As a child Mallika developed an interest in the seemingly disparate subjects of Painting, Mathematics, Physics and Economics. A visit to Sangath, the office of Pritzker Laureate BV Doshi, opened her eyes to the field of architecture and the opportunity it offers to amalgamate such varied interests. Subsequently, her bachelors in Delhi cemented this love affair.
“In architecture my interest in mathematics and passion for design merged naturally. During my bachelor we spent long hours discussing, debating, and ideating about the power architecture holds to create alternative futures.”
After graduating Mallika worked in practice. A growing interest in computational design brought her to the TU Delft, where she specialized in the subject. Cross-disciplinarity at the university led to her fascination with the idea of the architect as a ‘polymath’. So she decided to work on her blind spots, beginning with an internship at OMA in public affairs and business development.
‘I then worked at the university of Cardiff as a researcher, collaborating with physicists to explore what designers can learn from the structure of matter at the nanoscale. These structural principles were translated into a bespoke software application and architectural prototypes. Really exciting!’ These results have been published on various international forums such as SmartGeometry, Acadia and CAADfutures. Meanwhile she also continued to teach, before coming to ZJA.
‘ZJA feels like coming home! The large and complex projects here provide an excellent opportunity to work on various aspects from conceptual design to detailing, construction, budgeting and collaborating with various stakeholders, as well as business development and strategy. I also enjoy developing and applying computational workflows. And am particularly interested in how disruptive technologies are defining the future of architecture, which finds a perfect match in ZJA. AT ZJA I can be who I want to be: a cross-disciplinary architect.'