Hello Everyone.
Welcome to archiviews, episode 1.
So today we are joined by Ar.
Badrinath Kaleru, the chief Architect of Studio Ardete.
He is gonna walk us through his design process, how he works, what was his life after college,
how he got to where he is today.
And we are gonna discuss one of his projects, and at the end, we are going to get some advice
for future students out there, perspective students, current students, what the field
actually demands, an how should you go about it.
So welcome Sir, welcome to the show.
Okay so, before we actually start the interview, let me tell you a little bit about studio
Ardete.
So here is a little information I can give you about studio Ardete before we begin the
interview.
Believing that every problem has the capacity to inspire unique and creative solutions that
motivate growth, the young duo of Badrinath Kaleru and Prerna Aggarwal, founded Studio
Ardete in the year 2010, right after they finished their college.
Located in Chandigarh, India, the team at Studio Ardete began with these two and now
has over 25 members.
Their vision, as they put it, is to design spaces that would evolve into art, enriching
the lives of people inhabiting them.
Not hesitating to take on even the most challenging of projects, they use modern construction
and building methods to come up with designs that are truly inspiring.
With a passion for creating something distinctive and a taste for experimentation, Studio Ardete
has completed various projects in India and abroad.
Having designed in parts of Asia and Europe, including Japan, Italy and France, they believe
in a wider, more analytical approach.
They have also been published in various national and international architecture and design
magazines and online portals.
They were the finalists for the World Architecture Festival in 2015, 2017 & now in 2018.
They have been Runners-Up for AR Design Awards, have recently won the NDTV grohe awards for
the best bathroom design, and have been felicitated by iGen as one of the top 50 young Generation
Architects of India.
Being at studio Ardete and seeing the way they work, has truly, truly left me inspired.
Alright Sir, so before we actually start the interview, let us get started by knowing you
better.
So where you graduated from, how you started this firm, and how has the journey been from
there to here.
I graduated from IIT Roorkee in 2009, and the whole idea was like, when I was graduating,
I was impressed by some of the master architects, and I got to learn about them a lot, then
I could manage to get some internships at few places.
So I worked with Dominique Perrault in Paris, I worked with Wilmotte I worked with Mario
Cucinella in Italy, and I worked with Shuhei Endo.
So I worked across in Europe & Japan so.
It was more, it was very different from what we could see what was happening in India.
So we actually wanted to bring in the architectural values and qualities, what is happening there
in a very professional way here, so that the reason why we started.
Alright, so let's dive into our first segment which is the PDF, so it's about the Practice,
the Design and the field.
So let us start, so my first question to you would be sir, Let us try and get the essence
of your design, so if you could, how would describe your design philosophy in three words.
Life is more.
So it is an extension of what Mies once said like Less is more & there have been other
thought process that have evolved around it.
So life is more is all about we saying that form and function for architecture isn't,
it's npot enough.
We need to have something more to the design, to the spaces.
So like in Life is more we actually try to say that if a particular space actually emotionally
bonds to its user, at a very psychological level, so then it actually, the physical aspects
of space like materials, the space itself and any kind of styles and forms and materials,
they all vanish and it's more like a bonding that happens at a psychological level.
So if that happens then, it is like a celebration of a bond between a space and a human which
we try to achieve by what we call, life is more.
Tell us about some of the challenges you faced, that you couldn't have prepared for earlier.
So something you could not foresee, some kind of challenges that came about when you started
your firm.
Basically like, working with, being like, working, getting a good education like in
a college or something, wouldn't actually prepare you for the real life, the challenges
of real life.
And when we did it without actually working for somebody for a period of time, so it was
a lot more difficult, so we actually had to overcome a lot of basics of profession, understand
how actually it works, which is quite tough and we had been, we had to learn it the harder
way.
But it's good, you get to, when you do it yourself, it's like it need your extra support,
it's all about how you can push yourself, to what extent to understand it.
Like once, clients were like more dependent on Architecture in the previous ages, now
with the advent of technology and social media, and getting access to like internet, would
actually.
So actually they have more inputs about what they want and, so it's more user driven
now, much more than it was.
Yes because, so they actually try to jump to conclusions in the first place, we could
actually get access to see what different things, and they would come up and say, let's,
we want to do this, where like, the point then we would try to understand was like rather
than you want to do this, that's fine, but why you want to do this.
