Graduating from the Rizvi College of Architecture in 2002, Behzad Kharas started his independent journey in 2005 – with his own firm ThinkBNK. Over time, the firm metamorphosed, got rebranded and is now known to everyone as The BNK Group. Since its inception the firm has been handling varied projects in the residential, workspace, health care and hospitality sectors. Today the firm boasts of a project portfolio with over 500 projects.

Describe the journey from ThinkBNK  to The BNK Group, and your other collaborations.

In the quest to ensure that the firm is not centered around one person's ability and name (in this case myself), I decided to start building an organization of talented individuals who are subject matter experts in a particular segment of design. I wanted to build an organization that has no relevance to one individual and thereby create a structure to build a legacy business that outlives the life of the initial owner. Hence The BNK Group is not about Behzad Kharas but about all these talented individuals who make the group what it is today. Having Kshitij Limaye as my partner for workspaces, Dr. Ahmad Mecklai as my partner for healthcare, Neelam Kothari Soni to lead celebrity endorsed design projects, and now a multinational team in Dubai led by Ms. Wei Azzi and Mr. Akib A Razak to lead hospitality, truly makes the group a multi-disciplinary organization which is trying to build a global footprint. The journey meant to have a shift in mindset from being a proprietary concern to a structured corporate organization. This involves a lot of process building, learning, failures and ensuring to implement or tweak process to reduces failures. Discipline is another major factor that needs to be inculcated at every level to ensure that the design practice functions like an organization.

How do you start your design process?

Like every designer, a good brief is very important. Understanding your clients brief, then analyzing it and adding your point of view in it is essential. Understanding context and climate for us is crucial before we even put pen to paper. In this process, research about occupants, surroundings, lifestyle, availability of resources, etc. facilitates designs that are relevant to the time and end user.

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