Eighteen years is a long time to observe an industry. For Vijaya Bhargav and Arnab Ghosh, the co-founders of Ostraca, one of Bengaluru’s most established corporate interiors practices, those years have yielded not just a body of work, but a clear-eyed perspective on how design, technology, and the structures of large organisations interact. In this conversation, Vijaya opens with the story of the firm they have built together, before Arnab turns his attention to a candid and considered assessment of the relationship between architecture and AV.

Otraca is, first and foremost, a corporate nteriors firm, that work accounts for roughly eighty percent of the practice. The rest spans commercial architecture, campus projects for technology companies, premium residences, Industrial facilities and a strand of social design that both founders speak about with particular warmth.

The name itself carries a sense of history. Derived from the word “ostracon,” referring to the pottery shards on which ancient Egyptians engraved plans and sketches, durable surfaces that could withstand the long construction periods of their monuments, unlike papyrus, which was too fragile to last. It speaks to the firm’s founding philosophy. “Our tagline was ‘design that transcends time’,” Vijaya Bhargav recalls. “Things like the Egyptian pyramids, plans that survived centuries because of the medium they were recorded on. That is the spirit behind the name.”

The practice began in 2008 with a small team of six to ten people. Growth was measured and deliberate, with the firm settling into a steady hythm of around twenty to twenty-two people for much of its first decade. The last two years, however, have seen a significant shift. “We went from around forty-five to close to sixty,” Vijaya notes. “The projects have scaled up, and the team has had to keep pace.”

Both founders bring nearly twenty-eight years of experience each, with the first decade spanning residences, institutional buildings, and large-scale architectural projects. The pivot to corporate interiors was not planned so much as it was earned. An early collaboration with L&T on a fitout for Mindtek led to a project in Kochi for TCS, which in turn opened the door to Infosys, Wipro, and a growing roster of India’s largest technology companies.

“Experience centres, AI labs, and large town halls are where AV consultants really come into the picture. These spaces are fewer in number, but they’re where the most meaningful design and technology conversations actually happen.”

Corporate interiors may be the core, but the school redesign projects carry a different kind of weight. Working across seventeen government schools in Karnataka, in partnership with the Azim Premji Foundation and Wipro Cares, the firm has been quietly transforming spaces that positively impacts the underprivileged youth. “The idea is that even children from less privileged backgrounds deserve an equally well-designed learning environment,” Vijaya says. “Not just a new room, but a whole spatial experience. When you see the before and after, it is genuinely a sea change.”

The Confluence

Arnab Ghosh brings to this conversation nearly two decades of experience working across some of India’s most complex corporate environments. His perspective covers a wide canvas, from the way large organisations structure their technology decisions, to the procurement journeys that shape how AV gets specified and delivered, to the moments when design and technology finally come together to create spaces that genuinely resonate. Underlying it all is a consistent thread, the belief that better outcomes are possible when the right conversations happen early enough, and between the right people.

Vijaya offers useful context on how AV typically figures into Ostraca’s project mix. For the large technology clients, TCS, Infosys, Wipro most fitout work follows well-established standards. “A lot of large companies have their own in-house AV teams,” she explains. “They know exactly what their standards are. For an eight-seater room, they know the screen size, the number of data ports, the cable routes, all of it is clearly listed. We simply follow that playbook.” On these projects, a separate AV consultant is rarely required.

It is a different story when the brief calls for something more distinctive. “For experience centres, AI labs, large town halls, those are where AV consultants come in,” Vijaya says. “As we speak, we are working on AI labs for CTS, LTIMindtree, and Infosys. Volume-wise, I would say AV consultancy involvement sits at around ten to twenty percent of our total work. The churn on work areas is much higher, those are the bread and butter. The specialised spaces are fewer, but they are where the real design conversations happen.”

Parallel Tracks

When the conversation turns to the relationship between architecture and AV in the corporate sector, Arnab reflects on a dynamic that he believes is worth understanding, not as a critique of any individual or firm, but as an industry-wide pattern that has evolved naturally out of how large organisations are structured.

In most corporate projects, the architect and the AV consultant are each appointed through different channels within the client organisation, often at different stages of the project. Both bring their own expertise and their own reporting lines, and the expectation is that they will collaborate effectively once the project is underway. “The intent is always there,” Arnab notes. “In many cases both teams are genuinely trying to do right by the project. The challenge is that the architect’s brief comes from the infrastructure group, while the AV consultant works closely with the client’s technology vertical. When those two teams have different priorities or timelines, it can be difficult for design and AV to evolve together as seamlessly as one would hope.”

