Se-Arch (Studio for Environment & Architecture)

Company Name

Se-Arch (Studio for Environment & Architecture)

The roots
“I’ve always fussed over design and details from a very early age,” says Jayashree Bhalla. “It possibly started in the fourth standard with home-tailored clothes. I knew exactly what I wanted and sketched it out meticulously – and I think that was the start of my career in design and, eventually, architecture.” Partner Kapil Bhalla, too, goes back to childish pursuits with building blocks and Lego as the precursor to his career of choice. “I enjoyed everything that required building and balancing… it fascinated me.”

The nurturing
Both have a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Mumbai University and Master’s degrees from University of Illinois, USA – hers, in Landscape Architecture; his, in Architecture. Both continue to take executive education courses at Harvard University and University of Illinois. Kapil put in three solid years with William Pusey Studios after his studies, while Jayashree worked with celebrated architect Uttam Jain for a while – a period of firming up her foundation and understanding the direction she would take for future engagements. “He instilled in his interns a sense of value for detail, value for simplicity, and value for honesty and clarity; and all this remains with me today,” she says.

The fruits
The duo returned to India in 1990 and founded SE-ARCH, Studio for Environment & Architecture, which began operations from a spare room in their apartment. After 27 years and growing appreciably, the partners still like to call their multiple award-winning practice a design studio, emphasising on research, study, analysis and exploration of concepts related to architecture and its integration with the environment. “We are partial to designing with nature, and you can experience that in our projects. We strongly believe in an environmentally-responsible approach to our work,” discloses Kapil, who admires Frank Lloyd Wright for his perception of scale and detail. SE-ARCH’s close-knit team of architects, interior designers, urban planners and landscape architects works on a varied array of projects: industrial master plans, educational campuses, corporate headquarters, villas, condominiums, hospitality spaces and medical facilities. “The intensity that we put into our work does not depend upon how lucrative the project is. Diversity adds to your experience; problem-solving sharpens creativity,” believe the architects.

The turning points
The office for the Bombay Gas Company is special, because it’s their “first project and got a lot of coverage.” It involved the transformation of a colonial-era brick structure – complete with iron pillars, jack arch system and decorative fixtures and mouldings of the period – into a modern workspace, retaining the old-world essence. “The housing project Ujjwala, Kolkata, is also a milestone, as it propelled our career towards doing more meaningful architecture, impacting many people as end-users.”

The destination
While Jayashree’s dream project is Greenlink Mumbai, a network of beautiful pedestrian pathways that connect the city, Kapil would love to work on a public institutional building. And the plan for the near future is to stay “grounded in design in a constantly upgrading world.”