VIRAASAT

Lighting up Our Heritage

2019
A Student Design Competition

COMPETITION BRIEF
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Contents
Signify 2
Ethos 3
Premise 4
Knowledge Society 5
Site Selection 6
References 7
Evaluation Criteria 8
Awards 8
Eligibility & Team Size 9
Competition Format 9
Submission Requirements 10
Instructions 11
Important Dates 12
Jury 12

Police Commissionerate, Jaipur

(Source: Signify)
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Signify
Signify is the new avatar of Philips Lighting: a world leader in
lighting which provides customers with high-quality, energy-
efficient lighting products, systems and services. It turns light
sources into points of data to connect more devices, places and
people through light: contributing to a safer, more productive
and smarter world. The choice of the new company name
originates from the fact that light becomes an intelligent
language to connect and convey.

Through its range of products, Signify aims at making:

• People’s lives - safer and more comfortable,

• Businesses - more productive, and

• Cities - more liveable.

Signify’s purpose is to unlock the extraordinary potential of

light for brighter lives and a better world. This is achieved
through values of innovation, passion for sustainability and
desire to transform people’s lives.

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Ethos
“Knowledge is Power.”
Ethos was started sixteen years ago by Gita Balakrishnan,
as a response to a need to build awareness on our built
environment; a need to bridge the gap between students
undergoing education in colleges and the outside professional
world; a need to provide more opportunities to budding
professionals and to create a platform, a network of young
designers and civil engineers who are to be decision-makers
in the years to come.

Ethos works towards sensitizing students of architecture

and civil engineering to the culture and the ethos that their
designs would need to respond to. There is an effort to equip
students to be agents of change, to lead and not just follow
and to contribute towards building of a harmonious society.

Ethos’ main objective is to be the wind beneath the wings of

young minds that are to shape our built environment in the
years to come. This has been further facilitated by creation of
ACEDGE - an online platform to provide education outside
classrooms.

This design competition for lighting up heritage

structures is another step in the same direction.

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Premise
Illuminating heritage structures is a recognised manner
to highlight our historical treasures in a landscape,
neighbourhood, village or even a city. Lighting accentuates
architecture and highlights the identity of a place. Lighting
should be one of the ways to express cultural, historical and
visual importance of heritage buildings.

Heritage connects the past and present of a settlement and

can play a significant role in contemporary times. A well-lit
heritage structure can potentially generate night tourism,
ensure safety on streets, encourage community bonding and
cultural events.

The safer and welcoming a city feels, the more its residents
and visitors will enjoy it. Lighting creates exciting spaces that
people want to spend time in - eating, drinking and taking in
the sights. Using beautiful, energy-efficient lighting to creative
vibrant social spaces can also have a dramatic effect on a city’s
reputation. It enhances tourism and nightlife, generating
valuable income for hotels, restaurants, bars and shops. So,
the city becomes a more attractive destination for people and
businesses. An investment in lighting practically pays for itself!
By altering the urban landscape, the relationship between
the residents and their city can be redefined and their living
environment enhanced.

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The competition is not only about simply illuminating these

structures but aims at curating lighting schemes that enhance
the character of the building, its different architectural
elements as well as its immediate context. This competition
intends to bring focus on under-emphasised and unlit/poorly-
lit heritage monuments and seeks proposals for lighting them
up, while exploring the socio-economic and cultural benefits
the intervention can bring to the local community.

Participants are encouraged to think outside-the-box and

develop proposals that are designed to offer an overall
experience of their chosen heritage which engages with the
visitors. The lighting design proposal may extend beyond the
main structure, and could include providing lighting to access
roads, paths, landscapes and any other element or vantage
points. The overall goal of this competition is to help create an
identity for these heritage structures, leading to an increased
ownership amongst people.

Knowledge Society
The competition registrants also get an opportunity to learn
about lighting design and revitalisation of heritage structures
from experts, through ACEDGE.

