Ethos | Focus Area

GET SENSITIZED

Don’t just Recycle. Reuse. Reduce.
But rethink

We designed this set of 3 bins for segregation with child friendly messages to try and convert the act of discarding something into a more meaningful engagement. The bins here are reused drums for packing chemicals to reinforce the concept. Further, they’re positioned at a height which makes the act of disposing waste more face to face and therefore personal.

To reimagine the notion of waste

Is it really useless?

Useless for you but of use to someone else?

Or can it be converted to something of use?

Just raising questions is more than half the job done. Children will seek answers for themselves. Learnings from this will allow them to use their awareness in other contexts and prompt them to think afresh.

GET SENSITIZED

Don’t just Recycle. Reuse. Reduce.
But rethink

We designed this set of 3 bins for segregation with child friendly messages to try and convert...

CONVERSE WITH NATURE

Natural cooling in arid zones

CONVERSE WITH NATURE

Natural cooling in arid zones

We designed this set of 3 bins for segregation with child friendly messages...

ENRICH THE ACCESS TO LEARNING

Reach Out. And In

After its active working life of 8 years, this repurposed school bus was converted into a mobile Science Resource Centre which could travel from school to school in a non-urban landscape or be used by a group of schools at a time following a preset calendar. Similarly we could have mobile teachers’ resource centres. Or even something as simple as a person on a bike carrying a video projector going from school to school.

Repurpose-find new applications

Shared resources

Shared learning

Fresh insights

The idea is to ensure that no one gets left out. At least not for the want of resources.If there’s not enough going around, we design for sharing. And if there are other hurdles like roads and transportation, we design to work around them to reach the learners/teachers.

ENRICH THE ACCESS TO LEARNING

Reach Out. And In

After its active working life of 8 years, this repurposed school bus was converted into a mobile Science...

MAKE THE PLAUSIBLE POSSIBLE

Creative Problem Solving

Here is an example of our attempt at getting past the cynicism associated with suggestion boxes. A flow chart explaining what will happen and a transparent box showing that your comments are just not gathering dust, will gain the confidence of a student. The school follows it up by rewarding the best suggestion periodically and actually implementing some.

Take a fresh look
Engage with stakeholders
Show that independent thought counts
Be upfront
Demonstrate action

Use multiple tools to make your point. Clear and transparent communication is the most likely tool to get results. Shows children that their thought counts and matters and they too can play a bigger role in the scheme of things.

MAKE THE PLAUSIBLE POSSIBLE

Creative Problem Solving

Here is an example of our attempt at getting past the cynicism associated with suggestion boxes....

SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL

Learning - Everywhere You Look

Mapping timelines on corridor walls seems like such a natural thing to do. Most schools have miles of corridors with walls on any one side if not both. These walls allow for mapping timelines-from the metamorphosis of a butterfly to the World Wars to the Indus Valley Civilization. And not just corridors - stairwells, columns and other surfaces in and around the school present a broad canvas on which to share information in a way that literally jumps out of the walls.
Allowing for a completely different way of assimilation. Here’s an instance of putting it in

action. Suddenly things come alive. They start making sense. There’s a learning opportunity everywhere.

I just didn’t realise it!
Surely, that’s not true-it couldn’t possibly have taken 300 years!
Answers. Giving rise to more questions.
It’s all making sense now.
There’s a learning opportunity everywhere.

SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL

Learning - Everywhere You Look

Mapping timelines on corridor walls seems like such a natural thing to do...

SET DISCOVERY IN MOTION

Turn It Upside Down: Learning From a New Perspective

We recognise the need for children to move to be fit and alert and hence more receptive to all the stimuli around. But it’s not just about moving your body, however important that may be. It’s more about gaining a fresh perspective each time you change position. And the discoveries that follow. And so we designed a chair made from sheets of EVA (a rubber like material used in chappals). It’s profile is so designed as to allow a small child to sit on it in many different ways. While offering different seating positions it also caters to her need to constantly move-in fact it almost legitimises it. Being lightweight and soft, it encourages engagement and therefore the scope for discovery.

Discoveries Set In Motion By Changing the Position of a Chair

Experimenting with arrangements of multiple chairs and understanding relationships

Notion of weight, your relative strength

Limits of possibilities-will stack 3 high before toppling over

Interplay of colours

SET DISCOVERY IN MOTION

Turn It Upside Down: Learning From a New Perspective

We recognise the need for children to move to be fit and alert and hence more receptive to all ...

SHUFFLE THE DECK. REPLAY.

Redefining Play.
And the Rules of Play.

Example here. A playground equipped with apparatus made using used automobile tyres. It’s not just the reuse angle that’s a game changer, its the altogether redefined activities. The tales or strongest is no longer the champ. Calls for agility, being nimble and smart.

No gender biases. Healthier relationships.
Discover as you go (play) along.

Choose your pace. Be yourself.
Gradually overcome your fears and apprehensions.

Engage children’s body and minds. Allow relationships to build. Let them discover the roles others play in achieving something.

SHUFFLE THE DECK. REPLAY.

Redefining Play.
And the Rules of Play.

A playground equipped with apparatus made using used automobile tyres...

THINK OUTSIDE THE CONTAINER

Adaptive Use: Depart From Convention

Example here. A container is repurposed into a store cum sports supervisors perch to locate it next to the scene of action where you cant have a brick and mortar building. It stores sports equipment, first aid as well as tools and equipment to maintain the play fields. The solar panels on the roof provide electric powers for the mostly daylight operating hours

The idea can be extended to run a books/uniform store for a short duration at the start of the session.

When conventional solutions won’t do.

Coming closer to the problem

When permanence is not desired or required.

Demonstrate a better understanding of a need.

Literally think out of the box. Find a solution that requires a departure from the conventional.

THINK OUTSIDE THE CONTAINER

Adaptive Use: Depart From Convention

purposed into a store cum sports supervisors perch to locate it next to the scene of action where you cant have a brick and mortar building. It stores sports equipment, first aid as well...

SWIVEL TO ATTENTION

Agile Classrooms: No Longer Hostage to the Furniture Arrangement

Example here. Furniture designed for a class room that can be rearranged in different ways to respond to pedagogical needs-collaborative learning, peer evaluation and also to clear the space for activities that do not require them.

Reconfigure arrangement
Reduce footprint to create space
Redefine the activities possible
Redefine the relationship between the students and the teacher
Redefine the relationship between one student and another

Teaching/learning are no longer hostage to the furniture (arrangement) in class rooms. The arrangement can be made to fit the activity performed rather than the other way around

SWIVEL TO ATTENTION

Agile Classrooms: No Longer Hostage to the Furniture Arrangement