Thirdspace Architecture Studio operates out of two locations - Belagavi and Pune.
The Belagavi Studio
Nestled along the precipice of the western ghats, Belagavi is a quaint and an historic cantonment town with a culture of its own. The city defies binaries, and lies at the cusp of several geographies, languages, culture and even political maps. In a way, the city provides the template for many of the projects of TAS, and it also provides a unique work environment for the creative minds of our studio.
The studio itself is a part of a fifty year old house that has undergone several changes over the decades. One can even also call it a micro-campus that has several spaces loosely strung around interstitial courts and gardens.
A Co-Living apartment close by extends this micro-campus in the immediate neighborhood.
The Pune Studio
Pune is the seventh largest city in India, and is a bustling metropolis that still showcases its unique identity and character in spite of being a part of the global economy.
The studio in Pune is located in the verdant, cosmopolitan and tony neighborhood of Koregaon Park. It occupies a part of the first floor of an office building and overlooks a large garden with mature trees.
The space of the studio is a reflection of the city outside, and is layered with several activities coalesced onto a dense floor.Ribbon windows on all three sides afford a 270 degree connection with the tree cover outside.
Journey of Thirdspace Architecture Studio
Established in 2002, the work of Thirdspace Architecture Studio serves as an exemplar of the intricate and diverse facets that India encompasses. The studio’s portfolio extends across multiple scales, typologies, and geographies, reflecting a deep-rooted engagement with the Indian urban landscape.
Operating from two locations, Belagavi and Pune, the former a small town by Indian standards, and the later a bustling metropolis and among India’s fastest growing cities, allows Thirdspace Architecture Studio to imbibe two ways of living and working within its very structure.
The practice’s work embraces a conceptual and an experimental approach, while remaining firmly grounded in the contextual nuances of its work. In doing so, they forge an innovative path towards engaging with localised urbanity, while also addressing global architectural concepts and issues.
Over the course of the past two decades and more, the studio has garnered wide acclaim for their projects, receiving numerous awards and earning recognition through publication in reputed national and international magazines and websites.
The practice serves as a vehicle for exploring the liminal territories between conventional dichotomies: nature and structure, tradition and innovation, rural and urban milieus. The appellation ‘Thirdspace’ encapsulates this ethos, denoting a realm that transcends conventional binaries, both spatial as well as conceptual.
Under the guidance of its principals, Namrata Betigiri and Praveen Bavadekar, and supported by a team of talented and motivated architects and designers, Thirdspace Architecture Studio embodies a fusion of diverse experiences, proficiencies, and skill sets. This collective wealth of expertise enables the studio to approach complex briefs and challenges with a fresh and distinctive perspective, consistently delivering novel and imaginative solutions.
Praveen Bavadekar
Founder + Principal
M.Arch. – AA, London
About Praveen
Praveen was born in 1972 in the city of Belgaum (now Belagavi), a small cantonment town on the western fringes of India. The city lay at the cusp of several borders, administrative, linguistic, cultural as well as geographical, and his ancestors played an important role in the political and cultural ethos of this region. These influences, of his city, his lineage as well as the pre-liberalisation period of India that he grew up in, have stayed with him all his life.
He embarked on a journey into architecture following his education at Bangalore University, where he acquired a Bachelor of Architecture, and later he did his Master of Architecture at The Architectural Association in London.
He founded Thirdspace Architecture Studio in his hometown, Belagavi, in 2002 and the studio is now based out of two locations – Belagavi and Pune. Praveen’s return to his roots in small town India signifies a conscious embrace of his heritage amidst the cultural diversity of Belagavi, a city ensconced in a unique dichotomy, neither fully rural nor truly metropolitan, linguistically diverse, and geographically ambiguous. This intrinsic ‘in-betweenness’ of the urban geography of his birth and life, also permeates Praveen’s architectural endeavours, encapsulated within the ethos of Thirdspace Architecture Studio.
Praveen’s praxis transcends mere design; it embodies a rigorous process of inquiry and investigation, relying less on intuition and calling for a more inquisitive approach. Beyond his studio’s ambit, Praveen also engages with pedagogy in several architecture schools across the subcontinent. His studio has been a fertile learning ground and has mentored and trained a whole range of architects and practitioners who are now tracing their own trajectories.
Praveen’s interests range from the practice of architecture and its study to tending to his ancestral farmlands in western India to even cooking and writing. Additionally, he undertakes the role of design mentorship within a forward-thinking real estate development company that he co-founded in 2018. This company, The Formist Group, actively engages in a diverse array of real estate endeavours, ranging from the provision of mass housing solutions to commercial spaces and is currently undertaking projects totalling about two million square feet.
This multidimensional and multifaceted approach to life and work is also what characterises the work of his architectural projects.
Namrata Betigiri
Principal
M.Arch. – University of Southern California, Los Angeles
About Namrata
Namrata was born in 1978 in Mumbai. She graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from The University of Mumbai and she pursued her Master of Architecture from The University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
After working in reputed multinational architectural practices like HOK and HED in San Francisco and Los Angeles, she returned back to Mumbai. During her years in the U.S, she was an integral part of the design teams for a multitude of project typologies ranging from Institutional to Aviation. Upon her return back to India, she was an integral part of CannonDesign’s Mumbai based operations and contributed towards several of their projects across the globe.
During her professional engagements in the US, Namrata has successfully qualified as a LEED AP, and subsequently, she also served as a sustainability leader of CannonDesign’s Mumbai studio, and so was a part of a larger network of leaders in the company’s organisation. Her passion for sustainability is ingrained in her personality and she also is a prolific horticulturist.
At Thirdspace, she has been instrumental in transforming a boutique, studio based, practice into an organisation that imbibes the best of corporate work ethos while yet retaining a non-linear and non-hierarchical approach to work. Under her guidance, Thirdspace has expanded to a new studio in Pune and is forging new connections with the fraternity.
She has successfully streamlined the processes that are required to execute complex projects and has carefully curated a design team that is aligned with the ethos of the studio.
Namrata’s passion for music, art and cinema have become an integral part of the studio’s culture and she has tried to foster an environment that looks at the intersections between cinema, art and architecture.
Our Team
Namrata Betigiri
Principal
Namrata Betigiri
Principal
Namrata Betigiri
Principal
Namrata Betigiri
Principal
Namrata Betigiri
Principal
Namrata Betigiri
Principal
Namrata Betigiri
Principal