Press Release
Smritivan Earthquake Museum and Memorial by Siddharth Bathla Receives the Silver A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Siddharth Bathla recognized for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Smritivan Earthquake Museum and Memorial by Siddharth Bathla, designed for Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category. The result belongs to the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
About Smritivan Earthquake Museum and Memorial
Smritivan is an earthquake museum and memorial located on the Bhujio Dungar hill in Bhuj, Gujarat, India. The museum covers 9200 square meters of indoor and outdoor space, arranged in seven thematic blocks and 27 galleries. The exhibits recall the 2001 earthquake through personal stories, archival material and scientific content. Local craftspeople co-created the artworks, and woven textiles are combined with durable steel. A large earthquake simulator and digital tributes to the victims are also included. The central theme of the design is human resilience.
About Siddharth Bathla
I am architect and an industrial designer by education. My keep interest lies in story telling and problem solving through design. I don’t get along to a silo as a designer, this is very fundamental to the kind of designing I do. The hunger to make a difference. Also to lead a time of passionate and creative people is a high in itself. My design philosophy is not to work in a silo but to be creative through the multidisciplinary approach. To work on public projects which brings narrative to the society. I design spaces where you experience a story, like you have films showcasing you a story, we do storytelling in space. Such spaces / museums are new to India comparatively.
Award Record
Siddharth Bathla is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
About the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award
The A' Interior Design Award is an international interior design competition recognizing good interior designs by interior designers and architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Typical entries include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. The awarded interior designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/interior
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/150164
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/150164
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!150164
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/339801
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://rb.gy/ukhi
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Smritivan Earthquake Museum and Memorial
- Function
- Earthquake Museum and Memorial
- Category
- Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Saddle Brown, Black, Maroon, Dim Gray and Dark Olive Green
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Siddharth Bathla
- Country
- India
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2022 - 2023
- Design ID
- #150164
Credits
- Team
- Prashasti Chandra, Masood Khan, Suryanath Sunny, Niharika Joshi, Prashul Sharma, Mukul Goyal- Sculptor, Vankar Vishram Valji - (weaver shyamjibhai)- weaving, Dr. Ismail Khatri- block printing, Mukesh Bhanani- kala Raksha, Gafur Khatri- Rogan art and Paresh Khamir- lacquered artwork
- Image Credits
- Photographer Bharat Aggarwal, Smritivan, 2022. Optional; Illustrator Masood Khan, Smritivan, 2022. Optional; Photographer Bharat Aggarwal, Smritivan, 2022. Video Credits: Cinematographer Sohaib Ilyas, Smritivan, 2022. Sound Credits: ANBR - Stars, Ardie Son - Come back home, Ardie Son - Tonight is Golden, Smritivan, 2022.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- India’s largest memorial-museum, coming alive with stories of the devastating 2001 earthquake woven into the philosophy of the space. Metaphor of resilience and constant change is presented across 7 thematic blocks. Collaboratively designed with master craftspersons, vibrant, local crafts create scenography. Large-scale quake simulator, digital homage and personal stories bring an emotional connection. To animate the visitor experience, live actors and artists bring the museum journey alive.
- Inspiration
- The unique, thriving culture of Kutch in west India, gave impetus to the museum’s content and design. The Timelessness of human resilience, absorbed from a nearby 4000-year-old civilization is carried forward in the museum’s ethos. The region’s rapid recovery post-2001 quake is embodied in Smritivan as universally relatable stories of human determination. Content design, scenography, and installations are based on and emerge from the rich local living traditions and crafts of the Kutch region.
- Research
- Narrative and design development took shape based on intensive continuous research rooted in ethnography, literature review, and archival data. Being an earthquake museum inspired by resilient stories of people and landscapes, geological, archaeological, and seismological experts directed the entire process. Personal stories and archival data were collected, analyzed, and curated from recurring, extensive field visits undertaken across entire quake-affected areas and humanitarian organizations.
- Challenge
- The responsibility to present sensitive personal and complex stories of the earthquake and beyond, to evoke varied emotions was a creative challenge and opportunity. Moving from an incident to an overarching story based on the ideas of resilience was pivotal. The 27 similar galleries dealt with an innovative, contextual design strategy for distinct and memorable thematic experiences. Translating the big idea into a physical reality demanded a smart orchestration of various stakeholders.
- Realization and Technology
- All bespoke installations and narrative elements were custom-designed and fabricated in India, following iterative experimentation and prototyping. A fresh approach to processing local resources was implemented to create contextually-rooted exhibit spaces. Local craft persons were commissioned to co-create the largest ever narrative-based artworks of their repertoire. Contextual materials such as woven textiles, in synergy with durable materials like steel, create a blend of local and global expression.
- Operation and Interaction
- Since its inauguration, the museum receives an average footfall of foreign tourists and locals over 100,000 every quarter. Holistic end-to-end placemaking and local community engagement through digital marketing, and innovative public events are an extension of the design strategy. Each visitor adds a part of themselves to the museum through digital tributes for quake victims, which collect into a bright beam of light. India’s first design biennale on the “art of storytelling” was hosted here recently.
- Project Duration and Location
- After winning the open design competition on a proposal based on the concept of “eternal resilience” the project was initiated in 2018, in Bhuj city of Kutch district, Gujarat. Following detailed research and design, on-site execution began in 2020. The Smritivan Earthquake Museum and Memorial were inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India in August 2022. We continue to curate and engage with public programming for the museum.
- Specifications
- An integral part of the memorial, the museum is spread over 9200 square meters of indoor and outdoor experience on the Bhujio-Dungar hill. The exhibition space is divided into seven blocks, which are further divided into 27 galleries. On an average each gallery is 8 meters wide, 12 meters long and 4.5 metres high. The museum also houses other amenities like library, shop, cafe, auditorium, play area and temporary exhibition spaces.
- Keywords
- Earthquake memorial, earthquake museum, immersive, interactive, craft, human-centric, scenography, storytelling, resilience, Bhuj, culture centre
