Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Bilna Sandeep Show. Today we have a very special guest on the show. Rashiq is a very good friend of mine, plus a very renowned architect in the UAE, as well as in different parts of the world. We’ll be talking about his expertise, the way he is growing his architectural business, and a lot of other things in between as well.
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Bilna: So, welcome to the show, Mr. Rashiq.
Rashiq: Thank you, Bilna. Happy to be here. I see this as a welcome break in my day, a little bit of personal time for me.
Bilna: Amazing, amazing. So, for our listeners, Rashiq, would you like to introduce yourself and tell a little bit about yourself?
Rashiq: I don’t know to what extent. My name is Rashiq, of course, as you just mentioned. And I’m an architect, originally hailing from India. I’m from Kerala. But I have worked in various parts of the world on projects around the world. I spent a lot of time in Europe, in London specifically. I was in Beijing for many years, overseeing two projects there. Then I worked in Hong Kong.
Bilna: That’s a lot of places.
Rashiq: It is a lot of places, yeah. And then, I take breaks once in a while. So, I’ve travelled around China for a year and around India for a year. A couple of different places. And then finally came down to Dubai around eight years ago.
Bilna: Nice. And if I look at your works, you have a very special style compared to other architects. I see there’s a signature style. Did you develop it over the years while travelling to all these places? And how has that inspired your designs as an architect, living and staying in different parts of the world?
Rashiq: Well, I’m always scared to put a stylistic angle to the work. It does tend to go in a certain direction. But it’s not an intentional way of going. It’s just how the design evolves. So, when we look at the design from the get-go, it’s not that I have a signature form in mind. The design goes through its life cycle, problem-solving, and then finally, it comes down to what these forms are giving you. And aesthetics is, I think, an important part of the work as well. And it just comes along. I like elegance. I like all my buildings to have some kind of elegance in it, because it affects the way people, how do you say, interact with the building.
Bilna: Very true. Very true. And I have also seen that you don’t give importance only to the aesthetic part of it. You’re also very much into the functional side of it as well. How do you bring them together?
Rashiq: I’m facing a couple of projects here right now where clients want to see. They ask us, “What can you show us?” And I usually show a mood board. And I had to tell them that this is just a mood board of what the design could end up looking like. But there are a lot of other factors in it. So, I always say that if you’re doing, say, a commercial project for a client who, let’s say, fits an interior design project for a retail establishment, if the design looks great, but if the design is not contributing to the business of the client.
Bilna: The requirement or the utility aspect of it, right?
Rashiq: Yes, then as far as I’m concerned, the design has failed.
Because it’s not just about what it looks like. You’re there as problem solvers. You’re not there as a beautician for the building. So, analyzing problems is the first and primary importance that we should have, not just in architecture, in any design field.
Bilna: It’s more about solving the problem of your customer, like whatever field you are in, the way you solve it is most important.
Rashiq: Yes. And it’s also the mindset of why are you doing a certain project? What is it that you can solve here? So, it’s always a fresh approach.
Bilna: When it comes to the creative industry, we are in marketing. So, we also get clients that come with a lot of crazy requirements. But those requirements might not really give them a result of what they actually want. I’m sure you’re also facing those very fancy requirements, but probably they are not what it is meant for that space. So how do you deal with such cases? How do you talk to clients and tell them, OK, I understand. But how do you tell them that’s not the right ideal way of going about it?
Rashiq: Research is a major part of the design process. Before we start any project, we always go through intense research, understanding the subject, understanding requirements, etc. Sometimes more than the client themselves. And then sometimes the client might have a certain perspective in mind of how they want the result to be. But these are borrowed perspectives. These are borrowed perspectives from what they’ve seen somewhere else. Someone has told them that this is what you need. But when we make informed decisions, that’s when the client needs to understand what can be possible or what’s not possible. Someone might have, let’s say, a villa of maybe 200 square meters, right? But they want a living room of 100 square meters because they’ve seen it in a picture somewhere. And then you have to go there and tell them that it’s I mean, of course, we can put a 100 square meter living room. But is that what your villa is going to be about? So, it’s about sitting down with the client, making them understand what the requirements are, what the limitations are. I always get told that, you know, a smart designer can resolve everything. I mean, they can resolve everything.
Bilna: They can have a good life for them in that space.
Rashiq: Exactly. Exactly.
Bilna: But in the living space, you need to be able to live in that space end of the day, right? Yeah, that’s nice. And now coming to the business side of architecture. Now, I think it’s been more than two years since you are a business owner. So, when it comes to working as an architect with another company versus running your own firm, what are the challenges you face?
