My pursuit of design has always been people-centric; to think of design as a means to inspire a conscious lifestyle, a sense of joy and curiosity and create interesting visual narratives. I don’t think there is any skill one can’t possess, but we choose our weapons with respect to our battles. I have been lucky to be in situations where my design muscles could get flexed, so I have tried my best to chase workplaces where ‘interests’ can get exercised into ‘skills’.

 

To build with austerity, fewer materials, better materials, with ingenuity, I found myself in an office in Kerala where I learnt to work on all scales, simultaneously, from macro to micro; that reiterative process is important – the more you work, the more you simplify, and that is pretty much my approach to design; build with less; to always “build” interactions with natural systems; and present clearly, minimally, to take the client into confidence.

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What I lacked, still, was: a scientific understanding of materials; a first- hand experience of building; time management and productivity; and economics of production and construction.

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To deal with these yearnings, I decided to work with a conservation architect in Mumbai, where I learnt a scientific, highly methodical nature of inquiry into the building; meticulous and detailed site survey regime; efficient, timely planning; to be able to use my skills with numbers and work out BOQs; a bit more about beautiful, old buildings!

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I lacked: the ability to take responsibility for work (owing to a lack of knowledge); skills to deal with office hierarchy, especially the lack of encouragement and common drive; and I still wanted to get closer to the material of building and sustainability of the profession.

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I landed in Kutchh next, to work on large-scale (rehab) community- oriented design and other small-scale material-oriented practices. There I learnt to become “smart”, and not in the I-now-come-with-new-features-and- sync-with-wifi manner, but to be discerning within the mechanisms of bare-minimum; to eliminate and try and rid of excess and lose the ego of a (in broad terms) designer / the need to provide design; to see time; I realized I enjoyed being on site, whenever the opportunity came my way, and could take collect data (in considerably harsh climes) and interview potential users, which I found extremely useful; to take responsibility when it is not thrust upon – hence work became a collective effort and all efforts directed were precise and not wasteful; I enjoyed working with such a non-hierarchical, sincere team where everyone was working towards a singular goal, a singular discovery (and for the ‘joy’ of learning, which I read you stress on, as well); to use means to intellectualise decisions in order to conceptualise – I find it really important to question persistently for the sake of simple, elegant solutions; the more exciting/fundamental the questions, the more specific the answers – that is true context, isn’t it?

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What I lack is the belief that the design process will take its due course – I am a bit of a control freak, as designers are, so I tend to not surrender completely to the whims and whirls of the project, but I am slowly realizing the importance of adaptability and responsibility is key to a designer and that comes from faith in the process. I still know that I don’t preempt answers, and that, I think, is a good thing because it does make me work hard to find meaning and context-driven answers.

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I wanted to work with a structure and a ‘role’,I wanted to be a part of a professional architectural office and worked in a fairly large practice in landscape and building design. At the end of a year, I learnt to commit to a process and assess all decisions based on it; the value of presentation; iterations; drawing as a quick, multi-layered design tool, which aides collaboration; the ability to structure work in a team; correspondence with site teams; check the professionalism in one’s conduct, along with the quality of the drawing; the importance of time- based goal-setting; need for organized set of deliverables.

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What needs to be learnt (and this is where I find myself right now):
Practical knowledge of materials; ability to work on a project from start to finish/realization of concepts and design thoughts; working in a team/ patience/communication with people; lack of ambition or direction, as it were, in terms of a career.