Rhino & Grasshopper | MArch AA School, UCL Bartlett | Student Academic Support | Parametric Computational Designer

Find out more about DHARMIK

• 1) Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  My first experience with a computer was when I was about four years old. My father, who is an accountant, bought our first computer for his work, and I was immediately fascinated by it. While he used it for accounting, I quickly discovered my own favourite program — MS Paint on Windows 2003! I would spend hours drawing random shapes, buildings, and whatever else my imagination came up with. Looking back, that little computer was probably where my curiosity for digital design and making things began.

• 2) What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  The technological evolution that has marked me the most is the shift from designing primarily through sketches and physical drawings to being able to build and explore ideas in 3D almost instantly. Traditionally, a designer might spend days or even weeks developing an idea through sketchbooks and drafting tables before finally seeing what the finished concept might look like. Today, with tools such as Rhino, we can build, test, modify and visualise an idea within hours — sometimes even minutes. That has fundamentally changed not just the speed of design, but the way we think and experiment.
  
  For me, the next turning point will be when technology allows designers to explore ideas even more intuitively, combining 3D modelling, computation and AI without losing the creativity and intuition of the designer. I think the most exciting future is not technology replacing designers, but technology giving us the freedom to explore ideas that would previously have been impossible to imagine or make.

• 3) Explain your expertise, your interest in it and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  My main expertise is 3D modelling and visualisation, particularly using Rhino 3D and tools such as Twinmotion. What I enjoy most is taking an idea that exists only as a sketch or a thought and turning it into something you can actually see, explore and interact with. I particularly enjoy working with complex geometries and forms. With the right approach, something that might initially look extremely difficult can often be built, tested and refined within a few hours — sometimes even minutes. For me, that is the exciting part of digital design: you are not limited to simply drawing what you already know how to make; you can experiment with what might be possible. More broadly, 3D modelling has become incredibly important because it connects imagination with reality. The same digital model can be used to design, visualise, analyse, fabricate and eventually build something in the real world. That connection between creativity and technology is what keeps me fascinated by it, and it is also what I love sharing with students.

• 4) Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  My biggest role model has always been Zaha Hadid. What inspires me most about her is not only the architecture she created, but the way she challenged the limits of what was considered possible in design.
  She was one of the pioneers in using digital modelling and visualisation as part of the design process, at a time when the tools we take for granted today, such as Rhino and Revit, were not readily available. Her team often had to borrow techniques and software from other industries simply to develop and represent the ideas she had imagined.
  
  What I find most inspiring is that the lack of technology never became an excuse to limit the design. If the right tool didn't exist, they found a way to create one or adapt something that already existed. That mindset has influenced me greatly: technology should not define what you can imagine; it should help you find a way to make your imagination possible.

• 5) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  When I first started using Rhino, I was fascinated by the possibility of modelling complex, fluid and free-flowing architectural forms, but I was also quite new to the software and not very confident in my abilities.
  My director at the office noticed this and started giving me a rather challenging exercise. He would show me a complex architectural image and give me roughly an hour to recreate it in 3D. At first, I found it intimidating and would spend far too much time trying to figure out where to start. But after doing it again and again, I began to understand how to break even the most complicated geometry into simple steps.
  
  Eventually, something changed. I stopped looking at a complex form and thinking, "How am I going to make this?" and started thinking, "How can I break this down?" Today, I am confident taking on almost any complex geometry and figuring out a way to model it within minutes or hours.
  
  That experience taught me one of the most important lessons in digital design: complexity becomes much less intimidating when you learn how to break it down.

• 6) What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "IT is too complicated"?

  I would simply tell them: don't worry - everyone who is an expert today was once sitting in front of a screen feeling completely clueless.
  I remember feeling exactly the same when I first started learning Rhino. The software looked complicated, and I didn't know where to begin. What changed everything was simply practising, making mistakes, trying again and slowly building confidence.
  
  You don't need to understand everything at once. Start with one small thing, learn how it works, and then build from there. With enough practice, what initially feels complicated eventually becomes second nature.
  
  So if someone tells me, "IT is too complicated," my answer would be: you don't have to be good at it today. You just have to be willing to try today.

• 7) What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  One of my biggest passions outside of computers is actually still connected to design — I love creating worlds of my own. I grew up playing games like SimCity, where I could build an entire city from scratch and decide how everything should work together. I still enjoy playing it today! What I love about it is the freedom to start with a blank canvas and turn an idea in my head into something that actually exists, even if it is inside a game. I think that same curiosity has followed me into architecture and 3D design. Whether I'm building a city in a game, modelling a building in Rhino, or creating a visualisation, I simply enjoy the process of making something that didn't exist before.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof in IT?

  What makes me a Superprof in IT is that I don't just teach software — I teach you how to think through a problem. I have learned 3D modelling by tackling complex designs myself, and I enjoy breaking those problems down into simple, understandable steps. My goal is to make students feel confident enough to eventually say, “I can figure this out myself.”