Having visited my fair share of universities and courses, I can safely say that the choice to come and study here in Raffles Design International’s Interior Design course was by far my greatest decision. The locality, campus, facilities, course, and extra activities available on campus are great, with plenty of opportunities to expand your skillset and, at times, step away from the enjoyable intensity of the course itself.
Currently, I live by the Western Expressway, which is about a seven-minute drive or a 20-minute walk from the university (depending on how quickly you walk or how late you’re running) and about the same for the Metro Station as well. The college is located in Marol Naka, where you have the best options for your shopping and hunger needs.
Our studio is dedicated to our course and filled with all the tools we would need, so there is always the motivation for us to get work done. The studio itself is a fairly big meaning I can work on my projects comfortably.
Tuesdays are one of the more packed days within the course schedule, with the day starting at 8:00 am. The mornings consist of one lecture given by the Year 1 Course Lecturer, Dominik, with each semester having its own topic. Today’s topic relates to Architectural Drafting and our current series is all about Design Technology. These theoretical classes are incredibly vital and help to give all your work some context, relating it to specific movements or technologies that fit your design style. There’s always some assessment at the end of the series so it’s always recommended that you take notes.
After a one-hour lunch break there is another lecture, although it’s more like a discussion, regarding the current project and getting feedback from peers. We look at what we have accomplished each week and what is to be improved on for the project as well as our afternoon Studio Task. This part of the learning process is dedicated to the task which usually consists of different drawing techniques or processes, ones that will help us to construct and visualize our designs. This time can also be used to discuss any questions we have with the project and have our work looked at and checked off to make sure we can complete our tasks effectively. The best part is, we get to listen to music while working the whole time!
Our current project is titled ‘Conceptual Thinking’ and requires us to design a small, mountable, and small-batch produced seating area for a specific location. The most recent Studio Task involved Isometric and Axonometric drawings which we will use over the next few weeks to realize our designs and make sure they meet the brief requirements.
At the end of the day, mainly on Tuesdays, I stay late and work with the CAD/CAM Technician, Uttam, on our 3D Printer. This machine is of huge interest to me and being allowed to work with it is not only fascinating, resulting in a whole load of new skills, but also means that everyone across all three years can use it for future projects on their designs. It also plays a major part in what my future career plans involve so it’s a good activity to get involved in.
Both the campus and Mumbai city have some pretty interesting stuff to do outside of the course. There’s a lot of activities to get involved in like, Foosball, Workshops, and numerous restaurants around. In the locality, there is a whole load of coffee shops where you can relax and treat yourself to a whole load of delicious food. The local college bar, Ambika, is located right opposite the campus, making it very convenient to relax after a hard day of designing.