Katherine Chia and Arjun Desai are the visionary founders of Desai Chia Architecture. Since 1996, they have built a reputation for authentic design, crafting inspiring environments that reflect their function and materials. Desai Chia’s diverse portfolio spans cultural, residential, and commercial projects, along with product design commissions and artistic collaborations. Their work is ongoing across the United States and internationally.

In 2018, Architecture Magazine ranked Desai Chia Architecture 19th in the nation for design excellence. By 2021, the firm was an Architizer A+ Firm Awards Finalist for Private Residential Architecture and received special mentions for Best in North America and Best Small Firm categories. The firm’s projects have garnered extensive publication and numerous accolades, including the AIA Institute Honor Award, AAP Small Firm of the Year Award for Multidisciplinary Architecture, multiple American Architecture Awards, AIA Design Awards, Interior Design Best of Year Awards, the IDEA Award, and several Good Design Awards. Their work has been showcased at the Center for Architecture, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Istanbul Biennale, Salone del Mobile Milan, the Herman Miller showrooms in New York and LA, and Parsons The New School of Design.

Katherine Chia holds a Master of Architecture from M.I.T. and a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College. Before founding Desai Chia Architecture, she collaborated with Maya Lin on various art and architecture commissions. Chia is a registered architect in New York and Connecticut.

She has taught in the architecture department at Parsons The New School of Design, co-chaired the Van Alen Institute’s Program Leadership Council, and served on the boards of the United Nations International School and the AIA New York Chapter. Currently, she is a Board member of the Center for Architecture, the International Center of Photography, and a Trustee Emerita of Amherst College.

Arjun Desai was raised in New Delhi and Mumbai, India. Before founding Desai Chia Architecture, he worked at SHCA/NY on several civic projects in New York and Washington, D.C. Desai earned his Master of Architecture from M.I.T. and his Bachelor of Arts from Bennington College. He is a registered architect in New York and an active member of AIA NY.

GDN: Katherine, can you describe the underlying philosophy that guides your design approach at Desai Chia Architecture?

Katherine: Our philosophy is a living, breathing, evolving thing. At the core of it, we strive to give a voice to our clients’ aspirations, their community, and the inherent attributes of the site. We care about well-crafted details and the marriage between architecture and structural design, materials and light, landscape and building– the power of these relationships provide us with renewed inspiration.

We hope that every time someone spends time in, and then returns to, one of our buildings, they discover new details, visceral experiences, and moments of wonder that they hadn’t seen before.

Asking a well-crafted question, knowing how to edit and tailor throughout the design process, and being willing to take a step back from a challenging situation and analyse a problem through a fresh lens are all aspects of our process that we have honed over the years.

GDN: Collaboration seems to be a key aspect of your work. How do you foster a collaborative environment within your team?

Katherine: Collaboration can be achieved and measured in many different ways. My partner and I want our collaborators to learn from us, from each other, from the clients, from the consultants, and from the team that builds the projects. We expose our team to a wide variety of experiences and ask them to stretch themselves intellectually so they can grow professionally.

Our staff participate in client & consultant meetings, visit the job sites, and dive deep into the design and drawing production process. We ask them to advocate for what is in the best interest of the client and the project. As they watch the process unfolding, and see the many layers of creative exploration, research, and technical complexity, they also see the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and clear communication across the team.

There’s a sense of importance for a job really well done, where the final end result is inspiring, enduring architecture & a welcoming, anchoring sense of place. It’s really hard for one person to do it all– it takes a very committed team to do it really well.

GDN: Light, materials, and space are integral elements in your designs. How do you balance these aspects to create a cohesive and harmonious architectural experience?

