My journey in design (till July 2025)
This essay was drafted as a response to the question "What was your initial idea about design?" during the introductory sessions in NID Ahmedabad. Dated July 2025.
Design as an architecture student was to design buildings at the end of the day. A well-designed building was climatically efficient while being geometrically and visually pleasing. We were taught design as something scientific, where material constraints and space use needed to be understood. Every drawing was meant to address all human activity and needs, while balancing client requirements and aspirations. Design became a formula to achieving the fundamentals to a good building. Although we were taught how design borrows from art, it was never a comparison between the two; architecture was different and superior.
As I worked in Charles Correa Foundation (An organisation dedicated to keeping the ideas of the imminent post-independence Indian architect relevant) I was opened to the social role of architecture and hence design as well. Architecture now wasn't just a home or a library. It became a tool of rebuilding a nation's culture, social values, ethics, ideas and much more. Each building held tremendous importance, as they were institutions in helping create change for the infant nation of India.
Then I joined an Architecture firm where the idea was to build homes for wealthy clients, here I saw the power of design crumble. A client held never ending power in an architect’s decisions as sensible decisions would be overturned due to Vastu, or something silly like the client’s mood. Here I saw design as a muse to an individual who used designed objects as means to launder money, as trophies or unlawful conversion of land.
Now as I move on from being ‘just-an-architect’, I took out time to look more into a designer’s thought. All my lived realities are true and fair, however the core principles of design still remain relevant. It is meant to be all that helps people while causing minimal harm to the environment. A good design and its designer should fight for its fair use in the world. Good design does bring positive change in the world, and although the process is slow, it needs the support of a community of alike thinkers who place a priority on well thought solutions. A community that includes alike thinkers from different backgrounds.
Design as an architecture student was to design buildings at the end of the day. A well-designed building was climatically efficient while being geometrically and visually pleasing. We were taught design as something scientific, where material constraints and space use needed to be understood. Every drawing was meant to address all human activity and needs, while balancing client requirements and aspirations. Design became a formula to achieving the fundamentals to a good building. Although we were taught how design borrows from art, it was never a comparison between the two; architecture was different and superior.
As I worked in Charles Correa Foundation (An organisation dedicated to keeping the ideas of the imminent post-independence Indian architect relevant) I was opened to the social role of architecture and hence design as well. Architecture now wasn't just a home or a library. It became a tool of rebuilding a nation's culture, social values, ethics, ideas and much more. Each building held tremendous importance, as they were institutions in helping create change for the infant nation of India.
Then I joined an Architecture firm where the idea was to build homes for wealthy clients, here I saw the power of design crumble. A client held never ending power in an architect’s decisions as sensible decisions would be overturned due to Vastu, or something silly like the client’s mood. Here I saw design as a muse to an individual who used designed objects as means to launder money, as trophies or unlawful conversion of land.
Now as I move on from being ‘just-an-architect’, I took out time to look more into a designer’s thought. All my lived realities are true and fair, however the core principles of design still remain relevant. It is meant to be all that helps people while causing minimal harm to the environment. A good design and its designer should fight for its fair use in the world. Good design does bring positive change in the world, and although the process is slow, it needs the support of a community of alike thinkers who place a priority on well thought solutions. A community that includes alike thinkers from different backgrounds.
Photo by James Broad, retrieved from flickr. Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ is a critical understanding of art, Duchamp appreciated the art of everyday design and asked for their appreciation in the art world. While the work criticised how the art world was back then, inconsiderate of how passionate designer’s work is.
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