architectural education. In the first academic year, students realise how travel differs from tourism. Students can read and research the place they are visiting. They are taught to observe the movements, surroundings, and environments around them. Further, they learn to decode from that observation, analyse it and come up with ways to represent that data. The generated data can be narrated graphically or with models or installations that reach a broader audience.
Student groups are formed, and every team is given a specific theme or area or a detail they document. This documentation process can go on for a few days or weeks; at the end, every team can present their work, and discussions occur. These discussions give students an overall understanding of the place, the community, and their architecture which they can later apply in their design projects.
The documentation involves interviewing people, sketching, measuring structures, and taking photographs on-site. Before visiting the site, a few weeks are devoted to researching its history, old plans, future development plans, and community background. This helps get a deeper understanding of the people and architecture so the student will be familiar with the place.
These academic processes can be implemented by architecture students when they decide to venture out on their own to explore various other cities or towns in India. With a developed perspective because of architectural education, the student can plan their journey in a way that they get to explore and learn to the fullest.
Firstly, reading about history is a good idea, especially if there is a royal influence, if there are forts, and if the city is built around them, which is strongly reflected in the present-day city. Firstly, reading about history is a good idea, especially if there is a royal influence, if there are forts, and if the city is built around them, which is strongly reflected in the present-day city. The student should also read the news for the latest developments by government officials or any political agendas. Also, visiting in the right season of the year can lead to a pleasant trip; otherwise, certain places may be shut down or difficult to reach.
After reading the history and getting an overall idea, the student should study the city’s plan and then decide on places of interest. It is particularly important to explore the old city, the planned smart city, a craftsmen’s community, or a nearby village.
Most importantly, the student can look up known architecture firms based in that city and visit those projects; if required, they can take permission from respective authorities. Similarly, if a student has a firm they follow, they should stay updated if that firm has a project in the place they are visiting.
Usually, seeing modern-day projects can teach the student in detail about the planning, services, and aesthetics of the architect they follow. Every project has a characteristic feature of that architect and a sense of spatial planning. Students should visit such projects, sit and sketch, which will help them understand the proportions achieved, the light and ventilation coming in, and the ratio of open and semi-open spaces. The student can physically touch the materials used, feel the texture, and look closely at the junctions of two materials meeting and how it is dealt with. These observations will help the student think and find answers to the questions they may encounter later when designing. This also slowly develops their capacity to visualise in three dimensions.
Hence, travelling to new locations as an architecture student can open doors to many sources of spatial inspiration, ideas, and learnings that they can apply to their projects in the future.