ACEDGE is an online Education platform designed to given

an EDGE to learners in the field of Architecture, Construction,
Engineering and Design. Through its online courses- Studios,
Spotlight and Ask-Me-Anything sessions, ACEDGE hopes to
make information accessible and affordable to all, bringing a
new dimension to outside-the-classroom education.

ACEDGE is offering a short online course on lighting design,

revival of heritage structures and an Ask-me-Anything session
for the competition registrants for free.

www.acedge.in/courses/viraasat-lighting-up-our-heritage

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Site Selection
• Select a heritage building/structure from the pre-
independence era (built before August 15th, 1947) of over
300 sq.m facade area, one which is publicly accessible and
is not privately owned.

• The heritage structure façade chosen should not be

already well or adequately lit up. We would like you to
focus on heritage that needs attention.

• The selected heritage structure(s) must have reliable

documented history and references to the same shall
support your selection.

• Teams are encouraged to pick heritage sites from one

of the HRIDAY cities or from the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ list.
However, this is not a binding factor.

• Include the immediate landscaping, pathways, entrance

to the site etc. to encompass all aspects and enhance the
visitor experience of the site.

The first stage of the competition requires you to upload

upto 5 photographs of your selected site with 200-300 words
description about the choice and structure itself. More details
under Submission Requirements.

NOTE:

We would recommend that there are no repetitions in the

sites selected. A list of all chosen monuments would be
uploaded online on a regular basis, as and when received to
avoid repetitions.

Do check the same before picking your site.

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References
• HRIDAY
www.hridayindia.in/scheme-objectives/

• Atal Mission
www.amrut.gov.in/content/

• Signify showcase
www.signify.com/en-us/blog.section.(showcase)

• Adopt a Heritage design guidelines

www.adoptaheritage.in/pdf/GAMSI-Accessibility%20
Guidelines.pdf

• Adopt a Heritage state wise indicative list for potential

adoption
www.adoptaheritage.in/pdf/indicative_list.pdf

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Evaluation Criteria
• Site selection - significance of the selected site,
understanding of the history, context and community

• Lighting concept and design intent

• Originality and Innovation

• Response to context, connection with surroundings,

landscape, user-interface etc.

• Practical feasibility for implementation of the concept

• Luminaire selection and lighting technology proposed:

energy efficiency, visual comfort, lighting distribution etc.

• Presentation

Awards

1st
PRIZE
₹1,25,000
2nd 3rd
PRIZE PRIZE
₹75,000 ₹50,000

* Jury decision will be final and binding.

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Eligibility & Team

Size
• Maximum of 3 members in a group. Participation is open
to undergraduate or postgraduate students in design
and architecture or allied fields from recognized colleges
across India.

• Students who have graduated in 2019 are also eligible to

participate.

• Mixed groups are allowed (combinations of undergraduate

and post-graduate students/ different years of graduation/
different colleges)

Competition Format
This is a three-stage competition

Stage 1
Site Selection

Stage 2
Teams submit their design proposals by 22nd September. The
submissions will be judged by a jury panel and 8 to 10 teams
will be shortlisted for the final round.

Stage 3
Shortlisted 8-10 teams are invited to Delhi for a presentation
and question/answer round with the jury. Final prize winners
will then be announced.

