Routing through Raipur

The 9th Edition of Design Debate held in Raipur was a roaring success, diving into unexplored facets of design conversations to envisage the new 'image of the city."

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Design Debate is a constructive multi-city debate series on the role of Tradition vs Technology, curated to be interactive, and knowledge-led. And the Raipur Edition held on 17th March 2023 was exactly that! It gave a lot of food for thought and invited interest not only from the panellists but also from the audience.

The Raipur edition opened with a rousing address from Indrajeet Saoji, Group Publishing Director of ITP Media Group. Then, the esteemed Guest of Honour and the senior-most architect in the city - Ar. Mukund Hambarde, Consulting Architect, Hambarde & Associates, took to the stage. As the spellbound gathering tuned into his poignant words, Ar. Hambarde noted - "Akin to a flowing river, tradition is a fluid concept, leading from the past to the future. Tradition and traditional values should not be confused with heritage, which is when 'tradition' basks in the limelight."

Preceded by an engrossing presentation by Mr. Shri Tamhankar, Sr. GM - Sales & Marketing, KEI Industries Ltd., we got to the most awaited part of the evening - the fantastic panel discussions. First off, stalwarts in the city got together for a tetee-tete that was bound to captivate. The Doyens panel, moderated by Rhidul Sharma, Co-founder at Raipur Ink, and Secretary at IIA Raipur Centre, comprised Arun Pandey, Principal Architect, Pandey Associates; Bharti Upadhyay, Principal Architect, Bharti and Associates; Dilip Panigrahi, Chief Executive Architect, Sthapatya Foundation; Prashant Agrawal, Principal Architect, Creative Architects; and last but not least, Raj Prajapati, Chief Architect, SPACE and Chairman, IIA Chhattisgarh.