Name: Archana Tembulkar, Associate AIA, LEED AP

Title: Studio Director/Senior Project Manager

Company Name: OTJ Architects

Years in your current field: 20

What professional organizations or associations are you a member of? AIA, USGBC, NY Building Congress

What was your greatest professional accomplishment in 2017? 

Being promoted to studio director for the New York office of OTJ Architects.

What was your most notable project of 2017?

There were many in 2017, but the most notable has to be a project we are working on for Brookfield Properties at Manhattan West. It entails 63,000 square feet of pre-built offices on two floors, each comprising 31,500 square feet. Our mandate is to produce highly versatile layouts on each of the floors that may be easily customized to meet the needs of user groups in a variety of sectors, such as technology, media, corporate, and law.

If you have had a mentor in your career who was it and what did he/she teach you?

Other than my father, my most significant professional mentor was Sen Kapadia, Dean of KRVIA where I graduated with my Bachelor’s. Sen had worked with the great architect Luis Kahn, while he was a student at UPenn. He taught me the importance of paying attention to detail, a love for concrete as a material, always connecting the interior to the exterior, and integrating natural light with creative use of fenestrations that were natural to him in his approach to design having had the opportunity to train under Kahn.

What trends are you seeing so far this year in your field?

There is a continuation in the shift to open work space. We are also seeing a greater acceptance of vibrant color accents in the workplace and a renewed focus on collaborative spaces. These trends reflect a dramatic shift in the culture of the workplace. With more people working remotely, it is critical to have collaborative areas for group meetings. In addition, work environments must focus on the wellbeing of the users. WELL building standards ergonomic workstations, communal space, etc., are expected. Nor is it uncommon for today’s offices to include green walls, serenity pools, and oxygen rooms. 

When I am not working, I am…

A full-time mother to a 2 ½ year old and full-time wife.