Message from the Head of Department

As globally, the human population grows so does our demands for resources. The scale and rate of this desire for growth, accumulation of wealth and personal happiness, though justified, is unprecedented in our current times. We find ourselves straining and battling over the finite resources of this planet. In the shifting changing landscape of our living, Design is all its manifest forms, provides a backdrop to our daily struggles and, with reservation, the means to achieve our everyday desires and ambitions. Although at times it seems that we have not learnt much from our history and the issues confronting us are beyond the power of architecture to mold, let us not forget that design and society has a natural reciprocal relationship.

In a small but meaningful way, design in its domain of thought and practice can provide a path towards social reformation.

Perhaps in an ideal situation architecture should not look for control, perhaps the role of design is to make visible the patterns and structures of our contemporary living.

In doing so, if it results in conformity or contrast aligns itself with social though or arts, then let it be. Provided, the purpose of investigation is critically grounded.

Today design need not provide answers but investigate processes, we should not ask how we shall live, but why do we live the way we do.

At the Department of Architecture and Design this is what we try to investigate, learn, experiment and strive toward a better future.

Ar. Shazia Hanif
Head of Architecture Department