Married to architecture: The Shah-Gore-Mody clan of 13 architects

Avinash: When I was in class five, I built a cottage with a godown and a tool room in our garden. When I was completing my SSC, I learnt about architecture upon meeting my elder brother's friend, who was studying architecture at Kala Niketan in Baroda. Impressed, I enrolled into Sir JJ College of Architecture. By the time I graduated in 1962, I had worked with architects RK Chokshi and Parelkar Dallas Architects before joining Piloo Mody. I then got an opportunity to build for Indian Cotton Mills Federation. My family and friends suggested I start my own practice – which I did. I called it A.gor.a Architects.
(Wife) Geeta joined JJ in 1961. When she wanted to do an internship, her uncle asked my father if I'd take her on. She was very attractive and good at her work. We married in 1967. We're first generation architects in our family.
Shaila: Both families (Gores and Shahs) have brother-sister siblings who are architects and have gotten married to architects.
Rahul: In such a family, one has many discussions on art. Our weekend home in Lonavala influenced my decision to become an architect. But I did go through a phase of rebellion during which time I didn't want to do architecture...
Rujuta: I too went through that phase.
Rahul: I wanted to be different from my parents. I even considered engineering but while studying for the entrance exam, I realised that numbers didn't make sense to me. Lines did. By that time, my sister Shilpa was studying architecture. Her friends, including Pinkish, would come over. He suggested I go to the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad. I broke the JJ tradition in our family.
Shaila: Pinkish, Shilpa, Geeta, Avinash uncle and I went to JJ.
Rujuta: Ushma, Manoj and I are from Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA).
Rahul: ...And that's where I met Sonal.
Rujuta: All of us met our partners either at college or at work. As an architect, you don't really have a life outside college or work because you are working so hard (laughs)!
Manoj: That makes it sound really bad (more laughter follows).

Ornella: What about creative differences?
Manoj: That's why we don't all work together as one practice. Even within the same practice, it's rare to work on the same project.
Rujuta: My father (Ashok), Manoj and I have been working together for nearly five years but we don't work on the same project. You have to give each other space.
Sonal: For each project, one of us decides who has the veto on it, and that person makes the final decisions.
Pinkish: Two designers cannot really think alike.
Rujuta: And there's never just one solution. There are multiple ways of doing things.
Manoj: In a design field, the solution is not an absolute. And with different people, different results emerge with the same constraints.
Sonal: After having worked together for 15 years, I'm inclined towards conceptual design and Rahul opts for the technicalities, but that is not to say we don't engage with other aspects.
Rahul: And there's always a discussion... a second opinion with the person having the veto. It adds value to the project.

Ornella: Do differences delay a project?
Shaila: They tend to improve the work.
Ornella: What if you still disagree when approaching a deadline?
Rahul: Sometimes the client has a say (laughs).
Shaila: I'm not very technical and work part-time. I'm more a designer and office and administration manager. That's the equation Sagar and I have.
Shilpa: We started our practice 19 years ago. We discuss everything in the office, but one person has an upper hand on the site.
Pinkish: We realised that clients were taking advantage of us. They'd ask me something, then say, "Arre, lekin madam ne toh aisa bola tha." So we started discussing everything in office but ran independent projects.
Sagar: It also depends on who the client is comfortable with. Certain client personalities are easier for me to handle, others work better with her (Shaila).
Ushma: Our case (Sunil and her) is different because we don't have our own practice. We consciously decided not to work together.
Pinkish: She's the youngest and learnt from everyone what not to do!
Ushma: Theatre and drama is our common interest. We discuss each other's work but don't get into it much. I'm more of a site person and my husband is a design person. Now that he has started going to the site, he keeps asking me how to resolve issues with contractors and such.
Avinash: There was the License Raj when I started out. We would have to apply to the government to procure cement and they would give it to us in installments. Mosaic and cement tiles were the only available flooring choices. This generation has the world at its disposal. Technology has changed the way people work. We would draft by hand, and now there's a computer at every desk.
Rujuta: In our multi-generational firm, Connect Four, aspects like technology are dealt with by the younger generation. It may take me four hours to find a solution while my father may sketch a better one in just five minutes.
Ashok: I work with pencil and paper and they start thinking on software.
Avinash: We did a joint project with (Rahul and Sonal's firm) Opolis for an organisation of street children near Palghar. I gave them full scope to handle the design.

