An Exclusive Interview with Mr. Aditya Yamsanwar, Director of TOA (Team One Architects), a design-first, tech-enabled architecture firm
Team One Architects (TOA), led by Director Aditya Yamsanwar, stands at the intersection of design innovation and technology. In this conversation, he discusses how TOA’s design-first ethos and tech-enabled approach are reshaping contemporary architecture and inspiring purposeful built environments.
How has TOA’s “design-first” philosophy evolved over 25+ years of working with diverse clients from tech giants to high-street retailers?
Aditya Yamsanwar: Our “design-first” philosophy has always been about intent, understanding what a space means to the people who use it.
Over the years, as we worked with more diverse clients, we realised design has the power to go much deeper and the intent has evolved from purely functional planning to creating workplaces that express identity, culture, and purpose.
Whether we’re designing for a fast-scaling tech company or a healthcare, our process begins with decoding human behaviour and business strategy.
Today, design for us is not just aesthetic. We use it to solve challenges around talent, innovation, and brand experience. Every project now starts with understanding what success looks like for that organisation and then letting design become the language that expresses it.
Eg : Instead of just using product innovations, TOA made BASF’s signature material, Basotect, an expressive design feature, seamlessly integrating acoustic performance with visual identity.
Daylight, biophilic cues, and user-centric zoning ensure the workplace is not only productive but emotionally resonant. This office is less a layout and more a living system for collaboration and growth.
TOA is known for blending creativity with new technologies, how do you leverage AI and other emerging tools in your workflow?
Aditya Yamsanwar: We see technology as an extension of our creativity, not a replacement for it. Tools like AI and BIM help us do what we’ve always done just faster, smarter, and with more precision. AI helps us in early-stage space planning, data-driven design simulations, and visual prototyping.
For example, we use AI to test multiple design options in real time or analyse how people move through a workspace before we build it. It gives us clarity early on and helps our clients make more confident decisions.
Having designed for 50+ cities worldwide, how do you balance global standards of excellence with local cultural influences?
Aditya Yamsanwar: Every city, every client brings its own rhythm. What we’ve learnt is that while design excellence can be universal, its expression is always local.
A great example is when we designed the first office for a German company entering India, ERGO Technologies.
We spent time understanding their ethos, their emphasis on precision, order, and understated quality and then translated that sensibility into the local context. The result felt unmistakably German in discipline, yet Indian in warmth and materiality.
That experience shaped our philosophy: we don’t copy-paste global ideas; we interpret them through a local lens. It’s this balance between cultural sensitivity and global design standards that gives TOA projects their authenticity.
TOA has worked with leaders like Microsoft, IBM & Novartis how do you adapt your design approach to such high-impact clients?
Aditya Yamsanwar: Each of these organisations has its own story. Microsoft, for instance, is all about connection and openness. IBM leans towards precision and timelessness. Novartis brings in wellness and human-centric thinking.
Our role is to listen deeply to those cues and translate them into space. For enterprise clients, design becomes a strategic conversation, not about colours or materials, but about how space can support culture, innovation, and growth.
It’s a very collaborative process, and that’s what keeps it interesting even after all these years.
What role does sustainability play in your project decisions, especially for commercial and institutional clients?
Aditya Yamsanwar: Sustainability isn’t a checklist for us, it’s a mindset. At TOA, we’ve always believed in practising before we preach which is why our own office is IGBC-certified. Sustainability isn’t something we add on at the end; it’s part of how we think from day one.
We approach it not just as an environmental responsibility but as a design opportunity, how to make spaces perform better, last longer, and feel more connected to nature.
Whether it’s through passive cooling, material reuse, or better daylight strategies, our goal is to make sustainability feel effortless, something that’s built into the design, not just spoken about.
What excites you most about the future of architecture and how does TOA plan to lead in the coming decade?
Aditya Yamsanwar: The next decade will redefine how humans experience space. We’re excited about the convergence of AI, neuroscience, and spatial design and how it will transform workplaces from physical environments into intelligent ecosystems.
he lines between physical and digital are blurring, workplaces are becoming experiences, not just addresses.
What excites us is how design, data, and human psychology are starting to come together. We want to be at the forefront of that, using tools like AI not to make buildings smarter, but to make them more empathetic.
Over the next decade, TOA’s focus will be on meaningful innovation, continuing to design spaces that not only look good or perform well, but actually help people and organisations thrive.
Aditya Yamsanwar’s insights reveal that architecture today goes beyond aesthetics, embracing innovation, empathy, and sustainability.
Through TOA’s vision, he highlights how thoughtful design and technology can merge seamlessly to create spaces that truly enhance human experience and urban transformation.
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