Surya. P.S
Ph.D Scholar IIT Roorkee
PhD Supervisor : Dr.Tina Pujara
Surya. P.S, has a successful record as an Urban Designer, Teacher and an Architect: and currently she is pursuing PhD from Dept. of Architecture and Planning, IIT, Roorkee. Her research interests in Urban Design are Cognitive Psychology in Urban Design, Mental wellbeing, Liveliness of Urban spaces and Environment behavior.
She has 10 years of teaching experience and two years of industrial experience. At present she is the faculty from Dept. of Architecture, TKM College of Engineering Kollam, Kerala. She has joined in IIT Roorkee as PhD Scholar, under QIP Scheme. She worked as Assistant Professor in Bishop Jerome School of Architecture and Design, Kollam from July 2010 to February 2014, before joining TKM College. She had also performed as Head of the Department of Bishop Jerome School of Architecture and Design, Kollam for two years. She has worked on many Urban Design Studio Projects and Architectural Projects with the students. The UD projects includes – 1) Urban Study of Madurai ‘Thoonga nagaram’: a city that never sleeps, 2) Integration of Metro into the Urban Fabric of Ernakulam, 3) Urban Form of the colonial town of Pondicherry 4) Creative City of Jaipur, 5) Revitalization of Kollam Beach front – Thangassery Area
She completed her M.Arch in Urban Design from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi in 2010. She was the Thesis topper for M.Arch in 2010, in Urban Design Department, SPA, where the topic was “Integration of water system into the Urban Fabric”. She received B.Arch degree from T.K.M College of Engineering, Kollam, under University of Kerala in 2007. She pursued First Rank for B.Arch Degree Examination, 2007 in University of Kerala, best outgoing student of 2002-2007 Batch in T.K.M College of Engineering,Gold Medal for scoring highest marks for University Exams and Thesis topper for B.Arch thesis in 2007.
Regarding her professional practice, she is assisting her husband Ar.Harish K.R, Chief Architect, Pragati Design Studio, Kollam. She had worked at Abhimanyu Dalal Associates, New Delhi as Urban Designer in December 2009 and at ECORHTYM, Ernakulum under Ar.Cyril Paul as Junior Architect from July 2007 to July 2008. She has been involved in UD study of Chandini Chowk, while working under Abhimanyu Dalal Associate, New Delhi. She has been a part of AMRUT Project for Kollam Municipal Corporation.
Research: Urban Design and Cognitive Psychology
The complexities of the human mind influence the fate of the living spaces and vice versa. The research is intending to understand the cognitive process of human minds and make discussions about the effects of this information on the urban design field. Cognitive psychology can be applied in environment behaviour studies to understand the impact of built environment and human experience. Cognitive psychology is considered as a major branch of cognitive science and an important approach to environmental psychological science that studies the relationship between human mind and environment.
Task of urban designers is to understand the needs and demands of the citizens and reflect them in the environmental design (Moughtin, 1999). However, knowledge of urban designers about the human mind is minimal, hence urban designing through study of their mental images by using relevant questionnaires and sometimes through study of behaviors by mechanical methods is inevitable. This justifies the use of cognitive science that seems important in the process of urban design to understand the relationship between human and urban environment.
Urban designers need to have a good understanding of human psychology and knowledge about cognitive processes of the human mind to create and modify urban space by scrutinizing the relation between mental processes and the physical environment, which will enable in the creation of an effective and suitable environment for social life in an urban structure.