The Urban Design

Our office is in Nagpada, right in the heart of Mumbai Central. If you know Shahid Marg, we are in Room No 4 at Shakina Mansion. It is an old building, but it works for what we need. Being near City Plaza means there is always a lot of noise and movement outside the window. That is just how it is in this part of town. The Urban Design is basically just me and a couple of others working on different projects across the city. Mumbai is a tough place to build anything because every inch of space is so tight. We spend a lot of time measuring rooms and trying to figure out how to squeeze a kitchen and a small bathroom into a tiny flat. Some days the traffic on Shahid Marg is so bad that I just stay late in the office to catch up on my sketches. It is not a corporate setup with glass walls and a lobby. It is just a room with some desks and a lot of samples lying around. We take on whatever comes our way, from small shops to apartments. People come in with an idea, and we try to make it look decent on paper before anything starts. It is a lot of back and forth with contractors and clients. Living and working in South Mumbai keeps us on our toes all day. We do not have a big reception area or anything. You just walk up the stairs and find us. It is honest work and we have been at it for some time now.