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Jwalant Mahadevwala
Jwalant having gained professional experience at Mozaic Design in Goa and Mistry Architects in Bangalore he went on to pursue masters in Architecture and Urbanism at the AA (Architectural Association), London in the Design Research Laboratory. Jwalant furthered his professional experience at Zaha Hadid Architects in London for the next 4 years working on various prestigious projects including the Petroleum Research Institute in Suadi Arabia from the stage of conception/competition to construction as well as an unique opportunity to solely manage and design a sculpture for a private art collector in Chicago.
Kanika Mahadevwala
A graduate from the prestigious AA School of Architecture, London, Kanika has been practicing in the field of architecture and design for more than 10 years. After having gained experience in London at Hopkins Architects for about 4 years, Kanika along with her partner started her own design firm andblack design studio in Ahmedabad. Kanika has keen interest in Environmental Design and natural materials. She has researched and explored materials like Bamboo, Paper and Earth and had furthered her passion by working at the Auroville Earth Institute for about a year and at Ashok B Lall Architects in Delhi as an intern before taking it up in higher education.
Practice Ideology
andblack design studio is lead by Kanika and Jwalant Mahadevwala. They did their post graduation from Architectural Association, London. Following which Jwalant worked with Zaha Hadid Architects and Kanika with Michael Hopkins in London for about 4 years before moving to Ahmedabad.
The philosophy of andblack design studio lies in designing the process that leads to the ‘solution’. We believe that the design process should be robust enough to inform all stages of design, from concept to detailing. We constantly challenge ourselves to rethink these processes to suit the project.andblack design studio has in its core to achieve energy efficiency that deploys intelligent systems and makes use of natural materials smartly. Jwalant’s background in design research and generative processes combined with Kanika’s knowledge in sustainable architecture has given the firm its main ideology.
Everything that moves us emotionally inspires us. We draw our inspiration from complex interactions present in nature. The use of parametric tools and physical modeling are the primary ways we evolve our designs. We tend to use materials like metal, wood, bamboo, paper etc in ways they haven’t been explored generally in the larger context of design in India. We strongly believe in collaborative work and for every project we try and bring in individuals having relevant expertise in specific aspects of design and construction. We pride ourselves in conceiving and delivering projects that can be both iconic and meaningful.
