We Don’t Intersect, We Run Parallel: Vadodara Architects Shourya & Dexter

• November 27, 2025
• By: Sanyukta Baijal
• INFLUENCERS

In an exclusive conversation with Building Material Reporter, Vadodara’s dynamic design duo Ar. Shourya and Ar. Dexter, unveil their architectural journey. The passion for their craft, their ambitious nature and positive approach towards challenges sets the two apart. The minds behind their firm, Uneven, get candid in this conversation, opening up about their rapport, their partnership, their design philosophy, and so much more.

How did the journey of Uneven begin?

Shourya- We started Uneven just like that, with no future plan, nothing. We just started it as we were good friends and used to hangout together. Gradually, our interest started building into the same direction and we began thinking in the same direction. That's how it kept on going. 

How did a college friendship turn into a business partnership? 

Dexter- Long story short, I think, somewhere in the process from doing group works together in college, we understood probably that we do share some kind of camaraderie. And I think work-wise, it's been a good path that we took. We don't intersect in the wrong way, we kind of draw lines pretty parallel. I think that's the main crux of how this works for us.

Shourya mentioned that at Uneven, architecture and design are approached through “massing and detailing.” What does this mean for the studio, and why this framework?

Shourya- It is usually called architecture and interior, but I don't know, it is always like massing and detailing. In our office, we always discuss, when you're doing a bigger scale, that is massing, when you're doing smaller things and putting your mind into minute things under microscopic level, that is detailing. So, rather than calling it architecture and interiors, we design everything like, public group housing, niche apartments, everything. So, in that case, it's always massing and detailing.

Dexter-  And somewhere, we even go a step further sometimes, like, we even design stationery for our clients, because we've done the entire place, architecturally, then the interiors, and then we don't want them to have weird stationery, you know, so that's again something that we do venture in. So, it's basically design for us.

How did you two manage to build a partnership that truly gels?

Dexter- I think that's where the friendship part also played a very important role for understanding each other personally, our temperaments, what one is good at, what one is not. So, our expectations from each other also are very sorted and balanced. We know that for a lot of things, Shourya is going to take care of this, and I don't really need to look back into that. I have the freedom to do what I can do, and he has the freedom to which he can do. 

Shourya- And basically, in Hindi, there is a word called 'poorak' which means the one who completes the other one. So, we are like poorak of each other, what I do, he doesn't get into, and what he does, I don't get into. That's why I think it's working nice. We are Karan Arjun at the end, that is what we would say.

How do you get inspired with spaces? 

Shourya- So, it's every time, like there are many aspects of that. I would want to highlight one thing, like design changes as per time, like what I used to design 10 or 15 years back. Right now, plans are different because requirements have gone different. Lifestyle has gone into a different direction. People's expectation from a house has a different definition now. So, every time when I start designing, like if I design right now, it is not going to be same after 5 years because all these parameters will keep on changing and our design, our thinking is always based on this. For example, what is the current need? What is the end user's need? As it's always new.

Dexter- And the brief clients give us tells us alot about their mindset. How people are looking at things is different from what they did a couple of years ago. So, that's what actually brings about change in architecture. 

Everything today has a trend cycle, and most don’t last long. According to both of you, which trend has overstayed in the design world?

Dexter- Minimalism that people talk about. It's overstayed, yes, but I think it will stay still. Having said that, there are a lot of designers who are using it just as a definition. But somewhere it's always going to be a fusion and that's the definition that I always talk about. I mean, a fusion is something that works for everybody, and somewhere people are also following it blindly. And that's something that I enjoy doing the most. 

Shourya, you’re from Vadodara and Dexter comes from Goa. Vadodara is this interesting blend of old and new culture, tradition, strong education, and a touch of modernism. How would you define it, and in what ways does the city inspire the work you create today?

Shourya- So, I'm born and brought up in here in Vadodara and it is like a very quiet, very small and laid-back city, I would say. And that's what I like about it. We don't have to think about anything, wherever you want to go, you can just reach in 15 minutes. You don't have to make big preparations to reach one corner of the city from the other. So, that's the best part.

