Design Associates Inc,India

We are based in Andheri, specifically on Gilbert Hill Road in the Blue Diamond building, flat 14/B. If you know Mumbai, you know how busy Andheri gets, especially with the traffic near the station. Our office is a small space but we’ve managed to fit everything we need into it. There are usually drawings pinned to every available inch of wall space. We do a lot of design work here, mostly focused on the architectural and structural side of things. It can get pretty cramped when we have a few people in for a meeting, but we make it work. The sound of the city is always there in the background—horns honking and people shouting down on the street. During the monsoon, we spend half our time making sure no water is getting near the documents. It’s just the reality of being in an older building in this part of town. We are a small group, and most of us have been together for years. We don’t have a fancy reception area or a coffee machine that makes lattes. We just have a kettle and a lot of passion for getting the details right. People come to us because we know the local regulations and how to navigate the mess of building in Mumbai. It’s not a glamorous job, but we like the challenge of fitting big ideas into the tight spaces this city offers.