Winner
Excellence – Retail
DEEPANJALI CHAWLA, Visarg, Delhi
Deepanjali graduated from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi in 2003. She has been in practice ever since, gathering experience on projects of varying scales and typologies, including residential, interiors, commercial, hospitality and institutional projects. After an 8-year stint at a leading practice in Delhi, she setup Visarg in 2012. Visarg is an extension of her personal quest to fully engage with life. She does this in her work by creating experiences through spaces that heighten the awareness of our senses. With a strong instinct for collaboration, it is important to her that in addition to the design, the process of design and building itself, is also a pleasure for all stakeholders.
Do you think architecture has the power to build better communities?
Space has power and therefore architecture does! Consider the tiny example of the space where our WADE ASIA juries happened. It was an open space, positioned along the main circulation. It was completely connected visually to the spaces around. This had the space be dynamic, constantly filled with people. The seating was informal and organic and this had multiple side conversations be generated within the audience. These are examples of how the smallest details affect how people interact, so surely architecture has the power to impact and therefore build communities.
What was your main learning at WADE ASIA?
Interacting with and discussing the work of fellow designers was truly exciting. Looking at the quality and originality of the work on display was inspiring! WADE made us look at our own work with a fresh critical eye and has left us wanting to raise the bar in what we do.
As a WADE Woman, which are the areas you would contribute?
I’d like to contribute to the sector by impacting the student body in the design field. I think interactions between students and professionals, talking on actual projects and their methodology of design, challenges and solution can be a huge learning experience for students and the professionals possibly!
“Consider the space where our WADE juries happened. It was an open space, positioned along the main circulation, completely connected visually to the spaces around. The seating was informal and organic where multiple side conversations could be generated within the audience. Space has power and therefore architecture does!”
Your opinion on WADE ASIA and its objectives.
An excellent platform! I truly appreciated the effort and transparency of the open juries in selecting the winners. I would suggest a detailed calendar anticipating the time that was spent on each project such that more people can enjoy the jury interactions.
How is coming together of Women in Design, Art, Architecture, Engineering building up the fraternity?
So many new friends, acquaintances and lots of great conversations! Definitely the building blocks of a fraternity!
Few suggestions for the future.
To involve students in more forms of contributions. Encourage early enrolment into the platform!
Note: This article was originally published on Surfaces Reporter December 2019 Issue.
