Hostel moments with JP Sir

Everyone has some memories about hostel..but ours was a unique one. The #strictrules of the hostel were fun while breaking them.. The #11o’clock timelimit to enter was fun. Even after entering beyond 11 o’clock, never thought hostel could be so much fun like watching dailysoaps together, going for outings, the Apna Floor bonds, the chalo lets cook group and the chalo unhone banaya hai khalo groups together.. The discussions with JP sir, constantly complaining to him.. arranging picnics. JP sir being a firm support of the hostel treated every child as his own. The hostel was more of a family than just a student residency.

-Harshada Mahajan V th yr

Jp sir aur own Godfather guiding hostelities and hostel Life for the whole journey with every kind of challenges and guidence. A man of his words and guts, karta dharta of outsiders in PVP thank you for the presence Jp sir

- Raghav Maheshwari Vth YR JP Sir. The strongest pillar and support for the institute and our beloved PVPCOA hostel. 5 years away from the family never felt difficult as JP sir never failed to catch our words and assured us that things would always be the way students wanted. May it be hostel picnics, festivals, dinner outings, visits to the hostel from his busiest schedule to just see if his students are fine and chat with them and much more, he was always there as a head of the family. One call and we all knew Jp sir would figure out something for us going out of the way. Thankyou sir for always caring, guiding and supporting each of us in this tough leeward journey as hostel was the place where we had our peace. Youu always tried to make our hostel a better place to live in, a second home.

-Apoorva Patil Vth YR Whenever we think of hostel life then there are lots of memories of fun and enjoyment attached to us but while finding and thinking about source and foundation for all this then there comes only one name and he is none other than our JP sir... The time we spent, secured a learning atmosphere always at hostel. He was not only our mentor or caretaker, he was very much friend to us with whome we could share our everything and every time we got positive response. Without him we cannot think of hostel and hostel life where we have spent many festivals yearly and managed many things with the Sir to happen different activities in hostel where everyone got opportunity to develop themselves with the enjoyment and energy. Thank you sir for being pioneer of our hostel where senior and junior learn a lot with lot of things with lot of enthusiasm where I could spent my lovely time during architecture. I would always love to cherish my unforgettable memories with Hostel and JP sir.

- Yogesh Surkutlawar Alumni

ALONG THE STRAIGHT FLIGHT STAIRCASE

Freshers 2019

Moving from home, making friends for life and throwing yourself into altogether new experiences. Welcoming these hundred bright faces to an unchatered ocean of knowledge, anxiety is bound to creep into these novice minds. Every year it is a customary in our college to celebrate Freshers’ day. From Zamana unplugged to Hippy Trippy to this years theme “Disco of the Dead” the commencement of performances increased incredibly every year. It is the spark within everyone that makes them feel alive-setting off on a long but exciting journey of change and adventure. Freshers’ being the most awaited moment of the year, all II year students get involved enthusiastically and take efforts whole heartedly to welcome the new batch. Juniors hunt for partners and compete among themselves to have the best ,turn out for the theme. Seniors wait all through the passage while some accompany their partners. As they start accending toward the entrance ,curiosity arises-what would be the atrium look like? what would everyone be dressed up and look? Working for the event, planning all programmes ,the studio transforms into a different space altogether in one night. Here comes the time when I year students show their talent and have an interaction with seniors. Every year culturals team reveal a theme that is decided and all the performances, decor and costumes have to be done according to it. ” Disco of the dead “ was the theme that describes the genre of dance and music. Powerful, bass-heavy and sound systems were viewed as a part of the disco club experience. It is one of the challenge to look totally different for one night. Everyone was swaying with the rhythm of the musical bands of the music team,juniors and seniors learn to bond along the lines of the tune. Later, the programme was followed with the ramp walk. There is also an exciting contest held of Mr. and Ms Fresher where the new comers are given an opportunity to introduce themselves and participate in fun activities to win titles. The students were then given different titles that added zest in the programme. Culturals team, II years has a major contribution in the event from arranging of materials to participating in programs, song fusions done by music team. It was all over a very energetic environment!