So you also need to counsel them as in to understand the requirements, because end of
the day, even we say that okay, clients want something.
It is at a particular moment so most of the time it's not that he wants, he thinks that
he wants it, so we need to, as an architect, we need to understand, does he really want
it, or he just carried away by something that he has seen for a short period of time that
he actually wants it.
Okay so, so talking about clients, so continuing with what you said, so there are a lot of
times, where your clients would demand certain, if not just requirements certain style of
architecture from you and you have you own creative expression towards their particular
project.
So how do you balance their expectation versus you expression?
And in your experience which is the one that usually prevails?
See client, yes as a client, because he would come up with, okay I want this particular
style, and I want to do it.
But rather than doing it more on a subjective level that, thinking that he wants something
and you want something, let us be more objective in approaching that what he wants and analyzing
that why he wants.
So style is something that comes as a process, as a result, and it is not something like
an initial starting impetus.
So we start with the requirement, understanding and dissecting what he needs and even if it
is his particular personal space or if it is a space like a restaurant or a bar that
is built for somebody else, though he is a client but the user or the person who needs
to appreciate is someone else, so it is needed to break this subjectivity of what he wants
or what we want, it is more about evolving the objective part of it and trying to analyze
that how it actually works for the entire project.
So focusing on what all you said, and how you like to go about the design process, do
you think in India today we need more designers, or do we need designers, that are currently
here, do we need to try to get better to bridge better the client's expectation verses a
sort of idealistic architecture that people look up to and in asking that question I am
actually trying to get a hold of what you mean by design.
See like, in terms of like, when we talk about design for a particular, which I don't say
that okay designers need to have more technique or something which is, they need more inputs
of doing it.
It's all about okay, when we talk about design evolution in our country, we are still
in an initial stages wherein, like, the demand of design is actually coming up now.
The problem earlier was like, we weren't, there was no demand for design, even most
of like people like they still like, they don't understand the concept of design like,
we are actually grown up in our childhood thinking that civil engineers make our buildings,
so that's how there was no introduction to design, like most of the population still
is like.
So now, because now more people were travelling, so now there is more demand of design which
is rising, so that's the reason why we have more architecture students right now than
the entire architects that the country has ever produced.
There are more students right now than all the qualified architects.
So it's actually like growing up in a very great scale, but what I consider it is like,
we still need to make professionals who are more sensitive towards profession because
now we are more driven by the brands and the brand applications rather than focusing on
the needs and something.
So it's, the industry it is like being driven by the big players, the brands and the property
consultants, the builders, what they think of rather than people who responsible that
what is right or what is wrong like it happens in many other countries.
Listening to kind of what you are saying is also a lot of people kind of set off in the
field, they are not looking, the projects they do not, I think they use them as stepping
stones because they are also building a brand.
So they sort of, in using the projects as stepping stones, they kind of may tend to
overlook the actual, they forget to kind of justify completely the project in that way
so I think this is similar to what I was listening to today, I think it was Will Smith talking
on one of the shows, and he said, so if you want to build a wall, so you don't try out,
you don't say, I'm building a wall, I'm building a wall, I'm building a wall.
You start with a brick, you say I'm gonna do the, I'm gonna lay it the best brick
that has ever been laid and let's start with that.
And soon enough as you go on laying the best bricks, you would have the best wall and a
bigger wall, so I think like, so similar to what you were saying is like focusing on your
projects and be more sensitive to the client to the site and working with the individual
projects rather than just seeing a bigger picture and a bigger brand, but getting a
little bit on a micro scale as well.
Okay so that was the first segment, that was the PDF, now we are gonna move on to discussing
one of the projects which is the segment two.
We are gonna discuss the poolyard house that was designed by studio Ardete, before we actually
begin discussing poolyard house, let us first look at the house and how it was made.
Located on a busy sectoral road of the city of Panchkula, the Pool House was designed
for an elderly couple and their visiting family and friends.
The design brief was to visualize a house exuding comfort, designed for relaxation and
leisure.
The concept was to place emphasis on the courtyard and pool areas, with these acting as the focal
point of the space.
The house was conceptualized as a combination of the courtyard and a pool to give rise to
a poolyard, or a central open space inside the house that would function as a leisure
space by addition of a pool.
