Indian Institute of Management Udaipur organized a workshop ‘Abhivyakti -a Design Dialogue’ on April 15th 2015 to share their vision and design and get inputs from the city. It is an initiative to enhance the connection the institute shares with the city.

The event flagged off with an opening from Prof. Janat Shah – Director, IIMU who presented his vision for the Balicha campus with strong emphasis on sustainable development, water conservation, waste management and efficient energy systems. Director also stated that this campus would have certain facilities open for the citizens of Udaipur.

Ashutosh Pednekar, Collector, Udaipur congratulated Director for holding this dialogue with the city and appreciated the campus design and assured full support of the city that IIM would require. He also said that IIM holds a great responsibility to contribute towards the development and planning of the city.

Rajeev Kathapalia the principal architect of the firm- Vastushilpa Consultants, gave a presentation to express the design philosophy. According to him, the site is unique with rocky mountainous area in sub-tropical conditions in an arid zone with scanty vegetation.

Rajeev stated that the architecture of the campus reflects a resemblance with the traditional city but in a contemporary sense. The planning principles like courtyard system, using the slopes on site to create mutual shading through terraces etc. have been deployed in the planning of the new campus.

Moreover, like the lakes of the city, IIM Udaipur would have a few water bodies which have been planned in the valleys of the site and it would make the campus in turn a self-sufficient campus for water requirement. This self-sufficiency has also been targeted to make a zero-waste campus.

There was a discussion where a lot of interesting, innovative and constructive suggestions were made by people on landscaping, universal accessibility, roads, stones, aesthetics etc. The Chief of Administration, Lt. Col. Dinkar Hiteshi ended the event by thanking all the guests.