- Editorial Team

Insight 19-20

The whole campus was filled with joviality with the commencement of Insight 19-20. A great silent fight between reality and perceptivity was seen in the art following the theme of this year ‘‘Semblance’’. The colonnade entrance and Meraki was re-established to achieve ideas and form, pleasing to the spaces and theme. Section and Warli wall went hand in hand by presenting the stories of ‘‘Night-chitect’’ with perfect strokes and splashes. While the Atrium struck attention with its light and flowing Origami.

The next day ‘‘Rock Eat High’’ saw a sunset filled with kites and appetizing food at stalls handled by the first years under ‘‘Parampara’’. Music Band and Singers gave a blasting performance and this night concluded.

Sports day had all the House players competing with other houses for getting maximum points and House Trophy to get their rank up!.It was held At SMJV Ground and everyone was present there either to play or to cheer the players.

Players competed with each other in games like Basketball, Volleyball, Athletics, Dodgeball, Tug of war and Admin Cricket. and playing didn’t felt exhausting in joyous enviroment.This event came to end with distribution of prizes at the amphitheatre. From a colourful and full of props theme based stage back drop to finely done costumes everything was created innovatively from recycled dry waste by students for the Final performance on ‘‘Culturals’’ night, an annual gathering. Each House had to create an act, narration which had a musical performance, a Runway Walk and a story which best fits the ‘‘Semblance’’ theme. And all the houses did justice to it with their act, leaving a tough choice for the judges to announce the winner!

Insight week gave this dynamic energy to everyone as it was the time when we got to play popular songs in the atrium on speaker, share stories with seniors and teachers even, and learning came easy and quick while recreating these spaces.

Working was constant throughout with some students working till midnight while a few looked for a place to sleep. And Tea Talks at night brought buzz in the canteen. These days are celebrated because everyone finds a new piece of themselves and hopes these days come soon again.

-by Editorial team. Insight Day 1

Insight Day 2

Insight Day 3

Doodle graphic showing Day wise activity.

- by Narendra Gajjaley.

Shearforce 2019-20

Shearforce is an inter-college event hosted by PVPCOA for all the architectural colleges in Maharashtra. Through its journey of nine years, Shearforce has evolved from being an ordinary sports event to a sports festival that is looked forward to, by one and all. It has become an influential platform to nurture a sporting culture amongst architectural colleges.

This year , Shearforce was held on the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th January 2019. Twenty One colleges from Pune, Mumbai,Indapur and Aurangabad paticipated in this event.PVPCOA bagged the first place in Football(boys) and Volleyball(boys).

This year Red Bull , one of the offical sponsors of Sheareforce hosted a football tournament where anyone with a team of five could register, and participate. An initiative such as this helped people develop an interest towards football and also unlock their sportive side. Shearforce as an experience:

SHRIYA BHAGWAT(PVPCOA BASKETBALL TEAM MEMBER): Being there on the ground where the struggles of getting the ball beyond the net, the urge to score a basket or the pressure to save a goal creates unforgettable memories. Where there are no two sides, but one spirit. Shearforce is a feeling.

HARSH PANDEY(PVPCOA FOOTBALL TEAM MEMBER): Shearforce is that time of the year when apart from architects , you get to identify yourselves as sportsmen/women . The connections and bonds you build due to shearforce , definitely last longer and stronger than any of the bonds made otherwise . The immense sense of brotherhood teamspirit and belongingness we feel towards each other is unparalled and perhaps the best one. Its only after the first shearforce , you willingly wait for this time of the year to come sooner than ever .

- Editorial Team

TRIVI ARCH

Friday, 21st June 2019

Triviarch an architectural quiz competition held by PVPCOA every year with an intention of increasing the general knowledge of the students and prepare them for the city level competition ,called AQ (Architectural Quotient). The quiz questions are related to architecture and its parallels. The team consists of two students ,one being compulsorily from junior class. It works on two levels -the preliminary and the final round. Triviarch sees a lot of enthusiasm and interaction by both students and faculty.