The colour, texture and material palettes of the Poolyard House have been kept subtle,
with use of wood and stone stealing focus.
Colourful artwork contrasts against the toned down ambience of the interiors.
Carefully crafted, each space within the courtyard house has been with patience and an amazing
artistic flair.
Okay Sir, so in poolyard house, so lets start with the basics, so could you tell us about
the site and the brief that you got for the project?
The site like actually is an urban lot wherein like it's a standard lot of 500sq yards.
It opens onto a main busy road, so because it's an urban lot, it's like it's built
like a row house where with your neighbors, and you just have.
So these houses typically they don't have much happening around because you are facing
a busy road which you don't want to and you have the rear yard, which is also a backyard
of somebody else.
So these lots they actually don't have much thing happening in the sense of space that
they could offer from outside.
So what we tried was to create something that was more inward looking and something where
we could offer them some interaction with nature, because otherwise most of these lots
are like boxes closed, and they have some fancy interiors.
But we tried to introduce nature in a small way, but so doing courtyards in this climate
is like also a bit difficult, because we've got to cover those courtyards because of the
extreme weather conditions unlike tropical climate here we extreme cold and extreme heat
that needs to be taken care of.
So it's a courtyard but it's covered with glass which would let in light.
So the whole, and it is like the client actually wanted something like a small recreational
space and he wanted to build a house which is more like a space, everybody would want
to be in.
A space like, because he is, it's an old couple of around, who were close to 60 years.
So they lived most part of their life and now, actually want a house that is more like
built for relaxation and recreation.
So that was the whole point which we started with, to have a house, which could be close
to nature and which could have a sense of recreation built into its basic nucleus of
it.
Okay.
Umm, so , so when you started off with this idea of having a pool into the yard, so as
you said, you wanted to, you wanted something that is inward looking, you wanted something
the central courtyard or a space to kind of activate the whole space, so did the idea
of a pool initially was it in the plan and or did you evolve it while doing it, so where
did the pool come into the picture?
And did the client sort of the initial demands was a pool, or did you propose it saying it
would be better.
Basically it was, initially it wasn't that they wanted a pool for exercise or something,
but it was a pool more for recreation, it was more like they were keen to have a water
body somewhere, so we tried to make a water body, more like a plunge pool.
So it doesn't, so the plunge pool is not a lap pool so it's a very small, small space
where you couldn't immerse yourself into water.
So it's more like a recreation, not more like a swimming pool where you can actually
swim.
So that was something that, we were trying to bring in, because they, the house was divided
into three levels.
The lower level was the ground level, was for primary living.
It's for the basic living for, having the main bedrooms and main bedrooms for the daughter
and the living spaces.
And the first floor was done more for a recreational level, wherein it has a recreation space,
a multi utility space which they call it as a party lounge or something, and which, and
it also has couple of bedrooms for the guest, and so it's more like the recreational floor,
where it has terraces, the pool.
And the top level is the utilities and the domestic help who are actually housed and
the services and the utilities being planned.
So the middle level was something that has to do more with recreation, so that's when
we thought it would be interesting to have a lounge that was overlooking onto a plunge
pool and where we could open it up in an internal way.
And the courtyard is also like a funnel where when it goes up, it increases.
So it starts with like a modest 10ft by 15ft small space and it scales up on the top level
like a 30ft by 30ft spaces, which is quite a lot for a lot which itself is like 45 by
90 so.
Alright so now we have come to the final segment, of this show, that is all related to the field
of education.
So this is primarily for all the students out there, for all the perspective students
out there, so we'll have a good conversation with sir about, some small topics and let
us begin by actually, a question that every architecture student is asked as well is did
you, how did you end up studying architecture, was it planned, did you fall into it?
It was more I would say, more like an accident because we were, I was preparing for JEE because
at that time, because at that time like, I was preparing for JEE and was supposedly good
at Maths, Physics or Chemistry, It was like all my like +1 and +2 of the junior college,
so it was more preparing for an, I was an aspirant for IIT and I tried to clear it.
So it so happened that I got it cleared on my first attempt but I could clear it both
the then so called mains, but I couldn't get a good enough rank to fetch me some engineering
college, some engineering course in IIT.
So my mother actually wanted me to study in IIT but I was not very particular like with
which particular stream was to go to, so then I could find something that is so called Architecture,
which I wasn't introduced to yet.
