WALK FOR ARCAUSE

The Story

“Seeing is believing, but the feeling is the truth.” – Thomas Fuller

Architecture and design are central to lifestyles, to well-being, to healing, to connecting, to growth, to living, and to life itself. However, the power of design can impact a lot more than it does today. This walk is a humble attempt to learn, to receive, imbibe and generate ideas from what we see, hear and experience through the stories of others. Walk for Arcause is undertaken in the hope that this will spur a lot more social and responsible action from all stakeholders.

The thought certainly didn’t come about overnight. Architect Gita Balakrishnan has spent the last 20 years of her life bringing together students, professionals, and industries working in the built environment sector through her initiative, Ethos. Ethos was conceived with this vision in 2002 and completed 20 remarkable years in September 2022. To mark this milestone coinciding with 75 years of Independent India, Ar. Gita Balakrishnan chose to embark upon a 1700km walk from Kolkata to New Delhi, which she believed was a life-changing journey. Now with the intention of Unifying through design, the second walk from Kolkata to Dhaka is going to be commenced.

The Walk for Arcause will transcend geographical and cultural boundaries. Every step taken is a new lesson learned. Learning from communities, cities, institutions, organizations, climatic conditions, landscapes, built and unbuilt environments and formal and informal settings to name a few will allow the two-decade-long efforts at Ethos to come full circle. Through the different engagement programs along the way, the Walk for Arcasue will shed light on the Architecture and Design community, their contributions and role in society, issues that they aim to address through design, and most important of them all, the role of good design in improving lives.

The Walk for Arcause will not conclude with the walk but will only be a beginning to touch lives through design from the actions of many.