Winners: Shaunak Mazumdar(III yr) Neha Phadtare(II yr)

1st runner up: Adesh Bhawar(IV yr),Smit Dungarwal (II yr), Aparna Kher(IV yr) 2nd runner up: Mukul Phansalkar(II yr), Mayur Pacharne(IV yr),

AQ

Friday, 19th July 2019

AQ or Architectural Quotient is an intercollegiate quiz competition held for students from colleges in and around Pune as a precursor to Archumen. PVPCOA conducts this event in collaboration with IIA Pune. The quiz comprises of a Preliminary round followed with a fast paced buzzer final round with 6 finalists by Ar. Prof . Prassana Desai. The quiz is extremely popular among colleges with a huge number of participation by students every year. This event is a great opportunity to gain information .

Winners: PVP College of Architecture, Pune Ravi Varma (IV yr) Sanidhya Shah (IV yr)

1st Runners up: Pritish Jain (IV yr) Aparna Kher (IV yr)

ROOKIES

Saturday, 3rd August 2019

The ACARA ( Asian Contest for Architectural Rookies Awards) an Asian level competition and national level round which was sucssesfully orchestrated at PVPCOA. The contestants are required to present third year final projects to an estimated panel of judges. The gold winners get an opportunity to present at the Asia level round in Mongolia. The event usually happens in first week of August and is conveyed by Ar. Prof. Prasanna Desai. The students also get an opportunity to see the level of work by architecture students by all over the country, their ideas, presentation skills.

Winners: Silver Medal(3rd position)Somesh Kachawar (IV yr)

Silver Medal - 4th Position: Abhijit Pardeshi (IV yr)

connect the dots between

the office studio & the school studio”

Ar. Prasanna Desai Director of PVPCOA desaiprasanna.pvpcoa08@gmail.com

It was some time in Feb 1974 as a student of First year B Arch on a sunny Saturday morning I was at the SPA Sports Ground which used to be opposite the Department of Architecture Building next to river Yamuna (where the current Indraprastha Stadium is built ) for the annual sports day. The famous annual cricket match between faculty & students was on all off us were curiously watching the same with 11 members of the faculty in field. It is then one realized that the bowler was holding a ball in one hand and a cigarette in another and as soon as he would deliver the bal would take a puff in a very stylish manner, this act continued for the full over. Stunned to see this kind of action with lot of hesitation & fear I ask one senior sitting next to me that who is this person blowing. He looked at me with surprise & and asked which year are you in and I said first year immediate came his reaction oh that is why you do not know him he is Ram Sharma you get to know about him slowly and you will have to face him in final year just watch he is a tiger & a competition king.

Years passed by but this statement kept on lingering in the mind throughout the journey of 5 years and we were nurtured by teachers like K B Singh, M R Agnihotri, Surinder Sharma, Y R Gupta, Madan Mehta, Rose Merry Sachdev, Satish Grover, Vinod Gupta, Vasant Kamat, Rasik Bhel, P N Mathur, O P Sharma, Lakshman Pai, P C Jain T Narayanswamy, K A Patel, S K Narayana led by non-other than Prof C H S Jhabvala. During these years one kept hearing stories about Prof Ram Sharma as to how tough it is to face him, how critical can he be while discussing design, if he does not find any merit in the design instead of shouting & tearing the sheets he would just look out of the window indicating that your work is not even worth a glance. This guilt trip would automatically make students produce work which needed to be of a level worth discussing with Prof Sharma. I also saw at times jubilant students in the canteen coming running from the first floor faculty room declaring that today Prof Sharma looked at my design for 10 seconds, the second one would counter and say he not only looked at my design but asked questions & the third would over excited and would tell that this is nothing, today Prof Sharma picked up a pencil & demonstrated to me by drawing on my tracing paper how to improvise my design and what direction I should take.

This picking up the pencil & drawing on the sheet was the most important act that most of the teachers of SPA indulged in, but the golden lines drawn by Prof Sharma along with his words though at time very harsh & sarcastic if viewed positively would give you the direction and clarity to work for weeks to come. His response to your work would have the utmost clarity characterized by firmness and confidence. Though many would say that he was very arrogant but for his tough stand which pushed us at times to the breaking point we would not have learned the lessons of reaching a matured design resplution..

