In the last five years, there has been a big jump in the retail, hospitality and industrial activities. India is certainly at the cusp of getting more FDI, which will be the biggest stimulants for the next phase of growth. With varied experience, deep knowledge and the support of various specialists in the field of industries, architecture & interior designing, we at Team One Architects are in a position of strength to deliver projects meeting international standards. Parish Kapse, Founder and Strategist, Team One Architects (India) Pvt Ltd shares insights with Sandeep Sharma about his architectural firm, mission, objectives, core competencies, design philosophy, signature projects, latest design and construction trends, views about sustainable design, affordable construction, verticals and geographies driving growth, green building movement, and business opportunities in the Smart Cities segment. Edited excerpts... Tell us about your architectural firm, mission, objectives & core competencies? Team One Architects is one of the advanced design studios carrying out exclusive works, in the field of architecture, interior architecture & urban planning. Team one was formed way back in April 2000. The firm’s mission is to provide world class experience & technical expertise to the real-estate & construction sector. Our specialized visualisers, designers, estimators & project managers are tuned to achieve the highest global standards. The objective is to achieve incomparable competence in perception & complete ability to convert the end user thoughts into reality. The firm has so far completed almost 50 million square feet of hardcore design & mixed use development in various sections like pharmaceutical, media, BFSI, logistics, IT, ITES & various infrastructural dev authorities pan India. Our main expertise lies in the creation of Tier 3 & Tier 4 level data centres, data recovery centres and also has great expertise in creation of BCP (Business Continuity Program Centres). Equal importance has also been inculcated in the fields of industrial parks & industrial architecture, which goes hands in glove with the most creative technical aspects of our profession. Team One Architect is a brand which excels in very high futurists architectural creations. The constant thrust is to excel. The major focus is to further augment our skills, resources & ethical standards of design & execution is aimed at achieving the highest degree in customer satisfaction. We are committed to develop high performance and most energy-efficient self-sustainable environments. Could you provide us an insight about your innovative concepts and design philosophy? Client’s brief is sacred to us and expectations are noted before commencement of any activity. With our international expertise & our constant orientation to global views, each ideation & concept is certainly at par to the international standards. Which are your signature projects till date and what makes them so special and unique? Till date each and every project is single handedly hand crafted. Some of our prominent works include: a) MMRDA b) ONGC (At Uran) and c) A boutique office building for HIA These buildings are unique because of their strong architectural shape. What are the latest design and construction trends emerging in the commercial and residential space segment? With the highly volatile real estate, prices and opportunity based developments; the demand for grade A buildings in the quickest timeline has pushed developers to make use of PEB (Pre-engineered Buildings & building in structural steel). Team one architects has now pioneered a new concept of PAB (Pre-architectural buildings). This concept helps us to understand the compatibility issues of structure beforehand including the finishing works. What are your views about sustainable design? What can be the benefits of adopting sustainable design and construction? Self-sustainability is one of the most important parameter for any project evolved at Team One Architects. All our projects are based on the concept of Zero emission as one of the essential parameters for development. This factor of sustainability at Team One Architects comes specifically as default and not with any additional commercial implication. Do you face any challenges in convincing your clients towards adopting out of the box (OOB) kind of design concepts and solutions? We have always worked first as per the client’s brief. Whenever there is scope to enhance the project deliverables, we have suggested innovative and inspiring design concepts, which have been well received by the end user most of the time. OOB designs can be achieved by unconventional thinking, playing with the building massing & various other parameters, such as materials, textures & landscaping. As the realty prices have already gone beyond the reach of common man. How far architectural design can impact the affordability factor in real estate construction? Architectural design is the starting point to determine the general construction costs which are always preconceived. Architects can play a major role to ensure, that the architectural design, structural design & the MEP services designed are the best fit options vis-a-vis the client’s expectation of timeline and budget. Which are the verticals and geographies driving growth for your firm? And Why? In the last five years, there has been a big jump in the retail, hospitality and industrial activities. India is certainly at the cusp of getting more FDI, which will be the biggest stimulants for the next phase of growth. With varied experience, deep knowledge and the support of various specialists in the field of industries, architecture & interior designing, we at Team One Architects are in a position of strength to deliver projects meeting international standards. Due to the newer government policies such as ‘Make In India’ and various infrastructure building projects, the states like AP/Telangana/Karnataka/Gujarat/Maharashtra and MP are looking very attractive and positive in terms of captive growth in various sectors. What is the way forward for the architects & designers fraternity to spearhead green building movement in India? Green building practices should be inculcated in the architects & interior designers, before they even step out from their graduating schools. This point onwards like what’s happening in various other developed countries all the approvals to the building permission of the projects, should have a consideration for the green building guidelines, not only for the shell & core, but also for the interior fit, which will ensure green thinking is implemented right from concept to commissioning. What's your take on the progress made so far with regard to Smart Cities development in India? It’s a great initiative to start with a pilot of 100 cities to be developed as smart cities. Having studied the concept of smart cities deeply, in my view it will take another 6-8 years to see the outcome, by the time the implementation of various technologies and people friendly infrastructure will come up. How far technology driven cities would be good enough to accommodate the poor and the lower middle class? Technology driven cities are mainly developed to cater to the middle income group & lower income group. It would be a great opportunity for this generation to experience the technologies which are at par with what the developed countries are using today. What kind of business opportunities do you see in the Smart Cities development across the country? Team One as an architectural firm works with a holistic 360 degree vision of all the basic parameters of the society, e.g.-residential, commercial, healthcare, institutional, industrial, hospitality & retail. We have complete experience in all the above verticals. With our constant research & training every smart city is a complete bouquet of opportunities. For us at Team One, we look forward to being a part of this great leap which India is undergoing today. Apart from selected Smart Cities, what are your recommendation and the way forward for urban planners in emerging cities? Having taken a cue from various pilot smart city projects it will be worthwhile for state governments, district level bodies, bureaucrats & all the stakeholders, to create the basic norms for newer cities development. For qualifying & experienced urban planners there is great deal of opportunity in the various smart cities project already under implementation across the country.