Realty+ Features TOA Associate Director Varsha Changedia
Team One Architects in the Press
Architecture Today is as Much Business as it is Design
Realty+ Senior Correspondent Asma Rafat sat down with Team One Architects Associate Director Varsha Changedia for a wide-ranging conversation on how architectural practice has evolved — from a discipline focused on aesthetics into one shaped equally by business strategy, client relationships, feasibility, and technology.
What the Interview Covers
Drawing on over two decades in the architecture ecosystem, Varsha speaks candidly about a profession in transition. The conversation moves across several interconnected themes — from how her architectural training informs her approach to business development, to the structural shift in how architects, developers, and consultants now collaborate, to what clients are actually asking for in 2026.
During my interactions with clients these days, the conversation is rarely about offering services, but more about understanding and gauging their business goals and transforming them to spatial and architectural solutions.
Varsha Changedia — Associate Director, Team One Architects · As quoted in Realty+On the evolution of the architect's role, Varsha describes a profession that has moved from linear, siloed project delivery to integrated, pre-planning-led collaboration — where engineering efficiency, sustainability, regulatory compliance, and commercial viability are considered together from the earliest stages, rather than sequentially.
On Sustainability, Technology, and What Clients Now Expect
On how sustainability has shifted from differentiator to deciding factor:
Sustainability is essentially becoming a deciding factor rather than a differentiator in many projects. There has been a tectonic shift on how clientele nowadays is overlooking symbolic green features and focusing on functional and tangible inclusions such as energy efficiency, regulatory compliance, and long-term operational savings.
Varsha Changedia · Realty+On digital tools reshaping how firms win and deliver projects:
Digital modelling tools such as BIM allow teams to simulate designs, identify conflicts timely, and visualise outcomes for clients, which optimises decision-making and accelerates approvals. Together, these technologies enable architecture firms to operate with greater transparency, collaboration, and predictability.
Varsha Changedia · Realty+On the capabilities young architects need to build beyond design:
The professionals who succeed in the business side are those who merge creative thinking with strategic, operations, and build effective stakeholder relationships. Financial literacy, negotiation, and data-driven thinking are as important as design fluency.
Varsha Changedia · Realty+The Decade Ahead — Urbanisation, AI, and Viksit Bharat 2047
Varsha's forward view identifies three structural shifts — rapid urbanisation, digital transformation, and bioclimatic development — as the forces that will define India's architecture and real estate landscape over the next decade. India's urban population and organised real estate supply are expected to grow exponentially, driving demand for smarter, denser, multi-use developments across cities.
Framing it against the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, she notes that the built environment has a direct role to play — infrastructure and buildings that are resilient, low-carbon, and digitally connected. For firms like TOA, this means sustained investment in sustainable design capabilities, technology integration, and the multidisciplinary collaboration that complex urban projects demand — from industrial corridors to GCC campuses.
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