Varsha Jain :Principal Architect & Co-Founder, Creative Architects & Interior (CAI) ,Chennai
How has your experience in this industry been so far?
We have successfully completed 25 years in the industry! The journey has been nothing short of exhilarating and insightful. We started off in an era, where functionality took precedence over other aspects of design. Though today, a cohesive and all-rounded approach is a must, which we follow fervently across typologies. The building industry, in the past two decades, has witnessed a drastic shift in terms of the scale of projects, technological advancements, structural innovation, and even methods of representation – a challenging and fulfilling experience for us.
Today, we are proud to be a prominent name in the industry and continue to evolve each day, with our approach strongly built upon our professional ethics and core values. For us, architecture has always been an amalgamation of science and art. Understanding human behavior is central to architecture and has always led us to follow a human-centric approach to our designs.
Moving forward, we opine that the discipline should guide the future of the industry. Architecture practices should focus on designing buildings that are contextual, one of the ways towards achieving sustainability.
Your overall working experience across a range of project sizes?
Whether it is a small or large-scale project – Functionality, Efficient planning and Sustainability lie at the core of our design strategies. Well-designed and resolved details drive all our projects and ultimately attribute to their success.
We have been fortunate enough to work on large-scale projects for the public, private and banking sectors such as – Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Rail India Technical and Economic Service, Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology, Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Ltd., and National Buildings Construction Corporation. In all our projects, we focus on designing ‘living buildings’ that breathe and harbor community engagement.
Sustainability and climate responsiveness are key factors in our designs that we incorporate by employing passive cooling technologies, ample natural light and ventilation, local materials and techniques. We seek inspiration from the vernacular architecture in our country. Our architecture is hybrid, weaved together using old techniques using new technology and materials, innovatively.
Are you willing to try various styles? What differentiates your work?
Our design approach is guided by the client brief, context, site, climate, building norms, and user experience instead of a single architectural style. Our portfolio includes a wide range of styles such as classical, contemporary styles, form-driven buildings and culturally infused designs for various projects. The SIS (South Indian Shelters) Bungalow in Chennai is one such example, where our client aspired for a European classical residence, our response to this was a harmonious synergy between – client aspirations, strategic-functional design and exquisite artisanship.
Another example is our project, ‘Central Institute of Classical Tamil’, which has a layout derived from kolam from Tamil Nadu, fused with a futuristic form of the building. The design of the campus encapsulates Iyai, Isai, Nadakam – the three words that form the crux of Tamil, a language with a rich and deeply rooted cultural significance.
What makes us different is our ability to root all of the architecture that we create in its context – micro and macro, achieved by being innovative at every step of the design process.
Which was your most difficult or exciting project? Could you please provide us with additional information about this?
One of the most challenging projects for us was the Bungalow for the owner of South Indian Shelters in Chennai. The client aspired for a classical architectural language along with ambitious functional requirements for a family of twenty. The grand central hall in this residence involved extensive structural innovation. Completely column-free, this space spans around 9500 sq. ft of double-height space that manifests as the core of the residence. The dome sheltering the grand hall is an ingenious structural innovation spanning a huge area of around 55ft x 43ft. It rests on a post-tensioned beam grid, which helps it achieve the enormous scale. Its structural integrity is attained through the two ring beams, allowing the area below to be a column-free space.
Another challenging project is an ongoing one, to be designed as the Corporate office for the pipeline’s division of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited. The location of the site, although very prominent, the profile is of an odd shape and the functional requirement ambitious.
The design follows the site profile, trying to break away on the massing front. The contrasting treatment ensures that while the plan gels with the tricky site, the building itself has a dynamic output with the successive cantilevering floors. The design intrigues an observer and maximizes light ingress from the eastern front, which incidentally is the narrowest. The southern front is populated with the vertical core and utilities making it a buffer space.
What would you change about the city’s architecture if you could? Please explain.
The integrated township is an intervention that will change Chennai’s landscape, as we believe it is the need of the hour.
Integrated townships are self-sustaining gated communities that comprise infrastructures such as schools, hospitals, convenience shopping, water treatment plants, drainage and sewage facilities. In our present community living scenario, there is a dire need for strategically planned, safe open spaces, and integrated townships to help achieve that. The design of integrated townships combines the traditional Indian style of community living along with modern services and facilities to create a suitable living experience.
Additionally, it is high time we stop imitating the glass buildings from the west, as they are absolutely unfit for our climatic conditions. We must be innovative in our design approach and design cities and buildings to be porous, such that they can breathe, thereby creating more livable and sustainable built environments.
Your advice to aspiring architects and interior designers.
There are numerous steps involved between the drawing board and on-site execution, most of which are not a part of the curriculum. We witness students lacking the competence to face the very many challenges that the field throws at them. While we believe that theory builds the foundation for knowledge, practical experience makes it tangible. Aspiring architects and designers are advised to always be on top of the upcoming trends, technology, and materials in the field – assuming it is highly demanding and ever-evolving. While patience is a virtue in life, it is even more so in the field of architecture, as it is a slow process that is decked with several challenges, on various levels. Our focus seems to have shifted, and it needs to be traced back to creating spaces that are sensitive to the environment.
