Chitra Vishwanath

Chitra begins the conversation by detailing her father’s association with the arts, her childhood, and how architecture came to be destined for her. She talks about the ways in which life progressed in the 60s when certain modern technologies and a modern lifestyle were suddenly introduced to the world. She talks in detail about her father’s education, vocation, and interests, intertwined with her own life. She then talks about moving to Nigeria in the 1970s, and her life there. Coming from a civil engineering background, she found it a bit challenging to gain admission at the National Institute of Design, however, she got into CEPT University. She recalls how she had a better understanding of structural elements of design due to her engineering knowledge. Talking about growing up in Banaras city, she recounts her life while living at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus. She remarks how it was an ideal childhood. 
Moreover, she also talks about her life in Nigeria, the friendships she made, and the challenges her family faced immediately after moving there. She remarks on how she was exposed to such a new culture, the way people communicated, and the way nature was perceived by locals. She then goes on to talk about her initial observations of space and architecture growing up, and comments on the space of ‘aangan’ as unique and special in its make and utility. She also shares her observations of space in Nigeria and talks about the designs of kitchens there, as well as her own house chores responsibilities. She then talks about her mother and her various accomplishments as a learner in detail. Recalling her childhood in more detail, she further recalls the culture around the university space at the time. Concluding the session, she interestingly shares how her mother loved living in Nigeria because of the liberation it allowed her, among other things.  

Chitra describes her early education at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Banaras, Nigeria, and till the point of joining CEPT University. She details her school curriculum, studies, and extracurricular activities children took part in. She also shares several anecdotes which made school life enthralling, both in Banaras and Nigeria. She further talks about reading The Economist and gaining a sensitivity towards water and electricity, since both resources were scarce in Nigeria and required sustainable utility. Recounting influential times from her life, she talks about meeting eminent personalities like Rajiv Sethi and Nari Gandhi. The latter had also remarked on how she should go to Baroda for her architecture studies instead of CEPT. 
She further talks about how she did not wish to stay on and study in Banaras after coming back from Nigeria. She details her journey of sitting for entrance examinations and joining architecture studies immediately after. She remarks how initially she did not push herself enough in terms of gaining work experience and how she didn’t struggle enough. Talking about her time studying at CEPT, she details the specific areas she became interested. She also talks about her experience of working on her final year thesis and the processes involved, as well as the guidance she received. She further mentions the things she learned at her internship in Goa, mastering the design for sloping roofs, and other details of life in Goa. Describing her learning experiences in more detail, she mentions the different courses and professors she engaged with at CEPT University.  

Continuing to discuss her experiences while studying at CEPT University, Chitra goes on to describe how life in Ahmedabad was, especially after moving there from a place like Banaras. She talks about the Maitri Karar law and the general culture around Ahmedabad, which she felt was more progressive than other states at the time. Recalling several incidents experienced during her college time, she recalls one such time of a medical emergency faced by a friend, when everyone came together and there was a great sense of community. She then goes on to remark on the Gujarat riots of 1985 and her shock at the entire scenario. Moreover, she expands on the experience of being inside the CEPT campus, the interactions she had with peers, and how it differed compared to the present times.
She then goes on to talk about the various shifts she made in terms of living at different places, how she couldn’t settle very well in South India because of the language barriers, and her experience working in Delhi for a bit. Subsequently, she moved to Cochin (Kochi) and got married in 1985. Four years later, she moved to Bangalore. Talking about her work with Gautam Bhatia, she details the entire experience and the insights she gained working in Delhi. She also describes her brief experience with photography. Furthermore, she worked at CnT for a few years, which she recalls as an interesting time in her life and broadly details the kind of work she took on there. She mentions how she quit her job once she got pregnant.  

