We introduce the “Gurukul” Club. Six programmes have been curated for the Gurukul Club for six students of each school member. A long term project workshop on Architectural Heritage Styles of Kolkata with a focus on students inclined towards art, history and architecture. This aims to sensitize students about the different artistic and architectural styles prevailing in the built heritage of our city. Kolkata is home to multiple architectural styles which have evolved over the past 300 years. The architecture is a syncretic mix of the global with the local. From the Neo-Classical and Neo Gothic styles brought by the British and other European communities to the development of the unique Bengali Baroque styles, styles brought in by the trading migrant communities like the Parsis, Armenians, Jews and the Chinese, Art Nouveau, Revivalist styles like the Indo-Saracenic, and modern architectural styles including Art Deco. These styles mixed with local cultural and spatial needs have given birth to architecture which is truly iconic. We believe architecture is a form of visual art and hence are keen to collaborate with those students studying or having a significant background in Art and along with those interested in history and heritage photography.
On the 23rd morning we met at St Johns Church and 35 children heard Sohini Pyne describe the architectural styles and the components. She painstakingly showed buildings and we recognised pediments, shafts, columns, entabulature, festoons , eyebrows etc.
Talking to kids of 6 city schools on the evolution of architectural styles in Calcutta. The kids learnt how to identify the various architectural styles prevalent in the city through their characteristic elements!

They went for a very short walk to Dalhousie with Navpreet Arora. They will be doing an online sketching workshop and will be assigned an architectural style each.
Over the next few months they will be visiting different neighborhoods to observe and sketch, culminating in an exhibition of their artwork early next year.
They will research, describe each style and present photos and drawings of buildings in Calcutta represented by each of these styles.