Takbir Fatima, an architect from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, who also spearheads multi-disciplinary studio DesignAware, presents Road Less Traveled – a series of virtual lectures that bring together nine global architects from diverse fields of expertise to share insights from their chosen career path. Curated for architecture students and young professionals as a remote learning experience, the initiative supports a meaningful cause towards the current global crisis.

As people across the world are braving COVID-19 by locking themselves at home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, there are many who are stranded on streets with no luxury of being home. Those adversely affected are migrant workers, construction labourers and daily wage earners who have been rendered jobless overnight due to the lockdown, and are struggling to survive without food and shelter.

The motto of Road Less Traveled is #StarveTheHungerVirus where through the medium of these virtual lectures, Fatima is raising funds to contribute toward initiatives that are providing relief to those impacted in India, UAE, Spain, New Zealand and Puerto Rico as well as for healthcare professionals working on the frontline.

The series put forward the idea that “architecture is a vast and multi-layered discipline”, and that “there is no single ‘correct’ way of being an architect, and no straight path or formula to follow”. “I saw the opportunity that there are connections around the world which are of a lot of value,” says Fatima. “I wanted to introduce the idea of how an architect can take a sort of slight divergent path and still be successful in that.”

The speakers, in addition to being trained as architects, are practising designers, entrepreneurs, urban planners, green building activists and writers. These include Puerto Rico-based Miguel Miranda-Montes, Spanish architect Meriu Diaz, Auckland-based educator Vikrant Singh and Indian architectural writer Shriti Das.

They discussed their journey through architecture while addressing opportunities and roadblocks they faced while pursuing the ‘road less travelled’. A composite repository of intriguing insights, some of the narratives that the series address include entrepreneurship, real estate, sustainability, urban development, writing in architecture, and the relationship between design, culture and faith.

The series which opened with live lectures, one each for nine consecutive days, attracted global audience and has been successful in raising INR 1,00,000 in two weeks of social distancing.

To continue supporting the cause #StarveTheHungerVirus, the recorded lectures have been made available for purchase by DesignAware and it seeks your support.

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