Rashiq: We’re going to need two hours for this subject. So, I’ve always been on the creative side of the companies that I’ve been in. So Zaha Hadid or Ten Design or HOK. So, it’s always been in the creative end of things. And I was not completely aware of the business end of things. So, I’ve started to realize very quickly and very early on how important it is to have these business goals in mind: What you need to scale up the business, what to say no to, and what to say yes to. There are a lot of bad practices in the industry right now. And maybe we can talk about that later. And then to overcome these hurdles, understanding your self -worth, understanding pricing. There are so many different perspectives and angles into running a business as opposed to designing the easy part.
Bilna: Yes. I mean, that is something you have been used to for all your years of experience. But business is a new side of it.
Rashiq: Yeah, it’s a different mindset. You can be the most skilled architect in the world. If you don’t know how to run your business.
Bilna: It’s a different game. It’s a completely different game.
Rashiq: I mean, there are a lot of them; you know, not many people know them, but I know them because I’m in the field. There are extremely talented architects out there who’ve never seen any of the buildings, get any kind of fame or even any kind of focus because they simply didn’t know how to win projects or how to run a project. You know, usually in successful architecture companies, you would see both the business aspect of it and the creative aspect of it. Right. I mean, it’s usually a partnership. So that’s the yeah. I mean, it’s a long conversation. Yes. But in a nutshell.
Bilna: OK. Now, for me as a marketing agency, we get a lot of leads, like inquiries. People might ask you for this service, and maybe you’ll be in discussion with them for like one or two months. And then at some point they’ll say, OK, no, we found something else. Or, you know, they might drop off. I’m sure this happens in all industries. So, in your case, the kind of work that goes into the initial phase is a lot. Right? So how do you filter out the right sort of clients to work with? How do you know beforehand whether this is the right direction to go with?
Rashiq: There’s no straight answer to this, because a lot of the time the client might have the right ambitions. But they wouldn’t have a clear decision-making head. So, they wouldn’t know what the decision should be. There are people who make the right decisions, but they. I don’t know if it’s going to be controversial, but they try to extract as much free work as possible from you. Then take your ideas to someone else and then make them do the work.
Bilna: I myself have experienced that in our business a lot of times. So, I’m sure you might also have had similar experiences. Right?
Rashiq: So right now, I have to give an example. I mean, in the early days, I fell victim to this thing where the clients said, “OK, show what you can do. If we like it, we’re definitely going to get you.” I mean, any designer worth their salt is going to say or think, at least, that they are the best designers in the world, as they should. They should feel that. So, you work all night trying to slog this thing out only to realise that you don’t hear back from them again. And this happens a lot.
Bilna: And it’s a lot of hours that you put into it.
Rashiq: Exactly. Yeah. And then you hear a lot of anecdotes from people in the industry saying that, “Yeah, we also had to do all these struggles. We had to do these things” But at a certain point of time, like right now, I don’t do free work anymore. The maximum I give is a mood board. Which is a term that I don’t like either, because I try to make people understand that…
Bilna: I think they need to know the value of what you’re doing.
Rashiq: Exactly. So, I have an inquiry right now for… I don’t want to mention the name in case someone’s listening. But I have an inquiry for quite a huge project. Which just came in like yesterday. And the word is that a couple of other designers did come in and their designs got rejected. So, then my question is, like, well, does that mean that they had to give like full scale designs? And then after all that work is done, they just get easily rejected.
Bilna: That’s a red flag as well. Exactly. For us to work on it.
Rashiq: So, I told the person who bought the project to me saying that, you know, find out if they’re looking for free design and if it’s free design, then especially if it’s a big project, they’re not going to be looking into it.
Bilna: Very true, because it’s a lot of human hours that goes into working on them, right? Now you have already worked with a lot of big names, like in your career, you have worked with Zaha Hadid and so many other companies. Would you like to explain those journeys as well, like right from what took you to the architecture field and how did you progress there?
Rashiq: So why architecture? I don’t remember a precise moment or a time or a time frame where I decided that I want to be an architect. I think I’ve always just known that I was going to be an architect.
Bilna: Wow and you had it figured out?
Rashiq: Yeah. I mean, I would say that I was lucky in that way primarily because my dad’s been in the Middle East since 72 in Dubai, Abu Dhabi.
Bilna: So, you have been used to seeing the growth here happening and that inspire it.
Rashiq: Exactly. I could actually see firsthand, when you make changes in the built environment, how much it affects society, how much it changes lives, etc. And, you know, as a young kid, I remember seeing, you know, new avenues being built or new buildings being built and how that changed the landscape over there. How important it is to have, say, parks and recreational facilities. As a kid, I wanted to go out and play. A lot of it is lacking right now, but back then we used to have quite a bit. And I remember I was four years old, and I had already started sketching, you know, plans and drawings of how buildings should be. Also, because my dad used to buy a lot of architecture in theatres and magazines.
