CEPT UNIV DEMOLISHES STUDENTS’ ‘FREE ZONE’

Sources said students had protested against the razing of the design workshop at a meeting with the CEPT officials and architecture students had been reportedly using the space last semester in a bid to save it.

The demolition of the canteen on the CEPT University premises on Sunday has sparked a social media outcry among its alumni and extended student fraternity. A set of buildings, including the stationery shop, a jam room for musicians, a design workshop, several benches built by students, the iconic CEPT canteen building built by noted architect and former director of School of Architecture, (CEPT) Kurula Varkey and designed by BV Doshi were pulled down Sunday even as its pictures appeared on various social media forums.

... architect and CEPT alumni Parth Shah said, “The canteen was BV Doshi’s design which I developed along with Professor Kurula Varkey in 2001-2002, so the three of us have worked on it. I heard about it being pulled down through conversations on various social media, where the issue was being discussed. When an old building that you have built gets pulled down, you feel bad and unhappy about it. Even in many global universities as a practice – old buildings don’t have to pulled down to make way for new buildings. I don’t know why we cannot find ways to keep old buildings while making new additions, as it has been done like the IIM Ahmedabad.”

"We are sure that the design of the plaza and associated buildings will not only serve the university's needs but also create a new spatial vocabulary that will reinforce the vibrant and active campus environment of CEPT University." When Doshi was apprised of the demolition, he told Mirror, "Though Iam not aware about what happened, but I created that wall and workshop area to strengthen the space and not to demolish it like that. The space is the response dialogue between the staircase and the backdrop of the workshop. The life there has the maximum interaction between the students as they sit there for the entire day and do their designs."