A graduate of CEPT, Rajasekharan Menon is a practicing architect with close to 20 years of experience. He believes in the power of design innovation in transforming people's lives and has been passionately guiding SEED into becoming a Centre for Excellence in the field of architectural education. He is also a partner at the multiple award winning firm RGB Architecture Studio in Kochi.

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What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

I am a practicing architect first and an academic later. My fundamental motivation to work in this field is to contribute towards improving the general design climate in my city and the country. Having been a professional for close to two decades, I am convinced that institutions are responsible for the loss of quality and value systems in the built world around me. Many more architects need to produce context-sensitive work to create better neighborhoods and living environments than merely a handful of successful practices that function like islands.

How do you tend to establish a healthy relationship and environment in your college?

The leadership at Seed believes that every individual is a potential leader and therefore it is important to build the idea of transparency, compassion and ownership to build a robust community that is eager to perform. Relationships are built on respect rather than on hierarchies. Seed has a unique teacher-student relationship that feeds on each other’s capabilities and limitations. The learning environment is extremely student-centric because ‘every seed is unique’. For the same reason, we are opposed to the idea of a uniform. We nurture a world of true liberty with genuine respect for the ‘other’. 

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects and make it industry oriented?

The motto of Seed is to create action oriented learning. We believe it is important for professional institutions to stay as close to real-world challenges as possible. Therefore, the school is biased towards the practice of building, and this can happen only when learning goes beyond the confines of a conventional classroom. Seed has the highest number of visiting faculty and a significant percentage of our tutors are practicing architects - most of them run highly accomplished and critically acclaimed firms. Our curriculum is also designed in such a way that real problems in real settings are preferred in place of fictional projects.

How do you strategize the curriculum and how often it gets updated to make it befitting for the students?

The Seed’s curriculum has been conceptualized with the impending NEP in mind and is divided into two stages. The first six semesters focus on skill building of a high degree and in the following four semesters, the student ventures in the world of specializations. It is expected that before leaving for Professional Internship in the fourth year the student is equipped with all the necessary skills required to deliver well in the office as a proper work force and not just as a student. It is not a surprise that our students are much sought after by some of the most respected firms across India.

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Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to real world challenges?

Seed offers a large bouquet of programs to enhance student experience under the large umbrella of SeedGEIST which literally means ‘the spirit of Seed’. Seedscape is the annual exhibition of student work in the city; Seedtalks and Seedialogues are conversations with people from different walks of life that offer deep insights to the student; Seedtrack is the annual inter-collegiate sports and cultural meet; and Seediagonals are week long semester break certification programs to explore multiple avenues within the larger domain of art, architecture and design. The idea is to provide as wide an exposure to the student as possible.

When you came to college, what was your vision and how are you trying to achieve the same?

When I took over this position in 2020, there was only one goal in mind: to build a world-class institution that will be remembered for its thought process and value systems. Over the years, I believe Seed has introduced a lot of fresh thinking into the field of architectural education. We have tried to re-establish the significance of teachers in building the credibility of an institution, the need to engage with the city and general public to sharpen its vision, the necessity to engage with every strata of society to build an equitable community and the fundamental requirement of a self-financing institution to stay ahead of its race through clear communication and innovative programming. 

What valuable advice would you like to give the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

B.Arch. is one of the few general courses left in the world to study. It is a foundational course for many future explorations. The world is changing fast, and success will depend purely on our capacity to adapt to its changing needs. Skill building is necessary for adaptability. Architects and design professionals with excellent craft and interpersonal skills will be the leaders of the future. It is important to have your ears to the ground and to observe the world around you acutely. Keep yourself updated with the latest innovations in technology but always exercise your discretionary power to judge its appropriateness.