Chitra goes on to expand her professional journey, starting with her work at CnT Architects and further projects she took on in design and construction. She describes the time she spent working while pregnant and as a new mother, during which time she received a lot of support from her in-laws. She mentions that she used to work from home at the time, and how her father-in-law used to guide her regarding construction concepts since he was a Civil Engineer himself. In the process of setting up her work and office, she then recalls how her husband thought that they should have a house of their own. Moreover, she mentions the apartment complex projects she worked on, as well as the private residence projects she took on. She further details setting up her office at Sans Souci and the work that followed. She also describes the way she planned her work, expenses, and projects with the support of those around her.
Recalling the consortium of practitioners and architects that HUDCO set up, she mentions all the people who were a part of it and how they spent a considerable time on the Nandini Layout project. She also discussed their approach towards the ecological and sustainable construction of buildings and her affinity for brickwork. Concluding the session, she talks about the cherished collaborations with Dr. Yogananda, and how he mentored and guided their practice in several significant ways. 

The conversation begins with a detailed project description of Mr. Padmanabhan’s Residence. She describes how the client in this case knew exactly what they wanted and how they enabled her to inculcate elements of their Malyali heritage in the project. She details all the learning experiences she gained from this project, as well as the new elements and materials she gained insight towards. She describes in depth the construction practices they developed and how they sourced and checked materials like bricks, etc., per their specific needs on a project. They also met with a lot of challenges which she expands on, and details handling exposed brickwork as compared to handling earth from the angle of construction. She further talks about her experiments with light and the construction of windows and skylights, keeping in mind the spatial design of Bangalore city and its views. Similar details are shared regarding ventilation.
Keeping the conversation going, she describes in detail the many aspects of spatial design, light, material, and incorporation of client needs that she inculcated in her projects, and how each was distinct in its own way. This also included the cost-reduction measures she took for each design. She also shares how mud blocks became prevalent and the concept of basements gained relevance in design. Talking about incorporating water as a design element, she details how her firm worked as a team of builders which worked well with a middle-class clientele. She also remarks on the technological support and ease they were afforded after buying a computer. She ends by noting how water as a design element became prevalent and popular in demand by all her clients for various reasons. 
 

Continuing the discussion on her approach to taking on projects and her insights on construction and spatial design, she mentions how she felt accommodating clients’ needs and aesthetics in her own designs and making them work. She then goes on to detail how they were being judged and studied for their work on Professor’s house. Similarly, she details the work she did for Sushma’s house and the design elements she incorporated as per the client’s needs. She remarks on how she was lucky enough to get several interesting clients and how there was room for experimentation within each project because of the varied professions and interests of the clients. She also details the challenges she faced when a design felt wrong. 
Going forward into the discussion, she shares her comments and opinions on sustainable construction practices, the architect’s role in keeping out undesirable sound, light, and dust from the building, and the built environment. She goes on to compare the client-architect relationships to the other commercial practices where a client may assume a building to be a finished product that they can readily purchase. Moreover, she details her experience of talking to clients about additions they may make in the future, and how the conversations around design adjustments would go in such scenarios. Talking about Satish and Prabha’s residence in detail, she lays out the many intricate details which went into the making of the project and how the design evolved throughout.   

Going back to the early beginnings of her career, Chitra talks about the support she got from her father-in-law and how her learning of the practice evolved with each new project. She mentions how initially she wasn’t able to socialize and network her way properly because of simultaneously caring for her child. She then goes on to describe the growth and progress of her current office, how work advanced and a team was built gradually, starting with interns. She notes the special contributions of certain members like Deepak, who could easily manage people and conversations with contractors, and Sunil, who brought a system to their costing practices. She also recounts getting a computer which significantly streamlined their work. In terms of work distribution, she remarks how every member of the office was credited with their abilities, and clients could easily approach and demand that a particular person would work on their project. Currently, this has changed due to travel challenges, etc. 
She also talks about the time her husband resigned from his job when he was transferred to Lucknow, and how he began practicing with the firm and lending his expertise to water design. She also notes how he formalized a lot of processes once he joined and managed the office, while she went to work on sites. She then goes on to talk about the time she and her husband went to China and how they brought back the dry-toilet Chinese pan with them. They subsequently set up a dry toilet in their house. On the office setup and functioning, she mentions how the office expanded with more and more interns and more work pouring in. She notes how they were also the first firm to have an architecture website in India, and also the association she shared with Anna Heringer when she came to India. She then goes on to recall how the work in the firm grew with each new project being observed by people and appreciated for its unique approach. 

