Architects Reject Signature Styles for Instinct-Driven Design
A podcast series explores how architecture can prioritize human rituals over aesthetic branding.
1Challenging Architectural Branding
The Room for Utopias podcast series, in partnership with INDX|GLOBAL, critiques the industry's reliance on signature styles. Hosted by Iñaki Laguardia, the episodes feature prominent Indian architects debating the tension between human rituals and visual branding. They argue that architectural identity should be an evolving narrative rather than a static stamp.
2Biology Versus Digital Habits
Kshitiz Manu of K Manu Associates uses a computational metaphor to explain spatial design, defining ritual as software and instinct as the operating system. He warns against hermetic, high-tech interiors that disconnect occupants from nature. Instead, he advocates for buildings that allow natural light and shadows to track time.
3Preserving Shared Domestic Spaces
Shalini Ganguli of Shalini Ganguli Interiors highlights the dangers of domestic fragmentation caused by private screens. She urges designers to safeguard areas that enable unstructured interaction among family members. Ganguli argues that homes must prioritize human connection and layered memories over the sterile, picture-perfect staging often seen in modern interior design.
4Emotional Power of Sequencing
Ankit Gupta of Ankit Gupta Ridhima Sogani Architects emphasizes the importance of spatial transitions. Drawing on historic typologies, he describes how traditional architecture guides occupants from public streets into secluded quarters. He believes contemporary luxury lies in this unhurried progression and the use of climate-responsive materials suited to local topography.
5Style as a Marketing Tool
Manish Gulati of MOFA Studio argues that signature styles are retrospective constructs invented by critics to simplify the selling of architecture. He positions his studio as optimistic non-conformists who prioritize pressing planetary urgencies like climate change. Gulati asserts that future-focused design must respond to user memory rather than rigid stylistic rules.
6Contextual Belonging in Design
Priyanka Mehra of PS Design defends the necessity of geographic rootedness, stating that a house must sit where it belongs. She argues that individual stories should drive spatial concepts because no two clients are identical. Mehra emphasizes that design must balance specific personal aspirations with the context of the site.
7Fluidity in Urban Living
Ajay Arya of A Square Designs observes that major cities are moving away from stylistic dogma toward fluid expression. He believes an architect's identity should manifest in how materials are combined to reflect the inhabitant's personality. Arya advocates for creative freedom, allowing new ideas to emerge without being bound by repetition.
8Architecture Rooted in Values
The series concludes that contemporary utopias do not require novel aesthetic stamps. By prioritizing core values over trending formulas, practitioners create spaces that remain adaptable and alive long after construction. This shift toward ecological and public responsibility marks a departure from the commodification of aesthetics in favor of genuine human resonance.