Creating functionally graceful spaces, to serve the User & Satisfy his varying Needs

Pankaj Chiraniya – Founder, Chiraniya Consultancy, Akola

Since last two decades, Chiraniya Consultancy, as an enterprise, is visualizing & realizing people’s space requirements which leads to their success, power, peace of mind, happiness and in the process, they organize, integrate & glorify utility. At Chiraniya Consultancy, they have projects across categories including – residential, commercial, public, industrial & institutional architecture, interiors, landscaping, valuation, renovation, billing & estimation in the portfolio. With an eye for detailing, it blends all designs with trends & come out with innovative & and trend setting ideas. They believe in constant updating & upgrading the resources & knowledge so that the outlook remains forever young. Furthermore, they focus on experimented design, collaborating the use of form, colour, texture & medium with diversity in all projects.

Pankaj Chiraniya, the founder of Chiraniya Consultancy, is born & bought up in th small town of Akola in Maharashtra. He hails from a humble joint family where grocery business was the main occupation.  He has experienced the struggles, hardships and responsibilities of life his parents have undergone. His parents are his source of inspiration which pushes him to move out of the comfort zone and set new goals being unstoppable. Since childhood, he was an average student, shy and timid, and had never any qualms for the same.

Young Pankaj had to face major setback when he couldn’t pass class 5^th standard Maths subject. Having an inclination towards drawing and arts he started taking part in various drawing competition during school days & achieved many trophies in Drawing and Arts making himself and his family proud. He thus gained confidence and wanted to make a career in a creative as well as technical field – which no one in family ever did. He realized the field of ARCHITECTURE = Art + Technology + Nature, so chose the same as professional field even after undergoing a lot of objections. With a strong desire to create a beautiful world called ‘Paradise’ for everyone he took admission in Architecture College in Pune.

He graduated in BArch from Pune University with highest score in final year. Post which in 2002, he started his independent architectural practice. Currently he is managing a team of 200+ professionals handling projects from residential, commercial, institutional, interiors, renovation, etc. in his repertoire. Pankaj believes in the mantra – Utilitas, Firmitas, Venustas i.e., utility (good planning), sound construction & aesthetics (pleasing appearances) is the result of his conscious effort to create a functionally graceful space, to serve the user well & satisfy their varying & complex needs. According to Pankaj,

“Design evokes Emotions. A structure that moves you, touches you & inspires you is a living art. Rethink, reuse, reduce & recycle is the zero waste in architecture. This should be the goal for all architecture.”

Ar Charles Correa, has been his role model. His practice never imitates the past, it is essential to understand the traditional architecture of India in order to understand their work.  It is an architecture of recessions, of indoor and outdoor spaces that merge into one another, the use of which is determined by the climate or the seasons, and not by the activity within them. It is architecture of horizontal planes – of roofs and platforms, open colonnades, verandas and courtyards with fountains.  An intelligent response to climate lies at the root of all Correa’s work. The response often demonstrates a subtle and sophisticated understanding of the climatic problems which is derived, one suspects, mainly from observation. Sometimes this observation is of an historical kind.

Pankaj opines that architecture is a social art that touches all human beings at all levels of their existence everywhere and every day. For their ongoing and upcoming projects – this is the only discipline which encompasses the four major fields of human endeavor; humanities, science, art, and technology, actually putting into practice the professional inputs drawn from them. In sum architecture is the matrix of human civilizations – an authentic measure of the social status, and an evocative expression of the ethos of an era.

Like any entrepreneur, Pankaj too had his share of hardships and challenges. The main learning that he has gathered is that one needs to be ready to do everything. You need to know how to market, how to run the business, how to work with contractors and suppliers, and more. It’s hard to be an entrepreneur because you are always on the go, but it’s worth it.

According to him, all the project are dearer to him as a lot of heart and soul is involved in giving it a desired shape and output. Families smiling, living a peaceful and successful life is the final outcome that encourages to move ahead with the good work. Today, in this fierce world of competition, it is important to understand the requirements of a client and their psychology to be able to provide the best possible service. The knowledge of a trade is necessary but not enough. One should possess skills in order to be able to provide an excellent service.

Pankaj will soon be publishing his book titled “CREATING YOUR OWN PARADISE ON EARTH” – Practical Road map from the mountain of challenges and belief systems to creating yours dream home written. He has held Vice Chairman position for Indian Institute of Architects – Akola Centre, and has been awarded with “Design Award for Slum Development National Competition”. Hope Chiraniya Consultancy with grace itself with more such accolades in the coming days.