Every building endeavour must be a responsible solution in structure, services infrastructure, cost & function. It must have a purpose, and above all, dare its own consequences in the environment; but in all of the above, if there is poetry, then perhaps it becomes architecture.
SRDA is a firm that investigates design with a passionate and critical eye grounded in modesty and a thirst for imaginative adventures. At SRDA every project is treated with fervour for exploration and innovation and tested for relevance in physical and social contexts against the land which will cradle it and against the man it is meant for.
SRDA subscribes to the philosophy of the architecture of BLIRS – beautiful, local, indigenous, recycle and small. Poetry draws the distinction between a piece of architecture and a mere building. Local indigenous peoples, their cultivated techniques and traditions and their ancient mastery of material tectonics are core to the execution and inspiration of projects at SRDA. And more importantly, a design must be cognizant of the differentiation between needs and wants, which it must address in the most responsible way, carefully monitoring its violence on the planet.
The firm had begun with a small farmhouse, and an avant-garde portfolio of furniture. SRDA is today commissioned with large-scale architectural and interior design projects across the country and is also the winner of several national awards, with a presence in both international and national publications. Apart from design it also undertakes and promotes research and documentation work.
They believe that every project is an opportunity to understand this world better. The world that is the relationship of people with other people, and of people with their environment. Projects must strive to be the study and response to this very world and if nothing else, act as the lens through which this world can look upon itself.
Samira graduated from the Sir. J. J. College of Architecture, Mumbai in 1986 and soon after completed her Master in Architecture from the University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign in 1988. While in the States she worked on several projects under Don Wald and Associates based in California, including personal projects of Clint Eastwood. Upon her return to India, she worked with Ratan Batliboi for several years before starting her own partnership firm RLC in 1995.
In 1996 she stepped into the limelight with her solo furniture exhibit ‘Liasons de Formes’. Thereafter in 2000, she founded her solo practice Samira Rathod Design Atelier, which has grown over the years. She was involved in furniture design under Transforme Designs until 2003.
Her passion for writing, theorizing and discussing architecture led her to be the editor and creator of SPADE and founder and director of SPADE INDIA RESEARCH CELL which candidly deliberates, investigates and researches the condition and impact of design in India.
Samira believes in cultivating talent and a strong sense of design in today’s youth and is an adjunct faculty member at the Kamla Raheja Institue of Architecture in Mumbai and has been invited to be a part of juries and panels all over the country and abroad.