As practitioners and teachers, both Manisha Agarwal and Shantanu Poredi, co-founders and principal architects of MO-OF/Mobile Offices, believe that the future of design depends on the symbiotic relationship between academia and architectural practice. Their own grounding is thanks to CEPT, Ahmedabad, the foundation on which Agarwal and Poredi started their studio in 2001, after completing their masters at Cornell, New York, and Architectural Association, London, respectively.
Their practice began with aplomb, with the duo winning a national open competition to master plan and construct the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya campus in Wardha, a 212-acre site envisioned to accomodate 3,000 students, complete with housing for them, the faculty and staff. As the firm grew, they continued to participate in competitions regularly and engaged with varied genres of work. As the time cycle of architectural projects is much longer, MO-OF found the opportunity to simultaneously work on art installations/exhibitions and interior projects at multiple scales. The firm today has completed projects in various program categories such as educational campus, hospitality, residential communities, offices, exhibitions and healthcare across the country.
