Architecture and The Senses with Bijoy Ramachandran | AG 27

Architecture and The Senses

Today we have with us award-winning Architect Bijoy Ramachandran who is the principal Architect & founder of Hundred Hands.

 

Bijoy Ramachandran is an architect and urban designer based in Bangalore. His firm, Hundredhands is an internationally recognized practice and has been featured in various renowned magazines and websites. Some of his awards include an official selection for the Project South Exhibition and the Leone di Pietra at the Venice Biennale, 2006, and the Cityscape/Architectural Review Award in 2005.

He has a Bachelor degree in Architecture from BMS College, Bangalore University (1994) and a Masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA, in Architecture & Urbanism (1998)

 

In addition to architecture, Bijoy has also made two films. In 2005, he made a documentary called ‘Architecture & the City: A Bangalore Perspective’, chronicling the nature of professional practice in the city. In 2008, he produced ‘Doshi’, a documentary on architect B.V. Doshi, which was directed by Premjit Ramachandran.

 

 

Podcast Shownotes

03:00 How Bijoy got into Architecture?
04:00 Working at Doshi’s office
05:15 Experience doing Masters in MIT in the 1990s
07:00 Architecture & Urbanism
10:30 Returning & Setting Up shop in India
14:30 How Hundredhands got their name?
15:00 Different challenges they faced at the beginning

“The challenge is also the opportunity working in India”

16:10 The Design Process of Hundredhands
19:20 The client is your partner
21:00 The Alila Mixed-Use Project 

“It has this clarity of the plan and yet transcends that from being just a banal plan to being something of real great quality .”

26:00 Making headway with Sustainable Materials
27:00 Evoking a sense of memory and space through Architecture
30:00

“You have to tap into the ambition that exists in all our arts. We’re all aspiring to get better.”

33:10 “Architecture isn’t the sole creation of an individual.”
35:10 Bijoy’s take on Technology in Architecture and where are we headed?
37:30 BIM in Indian offices
38:30 Architectural Education in 2008 and now
43:30 Vastu 
50:00 Quick fire Round
56:00 Advice for young Architects and students

Notable Mentions

Projects Mentioned

  • Allila Bangalore

 People Mentioned

  • Julian Beinart
  •  Fred Koetter
  • Allies and Morrison
  • David Chipperfield
  • BV Doshi
  • Charles Correa
  •  Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Shefali Balwani
  • Robert Verrijt’
  • Sanjay Mohe

Tools Mentioned

About Bijoy Ramachandran & Hundredhands

Born in 1971, Bijoy Ramachandran is an architect and urban designer based in Bangalore. His firm, Hundredhands is an internationally recognized practice and has been featured in Architectural Design (UK) magazine’s survey of contemporary Indian architecture (‘Made in India’, January 2008). Other awards include an official selection for the Project South Exhibition and the Leone di Pietra at the Venice Biennale, 2006, and the Cityscape/Architectural Review Award in 2005, among many others.

‘Architecture & the City: A Bangalore Perspective’, a documentary feature he made on professional practice in the city in 2005 is now part of the curriculum in schools across India. In 2008, he produced ‘Doshi’, a documentary feature on the Indian architect B.V. Doshi, directed by Premjit Ramachandran.
 
He has been a panelist at the annual all-India undergraduate thesis review, the Kurula Varkey Forum, at CEPT, Ahmedabad, in 2005. Bijoy has a Bachelors degree in Architecture from BMS College, Bangalore University (1994) and a Masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA, in Architecture & Urbanism (1998)

Connect with Bijoy Ramachandran & Wallmakers