Sheila Sri Prakash

Sheila Sri Prakash starts the conversation by reminiscing her experiences growing up under the doting eye of her mother and her father, who was an army official. She started training in Bharatanatyam at a very young age and practiced rigorously. She fondly remembers how she had to be enticed with chocolates to begin training. Her dance training later evolved as a more meditative practice where she could freely imagine elements in a play-act. Growing up surrounded by nature, she went on to adopt close to seventeen indie dogs in her adulthood. Her value system was rigidly put in place by her family and she always knew to keep in mind those less fortunate than her. She also grew up unbeknownst of any gender biases that most young girls grow up with and landed a seat in an architecture school only realizing later, the effects of being the minority gender in class. 
She soon married a senior from her university in 1974, at the age of eighteen. She worked for two years under an engineer but later moved on to places that allowed her to focus more on design while juggling between her new role as a mother and architect. She began her private practice in 1979, after many events that she believes happened by chance, setting an important precedent for women practitioners in the field. She built a separate studio and spent many hours in her green space sketching so still that she once spotted a snake calmly visiting and leaving. Taking up several significant projects along the way, she particularly recalls having worked with many proud local craftsmen in the past, who took up meticulous detailing unseen in today’s designs. Despite the rigorous conditions and travel, she challenged conservative notions of her as a ‘woman architect’ so much as to go to the extent of taking responsibility for tasks her male counterparts shied away from. Through her efforts, she went on to build a niche market for herself.

Sheila Sri Prakash talks about how she was selected as a woman practitioner working in sustainability by European universities which acknowledged what she called her ‘strength in focus’. She further recalls how 1987 was ‘the year that demanded shelter houses’, when Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) commissioned her to take on ‘incremental housing’ projects that nobody else in the field was willing to take up at the time. She talks of how it led to the moment she was caught off-guard by an invitation to be part of the Design Innovation Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF). She soon decided to expand her ‘reciprocity concept’ (a term she coined to describe building an equal system of collaboration) at the urban level. She explains how the mistrust amongst NGOs, corporates, government, and people is not conducive to the way forward. Through her projects, she created moving-breathing spaces that were in harmony with the ecosystem all the while teaching at Harvard University as a Visiting Professor. Talking about the WEF, she chronicles her journey around the world, later shifting her focus to Natural Resources. 
In 2019, she started ‘The Reciprocity Foundation’ where she worked on the collaborative clean-up effort called ‘Namma Beach, Namma Chennai’. She speaks of the latest projects that the foundation is working on, primarily with a focus on children. She speaks of her project aspirations in the intersection of sustainability and business design as well as in continuing education. She closes by stating the importance of sustainability audit mandates as she recalls infamous examples of the past.
 

Sheila Sri Prakash narrates the events behind her move into her current commercial space (a platinum-rated building) in an attempt to keep her home and office independent of each other. She questions the idea of an “A-class building” as she recalls how many have remarked that India is devoid of them while she judges the idea of what comfort could consist of in correlation with feasibility and sustainability. In the journey of working with varied technological systems and tools, she notes that nothing has overridden creativity while ruminating on the prospect of Artificial Intelligence (AI) support in architecture and design, and how to adapt. She notes how her decade-long office space is still battling water sustainability challenges. Expanding on the limited viable sources available to her (one being unfit groundwater), and combating the issue, she made several futile attempts over the years of experimenting with many systems. She recalls the many experiences she has had to explain her intentions of reducing wastage to cynical people throughout her journey as an individual and architect. 
Furthermore, she talks about the home she has occupied since the age of six (and continues to occupy at 66) along with the many renovations she has made to it. The many locally-sourced vintage materials her home is made of still hold important value, and given their sustaining durability, are a far better choice over their imported counterparts. Commenting on the ridiculous requests she has received in the name of ‘Vaastu’ from clients, she remarks on the impracticality of Vaastu’s rigid requirements in today’s climate. Speaking of her clients, she notes how she creates extensive relationships with her clients to understand their requirements and responds to them in the projects. How her home and its many intricacies came to be and what can be credited to designing the internal spaces and building architecture is covered in the closing remarks.

