4 weeks at Sandarbh : Arjun

I'm going to get straight to the point. Let's check out Sandarbh from Arjun's point of view...

Me: Hi Arjun! Tell us something about yourself
Arjun: Hey! I'm from Kochi, studying in Manipal. I'm pretty into comics and gaming. I love travelling and going to places that people don't usually travel to. I'm really interested in cars but sadly can't ride a bike.

Me: So, what were your thoughts before you got here?
Arjun: I didn't really have any thoughts as such coz I've been to Bangalore before plus I've got a lot of friends here so I was familiar with the life style here.

Me: Any thoughts about the internship before you started?
Arjun: Before I found Sandarbh I thought this whole experience would be really hard and boring. I'd just gotten used to the vacations and I couldn't imagine myself sitting at a desk, staring at a screen all day long.

Me: How were your preconceived notions different from reality ?
Arjun: So once I got on the office group I felt more relaxed. I realised the people here would be easy to talk to since they were so open. Slowly I got to know everyone and the whole scene seemed like a pretty chilled out one.

Me: Tell us about your first day at work
Arjun: The first day was really good. Like I realised that even though I had to work but it would be interesting work. We were all treated well. We were treated as adults but at the same time it felt like we were also being taught. The office environment really resonated with me. On the first day itself I knew this place was for me.

Me: Interesting that you found yourself on the very first day. But there have been a lot of stories of you getting lost in the first week here. What was that all about?
Arjun: First of all, I have a feeling that my maps enjoys messing with me and I'm not particularly good with remembering routes.On the second day I got sent out to a factory to pick up some cabinet shutters. So Karamjith and I left in a Jeep from office around 4 and expected to reach there by 5:30. Karamjith told me he knew the way and so I didn't pay attention to the maps after. After a while I realised we were actually going in the wrong direction and another hour and a half got added on to our travel time. We had to rush and take all sorts of short cuts to get there, but even then we reached only around 7:30. Since we were so late and the factory had shut, it took us even longer to get the material and load it up. It ended up being a really long day for me. I've been infamous for getting lost ever since!

Me: 4 weeks are already up! How do you feel about that?
Arjun: It's definitely more work than we started with but it's manageable and fun. It's my first time working so it took some getting used to. Work is going at a good pace. Sai knows when we're ready to take on things and gives us jobs that we'd actually be good at doing. I've met a lot of new people here too. Everyone in office makes work seem like more fun than I ever imagined it to be.

Me: I totally get you. It's work but at the same time it's fun too.  Before we wind up, anything else that you'd like to say to our readers?
Arjun: Not really. I don't have any expectations or any plans. For now I'm just taking life as it comes, one day at a time.

-Mannat

4 weeks at Sandarbh : Dhruvi

Not wasting any time, let's get right into Sandarbh from Dhruvi's point of view...

Me: Hi Dhruvi! To begin with, I’m going to ask you to introduce yourself to all our readers

Dhruvi: Hello. I’m Dhruvi and I’m from Gujarat. I enjoy creative ventures, mostly things that catch people’s eyes like photography or composing images. I’m a quiet person in general. I observe things around me and think a lot but don’t really say much.

Me:  So you were actually the first of the interns to join this semester. What were your first thoughts when you got to office?

Dhruvi: I actually didn’t have any expectations to begin with. I had no idea how an office functions. The first day at work, I was the only intern and there was a meeting scheduled for that evening.  Everyone around me was getting blasted and I was very confused and scared. I was in a new city, around new people. It takes time to settle in and I just hoped that things would get better.

Me: All the commotion on Day 1 didn’t seem to freak you out too much. How were the next few days after that?

Dhruvi: I was the only intern for the first two days and then more people started joining. This definitely made me feel more comfortable. My interactions with Sai were eye opening. It really helped me understand how things are meant to be done and how they aren’t meant to be done. The first week at work I was on the design team. I was working on resolving a residence which was very interesting at first but after 2-3 days I started feeling stuck. Every discussion with Sai led to me discovering something new. I kept working through it and discussing it till we felt the design had reached a certain level.

Me: Isn’t that when Sai noticed your affinity for good compositions and asked you to work on the website? What was that like?

Dhruvi: I loved working on the website. It’s something that I could actually do forever. The alignment, the colors, the overall harmony – I really enjoy these things. Along with the website I also started working on the documentation of some of our old projects, creating portfolios using the existing information. Before this I was quite weak at softwares but as I’ve been working I feel like I’m learning and improving.

Me: So, are there any other fields where you’ve seen an improvement in the past month? What has your overall experience been like?

Dhruvi: Like I said earlier, before this I had no idea what an architectural office is like. During my one month here, I have learnt a lot about the different processes in architecture. I might not have had a chance to do everything, but I’m more aware now. By the end of the internship I would really like to excel at one thing – but I’m not sure what that one thing would be, only time will tell. For now I can say that my writing has improved. Submitting a daily journal has helped me explore writing as a form of expression and I hope I will keep getting better at this.

Me: That’s interesting. I guess a lot can change in a time span as short as a month! Any parting words for our readers?

Dhruvi: I just want to be able to do things that I enjoy and to enjoy whatever I do!

-Mannat

  

4 weeks at Sandarbh : Kruti

So in no particular order, today I’ve decided to share with you Kruti’s experience at Sandarbh. Here goes…

Me: Hi Kruti! Tell us all a bit more about yourself

Kruti: Hello! I’m Kruti Shah and I’m from Vadodara, Gujarat. Before coming to Sandarbh I definitely considered myself to be an introvert, but now when I’m interact with different people from different parts of the county, I realise how talkative I actually am. Shifting to a new city has been full of mixed emotions for me – excitement, anxiety and of course a wish to explore as much as I could.When I got here, I felt like I already knew everybody. There were no strangers and I genuinely didn’t feel out of place.

Me: Exactly! I can relate to that. Through all the social media interactions, even I felt really familiar with everyone. But tell me, work-wise how was your initial experience in office?

Kruti: My first day itself felt like a roller coaster ride. It was a day full of site visits and lots of talking. I travelled through Bangalore and familiarized myself with the on-going sites. Interacting with Sai was like talking to someone who had known me forever and that helped me open up more.

