Architects should work honestly
Irene
Fernandez
07 February 2003
Mumbai: Each time I interview an architect or an interior designer, his or her background and the career path s/he has taken intrigue me. Dushyant Ghatalia, a Mumbai-based architect and interior designer is no exception. Hes a consultant and an entrepreneur.
After graduation, Ghatalia left for Canada where he apprenticed under reputed architects. During this time, he worked on varied reputed projects like Mount Sinai hospital; departmental stores, like Marks and Spencers at Montreal, Canada; public facilities like North York Civic Stadium and various other residential and office buildings.
Ghatalia returned to India in 1984 to set up an independent practice, Ghatalia Associates, with his wife Darshana Ghatalia, in the western suburbs of Mumbai. The architecture and interior designing industry has seen tremendous growth. In an interview Ghatalia talks about the industry and how it relates with the present Indian economy.
What
kind of work does Ghatalia Associates do? What are some
of its success stories?
Our company does any kind of work that stimulates, to
create something new, something that has not been done
before. We are passionate about doing something different,
whether they are retail outlets, offices or residences.
After understanding what our clients require and the budget
assigned for the project, we try to do what suits them
best. We avoid taking on anything that is not very clear,
and we maintain a lot of transparency in what we do.
Some of the prestigious projects that Ghatalia Associates
has worked on include corporate houses like American Express
Bank, Dow Jones Telerate, Oppenheimer & Co, Sony Entertainment
office, Asian Capital Partners, Kleinworth Benson Strategic
Capitals, entire projects that included residences and
offices of RNA Builders and Manickchand Group, homes and
showrooms.
How
do you measure and validate your results?
We try to retain our clients. I guess word of mouth has
really moved us on. Near-to-perfect coordination between
clients, contractors and architects is maintained. We
call this project management, and if the link
loosens, we fail. This is coupled with cost, concepts
and time management.
Is
Ghatalia Associates all about customer experience? Or
is there something else as well? How do you measure improvements
in customer satisfaction?
Yes. Ghatalia Associates is about customer experience.
Every experience is different, even if we were to follow
it by the management techniques we have outlined at the
company, although at times the client and contractor may
not want to follow it. Turning towards the project, though
results are never 100 per cent, success stories have been
anywhere between 85-99 per cent. The reasons for the shortfall
are mostly external factors like holidays, riots,
lack of coordination when client is not available, money
shortage