Found by Architecture: PAU's Ruchika Modi on Origins, Bold Life Changes, and Chasing Euphoria

By Gail Kutac

Ruchika Modi is the Managing Principal at PAU and a registered architect in the state of New York. Ruchika guides all aspects of the design process in the office. She is currently overseeing the design of Princeton University’s newest residential college, Hobson College. Most recently Ruchika spearheaded the design of the Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, NY; an adaptive reuse project to transform a factory into offices with a mixed-use ground floor and the master plan and design of forty-one buildings as part of a mixed-use new development in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Before joining PAU, Ruchika was a Senior Associate at Standard Architects and a founding partner of Studio r&star in New York City. She has also worked at Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects.

Ruchika holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, where she was awarded the Charles McKim Prize for Excellence in Design / Saul Kaplan Traveling Fellowship, the William Kinne Fellows Prize for Study and Travel Abroad, and the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize. She received her BA in economics from the University of Delhi and a BA with distinction in interior architecture from the California College of Arts, San Francisco. In 2020, she completed the Coro Leadership New York program. In her interview with Gail Kutac, Ruchika talks about her origins in India and the social and environmental impact that’s possible through the tangible improvement of cities, advising those just starting their careers to maintain their passion, patience, and persistence.

GK: How did your interest in architecture first develop? What did you learn about yourself in studying it?

RM: I never played with Legos, or built matchstick houses, or envisioned fantastical structures as a child. But independent design and designing independently have always been a way of life for me. My teen years were marked by the insistence that whatever I possessed was, wherever possible, “custom made.” It was important to me that the things I owned be given life according to how I imagined them and in that way be “mine.” My flair in this regard was acknowledged as a child’s creativity and indulged somewhat because in India, hand crafting and making things to order was and still is possible at a reasonable cost. Not for a moment were this urge and ability considered as a possible career. It was not what a girl in my context could pursue.

In fact, it was hard to fathom that I would have a professional career at all. I was born into a conservative business family to a creative mother, who spent her time learning Indian classical music and designing traditional textiles, and a business-minded father, whose raison d'etre is rational thought. Women in my family were obligated to be homemakers exclusively—wives and mothers. By the time I was ten years old the thought of that preordained life made me miserable. But it took me another fifteen years, a degree in Economics, half-heartedly dabbling in several professions, spending a dispositive year designing my own apartment with everything from hardware to lighting to furniture custom fabricated, a divorce from an arranged marriage, and moving to San Francisco to pursue a degree in Industrial Design, to find architecture, or rather for architecture to find me.

In my second semester in Industrial Design, I was advised to take an architecture studio as an elective. There was no turning back. Architecture consumed all of me like I had never experienced before. It brought together my love of math, physics, and economics, and my innate desire for creative expression. It made me feel ecstatic—like a sneeze or an orgasm. I couldn’t get enough of it and would work through weekends and spring breaks chasing that sense of constant gratification. In hindsight, it makes complete sense to me given my origins—the product of an exceedingly rational businessman and a deeply philosophical artist.

“Everything I do I weigh against the enormous effort and heartache involved in my break from my life in India and starting over from scratch in the US.”

— Ruchika Modi

How did you get your start in the field?

In my final year at graduate school, I took a studio course taught by Laurie Hawkinson, who I had admired for a long time. I was fortunate to be hired by her even before I graduated. My five years at Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects (SMH) were exactly what I needed to gradually transition from academia to practice. I say gradually, because I was able to maintain my ties with architecture school by co-teaching design studio courses with Laurie. It was while co-teaching a joint architecture-real estate development studio that I first met Vishaan, the founder of PAU, who was then the chair of the Real Estate Development program. We formed an instant friendship and kept in touch over the years.

I had incredible mentors at SMH who taught me everything from how to develop architecture beyond concept design, which is the stage at which all projects in school hover, to how to detail a building, how to interact with clients and consultants, and how to organize a job folder. I consider myself to be in good company as many architects I admire started their careers at SMH.

Walk me through your career steps chronologically, focusing on significant moments and key milestones.

