Souvenirs

If the adorable Ganesha sculpture that adorns the entrance to our workshop is anything to go by, we are slowly and steadily moving towards becoming a multi-disciplinary office. After the first one for us, as a small thought in the office, we decided that each project of ours should have a little handmade souvenir. The first of them is for a project of ours in Basavanagudi. 

Nikhil started the process off with several ideas in the form of sketches and with Sai's inputs and guidance he ended up refining them to one solid ideation. The soap prototype was the next step and before we knew it, he had picked out a stone for the sculpture to materialise in. As he kept chipping off the material, slowly another interesting form of Ganesha began to emerge. After last time's experience, he was much faster with this one. The 'what to do, what not to do' was clearer to him and evident in the fact that he took significantly lesser time but the end product was just as good if not better.  

We intend to take this forward - Sculpture becoming something we do as part of Sandarbh. When I initially started talking about the idea of sculpting and how we were going to approach it, but now that we have reached this point, I can't keep myself from wondering "What Next?"

-Mannat

Behind the Scenes

Beating the Tuesday Blues - this was the simple caption given to an instagram story showcasing our somewhat haphazard yet organised work space. The table that I was sharing with Ananya, Ritika and Utsav was crowded enough with 3 laptops and 1 Ipad. Add to this notebooks, sketchbooks,the Blue issue of architectural digest, stationary, phones, wallets and other personal artifacts. The photo is simple but if only you knew of the behind the scenes efforts. The simple spontaneous picture was tweaked, objects moved around, some removed and others added (you can't miss the addition of three tastefully placed leaves in the photo)... We kept going until the frame looked just right and was ready for Instagram. We started with the initial idea and kept changing aspects of it till we were satisfied with the end result.

The process of design is rather similar too. Once the initial idea is set in stone, its all about tweaking it and refining it till we get it right. The process from beginning to end might not seem obvious, the changes oftentimes small but significant in their result. After all its the action behind the scene that makes the picture.

-Mannat 

Hidden Talents

I don't know if I've said this enough times in all of my previous blogs but one of the thing that I really do appreciate about the team at Sandarbh is the effort that is put in to hone individualistic skills. Each one of us has been given a chance to explore and enhance the skills that we possess. The environment is supportive to push boundaries and that definitely makes it more conducive to improvements.
However, sometimes, the attention is focused only on one of these skills - not to say that a most of the people at Sandarbh are incredibly multi-talented. In an attempt to enhance that one particular skill, the others don't may not get as much importance - but they're still there in the picture patiently waiting for their turn.
In the process of writing my blogs I have discovered that there are others still who have a knack for writing . Ananya and Leena have been my partners in crime when it comes to blogging but turns out, Nayana too is pretty good at it. I have seen an interest from her when it comes to narratives and descriptions for our projects, but hopefully she'll jump onto the bandwagon soon too. With Nayana I still somewhat had an idea, the one that really surprised me was Utsav. While I was editing out a blog today, he read it over my shoulders and we had quite a conversation about it. He seemed to have a lot to say about it and I insisted that he write about it too!
Let's see maybe in the next couple of days you'll be seeing a lot more blogs from Sandarbh, with many different perspectives and a lot to say...

-Mannat 

Dhruvi has something to say!!!

In the past six months, I have seen Dhruvi change from the girl shy and timid girl who barely waved at me on day one to the girl who gave me a bear hug just before leaving. Curious to see what she thinks about these changes, I decided to speak to her about her experiences at Sandarbh. As quiet as she was when she got here, she still had a few things to say about this...

"It was a totally new experience for me. I really enjoyed the work and got to do the things that I like. Other than the drawings I also go to compose presentations, working on the website- things that actually didn't even feel like work to me. In terms of architecture, I have had the chance to see every stage of a project, from beginning to end. I feel like I'll be taking back so much more from this internship than I had expected.The culture and way of living was also totally different from what I was used to. Overall it has been a great experience. The difference in me from when I came here to now when I'm leaving is huge. I can now talk to people and interact with a lot more confidence. That is definitely one of the things I'll take back with me along with a lot of memories!" 

