Treading light: Redesigning for Human Comfort in a Heritage Building.

The conundrum of Heritage Buildings is that it is important for their survival that people continue to use them; while that very use may, on the other hand, be detrimental to the building. The trick is in making the human tread a light one, literally. On the one extreme, without the habitation of people, Heritage Buildings become expensive relics or face the danger of dereliction; while on the other, the challenges of adapting Heritage Buildings to modern comforts, predominantly electrical and Air conditioning outfitting, are enormous. As with many things in life, it needs a fine balance.

Before Pictures of the Chief Justice Chamber, Madras High Court

This was a design project we were very proud to handle, for all the prestige buttons it ticked off. We had the good fortune to interact with the discerning CJ Ajit Shah, who incidentally went on to become a supreme court judge with landmark judgements on progressive issues.

Shah was on the verge of upgrading his chamber with bought-out modern style furniture (quelle horreur!); with only a gentle nudge he was forever converted to the cause of optimal conservation.



The project process was instrumental in the establishment of the Heritage Committee set up by Shah at Madras High Court, a body that carries on the ongoing task of caring for the beautiful High Court premises to this day.

How Design Haven came to be

Some years ago, we re-branded ourselves as DESIGN HAVEN from our original moniker, HAVEN CONSULTANCY. In our initial days of picking out a nomenclature for our Architecture firm, we went with 'haven' to mean not only a home, but 'shelter' in general.

(Origin of haven: before 1050; Middle English; Old English hæfen; cognate with Dutch haven, German Hafen, Old Norse hǫfn; akin to Old English hæf, Old Norse haf sea; source: Dictionary.com)

We had clarified with the tagline, Architecture + Interior Design; but the tagline did not always get the same reach as the name, and so we got calls from folks soliciting HR consultants, both people who wanted jobs and those with jobs who wanted people. Worse somehow were a few who thought we were a charitable organisation (who provided shelter?). With the niggling sense of  shame of being for-profit, I had to regretfully explain, we were charitable, yes,  but not in any organised sense, no.

And so was born Design Haven, DESIGN being the word that had been missing from day one placed in front for emphasis, with 'haven' following it, to state in no uncertain terms that the organisation was but a haven / hub / shelter for Design, and not for the homeless, unfortunately. Our formerly rigid tepee was replaced with one that tilted playfully; design sported a red bindi for all the right reasons, and I must admit that the sequence of the words (DesignHaven or HavenDesign?) was largely determined by the 'n' of design terminating with a vertical line in parellel to the vertical start of the 'h' of haven. HavenDesign did not cut quite a seamless picture as did DesignHaven. A clear case of where typographical design made the decision, not us.