People from other big cities always see this one as a small town and that's fine. But people here are very well-learned and have a very particular style, I would say. For example, if you see the houses, or talk about offices, they have their own thoughts and unique designs. Although, definitely, it is going to be everywhere, in Vadodara, they have more detailing. So, the people of this city challenge us and inspire us to do all the work. 

Dexter, you are from Goa who is now settled in Vadodara. What was it that convinced you to make this city your base?

Dexter- Well, I came from Rajkot, actually and a Goan originally. But yeah, Vadodara, as Shourya said, is a very peaceful place, it's very laid-back. I understood that this city is very humble. I mean, there's not much of expectations from you personally. You're accepted with a very warm heart wherever you go and however you're performing as a designer. So, this city has a lot of scope for anybody and everybody because we have a lot of industries happening around. We've got a very amazing educational background happening here.

So, the entire setup over here is so cosmopolitan, so vivid that there's a flair for everybody that happens over here. That's something that really drew me here. And of course, probably the best time of my life, college, as we all describe it, I did that here. So, again, that bonding with the place and the people here is what actually brought me back.

How did you draw your attention to designing and detailing?

Dexter- Keeping our eyes wide open. I mean, there's a lot that we've drawn from nature, there are a lot of proportions that we see around. There's a lot of colour palettes that we see around that we play with. Somewhere trying to retain as much as we can to be natural because those are proportions probably that are unmatched and that's what we understand actually work or function correctly. Also, inspiration comes in a lot from what flaws we probably have seen ourselves doing also in the past. So, again, correcting yourself probably is one of the biggest inspirations that we've had and we've climbed steps, I think.

Freshers train for just a couple of months before deciding to leave and start their own firms. It’s becoming a noticeable trend. How do you think this impacts the profession and the fraternity at large?

Shourya- You can mimic Dev Anand, you can mimic Anil Kapoor but you cannot become Anil Kapoor. You can walk like him for two to three months but after a point everyone will figure out the truth. Similarly, they could walk like me or talk like me but the kind of 20 years experience what we have is difficult to copy in months. 

Why Uneven? What does the name signify for both of you?

Shourya- We worked in Mumbai then we came back to Baroda and we hired one small house which has two rooms. I always describe everything because that one room was Dexter's room. He was living there. I was staying there. He was staying there and the other room where we had two computers, mine and his. That's how we started working together. We started doing small, small things and till then the name was not there. Then we used to discuss that yes, the work has started. We need to register it. Then we seriously started thinking. Then we had two, three things in our mind and that's how the word 'Uneven' came to our mind. 

Dexter- Honestly, it popped up. We were reading some passage somewhere and we were looking for a noun in it and this wasn't a part of the sentence, you know, that way and somewhere then it clicked and he came up with this. Why not uneven? I don't have an answer. Why not? I mean, it actually fits and very smoothly. 

Group housing brings a unique challenge, you don’t know the eventual user and their preference, unlike in villas. How do you approach the design when the end user’s personality and needs aren’t defined?

Shourya- We have to become that person. If we are doing a niche apartment of like three crores or four crores, then we have to understand who is going to be living here as in the demographics. We need to imagine everything, like what will be the age group, what will be the cost of the houses etc. So, it's not complicated, but again, I have to become that person and I have to think according to them.

Nowadays, we try and keep everything open, everything flexible and convertible. You can merge two rooms together, you can make one room little bigger. So, all those flexibilities are needed now. So, we keep that in mind.

Pinterest is a standard in today's date and a lot of clients come with their ideas and pictures for designs. How do you deal with that? 

Dexter- I think sometimes clients have this feeling that their life is very sorted because of it (Pinterest). But somewhere I feel they end up complicating their own lives because there's so much available on that platform which can confuse anyone. Earlier, we could take them through a narrative, or suggestions, 'these are somethings we wish to design for you. This is what you are and this is what you'd be happy with'. But now, people comeup with ten pictures of furnitures and walls, which are totally contrasting and doesn't suit. So, again, that has increased my meeting time and discussion time with people who are trying to understand what they'll actually enjoy using. 

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