Interviews

Brinda Somaya is the founder and principal architect of Somaya and Kalappa Consultants, India, which she founded with her sister in Mumbai in 1978. With a diverse portfolio of over 200 projects, Somaya is renowned for her environmentally and socially conscious designs. Her interview captures the pivotal moments of her five-decade-long career as an architect and urban conservationist.

Somaya begins the interview by reflecting on the factors that influenced her to pursue a career in architecture. She recounts how traveling to different parts of India with her family and living in Mumbai among historic buildings in the 1960s introduced her to the country's rich cultural heritage and eventually inspired her to become a conservationist.

She proceeds to talk about her education and shares her experience of flying to the United States at the age of 16 for the American Field Service and studying architecture at the Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai, and Smith College, Northampton in Massachusetts. Describing her early days as an architect, she narrates the story of her first project- a swimming pool with surrounding facilities for the Chembur Golf Club in Mumbai. She recalls how this initial assignment led to her first industrial project—a design for the Parle Products Biscuits and Confectionery Company, whose owner was on the board of the Chembur Golf Club.

Expressing her gratitude for the diverse projects that came her way at a young age, Somaya discusses the evolution of architecture as a career and explains how architects secure projects. She also shares her thoughts on the ‘Request for Proposal’ system for architectural contracts. She discusses how factors like timely delivery and the use of technology like Building Information Modeling have helped her company build a reputation, which has earned her many projects and collaborations, like the Bombay House, which she completed in 2018.

Somaya shares the story of her conservation project, the NRK House in Mumbai, which won the Indian Heritage Society Prize for Conservation in the year 1990. Focusing on her projects, the World Towers and the TCS House (2007) in Mumbai, Somaya explains how the client’s sensitivity to the surroundings is indispensable to conservation. Continuing to talk about her journey as a conservationist, she also shares the stories of her restoration of the earthquake-felled village, Bhuj (2002), and her interaction with the flower-sellers of the Ganeshpuri Temple Plaza (1995). While acknowledging that restoration comes with its challenges, she expresses her continued commitment to building sustainably. She describes the concept of socially conscious design, emphasizing the importance of understanding the needs of the client and the end users.

Somaya then talks about her interaction with students, emphasizing the importance of appreciating India’s heritage. She concludes the interview with a story about an enormous fire doused by a little bird’s efforts, underlining moral obligation towards one’s surroundings.

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