Rayan Ibrahim Architects

Buildings Drawn slowly
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(About the studio)

A Chennai practice, partner-led since 1998. We build considered work across schools, commercial, residential, and industrial briefs one project at a time. Each building begins with the site, the brief, and a long conversation. We draw slowly, build to last, and keep the studio no larger than the work demands.

(FEATURED WORK)

Architecture

Schools · Commercial · Residential · Industrial

Tambaram School exterior
(01) Tambaram School 2023
Perungudi Industrial Hub
(02) Perungudi Industrial Hub 2022
Anna Nagar Office Block
(03) Anna Nagar Office Block 2021
OMR Retail Pavilion
(04) OMR Retail Pavilion 2020

(Marginalia)

Drawings before drawings.

Concept sketches preserved with every project file.

Interiors

Commercial interiors & retail environments

Adyar Residence
(01) Adyar Residence 2024
Besant Nagar Apartment
(02) Besant Nagar Apartment 2023
Velachery Penthouse
(03) Velachery Penthouse 2022
T. Nagar Boutique
(04) T. Nagar Boutique 2021

(Note)

Specification before finish.

Material schedules drawn from precedent — Tamil Nadu sandstone, locally-fired terracotta, salvage teak.

(From the founding partner)

A practice built one project at a time.

Rayan Ibrahim

Founding Partner

(Projects)

0+

(Years)

0

(Awards)

0

(Sectors)

0

AD India

2023

IIA Award

2022

ArchDaily

2021

Indesign

2024

Dezeen

2022

Architecture+

2023

(Leadership)

A specialist for every sector.

Each project is led by a partner whose practice has grown around its sector. The brief is met by someone who has built it before.

Portrait of Rayan Ibrahim

(Chapter 01) — Schools

Rayan Ibrahim — founding partner, leading the schools practice.

Rayan founded the practice in Chennai in 2012 after a decade leading institutional projects across South India. The schools work begins with the assembly ground and the corridor; classrooms follow. Eighteen completed campuses to date, all in Tamil Nadu.

Joined

2012 — Founder

Lead sector

Educational

Completed

18 campuses

Portrait of Imran Sheikh

(Chapter 02) — Commercial

Imran Sheikh — partner, commercial & mixed-use.

Aravind joined the practice in 2016 and now leads the commercial work — offices, retail, and ground-floor mixed-use across Chennai's growth corridors. The discipline is structural restraint: long spans where they earn their cost, short spans everywhere else.

Joined

2016 — Partner 2019

Lead sector

Commercial

Completed

22 projects

Portrait of Karthik Raman

(Chapter 03) — Residential

Karthik Raman — partner, residential & interiors.

Karthik leads the residential work — from single-family homes in Adyar and Besant Nagar to interior fit-outs of older Chennai apartments. Material schedules are drawn from precedent: Tamil Nadu sandstone, locally-fired terracotta, salvage teak.

Joined

2018 — Partner 2021

Lead sector

Residential

Completed

31 projects

Portrait of Arjun Menon

(Chapter 04) — Industrial

Arjun Menon — partner, industrial & logistics.

Vikram joined in 2019 to lead the industrial work — warehousing, light manufacturing, and logistics campuses around Sriperumbudur and the Perungudi corridor. The brief is dictated by the truck turning circle and the loading-dock height; the architecture follows from there.

Joined

2019 — Partner 2022

Lead sector

Industrial

Completed

14 facilities