In architectural practice, forging partnerships through collaborations and exchange of ideas can direct a practice's efforts towards the creation of meaningful design. <rt-red>Truly harnessing the strengths of one's team, the client and stakeholders' vision and approach—not sitting across the table but side by side, engaging in deep dialogue to understand the business needs, challenges and expectations invariably allows for successful results to emerge<rt-red>. For example, our retail identity development project for Royal Enfield involved continuous engagement with the marketing team, the product development team, branding and communication design consultants as well as the retail identity program to emerge that fully aligned with the brand's expectation of perception shift.

Diving deep into a client's brief and the site's context aids discovery and enables a comprehensive understanding of the client's needs, resulting in an impactful and empathetic design response. Ensuring that the process makes a positive impact on all collaborators inspires and makes the journey delightful. Iterative processes can leave room for ambiguity. <rt-red>For instance, the adaptive reuse of industrial structures at Imagine Studios, a 34-acre mixed-use development by Godrej in Vikhroli, Mumbai, was challenging and demanded ideas from the multiple teams.<rt-red>

Celebrating the context and taking risks can offer the possibility to infuse, influence and bring something new to the world in every small or big assignment. Questioning existing norms, <rt-red>experimenting with the brief while taking the client into confidence and engaging all the stakeholders allows design to move into newer dimensions<rt-red>. For instance, making craft traditions of our country relevant for weaving a powerful storyboard for Masti, an Indian-inspired restaurant in Dubai, helped us deliver an India Modern experience at a globally benchmarked F&B destination.

These experiences come together to form the basis of the design process across projects of varied scales, and form our principles of Conscious Design—<rt-red>an approach that celebrates local resources, cultural influences, an inclusive process and keen attention to detail<rt-red>.