Suraksha Acharya’s fascination with buildings began as a young girl when she discovered her brother’s LEGO sets and started playing with them. This sparked a lifelong passion that would eventually go on to shape her career. “My path started trying to balance the flair that I had for engineering and my passion for the arts, and this led me to explore my creative side. I secured a place in the undergraduate architectural programme at the reputed School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University in Chennai. An area of international research that caught my attention in my final year of undergrad school was the frontier field of sustainability and the much-discussed green revolution. There was no turning back; sustainability became a passion of mine and drove me to practice at TR Hamza & Yeang in Kuala Lumpur. During this time, I was involved with the design phase of many large-scale commercial and residential projects that were driven by sustainable concerns.”
In 2009, Suraksha chose to pursue her Master’s in Sustainable Environmental Design at the Architectural Association in London. Post-graduation, her focus shifted to broadening her knowledge in green building design and certification. She worked as a green building consultant with Design Partners in Singapore and a few other firms.
“Starting Midori Architects was a natural step in my journey since I wanted to approach design with a fresh, unique, modern, sustainable perspective to craft spaces that are well-lived.”
She is a LEED-accredited professional with a speciality in BD & C (Building Development & Construction), a GRIHA-certified evaluator trainer, and one of the few Green Mark managers from the BCA Academy of Singapore in Chennai.
Entrepreneurial at heart, she says she simply just loves being a boss! “I want my freedom to pursue my passion and create beautiful buildings that are climatologically responsive and are able to make an impact on the environment. We are living in the era of climate change and it's important that every single building is as sustainable as possible.”
She adds, “I am a firm believer in design that aims to protect the environment – using natural resources and recreating urban spaces that are designed to fully cover energy requirements without inducing environmental damage. This organic design process results in buildings that are futuristic and green. Whenever I design a building or a space, I try to blur the lines between inside and outside. It is in this delicate balance, enhanced by elegant aesthetics and energy efficiency at its core, that I supplement other strategies that make our buildings stand out from the rest. To move it a step further, we have buildings that are aiming to be zero-carbon. We are slowly developing standards for this that can be landmarked for case studies for the future of the energy code for buildings that we create in India and abroad.”
Midori gained international recognition with their competition-winning entry ‘Shanty Scraper’, a vertical deconstructed slump, built from post-constructed debris in Chennai. This won the prestigious Evolo Award in 2015 and was selected to be displayed at the Technical Museum of Vienna in Austria under the Urban Innovations Exhibition from 2016 to 2018. Another internationally-recognised design that was her take on a breathing skyscraper, won first place in the Sky High Skyscraper challenge. She calls it ‘Aero Hive’, and the design aims to challenge the common belief that tall buildings cannot be ventilated because of their height. It also offers a pause from the typically sealed glass boxes. “This led me to being widely published in national and international journals and books and landed a slew of ongoing projects which jumpstarted Midori’s career – from a six-acre oceanside resort to a net zero home in Chennai, one of the first that are IGBC-rated, and also a zero-carbon residence in Chennai.”
Although Midori’s journey has been slow and organic, she finds it exciting when well-informed clients with a vision for a sustainable future seek out the firm.
“There is a gender gap in design and construction, which is very slow to close,” she says on a serious note. “In many ways, architecture is a profession that has been dominant patriarchally and major top-level players have been men. Fortunately, in the last ten years, more women are known - from Chitra Vishwanath to Brinda Somaya to Sheila Sri Prakash, all women architects who have shown increased awareness of the industry, paving the way for other female architects such as myself to join their ranks.”
She is also upbeat about the fact that female architects at the top of companies are gaining more recognition and are highlighted in mainstream media. “Most architecture firms have fewer women in leadership roles in design and construction, and this will take several years and more generations to achieve total equality. However, I am proud to say that Midori Architects is female-centric and we have always given women opportunities wherever I can see potential.”
She admits that she has been among the privileged to be able to start her own firm entirely with her savings and to have grown it organically and slowly for the last nine years. “I've had a lot of family support in terms of emotional support and work-life balance, which I’m grateful for. A lot of women don’t get these opportunities. Also, sometimes financial institutions are deterred to give women the same opportunities that they would otherwise give men. This is something that we need to change as a society. I think more women should be encouraged to step out there and be more financially independent, and this is something that is definitely going to happen, considering the strides our country is making!”
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