A Virtual Reality Kind of Day

We had a very interesting day at work yesterday. A two hour experience of actually walking through some demo projects and some of our own projects!

As usual, we at Sandarbh approached it as we do everything else. As Arjun put it - " I could do everything that I wouldnt have been able to do in a real life project ". In his case this meant to croucg down on the floor and look under the chairs and jump into a pool from the first floor!

It was a game for Inesh ( as is most things I think!!). He walked, turned in all directions, jumped, bend, dodged attacks from the building blocks and smiled happily throughout!

Everyone was in office during the presentation tried out the Virtual Reality experience. The ones who were out at sites or absent, totally missed it all! All of us started out skeptically but then moved to being happy and exuberent! Laughing, joking and making sure we didnt bump into each other while everyone around was egging you on!

The best part I think was our reactions when we walked through one of our projects. The experience was awesome! We realised that not just will this be a great presentation tool, it will be a better design tool! We could see and feel what it was to walk through something we had designed before it was done. In many cases, we probably had not visualised it as we were when we walked through the spaces.

All in all, it was a fantastic presentation. Darren and Jessica were full of information but fun and the product, very very interesting and innovative. It started conversations in the studio about design and the pros and cons.
Another good morning at Sandarbh .... :-)

Furry Friends in other Workspaces.

We like kittens almost as much as dogs.

As I grew up, it became very clear to me that people were either dog people or cat people. But then, in college, I was surrounded by friends who had cats in their homes and over a course of 4 years, I may have developed a soft corner for them.

Turns out, most people in the office are the same.

This was proven when a litter of kittens was found in our workshop and the first reaction my colleagues at the workshop had, was to inform us about them through a series of images capturing these wide-eyed babies nestled in their arms; and the subsequent reaction Sai had was to make sure that someone informed the workers at the workshop to take care of them.

I have no doubts about the fact the daily workshop visits that we happily undertake to ensure the progress of the carpentry work because of the opportunity they provide us to work and learn at the same time, will now become even more invigorating.

As an office that has no lack of animal interaction within the working space, it is no surprise, I guess, that our extended workspace would also find some furry four-legged friends.

Looking forward to keeping you updated.

As always,
Namitha.

MS Word is my Best Friend

MS Word is my best friend.

This week began with words and has continued to be about them.

What started off as a short assignment to draft one mail, went on to stretch over half my day;
Followed by the editing of another mail;
Followed by another one-
The next day.

Even for someone who loves words, this is a bit much.

However, the only reason this sequence of similar, simultaneous activities didn’t get to me was because

MS word is my best friend.

It stores in its memory all of my words,
Allowing me to cut, copy and paste relevant sentences from one place to another.
This is important.

Ask Ananya and she will vouch for it.

It allows me to remember the way we reacted to one person, and rectify and make things better with another.
This is even more so.

Sai will tell you about this.

It allows me to write bland, barely baked blogs so that I can come back at a later date and befriend them again.
Like I did today.

I’d left this piece at ‘MS Word is my best friend’ on Monday, but only today, when I can’t  think of any new ideas do I really appreciate the way technology has swept us away.

Someone else in office might say
That Excel is their best friend.
For how else will you estimate for every single detail?

Or maybe Sketchup is their bestfriend.
For how will you pull all your walls, place your windows and see how the light enters the space;
How will you know if the design is perfect,
In its 3 dimensional way?

Or maybe, you are Rithik.
Your questions range from 2B or not 2B
To which angles you’ll see,
When sketched in 2D.

We all have our best friend.
The one that aids the way we work In this space;
Holds your gaze; and says,
What do you want to work on today?

- Namitha

Sandarbh and I

Its been a good two months of me in Sandarbh today. Starting off the blog saga, I am going to be talking about my favorites here.

To begin with, Atom, everybody's favourite in the office. He is our little child who is always ready and up for a play. His surprise sniffs while everybody is busy working or him getting pampered by all in turns makes work less stressful around us.

While Atom wants to be grab a chair along with us, lunches are my next favorite here. All of us sit done around the table, with the funniest to the strangest conversations, making the whole team crack down to laughter.

The latest tradition of Dobble after lunch makes a good buffer before we head back to work for the day.

And not to forget, the impulsive Saturday outings XD

While these are my favouries until now, Im looking forward to my further journey at Sandarbh.

- Sonali. 

River of Gold

Have you watched the movie Desolation of Smaug?

Have you noticed the way the river of gold flows through a system of channels- never stopping, never ending- till it reaches a point where the entire floor is flooded and the gold eventually solidifies to create a scarily beautiful reflective surface?

This is how Sandarbh is now trying to work.

Before you shake your head, let me explain:

Sandarbh, as an office, has been undergoing a lot of changes over the last month or so and all of us here, obviously, are a part of it:

What we initially went through could be drawn as a direct parallel to the way solid gold was melted in the movie at burning temperatures to give rise to a more mouldable, more vulnerable version of itself.

After that, we began the process of finding the right niche for each member of the office. This was when each person’s abilities were put through the grind to find the right balance between what they liked and what they were good at. Some people hit this sweet spot instantly but some found it harder to make sense of the internal chaos.

The former set of people then moved into their respective roles and began accumulating the drive to move forward on the path they’ve chosen- almost like the gold being tipped into its designated channel after being transported across the halls and through as many spaces as required to reach its destination.

What will come next is the culmination of all these tiny streams, overflowing and spilling over into the realm of collaboration to create one smooth outer surface, the intricacies of which are only visible to those within but the beauty of which, is accessible to every onlooker.

And that, from my understanding, is where we’d like to be.

Is it time consuming, energy sapping and tough on everyone? Yes.
Is it worth it? Most Probably.
Will we succeed?
That, only time will tell.

But I’m pretty sure that this process of optimization, communication, and identification of the gaps in the system is well on its way to make us a much more cohesive office space.

Looking forward to the next few months,
Namitha