Exploring the bliss of Context to prove Design Philosophy

Saiju Mohammed, Principal Architect – The Insight Architects

Saiju Mohammed’s career began alongside his graduation at The College of Engineering, Trivandrum. His debut project was during the second year of college – ‘The international sea port & Trans-Shipment Hub at Vizhinjam‘, which was adopted by the Government of Kerala as the base conceptual design for the project. Right after his graduation, Saiju opened a small office which later pioneered into The Insight CARD (Consortium for Architectural Research and Design) in Trivandrum Kerala in 2002. The firm was majorly concentrated on research and discussions. In 2004, he transformed the office to “The insight Architects” which is a fully fledged provider of Architecture solutions. The firm now caters to various modes of designs of projects including educational, tourism, commercial complex ,religious, residential apartments and villas.

His passion towards Sea port designs got him an opportunity to publish a paperwork on ‘the need of Architecture in Ports’ in several reputed international journals. Later, he received an invitation for participating in several conferences, among them was the International Conferences on Ocean Engineering conducted at the IIT, Chennai. In 2012 at The AMET University, Chennai where he presented a paper titled ‘Seaports -through the lens of an Architect’.

Saiju has worked with the Center for Integrated Development for Rural and Urban Studies (CIRUS) and many other NGO’s on Masterplans and infrastructure and planning of several for several schemes such as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. An active member of IIA and former Hon.Secretary of IIA, from 2004 – 2006, this journey has several accolades including the following:

IGEN – Selected as one of the 50 most influential young architects in India, 2015

IIA National – finalist for EXCELLENCE IN ARCHITECTURE under commercial category ,2015

MALAYALA MANORAMA PARPIDAM AWARD- Best Commercial architect ,2015

ICONS OF SPACES Singapore Award for Best Interiors 2016

GREENLAM – Runner up for ‘ GREENLAM UNBOXING FOR TRANSFORMING ‘ at national level, 2016

JOHNSON’s DESIGN FEST – Winner for architecture residence ,2016

His passion is food and he likes to read. Travelling is another one on his list as he believes it opens up many new doors of vision. Here are some more interesting thoughts shared with team ABT.

Who is your greatest inspiration and why?

Rather than saying who, I think the things around me or the infinity of life has inspired me. The meaning of ‘Insight‘ to me says it all , a human eye can see everyone else around apart from himself. The god given sense to look at one self is ‘insight’. I am truly inspired & highly motivated by this philosophy.

Tell us about any one milestone that you were very excited about
In 2012, we started our International office in the Sultanate of Oman by the name “The insight Engineering Consultancy “. Over one and a half year our office left a remarkable presence. Later in 2016, the branch office of ‘The insight architects’ was established as the Insight Engineering Consultancy in Oman. This was indeed exciting to for a small team of ours.

What is your design philosophy?
‘The response is a design‘, as per our philosophy. Anything that a design attains from just ‘me’ or ‘you’ or maybe the infinity spread across is ‘a response ‘. The motive behind this philosophy is to give an individual what he desires through our attempt to understand and correlate their response to a design. We explore and extract the bliss of the context to prove our philosophy. We choose not to define but continue the trail to redefine. Geometry is an illusion, to us reflection is the medium of reality.

What are the challenges that you face? How do you overcome them?

The challenge is the design’s soul, an extra ordinary design is formed when those challenges create a flame of spirit inside the Architect. Architecture rises when the architect crawls. These challenges become a part of the vision. To me, I find a scope of excellence in design when I know that the brief of the project is challenging . Facing that challenge is like a situation which self-awakes us . A challenge for me as an architect is not to be tied up to any particular style of architecture .

Marketing has revolutionized all the sectors & industry today. What are your views on marketing Architecture & Interior Design Services?
The market is always a two-way bridge between a desire and product. The revolution has translated these desires into need and catalyzed the interpretation of products and services. Naturally, these interpretations have immensely influenced the way of a desire being formed in a human’s mind. The generalization helped in globalization and mass production which simultaneously took its form in the market as a challenge to respond to the diversity of mankind.

What would you like to achieve in the next 5 years?
My vision is that THE INSIGHT ARCHITECTS must be the undeniable spot for design in India by 2020, in Asia by 2025 and all over the world by 2030.