Ciao Everyone! Ahh, slowly but steadily we are bringing out our pending episodes of Tete-a-Tete talks. We are pleased to welcome Ar. Rahul Kadri, Partner and Principal IMK Architects, for our next episode of Tete-a-Tete series powered by ArchValor in collaboration with Conscious Collective, an initiative by Godrej Design Lab and hosted by none other than Ar. Kritika Juneja. Rahul Kadri is a Partner & Principal Architect at IMK Architects, an architecture and urban design practice founded in 1957 with offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. In his formative years, Rahul Kadri explored the forests of the Kumaon Himalayas while studying at Sherwood College, Nainital. A graduate of the Academy of Architecture, Mumbai, he earned a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1988).
(1) First of all, thank you for having this interview with us. So, to begin with, could you tell us about your early brush with architecture, how has your background influenced your journey with IMK Architects so far?
Having spent five years in boarding school in Nainital as a child, I have always loved nature and spent most of my time outside the classroom roaming the forests and the foothills of the Himalayas. I often wandered the forest in those early years. Just how much I loved it and how much it inspired me as an architect to make places that are beautiful and embedded in nature at the same time. And looking back, I think that’s where it all started.
(2) During this age of profit and productivity, we have overlooked the importance of human emotions, and the positive health effects that comes with nature by building concrete structures all around us the what you said. So how do you think that we should rebuild the relationship between architecture, nature and cities?
Well, let’s say it’s a school, the question we always ask before any development. How will the students in this school be happier? In what ways will they learn more naturally? When people are happy, they are more open, they can learn more. We then brainstorm with clients on what features people will really love over here. Typically, nature is always a part of that. The climate is always a part of nature, trees are always a part of nature, cross ventilation is always a part of nature. Hearing good sounds comes in so birds come in.
As with a developer, we usually want to cap the profit. How much money will you be happy with? Because it should not be endless? What if we satisfy your goal, then will you let us focus on what we have customers actually want? In other words, it’s usually their perception of what customers expect. So, we ask them what will make their day-to-day customers love? Then, by the end of it, everything starts to make sense when we talk about the happiness, the force, that we hope to bring people through this project.
It’s the question one asks that determines the answer.
Ar.Rahul Kadri
(3)Do you believe in spiritualism? What is your idea of spiritualism? And if yes, then how does it reflect in your buildings and the work you do?
It is my belief that there is no God. I am an atheist. I am open to the idea that there is a universe, a consciousness that we are all a part of.
However, I’m a simple person who just wants to live a happy life. I know that doing good makes me the happiest. I meditate because I want peace for myself. So, it’s all about making myself and others happy.
(4)What is one best and one worst piece of advice you ever got in life?
Well, it’s my mom who gave me the best advice. She usually said “Do not be overconfident that you are very good. Just be humble. The worst piece of advice I got was not to marry my wife, which I did. I went against all odds, and I am very happy I did.
