A designer, educator, conservationist, crafts preservationist and editor — Yeshwant Ramamurthy dons many hats with élan. This graduate from J.J. College of Architecture in Mumbai is an award-winning architect and the founder of Studio One Architects in Hyderabad. He strongly believes that life in Mumbai as a teenager taught him how to cope with the complexities of metropolitan life. Coming from the cloistered confines of a residential public school in Hyderabad, the hustle of Mumbai was a startling culture shock, he says. “In contrast, Bangalore, where I began my career, was like a soothing balm to the soul. Working at Chandavarkar & Thacker grounded me both technically and professionally. Those lessons stay with me till today.”
Since its inception 35 years ago, Studio One has come a long way. The firm, which began as a one-man show, has now grown to a team of 18 designers including student interns.
“We design all types of architectural, and heritage conservation projects. Over the years, we have created core competency in hospitality. We also selectively undertake designing private residences and educational institutions,” Ramamurthy says.
The designer’s mantra is simplicity. “Customising each project as per the client’s vision is what drives us. Achieving a satisfying design solution with professionalism, technical accuracy and within a mutually acceptable language of aesthetics, characterises our work,” he says. Art truly lifts a space from the mundane to the sublime and hence, plays a prime role in his design. “Designs cannot remain static and are constantly evolving. We believe in the cliché that god exists in the details,” he adds. On influences, he cites the unpretentious honesty of Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa’s work as deeply moving and states that much of Studio One’s residential design has begun to elementally empathise with traditional sensibilities, similar to Bawa’s architecture. Studio One’s portfolio is diverse even though it strictly remains confined to Hyderabad. “In the hospitality sector, we have gone from designing a humble Irani restaurant to the recently commissioned Taj Vivanta. Much recognition came our way due to our preference for heritage conservation and adaptive reuse, with three of our projects winning INTACH awards. Perhaps the most rewarding professional relationship has been our continuing consultancy to the 157-year-old Secunderabad Club,” Ramamurthy says.
Ask him about his treasured projects, and he names a home commissioned by a young NRI couple that was designed with a post-modernist style, the 20-year-old Jubilee Hills International Club, and Café Sandwicho, a modern landmark in Hyderabad.
Commenting on old Indian architecture, he says that the pre-colonial style, emerging from indigenous parameters, was humble and deeply aesthetic. “The colonists transposed grandiose and incongruous style onto native design in a bid to establish cultural hegemony, though many times with disastrous consequences,” he says.
“After independence, India grappled with the idea of rediscovering her design roots, and many buildings of that era display confused priorities. Fast-forward to the present, a time of globalisation, and we see a proliferation of mindless Lego-set facades as clients commission architects to replicate Manhattan in the IT precincts of urban India despite a shocking lack of context.”
But all’s not lost. “Thankfully an increasing fraternity of Indian designers now sees desi as the relevant language to define our emerging vernacular, yet contemporary idiom. Indeed, it is the only plausible way to go,” he concludes.