Katherine: Light activates materials. We’ve always had a strong respect for the impact of light on architecture. Light and shadow are powerful tools in our arsenal, and learning to craft and sculpt with them is an ongoing theme in our work. We think of light as the champion of material– it gives voice to volume and texture. Because of its ephemeral and elusive qualities, light activates spaces in a scenographic way that changes over the course of a day and over the course of seasons. The way we integrate light and materials into our projects draws people into spaces that are evocative and tactile. We have been fortunate to work with lighting consultant and artist Christine Sciulli over the last 25 years– she has merged lighting into our work so that architecture and light details are inextricably intertwined.

GDN: Your portfolio includes a wide range of projects, from residential to commercial and institutional. How do you approach design differently for each of these contexts?

We’ve found that instead of trying to approach different typologies with different design methodology, there’s synergy in trying to understand what different typologies might have in common or what they can learn from each other, and then layering on design themes that are unique to the clients and the site.
We have had commercial clients hire us to design their home because they loved the way we designed their office headquarters that was so inviting that it felt like a ‘home away from home’.

We have had residential clients hire us to design their offices because they loved the way their home offered the flexibility to host social events that are welcoming for multi-generational family members and guests, in much the same way that an office supports a diverse community. Our institutional work is all about bringing people together to engage in conversation, learning, and collaboration; we’ve learned a lot by listening to our clients and putting ideas in front of them that challenge their preconceptions. The tussling and questioning of standard solutions helps us all to shake off our baggage and tackle a problem with fresh solutions and ideas..

GDN: How has your education at M.I.T. and Amherst College influenced your design sensibilities and approach to architecture?

Katherine: My partner and I both attended liberal arts colleges (he graduated from Bennington College, I graduated from Amherst College) before entering architecture school. Having 4 years to explore different fields of learning, meet students who were equally as curious about a liberal arts education, and learning the art of a well-crafted question… that was an incredibly strong foundation for a career in architecture. I spent 3 of those years taking courses in philosophy, fine arts, math, anthropology, greek civ, psychology, and political science.

My junior year abroad was spent studying architecture in Denmark at the Danish International Studies program where I met forty B. Arch. students from around the world. That experience cemented my interest in becoming an architect. I matriculated to MIT straight after graduating from Amherst. I have to admit that during the 3 years of architecture grad school I really missed the interdisciplinary pedagogy of a liberal arts education. So when I graduated and eventually started the firm with my partner and husband, Arjun Desai (we met in grad school) it was a chance to build up a process that was rich with inspiration from a range of fields and bring back the interdisciplinary thinking that came from my Amherst education.

GDN: In 2023, you have been awarded with Future House International Residential Awards. How do you feel about this recognition and how do you visualise the future of architecture?

Katherine: We design homes for our clients, and tailor each project to their specific goals and needs while also trying to address larger issues about the family, society, and the environment within the microcosm of a single family residence. The forms and materials for each project are the culmination of deep dives into our clients’ histories, the history of a place, and strategies for making enduring buildings that continue to inspire.

It was such an honor to receive the Future House International Residential Award and know that our work can inform residential design and offer ways to improve people’s lives. In looking at the range of talent represented in our fellow award recipients, it’s clear that the jury was very rigorous in their deliberations. I’ve learned something new from every award-winning project and appreciate the innovation that colleagues are striving for. The Future House International Residential Awards program definitely raises the bar for all of us.

GDN: Katherine, are there lessons you’ve learned throughout your career that you wish someone had shared with you earlier for the young architects who just enter the field?

Katherine: That’s the exciting and amazing thing about a career in architecture…. the field is so challenging and complex that you can literally learn something new and fundamentally relevant every day. It’s never boring. My main advice to young architects is that no task is too small or too beneath you– master each task so you can teach someone else how to do it, and always think about how you can improve the design for the end user and the community that surrounds them.

Volunteer to visit the job site and have conversations with the people who are building your buildings, because that’s where you will see your drawings translated to reality, and you’ll see how important it is to use your drawings to communicate. Sketching by hand helps you think through problem solving and how something gets made– don’t let computer renderings lull you into design complacency.