Designing Tomorrow: 2025 Trends from Leading Creator Ruturaj Puranik

• August 5, 2025
• By: Editorial Team
• INFLUENCERS

As part of our Design Trends 2025 series, we caught up with Ruturaj Puranik of Chaukhat Studio to discuss the evolving language of contemporary Indian architecture. In this conversation, he spoke about emerging material innovations, the studio’s commitment to sustainability, and how modern design trends are pushing boundaries—both structurally and aesthetically. From conscious detailing to experimental finishes, his insights reflect a thoughtful blend of tradition and forward-thinking creativity.

What’s one material or design approach you believe will define 2025? Why?

I would be a bit biased towards the Lime Coat Plaster/Paint, I feel it seamlessly blends the modern trends with traditional techniques.
We are going back to the basics nowadays, so lime finishes not just aids the passive cooling, it also adds the sustainability factor to a project which is proven by our long standing historical buildings.

How are you incorporating technology (AI, smart materials, digital tools) into your creative process today — and how do you see it evolving?

AI, the most trending thing today. We adopt it's fast efficient ways to reduce on the efforts of the monotonous tasks but certainly not as a design tool. A human touch is absolutely necessary in design, to understand the tangible and intangible aspects of the spaces. Such digital tools can easily replace people/tools who do mechanical and generic tasks of design and thinking process- best example- all of us would spend a lot of time filling up this form through our best thoughts and languages with/without the help of AI which can get auto filled through a tool which can process our and research our previously done work and fill in all the necessary data and just let us proof read and humanize the same if really needed.

Sustainability continues to shape design — what new practices, materials, or mindsets are you adopting to push it further in 2025?

There is always something new available in the market, we love to explore and experiment. We believe in trying one material and technique at a time for a project as we believe we need to be very thorough with it’s pros and cons, suitability and justification of using the same. We recently explored on executing some floating/cantilevered elements of design while concealing fabricated structures by wooden finishes and some faux concrete and civil structures with the help of PEB Structures and some composite materials like Woodium- a composite of Portland cement and special formula cellulose fiber resulting to a unique propertied product with beauty and flexibility compatible to natural wood but as strong as concrete; a multipurpose decorating product which can be applied to ceiling, wall, floor and many more places.

Sustainability has become a broader term in terms of the wastage of materials, justification of using some material for a different use than it’s made and definitely the budget is one of the guiding factors in this process. We want to automate the learning and exploring process of each individual that gets associated with us and becomes more curious and insightful for the next set of tasks which are assigned to him/her. We are building a community to bridge this gap and pay back to the field.

What role does “brand thinking” or storytelling play in your spatial, product, or architectural work today?

I think we are living in the time where your work travels more than you through various channels like social media, word of mouth and other contents which makes the content creation and documentation one of the major factors for brand building and thinking. We are constantly exploring and documenting the processes, materials and journey of our projects and making our audience- clients, co-designers, potential clients and designers in making feel more involved and part of us through this. We think Movies and Reels are the best new age tools to explain a space, a product or a journey by creating an inclusive environment for the laymen and the people who have the hunger to learn constantly.

If you had to predict one major shift in how we live, work, or build — what would that be in the next 2–3 years?

I think we are going to experience a thrust in speed of construction and precision through emerging technologies like 3D printing and extrusion while using less man power and labour. People have got more inclined towards their homes and rejuvenating spaces after the insurgence of factors like Covid and they have got more attached towards the permanent livable spaces more than the one with public and social settings, by including them in their own space one or the other way.

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