Kochi architect Vinu Daniel in TIME magazine’s ‘100 Next’ list of emerging leaders

KOCHI: Architect Vinu Daniel, whose Kochi-based Wallmakers aims “to build sustainable spaces that are responsive to specific site contexts and conditions while maintaining a balance between innovative and utilitarian design”, has been named in the TIME magazine’s ‘100 Next — The World’s Rising Stars’ list. “Vinu teaches us respect for local wisdom and material culture is key for a truly responsible attitude towards the environment and the future,” wrote Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in TIME. He quotes Vinu’s own words on sustainable architecture: “Whatever project you’re working on, can you reduce something about it? Can you reduce it by one bag of cement? Can you save one tree? Then you are own path to sustainability.” Vinu believes that his best teachers were masons, workers, and locals in Kerala. Born in Dubai in 1982, Vinu moved to his family’s ancestral home in Kerala at the age of 17 when he joined the College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) to study architecture. As a student, he met Laurie Baker (1917–2005), the pioneer of sustainable architecture, which turned out to be a life-changing moment. After completing his B-Arch in 2005, Vinu worked with the Auroville Earth Institute for the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) post-tsunami construction. On returning from Pondicherry in 2007, he started ‘Wallmakers’, which was christened thus as its first project was just a compound wall. Vinu is a firm believer in what Gandhiji said that the ideal house should be made of materials found within a five-kilometre radius. “In the hands of Vinu’s studio, Wallmakers, mud bricks swirl in pirouettes, and debris from previous walls becomes new walls. Pictures from construction sites exude pride and delight in craftmanship and teamwork,” wrote TIME. ‘TIME100’ uses the power of the spotlight to draw attention to those who have achieved peak influence in their fields while also showing what is possible and what society’s future and future leaders will look like. The other Indians on the ‘TIME100’ list are cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur and tuberculosis survivor Nandita Venkatesan.