As interesting as the first day was, the first week and a half was a little difficult for me. The people around me were friendly but it took me some time to adjust to the work environment and how everything was done in office.

In our initial interactions, I had pointed out that my field of interest was Project management and even though I tried my hand at other things, I started enjoying most only when I was put onto the project management team. The first few days I worked on designing spaces and resolving drawings but I couldn’t entirely involve myself in this. I even designed a page for the Sandarbh website. This was fun but I still didn’t feel completely engaged. But I found my place when I was introduced to how project management works – how task lists are made, what their purpose is, the level of detail that one must keep in mind while documenting work on site. Arjun, you and I were assigned to manage the work at 3 different sites. I was given a project in Whitefield which was at the interiors stage. Initially, I hadn’t seen the site but only had an idea of it from the sketchup models. I was ordering materials for the site, making calls for quotations, communicating with the people working on site as well as material vendors. With all of this activity, even though I hadn’t been to the site, I was somewhat able to connect the site with the drawings.

Me: So did you eventually get a chance to go to the site?

Kruti: My first day in office was just an introduction to various sites. The first opportunity that I got to visit a site was a project in Narayanpura. Arjun was more familiar with the site and I went with him. At first I just looked around, taking in the overall design, the spaces, the elements. I observed Arjun as he made a task list and took a few photos here and there. I hadn’t seen the drawings of the project before and so I did feel a little confused. I certainly wasn’t 100% sure of what was happening.

After that I got an opportunity to visit the site at Whitefield with Akshay. Since I’d been involved with this site I did have an idea of the design and the activities on site. I had interacted with the carpenters on the phone before this, but that day I got to communicate with them in person. A lot of questions were asked and I didn’t know the answers to them all. I realized that I should make an attempt to know more about how things are done on site. Akshay and I made the task list together. The difference was that he was also paying attention to the smallest of details. This was the extent of observation and inspection that we had to get to. After all, the details are just as important as the big picture.

I was better prepared the next time I went back to Whitefield. I was more aware of how things work and how to deal with the people on site. Today a lot of work was going on simultaneously. Stonework, carpentry, electrical and paint – each activity was taking place with the effort to complete the project as soon as possible. With so much happening, I did feel some amount of friction on site but nonetheless the work was going on.

Being on site is very different from being in office. It is more tiring but I also get a lot of exposure to sites as well as the various aspects of Bangalore – the rain, the sun and the scenes.

Me: Wow! Your first month seems to have been pretty action packed, full of ups and downs. What are you expecting out of the remaining months of internship?

Kruti: I can’t say for sure but I feel like I’ll get better at dealing with different kinds of people from different walks of life – whether it is Sai in the office, the vendors I’ve been calling for materials or the people working on sites. This would certainly help me in the future. I also feel like I’ll get better at managing things – which I hope will reflect on how I manage my college work when I go back. What I can say for sure is that I already sense a difference in my ability to communicate with people.

Me: I’d certainly agree with that. Anyways before we wrap up, any last words for our readers?

Kruti : I don’t quite know what to say but I look forward to each day being interesting and full of fun!

-Mannat

4 weeks at Sandarbh

Time flies. As cliche as it sounds, it's very true in this case. It seems like 4 weeks at Sandarbh are almost over in the blink of an eye. My everyday experiences are here for all of you to read - from the initial anxiety, to discovering things that would be obvious to most people, to taking on new roles. You've all seen life at Sandarbh from my point of view. But today I was wondering, how has the same place and the same experience been different for the people who joined at the same time as me. I've taken it upon myself to find out and I'd like you guys to accompany me on this journey. So, for the next few days I'm going to try and present to you Sandarbh from the different perspectives of all the interns. Keep reading here to find out more about each of their
experiences!

-Mannat

Inspirations

I would like to start this blog by asking everyone – Is there anything in architecture that is truly, entirely original?

I personally don’t think so. Just take history as an example. Classical architecture was reinterpreted in the renaissance movement and then more or less directly applied in neoclassical design as well. If you start looking at famous buildings from famous architects, you can see similarities there too. You could take Eero Saarinen’s TWA flight centre and Zaha Hadid’s London Olympics Aqautic Centre and you would find certain parts of the buildings share an uncanny resemblance. Would you then say that one of them copied the other? Or was one inspired by the other?

Just last week we saw an interesting video on the 7 habits of an effective artist (7 habits which could very well be applied to architecture as well). One of those habits is the ability to steal. Now before everyone’s moral compass starts pointing in the wrong directions let me make myself clear – I don’t mean one should lift off someone’s work and directly copy it. What I mean is that one should look at others work, study them, find inspiration in them, learn from them and  if there ever comes a time when you need to replicate someone’s work then give due credit for the same.

The power of inspiration is something incredible to tap into. Today with half of our team on various sites, the rest of us made good use of the amount of space in the office. We went about our usual work day till Sai brought down some old Architectural Digest magazines for reference in one of our design discussions. Just going through some of the amazing work that other people have done fueled all of us to think more about what we were doing. A simple seed of an idea that started off with inspiration then became a conversation filled with ideas for our own projects. We sat there going through magazine after magazine, discussing building after building. Some were relevant to our project, others completely irrelevant and yet all of them served their singular purpose – to inspire us!

-Mannat

Spring Cleaning

Today was an interesting experience in office. The minute we got there, rather than working on drawings or checking up on what's happening at site, we were told to tidy up our work space. The dusters and brooms were brought out while a pile of things was assembled to be thrown out. But it didn't stop at that. Not only did we clean up the garage workspace, but we also reoriented the furniture, making it our own. Suddenly the office seemed more spacious, ready to take on 5 more people who would be joining us soon. New plug points were installed within the garage and a provision for charging  has been made on the tree house as well (honestly I can't wait to shift to the tree house and work from there!). The rest of the day continued in conversations of work as well as what else could be done to make the workspace more interesting- a mattress could placed on the cot for people to sit there, we could probably paint a wall or two, a board here could be removed, a shelf there could be added. Today was not only about the space where we work but instead about the space that we envision ourselves working in.