Bilna: So that always kept inspiring you.
Rashiq: And yeah, I wouldn’t say inspiring. I guess it was I guess there was some kind of inspiration going on. But we’re talking about the days where, you know, if you had to watch TV, there was only like one hour or two hours of cartoons and you had to spend the rest of the time doing something else.
Bilna: Yeah. So naturally you took to some kind of creative space.
Rashiq: Exactly. You can find any magazine around. I’m sure you would agree as well. When you were a kid, you probably read far more than your kids are reading right now.
Bilna: Definitely. We had no other choice.
Rashiq: Exactly. So, yeah, I mean, for me, I’ve always known it was only architecture.
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Bilna: And after completing your architecture, how did you start off with your career? Like, how was the journey?
Rashiq: So, before I actually started architecture again, I’m talking about like back in the day’s kind of time. I knew I would be in architecture, but I didn’t know what I was going to get into. So, I actually took a year off after my higher secondary school. And I kind of travelled around India, visiting all kinds of buildings.
Bilna: Nice. You wanted to get a feel of architecture before getting into it.
Rashiq: Yeah. And I think it played a big part because my initial education about architecture was not to the imagery of buildings but through the understanding of space. So, I would actually visit different places, and I knew what those spaces made me feel. Not that I took down notes or anything like that.
Bilna: It’s like you just felt. Yeah. You were learning that.
Rashiq: Yeah, so the travel also helped quite a bit in that time. And eventually, to cut a long story short, I joined the School of Art and Architecture in Delhi. And while I was there, a lot of the times when I used to design stuff, people used to compare me to Zaha Hadid, about whom I knew very little of at the time, because the Internet was in its infancy.
Bilna: OK, now that’s really interesting. I didn’t know about that.
Rashiq: So, I took some time to study Zaha’s work. And at that point, I decided that, OK, I’m going to work for this lady at some point. And, you know, I left it at that kind of thing. And back in those days, Zaha also had a research-driven design process. So, it was not about curves at the time. It was more about sharp, jagged edges because she was drawing from constructivist-era art. And I used to draw something similar to that at that time. And yeah, finally, I got to do my master’s. And I just got absorbed in her office.
Bilna: That’s where your career actually began from there itself.
Rashiq: My career. Yeah, I mean, I could say that I would say my design career began over there, but my architecture career began well back. I mean, I was in Dubai before I went to Zaha’s. I work with HOK. At that time, there were jobs available, a lot of jobs around, but for someone who was as junior as me, you would only be sitting in the office and doing CAD work. So, I rejected most of the job offers because I wanted to be on site because I knew that I was going to go into the design field. So, I wanted to know how a site works before I actually got into the design end of it. Right. So, I needed that education. So luckily, I was part of the design team or the site team for Dubai Festival City. So, I walked a small way before it was a mall. That’s how I started off.
Bilna: Nice. Now I have two questions from there. So, I’ll start with the first one. So when you joined Zaha, I’m sure you got some really nice mentors there. How important is it to have a right mentor as an architect when you start off your career?
Rashiq: Supremely important. I mean, I still have a mentor right now for my business. We kind of meet every two weeks. He’s specifically told me not to mention his name, so I’m not going to mention his name. But I think mentorship is very important because it’s very easy to go wayward in your design. You know, people tend to with these new digital tools that have come out right now, you get distracted and you start chasing an image. And you lose perspective of what your core goal as an architect is. And while I think that the image is definitely important, it’s not what you chase. The image comes much, much later to get these things fixed. So, I would definitely say having one or two good mentors would be good. I think for me right now, a business mentor is very important because I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes in this business journey as well.
Bilna: I think that’s what we learn from also. We are meant to make mistakes.
Rashiq: Yeah, we’re meant to make mistakes. But when you have a mentor around, who might make lesser mistakes. Sometimes I don’t listen to them either. And do it anyway. And I end up making the mistake. And, you know, they wag their fingers at me. And then you correct yourself as well. And you try not to make mistakes, but you will make mistakes.
Bilna: True, true. Now, the second question, which I wanted, like you were speaking about, walking the sites and, you know, so I also come from an engineering background, as you know. So, when I used to work in the engineering industry, I was on the commercial and contract side. But I have always seen the technical department where the engineering and structural and the design department where we have all the architects. There’s always something not matching between them. Sometimes they don’t tend to take each other’s suggestions. Sometimes what happens, I’ve seen a lot of design elements don’t always practically work. But I have heard that you are not that kind of person. You really take into consideration all the technical experts. So, what’s your take on that subject? Like, have you come across such situations happening on site?
