A FEW COMMENTS ...

“Buildings, just like people, have personality. A personality experienced, not by looking at it, but by interacting with it: by working, relaxing, meeting people, having fun, and just wondering around. To me, the Archohm building is one of these rare personalities that make you feel that you are best friends from the moment you meet. The building welcomes you, makes you feel at ease, and somehow, is curious about you. It challenges you to express yourself, to show who you are, and to feel good about it.”

— Dr. IR. Marieke H. Sonneveld Assistant Professor, Delft University of Technology

“On my first visit to the office, the warm ambience of the atrium space and the magnanimity of Sourabh’s own studio, convinced me to work with him for the physical manifestation of my endeavours.”

— Maulana Mahmood Madani Islamic thought leader, politician and philosopher

“I entered into the building of Archohm for the first time two years ago. I had a special feeling: a moment of calm and peace in busy and overcrowded Delhi… as if the building was done for meditation. But it is more than that; it is a place for architects and designers to work for a better future.”

— Christian Guellerin Executive Director, L’École de design Nantes Atlantique

“The headquarter of Archohm is a very impressive building rising in the midst of the Noida.

The architecture joins different materials and a multitude of usages in an appealing building which represents the creative work emerging from this place. Once you reach the hidden arena on top, the building unveils a surprising view to the contrasting neighbourhood.”

— Marc Zehntner Director, Vitra Design Museum

“Never did I think I would have to witness my favourite lens falling and crashing from a height of 14 feet but then again never had I expected to find such a novel office design located amidst an industrial slum! Though I have shot the place, even my photographs can’t do justice to it!

— André J Fanthome Architecture Photographer

“The Archohm studio adds a fresh and playful note to India’s modernist architectural heritage. The studio offers space for creativity and interaction, and establishes a forum for architecture and design not only within the community, but also the city of Delhi,

India and the world. Its setting in a slum neighbourhood makes a powerful statement on the social and urban relevance of architecture in contemporary India.”

— Martin Reichert David Chipperfield Architects

“Many, many workshop days and hours I’ve spent in Archohm’s blinded boardroom with the peculiar triangular table. Such circumstances would drive many mad, but there was always the option of escape, to the liveliness in the office, the spacious bathrooms, the back courtyard, or the rooftop terrace. This opportunity to escape makes Archohm’s building a perfect refuge for timeless creative thinking.

— Paul Hekkert

Professor and Head of Department, Delft University of Technology

“Sourabh and his team’s work comes from an environment that brings together ethics of hard work and design for impact.”

— Shri Akhilesh Yadav. Honourable Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh

“What has been self- labelled as a ‘ design fort’ can have many connotations and ramifications. Its creator Sourabh saw this at the ‘ non- physical’ level – as a protected space where the unthinkable can be thought. He naturally became the general to protect in young architects this fear of shooting untested arrows. But at a more pragmatic level, it senses the vulnerability and fragility of a fractured Indian society. People in a glass house need some fortifications – not because they want to throw stones at others but because the others shouldn’t see them without clothes. The two India’s are at ease for the while, but a discretionary screen helps.

To carry the analogy forward, the fort has a moat and a drawbridge, which when lowered, leads to the front gardens. When raised, it will be used as a projection screen to watch videos from a machaan in the making. And yet, if Sourabh Gupta had his way, he would have liked to pay what he calls this social burden – ‘ the Indian tax’, and rather take the risk of being outside the fort.”

— Aman Nath Indian writer, hotelier, and architectural restorer ( Forward from the Book – Attitude and Architecture, A Contemporary Indian Perspective)

“The roughness of the grounded spaces and the texture of the environment is very hard to capture in pictures.”

— Martin Rein Cano Principal Founder TOPOTEK

“A stimulating work place, enabling people and ideas from various cultures generate new solutions.”

— H. E. Alphonsus Stoelinga, Former Ambassadorof The Netherlands to India

“The IIID Studio Walks are designed to foster a meaningful discussion and dialogue space between the members of the design community and established design practices.

On 24, November 2018, IIID Delhi held its second Studio Walk at Archohm Noida, led by Sourabh Gupta, the principal architect. Prior to the walk, a few members of the managing committee of the Delhi Chapter conducted a workshop with the students of the Design Village. The objective of the workshop was to sensitise the students to engage with their city and interpret contextual references in space and time through design.

The students used the week preceding the workshop in exploring and understanding various contexts they were familiar with, such as the slum adjacent to their school. Interactions with students revealed that they had spent time at the slums talking to the inhabitants and understanding their concerns. The presentations were in the form of sketches that were pinned up on the walls for discussion.

The members of the Delhi Chapter assembled for the walk early in the evening. Sourabh Gupta was gracious enough to personally take the group on a guided tour of his office. It was interesting to see the various scales of projects handled by Archohm that included urban design, architecture, interiors and product design. As we meandered through the office, passing interesting suspended mobile sculpture, several wooden models, memorabilia designed by master artists and architects, we engaged him in conversation, and observed his design process and ideology. The challenges of conceiving the office building unfolded, the site being triangular in shape and located at the edge of a slum facing a gutka factory. The first grand impression was in the double height lobby as he stood in the shadow of the open hand, a magical transformation of a clever sculpture made of pipes, reinforcement rods and other construction material that came to life as light fell on it. Added to this drama was panel hugging the roof, that described every material with quantities that went into the making of the building.

The event culminated in a visit to the Design Village, which was the transformation of the gutka factory, where Sourabh made a presentation of his work through which he explained what defining design ( the mantra of IIID this term) meant to him. Since the group was small, it gave the members the opportunity to interact closely with Sourabh and the flow of conversation was uninhibited.”

— Radhika Viswanathan, Chairperson IIID- DRC