The animation of architecture

For 33-year old architect Behzad Kharas, chairman and managing director of The BNK Group, architecture is both vocation and dream rooted in realty. Struggle and success reside in him in equal measure. "It’s a clear-cut principle. If your work is not good, you do not get new work. It is the customer who brings in the customer. We are not allowed to advertize on billboards, etc yet we have grown exponentially since 2007,” he says. Kharas established his firm, originally named thinkBNK, in 2005 in Nasik as an architecture and interior design organization and moved to Bombay two years later. "Design, build, handover — we are a one-point contact. Interior design for the luxury commercial and residential segment is our key strength. Our work has featured among the top 10 homes in India,” he states.

Behzad Kharas

Dealing with the demands of upper crust clientele involves patience and perseverance! "I’m quite finicky about the minutest detail. Though there are so many projects going on simultaneously I do visit the site personally, with frequency increasing in the finishing stages. There is also transparency of pricing in materials buying, etc. We don’t force customers to buy from our set of suppliers. Roles are segregated. Design and development, sourcing and selection of materials, finance, etc are all with me; the day-to-day work is done by the second level. But they know that if it is a design decision, you have to go to Sir.” Smart technology makes smart solutions! "If there is a problem on site which needs to be solved quickly, they just click a picture and send it to me on WhatsApp. We have video conferencing and make good use of technology.” The firm is an ISO 9001:2008 certified design organization with over 100 projects to its credit – villas, residential buildings, corporate offices, showrooms and restaurants, integrated townships, institutes, etc. Their website www.thebnkgroup.com showcases their projects, awards and affiliations.
The construction boom of earlier years is now tapering, Kharas notes. Ground realities mold concrete thinking. Land with clear title is hard to come by in the big cities, prices are high and the ratio of land to actual saleable area (FSI or floor space index) has diminished. New regulations have brought in changes. The cost of construction has gone up and luxury projects which include club house, stilt parking, etc would obviously cost more. "The biggest headache however is that government approval systems are disoriented. There are different governing laws for different places. Building in Bombay is different from building in Tier II and Tier III cities. There is a fire NOC (no objection certificate), aviation NOC, heritage zones to comply with … If one says yes, the other says no. Then there is reservation of FSI for LIG (low income groups) and MIG (middle income groups). There is no clear policy framework.”

Exterior and interior view of villa in Poona

Kharas speaks of building laws in places like Singapore and Dubai. "There is a systematic, straight procedure, one-window clearance. They give you a checklist of all the things you need to comply with. There is also a time limit. Here, files are lying for three years! Half of our problems are politically motivated. It depends on the flavor of the season!” The environmental policy is also ambivalent. "You can ban sand/earth mining on tourist beaches, eco-sensitive areas, etc. But there are non-sensitive areas too. Many people are now using artificial pre-mixed compounds for plastering.”
Has the concept of ‘smart homes’ or home automation caught on here? we ask. [Home automation is automated control of home and household activity which can include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning), appliances, locking of gates and doors, etc to provide not just convenience and comfort but energy efficiency as well –Ed.] "The West has gone far ahead. The way it works is that there are actually several program remote controls integrated into one. It can be I-pad enabled, lighting enabled, etc. Automation does make life easier and costs have become more reachable. Yes, this would be a USP (unique selling proposition) for a project.” New architecture and design firms constantly enter the arena "but there is work for everybody.” There are grades of designers sitting in the market. Some may charge as high as Rs 2,000 per sq ft as fees, others may take Rs 1,200, Rs 500, or even Rs 200. "It’s a matter of personal requirement and attention. Large residential projects are slow-paced because of the rate at which sales happen. Profits come from interiors. It all depends on your portfolio and brand value.”

Sir J. J. High School at Navsari (alongside); bungalow in Lonavla

Though parameters are set out by the customers’ preferences, clients allow him the freedom to express his personal style. "I like a very subtle, straight line; nothing over-the-top or bold. At the new Sir J.J. Dharamshala in Udvada, for example, we used the same design philosophy of the old one – arches, huge corridors, maintaining the sanctity of the wells with clear glass, re-using the old wood and furniture, etc.” The designing of the Sir J.J. High School in Navsari was their first institutional architectural project. "We were quite young at that time; we did not have too much work to showcase. We were competing with architects who had designed and built for them in the past, really senior architects. We appreciated the fact that they gave us the work. We were apprehensive, but we worked hard and performed to expectations! It was a happy return! Never say no and keep serving the customer to the maximum extent – physically and financially. To get continued business, the customer has to feel comfortable with us.”
Tracing the story of how he built his life and business, Kharas narrates that he lived in Bahrain and studied in the British school there till he was 10 years old. "My father Noshir worked as an architect to the Crown Prince of Bahrain. At the time of the first Gulf War my parents sent me back to India to my maternal grandparents Nawaz and Bejon Desai’s home in Nasik and I studied at Boys’ Town there,” he describes. Graduating from the Rizvi College of Architecture in 2002, the young man started working in the field of signage to learn more about shop-floor processes like metallurgy, thermo forming and more. "After a one-year stint I joined Pronit Nath and Associates at half the salary I used to earn, knowing I would learn from him his style of design and concept development,” he states.