Rashiq: I have definitely come across that situation. Sometimes I’ve disagreed with some of my engineers as well. So, there are two perspectives to it, right? A is that there are a lot of engineers and architects as well. But I have great friends who are engineers and we work together. They like working with me as well. But there are a lot of engineers for whom they have a textbook approach to resolving problems. And anything that I design is not from the textbook.
Bilna: So, you straight away have a problem.
Rashiq: Yeah. But then again, I would only work with engineers who have the ambition for problem solving rather than just giving a prescription for standard service. So, if you look at, for instance, the kind of engineers that even Zaha’s office works with, right? They work with AKT, Adam Kara Taylor, Arup, Burel Harpold. These companies are definitely engineers, but they are innovative engineers.
Bilna: They’re open to both sides to understand.
Rashiq: Yeah. And then the second aspect is, of course, and that’s why the site experience is so important for me. I know how a building works. So, you need to know how a building works, etc. Can I share my favourite analogy? That I always give, and I don’t know if I’ve told you this before. I always tell students or my junior colleagues, etc. that
You should compare a building or a structure to the human body. So, I mean, you can be a good-looking person or whatever. But if your organs don’t work, which is your MEP, then you’re sick, right. If your bones don’t work, which is your structural system, then you’re going to collapse. And if your skin doesn’t work, which is the facade, then you’re not going to have thermal comfort or any kind of insulation against anything.
Bilna: All of it has to go well together, right?
Rashiq: Everything has to come together. And that’s why it’s important to listen to engineers as well. And for engineers to listen to architects as well. Because there may be a vision that they are not aware of. But I have had problems with engineers, but only because they’re not willing to think outside the box and they want something that’s easy enough to execute quick solutions. And that’s not the kind of people that I like to approach either. So, yeah, it’s both ways, definitely. But I think the onus is on the team to come in together to resolve any issue rather than confront each other and point fingers at, which is rife in the industry. And I’m sure you know this.
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Bilna: Yes, yes. I mean, the progress meetings are like, you can just sit in one corner of a building and hear what’s going on in the progress meeting room.
Rashiq: I’ve been lucky to work with some good engineers who understand what an architect’s vision is, and like to resolve it accordingly. And I would say that I’ve been privileged enough to understand what limitations of engineering could be, so that I know that the onus is on me to change the design. And it’s a two-way process at the end of the day.
Bilna: I think at the end of the day, finding the right team to work together on a project, right? Having the same mission and then going ahead. It’s nice. Now coming to the team like now it’s an age of AI coming. How has it impacted your industry? Is it helping you in any way or is it negatively impacting you in any way? So how is it in your industry?
Rashiq: There’s a lot of debate going on right now. The subject of AI itself is vast. And to a certain extent, people say it’s dangerous as well. But let’s just focus on the design. Because I’m sure that it’s affected you as well, especially with Copy.AI and all these kind of things
Bilna: Definitely, a lot of it. I tell my team from my side, “you have to use them”. And I tell them like you are going to work with five clients in the place of two. Then that’s it.
Rashiq: Yeah. I mean, clients are also getting in tune with this thing as well. But what I feel right now is that AI at its absolute infancy is at like point zero two percent of what is capable of right now. So, AI itself need not be something negative. I mean, what I do find negative about AI is that it’s turned architecture into, again, an image. You know, you just put in the keywords and usually the keywords are, parametric fluid architecture, tower etc. And then it spits out a couple of images. You like a particular one and then you do this.
Bilna: Then the thought process gets restricted.
Rashiq: Exactly. But I have found it supplementing me quite well right now, and especially with some projects that I’m doing right now, is that when clients ask for mood boards, I usually find it very difficult to find an image that matches my thought. And in that instance, I’m able to put in the right mood board and show them that this is kind of what I’m thinking of. So that’s one part of it.
The other part of it is that AI, there’s a lot of AI programs and generative components for architects specifically. So, if let’s say that you have a 200 square meter hospital floor plate with, I don’t know, 20 rooms, one nurse station, etc, etc. The AI will be able to spit out for you these kinds of floor plans using information from all the other floor plans that it has in its database to give you 100 different options. And then you can pick one and you can say that, OK, like this one. But, you know, on top of that, I need to have ventilation cores and I need to lift lobbies. I need one separate one for the thing. And then it will recalculate it. So it could actually help us quite a bit.
Bilna: It keeps on improving when you add in more and more requirements to it, right?
Rashiq: Yeah. And then it keeps generating. So, we could actually use it as a plus point. There are also AI render engines now where you could upload one of your digital models. And it can give you different options for rendering that particular model. So, there are different ways that it can help you. But if we go with the mindset of AI, it is going to destroy our industry, then it’s not going to happen.