In didn't know what as an architect could do.
And so then, but I still thought that it would be a good try so that my mother would be happy
that I was studying in IIT and I could do something which was not an engineering, which
I didn't want to do.
So it worked out well at the end.
So you studied in IIT so, I would like to ask how much does a good institute matter
in the kind of designer that you become in the field?
It like, institute does matter in a sense that not the name of the institute but it's
more like the kind of grooming you get from your seniors, you get from your peers, the
kind of like the experience that you get.
So that actually helps you a lot in a sense that like, being in IIT wan't like, IIT,
being like architects from IIT is like one of the rarest breed you could actually find,
because you could hardly, from every year you could actually just get, around 60 or
70 combined from both the IITs because it was jus Roorkee and Kharadpur that actually
offer architecture not the other IITs, as far as I know, but now there is a new, good
collection of new IIT institutes which might offer it.
So like, being like, being in an IIT was a bit more different and doing architecture
from there was different because, we weren't like primarily what most like, colleges or
people who aspire for architecture look like, like you need to be good at sketching or something,
which needs to be more creative, painting or something.
So the people like in most of the people in my class, weren't like, they didn't know
nothing of it, because they were spending most time preparing for doing their Maths,
Physics, Chemistry.
So most, sometimes people even as me like how good like, is to do architecture if he
is not good at sketching.
Because end of the day architecture is not like art or something it's more about expressing
yourself so if, if it is, it's okay if you are not good at sketching or something, because
you need to express your, what you intend to do, so like including like, having a good
handwriting wouldn't warranty you as a good writer, so for writing, like to be a good
writer you don't need to have a good handwriting preferably, so the same thing works for architecture.
Alright, umm.
So it's a good thing that you actually mentioned, sort of sketching as well, so this sort of
leads onto my next question and the last question for today, is a lot of students nowadays,
focus a lot on softwares, so learning newer softwares because there are newer technologies
coming in.
Even I when I explore different softwares, there are different aspects to designing with
the help of scientific or mathematical data that I did not know before & I find it quite
fascinating to use that.
So students are learning softwares at such a rate that even their teachers, sometimes
are not able to keep up with them.
Because there are so many new ones coming in.
My question is do you primarily work with the help of softwares or do you work by hand
and what do you think is the role of technology in the field today?
See, the point is , technology is like an inherent part of the field, you can't separate
technology from the field today.
So having said that and talking about, like good learning new tools is always good, is
always handy and it always gives you a new dimension and a new perspective.
But most of the time what I feel like, like we don't end up learning so many tools but,
because we don't understand and scientifically analyze how we could apply them, or what we
could make most of it.
So like you see like, good architects, like the great architects like Ando and all like
they were never good at like software, even if you say like, Frank Gehry wasn't particulary,
if you listen to a lot of his interviews, he says that he wasn't good at softwares,
when he was making the Bilbao.
So but he had, he was working with people who were doing it and he was trying to sit
with them to evolve it, so the whole idea is like, it's good to learn softwares but
don't just get carried away too much by knowing a lot of softwares.
For example like, learning 50 new languages wouldn't warranty you to become a good speaker.
SO you could just be learning one language, but you can be good at it, but rather than
focusing to learn new languages, but you don't get, you can't speak well.
Again it's like that dialogue is what needs to happen, new tools, new technologies, bringing
in new possibilities but it all comes down to common sense like as in how to use them
and you can just be good at just a couple of tools, you could do a lot of things rather
than knowing fifteen tools but you couldn't actually explore the potential of it.
Yeah, so this was, sort of similar to the conversation I was having with one of my friends
once is, we could learn a lot of softwares, but unless, we kind of put it blatantly, unless
you know how to design and design well learning softwares does not do you any good because
that is just a tool to get to where you want to go.
But you still have to know where you want to go, you need a vision.
It's just like you said, like Frank Gehry did not have that much experience with softwares,
but he was only able to work with the people, and the people were only make his design come
to life was because he had a design initially.
So starting with, so focusing a lot also on developing design capabilities, design sensitivities,
aesthetics and working out the basics before going forward and having a strong foundation,
so that even when you learn a new software, like you'll jump onto it, you know that
this is where I want to go, now I can use this software to reach faster.
Not the software to show me the way but the software to help me go faster on
the route around the goal.
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