Architect Interview

Whether it is a commercial hall, residential complex or a recreational space, architecture achieves an intricate balance among utility, form and function ! Varad Sathe, our next pathbreaker, Architect at Jacobs, works on spatial planning & design of Data Center Projects and Giga Industrial Projects. Varad talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy fromThe Interview Portal about some of his memorable experiences designing Multiplexes and Cinema halls for clientele from India and the MENA region – UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar. For students, choose a career in Architecture if you want to channelize your thoughts into designs that make this world a better place to live in. I grew up in a middle class family with dreams of doing something big. Initially, I had interest in design and functionality aspects which later streamlined my career towards architecture. My dad works in the Nehru Science Center, as an IT design and support engineer and mom was associated in the admin department of the school. They were surprised when I chose architecture as my career for graduation. As I was fond of basics in design and ergonomics, I chose architecture as my medium to convey my thoughts to my clients, partners, and society, contributing my part to make this world a better place to live for all. What did you do for graduation/post graduation? I did my bachelors of Architecture (5 years full time bachelor’s degree, BArch) from LTIADS, Navi Mumbai (2012-2017) under Mumbai University, graduating in 2017 with distinction. After grasping a handful of 2 years professional & market experience, I mind-mapped myself to choose a subject of specialization – Project Management. I completed my Masters of Architecture – MArch) from Hiray College, Bandra (2019-2021) under Mumbai University, post-graduating with a distinction here too. Can you talk about some of the influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional, and unique career? Earlier, when I used to visit any of the museums or malls or any megastructure in my childhood, I used to get highly influenced by the aura of the surroundings due to the magnificent scales of design. I used to go home and search for the architects who designed them and their thoughts process. This was the starting point of my journey towards design and its allied fields. I was fortunate enough that I could attend a few of the workshops by master architects which highly influenced my vision to be a master architect. How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Or how did you make a transition to a new career? Tell us about your career path In my college back in 2012, the curriculum was more market oriented and leaning more towards sustainable development. Before doing my final thesis, in order to get market exposure, I did my mandatory internship in the 4 th year at a Vashi based design architecture firm – Designo Architects, which was a mid-sized firm with 15 members mostly dealing with residential and institutional projects. Here, I learned the basics of professional drafting and various visual representation techniques. We prepared presentations for competitions and bids. I got to know about the market and how things work actually in business. After working there for 6 months, I went back to college for my final thesis, with a bag full of vivid experiences. My final year thesis topic was an Urban Rejuvenation Center which was a Eco village settlement within an urban precinct which distinguished itself as a net zero emission project and a zero liquid discharge planned initiative, which culminated in my graduation degree. Later in 2017, I joined Era architects to begin the actual professional era of my life. Era is a Mumbai based firm that specializes in Cinema & Multiplex design shells + interiors. Working at Era helped me master my interior design skills along with helping me enhance my drawing package skills for various stages of projects ranging from Conceptual Design to Schematic Design to Detailed Design and the final GFC issue to the site and as-built drawings for final project handover. At ERA, we majorly dealt with design of Multiplexes, Cinema halls shell + MEP & Interior fit-out packages with clientele ranging from PVR Inox to local cinema halls as well, and a major portion of work we had was from MENA region – UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar. So, I got exposure to both domestic as well as international styles of design & architectural representation as well as the design ideologies and the budgeting constraints. We designed the cinema halls – numbers and types based on client needs. Typically if we go to a mall, the top floors are usually reserved for food court and multiplex. So, the mall gives an open shell space with roof so that we could do the entire calculations ranging from the number of cinema halls, their types based on ticket rates, the lobby areas, concession & ticketing counters, washrooms and emergency evacuations corridors etc. Indeed, it was an immersive experience adhering to the local guidelines as well as giving the best of an end user experience. After 2.5 years of cinema design experience, I decided to a Masters in Architecture, a degree program with project management as core subject, reason being that market analysis showcased an urgent need of project management for upcoming mega scale projects. I started with my masters course back in 2019 and successfully completed it, within an academic tenure of 2 years. During my masters program, I got to know about various project scheduling, monitoring and controlling, and management techniques. I started gaining a project management perspective which highly improvised my productivity, as for every task I could assess the cost, time and required resources to get it delivered and done on time. Parallelly, I got an opportunity to exhibit my project management + architectural skills at JSA who were looking for a Project Architect for their general contracting project where the firm was a key stakeholder. We experienced as well as showcased all possible project management skills while delivering that project. I started with JSA parallelly in my last year of masters , my internship turned into a permanent job. At JSA, it was more about managing people, deliverables and billing along with tracking site progress & maintenance. So, I got hands-on management experience in the fields of AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction), and I am thankful to Jayant Sinari Sir for handing me over these responsibilities. It was at that point of time that I got to know how an architectural design consultancy needs to be managed in terms of cash flows, resource requirements, monitoring and control along with pitching for new development projects. One of the projects wherein we were the GC was a turning point in my life because the project pushed my skills in project management as well as design fundamentals, helping me to go forward with my plan and align my individual vision and mission (steps) required to attain my goals. How did you get your first break? I got a call from the firm after I completed my graduation wherein, they were looking for a junior architect and even I was searching the market for upcoming opportunities, so after the interview they found me as an apt candidate What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them? As we all know, architecture is a highly dynamic field, wherein in you need to impress the employer with your skills to complete deliverables. In most cases, we do not have a campus placement from colleges, though that’s the sad part as compared to other professional disciplines. But, we need to deal with the same. So, based on your likes, dislikes you can choose your primary career in Architecture, Interior design or Graphics design, then secondary i.e, working on the design aspect, the technical aspect or the services part, and finally tertiary, what you would like to do to attain the vision that is set by you. Where do you work now? What problems do you address? Currently, I work at Jacobs Engineering Group as an Intermediate Architecture Design professional. Based on my past industrial experience at JSA, Jacobs onboarded me, this is my 1 st experience at a MNC. I adore the corporate culture, unlike JSA wherein I was the SPOC (single point of contact) for all the deliverables due or activities that needed to be performed to get the work done, here we have dedicated disciplines as well as resources to get the work done, after following certain protocols. The responsibilities I manage over here are mainly to help the leads as a back end service provider in terms of drawings design, BOQ quantifications and assisting the BIM managers to resolve clashes with other MEPF services in Revit modelling for Detailed Engineering design stage of the work package. What skills are needed for your role? How did you acquire the skills? What’s a typical day like? The fundamental skills of planning and general aptitude that I learnt during my college days are majorly required on a day to day basis. Apart from those, the technical detailing aspect that I learnt at Era (my 1 st job) are really proving out to be a blessing in disguise for my current role. I also needed to upscale my BIM (Building Informatics Modelling) skills to match with the current international industrial standards, as I worked in local firms earlier which were highly dependent on 2D drawings for their deliverables, but as the scale and scope of a project increases, 2D becomes the basis of design and 3D modelling helps a lot in detailing out the design to its core, whether it is clash detection, services overlay or structural design detailing. The primary goal is to provide end to end solutions & highly immersive experiences on digital platforms to clients before the project How does your work benefit society? Architects are supposed to be nation builders at the backend as every square feet of area that is developed either contributes in providing one of the 3 basic necessities required for living i.e Food, clothing and shelter – shelter is a high level terminology which further can be divided into various aspects based on functionality such as houses/homes for residential purposes, commercial complexes for daily goods and luxury utility purposes, hotels and hospitals for hospitality function and sports complexes, theatres, museums, parks for leisure. Hence, we being social creatures, require a mix of all for a healthy and comfortable lifestyle. We are the major contributors and stakeholders in providing these to the end users and also to the humanity. Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you! My thesis project i.e. Urban Rejuvenation center is the one very close wherein I had to actually get out of the academic array and think from an actual execution perspective, as many a times it happens that we think of it from the design style and form point of view, but not from the actual execution to constructability perspective. Another memorable work that is very close to my heart is the design, execution and handover of industrial premises for a Swiss client, which I was part of from the initial phase of conceptual design to the as-built delivery wherein our scope was as a General Contractor who was solely responsible for the time, cost and delivery aspects, and I being the SPOC from the GC side, it was a learning experience for me, managing resources, timelines and the client team. Your advice to students based on your experience? If you want a career in architecture, primarily check your interest levels in design technicality and services aspects after you clear your 10 th standard, because these would be the deciding years which will help you narrow your stream, not only for architecture but also many design oriented professional courses. Ask yourself which one would you love to engage yourself with, external counselling might support you but they cant be the whole and sole decision makers for your career choice, as the thing that you love to do will help you excel through your dedication level than the one you will do just to earn your livelihood. A mantra I would like to suggest to all aspiring student is that gone are those days where people used to ask you to master any one skill set and focus on the same. But currently you need to be jack of all and master anyone out of them, so you could be easily in demand in the market resource pool. Future Plans? In Jacobs, I have entered the data center design market, and hence I am thinking of acquiring the CDCP and CDCS skillsets to excel in this career. Since I did my masters in Project Management, I have a long term plan to certify myself in the PMP – Project Management Professional program which is due since 2 years. Congratulations & all the best dear Varad. Proud of you. S K Murugan #J-18808-Ljbffr