I also feel that, you know, architecture has a certain emotional component to it as well. And AI can’t really replicate that. It can’t replicate the experiential factor of what you feel when you walk through a space, etc. It can give you images based on different designs that it’s seen around the world. Or I mean, sorry, not around the world, but whatever database it has been fed into. And that’s basically what it is. But, you know, I’ve over the last even few months, this AI component is becoming stronger and stronger. But that’s also because there’s more and more data that’s been fed in by millions of users who’re using it. I’m actually in talks with somebody right now who specializes in AI in architecture. And I want to bring her onto the team as well, because if it is starting right now, we need to get on the way. Get on it right now. Zaha Hadid’s office has a specialist AI team now. I believe that they’ve got their own engine through which they have different plant generations, structures, and data feeds. It keeps calculating and it just gives you hundreds of options. But the choice is still a human emotion, right? You still have to make a choice.
Bilna: Yes, the final choice and the final thing come from us. And just like AI, another controversial part is sustainability. Everybody says, OK, we want sustainability; we want sustainable science. But how practically is it possible, or how is it being really implemented? Are the clients willing to invest in sustainability? I say it’s like invest because you need to put money into it, right? Maybe with the life cycle of the building, you might get a better result. But when they see the initial investment, how do you convince your clients to incorporate sustainability into the design?
Rashiq: So, this is a double-edged sword in a certain way. I think sustainability is definitely an important aspect, and it has always been an important aspect. But the reason why there’s this YouTube clip going on of a person who’s talking about architecture and sustainability is because he says that buildings in the past were more sustainable because they were built to last, whereas now the buildings have a certain life cycle, I think, like 50 or 60 years. It’s like the maximum life cycle. After that, you tear it down and build another one. So even if you don’t have solar panels or, you know, water recycling,
Bilna: It’s a traditional building, which is long lasting.
Rashiq: Exactly. But that’s only because the perspective in mind was to build buildings at last. You can still have modern buildings that are built to last. But that perspective is not in mind because the industry has become extremely commercial. So, let’s say, I mean, there are different ways we can look at it. But let’s say from an apartment complex point of view, let’s say in Dubai, for instance. You have real estate developers who are trying to build these apartments, etc. And they’re trying to sell it.
If you start using sustainable materials and sustainable principles, if you’re going for a lead-platinum building, then the materials that you use and the processes that you use are going to be extremely high. You know, you’ve got to give more open space, which means less square footage to sell. All these components come in there, and at the end of the day, the price is going to be really expensive. And if a buyer has the option to buy either this one, which is simply built, or the one that’s not so simply built in the same area, you’re going to go for the next one. And I think there are solutions to this thing. One of the primary reasons why it’s expensive is because, while there are a lot of solutions, people say that this is the kind of material we need to use, etc., but it’s not readily available. So, you need to get it from somewhere that is expensive. The shipping of the stuff itself becomes expensive. I think maybe looking at vernacular terms could be an interesting way of looking at it. In the modern context, you’re not going to be able to build skyscrapers using vernacular methodologies. And a lot of people are against skyscrapers as well. But it’s the need of the hour because of the density of the population.
Bilna: You can’t limit the space available.
Rashiq: Exactly. Right. You’ve got to think about travel distance and all these different aspects of the thing. So that’s one part of it. The second would be that it would be interesting or good if the government could give exemptions to developers who attain elite gold or elite platinum buildings. So maybe an incentive kind of thing So, if you can have, say, rainwater harvesting, not in Dubai, of course, but if you have rainwater harvesting, for instance, as part of your thing, or if you have gray water recycling, which you can use for irrigation purposes of your green spaces, then maybe the government can say, OK, your water bills can be 50 percent less than the other ones, or if you use certain materials for, you know, saving energy, etc., then maybe your electricity bill can be cut off a little bit, but maybe give incentives to developers who could use sustainability and the people who would dwell in it.
So, if I purchase a lead-platinum apartment, then maybe I don’t have to pay the electricity bill for, I don’t know, 10 years. Or something. Something of that sort I’m not saying that’s the solution. But I think there’s a lack of incentives. There’s a lot of talk about what sustainable living is. But there’s no practical approach to resolving the commercial aspects of what it actually takes to build sustainably.
Bilna: True. True. Great. So, I think that’s one of the very best ways is incentivizing people to invest into sustainability. I feel that’s a great solution. And now coming back to the business side of it, what’s your plan for the next, probably five years down the lane? What do you see yourself as an architect?
Rashiq: My dream has always been that you know, I ‘m going to tell my dream, my dream. But then, of course, you know, as an architect, there’s always, you know, you drive down the road and you see a building over there and you think it looks really tacky and you think like, yeah, I could have done better. I mean, I feel every designer should feel that way. You could look at the positives as well, but you should always think that you could…
Bilna: How can you make it better?
