Tapas Bhargava & Pashyanti Rupakula – Co-Founders, Studio Vitru
Studio Vitru was setup in 2018 with the sole purpose of excelling in the field of architecture and thereby serving clients for all their architectural needs, interior designing and landscaping. Through their integrity and honest practices, innovative ideas and their execution, the firm has created its niche in the market. Though it started in tier 3 city, they believe that their honest effort will someday provide opportunities to work on several categories of architecture, as the tier-2 and 3 cities are the future, and can craft the next growth story for the firm.
Founded by landscape architecture, Pashyanti Rupakula (BArch, March) and environmental planner, Tapas Bhargava (BArch, MPlan), Studio Vitru have been providing contemporary architecture and interior design, landscape architecture, since inception. Before jumping into the entrepreneurial band wagon, both these individuals completed architecture in the year 2013 from Pune University and Nagpur University respectively and pursued post-graduation from School of Planning & Architecture Bhopal in the year 2016. They worked in Bangalore and Ahmedabad respectively. They are creatively driven and always were inclined towards making a career in an area which is a balance between creativity, technology and practicality.
The talented duo – Tapas and Pashyanti, are here to create their individual identity in their field of work. They have gained experience and taken inspiration from each and every architecture and expert in this field, whom they have met earlier in their course of business. Tapas believes that self-confidence, proper experience, thorough knowledge, exposure to the challenges one faces while pursuing the profession, actually sharpens one to face all kinds of adversities in this particular line of work.
According to these professional architects, the key to any successful project is to crack the client’s needs, choices, lifestyle and also budget. It is very much important to understand the expectations they have and to draw them down in the designing process. One client may like contemporary forms, other may be willing to have a classical villa; as an architect, one needs to be versatile and flexible with their style of design and working patterns. End of the day, exceeding client’s expectation is what one should aim for, as that will bring in new business through word-of-mouth.
Architecture is an ancient practice. Besides the varied challenges, smaller cities have a lot of opportunities for new architecture firms, hence the growth story lies there, as bigger cities are getting saturated. All the projects which have been executed by Studio Vitru, so far, is very close to their heart. However, currently the cantilever filler slab residence is the hot favourite, as it’s a very unique approach to execute filler slab in a 14 feet cantilever slab. It was challenging and risky also, but was executed quite successfully.
Tapas is in all support for the changing trend towards sustainability and green architecture. He says,
“This is the need of the hour. We must follow climatology as per the site conditions, geographic locations, and sustainable architecture practices along with modern and contemporary ideas and materials.”
According to Pashyanti, respecting client’s views, and understanding the market is essential to shine in this field. And for best output, one should be a team player, and listen to co-workers’ view point. Being honest and transparent in every dealing further puts cherry on the pie. Before signing off, she suggests to all newcomers,
“Keep evolving, keep grasping knowledge and always be honest to your work.”