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Animesh Nayak
PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT
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Animesh graduated with a B.Arch degree from Delhi’s School of Planning and Architecture in 2002, and during this period he also interned at the San Francisco offices of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP and with the masons of award-winning Indian architect Laurie Baker on various projects in South India. Upon graduation, he spent a semester at the office of architect Ranjit Sabikhi in New Delhi, where he worked on a proposal for a new IIM campus. He joined the M.Arch Program at Cornell University’s College of Art, Architecture and Planning in 2003 and graduated in 2005. Animesh then worked for four years at the New York office of FXFowle as part of a team on various urban planning and architecture projects all over eastern United States. He returned to India in 2009 and founded, along with two other partners, the architecture practice – SALT, leading the design and execution of a wide array of institutional, commercial and residential projects all over India and overseas. In 2016, after the dissolution of SALT, Animesh founded Open to Sky – an architecture and design firm with offices in Bengaluru and Kolkata.
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Gaurav Banerjee
ARCHITECT
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- Gaurav completed his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2012 from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He completed his Master’s in Theory of Design in 2015 from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. Gaurav worked with M/s Prabhakar B Bhagwat in Ahmedabad during his internship and also after graduating, from 2012 to 2013. He was also an instructor at CEPT University’s Winter School, 2015. Gaurav is keenly interested in understanding the impact of contemporary urban transformation on the historic settings of Indian cities. In his graduation thesis, he attempted to formulate a framework to understand the transformative dynamics of the built environment at the juncture of rapid urbanization using the example of Kolkata’s Old Chinatown as a case study. Gaurav enjoys travelling and is particularly interested in travel literature. Music, sketching and reading comics are his other passions.
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- Anumoy Paul completed his Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) degree in 2015 from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He also completed his Master’s in Urban Design (MArch) degree in 2017 from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. He joined 'Open to Sky' as an ARCHITECT in April 2018.
Anumoy did his internship with MNC.ONE, Kolkata during which he worked with Ar. Anjan Mitra on an urban revitalization project in Kalighat, Kolkata. He also worked with conservation architect Ar. Aishwarya Tipnis as an Urban Design facilitator on an Indo French heritage project.
Anumoy is keenly interested in understanding modern trends in urban geography. He also enjoys watching movies, writing, sketching and reading.
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- Anirban completed his Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) degree in 2011 from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu. He worked for two years with Landscape & Architecture Offices in New Delhi and acquired valuable experience in the area of ‘Sustainable Landscape and its Impact on Built Form.’ He joined SALT Architects in 2014 and worked as Project Architect on both small and large-scale architectural projects in Mumbai. Projects included high-rise residential projects as well. Anirban joined ‘Open to Sky’ in May 2019.
Anirban has had rich hands-on experience in modern construction techniques and has a keen interest in contemporary multi-layered urban projects. His preference is to work on projects that employ efficient and minimally-invasive design approaches.
Anirban enjoys cooking, music and sketching. He has a special interest in solo road trips.
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- Sayantani completed her Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) degree in 2016 from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Upon completing her studies, she worked for two years with MNC.ONE in Kolkata working on large-scale PMC projects. Prior to joining ‘Open to Sky’ in May 2019, Sayantani worked with Ar. Aditya Goswami and also on an elite conservation project with Ar. Manish Chakraborty.
Sayantani has an interest in studying the impact of the built and unbuilt environment on human minds and attempts to strike an optimum balance between the two. Her graduate thesis focused on a non-religious place of worship inspired by Auroville.
Sayantani has a passion for painting and loves travelling and listening to music.
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Anup Gupta
OFFICE MANAGER
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- Anup joined SALT in 2014 and then joined Open to Sky in February 2016. He takes care of the office and manages all matters pertaining to the office very efficiently. His strength is trouble-shooting and he is able to manage complex administrative tasks with great ease. Anup enjoys interacting with people. He also enjoys cricket, travelling, sketching and drawing. Apart from this, he is a foodie and likes to experiment with new dishes.
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MENTORS
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Neville Mathias
B E, Civil; M S Arch (UC, Berkeley); M S Engg (UC, Berkeley)
Associate Director: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
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Neville Mathias is an Associate Director with the San Francisco Office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM). He holds a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Madras University and joined SOM in 1985 after completing Master's degrees in Structural Engineering and Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Neville is deeply committed to integration and innovation in structural engineering and many of the projects he has been associated with have won awards for excellence in design. He has worked extensively on tall, complex and large-scale building projects across the US and across the world. His recent projects include the 153 mt tall Poly International Plaza in Beijing, China, the 412 mt tall Al Hamra Firdous Tower in Kuwait and the 337 mt Jinta Tower in Tianjin, China. This is apart from the numerous other projects he has been associated with in the 33 years he has been with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP; one of them being the Mumbai International Airport.
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Alwyn Noronha is President - Hotel Projects of ITC Limited and has been with ITC for the past 43 years, having joined ITC in 1976 after completing his Bachelors' degree in Engineering from NIT, Surathkal, Mangalore. He has had extensive experience building luxury hotels, budget hotels, residential spaces and office buildings and for the past 25 years has been heading ITC's Hotel Projects team. Alwyn has been responsible for the construction of ITC's LEED PLATINUM rated luxury hotels, many of which are iconic properties. His project management skills and expertise are known to be among the best in the country. He has the distinction of having worked along with some of the world's best-known architectural firms on ITC's hotel projects.
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Shashank Vira is a Founding Partner and Chief Executive of The
Hearth Education Advisors. He has over 30 years of experience in
academics, education strategy and operations, and social
infrastructure financing. He has been the CEO of international
companies, led private equity investments and debt financing of
education projects. Shashank has established several high quality
international academic institutions, master-planned and
overseen the development of education townships and founded
technology-in-education companies. He has also headed the
curriculum, affiliation, research and development division of a national examination board in India.
He is on the Board of some of the leading schools, colleges and educational institutions. He has
taught at the school and college levels in India and the UK.
Shashank has an M.Phil from the University of Cambridge and an honours degree in Physics from St.Stephen's College.
The firm benefits tremendously from his expertise and experience, when working on projects for educational institutions.
