Icon Experts Pushing The Global Design Envelope

Architect Bijoy Ramachandran of Hundredhands engages with multiple touch-points in the built environment for the firm’s inimitable designs

- Tina Thakrar

Sometime in the 1980s, when a young Bijoy Ramachandran was in boarding school, the now acclaimed architect was first introduced to Charles Correa and modern Indian architecture. Summer vacations were spent with his grandparents, driving down from Trivandrum to the luscious beaches of Kovalam. Flitting between a pool from where one could see the beaches below and the horizon beyond, to cool interiors embedded in a rock, and sun drenched terraces of the Kovalam Beach Resort, Bijoy unconsciously developed an understanding of architecture and its potential.

Bengaluru-based Ramachandran is now the principal architect and partner at Hundred hands, a multidisciplinary firm he runs with his wife, Sunitha Kondur. As the name suggests, the firm stands for collaborative work. “We reject the idea of the inspired individual, who presides over the making of architecture, and embrace instead the idea of a large group of people working together to create something of value,” he explains. Sunitha also runs Source, a materials, product and furniture sourcing company independent of Hundred hands.