Beyond Buildings

Arjun Desai and Katherine Chia, founding principals of Desai Chia Architecture, believe that architecture can transform communities. Katherine tells POOL how they manage to do that across the United States and India.

- Arjun Desai and Katherine Chia

What, in your opinion, makes architecture inspired and spirited?

KC: We take a very holistic approach in our work, and see architecture as a fusion of architecture, interior design, product design, landscape design, and even branding. It’s critical that design concepts and themes resonate from the large scale down to the small details. We draw a lot of inspiration from the art world as well as our clients’ goals, aspirations, and cultural backgrounds. The quality of natural light and the way light plays with materials in an environment have a strong impact on the dynamics of space and place-making. But in the end, what makes architecture truly spirited and inspired are opportunities to reveal something unexpected or surprising in the way space, light, materials and form work together to support a community of people regardless of whether that community is a family or a large corporate organization. In the end, architecture is about enabling communities to work and live together in ways that promote collaboration and inspire creativity.

What role did formal education play in your careers?

KC: We both attended liberal arts colleges in the US (Arjun - Bennington College in Vermont; Katherine - Amherst College in Massachusetts). The liberal arts pedagogy is one that promotes critical thinking, communication, and the ability to think and analyze across disciplines. This educational grounding was instrumental in our development as architects—the process of thinking through a problem, attacking it from multiple directions, framing and asking insightful questions, and developing solutions that are multi-pronged and interdisciplinary has made our creative approach much more engaging for us and for our clients.