The Institute of Architecture and Planning at Nirma University initiated a two-phase Collaborative Design and Build Workshop with its partner institute THWS from Würzburg, Germany for the design and execution of community friendly spaces in earth and bamboo construction systems. Participants are 30 students of 3rd, 4th and 5th year from B Arch, IAPNU and 15 students of 4th year B Arch, THWS. As part of phase I conducted from December 8 to 20, 2025, the students understood the nature of these building materials through exposure visits and workshops in their home institutions and also developed designs collaboratively in online mode under the guidance of faculty and experts from both the institutes. IAPNU students visited the Kesarjan Building Centre at Kerala GIDC area, Bavla for a hand-on understanding of Earth construction, learnt bamboo construction joineries from experts and visited architectural projects executed in these materials. The workshop is led by Dr. Aparna and Prof Sujan Umaraniya from IAPNU and Prof. Karl Zankl from THWS. Students from both the institutes will participate jointly in phase II of actual construction during the even semester of academic year 2025-26.
