Studio Team

My experience of Yelahanka was very positive. It is a community with many layers that we were lucky enough to uncover through site exploration. The community members were also extremely open and welcoming throughout the process which made the whole investigation very enjoyable.

-------- Shanika

The most impressive part for me was the innocent smiles form kids in Yelahanka, which affected me deeply and swept away any negative impression about India. They affectionately called me “Sister”, asked my name, and invited me to play with them by the lake··· ··· all these things will become treasured memories forever. Wherever you are in the world, even if you don’t speak the language, a smile is always the most powerful way to communicate.

------ Bao Lixia

The most interesting thing I met in Yelahanka was to communicate with the local people through translation. Although I could not understand their conversation directly, I could guess the answer from their expressions and emotions. I was impressed by the friendliness and simplicity of the local people.

The experience in Yelahanka was wonderful, and I became very interested in the local production model. The textile industry, as a pillar industry in the region, has exerted a great negative impact on the environment. However, due to historical reasons, such industry cannot be directly removed, and it is very interesting to find a balance between the protection and development.

------ Li Ziheng Yelahanka is a culturally orientated community. The people are cheerful and always willing to help. Now I have a better outlook of the community through the survey held in the town, and it helped me to understand social issues to design better for the community.

------ Vinamra

This trip to India will affect my future design thinking, and the biggest influence of Yelahanka on me is to let me know another way of life in this world. Different areas should have different landscape design forms with more local characteristics. For landscape architects, how to discover local features and create unique landscapes is a big challenge.

------ Dong Yitong India is a country with beautiful culture and ancient civilization. You will never know where her charm is without getting close to it. Yelahanka is the beginning of my understanding of India. From the colorful houses, the exquisite patterns drawn on the doorway because of religion, the flowers in front of every window, and the smiles on people’s faces can we see the beauty of the city.

------ Yu Xi

Our trip to Yelahanka has been an interesting and inspiring experience. I am grateful for the hospitality of the people, who went all the way to help us with our work and made us feel at home. I will also miss the impromptu chai breaks we had while walking around Yelahanka.

------ Zi Gui

Visiting Bangalore, one of the metro cities in my home country India, with my classmates for our studio project brought a revelation to me. Understanding the complexity of the Indian culture and our dependency on the ecological system for economic reasons was an exciting experience. Interacting with the community made me fathom the rooted bonds humans have built by interweaving culture and ecosystems and how are they are diminishing with time, with barriers created by us. In this process of learning, I realized how as designers we could be instrumental in creating solutions to integrate culture and ecosystem.

------ Radha

Yelahanka, with its web of relationships that bind its physical land, culture and community, gave me an in-depth understanding of the human tenacity to shape the landscape, whether it is rightly or wrongly done. My interactions with the community brought to light their deep association with various layers of their cultural ecosystem and the subsequent loss of it. I gained knowledge of how as designers we need to remember to design with the people and not for the people, integrating solutions with their lifestyle and embedded habits.

------ Eingeel I have never thought I would go to Yelahanka before. This was a wonderful journey, from the bright colored houses, special religious culture, and the smiles on people’s faces, I can feel the charm of the city. And I’m also thinking about the regional and uniqueness in landscape, for landscape architects, this is a challenge.

------ Jiang Jiahang