Shahid Balwa

Mumbai does not quietly accommodate bad decisions. It exposes them, season by season, until the building wears its compromises on the outside. That early lesson in architecture in this city is a conversation with the environment, not a statement made against it. It has shaped everything we've thought about buildings since. And it is something Shahid Balwa has spoken about repeatedly: that the finest residential developments in Mumbai are those designed with the city's climate, not despite it. Shahid Balwa on What Mumbai's Climate Actually Demands Mumbai sits on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water, hammered by a southwest monsoon that dumps over 2,400mm of rain between June and September, and baked by a coastal humidity that makes 32 degrees feel like 40. This is a testing climate, and it has, over centuries, produced a very specific local intelligence about how to build. The deep overhangs of the city's colonial-era buildings were not decorative. They wer...

The day-to-day is confined to the walls of rooms and offices. In the hustle of getting from one place to the other, we forget to observe the livability of the spaces and how they affect us each day. These spaces can significantly affect our moods and behaviour. Shahid Balwa , after spending decades thinking about how buildings and infrastructure shape the lives of the inhabitants, believes that the greatest luxury a home can offer is the intelligence of space and light. Shahid Balwa on Square Footage of Homes A large home does not necessarily mean a livable space. The key features are the interaction between the inner and outer spaces. Even if it is not discussed very often, the intensity of light in a room can affect the temperatures, energy consumption, and how that space will be utilized by the receiver. Shahid Balwa mentions that, given his extensive hospitality background, the obstruction on the pathways creates resistance in real-world experience. On the other hand, when you a...