de earth

Life has taken a “U-Turn”. The only question, is whether it’s for a long term or a short term. How long will we have to embrace a “new normal”. I would always differ on the word social distancing. Ideally it’s social togetherness & physical distancing. These are times, we all need to stand together and be for each other. But this, with a safe distance, respecting the guidelines, maintaining the descipline and norms. The “new normal”, irrespective of being short term or long term will have its influences in design. We have already seen exciting responses in the field of product design, in making new masks, handles for sanitizers, multiple use key chains, virtual lift buttons & so on. It’s a fact that we have all got used to digital platforms a lot more, and I won’t be surprised if digistisation get extended to each component of a built environment. Virtual offices have suddenly become more comfortable for both employers & employees, and it questions the very need to lar...

It’s after 10 years we decided to retrospect on our philosophy, more on its statement, rather changing the essence of the content. As for many, the lockdown provided us quality time to pause, slowdown and to reflect upon our work & life. Work & life, being so closely knit together for us, couldn’t be separated even by the lockdown. All of us 20, meet regularly, discuss, debate, share & work with very specific deadlines, for last 41 days, sundays and holidays being the only exception. We are also getting used to the technology, but rearing to get back to the office, where we can meet, fight & celebrate our work too. During the course, we took one week off from the regular work, just to share & communicate to each other, what everybody feel about themselves, their colleagues, our office, the way we work, the results we achieve and the overall content of the processes. The quality of discourse was way beyond a normal discussion, thanks to the pause & t...

Philosophy of our practice has evolved over time. Each project, each client, each context is a new learning. As your journey progress, you will find cliffs, valleys, sharp turns, junctions and sometimes even roadblocks. But more you travel, more you learn to negotiate these, appreciating your little experiences, continuing your journey in the right path. Your philosophy get nurtured along. When we realised the potential of having a philosophical body in practice, we renamed our firm, to “de earth”, with a tagline, “nurture, create, belong”. This was around 10 years before. It helped us to conceive projects not just as professional assignment, but as an extension of our life. When we agree to take up an assignment, we were just not signing an agreement, but then sharing dreams, ideas, concerns, habits, potentials and limitations of our client. We nurtured these as if it’s ours. Being sensible to the actual need of the client, was one of our most important baseline. The idea o...

I want to talk more about the philosophy of our practice and why we think architecture is beyond its physical form. But before that, it seems equally exciting for me, to travel back to my memories, and to uncover a journey which made me realise the need of a philosophical body of work. I remember receiving a very strange toy, as a birthday gift, from my maternal grandfather, probably when I was not more than 7-8 years old. The memories are so vivid, as the ‘toy’ was with me for long. It was a house, inside a glass box, and when you switch it on, there will be dancing lights. It wasn’t meant to be a toy. But he chose to give me that. My mother use to later tell me, he wished I build beautiful houses like that and one for her, rather than wishing my birthday. my journey with architecture begin there. By the time I finished matriculation, I had this feeling, that I need to be an architect, without knowing what actually it means to be. May be, since everybody else told I can d...

All of us have been spending last 35 odd days in our home, like never before. Last time I remember being in home for so long, is before I went out to join REC for my bachelors. Even then, we were never confined to home, like now. Most of the day time, I use to wander out, for visiting my friends, to learn, to play and just to roam around. But this time, it’s been very different. Day begin at the bedroom, and end at the bedroom, after paying visits to the dining room, family room, parents bed, brothers bed, the balcony , the verandah and the front yard. The large verandah has been a real blessing, and it was a pleasure to walk around enjoying the summer rains yesterday. The balcony covered with trees all around were never used so effectively. To start your day, with a quick sneak peek into the balcony, hearing the voice of chirping birds, breathing fresh air and watching your wife do yoga 🙂 has been totally refreshing. We never before had active evenings like now, with play...

Everyday is a story. Every life is a story. Every relationship is a story. Every moment has a story in it. The only difference is how we see it, perceive it and narrate it. We have beauty embedded all around us. In The morning rays of the sun,the chirping of birds, the blooming of plants, the falling of leaves, the dance of the butterflies, the rhythm of wind or in the way we cook, the ingredients of our food, the innocence of a baby, the house we live, the habits of people, everything has so much to talk about. We just need to learn to see, learn to listen, learn to touch, learn to smell & learn to sense. Learn to respect & learn to appreciate. And after all, learn to narrate. “The God is in the details”. The moment we engage with all of these, they inspire us, inform us and instill passion in us to live & to create. Let’s not be sad about being confined for a long time. Look around. There’s much more in this life, which we wouldn’t have even noticed otherwise. Let’s lear...