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“Positivity is our biggest weapon against the Covid-19 pandemic, and we feel collaboration is the way to go. We try and participate in relevant webinars and gain insights to incorporate the same in our daily life and the practice.

— Ar. Shilpa Jain, Partner, Studio Osmosis, Mumbai

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the architecture and design industry and has resulted in a delay in ongoing and future projects. No sourcing of materials, no physical inspection, and missed project deadlines in many cases have incurred huge losses. Today, we share the insights of Ar. Shilpa Jain, Partner, Studio Osmosis, Mumbai.

“Many weeks have passed since the work-from-home policy, but we are in constant touch with our staff. We discuss different ideas on how we can liven up our work sessions, which isn’t possible on video conferencing applications. For example, we love doing question-answer sessions, sketching games, and we are taking up knowledge based  learning sessions on important aspects on lighting design, rainwater harvesting, plantation, waste management, and landscape gardening to counter the lack of space in Mumbai. We discuss ways to enhance our living spaces with our team members and clients and include our family in the same. For example, my husband and son plant saplings in our step-out balcony doing their bit, but more importantly becomes a bonding session.”

“Little joys of bonding such as enjoying the squirrels play around our huge tree and our balconies, watching movies and web series, and so on with our family have become more special. We listen to Ruskin Bond’s short story sessions on the All India Radio, look up new recipes to cook and bake, savor the sunset, listen to music, and engage in fitness games at home. My husband, Sameer, and I have started taking Advanced Excel classes for accounting to add to our skills and read a lot on business and growth aspects like management, investment, marketing, and mind-mapping. For us, it’s all about being productive.”

However possible, we have been promoting, food distribution to our contractors and migration workers, raising online funds, and remaining positive to combat the situation. Though I have designed several healthcare projects in the past, we have now realized the dire lack and need  of quality and quantity spaces for medical staff along with the patients. We hope to be able to work on Healthcare design projects to improve the quality of the same while we are developing our internal guidelines for the same.

“Positivity is our biggest weapon against the Covid-19 pandemic, and we feel collaboration is the way to go. We try and participate in relevant webinars and gain insights to incorporate the same in our daily life and the practice. We need to empathize and assist individuals in the special services sector as they contribute towards our health and safety while risking their lives. We have recently celebrated a decade of Studio Osmosis, which gives a direction to add some dimension and meaning to our craft as we move forward.”