A Life In Design AR. CHITRA VISHWANATH

The principal architect and MD of Biome Environmental Solutions who began practicing ‘green’ building way before green became the new black.

- Maria Louis

When it comes to saluting environment-friendly architecture in India, there is no worthier exponent than Chitra Vishwanath. The principal architect and MD of Biome Environmental Solutions began practising ‘green’ building way before green became the new black, yet she shrugs off any pats on the back. Chitra’s remarkable journey took her from Benares (where she was born) to faraway Nigeria, Ahmedabad (where she graduated from the School of Architecture, CEPT), Goa, Delhi and Kochi, before she moved to Bangalore.

Attributing the start of her independent practice to “serendipity”, she insists it materialised because she started working freelance in 1999 after the birth of her son. A relative gave them (her and husband S. Vishwanath) a chance to design/ build his house – in which they tried some, at that time, unestablished ways of construction to reduce costs. The project received much traction during the ‘90s and helped them get more residential projects. In 1995, the couple built their own home with earth, where they incorporated sensible water designs too. Locals were quite enthused, and more projects followed. Thus, Chitra Vishwanath Architects was born, as organically as the architecture it practised.

Twelve years ago, in 2008, it merged with S. Vishwanath’s NGO Rainwater Club to form Biome Environmental Solutions – creating a multidisciplinary, collaborative team that would specifically work on ecological architecture and sensible water designs. Biome’s works straddle typologies and scales ranging from schools and resorts to factories and hospitals.