Rashiq: Make it better. So, then there’s always this interest and not just a commercial interest, but also like a personal satisfaction of getting as many projects as possible. But having spent time in bigger offices and having friends who’ve grown really rapidly after a certain point of time, you lose control over your design. And if you have a large amount of stuff, then your interest for the design gets largely reduced and it becomes about sustaining the office somehow. So, while I’d like to say that, yeah, I’d like to have an office of like 50 people working on like 100 different projects around the world. I would actually be happy with like an average of around 10 projects a year, but 10 good projects with a really solid, well -built team of maybe 10 to 20 people. That would be the best.
Bilna: I think only then they know the style which you want, right? As a founder, there’s certain ideals and goals you have for your company and it grows really big. How much can you communicate to the team as it grows? So, you want to keep your style everywhere with all your stuff as well.
Rashiq: I want to say that it’s not really a style, but it’s the attitude.
Bilna: Yes. Probably your ideals, right?
Rashiq: Exactly. The other aspect is a personal goal, which a lot of people love it, is that I want a really happy office. I’d like to be in a situation where everyone’s needs are met. Everyone’s happy to work. Their personal ambitions, aside from their career ambitions, their personal ambitions are met, etc. That’s nice. So, I want to build that kind of community.
Bilna: The work culture that you’re going to provide them. That’s nice. Now, OK, some fun questions. Why black? So, I always see you in black. And is it an architect’s thing?
Rashiq: It’s not. I would like to say that it’s an architect’s thing because you see architects wearing black. But I’ve been choosing black since I was a kid. I think for some time, my family thought there was something wrong with me and they had to take me to a psychiatrist to see what’s wrong with this. This is a real story. And the psychiatrist said the kid just likes black. I don’t know. I mean, technically, black is a non -color, but maybe that’s what it is because it’s a non -color. It’s neutral. It goes with anything. And I don’t spend one day picking out what goes with what kind of thing. I mean, it doesn’t mean that I don’t have colour in my wardrobe. I do have colour in my wardrobe, but it’s a safe choice for me, I guess. No real thought. No real agenda or crazy.
It just happened.
Bilna: I’ve even seen your logo. It’s black. There’s no other colour on it. Black and white.
Rashiq: Yeah. But you remember it, right? there’s no complication.
Bilna: Yes. And I think everybody knows you for the black and black
Rashiq: It’s unfortunate that that’s what they think. But yeah, I mean, it’s just something that I’m comfortable with. Maybe it’s like the Steve Jobs thing.
Bilna: Yeah, that’s what I know. In a way, I understand the point where you say like, there’s no confusion of choosing in the morning, you know, when you’re running for a meeting or whatever you’re going for, you have the black outfits ready. So, there’s no time spent on choosing them.
Rashiq: Exactly. But don’t be surprised if you see me like in a pink blazer later. I do have colour.
Bilna: OK. But that’s for the rare occasion. Once in a year probably when you have a Christmas party in the office and you are asked to wear red and white.
Rashiq: I had this one red t -shirt. I think you’ve seen me. I’ve got one red t -shirt, which I’ve worn.
Bilna: Yeah. So that’s a rare occasion that I’ve seen you in any color other than black. Now, coming back to the junior architects, right? I know you might be hiring as interns or your team, as well as juniors. What’s your advice to the ones who are just passing out of college as an architect? How should they take care of them?
Rashiq: Like freshly graduated architects?
Bilna: Yes.
Rashiq: I see a worrying trend these days where young architects, as soon as they graduate, they immediately want to start their own firm or pick up a job because their uncle has a clinic to be designed. And they think that, yes, I can do this kind of thing. But what I’ve learned is that, like, for example, in the UK and in the US or in Europe, in certain countries in Europe, not all of them, you need to have worked as a professional architect under somebody for a certain number of years to even qualify for the exam to call yourself an architect. So, you can’t call it an architect until that’s done.
Bilna: Like we have house surgency in India for the doctors, right?
Rashiq: It’s precisely like that. And I think that’s a very important part, because when you graduate from your university, you don’t know anything. You don’t know the business. You don’t know. I mean, maybe we should talk about that later as well. The business aspect of architecture. You don’t know how to tackle projects. You don’t know what kind of sub-consultancy you would need to do certain things.
Bilna: The structure of a project itself, right? It’s very new to someone coming out.
Rashiq: So, if I ask a young architect to design an auditorium, they would probably say, “yeah, I can design an auditorium”. And probably what you’ll have is like a shell structure with some seating in there with the stage. But you got to think about the lighting consultants. You got to think about the acoustic consultants, at certain angles in which the seating has to be done. There are back of house areas, each of them, which has different functions. Front of house areas, which have different functions, the different things you’ve got to look at. And you wouldn’t really know how to do these till you have worked intensely under someone.
