Achitecture BRIO
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Website: http://www.architecturebrio.com/
Biography:
Shefali Balwani, Director / Principal Architect, Architecture BRIO, Mumbai
Professional Qualifications
- Bachelor in Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology ( CEPT )
- Registered with Indian Council of Architecture
- Born in Mumbai in 1978, India, Shefali Balwani studied at the renowned School of Architecture
C.E.P.T in Ahmedabad. She studied during an exchange program at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. After completing her thesis on the Architecture of contemporary mosques she moved back to Mumbai to work with Rahul Mehrotra on several public projects. In 2004 she joined the office of Channa Daswatte in Sri Lanka where she was responsible for a variety of projects such as the part refurbishment of Geoffrey Bawa’s Lighthouse Hotel. In 2006 she co-founded Architecture BRIO in her hometown together with her partner Robert Verrijt.
Robert Verrijt, Director / Principal Architect, Architecture BRIO, Mumbai
Professional Qualifications
- Master in Architecture, Technical University of Delft.
- Registered with Architect’s Registration Office (NL)
Robert Verrijt (1979) received his masters in architecture from the TUDelft. He attended a two-semester exchange program at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology Ahmedabad in the year 2000. His graduation project which was a proposed housing scheme for asylum seekers in the Netherlands in Maastricht was awarded the second prize in the Dutch Archiprix 2004 and was also selected for the international Archiprix the following year. He has since then returned to India several times and has spent two years working in Sri Lanka as an associate of the partners of the renowned architect Geoffrey Bawa. In 2006 he co-founded Architecture BRIO in Mumbai together with partner Shefali Balwani (India). In Mumbai, he has taught part-time at the KRVIA school of Architecture, and the Balwant Sheth School of Architecture.
Philosophy
Architecture BRIO is actively engaged in the creation of contextually appropriate solutions within an increasingly changing world. Set up in Mumbai in April 2006, it is a design-based practice focusing primarily on the fields of Architecture and Interior Design. Its principals are Robert Verrijt ( TUDelft, the Netherlands) and Shefali Balwani ( C.E.P.T, India).
Intercultural Practice
It is a practice that works with a thorough understanding of Architecture and its related fields. It seeks to develop a design as its core strength and primary focus. Its uniqueness lies in the diverse backgrounds and cultures that its principals are rooted in. Combining exposure and knowledge in European forte of innovation and detailing with the richness of Asian tradition and culture it has developed a design philosophy that goes beyond the norm.
Interdisciplinary
The firm works intensively with engineers, consultants, designers, and the client, welcoming new insights that can lead to specific innovative solutions. It believes strongly in design as a process with an intensive dialogue. It uses models, both physical and virtual, as tools for communication between clients, engineers, and architects. This encourages programmatic and engineering concepts to be fully integrated into the design right from the conception.
Design Process
The practice currently has a broad range of projects both in the public and private realm. It thrives at the idea of this wide variety and scales of its projects and is not defined by a particular genre. Regardless of a project's scale, a common basis of the practice is its commitment to exemplary planning, design, and execution. It approaches a design brief in an open and explorative manner before arriving at a common standpoint. This then acts as a clear concept, which guides the design process.
Innovation
Aesthetics, technological, and environmentally friendly innovativeness are the cornerstones of its guiding philosophy. Creating solutions for a context where architecture is continuously affected by scarcity is an inherent part of its design philosophy. Scarcity, whether it is in terms of the availability of materials and energy, building time, skilled labor, financial scarcity, or restrictions due to remote locations of projects. Architecture BRIO’s approach to tackling these constraints is to search for smart solutions. The solutions should not only solve but also resonate with the complex problems out which they arise in the first place.
Sustainability
The practice believes that there is a need to promote rapid, widespread acceptance of sustainable solutions. The challenge is to generate fresh ideas that carry out self-sufficient systems on a large scale. The potentials of new building techniques, reappropriating materials in an effective and durable way, and intelligent energy concepts should be uncovered and integrated in an innovative way in architecture. With energy reduction and sustainability as a starting point attempts to create innovative and exciting architecture. BRIO, much like the name, is about buildings that give energy both literally and metaphorically and therefore inspire and make people happy.
Press
Over the past decade, Architecture BRIO has been the recipient of numerous national and international awards. The project House on a Stream won the award for the best residential design at the NDTV Home Design of the Year Awards 2013, the Trends Excellence Awards 2014, and the JKC Architecture of the Year Award 2014. The Riparian House has been awarded the best residential project by The Merit List 2017 and the 26th Architect of the Year 2017 by JK Cement. The studio was selected amongst the “AD50 ”, the Architectural Digest India list of the most influential designers in India in 2014, 2016, and again in 2017. In 2014, they were awarded the “Best Practice in India” at the Trends Excellence Awards 2014.
Related projects:
