CREST ARCHITECTS | EMBODYING DIALOGUES IN DESIGNS |BANGALORE
Innovative Approach with a quest for Pristine Architectural Design.
“Beauty is the harmony of form and function” –Alvar Aalto
With the creation of unique harmony of form and function, CREST Architects develops a seamless integration of natural elements in the spatial planning, forging an interactive dialogue of the built forms with the surrounding environment, incorporating cutting edge structural forms and emphasizing on creative architectural details while constructing their projects.
Crest architects, founded by Architect Vishwas Venkat and Architect Vikas MV, is a pragmatic and holistic design practice that provides a scope for a wide range of experimentation and exploration in architecture of various kinds of projects. The firm has ventured into redefining residential design of single and multi-dwelling houses, institutional, commercial and hospitality projects while providing purpose built interior spaces and landscape designs that complement the architecture. The firm is a collaborative endeavour that follows an innovative approach with a quest for pristine architectural design to create site responsive and contextually appropriate solutions. Every project is effectively personalized and tailored around the exclusive requirement of the project, assuring a fresh approach that is ingenious and suits every demand.
Ar. Vishwas Venkat did his schooling from Bishop Cotton’s Boys School and St Joseph’s Pre-university College in Bangalore. Although hailing from a family with an infrastructure business, his immense passion for buildings and the art of construction drove him to choose a career in architecture to create his own identity. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology in 2016.
Ar. Vikas MV did his schooling from Suvarna Central School and SDC Pre-university College in Kolar. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology in 2016. Being proficient in visual arts since a young age, he was fascinated by the craft of architectural design and aspired to embark on a unique journey of his own and venture into a different career path.
The duo met during their undergraduate studies and worked as a team on several studio projects which led them to realise their common approach for design and architectural thinking. Ar. Vishwas’s keen eye for details along with Ar. Vikas’s visualisation skills helped them produce interesting works during their academic years. They both were always keen on learning through practical experiences along with the theoretical knowledge. In 2014, when approached by a client for the design of a residence, they decided to make the most of the opportunity and started their practice, while continuing their education. During the course of this project, they were approached by many clients and this laid the foundation for their professional career and led to the founding of Crest Architects.
The duo architects challenge the challenges to give the best to their clients. For them every project is a new challenge to be accomplished with success. They share,
“We have been fortunate to have the opportunity to design projects with varied typologies. Every project is a new challenge taken up with a fresh approach which means immense research and deep understanding has gone into each project in order to deliver exceptional results. One such instance was when we were approached to design a 20000sft restaurant with an option of relocation. To achieve this, we devised a structure built entirely in steel which could be dismantled. This was a challenge as we were breaking out from the conventional construction and exploring a new technique at a very early stage in our practice.”
Their dedication and zeal with their excellent exceptional ideas made their venture capable of facing the hardest of the challenges. Having asked about the challenges faced with the initial customers and product development, here is what they put forth,
“Having started off young with a lack of finished projects, building the trust of our clients in the promise of delivering a dream project that aligns with our design principles came as a challenge to us. Also making them understand the importance of design in all aspects of the project was an uphill task. Having said that we gained their confidence through our distinctive ideas and rational approach.”
They further add,
“Incorporating the client’s ideas within the budget has always been important to us. While there have been instances where finding a balance between the client’s vast requirements and unrealistic budgets has been a challenge.”
At a very early stage, Crest Architecture could climb heights with the creative blended with technical skills of the duo architects. They could expose themselves to varied and unique designs and execute a large number of projects of their scale at the early stages of their careers. Achievements reached their efforts thus making them create a difference in the market.
The firm has received the ‘Leading Architecture & Interior Design Firm of the Year 2020’ Karnataka Award under ‘Residential Projects & Commercial Projects’ Category for the year 2020.
The architects have been selected as the Top Architect in the Regionals South category 2020 as a part of the CONSTRUCTION WORLD ARCHITECT AND BUILDER (CWAB) awards.
Their projects have been featured on Archdaily, the most visited architecture website worldwide and also in internationally acclaimed platforms like Volume Zero, Architect’s Diary, Archello, Interior +Design, Archidesign India etc.
Having asked about their most challenging and unique product they share,
“The site for the Floating Walls Residence, is located in a densely populated locality. An introverted building program was developed around two courtyards and a series of staggered slits have been deliberately positioned at unconventional heights throughout the building to allow light, maximum views of the outside and accentuate the spatial experience keeping in mind the aspect of privacy. Strong attention is paid to details while blurring the lines between the tangibles and intangibles.
Another challenging project is the international school project in Bangalore. The brief required us to design an integrated educational setup that caters to children of different age groups right from day care to higher secondary level with a wide range of well-equipped facilities including knowledge based and extracurricular activities. Incorporating all these requirements with a central idea of redefining educational spaces and creating a strong individuality to each space by providing a pleasant experience that would nurture young minds, was an uphill task.”
Most of their projects are designed with innovative structural forms such as flat slabs, suspended slabs, long cantilevers etc. These help in creating visually striking structures with clear forms that have identities of their own as stated to us.
The journey of creating unique products with their unique and innovative ideas continue. They adorn spaces with dialogues and feelings making them lifelike to the clients. They have great future plans to give to the world of design and Architecture a new turn with new developments and ingenuity. They say,
“As budding architects, we at Crest believe that design is a continuous learning curve and are driven to conceive varied innovative design solutions for each project. Our primary approach is to reinvent building typologies and contribute significantly to the evolving architecture. Ensuring that we create eco-sensitive and intriguing spaces, we intend to change the insensitive urban scape.”
Change for the better is their motto and they are doing it through Architecture and Designs for generations to come and admire.
We wish Crest Architecture and the Architects all the very best for their future endeavours!
