Event announcement for Śilpakalāyāḥ - a temple model making competition.
April 16, 2025
Events
Bṛhat, in collaboration with the Pleach India Foundation and Sri Venkateshwara College of Architecture, Hyderabad as host college, proudly presents Śilpakalāyāḥ - a temple model making competition.
A competition to revive, document, and celebrate the rich and multifaceted architectural traditions of Indian temples, which stand as enduring symbols of the country's spiritual, artistic, and cultural legacy. By drawing attention to the intricate design principles, symbolic meanings, and historical contexts of these sacred structures, the competition aims to cultivate a deeper appreciation and critical understanding among students. These facets and principles of temple architecture illuminate the intangible philosophical and cosmological frameworks that inform their construction.
Śilpakalāyāḥ poster
A competition to revive, document, and celebrate the rich and multifaceted architectural traditions of Indian temples, which stand as enduring symbols of the country's spiritual, artistic, and cultural legacy. By drawing attention to the intricate design principles, symbolic meanings, and historical contexts of these sacred structures, the competition aims to cultivate a deeper appreciation and critical understanding among students. These facets and principles of temple architecture illuminate the intangible philosophical and cosmological frameworks that inform their construction.
Temples are sacred institutions, great feats of engineering, and an epitome of art and culture. These grand structures were meticulously designed and masterfully executed on a monumental scale. They were adorned with rich iconography that served as visual narratives, conveying stories and imparting lessons. Every detail was carefully thought of and carved precisely, resulting in marvels that cannot be replicated even with modern technologies.
These sacred institutions have long served as engines of economic activity, generating employment, supporting local artisans, and stimulating trade in surrounding areas. And they have been bastions of social welfare by providing food, shelter, education, and healthcare to those in need - transcending their fundamental role as spaces of worship, to embodying philosophical ideals and functioning as vital centers of social management and harmony.
Thus, on this World Heritage Day 2025, with the spirit of understanding and reviving these eternal structural heritages in the form of temples, Bṛhat proposes Śilpakalāyāḥ - a temple model making competition.
About Śilpakalāyāḥ
The idea is to build a model capturing details of a temple structure. Each student group will be given one temple from each zone - north, south, east, west and centre. They have to build a model within the given time frame at a suitable scale, and present it on the competition day.
These models will then be displayed in an exhibition on Wednesday, 16th April, 2025. They will be evaluated by Dr. Pankaj Saxena, Co-founder, Bṛhat, Dr. Emani Sivanagi Reddy, CEO, Pleach India Foundation along with the faculty from the college, specializing in the field of heritage and conservation. Groups with a maximum of 5 students will participate in the competition, and each college will send two such groups for the competition day.
