Jainism Museum, Design for Disassembly, and Global Cultural Dialogues: SJK Architects Newsletter
- SJK Architects
- Oct 6
- 3 min read
A Cultural Addition to Ahmedabad's Legacy of Public Spaces
Located just outside Ahmedabad, a city celebrated for its public spaces, the upcoming Jain Heritage Museum in Koba adds another meaningful public layer to the landscape. The museum preserves rare Jain artefacts, and is designed as an all-white structure echoing the religion's simplicity and austerity. Lifting off on stilts a round a central water body, the architecture creates an open and accessible ground plane for all.
M&M's Automobile Design
Studio Extension is
Designed for Disassembly Our recently completed extension for M&M's automobile design studio in Mumbai is a pre-engineered steel structure designed for disassembly, embracing a circular approach that reduces environmental impact while ensuring resilience for the future. Equally important to us was continuity between old and new. The new structure carries forward the palette and handcrafted detailing of black steel, grey plaster, and concrete, and reintroduces them in sharper, more technically precise forms that resonate with the present moment.
Textile Traditions of Karnataka Reimagined as Contemporary Lamps At an upcoming hospitality project in Hampi, Karnataka, we are exploring ways to design the resort as an enabler of sustainable tourism - one that uplifts the local economy, promotes traditional craft, and fosters awareness about heritage preservation. Reinventing traditional crafts is an integral part of this strategy. This intent finds expression in a series of lampshades that reinterpret Karnataka's textile traditions of Ilkal, Khun, and Laambani in a contemporary form.
Architecture as a Bridge between time and culture
In a globalising world where places are slowly losing their distinct cultural identities, an essay by architect Charles Correa, Roots and Bridges (1970), urges art and architecture to act as a bridge across times and cultures. At FOAID last year, Partner Vaishali Mangalvedhekar discussed our design for the Hotel in Bodh Gaya in this context. The project evolves a contemporary design language for architecture and interiors, drawing on traditional elements in Buddhist architecture like vaults, corbeled arches, and stepped jambs.
Restoring native ecology of Hampi
Increasingly, landscape design is being reduced to the use of decorative and non-native species. For our upcoming hospitality project in Hampi, we wanted to honour the region's rich flora. Working with ecological experts, Oikos, we identified native plants thriving on the site and its surroundings, such as shrubs thriving under boulders and colourful flowers along the roadside. These are now being nurtured in an on-site nursery, and are set to return to the land as the project takes shape.
Shimul Picks Winners of the International Holicim Awards 2025
Founding Partner Shimul Javeri Kadri joined the distinguished APAC region jury panel for the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation Awards 2025, alongside Sou Fujimoto (Sou Fujimoto Atelier), Yansong Ma (MAD), Leonard Ng (Henning Larsen), Maria Atkinson (CBC), Theresa Yeung (ARUP), and Cyril Giraud (Holcim).
Our Work Exhibited at a Landmark Korean Design Exhibition
We were recently invited by Korean Institute of Female Architects (KIFA) to exhibit our work alongside global practices such as the 2020 Pritzker laureates Grafton Architects, 2025 RIBA Gold Medalist SANAA, UNStudio and MVRDV among the others. The International Exchange Exhibition for Women Architects 2025 was a meaningful opportunity to take the values of culturally sustainable architecture to a global stage. Our panel illustrated core design values through select project like Nirvana Film Studio , Bengaluru ; Dasavatara Hotel , Tirupati ; Synergy Lifestyles Factory, Karur and SR University Campus, Warangal, highlighting how we build with climate , Culture and community in mind.