He draws a gentle comparison with how projects tend to be organised in other sectors. In hospitality design, a single creative brief typically pulls all specialist consultants, lighting, acoustics, HVAC, electrical, into one coordinated process led by the architect. “In the corporate world, AV has its own ecosystem, its own procurement path, and its own decision-makers,” Arnab observes. “That is entirely understandable given the scale and the investment involved. It is simply a different way of working, and one that the design community is still learning to navigate alongside.”

Timing is everything

If the structural issue is the underlying cause, the most visible symptom is timing. Arnab describes this as the single biggest operational challenge in the industry, not dramatic, but consistently damaging.

The AV scope and the design scope are developed independently, and the integrator typically arrives long after the design process is underway. “The ideal situation is that the AV consultant is appointed almost simultaneously with the architect, so that the very first design render already reflects accurate AV specifications,” Arnab says. “Instead, we show the client a 3D visual that the AV team will later tell us is incorrect. Screens move, rooms get reconfigured, approvals get reopened. That sometimes erodes the original design intent and creates entirely avoidable confusion.”

Vijaya is equally direct on this point, and the firm has developed a clear process in response. “By the time we are closing out on look and feel, the AV consultant should already be on board,” she says. “When we are about to move into working drawings, and that is when we need to know exactly where every cable route goes, what size screen is being used, how a recessed TV panel needs to be dimensioned. If that information is not available, the design cannot be finalised properly.”

The firm has formalised this expectation. “We write a disclaimer into our process,” Vijaya explains, “stating that any rework required at site due to AV requirements not being communicated in time is not the responsibility of the design consultants. It throws the accountability back to where it belongs, and it focuses everyone’s minds on getting the coordination right from the start.”

Spaces that Inspire

Despite the structural complexities, there are projects where everything comes together. They tend to share one common factor, a client who recognises that experience is the point.

Experience centres, customer engagement zones, showcase spaces, wherever a client is presenting their brand to their own clients, both the architect and the AV team are given real latitude. “We have had projects where the client has explicitly said, the architect gives the brief, and the AV consultant follows it,” Arnab recalls. “That is the right model. And the results, when it works, are genuinely impressive.”

“In corporate projects, architects and AV consultants are appointed by different teams within the client organisation. Both have the right intent, but when priorities and timelines don’t align, design and technology struggle to evolve together.”

Vijaya echoes this, and points to the granular detail of those conversations as what makes them productive. “We may not know the code number of a specific component, but we know exactly the function we want,” she says. “I want a large screen throwing content in a particular shape. I do not want AC grilles or speakers visible in this wall. The AV consultant then educates us on what model or specification makes that possible within our design intent. Those are genuinely good conversations, very collaborative, very seamless.”

The relationship works best, she suggests, when both sides bring genuine curiosity to the table. Arnab’s deep interest in technology, and his habit of staying closely engaged with the latest developments in AV, has made him a particularly informed and enthusiastic collaborator on every project. That shared curiosity between architect and consultant, Vijaya observes, is what elevates delivery from competent to truly seamless.

Better Together

As the conversation draws to a close, Vijaya offers a message directed specifically at the AV consultants and integrators who will read these pages, and it is one rooted in the collaborative spirit that has defined Ostraca’s best work.

“Project coordination is only as good as the information that flows through it,” she says. “Do not assume that a small change, moving a speaker from one position to another, has no impact on the design. For us, that shift can change everything, the panelling, the ceiling treatment, the visual rhythm of an entire wall. Share every update, however minor it seems.”

She describes the kind of working relationship she considers ideal, one where the AV consultant joins the same design workshops that the electrical, HVAC, acoustic, and other consultants attend. “When everyone is in the same room, the details integrate naturally,” she explains. “The acoustic consultant has a view on how the room should behave. The AV consultant knows where the speakers need to go and how sound should travel. I need to take all of that and make it work aesthetically, so that nothing is compromised, whether it is function, finish or feel.”

Even the smallest details, she notes, are worth discussing. “If I am using a particular wood tone for a panel, it would be wonderful to know what speaker colours or equipment finishes are available, so that the colour combinations are considered together, not resolved as an afterthought,” Vijaya says. “We do this with our AC consultants already. The diffusers are custom-coloured to blend with the ceiling. The same level f integration is entirely possible with AV. It just needs the conversation to start early enough.”

That, perhaps, is the clearest takeaway from this conversation. Not a critique, not a complaint, but an invitation. Ostraca’s eighteen years have shown that the most memorable spaces are built not by any single discipline working in isolation, but by every contributor arriving at the table with openness, information, and enough trust to do their best work.