(“Text as submitted by architect”)
Jay Shah
From the maximus city of Mumbai, Jay Shah is a skilled architect. An alumnus of the Kamla Raheja Vidhyanidhi institute for architecture and environmental studies, he finished his BArch in 2018. During this time, his thesis, called Garden of Reconciliation, has won numerous awards, which also include the National Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Thesis. This project was also shortlisted as one of the top 20 projects across the world in Archiprix 2019, for which Jay was the only Indian to be shortlisted.
Jay has been working on a project in Nagaland since 2017 in close association with the indigenous tribes there. Working in such a remote area and many other such contexts within the country and outside has rendered a certain sensitivity to his perception of architecture. He has worked as a teaching assistant for a year at the KRVIA and as a teaching associate at the CEPT in 2021. He is currently the principal of DR&W, which he set up as a multidisciplinary design practice in 2024, and is a visiting faculty member at KRVIA in Mumbai.
Practice Ideology
At the intersection of thought and creation lies a pursuit both delicate and bold—hand tracing the unseen, lines unfurling like whispers, crafting a world of composition, form, and wonder. The act of drawing is not merely a means to an end but a process, rigorous yet deeply satiating, where joy is not only in what is made but in the making itself. Each stroke, a language that speaks across time and space, captures not just the essence of an idea but the sweet ache of its formation, the laborious dance between body and mind.
At DR&W, drawing is more than a tool of communication; it is an exploration of the intimate relationship between body and space, object and memory. This practice moves fluidly through architecture, interiors, landscape, furniture, and research, weaving the physical with the emotional. They create not only for the eyes but for the senses, seeking to evoke the familiar and the unknown, to build worlds that both comfort and challenge. Through a lens of thoughtful design and rigorous research, they seek to push boundaries, inviting discourse and experimentation in every project.
