Talk | Eliza Higgins + Cyrus Patell | Architects
CollectiveProject | Ten Years of Making: Learning through Materials

Date | Friday, 6th September, 2024
Time | 6.30 pm
Venue | BORI Auditorium, Bhandarkar Institute, Pune

CollectiveProject is a design studio founded in Bangalore, India by Cyrus Patell and Eliza Higgins in late 2013. As an approach, the studio believes in responsive design that is considered, personal and unique. Their approach does not begin with preconceived ideas of form/style; instead, it evolves through building on personal stories, material interests/explorations and an understanding of the site and its context. With each new project, the approach is fluid but specific to the place, with a strong focus on detailing and spatial narratives.

The studio's investigations occur at various scales, from private homes, schools and boutique office buildings to furniture and interiors. Material research and development is essential to their process, using regional resources and waste products to create contemporary architectural forms. Explorations include hybrid load-bearing wall construction using granite tile off-cuts, wood waste composite panels and a recently completed home in Bangalore built with sun-dried mud concrete blocks using the debris from an existing home on the site that had to be demolished.

Eliza Higgins studied architecture at Roger Williams University School of Architecture, and Yale University, in the USA. Before founding CollectiveProject, Eliza practised as a designer in the offices of Canon Design, Deborah Berke Partners and Diller Scofidio + Renfro on institutional, hospitality and cultural projects.

Cyrus Patell studied architecture at RV College of Architecture in Bangalore, and Yale University in the USA. Before founding CollectiveProject he worked with the office of Rahul Mehrotra in Mumbai, and Kohn Pederson Fox in New York. Cyrus enjoys exploring the intersection between digital design and handcrafted production through personal studies of objects and furniture.

The Loft Forum is a multi-disciplinary platform with an aim to foster thought, creativity, and dialogue.