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Submission Requirements
Stage 1
• Stage 1 aims at ensuring an appropriate
site selection by all registered teams.
• Upon registration, you will be invited to
sign up at www.acedge.in, where you will
be expected to upload the photographs
and description composed on a maximum
of TWO A3-sized sheets (to be uploaded
as a single PDF).
• Each participating team should preferably
take up a unique heritage site based
on the site selection criteria discussed
earlier. Upload upto 5 photographs of
your selected site with 200-300 words
description about the choice and structure
itself preferably by7th September 2019.
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Stage 2
• Record and document in detail the
building(s) as they are today. Choose
appropriate means and combination
of documentation (measured drawing,
photography, sketches, text analysis, oral
history, etc.)
• Document the history and evolution
of the building(s). Identify present
ownership/management (central or state
government, ASI, trusts, institutional etc.)
• Elaborate on the aspects of its making:
materials/ construction techniques/
architectural features/ technological
advancements.
• Devise and propose an interesting lighting
scheme with adequate visualization to
illustrate the concept.
• Schematic (or scaled) illustration, how to
realize the lighting concept.
• Submission Format: maximum of SIX
A3-sized panels including the cover
sheet shall be sent only as a soft copy to
ethosindia.submissions@gmail.com
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Instructions
• Acknowledge references used for case studies and also
any design ideas that have been adopted or adapted. Any
plagiarized content with no cited reference will be subject
to disqualification.

• The soft copies should be sent as PDF presentations or

Powerpoint presentations to be compatible with Microsoft
Office 2010.

• Do not write your names on any of the sheets. The PDF file
should be named by the participants’ first names followed
by the college name. For instance if abc is the participant
from xyz college, the file name would be “abc_xyz”. In case,
abc is sending multiple entries, the subsequent files will
be names as “abc1_xyz”, “abc2_xyz” and so on.

• Any entries that have their name/ college name on the

sheets are subject to disqualification.

• While emailing, in the subject box please write: Signify

2019 – your name_college name.

• Please restrict yourself to a maximum word limit of 300

words per sheet. More graphical presentations will be
appreciated.

• Soft copy of the entire submission to be compiled in

a single PDF of upto 15MB (This shall include all design
sheets, scans of field notes and the photographic panels)

• We would also require you to furnish a letter stating that

the design is your property and an original work.

• FAQs will be uploaded regularly on www.ethosindia.in/

events/viraasat:-lighting-up-our-heritage/index.php.

• For queries, write to us at ethosindia.helpdesk@gmail.com

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Important Dates
Last date for registration: 7th September 2019
Last date for Stage 2 submission: 22nd September 2019
Jury
Dr. Shikha Jain
Shikha’s vast experience
in cultural heritage of
India ranges from steering
conservation projects for
various state governments
to preparing conservation
plans funded by international
organisations such as the
Getty Foundation, World
Monuments Fund and
advising ASI on World
Heritage.
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Ambrish Arora
A self-taught designer,
Ambrish has worked in
diverse fields from designing
boats, teaching in schools,
working in cinema and
exhibition & museum design,
to setting up Lotus, a firm
focusing on Interior Design &
Architecture. In a short span
of time the firm has received
national and global acclaim.
Sarvdeep Basur
Sarvdeep an electrical
engineer by education has
spent more than 30 years
in lighting, for him moving
to Architectural Creative
Lighting came automatically
as from his first day after
school he started playing
with light and finding ways
to use it innovatively. Apart
from designing architectural
lighting he has designed
many lighting fixtures (both
Decorative and Architectural)
and in the last 5 years some
famous Lighting Public Art
installations in China.
He is the Principal of Lucent
Worldwide a lighting design
firm operating from 6
offices in India, China, Qatar,
Germany & USA and has
completed more than 4000
projects in the last 17 years.
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Registrations for Design Competition at

1 www.ethosindia.in/events/viraasat:-
lighting-up-our-heritage/index.php.

Sign up at www.acedge.in/courses/
2 viraasat-lighting-up-our-heritage to access
short course on lighting design - FREE for
participants.

Select site and upload photographs on the

STAGE 1 3 course page by 7th September 2019.

Last date for registrations 7th September

4 2019.

STAGE 2 5 Final submissions to be emailed by 22nd

September 2019.

Selected teams to be invited to present to

STAGE 3 6 the jury for the Finale

* Graphics sourced and adapted from The Noun Project

For queries related to registration or the brief write to Team Ethos Supported by 13
ethosindia.helpdesk@gmail.com