Healing Spaces

Principal Architect at his eponymous design studio, Vipin Bakiwala believes in creating ‘soul shelters’ for his clients

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What drew you to architecture?

VB: I did my B.Arch from MBM College, Jodhpur in 2004. I wasn’t able to figure out anything about architecture till the second year, when my classmates and I got the chance to create a model of a Solar Passive building for our college. It took us about three months to complete the model and it got selected for the IIT Fair in Delhi. It was the very first time I was making a model and working on it was an outstanding experience; I felt as if I was actually making a building of my own. It was then the seed of architecture and design was really sown in me. Our team participated in many national and international competitions, and we even won many of them. Our growing enthusiasm also made us work with our professors on actual projects - studying by day while practicing at night was a complete rush.

Why do you believe ‘Architecture is music for a soul’?

VB: It's extraordinary to think that a simple vibration unseen by the human eye can do things that are beyond words to describe and leave us with timeless life experiences. I believe that architecture and music are correlated. The relation lies in the feeling with which they are composed and the feeling they provoke. For instance, when we close our eyes and listen to some melodies, we can identify the emotions the musician has tried to pour into it and we gradually experience the same. Similarly, architecture of a space attempts to deliver the emotion or reason it was created with; it persists through the colors, textures, rhythm and harmony. Just like a musician attempts to contribute all the right emotions to a mesmerizing tune, an architect does the same to create timeless spaces. And somewhere, like music, it makes us come across our souls, and feel entirely whole, healed and intact.