-Mannat

Impermanence

For those of you who haven’t been through my lazy Sunday blog last week (read that here), as the weekend comes closer I basically transform into a sloth. I take my Sundays as an excuse to be as unproductive as physically possible and also to unwind and let go of the stresses that come with the work week. I have found that reading poetry is an extremely effective stress-buster for me. Today I was reading and re-reading some of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poems. One of his works that I find myself constantly drawn to is the poem ‘Ozymandias’. It is a poem about a statue among ruins. This is the statue of Ozymandias, a vainglorious ruler who gloated over all that he had built in his life, but eventually everything was ravaged by the effects of time.

Every time that I go over the piece, it reminds me of the impermanence of architecture. The built form is ever transforming. It is constantly evolving, adapting and reinventing itself. Often, it is built, unbuilt and then built again. It is lasting yet impermanent. A thousand deliberate decisions go into taking a drawing from paper and transforming it into a house. From structure to material to finishes, we put thought and effort into it all, we make it lasting. And yet somehow or the other time catches up with everything. The decay of time may not be something that we would witness in this lifetime, but it is eventual.

-Mannat

An Architect’s Role 2.0

Ok before I actually begin with this blog I would just like to tell everyone that blogging everyday can be really hard. There are days when you feel like could write 7 blogs and on others it is borderline writer’s block. Today was one of those days where my mind drew a blank. Not knowing what to write about I sought help from everyone else in office. The conversation about what I could write today shifted back to what I wrote about yesterday (Check that out here). Harshitha clearly pointed that yes design and project management are important roles that an architect plays but what about other things like marketing or client relations? The more I think about this, the more I realize how multi-dimensional this job is and how ignorant we are to this fact in the sheltered world of academia.

Three weeks ago had you asked me to sell myself as an architect, I would have been really uncomfortable with the very idea of it. It has a negative connotation for most of us. But if you think about it rationally you could be an absolutely amazing architect but it is of no use unless you can sell your designs to your clients. And even if you’re an average architect who is able to market his/her designs well, aren’t you a more successful architect already?

What do you guys think?

-Mannat

An Architect's Role

In one of our discussions this week, Sai asked us what out role as architects is. Surprisingly (or not) all of us just sat there blank. There were a few vague responses here and there but none of us could really answer it. We spoke of understanding clients and interpreting them in design but kind of just stopped at that. That's when Sai put across an interesting statement - what's the point of a beautiful design if it can't be executed? And that got all of us thinking.

Is it an architect's job just to design or do we go beyond that. Aren't we also supposed to manage the execution of the project as well? A design has to broken down into a sequence of processes that will ultimately lead it to manifest in physical space. These processes he explained had to be broken down into a list of achievable tasks and only when all of these tasks are completed in order, do we get a finished product. I guess that's where project management really comes in. Making task lists for various projects has helped me understand the complexity of the construction process (which was something I had been taking for granted before this).

Now it may sound complicated when I put it like this, but there is nothing more simple than the sense of achievement that you feel when you tick off a task from your to-do lists for ongoing sites!

-Mannat

Happy Birthday Leena!

This blog is solely and completely dedicated to Leena's birthday get-together. Most birthday blogs talk about the person and how great they are. I would've done that too but I don't think I can quite capture Leena's brilliance in words. Instead I'm sharing with you pictures of the great time we're having right now.


P.s. I'm blogging while at a party. That takes some dedication!

-Mannat

New Friends

In a new city you would expect one to explore new places, eat new food and make new friends. I can safely say in the three weeks that I’ve been here I’ve ticked all three things off my list. Been to a few new places, eaten some good food and made lots of new friends. Some of these friends I work with, some I live with and then there are a few others who have found a somewhat special place in my life. They’re the ones that I’ve been communicating with the most, my recents in my call logs and right on top of the list in my frequently contacted whatsapp messages. Seems like the carpenters, masons and contractors that I’ve been co-ordinating with on sites have become my best friends in Bangalore. Constantly finding out what is happening on different sites, clearing doubts and supplying work has been incredibly overwhelming ever since I’ve been initiated into the process. I honestly don’t know a lot of things about the on-going projects but Sukhdev, Manoj, Santosh and Krishna have been patient with me. They call me when they require clarifications or need drawings and I call them when I need any information from the site. We’ve formed a somewhat symbiotic relationship and it seems to be working out well. For now, I can only hope that a call log full of contractors, carpenters, masons and tile-layers is the only side effect of site coordination!

-Mannat

Mad for Mangoes

With a lot of efforts being put into revamping the Sandarbh website, we felt like this was a perfect opportunity to let the world know more about who we are as a team, how we work and what our stories are. A simple discussion like this can go many ways when you have so many people involved, but one thing we all agreed on was that to be creative in architecture we often turn to being creative in other artistic fields. Sai sculpts, Leena is into photography, Rambo sketches brilliantly, Tanvi has been exploring watercolour, Dhruvi has an eye for amazing composition and Ananya writes to get her creative juices flowing. The discussion beyond this point was interrupted by Arjun who thought this would serve as a basis for a good Instagram bio. While the intent was good, the result was a little cringeworthy (For the last time Arjun, YOU’RE NOT GOOD WITH WORDS).

But the simple thought of how we are architects who do many other things materialized soon enough. We were just sitting down for a serious discussion when a mango fell from the tree outside the office. Suddenly all our creative skills were put into picking as many ripe mangoes as we could. Rambo even tried creating a tool for doing so with knife, some sticks and a gunny bag. Some of us stayed on the ground helping Rambo spot ripe mangoes while he was up on the tree house while others took videos in the hopes that something exciting might be caught on camera (something like Rambo falling!)

In the end we sat back down to finish our discussion, with the mangoes cut and arranged in a plate within everyone’s reach. We certainly are more than architects. Artists, Artisans, Designers, Photographers, Story-tellers and definitely Mango Maniacs!!!

