BE AN ICARUS AND REACH FOR THE IMPOSSIBL
The award-winning design studio Collaborative Architecture, founded by MUJIB AHMED and LALITA THARANI, has been credited with designing some of India’s most innovative projects. Their practice is driven by innovation and ceaseless pursuit of quality in design to create projects, which are highly sensitive, poetic and contemporary. Taking time from their busy schedule the architect duo open up with discussing everything from changing times, approaches, designs and much more.
How has architecture and interior design evolved over the years? How often do the changing trends impact your designs?
It has evolved such that, architects need to develop all kinds of skills apart from being just good designers. But of course, 70 percent of the problem is solved, if you are a good
designer and sensitive to the context! Last year Covid did reset the conventional architectural thinking about built spaces, sustainability and ourengagement and relationship with Mother Nature. We don’t subscribe to Trends! One thing we are preoccupied with at the studio is the Design Life Cycle. How our projects are able to withstand the onslaught of changing trends and fashionable design pretences. Working in different contexts, geographies, scales, cultures and climate is something we relish and create the unique designs that come out of the studio. The studio invests in design research and intuitive design at equal measures. The designs are often a confluence of these two approaches.
With the advent of AI, what impact does it have in the designing process? In the days to come will it be an important tool for the architecture industry?
As stated above, our practice never believed in trends or followed them, but one cannot deny the entry of AI and other digital interfaces, transforming the way we conceive, construct and occupy spaces. Materials are getting smarter, as are the interfaces, which
would have huge implications. But at the same time, there will be a wider cross-section of people who would want to get a ‘detox’ from the digital way of life we are so accustomed to! So, in the days to come, we will see these two opposites dictating the narrative.
What inspired you to enter this profession? How has your professional journey been so far and what is your future plan?
Lalita: Guess it runs in the family! My grandfather was an Artist, my Dad an Engineer (who sketched beautifully). I would like to believe that I wanted the best of both worlds, Creative, at the same time, Technical & Architecture fitted the bill perfectly, so Architecture it was.
Mujib: I was always passionate about football and used to play at the club level. When a friend of mine told me that architecture was a very simple and easy course. I took up the proposition willingly so that I could dedicate all my time to playing football. Rest, as they say, is history! Going forward we are raging to continue the progress
on the whole and make Collaborative Architecture and our brand of design one amongst the most innovative and admired studios! And keep enriching people’s lives!
Your first project, your learning from it.
Our first project together is something that we both cherish since both of us used to have separate practices back then. For Lalita, it was a liberating experience, from the drab and
predictable corporate spaces she had been working on and the challenges that came with a tabula rasa. For me, it was about convincing a set of clientele in a third tier city of the merits of contemporary design some 18 years ago
Which project proved to be the turning point of your career? Tell us more about the same.
The ‘WRAP ‘series came early in our career, it was instrumental in putting the firm on the national and international scene. ‘Stacked Tectonics’, the primary school designed for an orphanage, calibrated our architectural response in a unique context with a shoe-string budget.
More recently, three international competition finalists, the ‘Indian National War
museum’ The ‘BCDA Iconic Tower’ in Manila, Philippines, and the ‘National Unity Pavilion’ re-affirmed the firm’s entry into more large-scale innovative projects globally. The ‘Indian National War Museum’ invited to be exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian design museum, New York in the first half of 2022
What is the definition ofarchitecture according to you, how has it changed over the years? In the times to come which things could prove to be the game-changer for the architecture and interior-designing industry?
We would not attempt to define architecture, but we could try to define what makes good architecture/Design.
Lalita: Design is like a stroll along the road, where the designated destination is a failure. Good design happens when you either ditch the road or the destination.
Mujib: Architecture connects people, a good Architecture connects cultures.
Can you describe how the design patterns and styles have changed or evolved in India, and what aspects or areas need improvement?
We do not subscribe to any style schools or a straight-jacketed design tradition. One area that needs a certain fillip is the ‘value’ that the architects bring to society and cultural discourse. Architects in India tend to take the role of stylists, or whatever suits them;
hence a great degree of erosion in its credibility and the credibility of the practitioners. If India needs to make its mark on the international design scene in a big way (we have done so in small measures), we need to change the attitude and approach toward Design.
Innovation – Industry integration with design and innovation.
Approach – Our approach needs to become more research-oriented, and system driven.
Technology – We need to invest in technology R&D.
Application – We need to stop tolerating mediocrity and rise above the ‘Jugad’ system to a more process-driven one.
Finally, for any architecture or design to be relevant, it has to be Contextual, inclusive & people-centric with the above common threads binding them together.
