Moving Ahead: Desai Chia’s Katherine Chia on Thoughtful Growth, Dexterity, and Humor
By Julia Gamolina
Katherine Chia, FAIA is a founding principal of Desai Chia Architecture. Since 1996, she and her partner & husband, Arjun Desai, have established the firm’s reputation for authentic design, creating inspiring environments expressive of light, materials, and spaces that foster collaboration; Desai Chia’s portfolio includes residential, commercial, and institutional projects as well as commissions for product design and collaborations with artists. She earned her Master of Architecture degree from M.I.T. and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College.
In her interview with Julia Gamolina, Katherine talks about starting her career with Maya Lin and the imperfect balance of owning a business, advising those just starting their careers to take initiative.
JG: How did your interest in architecture first start?
KC: I was very interested in making as a child; I did a lot of sewing and painting. My grandfather also took me into his workshop often, and we were always tooling around, using everything from small power tools to hammer and nails. At some point, my parents bought a house and it was designed by an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. His name is Edgar Tafel - Tafel Hall at AIA New York is named after him. I got to meet him a few times because my parents put on an addition to the house. That was an influence as well, in terms of understanding how an architect thinks.
Finally, I lived in several different places, between New York, Belgium, California. This all happened between elementary school through high school, and gave me a chance to see architecture around the world.
What did you learn in architecture school, both about yourself and about architecture?
I went to Amherst College as an undergrad - I started out as a math major but ended up transitioning to a fine arts major. The art and the math melded together. By the time I left Amherst College, I felt really prepared, in terms of my thinking, to pursue a career in architecture so I went to grad school for that.
In architecture school I saw some limits and some opportunities. One of the things I was surprised by in grad school was having to hone in on one topic - the conversation wasn’t always broad enough. I was pulling from my liberal arts education to think about architecture in the broadest sense. However, architecture school did teach me to be really rigorous in thinking about the built environment through multiple directions at the same time - not just through form and function but also through the community and surrounding context, the structure, and how one has to engage with so many different technical fields of knowledge and integrate all of them.
Photographer’s Loft, photography by Paul Warchol.
Luminous Depths, Photography courtesy of Desai Chia Architecture
We hear that a lot, especially about the rigor. Tell me about how you got your start in the field.
When I came out of grad school, there was a really bad recession, in the beginning of the 1990s. At first I was just scrambling, trying to get what I could. I did some writing for a couple of architecture journals, and then, I ended up doing some part time work which ended up turning into a full time job. I would say to young architects out there that even the scrappiest of assignments will end up potentially leading you to something much better, so don’t pooh-pooh anything because it could be your next big break.
What did you do next?
About a year and a half later I was thinking about a transition and a friend of mine said that Maya Lin was looking for an assistant, and she needed someone with both an art background and an architecture background. I looked her up in the phone book because back then there was no internet! I just started calling the names down the list until I got to her and I said, “I heard from a friend of a friend that you’re looking for an assistant.” So I went to interview with her that week and she hired me on the spot.
I stayed with her for about three, maybe three and a half years, working on both art and architecture projects. It was a really great experience for me because I’ve always been committed to using art as a vehicle for thinking about architecture. I had a great experience with Maya; I worked on some large scale public art and I also worked on some architecture projects under her.
“One of the things I was surprised by in grad school was having to hone in on one topic - the conversation wasn’t always broad enough. I was pulling from my liberal arts education to think about architecture in the broadest sense.”
What were the biggest takeaways from your time with Maya?
Part of what she taught me was to just really think clearly and don’t get too distracted by a lot of things. Find your vision and your voice and try to push that through.
She also taught me about the beauty of an elegant plan. An elegant plan is something that is a big driver as a vehicle for organizing the experience of the architecture, making sure that programmatically it works. She also taught me about thinking through the use of materials and being selective about one’s use of materials, since they’re really supporting what you’re trying to do as a three dimensional holistic experience.
Tell me about how your own firm, Desai Chia, came about.
The first step was completely by happenstance. While I was working for Maya I was at a surprise birthday party for a friend and a group of us were sitting in the dark, waiting for this friend to come back to their apartment. I was sitting next to somebody who introduced herself and she said, “I’m a good friend of this person and I have an apartment that I’m interested in renovating. He mentioned to me that you’re an architect - do you think you could help me out with the renovation?”
So that was our first project, me and my husband. Just by chance, we also started to get a few other projects at the same time. We were sort of tag teaming on all of them and finally decided we needed to be serious - we’re either going to do it, or we’re not going to do it, but being in this middle ground is not working well. He stepped away from his day job first and was full time at the office. Then I transitioned out of Maya’s office - to which she was very encouraging, and said if I want to have a go at my own firm, I should! I trained her new assistant, and then became full time at Desai Chia.
Montauk House, photography by Paul Warchol
Michigan Lake House, photography by Paul Warchol
Ledge House, photography by Paul Warchol
What does it take to run your own firm in a place like New York City? People talk about having more flexibility and something of their own, but they don’t always talk about the responsibility that comes with it.
I’ve been lucky to share the experience with my husband because we both take equal responsibility. For people who think, “Oh you get to set your own schedule, you get all this flexibility,” I don’t find that. Clients look to us for guidance, and we have a great team that’s working with us and moving things forward as well, but they need guidance and structure too, so it’s not like I can just turn things over to the team and say, “Okay, you run with it and we’ll just check in once a week.” We’re in touch every single day because there are always things that need to be updated, massaged, nudged around, and discussed. We are always on our toes to keep it going.
