SJK Architects is a 33-year-old architecture, interior design and master planning practice founded in 1990 and led by - Shimul Javeri Kadri, Vaishali Mangalvedhekar, Sarika Shetty and Roshni Kshirsagar. We are a Mumbai-based collective of professionals, working with clients and collaborators across the country. We design spaces that are meticulously crafted from a study of climate, culture, history, and technology – each unique to the place and its people.
SJK Architects works all over India, in both rural and urban contexts, in small towns as well as metros. Their portfolio cuts across scales and typologies, including residential, retail, hotels and resorts, museums and galleries, industrial and healthcare, amongst others. Some of the firm’s notable projects include the Nirvana Films’ Studio (2011) in Bangalore, which won at the World Architecture Festival held in Singapore in 2012; the Leaf House (2012) in Mumbai, shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival, 2012; Automobile Design Studio (2015) for Mahindra and Mahindra; multiple-award-winning projects for Marasa Hospitality, including the Dasavatara Hotel (2015) in Tirupati, a holy city for Hindus and home to many historic temples, and the Hotel in Bodh Gaya (2020), one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the world; the Apartment Building at Boat Club (2020) in Chennai; the Rural Multi-speciality Hospital (2021) for the JSW Foundation in Alibaug, near Mumbai. Upcoming projects include the Museum for Jain Heritage in Koba, near Ahmedabad; the Public Pavilions in Palitana, a major pilgrim town for the Jain community in Gujarat; and the ongoing expansion of SR University in Warangal, Telangana.
SJK Architects has also undertaken many commercial projects, including retail interiors, office interiors and brand identities for clients such as FabIndia, Penguin Random House, Synergy Lifestyles, Taneira – a Tata enterprise, Orra Diamonds, Forest of Chintz and Reliance Portico.
SJK Architects’ work has accrued considerable Indian and international acclaim, receiving many distinctions such as the World Architecture Festival Prize (Singapore) in 2012, the Futurarc Green Leadership Award (Singapore) in 2012, the Prix Versailles Award (France) for both Architecture & Interiors in 2016, The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design (USA) in 2016, and nine awards from the Indian Institute of Architects as well as Indian Institute of Interior Designers. The practice’s work has been featured in many eminent international publications including Domus, Dezeen and the Future Arc Magazine.
RECENT EVENTS
How customised, flexible classroom designs can supplement education
School design plays a critical role in the student's learning outcome. The pandemic has made us rethink and reimagine schools. Flexible designs with a holistic, whole-life approach that accommodates the required safety protocols, have become the new normal. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it abundantly clear that students learn from their built environment rather than merely through blackboard lessons. We must remember that actual learning happens beyond classrooms-in the intermediary spaces and outdoor pockets created as buffers and interactive zones.
We are honoured and grateful to be on the AD 100 list yet again!
Bodhgaya - where the Buddha received enlightenment; one of the holiest and oldest sites of pilgrimage for the Buddhist world. Our hotel – gently uses the vocabulary of brick details from the Buddhist trail - vaults to corbelled arches to stepped jambs that soften the edges of buildings and make them welcoming and timeless. Replete with courtyards and water bodies that play with the sunlight – stained concrete vaults and keyhole windows create dancing shadows and a lasting emotion of serenity and surrender
NEWSLETTERS
International Office of Migration
Geneva
We were commissioned through a rigorous process of selection as the only Indian architectural practice to participate in an invited competition for the Office Headquarters of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) - located in the UN district in Geneva, Switzerland.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is a leading intergovernmental organisation in the field of migration and is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. They work to protect, support and empower communities displaced or stranded by crisis, help build resilience and focus on reducing disaster risk so that movement and migration can be a choice.
IOM’s new building was to house 600 global employees, conference spaces for 300 international UN delegates as well as a public cafe.
Forest of Chintz
Mumbai, India
Sometimes, a little project, one you never dreamt would encounter water seepage and a pandemic, emerges from a chrysalis to become a butterfly.
The challenge in retail is to let the design be the backdrop for the product while also being a protagonist. After all, everyone loves a great store.
But does it showcase the product or shout it down?
Hotel at Bodhgaya
Bihar, India
Bodhgaya - where the Buddha received enlightenment; one of the holiest and oldest sites of pilgrimage for the Buddhist world. Our hotel – gently uses the vocabulary of brick details from the Buddhist trail - vaults to corbelled arches to stepped jambs that soften the edges of buildings and make them welcoming and timeless. Replete with courtyards and water bodies that play with the sunlight – stained concrete vaults and keyhole windows create dancing shadows and a lasting emotion of serenity and surrender
Commercial Office
Nagpur, India
We received the Nagpur Office project with a simple brief- to create a design centred around social gathering spaces and green pockets.
With a brief of this nature and reasonable building by-laws, we have been able to add balconies, deep projecting terraces- promoting outdoor spills while simultaneously shading the facade from the hot climate. The North, which remains well-shaded through the year and forms the front face of the building, has been carved in to create a courtyard with an amphitheatre at its base, and small projecting meeting rooms and pocket terraces on the floors above.