Sheila Sri Prakash talks a bit about how her office space was made through a manifestation of her values of cost-efficiency, recycling, and sustainable design. When she moved to another apartment building, converted into an office space, she recalls how it missed the ambiance that her previous office space provided. Due to zoning laws at the time, she moved to another independently commercial space. She expands on the significant location of the estate and how she began the research on her new ‘capsule’ office space, named ‘The Noose’ which she designates as her ‘temple of design’. She goes on to describe the inspiring corners and crevices of the building and the individual thoughts that went into their making. She points out how the three green spaces created within carry cool air with the technology of aerodynamic technology in a hybrid system of air conditioning. It also flushes out stale air and carries fresher air during the night in an inherently healthy system. Moreover, the building also gets plenty of north light. Elaborating on its proximity to the surrounding natural environment, she explains how it allows workers to connect with nature from their desks. Despite the fact that it was developed in a marsh area, she implemented a gallery in the basement that holds many events. 
Further going into detail on the topic of sustainable waste practices and how they are maintained, she says that it is yet to achieve a ‘net zero’ system. The detailing, design, and processes that have gone into ensuring these efforts are elaborated on. She iterates, after providing how each detail of the office building has a story behind it, that her approach to design is conducive to storytelling in how the space can contribute to the energy of living. She describes ‘spaceology’ as the process she undertakes to recognize not only the physical but psychological requirements of a space. Providing her inputs on the building’s energy efficiency, she also sheds light on the firm’s mashrabiya-inspired logo, expanding on design aspects of macro-micro space element balance and ‘transition spaces’. In concluding on design aspects, she speaks of the importance of Indian tradition and indigenous resources towards it and notes how one must look inwards for inspiration.

Chronicling the evolution of Sheila Sri Prakash’s pioneering architectural practice, we come to know how she started her practice with three homes and two factories at a minimal scale. She later went on to design schools, shelter units, factories, and apartment buildings, which were known as ‘bungalow apartments’ while keeping in mind how to enhance the productivity of the occupants. She began focusing on designing incremental homes (where the roof and the supports were one part) not limited to the economically weaker sections. She dwells on how freshers navigate a narrative process in designing geometry spaces and how this approach had to be upended in carving shelters and many homes. She goes into detail on the various cost-effective, energy-efficient, material-sensitive design elements she incorporated into the spaces she designed. Incidentally, she points out how at one point she was designing sustainable buildings while simultaneously working on more extravagant projects, as per client requirements. Through it all, she ensured that the trees involved were preserved as they were. . When the Green Movement began, she recalls convincing developers to go green who mostly refused but later agreed with the implementation of a rating system or as part of a marketing gimmick. She expands on her experiences with prominent clients. 
During the pandemic, she recalls how geographical distance no longer became an issue where she was able to collaborate with initiatives near and far. She fondly talks of the many CSR efforts she took up, and the many levels of detailing made during that period. She then goes on to speak of designing high-rise towers (33+ floors) and the integrative technological process (with MEP, fire, etc.) involved with the many design aspects. Noting that with architecture practice, each project offers a new learning opportunity, she admits that design scale and complexities have increased over time and that there is a need for overcoming them going forward. While discussing her achievements, she acknowledges how her parents were a huge support in the advancement of her career and the sacrifices her husband has made that have allowed space for her career to prosper. Speaking of her state-level projects, many have disappeared ground up as elected governments came and went. 
On the development of her firm, she notes how she has always listened to new minds in the office and steered their ideas into reality while also ascertaining the practicalities of the realization in a balanced act. She also points out how the women employees in her office and the challenges they face are empathized with. She states the various institutions she has associated herself with and the relationships’ evolution. Her concluding remarks focus on how she intends to go forward by mobilizing the products of the 4th industrial revolution in the face of ecological degradation.