-Mannat

A Bunch of Posers

Most Monday mornings usually entail some amount of laziness from the day before. I personally struggle to get up, get ready and get out of the house on time. But today was completely different. Dhruvi, Kruti, Purva and I were on our way to work with plenty of time to spare and to top it all we were all dressed to take on the day. You would imagine this sort of a preparation would go into something like an important client meeting but today’s occasion was something else. We were all ready and excited to get our pictures taken for the Sandarbh website.
Akshay was our photographer for the day and at one point he had turned the entire office space into a set for the pictures. One by one we were called out of the cozy garage where we typically work. Anxious at first, each one of us enjoyed the process thoroughly. Some of the pictures were taken inside on the curving staircase or near the main door. Others posed in the garden outside, either sitting on the swing or smiling against the backdrop of nature. Akshay even managed to convince some of us to get up onto the tree house and hop into the balcony adjacent to it.  The stone steps, the red chairs in the garden, the twisting tree trunks or the curving handrail, each space was an opportunity for a picture to be taken.
With Akshay’s editing and Dhruvi’s composition skills the photos were up on the website before we knew it (you can check them out here https://www.sandarbharchitects.com ) We were already a team in spirit and emotion but now the same has been recorded in the archives of the internet and boy does it feel good to be a part of something like this!

-Mannat

Lazy Sundays

I absolutely love lazy Sundays. Sleeping in late, enjoying a good brunch and just not having to do anything. The weather in Bangalore is perfectly conducive to this lazy feeling. The clouds are constantly looming over, carrying the promise of rain (but not always keeping their promise).

While I sit down to write this blog, I keep looking out of my window at the full green trees and the grey-blue sky beyond. I can think of a few things that I’d really like right now. On the top of my list is probably a lovely window seat to curl up on. I had a chance to see just that in one of our sites under construction and I just can’t seem to get it out of my head or the list of spaces that I’d love to have in my dream home.


Imagine having a cozy window seat in your room. A space where you can just take your favourite book or a warm cup of coffee and just spend lazy Sundays like today. You’re propped up on some fluffy cushions looking out at a view framed in wood. While the books that you read can transport you to whole new worlds, there’s a story being written right there beyond your window. The trees sway in the wind, dancing to a song that only they can hear. You have a view to the house right across too. The balconies are empty today but some Sundays you can see an old couple enjoying their evening tea, other times there are children running around enjoying the weather just as much as you.
I might not have a window seat for now, but a book and a warm cup of coffee are right here, waiting for me. Don’t you guys just love Sundays too!

-Mannat

Feels like Home

After about two weeks of being in Bangalore, the homesickness bug finally caught up with me. It hit me much earlier than I expected and it hit me hard. Now don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying the whole idea of a new place, new people and new things to do but I also miss my life back home. All of yesterday went about in coordinating material requirements on site, getting quotes for the same and mostly feeling miserable. Noticing this, Sai pulled me aside and told me to go talk to my parents and admit to the fact that I missed them (something that I was very reluctant to do). Talking to them certainly helped me feel better and the fact that we have a prospective client in Delhi was really the silver lining to my cloudy day.
The day soon came to an end and since we had a long weekend coming up everyone stayed behind to chill. We sat around, joked, had a couple of beers and mostly just took the time to get to know each other better. We ended up the gathering by indulging in some really tasty haleem thanks to Harshitha. I finally got to eat my dinner in a plate (it's a big deal when you're eating out of a tiffin every day!)
I guess I really needed something like this. It was nice to just be with everyone and enjoy good food and conversation. I still miss my family, my friends and the general feeling of everything Delhi. But then again, maybe I've found something like family here too.

-Mannat

Switching it up

From the start of this week to today, our morning meetings just seem to be getting more and more crowded. As the team grows, each one of us is also evolving to take up more roles.

On their very first day Akshay and Monica were thrown head first into sketchup. They took over making the 3D models for the plans that Dhruvi, Kruti and Purva had been resolving. The three of them then took over composing the website - a job that Arjun and I had been doing. Not wanting to sit idle, we got to do Harshitha and Sulu's work of coordinating on site and getting in touch with vendors.

This switching up has worked out pretty well for us. Our sketchup models are being churned out at a good speed, the website looks much better and our communication on site hasn't led to any glitches yet. Moreover we're enjoying our new roles just as much as we liked the last. Personally, it's worked out well for me as well - by making calls on site, I get my daily dose of Hindi too!

-Mannat

Partners in Design

I've always been a lone designer. I need my space, my things and knick knacks around me, my distractions (read scrabble and candy crush) and my table full of my organised chaos to get into my frame of  mind of designing. 

Or so I thought. 

The last few days now Rambo and I have been working together on the design of a project and its been going surprisingly well!! We have worked together before but briefly, on details and such. But this is the first time we have sat down together for the last few days designing, redesigning and working out the details for a project. We've been loving the shape the spaces are taking, absolutely enjoying virtual 'shopping' for the components we are using in the presentation and laughing with gusto at the random things that we both get on our social media feeds! In the last 4 days, we've started saying the same things at the same times and more or less reading each others minds in terms of design! 

For me, who is so used to working alone in my space (which is 1.5 floors over the studio), who has no patience to sit and explain designs repeatedly and check drawings and who would rather do it myself than have to tell someone what is to be drafted, this experience has been an eye opener. 

Maybe I've become a more patient person or more likely, Rambo is the perfect person for me to work with but whatever it may be, these have been few of the most productive days with results that I am liking and a process I've been thoroughly enjoying! 

To more times designing with you Rambo!! 

(P.S. - both of us cant help it. We make faces for photos!!)

Sketchup Sessions with Sai

Today was a day of firsts. Akshay and Monica’s first day at office, my first day interacting with people on site, the first time we interns tried ice-cream from corner house and also the first time many of us took our designs into sketchup.

A few of us struggled with getting started, facing issues with things like importing the drawing and realising halfway through that the drawing wasn’t too scale. Some of us just took forever to make the surfaces, line by line. Half the day was almost up and nobody had a model that was even near completion.

