Studio

How the work is made.

The studio is a working room, not a display. A small number of projects a year, drawn by the same hand that will sketch them, checked, and taken to site by the same hand again.

Site visit

Half a day on the plot.

Notes, measurements, photographs. Nothing drawn. The reading of the site is done before anything is proposed.

Sketch

Two weeks of loose drawings.

Three or four options that all start from the same reading of the site. The chosen one is not the prettiest; it is the one whose reasons still hold when the drawing is folded shut.

Drawing set

Buildable sheets.

The scheme becomes plans, sections, elevations, details, schedules. Every dimension is a decision that has been argued for and can be answered on site.

Construction

Site every week.

The drawing gets marked up on site, brought back, redrawn. This stage is where the design is actually finished.

The principal

Ar. Mitali Raol

Ar. Mitali Raol is the principal of 1 Degree Architects. The practice takes on a small number of projects per year so that every drawing set is finished by the same hand that sketched it. Site visits, drafting, and construction supervision are all done from the same room.