The Collegium met at the Delhi Urban Arts Commission on Friday, the 27^th of April 2012. The meeting was attended by Ashish Ganju, Sanjay Bharadwaj, Nirmal Kulkarni, Rohit Gulati and Madhav Raman.

Various issues were discussed:

1. The discussion initially delved upon the perception, by theoreticians and practitioners alike, that the very nature and structure of (modernist) architectural training, practice and theory prevent it from resonating with deeper concerns of the human condition.

2. Views were also exchanged on the motivations and extents of investments by influential patron-clients, plutocrats and captains of industry in exploring criticality in architectural design for large commissions. The missing link between perceived design quality and critically motivated architectural design was also considered. The need, therefore, to demonstrate critical alternatives in design to the commissioners of large architectural projects was also discussed.

3. Dovetailing the above with the ongoing conversation on encouraging criticality in architectural discourse, views were expressed on expanding the canvas of thought beyond critical writing to creating critically motivated designs. To this end, Sanjay Bharadwaj proposed initiating an ideas competition which revisits large architectural commissions that have already been built but the criticality of whose design is contentious. The brief for the proposed competition would be recreated through spatial, programmatic, volumetric and statutory analysis of the existing architecture but pointed in the direction of criticality. The need for partnering with an existing competition portal for this exercise was also discussed. Sanjay has kindly agreed to take the lead on this and will share progress on this front at the next meeting.

4. The next meeting was proposed and set for 01 June 2012 at the Delhi Urban Arts Commission, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. A confirmatory mail with exact time will be circulated closer to the date.

-Madhav Raman