Chitra talks about expanding the office space to a client’s house, within a space that they wanted to rent. This coincided with their work on water design-related projects and she notes how other people started joining her husband for these projects. She then talks about the merger of her firm and its position as a company, as well as the early discussions that started happening around Biome. Bit by bit, the venture began to be shaped and the team began to grow. As both practices grew, so did the space and design of the offices. Chitra details the various challenges they faced while setting these spaces up and managing both simultaneously. She then goes on to detail a few more projects she worked on, which included one in Delhi, and a residential project for a lawyer, among others. She further goes on to talk about her experience as part of Biome, the larger space that it has allowed for the team, and the engagements that have happened as part of the work.

The session starts with Chitra detailing the roles played by engineers, contractors, and managers with the office and several other people who were involved in the completion of projects and their smooth executions. She also takes notes of important people in the accounting department, the cook who worked in her house, as well as the help she received in taking care of her mother. She goes into detail about these elements of managing her house and family along with the office work, both in the same space. She notes the interpersonal relationships she has developed as a consequence of the merger of these two spaces and how they have worked efficiently all along. She recounts anecdotes from her time in Nigeria and how she found an affinity for community practices there. 
She then talks about the key people she collaborated with and learned from and mentions Dr. Yogananda and Professor Jagdish as being influential in her learning on construction. She goes in-depth about her association with him and his own design approach towards mud construction and planning. She describes several other collaborations she had, including one with Akshay Kaul, where she engaged in significant design discussions with him. She further talks about significant design inputs by Sanjay Singh who interacted with Biome in a unique way and helped create effective design strategies for children with disabilities on a project.  

Chitra goes into further detail about her association with Sanjay Singh, their collaborations, and the contributions he made to Biome. She describes the details of how she designed Sanjay and Pratibha’s residence and the insights which evolved out of the project, which included intricate details about window installations and ventilation. She also notes again the contribution of the interns with certain projects, like their involvement in the Kilikili project, which was notable. Talking about this project a bit further, she goes into detail about the various people who got involved in it, and the discourse that emerged about children with disabilities making use of public infrastructures like parks, design strategies to assist them, and other such noteworthy learnings. She details the efforts of Kavitha Krishnamoorthy in engaging people with these discussions and her work with Kilikili, which facilitated many design interventions. While recalling other significant projects she worked on, she mentions the dry-toilets project she worked on after her exposure to design in China. She also notes a washer design she worked on for women.    
She goes on to share her remarks on the situation of floods and water management systems in such regions, as well as the sewer situations and toilet design systems that can work in these areas. She explains how the dry-toilet system works well in such a scenario. Moreover, she shares the challenges of working on these systems and engaging with people to accept these designs on a larger scale than it is, as well as concepts like using rainwater, etc.   

In this session, Chitra exclusively talks about the exhibition she worked on at the Bangalore Exhibition Centre which was based on materials and required architects to come up with installation ideas. For this, the Biome team decided to show how humans exist in the ecosystem and she mentions how they wanted to excite people with curiosity regarding the same. As part of the exhibition, they introduced people to a wide variety of flora that forms part of our ecosystems, and yet we remain unaware of it. She further mentions the collaborations and engagements she had made along the way, as part of Biome’s growing reach and projects. 
Talking about her son Gautam, she describes how being in and around the office space gave him a lot of exposure to the work she does, as well as those of other people they associated with. Regardless, she notes how he never took to architecture but instead pursued his interest in game design. She then goes into detail about how he pursued his studies within this field and the ways in which he approached it.     