Noticing this, Sai immediately called us all and sat us down for a crash course in sketchup. Apparently we’d all been using sketchup wrong (some of us more so than others). A quick introduction to the software and we realised how different it was from autocad. The layers worked differently on sketchup and the outliner was more like cad layers wherein you could group things. Ultimately we realised that sketchup is the kind of software that has an affinity for organised people. If you systematically work in components and groups, your laptops and computers will love you for it. (You know who else will love you? The people who have to work on the same file after you)

And so we started with our first sketchup session. Slowly, steadily all of us are practicing and improving our 3D modelling skills. A few more sessions and we’d probably end up being better than Rambo!

P.s. Rambo is brilliant. You don’t have to take my word for it. Go check out our Instagram page @sandarbhdesignstudio for updates on his models and insanely realistic renders.

-Mannat

Sai Says

With each new batch of interns coming in, we get a new blogger. Somone who takes Sandarbh's Project365 forward. Last time it was Shreya and this time Mannat has taken over over the reigns. Mannat who has never blogged or read architectural blogs before this started on her very first day and very enthusiastically so! 

Its been about 2 weeks since she joined and today she sits in front of Sai with a need of appropriate ideas to add to the Sandarbh blog . As everyone does, she also wanted 'Sai quotes' to work on, to expand, put in context and write about. 

That got me thinking. Both Shreya and Ananya often have a lot of references to what Sai says in their blogs as well. They also use a lot of what he says as a point to start blogs from. 

Sai is hands down the most 'talkative' person at the studio. He will claim that he is explaining idea and teaching and imparting wisdom but it is mostly a lot of talking!! But how he manages to hold interest is by managing to bring in anecdotes and by giving multiple examples and similies of what he is talking about which makes all the bulbs at the studio go on and shine bright! You can see it on the faces!! 

So Mannat has hit the sweet spot for blog inspirations - 'Sai Says' is the way to go :-) 

Aspirations

When I was a naïve little girl still deciding what I wanted to become when I grew up, one of the first things that attracted me towards architecture was the idea that my designs, my creations would eventually be brought to life. The whole idea that something that I would put down on paper could become a reality in the built form really fascinated me. Over time though, somewhere I lost that zeal. It became more about plans, sections and 3D models rather than designs that would take up physical space.
Today I found myself on site witnessing discussions with a client about how a gate should be positioned, how a door should be installed or how an element of wrought iron could be incorporated in a part of the sit-out. It brought back the realization that we as architects try our best to take a client’s hopes, dreams, aspirations and expectations and turn them into built forms, structures and spaces.
Once again I’m excited about the designs we’re working on. These plans, sections and sketchup models will eventually become someone’s home. I can’t wait to see how that will turn out!

-Mannat

Everyday Indulgences

What if I told you of a space where you could experience a Jacuzzi in the lap of nature? A space that is private and yet lets you experience the world around. Walking up to the Jacuzzi you can feel the roughness of pebbles and stones under your feet while the sky itself leisurely spreads out above your head. Unwinding by immersing yourself in warm waters and allowing the cool breeze to caress your skin. Lush green plants around you literally bring the outdoors to the inside. And if ever you feel like there isn’t enough of a connection with nature, you could always push open the pivot windows, connecting you to the greenery around. Tones of earthy brown, mellow white and bright green soothe both the body and mind. Doesn’t it sound like a picture of ultimate bliss!

What if I told you that this wasn’t a space that was picked out of some fancy resort in some exotic locale, but rather from a home that was built right here in Bangalore? Would you believe it? I surely wouldn’t have if I hadn’t seen proof in the form of pictures while browsing through Sandarbh’s webpage. 

Perhaps, experiences like these don’t have to be reserved for vacations. How lovely would it be if they could be a part of everyday life!

-Mannat

Seamless Transitions

We have always had conversations at the office about it being a fun place for everyone to work at.

How would productive work happen unless you enjoy the environment you are working in?

We talk about how we can make our office better, conversations about fixing the garden keeps coming up, there are talks about coffee machines, music systems and bringing an Xbox into the office

But beyond all of the little additions we could add to the office, the employees obviously matter a lot as well. We like to have a lively environment - conversations floating around, people pulling eachother's legs, cracking jokes.

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Today, Ritika got back to office after about a month to visit all of us. It was an exciting event - she commented on the design development, she cracked jokes on Arjun (who thankfully took it quite well) and went around talking about everything at office. It was a fun visit both for her and for us. She was also whining about the fact that she didn't get the chance to handle the official Instagram page for the office. 

Ritika was an intern who completed her internship last month, Arjun is one who just joined - but their conversations went like they worked with eachother for ages. 

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Knowingly or unknowingly, the process of picking the interns on it's own has become a method of streamlining and picking Interns who would fit into this team.

We start with an informal mail to the interns who are shortlisted, describing our office and the team to each one. As the first step of the selection, we ask them to describe themselves - what do they do in their spare times, do they like to travel, what is their background like? The answers to these are very diverse - we have found a couple of answers which end in two lines, or some that tells stories. Don't expect us to remember your answers, there are way too many coming in! But based on these answers, we shortlist the interns who can get into the next stage of the selection process - the telephonic interview.

Everyone at office fights to get into the space where the calls are made. The calls are made randomly, mostly catching these prospective interns at surprise. We inform them that they are on speaker, and that a few others are listening to them. This phone call, being quite informal, is one where along with their Architectural skills, we look at how they take the conversation forward, how they handle the crowd attention and how they take humor.

So after this process and a lot of fun conversations in the office WhatsApp group before they join, the interns when they finally physically join the office, knows how exactly the office is like and blends in perfectly! So after a month of silence when the new interns finally join the office, they fill in the gap left by the old ones quite beautifully - and from day 1, the conversations fill the room again.

From the Archives…

Last Thursday I was asked to accompany my seniors to a client meeting in Indiranagar to observe and learn. My first client meeting coincidentally ended up being held at a residence that was one of the first few designed by Sandarbh.

