The Appropriate Alternative (TAA) is a conceptual journey in design and development that explores the process of responsible design choices at every stage of a project. This attitude has evolved over a period of 30 years through diverse projects involving documentation, research and design practice. TAA acknowledges the impact of a design intervention on the site, aspirations of its user group, stakeholders and the community at large and critically examines the role of architects, designers and planners to work towards a negotiated future - one that is appropriate, sustainable and responsible. We have been involved in projects across scales, complexities and multiple disciplines - both acknowledged and awarded for our unique approach.

The HUDCO awarded green building project ‘MonChasha’ is a community based rural tourism project that enables local empowerment. ‘Darjeepara Home’ transforms a residence in North Kolkata into a viable mainstream habitation and highlights the ability for responsible design to enrich even complex socio-spatial settings. The restoration of ‘Pancharatna Temple’, Garh Panchakot shows how conservation can impact local livelihoods positively. A recent project, ‘iLEAD Creative Campus’ in Chinatown converts a derelict tannery into a sustainable enterprise, foregrounding the ability of green, responsible architecture to create social impact and catalyse neighbourhood level transformation. Together, these  projects create the case for a sustainable model of development through sensitive conservation of existing assets. TAA has heavily invested in building Institutions and helping them develop a typology suited to their mission. Examples include Akshardham, Mayapur, Lake Kalibari, Kalighat revitalisation. Dwarka City - Delhi, Ekamra Khsetra - Bhubaneswar. Through these large scale socio-cultural engagements in the built environment, TAA has tried to show the value of a sensitive, responsible approach to architecture and urban planning.

TAA believes that design innovation can bring a sea change in the way we live, interact with, perceive and conceive the environment.  TAA also understands that design is essentially a collaborative, co-produced management process, negotiated at every stage of design development to adopt sustainable and responsible outcomes. Such a philosophy entails a paradigmatic shift of how development is viewed conventionally. All of TAA’s projects have clarified and reinforced a common design ethos - to create assets by converting waste into resource. This enables the emergence of  a final outcome - an appropriate alternative that is resilient, responsible and regenerative.

TAA is led by Anjan Mitra and Saptarshi Mitra supported by a dedicated and sensitive team of architects, engineers and Technical staff.

Anjan Mitra
Proprietor

Anjan Mitra is an Architect and Urban Designer by training, but at heart he is essentially a designer. In the last three decades, he has explored various fields of design and planning – such as Product Design, Interiors, Architecture, Landscape, Heritage Conservation, Cultural Tourism, Urban Revitalisation, Cultural Tourism. He firmly believes that through Responsible Design and Planning Practices one can add value and meaningfully change the way the built environment is conceived and perceived - to establish or revitalise its social connects. His search for responsible architecture and urban design in the Indian context began through “The Appropriate Alternative” in 1992 in Kolkata.

To him design is a thinking process, a collective effort. It is a negotiation between available choices to arrive at the most effective practical and implementable alternative that enables maximum sustainable value addition. In his projects, he strives to establish connections to its larger contexts and to bring out a positive change through innovation - be it ecological, environmental or socio-cultural. To him every project becomes a good project if it is able to unearths the latent potentials of the site, the stakeholders and the programme. He believes this can be made possible by an approach to design that attempts to make corrective gestures that transforms various forms of waste/ wastefulness into assets. For him, research and documentation are also key components of a design process and helps to evolve context-sensitive innovation and out-of-the-box thinking that results into a meaningful place making.

Saptarshi Mitra

With a background in Architecture and Development Practice - he has lived and worked in India, Spain, United Kingdom and Myanmar. He has worked in a variety of projects – ranging from Architecture, Urban Design to Conservation, Community-based Tourism and Community-led development. At the same time, he has been a part of academia and has led various workshops ranging from documentation of heritage sites to exploration of materials and technology in a design build exercise. He believes that design is value addition – a collective exercise that at its core revolves around maximising the potentials of space, culture and context to create better conditions of everyday life. A strong believer in the necessity and capacity of people to lead the change they want to see, he brings in perspectives of participation, co-production and collaboration to TAA.