Originally from Mumbai, India
Currently in Seattle, Washington...

People have always been the focal point of my innate curiosity. Throughout my five year architecture undergraduate course, I approached my designs by putting myself in these different user shoes to understand their complex needs and behaviour. I repeatedly found myself asking - How can one design suffice multiple user needs? Will it be able to cater to the users changing needs? These questions helped me envision a broader perspective while designing. EXPERIMENTING INTERESTS THROUGH CO-CURRICULARS & VOLUNTEERING I consistently participated in extra-curricular‟s throughout my academic course to gain maximum exposure in allied fields of design. Being elected as the head of my college‟s National Association of Students of Architecture (NASA) and Student‟s Council - Public Relations enhanced my ability to manage and work in teams to solve problems through collaborative design thinking and community engagement. We conducted site visits, analysis, navigated brief requirements and successfully presented designs, thereby winning numerous national accolades in diverse design projects such as community housing, product design, landscape, and revitalization of unknown crafts through documentation. HUMAN PSYCHE BASED THESIS Having tried out various design approaches, the one that influenced my design philosophy the most was the human-centered design process, mainly due to my interest in psychology. The urge to solve urban issues affecting human psyche and cultural practices led me to my final year thesis project on “Architecture for the Deceased”, which looked into the current neglected scenario of architecture for death in India and redefining it into a place that helps the users gain solace. The sensitive nature of the topic needed me to adopt an observation over conversation based research during my site visits in order to interpret the user‟s emotions and needs, thus developing a keen eye for detail. Empathizing throughout the design process resulted in a highly experiential and tactful intervention that was commended by the jurors. PROFFESSIONAL JOURNEY AS AN ARCHITECT My professional journey has made me experience diverse work environments, thus learning from local to global design projects. My internship at Studio Matter, a small multi-disciplinary design studio, exposed me to working on local projects driven by sustainable and community-oriented designs. We upcycled a retired bus for waste collection in a village and revamped a defunct house into a vocational school, making me realize how small interventions can create a big impact on the community. After graduating, I worked at Upton-Hansen Architects, a multinational architecture design firm, where I was introduced to the use of upcoming interactive technologies such as BIM, AR/VR in architecture that facilitate designs and work environments. FIRST STEPS TOWARD UX DESIGN To dive deeper into knowing how the amalgamation of technology and design, help solve people‟s problems, I completed the HCI Certificate Monsoon course by Prof. Aniruddha Joshi at IIT, Bombay in June 2021. I worked in a team of five on the topic “Post-Pandemic solution for Schools in India” conducting extensive interviews, identifying user needs, creating scenarios and personas, usability testing, heuristic evaluations and arriving at the final wireframes after a lot of reiterations. We developed an app named “OnSchool” based on gamified and activity-based schooling. My insightful interactions with UX designers and industry leaders during this course particularly bolstered my desire to explore the UX field further. ​TRANSITION... Each inquiry into the field of Human-Computer Interaction became a transition to explore beyond the physical space we design as architects – into the “Virtual Space” that has emerged out of rapid technological advancements and ever-changing user needs. While digging into available resources such as Interaction Design Foundation and Udemy to gain knowledge about the field, I was fascinated to see the parallels between HCI and architecture in the way one tackles complex user-centered problems. Realizing the scope that the synergy of user research, design, and technology possesses to create a deep-rooted impact in the society. To further explore the application of design thinking beyond the field of architecture and construction, I joined Pineapple UX/UI Design Agency as a Digital Product Designer.