- Can you give us a brief insight into your design journey?
As soon as I graduated, I joined Vijay Gupta Architects, the firm my father had established. Despite that, I started as a fresher, just as any other architect would have. As a child, I closely watched my father and I learned so much; not just about design but architecture practice as a whole. One of the most important lessons I learned was the importance of empathy – be it empathy for the people we design for, and their requirements, or for the clients’ vision, for the site, and the environment.
- How did you get your first projects?
Since I joined my father’s firm, he would assign me small residential projects which were usually for our family friends. While it may seem that designing residences is a simple task, I learned very quickly that they can be the most tricky and challenging projects to work on!
- From design school to a full-fledged professional, what were your high points and low points in this field?
It’s a common perception that design school prepares you for the work you do in the field, so my lowest point was when I realized this was not true. Many things I had learned in college had no practical applications, and I had to start from scratch, learning everything all over again.
Of course, there have been many high points along the way. But, it’s the little accomplishments like successfully completing a project, getting positive feedback from our clients, seeing how users positively respond to our designs – that make me the happiest, even today.
- Any one turning point in your career that you wish to highlight?
Over the course of my career, I have come to the realization that we can’t know everything, and it’s okay to ask questions and learn in the process. It’s vital that we tackle every challenge as a learning opportunity, and for me that means researching endlessly and exhaustively to get to the most pragmatic solution.
- What is the one mistake in your career that you’d like to go back and change if you could?
I don’t think there are any mistakes that I would change, but my biggest regret is that I never pursued my master’s. I was always interested in landscape architecture and would have loved to study it in detail.
- The industry is still largely male-dominated – why do you think that is?
I beg to differ. It’s true that there are very few women who have independent practices, but I hope that will change with time. For example, in our own firm, we have three Partners who are women.
- With changing times, what would be your advice to upcoming architects on how to navigate the architecture world?
Architecture always reflects the needs of the present but in anticipation of the future. So we should always be open to the new: new ideas, new technologies, new materials, etc.