My career has progressed organically and as long as I keep at it and follow my instincts, it continues to move in the right direction. Case in point is the fact that I have never put together a professional CV or sat through a job interview. I left SMH to start my own practice, Studio r&star, with a friend and mentor, Starling Keene, and spent the next four years operating as a business owner, accountant, architect, and intern concurrently. On one hand I saw several residential and institutional projects, mainly focusing on gut renovations, from start to finish, which is invaluable for a young architect, while on the other, I dealt with legal contracts, professional insurance, fee proposals, and invoicing. It was of paramount importance to me that everything I did come across as professional and that the person on the receiving end had no idea that I was sitting by myself in my home office surrounded by cats. Much of what I learnt then has been instrumental in helping me establish the standards and protocols that we follow at PAU today.

Four years into Studio r&star, we merged with another architectural practice, Standard Architects, where I started leading my own team of designers, which was a new skill for me and needless to say, a critically important one for my current role. Eight months later, Vishaan asked me to teach an architecture studio course with him, which I did happily. Three months into that, he asked me to join him at PAU, then only a few months old, which I also did happily. The rest is history.

Where are you in your career today?

In many ways, I feel like I’m just getting started and that everything prior to PAU was schooling. The experience that I have gained over the years is finally coming to fruition. Architecture is a tough profession with a steep and long learning curve. I’m still somewhere on that curve, as I’m sure are all of us who chose to work in this field, but that’s what keeps me going. The types of projects that I work on at PAU are so varied in both typology and scale that I learn something new each day. I’m still chasing that sense of euphoria and gratification that drew me to architecture well over two decades ago.

Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges?

Everything I do I weigh against the enormous effort and heartache involved in my break from my life in India and starting over from scratch in the US. Was it worth it? At night when I lie in bed do I feel like my day was well spent? It’s easy for me to get seduced by the practice of architecture. I can lose myself in the most mundane tasks like drawing cabinetry details or writing proposals or calculating fees. But at the end of the day when I take stock, I need to feel good about the larger purpose that I am serving. There was a period of time when I felt that that wasn’t the case. One of the reasons I moved on from my own practice was because I realized that I wanted to make a bigger impact than what working on single-family homes could afford me.

“‘Architect’ is a gender-neutral word. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

— Ruchika Modi

What have been the highlights?

The biggest highlight has been discovering the alignment between pursuing my own happiness and the ability to use my skills to address some of the most daunting global issues facing us today, especially those related to climate change and social inequities. For me, this translates to designing inclusive, mixed-use, dense, urban environments that are by definition sustainable and equitable, whether it’s reviving historic landmarks like the Domino Sugar Refinery on the Brooklyn waterfront, reinvigorating city centers seeking a new, sustainable development model without losing its sense of identity like our mixed-use project in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, or creating an equitable community and cultural hub in often overlooked neighborhoods like the mixed-use affordable housing development in East New York.

Who are you admiring right now and why?

Having just crossed the one-year mark since the World Health Organization declared the current pandemic, I’m admiring that very small group of enlightened individuals, like those who led the global webinar “Emerging Disease, Wildlife Trade and Consumption: the Need for Robust Global Governance” hosted by Cornell Wildlife Health Center, who are seeking meaningful actions that would prevent future pandemics rather than the self-serving defeatist band aid solutions that imagine dystopian visions of the future with hand sanitizing stations at every building entrance and plexiglass partitions between socially distanced desks as if to say, “let’s make this way of life the status quo because of course future pandemics are inevitable.” I’m admiring those that can see how the health of wildlife, the health of our ecosystems, and our own health are inextricably linked. If we protect them, we will protect ourselves. Let’s focus on actionable ways of doing that.

As a strong advocate of animal welfare and rights, I have always subscribed to Mahatma Gandhi’s view that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. In light of the series of pandemics set off by unhealthy human interactions with wildlife over the past century, a respectful and humane relationship with animals and their habitat goes well beyond a moral imperative to enlightened self-interest.

PAU_ULA_Birds Eye View.png — Ulaanbaatar Village

What is the impact you’d like to have in or on the world? What is your core mission?

As architects we have more agency than we think we have. It isn’t enough to design a LEED-certified building, which on a Greenfield does more harm than good. We have the ability to advocate against urban sprawl, which in one shot addresses global challenges like climate change, social inequities, and public health. At PAU, we focus on social and environmental impact through the tangible improvement of cities. Public policy or social engineering may not attract future generations to live more sustainably but perhaps beautiful, vibrant, convenient, and humane urban environments will.

Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?

Man or woman, my advice would be the same—this is a tough profession so do it only if you love it, both the good and the bad. If you choose this path, then go into it with your eyes open and work very hard. Passion, patience, and persistence will get you there. For women I would add that it’s important to always remember that “Architect” is a gender-neutral word. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.