The biggest challenge is just carving out time to think quietly about things and also devote time to other things in our life. It’s definitely a juggling act that is imperfect. It's your business, it’s moving your creative interests forward, and how you’re developing and learning as a creative thinker, and then it’s everything else apart from that - our kids, family life, all the things outside the office that are being juggled.
Talk to me about that, about how family life plays into all of this.
I’ve tried to make it work as best as I can, knowing that if I had taken off several years from the career, I don’t know if I’d be able to participate as fully as I do now - that’s just me. Other people have taken a different path, but I had to stay in it. I took three months off for maternity leave with each child but I was still involved in phone calls, things like that. And then I was very lucky to have my husband’s support in the office and at home, and really great childcare - it was really a partnership with the people who helped us out with the kids.
I think my kids have been really understanding and patient. There are times when I’m not around because I’m in a meeting, but they’ve learned how to work with the schedule that I have and I’ve learned how to filter in everything that they would need. I always try to keep open communication with my kids and my husband so that we’re always aware of all the things that have to be managed over the course of a day, a week, a year, to make it happen. With having your own office, one thing that is good is you can go back and forth between the home and office as needed. The office has always been within walking distance to the apartment - that is one thing I would say was a great help to me, I could just walk home, I didn’t have to rely on a long distance commute.
“Keep moving ahead and even when things seem dire, they will always pick up and there will always be something new and unexpected. It’s really just maintaining that dexterity and maintaining a good sense of humor.”
Where are you in your career today? I know it’s a funny time to be asking that question, but at the same time, we’ve all had time to take things in and reflect.
I feel like I’m always learning and always trying to push the boundaries of what we do. In my office we really try to spend time on the job site, and work with the people who are building the buildings. So I feel like I have a certain amount of wisdom now in terms of how to keep the teams moving because I’ve observed over the years how people work on job sites and what the tradespeople do, and what the artisans do.
On that note, what have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced and how did you manage through them?
The challenges are pretty common to other architects - having to juggle budget, site, program, all the things that might shift and change over the course of a project. That’s a big challenge, when you really put a lot of effort into a project and then some hiccup comes up, whether it’s the client who says, “Oh, the budget has been cut in half,” or “I need to change the program.” Those are the challenges that just happen typically on projects and it’s really a matter of not getting dejected because it can feel like there are setbacks.
Something else I would say to people, especially those who are younger, is that it’s okay to take some risks and be willing to take those risks and not regret them. Just go for it and know that it might not work out but learn something from it. Even with failures, you learn a lot from those. Keep moving ahead and even when things seem dire, they will always pick up and there will always be something new and unexpected. It’s really just maintaining that dexterity and maintaining a good sense of humor. Know that there is a solution for everything, sometimes many solutions.
Quartz, photography by Mark Craemer
AFNY Project, photography by Mark Craemer
What would you say is the overall mission with your work? What is the impact you’d like to have on the world?
We really feel like our projects are bringing people together. It’s different levels of collaboration and community for different projects. For example, our residential work is bringing families together and giving people a chance to experience a multigenerational dialog within the architecture and within the family, trying to bring out some of the synergies of that dynamic. With projects for commercial work, it’s really trying to allow companies to build a brand identity around a community that they can grow in - so thinking of the personality of the company and the people within it and how that ends up being reflected in the architecture and how the architecture pushes those relationships further. We try to filter all of that into a broader community experience.
Who are you admiring right now? Who do you think is out there in the community doing some good work that you want everyone to know about?
I’ve been following artists recently. Martin Puryear is one artist who I enjoy following - his work is really powerful, he does these more intimate pieces that are in galleries but also large scale public artwork that is really engaging. He had a piece in Madison Square Park a couple years ago called the Big Bling and it was this giant, constructed, anthropomorphic sculpture. It was very crafted, very architectural in many ways in terms of the joining and details of the materials.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about learning. None of us know everything about architecture when we’re young, so you just have to keep that learning cycle going.”
What advice do you have for those just starting in the industry and would your advice be any different or additional for women?
For people who are just starting off, I would say that any task you’re given, no matter how menial, do it really well and you will learn something from it. I think for people who are in firms, if they want to expand their career, take initiative and do something for the project that you think will help the client or help your boss understand the ideas better. And just show it to the people around you, don’t just stay in your lane and do exactly what you’re told. In your free time, do a little bit more if you think a particular space should be explored in a rendering or a diagram, just to show them the idea — present it. Go ahead and take that risk.
I would also say, reach out to people and let them know if you want to do something that you haven’t been assigned yet. For example, I’ve mentored young professionals outside my office who say, “Oh I’m always picking up redlines, I want to get out to a job site.” You should ask! People are willing to help and they want you to learn, so the most important thing is to ask for the experiences that you think will help further your career, and learn new skills as quickly as you can. And always remember that everything that the firm you’re in is doing is trying to do great architecture for the client, so whatever you can do to help the client along, that’s another way to position your interest in learning a new responsibility in the firm. I know people get frustrated about being pigeonholed, but they just have to take initiative and ask.
Ultimately, put yourself into the mix and don’t regret it. At the end of the day, it’s all about learning. None of us know everything about architecture when we’re young, so you just have to keep that learning cycle going.