I observed the discussions for a project in the future as we sat in a home that had been completed some seventeen years ago. Luckily, before we left I was able to get permission to go around the house. One entered into the house through the foyer at ground level. On the left of the foyer was the dining space while a curved staircase on the right led you up to a mezzanine seating. The light filtering through stained glass lit up the entire space with colours and patterns. This got me to look up and I realized an entire portion of the ceiling was resting on nothing but one wall. This suspended portion of the structure then became the base for the stained glass clerestory. Another set of stairs went up to the more private part of the house that contained the study and the bedrooms. From that level we could see another spiral staircase going up, disappearing behind the stained glass.

Back in the office, I looked through the archives and found a few sketches and a model. I insisted that Sai walk us through the design process. With the model at hand we were better able to visualize the complexity of spaces and the role light had to play in the design of the house. However, the model did no justice to the gorgeous stained glass panels that had been installed at site.

Overall, the house embodied an interesting play of levels, precariously suspended ceilings as well as the awe-inspiring stained glass clerestory. Familiarizing myself with the house after the meeting only made me more excited and I feel hopeful that the new design is going to be even bolder than the last.

Stay tuned and we’ll find out together!

-Mannat

Where is the Off Button?

After an exciting and exhausting first week at Sandarbh, I wanted to do nothing more than kick back and relax over the weekend, and what better way than to catch up with some old friends. A quick call and a couple of messages later I had made dinner plans with a college friend who is interning in Bangalore as well. Considering it was a Saturday night it took us a while to find a place that was convenient for both of us and had a table available. The conversation started off with us recounting our experiences at our respective internships and branched off into various directions. We spoke of the work-life culture in Bangalore, the amazing weather, the traffic and even how we both hoped that Bangalore would add some much needed colour to our otherwise bland love lives. Somewhere in between we spoke of the restaurant and how slow the service was but this conversation too quickly moved into the domain of architecture. We were seated at the second floor beneath the sloping roof that we observed is quite characteristic of Bangalore but is rarely seen in Delhi. There was another level above us in the form of a mezzanine that had restricted access. Animatedly we discussed how the space would’ve been better without the mezzanine or what else we could’ve done to make the space grander or cozier and everything in between. This led me to wonder if we ever turn off the architect in our head. We’re constantly figuring out details, redesigning spaces or simply even just observing. Maybe spaces, places, elements and details eventually become ingrained in our very being. Maybe there is no off button!

-Mannat

To Good Beginnings

TO GOOD BEGINNINGS

The first week at Sandarbh seems to have passed by in a blur. From being fresh faces in the office just 5 days ago, today it feels like we have been part of the team for the longest time. It’s a strange paradox isn’t it? But then again, I have often heard that time seems to move faster when you’re doing something that captures your interest. The transparency in work as well as the warmth that we received from our seniors has truly been a catalyst in turning us from scared and nervous individuals to a gang that works and chills together. A few interactions through mail and whatsapp before joining had helped us become familiar with our seniors – Sai, Leena, Rambo, Ananya, Harshitha, Sulu, Mallika and Meghna. I’m sure if you follow us regularly, you would be quite familiar with them too.

So, today I’m going to take this opportunity to introduce us interns. Six of us are already here and another six are to join us soon. Even though we have all bonded together I hope to learn more about them through the course of the next few months. For now, I have already figured out a little bit about each of these incredibly different and interesting individuals but that’s a blog for another day!

-Mannat

Resolving the Staircase - An Analogy

RESOLVING THE STAIRCASE – AN ANALOGY

A common phrase amongst architects is that an average design that is resolved is better than a great design that isn’t. Oftentimes when resolving a design everything else seems to work fine expect one or two elements. Maybe the toilet won’t sit right or maybe the entry to a room is weirdly placed. Vertical transitions like stairs can work out beautifully in some designs and can be a total pain in others. Imagine having the space demarcated for a staircase but only being able to fit 20 steps instead of the 24 required for that particular design. One can focus on the staircase alone and keep reworking it in different ways, trying out different iterations. Or instead one can step back to look at the plan as whole and move the spaces around it to accommodate the extra steps. Similarly, in life we often get bogged down by the little setbacks. The little problems and issues become so important that we lose focus on everything else. Sometimes it’s just better to step back and look at the bigger picture. The solutions mostly lie there, if only we’re willing to look!

-Mannat

A Child's Wonder

Can you imagine yourself as a child again? Imagine yourself back in a simpler time when going to school early in the morning was the biggest of your problems and playtime was the best part of the day. Imagine yourself barely being able to reach to reach the door handle a few months ago and reveling in success when you’re able to turn it open now. You enter a room filled with wonder. A toy train loops around your feet as you walk towards your cupboard and pull out your favourite t-shirt. It’s a relief to be able to change out of the itchy school uniform. You toss it on the bed beside you as soon as it comes off. You vaguely hear the pitter-patter of the rain and glance outside to see the raindrops racing down the glass of the balcony door. You walk around the bed and closer to the doors beyond which lies a balcony. The balcony has a lovely seat built into it that your elder sister loves to sit on. You don’t like it much because your feet still don’t reach the floor when you sit there. Instead, you focus on observing two raindrops competing with each other, silently rooting for one of them and being disheartened when it doesn’t win. You know there are more fun games and toys waiting for you. Your room is not the same as your parents. The roof is much farther away from you when you lie on their bed. Your bed on the other hand seems cozier. The ceiling above looks like the block puzzles you play with sometimes. You often like to imagine the other patterns that the squares on the ceiling could be arranged in. Playing with blocks seems like a good idea for the time being. Instead of heading out to the play area though, you head up to it. The house has a staircase to come up from the ground floor but your room has its own mini-staircase, in the form of a ladder that takes you up to the mezzanine play area. In your excitement, you run up the ladder almost missing a step. Your mother often asks you to slow down on the ladder but you always forget in your hurry to get to the toys. As you step onto the mezzanine your toy chest comes into sight. Beyond it you can see the tree that you wish to climb someday, when your father agrees that you’re big enough for it. The toys lying around are tempting but you’ve changed your mind now. You’d rather just lay around on the hammock that goes all the way from the edge of the mezzanine floor to the wall, playing tetris. The friends who come over to play with you for the first time always step onto the hammock gingerly but you  just jump onto it now. Can you imagine having a hammock in your room and not making the most of it? Can you imagine having a room like this?