Some of their productions: Savoy Chambers (left) and Sai Grandeur

Ornella: What are family discussions like?
Sagar: ...never about design. This is the first time we are talking about architecture (laughs).
Ashok: Each one has his/her unique style, so we don't interfere. There's no competition between us. We even refer clients to each other.
Pinkish: We've collaborated with one another at some point. Manoj and I did a house together. For a school project, there was a crucial meeting and I realised we needed a lot of grey hair so I dragged them (Ashok and Jagdish Shah) to just sit beside me. They were there to support us.
Ushma: Growing up in this family has been inspiring. This house was my first role model. The staircase as a slide, the sloping roof, a semi-circle dining table... We also stayed at Ashok mama's beach-facing bungalow. Every time we would visit, something would've changed... the sofa became a platform with a gadda. That was what prompted me to get into architecture. Many people tell me this is easy for me because my whole family is into architecture...
Ornella: ...but is it actually easy?
Ushma: When I was in Kamla Raheja (college), everyone knew Rujuta and Manoj, who were toppers! And he (Ashok) used to teach me, so it was 'mama ki class'. I was part of a legacy.

Ornella: Was there much pressure?
Ushma: Yes, because they were toppers...
Rujuta: You say it like it's a slur!
Ushma: Well, people kept saying, 'Yeh Rujuta ki cousin hai, what is she doing?' And I would say "Nothing!" (laughs).
Rujuta: We collaborated with Ushma to renovate a food court at a mall because she's been doing a lot of mall projects in Dubai. When I called her one day for images and details of what goes into making a mall, she told me: 'I'm going to the hospital right now to deliver. But I'll send you all the images'. She had her baby the next day and we had all the information by then.
Rujuta: We've not talked about Pinkish's father, our patriarch architect (Jagdish).
Ashok: He inspired me. I'd always observe his drawings. By the time I was in class five, I wanted to be an architect. I joined a firm after graduating but didn't take to their practice. So I decided to never work with anyone else but him.
Rujuta: Even after a stroke, and nine months before he died, he'd come to office for two hours daily. He enjoyed giving us younger ones out-of-the-box problems to solve. In this book we wrote for him, to which family, clients, staff and friends contributed, I wrote a chapter titled Let's poke holes. Because he would poke holes in everything I designed.
Shaila: We thought we'll take two months to complete the book.
Ashok: We took one-and-a half-years (to complete the book) to decide on paper, spacing, font, alignment... everything! Even the printer.
Shaila: Some clients have been with us for more than 40 years. They'll simply say, 'Yeh plot hai aap design karke bhejo (This is the plot, design it as you which)'.

Ornella: What about your children?
Shilpa: My daughter has chosen graphic design.
Manoj: Graphic design is an allied field.
Rujuta: The other kids are still in school. But our children are more aware about nuances. They will have a different level of aesthetic understanding than non-architecture kids. For instance, when my seven-year-old dripped some paint the other day, she turned to me and said: "Oh look, Pollock happened" referring to painter Jackson Pollock (laughter and applause).
Pinkish: As a child, Ashok kaka and Pallavi kaki took me to watch offbeat, art films. We watched plays and classical music performances often.
Rujuta: He (Ashok) plays the sitar.
Shilpa: ...and is also an artist. His next exhibition is in Tokyo.
Rujuta: Shilpa is a Kathak dancer.

Ornella: What about non-architects in the family, such as (Jagdish Shah's wife) Ninaben?
Shaila: She used to paint saris, but let go to cater to all of us.
Sagar: Kaki has the best graphical sarees.
Nina: Mujhe bahut maja aata hai itna dicussions aur books dekh ke (I enjoy listening to their discussions and seeing their countless books).
Shaila: She's our half-architect.