Workshop on making bird nests held in city
Waste materials used for designing nests
KOLKATA: Amid the dwindling population of sparrows and other avian species in the city, a unique workshop on designing bird’s nest using waste was organised here. Merlin, I am Kolkata, the corporate social responsibility arm of Merlin Group joined hands with the Kolkata Society For Cultural Heritage and Energy Efficient Built Environment Lab, Department of Architecture, Jadavpur University, Kolkata to conduct the workshop.
The theme of the workshop was “conceptualising habitats for bird shelter in urban areas and making/building a prototype with appropriate upcycled/recycled organic/ inorganic waste materials.” Total of 15kgs of paper waste used during this workshop was supplied by the CSR project of Merlin Group.
“Birds used to perch on their favourite trees in the city, however, they miss out on those trees in the city and now they are resting in different parts of buildings. We have designed this workshop and involved our students. The students were mentored by renowned young professional architects in the city. They have come up with innovative designs. We are planning to keep these bird habitats at different locations in the university. We are planning to involve school students also in the future and make it a movement for the peaceful living of the avian species,” said professor Madhumita Roy, Architecture department, Jadavpur University, and convenor of the workshop- ‘Pakhighar’.
“We from Merlin will focus on biophilic architecture in our projects and try to incorporate some bird-friendly habitats from this workshop in our projects,” said Saket Mohta, managing director, Merlin Group.
The project was inaugurated by Dr . Kalyan Rudra, Chairman - of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board. in presence of Dr.Mainak Ghosh, Head of the department of architecture, Jadavpur University, Prof. Chandan Majumder Dean Engineering, Computer Science Department, Jadavpur University and architect Dilip Chatterjee. Over 50 students from five renowned educational institutes attended the workshop.
Ten mentors from the discipline of Architecture guided the students. A 5 member jury adjudged the installations designed by the students. Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Member Secretary, West Bengal Pollution Control Board was present in the valedictory session.