I for one couldn’t have up until the point that I visited one of our sites under construction. This was the first time that I had seen a mezzanine floor under a sloping roof used as a design in a children’s bedroom. Instantly I wished that I could’ve had a room exactly like this. Maybe not me but somewhere, someone will definitely get to experience the childhood that I missed out on all thanks to the team at Sandarbh.  

-Mannat

To the weird Architects around!

I had gone to a restaurant for lunch today - and before I could notice the waiter or the food, I couldn't help but notice, the little gap between the serving area -and through them, the kitchen dadao tiles. From the distance, I could see that they were brown in colour, had square patterns on them. A couple of years back, I wouldnt have cared about those tiles. But today, I knew the name of the tile, the series it was a part of and where you could get it. I even knew its price. Earlier, I would have found things like this weird, but after a long time of recognizing floor tiles, the tiling pattern - how the cut tiles are placed, points where the tiling hasn't been done neatly etc., I am not surprised any more.

The stories don't end here - a week back, as our office set off to a farmhouse to enjoy a weekend, I was sure if one thing - there wouldn't be any 'work' conversations. We would enjoy the weekend, away from architecture, away from projects and away from designing. But turns out, as we reached the top of a hill there, we had already begun designing. Conversations about an office on top of the hill, it's orientation, it's materials, it's structure began to be discussed. By the end of the trip, we knew exactly how and what this new office of ours would be.

We Architects are a weird bunch - everytime we get to a restaurant, we obsess about the material the shutters are made in, the roofing material  that it was covered in and the functionality of each material. We talk to restaurant owners asking who the Architect who designed it was. We ask them about details of how their gates were made, where they picked their light fittings from. We even take the phone numbers of painters we see on the road. We are obsessed.

Storytelling

About a month back, when I went for a site visit for the renovation my house, Sai asked me to go to my favorite space of the house, and write about it. I had a lot of questions, I didn't  know the purpose of writing this. He didn't name the process or tell me what it was for, he just told me to write. "Don't think too much, just write", he said. 

Since it was my own house, I didn't have to go through too much trouble for this at all. I had one or multiple stories for every space in the house. So I wrote in detail about everything I felt and saw. And trust me, even though it was my house, I looked at it differently. The house I got out of wasn't the same one I got into - at least in my eyes. 

I have written 'narratives' for three houses after this. Each of these was a different experience. Coincidentally, each house ended up being very different from each other. One was in the process of being designed to be renovated, one was in the process of being constructed and the next one was already constructed.  The experience of writing was extremely different as well. 

So for today's blog, I thought it would be nice to share this experience with all of you. 

From being something that I thought was purposeless, writing these narratives have become one of the most favorite things I do at office. I usually start from one point of the house (mostly the entrance) and walk by the rest of the house, writing about what I feel and see. It's an extremely peaceful process - and surprisingly, I don't have to think too much either. Like Sai said the first time I tried doing this - the building would speak to me. It doesn't matter if it's the office I work at or the place I call home, I can't do this from memory. I sit in the space watch the patterns, the way the light falls, the structure of the building and all of these together, automatically tells me a story. I just have to listen and write it down. 

After this process, I am familiar with every little detail of the building - I know which window shows the best views, which one brings in the most light. I know which step is the best to sit on, or the details of the patterns the trees form on the ground.

Looking forward to writing the next one! And trust me guys, you should try this out too. Sit in the favorite space of your homes, and listen to it's story. You will end up looking at it way differently than how you look at it today.

- Ananya

Positivity for the Pessimist

The first day of internship can be daunting for any individual. For me, it was nerve-wracking and anxiety-inducing. I’m a self-proclaimed pessimist hiding under the guise of a realist, and am always anticipating the worst in any situation. This anticipation usually leads to me channeling the same and ending up in sticky messes. Up until yesterday I genuinely believed that I was the literal personification of Murphy’s Laws – If it can go wrong in any manner possible, it will – but a simple statement made by Sai has got me to question my belief.

The whole idea is quite simple really. The universe works in positives and energy flows where the attention goes. So, if you intend for something to happen the universe will only pick up on the positive part of the intent and filter out the negative. Just this morning Arjun illustrated a simple but effective example of this. For our first site visit today his intention was ‘I don’t want to be late’. However, since the universe only focuses on the positive the message he sent out was ‘I want to be late’. This intent eventually managed to manifest in action when he got lost on his way to office. He thought of something he didn’t want and gave it attention, causing it materialize.

Maybe it’s all in the mindset. Maybe a positive thought process really does attract positive action. Maybe the pessimist in me will finally consider the glass to be half full and not half empty. 

-Mannat    

An Architect's Skillset

To everyone who follows these blogs regularly, you’ll notice this is another one of those ‘Sai said’ blogs much like my predecessor Shreya. Day 1 at Sandarbh was interesting to say the least. The orientation for us interns was about 4 hours long and yet Sai managed to hold our rapt attention throughout. We were made familiar with the work culture of the office and the kind of work each of us would be doing. Eventually the conversation shifted to essential skills that make a successful architect.

Sai started off by asking us the difference between a skill and a talent. The literal definition of skill is the ability to do something well while talent is defined as natural aptitude. It’s simply that while talent is inborn, skill can be inculcated. There are a few basic skills that Sai believes each one of us must possess to become good architects. Communication is the big one whether it is verbal or written. After all someone who is an average architect but good with communication will still be more successful than a great architect who can’t sell his design.

Another skill that is a must for architects is being able to sketch well. A proportionate sketch with straight, parallel lines and correct line intensities is just as expressive as a well written prose. Sai clearly and bluntly defined the difference between a good and bad sketch and also taught us the technique to improve our sketching. In the end a bad sketch can very well be converted to a good one only by adding in a little bit of time and a good amount of effort.

I have a feeling that I’m quite alright on the communication front but I’d never really thought of sketching as something that I was good at. Perhaps, with a little bit of effort I will pick up on this too. What about you guys? Do you possess these particular skills?


P.S. While going through Meghna's sketches we discovered the difference a little bit of effort can actually make. See for yourself!

-Mannat

Who are Architects?

