Architect Chandrashekhar Kanetkar | Designing with integrity, creativity and conviction
Architect Chandrashekhar Kanetkar believes that the emotional make up of the client and his relationship with his built form is of utmost importance and that is what sustains his team as they plan each project.
Here is a video interview of Architect Chandrashekhar Kanetkar with Architect Sibani Sarma, CEO of Gallopper, as he bares the soul behind his designs.
Architect Chandrashekhar Kanetkar, a graduate from M.S. University, Baroda with a Gold Medal in design, has won many design competitions held by Lalit Kala Academy, NASA, MSSIDC and many other private competitions. As the principal and chief designer of Chandrashekar Architects Pvt Ltd (better known as CAPL), his strong design concepts aim at doing justice to the site as well as to the clients’ brief. His portfolio of the last three decades include versatile and off- beat projects, along with a number of international ones. Recognizing his contribution to the profession, he was felicitated by Society Interiors Magazine with the Durian Society Interiors Design Award in 2003 and then by Economic Times at ACE TECH in 2009.
With a strong academic background and distinguished professional achievements, CAPL has, over the past three decades, built a reputation of integrity, creativity and conviction. Whether architectural or interiors, the client’s vision, functionality of the project, topography of the site, are aspects that are given prime importance while conceptualizing. Being entirely design-oriented, the firm has successfully created and completed challenging projects for Hospitality, Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Educational Institutions. Mostly involved in designing hi-end projects of Hospitality, Residential and Commercial Spaces, the firm also excels in designing Hotels for International operators, hi-end condominiums and designer bungalows.
As the Principal, at CAPL, Mr. Kanetkar strongly believes in “Integrating the focal and ancillary spaces with maximum importance given to natural light and ventilation, charging the space with positive energy”. This belief has always been the forte of CAPL. “Local context, justice to site and the client program are the pillars on which the design stands. The spaces are created in a sequential manner such that there is a subtle visual drama for the occupant making him a part of the design. A sense of belonging to the occupant thus becomes the essence and strength of the design that reflects the inner soul of the space.”
Contemporaneous design is another deep-seated muse of the firm. The design approach is such that the built form and its essence while reflecting the times of its creation become timeless as it does not follow any ‘trend’. An innate communion of designing in totality with the use of material, technology and above all, a clear dialogue with the vocabulary of architecture of the place underlines all the projects – architectural as well as interiors.
Some of the recent noteworthy projects of the firm are The Grand Hyatt, Goa, a 60 storeyed Residential Complex in Mumbai, High end 30 storeyed Residential Complex at Navi Mumbai and a High end Club House and Bungalows at Vapi.
