Eight years ago, 2016 to be precise, Viren Joshi, President of Gujarat’s Service Association for the Blind approached Ahmedabad-based architecture practice Sealab with a unique project. This was to visit Gandhinagar’s School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Children and help him improve its living conditions and education facilities for students. And thus was born a school designed to be navigated with the help of more than one of the five primary senses. The new academic building, to the west of the existing one, has ten classrooms with five different types arranged around a central courtyard. Each classroom around the central plaza has different features for specific uses – music rooms, meeting spaces, workshops, etc., and based on their functions, the classrooms have various forms, volumes, and light qualities.
Not many people have the distinction of having a cosmic body named after them. Jayant Murthy, a senior professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, is one of them. Murthy just had an asteroid named after him by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to mark his contributions to astronomy. The asteroid 2005 EX296, which was discovered at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona by M.W. Buie in 2005, will now be called (215884) Jayantmurthy, “in recognition of his work in the NASA New Horizons Science Team to observe the ultraviolet background radiation in the universe,” said the IIA.
A multi-dimensional fashion and luxury store in Chennai, Collage, is stepping into its 20th year with a retrospective that romances nostalgia. In collaboration with Mumbai’s high-end boutique Beg Borrow Steal, it brings antique jewellery and art along with vintage textiles and accessories to its premises this weekend.
Mumbai’s fashion commentators, couturiers and creators came together last week at Lakme Fashion Week X FDCI. With sustainability at the very core, we saw stalwarts like Anamika Khanna, for instance, revive tribal motifs, Rajesh Pratap Singh partner with an Argentinian polo brand, and JJ Valaya using royal travel fables as a narrative to work with.
Inspired by Nature, Moonray’s spring-summer collection, Equilibrium, envelops traditional crafts and dyeing techniques within the fold of sustainable fashion and modern design sensibilities. While plant-based dyes and eco-friendly fabrics are the cynosure of the range that hit the store’s shelves mid-February, it is the three-dimensional floral bouquet details on the garments that underline the Mumbai-based luxury-clothing brand’s commitment to innovation in fashion aesthetics.