I have had conversations with various people around Bangalore city - especially people who have been residents of Bangalore for a long time about how the city has changed in the last 2 decades. " It used to be greener, cooler and not as dusty", they said. I have been complaining from the day I got to Bangalore as well - about the chaotic traffic, about how dusty the air is, about how people just don't think twice before cutting trees.

Yesterday, in a discussion involving 3 Architects and an automobile designer, the automobile designer asked, "How can you guys complain? Aren't you guys responsible for all the development in the city?" He was particularly critical of the work Architects were doing. He spoke about how Architects were obsessed with aesthetics and personalising space for each client that we forget about the city. "Is there any research within Architecture done aiming at this? "

The rest of us on the table didn't agree. We blamed the government, the real estate agents, the planners etc. "The growth isn't planned, all the work we do is limited to smaller sites", the other Architects sitting across the table said.

But the more I thought  about it, the more I realize that it could be us as well. How different was the construction methodology 10 years back to the one now? Even with all the research going into green and sustainable architecture, what is the percentage that uses it? How do we react when a client wants to cut a tree within their plot? How much do we really care?

New City, New Me?

For someone who has lived in one city, one house all her life, a six month internship period felt like the perfect time to fly the nest. A period long enough to feel a sense of independence with a thesis waiting back at home, this was a tailor-made opportunity to get away, and Bangalore seemed like the dream destination. This is not just the first time that I’d be living away from home but also the first time I’d be working in an office (Luckily Sandarbh isn’t exactly your typical, formal office environment). All of this left me with a weird giddy feeling composed of excitement, nervousness and the tiniest bit of uncertainty about the next couple of months.

With me being what one could lovingly refer to as an organized mess, my concerned parents decided that one of them should certainly accompany me from Delhi to Bangalore. All the while, discussions about responsibility, time management, work-life balance and health had become an everyday phenomena.

Finally, the day had arrived and so with packed bags and a heavy heart I said my goodbyes and made my way to the airport. A not so short and extremely eventful flight later I found myself in Bangalore in the wee hours of the morning. The journey itself is a story for another time but I’d finally made it to the destination.

My first day in Bangalore had two main agendas – To settle into my PG and to visit Sandarbh to get acquainted to the office space.

Luggage in hand my father and I headed to meet the lady who runs the PG – Nalini Ma’am. The short conversation that we had with her was all about the rules and the setup of the PG. There was talk of curfew, protocol and of course more about responsibility. In a nutshell the conversation was mostly about the things I needed to learn. Things like cooking and cleaning that I used to take for granted at home, as well as things like being completely self-reliant (or atleast as self-reliant as one can be when breakfast and dinner is organized for you). Post the conversation, setting up didn’t take very long and we were on to the next portion of the day’s to-do list.

Just 10 minutes away from the rule-crazed PG lay Sandarbh and I walked into a space that felt efficient yet comfortable. Ananya’s green hair against the backdrop of an equally green landscape made me feel rather welcome. Ananya and Leena quickly headed off for a meeting while Sai sat us down to tell us more about the office. Quickly I realized Sai didn’t care much for the rules and rigidity that are commonly imposed on young, malleable minds like my own. He wouldn’t let me call him Sir and openly spoke about how I could negotiate my way into ( or out of ) work. According to him, rules weren’t meant to be broken but could certainly be bent. He was as chill as the workspace in terms of how much or what kind of work we wanted to take on but made it very clear once we committed to something we had to deliver without fail. He put great emphasis on the value for one’s time as well as respecting other people’s time. Habits that we’d picked up in college like not finishing work on time or submitting late had to be unlearnt. Clearly he was a rebel in his own way (in his college days as well as now as an architect dealing with clients) and hopefully he’ll make rebels out of all 13 of us interns too. I for one wouldn’t mind breaking or bending a few rules here and there for the right reasons.

As I went to bed that night, my mind was racing with thoughts of the conversations that had taken place during the day. On one front there was so much to learn, on the other I had to unlearn and then learn again. With all these simultaneous processes of learning and unlearning in the next six months, hopefully I will cease to be an organized mess or at the very least become more responsible and less clumsy. I don’t know if I’ll end up becoming the best version of myself but I’m certain that I’ll go back as a better model of me.

                                                                                                                                               -Mannat 

When Architects go shopping!

"When do you think the commercial street was formed? How old do you think it is?" Leena and I asked eachother as we juggled through the Saturday evening traffic of Commercial street. The weather was pleasant after some heavy afternoon rain and it seemed like all of Bangalore had come to the commercial street to take advantage of the weather and do some weekend shopping

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Leena and I spent the last couple of days, in and around Commercial Street of Bangalore - selecting and picking tiles, bathroom and kitchen fittings for multiple clients. We went looking around 4-5 showrooms, checking the various options they had, talking about new materials, and finding new contacts in these showrooms who could possibly help us in the future. It was physically exhausting - but mentally satisfying. We saw it all, tiles that range from Rs.60/ sqft to Rs.900/sqft, decorated bathroom sinks of Rs.30,000 and the many many finishes that they could come in. We saw jacuzzis, automatic kitchen shutters and multiple unique fixtures for various uses. The last two days was spent in acquiring knowledge. 

This whole experience made me realize that this is one area within architecture that is cursed by the internet and technology. While I was familiar with a lot of these materials  through their websites, there was a lot that didn't get conveyed through the screen. It didn't show how engineered granite and quartz felt nothing like the natural stone,how the tiles looked different against different materials, how the spoons clattered when the wire baskets were opened or shut and how they didn't when a specific mat was kept under them. The colors looked different, the material felt different and a lot of the materials that wasn't updated on the website was shown to us. When we physically went in search of a specific tile of a specific colour, it showed us various other options that Google would never have shown us if we went searching for "mauve coloured tile" on it. 

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We eventually never found out when the Commercial Street came into existence or how it came up ( Google lacked proper information on that as well), but personally, I found the answers to a lot of queries that was circulating in my head the past couple of weeks. 

Can't wait to get back to Commercial Street or other places and explore further ! What are your stories of Commercial street?

- Ananya