Sunayana Jain, Founder & Architect, Atelier Sunayana Golechha

To help current students and recent graduates navigate the world of work, several USI Alumni shared their career paths and career story. Here the story of Sunayana Jain, Founder & Principal Architect of the Atelier Sunayana Golechha in Chennai (India). USI Degree: Master in Architecture, 2019.

How did you start your career?

Sunayana was born in 1993 in Chennai, India. After living and studying in India, she graduated with an Master in Architecture from the Accademia di Architettura, in Mendrisio, Switzerland. She has worked in prominent architectural offices across various cities in India and Europe. With origins between the distinct cultural landscapes of Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu in India, she has a deep understanding and appreciation of where she comes from. This prompted her to move back to India and set up an eponymous architectural practice based in Chennai, in 2019.

The practice has cultivated a fundamental philosophy that creates an architecture of value - spaces that are built with the intelligence of the environment, culture, craft and material around it. This is spatially weaved through powerful emotional journeys that realise the entire human experience. Every design is guided by an idea, a desire, which manifests to create a space which is non-referential and meaningful in itself. Such architecture is above all, timeless and worth preserving - sustainability in its truest sense. Spaces become containers of time that facilitate the celebration of life’s simple moments - a cool breeze on a hot summer’s day, a shared meal under the shade of a tree, or an idyllic night’s sleep under the stars.

All projects are fluid and interdisciplinary in nature. The work explores various facets of architecture and extend outside its realm to - cultural storytelling, curation, objects, writing, publications and curious interviews. All endeavours are connected and driven by an underlying pursuit of beauty.

What competences and/or skills acquired in your USI Study Program have been useful/are useful to your professional career?

The Design Ateliers are places of rigorous practice, creation and dialogue, which take place under/are centered on the strong mentorship of a range of internationally renowned architects from whom students have the opportunity to understand design processes and ways of thinking. One of the things that stand out about the Academy is its focus on core traditional design processes – haptic engagement through manually produced sketches and drawing techniques, and physical model making.

Call it an apprenticeship or a modern-day gurukul, what really stands out is the chance students have to be under this specific nature of tutelage of distinguished minds, who teach to inspire and grow, in the hope that their students may find a path of their own in this world, much as they found theirs. The program builds in students a free mind, a rigorous commitment to the work, and the development of creative skills and ideas with a pragmatic approach. The Accademia’s resources dedicated to research, exhibitions, lectures, juries and dialogues, ensure that the intense semesters on campus are a cultural hub of activity and growth, in an otherwise limited city life. Strong peer groups and an intimate learning environment unfold between endless coffees, Swiss chocolate and mountain hikes.

My biggest takeaway has been the spirit of inquiry we were so meticulously taught to carry with us at all times.

I have written more about this for Architecture Suisse: https://architecturesuisse.ch/fr/as/226/226-libre-learning-from-mendrisio/