TRANSCENDING SPACE

FROM FOLLOWING IN HIS ARCHITECT FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS TO SETTING UP HIS INDEPENDENT PRACTICE THAT IS RECOGNISED FOR ITS TRANSFORMATION OF SPACES, SUMIT DHAWAN, FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT AT CITYSPACE’82 ARCHITECTS, HAS INDEED TRAVELLED A FAIR DISTANCE

- MITALEE KURDEKAR

As a young boy, Sumit Dhawan was always fascinated with his architect father’s work tools and sketches. That childhood interest – coupled with his own inclination for drawing and the belief that architecture required creativity, innovation and experimentation rather than intellectual or theoretical study – developed into a prolonged affinity for the subject. More importantly, many years later, it led to the formation of Cityspace’82 Architects, the Gurugrambased firm of which Dhawan is the founder & principal architect.

“Architecture being a non-monotonous and dynamic field helps a person evolve with his everyday experiences. The observatory skills it enthuses grants one an eye for design and an opportunity to do something out of the box,” feels Dhawan.

Although he started his solitary practice directly after obtaining his bachelor’s degree in the year 2005, his tryst with the profession began much earlier – in the year 2000, when a visit to Auroville, Pondicherry, for a college case study left him mesmerised by the nature of the work carried out there, prompting him to intern under Suhasini Ayer. With that came an immense amount of exposure and varied opportunities, including learning the fundamentals from numerous local and international architects like Dominic Dube, Anupama Kundoo, Piero and Gloria Cicionesi, Satprem Maïni, etc. After his internship, Dhawan worked with commercial architecture firm Tevatia Chauhan & Sharma Architects, now known as Design Forum International, where he was able to integrate the knowledge he had gained with practical fieldwork.

SHARPENING OF SKILLS