..AND THE LEGACY LIVES ON

Sanchit Arora trains his young eyes towards creating an architectural identity through fantastical concepts. We chart how the architect has propelled the trajectory of RENESA, the studio founded by his father Sanjay Arora, towards being touted as one of the leading avant-garde design firms in the country

- AVRIL NOEL DSOUZA

To talk about the present and the future it is very important we travel back in time all the way to when Sanchit Arora was a toddler. Ever since he could remember, Sanchit wanted to be an architect. Seeing his father Sanjay Arora, the founder of RENESA, scribble with different pencils as scale sets lay scattered all over the house, while drafting boards were intrinsic additions in the living room...memories of his father starting the day with design and ending it huddled with his team around old sets of slow computers are the embers that flamed his young ambition. Sanchit reminisces, "It's beautiful how life repeats itself and the whole circle keeps continuing to make way for the same memories but in a very modern way now."

In this candid dialogue, Sanchit reveals it all, including the fact that being an architect was all he thought about, but he didn't think much about RENESA growing up. "Like every student, the learning process was slow and steady. I always imagined that I would get my arms covered in grease (figuratively speaking), learn along the way, and then establish an identity of my own. However, post my internship and work experience, my father presented me with two options: Either I start working with him in my formative years or apply for my Masters. I've never been a believer in learning within the confines of the system of advanced studies. It was an easy decision, and I took up my father on his offer. Of course, it's not easy to work with your own parent but that's when the concept of patience stepped in," he says.

FINDING HIS FEET

As the young architect grew into his own skin, he quickly reached a very important conclusion. "Earlier on itself, I summed up that the whole idea of creating an architectural identity through concepts was missing in India. It became a burning passion to really dwell into that scheme of design and create a new identity of brand architecture.