SRUTHI BIJUNATH
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Name
- SRUTHI BIJUNATH
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Designation
- ARCHITECT
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Company Name
- VSP ARCHITECTS, CALICUT
Architecture happens because we believe in a better future. It can make (the world) better in a social and an environmental sense.”
The greatest advantage of being an architect is having a lifetime’s work that remains after you are gone, to remind people of your efforts,” says Sruthi Bijunath, who runs Calicut-based VSP Architects along with husband Vipin Prabhu. “Also, the most beautiful aspect of architecture as a profession is how the industry embraces the individuality of each person. Designing (a) building is in itself a fulfilling creative pursuit, but even beyond that you are allowed, in fact encouraged, to have a style which can manifest beyond your work.” Her inspiration is one such master whose work defies his mortality — Geoffrey Bawa, the principal force behind tropical modernism. “His sensitivity to local context combined with the form-making principles of modernism is what we work towards at VSP Architects,” says the co-founder of the firm.
The Calicut-based design practice treats each project ”as something perfect from concept presentation to the final product and the subsequent documentation. Our architectural philosophy focuses on expressing the spirit of the place,” says the 30-year-old. “Our inspiration is mostly found from traditional concepts, crafts, as well as local material to interpret the same with a contemporary approach.”
One such project in which traditional concepts are woven into a modern framework “with surprising harmony” is Haritham, a single family tropical house located in Calicut. The adjacency of the clients’ family home guided the siting of the new building and also influenced the evolution of its design — which is rooted and connected to the soil and manifested as a tradition-meets-contemporary form. “This house shows the love and care that permeate the minutest details,” says its creator, who opines that a good building can redefine a place. “I believe that architecture can make our human-created world better, in a social and an environmental sense. Architecture happens because we believe in a better future.”
ONGOING PROJECTS
1) Professor’s Residence, Calicut
2) Between the Mango Trees, Thalassery, Kerala
3) Ettu-Kettu House, Feroke, Kerala
MOST SIGNIFICANT PROJECT TO DATE: Haritham, Calicut
