In a real estate landscape driven by speed, scale, and visual impact, the deeper role of architecture is often overlooked. For Ar. Sohrab Dalal, Co-Founder and Design Partner at Designplus Architecture, value lies not in spectacle but in how buildings work over time. With over three decades of practice across hospitality, institutional, and commercial projects, Dalal has consistently focused on legibility, comfort, and long-term relevance. In this conversation with Asma Rafat, Senior Correspondent, Realty+, he reflects on how architecture influences performance, from guest experience and learning environments to operational efficiency, trust, and enduring asset value.
You have practiced architecture for over three decades, across hospitality, institutional, and commercial projects. Looking back, what has changed most in how clients define “value” in architecture, and what do you think they still misunderstand?
Ar. Sohrab Dalal: Architecture influences performance long before a building opens. In hotels, it’s about how intuitively a guest moves from arrival to room. In campuses, it’s how learning extends beyond classrooms. In mixed-use developments, it’s about permeability and ease of use over time.
When we were doing Vivanta in Bangalore, the emphasis was on legibility: clear arrival sequences, layered public–private zones, and strong indoor–outdoor connections. These moves reduced confusion, increased comfort, and enabled efficient operations. It was not an exercise in visual branding, but in making the building work well.
In real estate conversations, design is often reduced to aesthetics or branding. From your experience, where does architecture genuinely begin to influence asset performance, whether in hotels, campuses, or mixed-use developments?
Ar. Sohrab Dalal: Architecture starts influencing performance long before a building opens its doors. In hotels, it’s in how intuitively a guest moves from arrival to room. In campuses, it’s about how learning spills outside classrooms. In mixed-use projects, it’s about permeability and how people inhabit shared spaces over time.
Good architecture reduces friction. It lowers energy use, simplifies maintenance, and improves dwell time. Those are not aesthetic outcomes. They directly affect revenue, operating efficiency, and brand equity.
Projects like Vivanta by Taj, Bangalore, or The Learning Laboratory at Thapar University show a strong emphasis on user experience. How do you translate abstract ideas like comfort, orientation, or movement into measurable value for clients?
Ar. Sohrab Dalal: Comfort, orientation, and movement may sound abstract, but their impact is measurable, and it plays out differently across project types.
At Vivanta, the thinking centred on how a guest experiences the building over time. By prioritising ease of movement and spatial comfort, the design supported smoother operations, encouraged longer engagement in shared spaces, and quietly strengthened recall and repeat visitation.
At Thapar University, Patiala, the priority was interaction and adaptability. Orientation was instinctive, and circulation spaces were designed to double as informal learning zones, encouraging constant use through the day and supporting learning beyond classrooms.
When people move effortlessly and feel at ease, buildings perform better. Over time, that translates into higher utilisation, stronger metrics, and lasting reputational value.
Many developments today are built under intense time and cost pressure. Where do you believe architects should push back the hardest to protect long-term relevance, even when it is uncomfortable?
Ar. Sohrab Dalal: The hardest, and most necessary, pushback is around planning logic and spatial generosity. These are often the first casualties under time and cost pressure. But they are also the elements that determine whether a building ages gracefully or becomes obsolete quickly.
Cutting back on daylight, circulation clarity, or structural flexibility may look efficient on paper, but it usually creates long-term liabilities. That’s where architects must hold their ground, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Climate responsiveness is now a recurring buzzword in real estate. Based on your built work, what design decisions actually make a difference on the ground, and which ones are often overstated?
Ar. Sohrab Dalal: In my experience, the fundamentals remain unchanged, things like orientation, shading, thermal mass, material choices, and passive ventilation, continue to matter and will continue to matter. And when done well, they perform without drawing attention to themselves.
What is frequently overstated are technological interventions that look advanced but lack integration or long-term commitment. Climate-responsive design is most effective when it is inherent to the architectural thinking, not applied as a cosmetic layer after key decisions are already taken.
Maintenance and longevity are rarely part of early design discussions, yet they shape a building’s reputation over decades. How do you integrate life-cycle thinking into design without compromising ambition?
Ar. Sohrab Dalal: Longevity begins with respecting how a building will be used, cleaned, repaired, and adapted. That doesn’t mean lowering ambition. It means being precise about materials, details, and systems.
When durability and ease of maintenance are part of the original design intent, ambition actually becomes more credible. Buildings earn trust when they perform well not just in year one, but in over a course of, say, twenty years.
For developers competing in crowded markets, what role can architecture play in building trust with users and investors, beyond delivering a visually striking project?
Ar. Sohrab Dalal: In crowded markets, architecture can quietly signal seriousness and intent. A well-planned building tells users and investors that the developer has thought beyond immediate returns.
Trust is built when spaces feel intuitive, resilient, and humane. When people sense that a project has been designed with care and foresight, it reflects directly on the credibility of everyone behind it. That, ultimately, is architecture’s most enduring contribution.
