The Dream Catcher

Age has nothing to do with talent. Tanay Narendra Bothara, a design student, winner of the Asia Young Designer Award 2019, is a perfect example.

- Spenta Jassawala and Ananya Srivastava

At 23, Tanay Narendra Bothara is unlike most others of his age. He loves to challenge himself and push boundaries. A student of design at Vivekanand Institute of Technology’s Padmabhushan Vasatdada Patil College of Architecture, Pune, Bothara has recently won a gold for Nippon’s Asia Young Designer Award 2019 under the architectural category. Beating over 8,400 applicants and competing with finalists from 15 countries in the finals, his project Children Uprooted looks at transforming war-ridden spaces in Syria. The theme for this year’s award ceremony held in Singapore was Forward: Challenging Design Boundaries.

The Inspiration

Bothara is the first Indian to receive the award. Talking about what inspired Children Uprooted, he says that it stemmed from a video he saw on the plight of the children affected by the civil unrest in Syria. “The video made me think about how my skill in art and architecture could help bring a smile to a child’s face,” he says.

Bothara, who received a cash prize of US $10,000, has donated the award money for the education of Syrian children. His plan for the competition was to create something that evoked emotions and memories. His goal throughout the competition was to have a good experience; the results did not matter much. So, when he won the prestigious award he was simply overwhelmed. “I am just the face of the award, but my parents are the soul of it,” he says.

THE PLAN When asked what sets him apart from other applicants, he gives the entire credit to the uniqueness and universatility of his project. “The design looked at the adaptive reuse of the basements in abandoned buildings to create an underground play network. The concept can be implemented in any war zone. This element evoked a lot of interest among the judges in the finals,” says Bothara.

The Challenges