The presentation of participants of the Fourth Indo-Israel certificate program on ‘Sustainable Design – Small is Beautiful’ will be held on 16 September 2019 at 14.30 to 17.30 hours at the Senate Hall, VTU. The certificate program organized by the Institute of Environmental Architecture (IEAR) Mumbai was successfully conducted in collaboration with the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem and hosted by VTU Belagavi.
The success of the program is attributed to the collaborations set up during a roadshow in June by the team of IEAR with experts, NGOs and the local people of Belgaum.
Dr. Smitha Surebankar provided an overview of history, culture and tradition of Belgaum to the team and later conducted the heritage walk for the participants. Mrs. Sunita Hanamshet introduced the team to local houses and to the Rotary Club of Belgaum where Mr. Vikrant Kudale, a local from Belgavi offered a visit of his 16- year old house in Shahpur. He also introduced the team to the Ginde family in sonar Galli in Shahpur. Both these houses served as a case study and site visit for the participants.
Mrs. Hanamshet also conducted a tour of the Vivekanand memorial for the team. Here, Ms. Jyoti Kiran explained about the mission, the exhibit and the restoration work of the Vivekanand memorial. This became one of the site visits in the program. Opposite the Vivekanand memorial, the team made contact with the Uppin family thanks to their hospitality.
The key person in this collaboration is VTU’s program coordinator, Asst. Prof. Rohan Gurav from the Land and Water Management Institute. Dr. A. V. Shivpur, Regional Director, VTU, gave his full support for the program. He made it a point to visit the case study houses during the course of the program, a unique gesture for a person of his stature. Rohan Gurav also took the team to Gokhuldham Vedic village, about 25 km from Belagavi. The participants will be taken for a half day tour of this place on Saturday 14 September 2019.
The cultural experience for the Israeli students was enhanced when local students along with Asst. Prof. Rohan Gurav took them to participate in the Ganpati aarti and Ananta Chaturdashi procession on 12 September 2019.
The program would not have been possible without the support of patron Dr. A.S. Deshpande and chief patron, Dr. Karisidappa, Honorable Vice Chancellor of VTU Belagavi. The IEAR Mumbai team, faculty of Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and participants of the SIB 2019 are grateful to VTU for their generous hospitality and infrastructure support.