Bilna: Under experienced architects, right?
Rashiq: And that comes back to the mentorship situation that I’m talking about. You’re not going to find a mentor unless you work with them. So, my advice in short is don’t jump into doing your own thing, but be open minded to learn as much as possible. And I’ve met some very open-minded young architects as well who just want to absorb as much as possible, which I always encourage.
Bilna: Nice, nice. And when it comes to hiring, this is something that I personally face as well, especially for those who are interns or who’ve just graduated from college. We even discussed that today, right? It’s very hard to get them focused. I don’t know if we come from a very old mindset. I don’t know. But I’ve seen that it’s hard to get them to focus on the work. Their ideas are quite different from ours. How do you find that? You know, how do you balance that out with your team as well?
Rashiq: I hope no one from my team is listening to this.
Bilna: In a constructive way, like, you know, how do we help them out more of like, how do we get them focused on the work?
Rashiq: I feel that because I mean, I can’t say for sure that this is the reason. I think maybe there’s too much distractions around. OK, I just want to say this, but I think it also could be an unhealthy relationship with social media. Because they see the end result of what somebody else is doing. But they want to get there without the work that needs to be put in as quickly as possible. So, it’s like design, right? In design, when you present a project to the client, the client is seeing the end result of it, but they have no idea how many iterations of the design have gone on in the background in order to perfect this thing. The final result seems to be obvious. But it wasn’t that obvious when you started off, right? You take out the boxes, you slowly earn your rights through the design.
Bilna: There’s a lot of mistakes, a lot of things that might have happened doing and redoing and everything.
Rashiq: So, I think it’s instant gratification. People want to get that instant gratification.
Bilna: As soon as possible. I want to be on the top of the career. Correct?
Rashiq: Correct. Yes. And it’s tough because I also see a lot of architects who are extremely good at using digital tools. So, they create these lofty designs, and they just put them on Instagram or whatever other social media they’re trying to put them on. And they think that because these designs are really good, they’re going to get a project. And maybe they do get a project. But when they get the project, what’s beyond the shell of the render that you’ve given? Selling through renders is a tough proposition unless you have everything worked out. So, I think for the younger generation that’s coming out right now, I’ve seen some that are really ambitious, and they know what they want to get into. But for the rest of them, it’s like they just want to work for the five days that they have and with the end goal being the weekend, they’re going to spend all the money partying with friends or something like that, which is not a bad thing. I mean, definitely party hard.
Bilna: I mean, sometimes I feel I should learn from them as well, because, you know, they are looking for a work-life balance, which was not the case when I started my work. I wanted to sit and work 24 hours a day, and I was happy and ambitious to do that. You know, I don’t see that level of ambition in the kids now.
Rashiq: So, I agree and disagree with that subject, because it’s not necessarily the work life balance that they’re looking for.
Bilna: Yes, it’s probably the fun element.
Rashiq: They’re looking for the life or fun life element of it. And the work is just to make enough to supplement that. So, I mean, I don’t want to sound very philosophical. And maybe because I feel like I found my calling very early in life and I work towards it. But I feel like maybe there’s a lack of purpose other than wanting to be famous or something like that. I don’t know. I don’t want to sound like a granddad. But I definitely think that in a lot of the younger generation, there is a lack of purpose for what they’re doing. And this is troubling because they don’t even want to hone their skill set to become a productive member of society. And that’s the troubling aspect. That’s it. Some are really good.
Bilna: Yes. I mean, even I have come across some who are really good. But a lot of them are not. So, I think maybe it’s that phase in which they are figuring out what they actually want.
And I think when I look at your journey, you have also taken like a sabbatical for one year after your career was somewhat set. Right.? Why was that? Like, why do you think you had to do that? And how was the experience?
Rashiq: Well, I’ve taken a couple of sabbaticals. I think the longest one was probably the one-year trip through China. And this trip was unique in a way that I went only to rural parts of China. So, I think maybe one city to start off. And then from there, I just follow a path that’s not usually taken. I’ve always said that, you know, the best way to be a good designer. Do you remember this one? It’s to learn about everything except design. You know, that’s the best way to be a good designer. Life experiences change you a lot. Meeting people changes you a lot. You know, I’ve been to parts of China where there was a village where I was the first foreigner to ever visit the village. So, I’ve been through these kinds of experiences and met with a lot of local people. I would work with them; the trade and learning are subconscious. At any time, you get stuck with anything, it’s because you’re too deeply focused on the problem. You need to dissociate from your regular life.
Bilna: So that you are really immersing yourself in the culture of that place and learning something from that.
