Date: 1st November, 2022 to 7th January, 2023

The main activity for observing World Toilet Day is conceptualising an annual inter-college competition, named as NIRMAL Design Competition, in partnership with MES Pillai College of Architecture, New Panvel. This was initiated in the year 2020. The 2nd round was organised in 2021.

This year, NIRMAL 2022 was floated on 1st November and was open for registration to students of 9 architecture colleges in Navi Mumbai and Panvel area.

A special guest lecture was organised on 26th November to specifically mark the World Toilet Day. The speakers were Ar. Mayuri Sisodia and Ar. Kalpit Ashar, founders of MADE (E) IN MUMBAI, a multi-disciplinary architecture firm in Mumbai. Their project – ‘The Toilet Manifesto’ – dreams about the future of public sanitation infrastructure in India’s cities and villages. They spoke about their experiences with engaging with the lawmakers and municipal authorities to bring many of their ideas into reality. The session was highly inspiring for young architecture students. It was held online and was open to all as a public lecture.

The theme for the NIRMAL 2022 design competition was ‘Roadside Toilet Facilities’. It focussed on providing workable public sanitation facility for people out and about in the urban space for work and other purposes.

A total of 22 team entries were received and sent to an independent jury in anonymous format. Dr. Mustansir Dalvi, Professor at Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai and Ar. Parul Kumtha from Nature Nurture, a practice dedicated to inclusive design solutions were the esteemed judges of the competition. The jury was appreciative of the submitted designs and awarded 3 prizes. In addition, a popular choice award was announced based on voting on social media.

On 7th January, 2023, an online prize distribution ceremony was organised to announce the winners of the design competition. It was attended by participating students, faculty members, members of SIBC. The winning entries were screened along with the jury comments. Our President, Ms. Namrata Saxena and SIBC memberDr. Sudnya Mahimkar did the honours of virtually handing over the prizes to the winning teams.

No. of attendees for the guest talk: 80
No. of students participated in competition: 60, in 22 teams

SDG #6: “water and sanitation for all”