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‘Working together remotely.”

— Nandini Somaya Sampat, Director, SNK Somaya & Kalappa Consultants

“Technologically, we have been learning how to work remotely efficiently and within the internal manner in which our studio is accustomed to working. This has meant adopting new methodologies and structures of how to work through the day. Whether it has been through upskilling by learning new software or learning how to brainstorm and design as team virtually – it has all been new to us. We have always been a studio open to challenges and believe that adapting to new situations by upskilling is essential. Work At Home has also allowed for being creative in new ways, whether it is spending time on new drawing or design skills or simply being able to read and adopt new information.”

“We find ourselves in the very fortunate position of being able to work together remotely. To have structure in the day and continue what we love to do has been so important to us all at this time. It has also been a time when the studio really comes together as one. We believe in taking care of our SNK family and ride through the difficult times together. This also extends to the people we work with and those who work on our sites. Our responsibility has to extend as professionals to as many that we can assist or keep safe and protected at this time. People are resilient souls and thrive on each other – our best part of the day is seeing each other on zoom and catching up on the events of the day! This time allows us to value our work and our families. As Indians we thrive as a community and it is the time to learn how to protect our community by being apart, and yet we have the power of technology that allows us to be together.”

“As a studio we have regular meetings with our colleagues on issues both internal and external that have an impact on the studio. We were fortunate to have anticipated the lock-down and began preparing a few days prior, the logistics and workings of our studio moving to a Work At Home setup. We also connected with our clients to inform them that we were going to be continuing to work remotely and that there would be a seamless transition for the projects. We also coordinated with sites to ensure planning of shutdown and connecting with contractors to enquire into the well-being and condition of labour. We connected with our sub-consultants to ensure that coordination would continue remotely along with meetings.”

“We use Zoom primarily to continue virtual meetings both for design internally and with clients. Ensuring that everyone was comfortable with the application was important. It also was very important for our studio to connect everyday for update status and to see each other! During these times, to keep the morale and spirit of both our staff and clients gives us the ability to plan the way forward and continue to do the work we are passionate about.”