Venu Gopal is from Visakhapatnam and has been working as an architect in Udaipur, Rajasthan, for the past 20 years. He feels that Udaipur has been lucky for him, and the city welcomed him in with open arms.

Venu Gopal is an architect and director at VenuGopal Architects in Udaipur, Rajasthan. He was born and brought up in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. He did his master's at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi.

Venu says that it was pure luck that he came to Udaipur. Telling the story, Venu says that there were five people doing a thesis who had to go to different places like Bikaner and Jodhpur for research work. Venu got to Udaipur, and since then he has been settled here. He says that Udaipur has proved lucky for him.

Venu says that every field has its hardships. He says that in college, they were not taught the business aspect of this profession. Venu learned the tricks of the trade over time. The language was also an issue, as he was from South India. However, Venu says that Udaipur was very welcoming to him.

Talking about COVID, Venu says that his profession was badly hit as most of their work was site-related. Working from home made it difficult for them to get actual site measurements. Venu says that client requirements have also drastically changed after the pandemic. Now people ask for open courtyards, sunroofs, home theaters, and open vestibules. Venu also had to go through cash crunches and staff shortages during this period.

He says that anyone who wants to come into this profession should be passionate and thoroughly aware of new trends in the field of architecture. They should be aware of new software and new technology prevalent at the moment. Venu says that this field requires dedication, discipline, and hard work, as client satisfaction is often a tough task to accomplish.

His motivation is seeing his clients happy. Venu says that he gets boosted when his clients appreciate his work. He says that he is disciplined while working but carefree in his personal life.

Venu thinks that no one is a born leader. Leadership comes with experience. He says that working on a team teaches leadership skills.

In his free time, Venu likes to go for adventure sports and spend time with his family and friends.