Rashiq: Exactly. I mean, you need to shock yourself every day till you become numb to the shock and you don’t accept anyone. It’s also important for, you know, socially speaking, if you want to be able to talk to anybody at any point of time, which has helped me a lot. I mean, I want to say this right now that I’m pretty decent at networking. And the only reason why I believe that I feel that I may be that is because I don’t approach networking from the point of view of networking. I approach it…
Bilna: More like meeting a new person and trying to understand them, right? You are a people’s person, I think.
Rashiq: I think so, too. But I like meeting people. I like meeting interesting people. I’m curious.
Bilna: You are genuinely interested in everyone you meet. That’s what I have always noticed. You always ask them the right sort of questions. I’m like, oh, my God, he’s really interested in every new person.
Rashiq: I mean, it’s not something that I preplan or anything like that. But all this happens because of a natural curiosity to travel to do different things, and that’s why the sabbaticals are important. Even after my high secondary, I did that one-year break around India.
Bilna: I think during your when you were in China, that’s when you pursued photography as well, right?
Rashiq: So, I did do a lot of photography when I was in India as well. And it is part of my architecture course and then I took it up. I was selected by IFACS. In fact, I was the only amateur photographer to be. So, in fact, it means Indian Fine Arts Craft Society. But then once the career kicked off, it kind of slowed down quite a bit. Like I didn’t really pick up a camera for a long time. But when I went to China, I was really fascinated with the country. And it’s not like it is now. So, I had just gone around the Olympics time. So that was a time when China was really changing. So, you could see the old and the new that’s kind of mixing together. And there’s cultures clashing, a lot of foreigners in the country as well.
Bilna: OK, so that was a transition phase for them. So, I think you’ve also worked in China, right?
Rashiq: Yeah. We had like two projects over there. So, I was there on that as well.
Bilna: That’s nice. So, you’ve learned the corporate side of it as well as the rural, you know, the other side of China as well.
Rashiq: Yeah, I was genuinely interested in. The rural side was definitely more eye-opening for me, because on the corporate side, you kind of know what’s coming down there. So, photography became, you know, the means of travel as well, because I had a storyline for my documentary photography series. I just follow the storyline, and I just meet different people from different walks of life.
Bilna: Great, great, great. So now that we’re at the end of it, what’s your one piece of advice for somebody who wants to start a business as an architect? Like when they’re moving from their corporate life as an architect to starting their own architectural business?
Rashiq: To expand the question a little bit. I never thought that I would be a business owner. OK. In fact, when I left Zaha, most people didn’t ever believe that I would even leave Zaha. Because I was very comfortable there. But I moved on to other places. So, because I didn’t ever think that I would be starting my own firm or my own company, I didn’t take the right steps that would be required for starting something like this. So, if you’re a young architect who’s in a job, which they may or may not like, but have personal ambitions of starting their own firm, I would say start your groundwork right now. Learn the business end of things. Learn how your company does business. Learn how they manage time. Learn what kind of projects they go for. That’s one thing.
The second thing is that you’ve got to start building up your network base right now. You know, well in advance. I’ve struggled for like I’m still struggling. I would say, you know, making things turn because I’m still learning every day. But a lot of the projects that are converting right now or could be converting right now are the effects of the network that I’ve done in my early part of starting my company. Which is when I realized that I should have been doing that work a long time back. So, I would say not even two years, I would say, give yourself like a three year time frame because of the cost involved.
Bilna: To learn the business aspect of things, right?
Rashiq: But you also know that, if you’re building a project or a company in the UAE, you need a substantial amount of investment, funding, your business license, your office space, and the kind of people you’re hiring. Your sub-consultant, with whom you will establish a working relationship because you will require their services. Find the right engineers.
Bilna: You should have a pipeline for a supply chain as well. You know, you know exactly who to approach when you have projects. How do we win a project? That is also something we need to do.
Rashiq: And foster those relationships really well. So the minute you step out and you say that I’m starting my own firm, you’re going to have like an entire ecosystem who’s going to support you to do that.
Bilna: So, start building the relationship now itself as an architect.
Rashiq: Yeah. And identify a business mentor because you will need one.
Bilna: Perfect. Amazing. Thank you so much, Rashiq. Thank you. Amazing session. Thank you so much. And to our listeners, thank you so much for listening to us and do not forget to subscribe. And if they want to follow you, please let them know what the links are.
Rashiq: You have show notes? I’ll give it to you.
Bilna: Yes. So, I will be putting all the links in the show notes and see you in the next episode. Thank you.
Rashiq: Thank you.
Note: You can find Rashiq @ Instagram: rqma.design, website: https://rqma.webflow.io and LinkedIn.
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