Inside NASA India’s 67th Year ANDC Trophy: How Students Are Redesigning Lives

“Architecture is not for the privileged few, it is for the millions.” - Laurie Baker

Year after year, the Annual NASA Design Competition (ANDC) nudges architecture students out of their academic comfort zones and to engage with the world around them. Similarly, in NASA India’s 67th year, the brief challenged students to think for communities often overlooked by the architectural profession. The annual NASA theme being “Exclaim!”, this edition of the competition asked participants to learn how architecture can become a tool of social transformation. Emphasizing on material responsibility, budget planning, and tangible societal benefit, the 67th Year ANDC Trophy championed interventions for those who need design the most.

While studio-based learning forms the backbone of architectural education, the 67th Year ANDC Trophy invited students to extend that foundation. For many students, architecture is a dream chosen over conventional paths, not for prestige, but for the promise of creativity, freedom, and purpose. Yet, the academic and professional road is rarely kind. At its core, the competition posed a bold and grounded challenge: partner with a NGO, understand its needs, and design a 1:1 scale intervention that enhances outreach, enables functionality, and most importantly, leaves lasting impact for the communities. The brief centered on real needs, real constraints, and real people. By engaging with NGOs and working on the front lines of inequality, students weren’t just designing shelters, they were designing trust, access, and dignity. The competition showed the immense potential waiting to be unlocked when students are trusted with responsibility, and guided by empathy. Through this, ANDC didn’t just ask them to be architects, it reminded them why they chose to be.

Spearheading the 67th Year ANDC Trophy as the moderator was Ar. Dean D'Cruz, a stalwart in sustainable architecture. A graduate from J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai, Ar. Dean has been shaping Goa’s built environment since founding his practice in 1989 and later co-founding Mozaic Design in 2001. With sustainability at the heart of his work, his contributions extend into academia and global collaborations, including institutions like the Royal Institute of Art (Stockholm), Oxford Brookes University (UK), and Pratt Institute (New York). His philosophy, rooted in contextual and humane design, made him an ideal choice to guide this year's competition.

The following colleges stood out for their commitment to the intent of the brief. Their proposals served not just as solutions, but as meaningful contributions to the NGOs and people they aimed to support. So without further ado, here are your winners:

Citation

Z205 | Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal

Special Mention 1

Z241 | Thakur School of Architecture and Planning, Mumbai

Special Mention 2

Z612 | Thiagarajar School of Environmental Design and Architecture, Madurai 

Special Mention 3

Z103 | Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh

Can design once again become a tool of empowerment? If these students are any indication, the answer is a loud yes.

Trying to enforce a new kind of pedagogy, this year’s ANDC entries demonstrate a critical shift in how architectural students perceive their role, not just as designers of buildings, but as enablers of change.