Rhea and Behzad Kharas on holiday with Yohaan

In May 2004 he joined Hafeez Contractor "to learn how one man managed 400 architects” and was one of Asia’s leading professionals in the field. "Unfortunately, within 15 days of joining, my father had a paralytic stroke and I left to be with him in Bahrain,” he continues. "The same year my mother Mahrukh and I, after being drained financially and emotionally, decided to shift to Nasik to look after my father at my grandparents’ house. She took up a job and was the sole breadwinner at that time. For seven months I was jobless and decided to quit architecture and join an airline company as a steward, in pursuit of an easier and colorful life. At that point in time a well-wisher told me ‘The world belongs to the brave.’ It struck me; I remained persistent and decided not to quit architecture.”
In 2005, a family friend asked him to design their villa and thus the firm thinkBNK took shape in the space provided by a schoolmate above his own office. "BNK is Behzad Noshir Kharas and since the domain name was not available, we decided to name the firm thinkBNK.” Word of mouth recommendation brought in work, success came from striving. A new door opened when he fell in love with and married Rhea, daughter of Dolly and Homi Vakil of Surat, despite the fact that he had a bank loan to repay and his nascent career encompassed sharp edges and smooth curves!
Relocating to Bombay in 2007, Kharas realized that there was a dearth of good contractors in the luxury interior design market. Yohaan Enterprises, named after his son Yohaan who is now four years old, was set up as a turnkey outfit for customized high-end projects, followed by BNK Realty Private Limited. "We now have three main verticals – consultancy, contracts and construction. We have executed projects in Delhi, Noida, Bihar, Madras, Bangalore, Bombay, Nasik, Poona, Lonavla, Karjat, Alibaug, Surat, Navsari, Udvada, etc. Last year we had four in Dubai. There is one ongoing in Uganda,” he mentions. In 2013, the three verticals were unified under the brand name The BNK Group.
The majority of youth today lays emphasis on remuneration, not learning, he avers. "They will jump jobs for Rs 2,000. One needs to focus on building a career.” Zoroastrian youth is no different. Their parents give them all the comforts of life – the best motorcycle, car, travel… and this attitude gets carried forward even after the teenagers turn into adults. Though some are doing very well, youth seem to lack the passion and hunger to achieve, he believes. The multitude and fragmentation of Zoroastrian organizations are creating fragmentation in our small society, he says, and that is very disheartening. "People like us don’t want to get into Parsi organizations or Parsi politics. We have to change our attitudes and approaches to each other. Keep religious activities and principles as governing factors but not binding factors. We need a unified leadership who can make life easier for those who are struggling. We have the assets, the facilities and the donors. It’s difficult to understand why we can’t come together,” Kharas is forthright and does not believe in skirting issues.
Speaking to Parsiana freely, Kharas describes himself as a workaholic who puts in a very long day. "I am not a party person. If I get half an hour to play with my little son I’m happy. Sundays are for family. There has to be a clear-cut balance.” Through the years of struggle, his wife’s support has been constant. "I’m blessed to have a companion like her. We share everything… She comes from an affluent family and is a professional hairstylist but she has devoted her time to looking after mom, dad, Yohaan and managing the home – that is a huge task in itself!” His grandfather Bejon Desai, former principal of Boys’ Town, was his first source of inspiration. "He molded my thought processes, values, discipline. I studied at Boys’ Town from 1990-97. If I had continued to live in Bahrain I would probably have been a brat! I have seen politicians, educationists and industrialists touching grandfather’s feet. Yet he has never recommended my name to anyone. ‘If you think he is good enough, give him work,’ is his belief.”
"I’ve achieved more than I set out to achieve. I have a decent office in the heart of south Bombay. People know me by my name and by my work,” says The BNK Group’s chief architect, as he and his team continue their task of space exploration!