Nina Chandavarkar

Nina Chandavarkar introduces her early interests in sketching and maths, and the important role that her father played in the journey that led to her picking up architecture. She talks of how her traditional Indian family background stood in contrast to her upbringing and the encouragement she received to pursue a career of her choice. She looks back at the nurturing she and her siblings received from her father, who passed away when she was just sixteen. She recalls a particular instance when her father motivated her to write the entrance exams after a festive night, while her mother was rather indifferent. She explains the intensive work regimen she followed ever since her first job in college, during the summer that her father passed, and in later roles. She talks about how she identified an early passion in the integration of the outdoors and indoors which led her to choose the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), which taught ecological planning. She further describes the interactions, involvement, and sustained relationships she cultivated over the two years at the university. She describes her early work experiences, both good and bad, mentioning many eminent landscape architects and professors she learned from. 
She set up her own practice specializing in landscape architecture on coming back to India in 1989 and describes balancing her roles as a practitioner and new mother. Remarking on the nascent industry of landscape architecture, especially in Bangalore, she talks about the challenges and work processes she took on, bringing up instances from some of her first large-scale projects. She talks about more than a dozen projects her firm completed in Electronic City, Bangalore during the IT boom, including projects for companies like Hewlett Packard, Infosys, Wipro, etc., and similar work in Pune and Hyderabad. She talks about work done on institutional campuses, resorts, parks, and large-scale apartment complexes. On adopting sustainable work practices and technologies since the 1990s, she mentions eco-restoration, groundwater recharge, harvesting, etc. for projects. From the time she spent in Philadelphia, she talks about her experience as an Assistant to a design professor after her graduate studies and further teaching experiences. Further talking about graduate school, she describes her overall impressions of the course. She mentions her classmate Revathi Kamath and describes her strong opinions on the importance of women staying in the workforce, especially since the effects of Covid-19.

Nina Chandavarkar begins by responding to a question on gender differentiation felt in the workplace and why a lot of women have to discontinue the workforce. She talks about how it never bothered her and the experiences that molded her thoughts of being a woman practitioner on-site and at the office. She admits that certain kinds of clients and engineering groups felt like a male-dominated space and talks of more positive experiences with clients like Ashok Leyland for which she created a perennial water body that was widely appreciated, and later became an ecological hotspot. She describes certain fruits of her labor that motivate her work and recalls the details of a specific project called Mindtree Kalinga in the Bhubaneswar tribal area where she focussed on designing to generate knowledge for the residents of their environmental surroundings. 
In responding to a question on the kind of research required in the field currently, she explains the empirical research that is necessary to understand the nurturement of plants in a built environment. Furthermore, she explains the importance of appropriately choosing building materials in a sustainable manner and technologies that can facilitate them. On formalizing landscape architecture through regulations involved in the field, she points out how they can be superfluous. Moreover, she describes the state of the practice of landscape architecture and the recognition it has in India. She believes it is generally seen only as an ‘icing on a cake’ and not integrated with urban design as it should be. She mentions successful masterplans, such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Tiruchirappalli, which was created in keeping with factors like the natural resources, lay of the land, etc. Going back to the requirements of by-laws, she talks about navigating through some of the helpful and other not-so-helpful ones with her projects and their implications on cost and integrative design. Concluding on what she understands about Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), she explains its pros and cons in the context of landscape architecture planning. 

Nina begins the conversation by expressing her opinions on sustainability and its implementation in her practice. She draws on examples where nature is consciously rejuvenated into public open spaces in the west and the important need for it. Further, she talks about gender in the city and at CnT and goes on to state women’s disadvantaged position while navigating a city, the home, and societal expectations. Moreover, she explains how leisure is a privilege. She explains how she and her partner are committed to the mission of encouraging women to stay in the workforce by implementing the right kind of infrastructure for maintaining a work-life balance. She talks about the internalized guilt that mothers feel which she believes is usually society-driven. She explains how since the responsibilities and expectations that society places on a woman are two-fold, she is expected to hold a job and also expected to take time out for the family. 
Speaking of architect Tara Chandarvarkar, Nina talks about what she knew about her family and educational background. She describes her prompt journey in taking on an architectural practice after losing her husband quite early, to running the largest architectural firm in India. She explains the different aspects of the firm she worked for and how she built up the firm with the help of many colleagues and family members. Due to her vast and unique contribution to architecture, she mentions how she was felicitated with a citation from the Council of Architects, even though she did not hold an architectural degree. 

After graduating in 1977, she details her experiences interning during her study, and soon after, working in a landscape architect’s office. Drawing from her experiences with a thesis project she took on in Jaipur, she describes the interactions she had with several craftspeople. During a work project in Costa Rica, she explains how she gained many learnings. In the neighborhoods of Philadelphia, she worked on many park and downtown street projects. She further describes more assignments and projects she took on in the three years there including some of the relationships she gained from the period. 
When she got back to India in 1986, she began working on smaller projects and described the shift she felt in design aesthetics and detailing. Soon in 1989, she set up her practice in a young industry, and she goes on to explain the challenges she faced including fulfilling basic requirements like securing contractors which were soon overcome within a few years into her practice. In the 1990s, she says how she took on large-scale projects that involved industries and residences, mentioning details of some of those projects. She recalls some of the client negotiations and talks about comparisons between India’s and US’s landscape needs she had to draw from during her work. Furthermore, she talks about the sustainable technologies and processes she adopted in the majority of her projects starting early. Talking about the time she spent in  Ram Sharma’s office, she describes the varied scale projects she worked on including a hospital, an agricultural fair, a competition for a sports complex, individual homes, etc. Going back to the education she received at UPenn, she fondly remembers a professor who disrupted her way of thinking which led to a paradigm shift in the way she approached her work.