My first encounter with Prof Ram Sharma was some time in Jan 1980 while doing my B Arch thesis and there was a thesis review. There were three rooms on the first floor and in the first room was the team of Prof P N Mathur ( Kuki Mathur ) & Prof Ram Sharma followed by two other teams in the following rooms. As soon as I arrived in the corridor with my drawings & model Prof Agnihotri who was standing there asked me as to what was my topic. On hearing my topic he immediately directed me to go in the first room where Prof P N Mathur & Prof Ram Sharma were sitting sipping the doctors chai ( our canteen owner was called doctor ) At this I juncture I literally pleaded with Prof Agnihotri not to send me in this first room but let me go to the room number two or three thus sparing me with this agony & torture in the lion’s den but alas Prof Agnihotri did not budge and enforced that as your topic is in Institutional category and this is the perfect team to guide you.

With no choice left, though reluctantly gathering courage I entered the room and the next 30 minutes were full of clarity and confidence which gave me the direction to complete my thesis with reasonable grades.

Later on during my Masters in Urban Design at SPA he was our studio guide for the 3rd semester where we did the densification of the Luyten’s Bunglow Zone which was one of the most exciting studios that I have ever participated in my career laying the foundation of some basic principles of urban design. My Masters thesis project Oshiwara District Centre Jogeshwari Mumbai was a live

competition which was guided by him and I along with Architects Bhel Joshi supported by my friend and partner Narayan Shastri participated in the same. Later on when the results came in May 1983 we saw that Prof Sharma had won the First Prize & we followed his footsteps by getting a special mention.

After shifting to Pune in 1990 I had two specific opportunities of interacting with him closely as a professional. I was travelling with him in a car to Aligarh Muslim University for a COA Inspection where he was asking me as to what is happening in Pune & I told him about FEED lecture series and that we always have 300 to 400 audience for each lecture. Complementing us he immediately asked as what the size of the city of Pune is & how much time takes to travel to the city centre and replied maximum 30 minutes. I keep wondering why did he ask the question and then realized that he was connecting the dots of quality of talk & distance of travel to success of the event which was actually Urban design in a practical way.

In October 2008 the Dept of Landscape Architecture at SPA organized a workshop & Late Prof Mohammad Shaheer ( another Guru Guide Mentor Inspiratior …….. ) asked me to present the Pedagogy of Design Studio at this conference. With lot of reluctance I accepted this invitation and it was an honor, privilege and coincidence that I presented all my leanings with Prof Ram Sharma as the session chair watching me very closely. It reminded me of my college studio days & with confidence & courage I shared all my experiences about him with the audience & it was with humility & the Ram Sharma smile that he accepted my presentation. The most disappointing part of his career was when he participated in 1980 Indraprastha Indoor Stadium competition along with Ar Raj Rewal & Er Mahendra Raj making a very strong team considering the past experience that number of times he was not awarded the work despite having won the first prize because his office was not big enough to handle the project of large scale. Though they won the first prize for this competition and despite having such a strong team they did not get the work depriving Prof Sharma of executing one of the largest and a very interesting projects of his career.

His contemporaries like Ar Raj Rewal, Ar Kuldip Singh, Ar Ajoy Choudhary , Ar Rajit Sabikhi and many others were in active practice established through competitions but it was from Prof Ram Sharma’s work & his capacity to win competitions is what inspired us and it is with him that we learned the art of how to crack competitions.

In an academic environment in the schools of architecture the teachers need to have the capacity & capability to motivate students and give them the clarity of direction, while doing so they may be very tough, very harsh & very curt which Prof Ram Sharma was at times but the value of such an approach can only be appreciated decades later when you get matured to understand the benefits of the same.

I only wish that more & more professionals like Prof Ram Sharma join the School & commit themselves for active teaching. Professor Sharma did not have a big practice in terms of numbers but certainly had the depth in whatever he built and has been inspirations & demonstrative of inculcate in the students. I hope the recently published book will inspire lots of young practicing architects to come inside the ring ( means regularly teach in the colleges of architecture two to three days a week ) than criticizing sitting outside the fence. That is the only way that we can raise the standard of architectural education and bridge the so called gap between academics & profession.

Thank you sir for being our mentor, guide, inspiration & helping us in connecting the dots.