Chitra details her experience of breaking the barrier of only designing homes and switching to designing office and private commercial spaces. She notes that their work with Action for Social Advancement (ASA) was because of their previous work profile on water design. She further mentions how the Eklavya Foundation contacted several architects for their building project and Biome was one of them. She describes getting these projects and several other office spaces that they designed. She also expands on an association she made with Raj Mistry and the learnings she gained from that experience while gaining knowledge on how to make a room cooler through the use of some materials like ‘kaccha brick’ etc. She further shares her insights on the systems of cooling they experimented with. Talking about the Eklavya Foundation and ASA projects, she provides design details and structural decisions she made as per the client’s demands. This included focusing on garden spaces for the Eklavya building and adding a design of balcony spaces to the ASA offices. 
Commenting further on how Biome has delivered interior-related projects, she mentions details about their design approach like light, texture, and the use of natural materials like wood, etc. which has often elevated their work. She also notes how as an architect she feels it’s important to work with the interior that is available to them in both private and residential settings. The conversation then moved towards a discussion on the aesthetics of office construction, finesse, detailing, and how Biome’s cost-reduction methods are unique and different.       

The conversation begins with a discussion on how different types of spaces are bound under common threads of design integration, in terms of saving water, directional orientation and making a space passive, as well as the material used for building any space, among other things. Chitra notes how these integrations can further be extended to office spaces by way of design and give an example of how things function in their own office. Moving on to discuss the ecological projects undertaken by Biome, Chitra shares her insights on taking on these large-scale projects and the challenges and learnings from them. 
Talking about a significant design approach they developed, she recalls working on a hospital project with the intention of making it accommodative of varying mental health requirements in patients. She also notes the work they did on a government-commissioned railway project and comments on the way they had to approach it. She recalls details of the projects and notes how it helped them re-explore their thoughts on a design process. She also recalls a brief stint of working on the Sai University Campus project in Chennai and a tourism project with the Madhya Pradesh government. Concluding the discussion, she talks about a few more public sector projects undertaken by Biome and the interesting details about them.  

The conversation begins as an inquiry into the present and the future of Chitra’s architectural practice, especially in regard to Biome. Chitra mentions how her aspiration for this venture is for the younger generation to get involved in this practice, as well as for the values and work of Biome to expand and reach out to other states apart from Bangalore. She notes how their approach and design are being recognized and appreciated and that ecological architecture has the potential to work deeply with climate change. She remarks how architects need to get a bit more political and take action in their own field. She further mentions how she wants the Biome Trust to get more engagement and involvement, and how she aspires to reach out to students and younger professionals, especially through digital mediums. Recalling the building of the Biome Trust, she remarks how it began because of volunteers who came in and wanted to work with them. The community outreach of Biome is fascinating and so is the involvement of people from different fields. Chitra also recounts the functioning of Biome and how the project aspires to go beyond the commercial. She then discusses the concepts of hyper-globalisation, the aftermath of the pandemic, and the approach towards sourcing resources and how we build.  

Reflecting back on the politics of land and how we build and where, Chitra talks about the need to continue building in places where the space already exists, as opposed to toiling new ground and disrupting their ecologies for growth. She suggests following a design approach that works on barter systems of exchanging material with each other instead of using fresh resources, which will be highly sustainable. To this extent, she believes that Biome’s engagements with young students and professionals need to grow, in order to teach them to design passively. Subsequently, she shares her comments on architecture education and the ways in which it can grow from the stagnant sheep-like form it has taken. The onus of this, she remarks, falls on both the students and the curriculum developers in the country. At this point, she recollects her own experiences of studying at CEPT University. She also notes how the older professionals from the field should be involved in this change in architectural education, where they could get involved in teaching and mentoring younger kids. She concludes the conversation by focusing on the significance of teaching through greater exposure and other such pedagogical changes needed in architectural learning.