Nina Chandavarkar begins by recalling her interactions with architect Prabhakar Bhagwat at a time when she had very few resources to connect with fellow landscape architects.  She follows up by talking more about a few connections she made with other eminent landscape architects. Speaking of  Bangalore between 1985-1987, she speaks about the impressions that the vanishing lakes and depleting groundwater had on the landscapes of the city. She talks about her learnings about the new phenomenon and the measures she took to bridge ecology and landscape. 
She talks about collaborations with eminent architects, including B V Doshi, the Chief Horticulture Officer at Lalbagh, and more. She dwells in conversations about the large natural forest reserves and the local forest dependency culture in Orissa, sharing tales of concerning clients and research stories she could recall. Coming back to Bangalore, she talks about campus landscape projects she worked on and the intricacies involved in developing designs in tandem with ecological needs. Moreover, she moves on to respond to a question on the organic systems within structured landscape designs, especially in a large-scale project. In the context of eco-restoration, she talks about the processes involved in large projects in a way to allow the usability of spaces while she brings up a few examples.

Beginning by answering a question on the scale and kind of projects she took on over her expansive career including why she took them up, she describes the intricacies behind the reasons and their outcomes. She moves on to detailing interactions and collaborations she undertook as part of coordination for projects. Bringing up examples of working with a variety of architects and specialists for a selection of large-scale projects, she recalls the relationship dynamics and collaboration outcomes of these associations. 
On her experience with bureaucratic collaborations, she describes the challenges she faced and how she navigated the private-public partnership projects including parks, etc. Furthermore, she dwells on her design intent and research process and how she integrates an ecology’s organic function in her designs for the parks. Moving on, she details the approach she took up when she saw a bottleneck in work relations she shared with different levels of management and architects, especially in the context of gender bias. On working with BBMP and the language constraints she faced while working across the many other states her projects have taken her, she recalls how she mediated the issue while crediting the project manager in the process. In conclusion, she recalls some of the women architects she worked with and those who stood out to her.
   

Speaking of a design competition she took part in for the Mallya Aditi School, she describes the engagement she took on after it wound up. She describes in detail the design intricacies and strategies used for the courtyard, amphitheater, and peripheral spaces including nature walk spots for the 5-acre site. Furthermore, she mentions working with rare materials for the project. She then goes into detail on how she went on to sensitize the children on the landscape with small educative talks. Responding to a question on the journey behind the evolution of her firm, she provides details about Oikos Landscape Architects. She dwells on the story and meaning behind the name as well as the initial mission and purpose of the firm. 
Moving on to talk about one of the first projects that were handed to the firm in 1992, she recalls the preservation efforts and work process that went behind the sites and services project at the edge of a mangrove forest in Maharashtra. On the industrial projects she soon took on, she talks about the challenging work that needed to go into a specific site of about 192 acres, as well as the exacting client negotiations. She recalls the various design elements and strategies she used for the huge landscapes involved, and to stimulate healthy competition on the project team. On the 5-acre Infosys project she designed, she remembers the space she had to work with and recreate. Speaking further on the design elements she implemented on a second expanded software campus, she remembers the resources and client relations she had to navigate and her overall fulfilling experience working on it. Moving on, she talks about the team that worked behind the Infosys projects, and other projects that come to her mind, including the 120-acre Indian Institute of Management (IIM) – Tiruchirappalli and the 20-acre Mindtree Kalinga. The IIM project was one that the CNT Architects won in a competition and she remembers the design concept, materials, and spaces that went behind the project.

Talking about residential spaces she worked on, Nina Chandavarkar talks about the development projects and corporate residential projects that she and her partner handled, bringing up an example of podium projects across Hyderabad and Bangalore. Since the 1990s, she began employing several ecological restoration systems in her projects, like the retention waterbody and rainwater harvesting methods. . She delves into a project she did for Tata Power that involved implementing congregation zones for environment and science learning for the community. On the Mindtree Kalinga project, she worked on the natural axis and cultural axis of the tribal regional flora in Orissa. She explains how she tries to integrate the hardscape and the softscape and what structures sustainably stay behind. She talks about the story behind innovating with the resources given and recreating them into mud bricks. Moving on to stories from up-market residential projects she worked on, she talks about when owners later implement changes in landscape designs or related issues and how she has had to view certain client feedback and navigate compromises. Furthermore, she talks about dealing with her sensibility and principles in client negotiations over scenarios where she avoided engaging landscaping for ornamental effect. Further remarking on her aesthetic principles, she expands on how she negotiates with clients to achieve the natural aesthetics she desires to implement in her work. Describing her water conservation efforts, she talks about how the clients agree on sustainable practices and the systematic calculations and research made before the project. She talks about making the case for water-deficient or excess sites and accordingly integrating run-off water retention bodies and so on in sites. In concluding her journey forward, she reminisces about her long-standing aspiration for conceptualizing stormwater channels and reviving natural public spaces for Bangalore city.