As the world, as a large organism, burgeons ahead in a cut-throat space, the future becomes a subject of speculations, predictions and assumptions. Industries across the spectrum transform with time and age; needs increase, decrease or change, modern technology renders processes anew, and some techniques fade into obsoletion. But what is next? What lies in the offing?

The future of architecture and building is set to take centrestage at FAB Conclave, a festival celebrating ideas and experimentation in architecture. FAB Conclave 2024 will be held on March 27, 2024, in Mumbai, India, with seminal creative voices, design disruptors, thinkers and thought leaders making an appearance at the event. Revolving around the theme, L.I.F.E. - Looking Inward For your Environment, the event will foster discourses that further the cause for the environment and its health—all dedicated to building a better future. The FAB Conclave will host a stimulating programme including a conference, webinars, studios and an exhibition highlighting visionary professionals, labs and educational institutions. "FAB urges participants to have deep introspection to explore and reevaluate their relationship with nature in an honest atmosphere in which both inclusivity and well-intentioned dissent would thrive. At its undertone, FAB urges participants to look inward to find solutions to an ever-pertinent question: 'How can we bequeath a better world to the future?’” mentions the event curator Sarita Vijayan in the curator’s note.

This year’s theme addresses a lingering issue in the construction industry: there is tremendous evolution but meaningful contributions to the health of the environment are few and far between. Amidst building opinions, polarisation and protest, FAB aims to spotlight transformation that follows introspection—“the silent discovery of ourselves and our world.” The event emerges as a platform that kindles dialogue within the global design fraternity—bringing them together to leverage design interventions, innovations and technology to build a better future. Ten visionary professionals from various institutions across the world have been invited as speakers at the conclave, with nearly 750 pioneering design stakeholders of leading architecture and design firms pan-India and a large digital viewing of approximately 10,000 as the audience.

Dr. Iman Ansari, Founder Principal, AN.ONYMOUS, is a distinguished architectural and urban designer, historian and educator. His research and oeuvre explores the historical intersections of architecture with science, technology and medicine. He will join the event as a speaker, delving into the topic of Disruptive Interactions. Venezuelan-French architect, curator, author and speaker Carolina Tinocco, who has an experience of over 25 years in ecological transition and social innovation, urban design, eco-design and architecture, will speak about Creating Conscious Impact Eco design and Social Innovation at the conclave.

Dr Aseem Inam is a Professor and Chair in Urban Design in the School of Architecture at Cardiff University in the UK, Founding Director of TRULAB: Laboratory for Designing Urban Transformation, and Honorary Professor at The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at University College, London. With experience as an architect and urbanist who has collaborated with communities worldwide, he will shed light on the subject Co-designing Publics. Green technology and functional and conceptual integration of plants in architecture will be highlighted in a conversation about Growing Architecture, helmed by speaker Dr Ferdinand Ludwig, professor for green technologies in landscape architecture at the Technical University of Munich, Germany.

The speaker lineup also includes transdisciplinary design scientist, complex systems theorist, biofuturist and multi-award-winning entrepreneur and innovator Dr Melissa Sterry. Founder of bio futurism consultancy Bioratorium, she is known for projects that push conceptual, creative and commercial potentialities. At FAB 2024, she will talk about Panarchistic Architecture: Precepts of a Paradigm. Founder of the architecture studio The New Movement, Adi Cohen aspires to harness the built environment as a tool to help people. Drawing inspiration from her travels and nomadic lifestyle, she will bring the discourse to FAB 2024 with The Life-Centred Architecture-Way of Being.

Nepal-based Nripal Adhikary is the founder of ABARI, an architectural practice that celebrates traditional materials like bamboo and earth in the contemporary context. He has brought together farmers, artisans, architects, students and researchers in his initiative to revive natural materials. At the architecture event, he will take the audience through the topic of Reinvestigating how we build things. The speaker lineup also features Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu, Founder and Director of Tonkin Liu. Established in 2002, their practice is guided by a nature-focused design and a drive to reconnect people with nature. Building on this ethos, the duo will partake in the FAB Conclave with a discourse about The Nature of Place.

Through the elaborate programme, FAB calls for a deeper engagement from professionals, urging all to reinvent themselves and strive to catalyse impactful changes in the world. The exhibitions, workshops and conferences will dissect issues traversing philosophy, design innovation, environment, materials, technology and more. The subjects covered hold a mirror to the contemporary world, finding solutions to looming problems and envisioning a better tomorrow. “There is nothing as certain as silence, stillness and solitude to unravel the secrets of L.I.F.E., and FAB works as a crucible in your inward journey. Let’s all use FAB to celebrate the silence in between, for therein lie the opportunities and possibilities to make a difference,” Vijayan concludes the curator’s note.

STIR is a media partner with FAB Conclave 2024, scheduled to take place at Sheila Raheja Auditorium, Bandra, Mumbai, on March 27, 2024.