-Mannat 

Self-fulfilling Prophecies and Busting Myths

If you've been reading our blogs for the past couple of days, I bet you're wondering, why is it that Sai would want to go out of his way and set up these learning programmes for young individuals with a passion for architecture. The reason stems out of his own experiences. When he was in college, there were certain myths relating to architecture and construction that were knowingly or unknowingly being perpetuated. It took many real life experiences - the ups and downs and everything in between - to ultimately be able to distinguish fact from myth.
In the education system, when you're in the exploratory stages and pushing the boundaries, we are often told of the things cannot be done. This tends to distract the young mind from those things that can be done. A lot of the things that we are told are not possible can actually be done- the only difference would be the cost and the amount of effort that one is willing to put in. Another one of the myths that he had faced was that he was told while in college that architecture as a profession doesn't pay (something which you hear in college even nowadays, I for sure have!) This became one of the self-fulfilling prophecies for him - for a long time as a practicing architect the only reason that he did not make the money that his work deserved was simply because he didn't believe architects made good money.
These are just some of the mindsets that this whole endeavor wishes to change. Just to be clear- the intent is not just to teach architecture (academic institutions already do that) but rather to help people overcome this conditioning.

-Mannat 

Sharing our Insights

As I had mentioned yesterday, the methods of working and the processes at Sandarbh have been increasingly conducive to my development as an architect. Although we are getting to enjoy the fruits of these processes, Sai and Leena have been working on putting them together for quite some time now. As the processes were refined further, invariably the results got better too!
The knowledge and experience that Sai has gained over the last 2 decades are something that he would like to share with other budding architects as well - not just those of us who are working at Sandarbh but beyond that also.
As the workshop constantly evolves on a daily basis, another one of the dreams is to set up learning programmes - whether in the form of an apprenticeship (which would be more long term) or in the form of lectures, presentations, hands-on workshop sessions organised at regular intervals.
With a programme like this we are not looking for hobby enthusiasts but instead we are trying to bring together a diverse range of people with a passion and seriousness for architecture.
The idea is to start at the very root - right when one is looking to decide whether they want to do architecture - typically at the 10th grade level. We believe that the interaction must start there , continue through the 5 years of architectural education and for a couple of years beyond that too. Essentially this would be our focus group - the group of people we would consider for both long and short term learning programmes.
Why as architects are we so keen on sharing our insights and our experince with such a diverse range of people with one common interest? Read on ad you'll know why...

-Mannat 

Experiential Learning

As we sat down today to discuss the presentations we have been sending out, Sai brought up my blog ' Jumping to Solutions ' The process we followed for developing the initial design presentations  was one that Sai had been wanting to instill not as a concept but rather as a process. The design should be viewed as an exciting opportunity, not just as a problem that needs to be solved. This is something that I'll be taking back with me as a principle.

In this way Sandarbh has been integral as a part of my development as an architect. As important as academic education is, personally I believe that the short internship has taught me just as much. Yes, my college education was a pre-requisite for me to be here, but the progress I have made here in terms of my understanding of architeture has been equivalent through that gained from 4 years in college. 
A lot of this progress has to do with the work environment at Sandarbh. It is a hands-on approach in all terms. From supervising and instructing marble cutting in the workshop to watercolour painting, from sculpting to writing, from sketching to estimating, from moodboards to vendor interactions. We get exposure to all projects - those involving only designs an drawings and others involving on-site execution too. And the encouragement through all of this is indiciuastic ans so is the approach. Each one of us possess a different skillset and Sandarbh has been able to identify that as but has also helped us hone our respective skills. Yes, designing and making drawings is a given in an architectural office, but at Sandarbh its also about what more you can bring to the table (and these may be things you're not even aware of but Sai's keen observations will probably catch up on it!)

Luckily, I've had an opportunity to be a part of Sandarbh and learn of the processes and principles here- some of them which have literally been life changing for me. But these principles, ideas, ways of working  - these are all things we would like to share with people beyond the office environment as well. How exactly do we intend to do that? Be back tomorrow for an answer...

-Mannat