Students of Sir JJ College of Architecture are an ecstatic lot as their gateways designs will be implemented at Kalina campus of Mumbai University. The university,last year,decided to use entry/exit gateway designed by its architecture students and shortlisted three designs. The designs,which included the complete layout,specific details of the gates and the operating costs,were submitted to the university in October for its consideration and final approval. The building and works committee of the university recently gave its nod to two designs. While one design,jointly by Sachin Porkute and Zaid Nachan,will be used for the main entrance of the campus,the second one by Zia Ansari will be used near the Hyatt side of the university. It is an awesome feeling because our design will now be part of the university forever. It symbolises strength and authority of the university and will depict the spreading of knowledge and education, said Nachan,a fourth-year student of architecture. It was a very proud moment when my design was submitted for consideration. Now that it has been selected,I consider it a great achievement and recognition of my hard work. The pillar in my design represents the university and the arch represents radiating knowledge, said Ansari,also a fourth-year student of architecture. Students were asked to come up with designs which depicted what the university stands for,its rich history of over 150 years,its present and the future. While the project was open to all students of JJ College of Architecture,around 10 were shorlisted initially and after further scrutiny,three were submitted to the university. The construction work has already started and the gates will be inaugurated on July 19,the foundation day of the university. We want to utilise our own talent. This is the first such endeavour and the students had put in a lot of effort, said Rajpal Hande,director,Board of College and University Development (BCUD),Mumbai University.
