Kamal Sagar On Creating A Culture Of Deep Listening In Hyderabad

In conversation with Kamal Sagar, founder of Windmills Craftworks, Hyderabad, we explore what happens when music, not design, becomes the starting point of a space. From ceiling heights and seating distances to lighting and service rhythms, he speaks about building a venue that encourages India to slow down and truly listen.

Excerpts from an interview

At Windmills Craftworks, you often say the space is designed as a jazz theatre / listening room first. What changes when music becomes the starting point of architecture?

When music becomes the starting point, architecture stops being a backdrop and begins to shape how listening happens. Most spaces are designed visually first, with sound treated as something to control later. At Windmills Craftworks, we reversed that order.

We began by asking a very simple question: how should music feel when you’re sitting in a room listening to it? That question guides everything - proportions, materials, distances, even how people move through the space.

The architecture becomes quieter and more restrained. There’s less visual noise, fewer distractions. The idea is not to impress, but to focus attention. When music leads, the space naturally encourages stillness and attentiveness. It becomes less about filling a room, and more about shaping a listening experience.

How do elements like ceiling height, materials, and seating distance shape what you might call “human acoustics”?

Human acoustics is really about designing for how people listen, not just how sound behaves in a room. Ceiling heights are carefully balanced - too low and the sound feels compressed, too high and you lose intimacy.

Materials matter just as much. We rely on wood, fabric, books - surfaces that absorb and diffuse sound gently, rather than reflect it sharply. Seating is kept deliberately close. You’re near enough to catch nuance and emotion, but still comfortable.

When these elements work together, the sound feels natural. It doesn’t overwhelm you or demand attention. It simply feels right.

In what ways does the space itself become an instrument that supports both the artist and the audience?

When a space is designed well, artists don’t have to fight it. They trust it. That trust changes how they play. Performances become more honest. Subtlety becomes possible.

For the audience, the experience shifts as well. You’re not just hearing amplified sound. You begin to notice tone, breath, silence - the spaces between notes.

In that sense, the room becomes an instrument. It holds the music, supports the artist, and allows a quieter, more direct connection with the listener.

How does Windmills Craftworks differ from conventional live-music venues that prioritise volume and spectacle?

Many live‑music venues today are designed around impact - volume, lighting, spectacle. That approach has its place, but it isn’t what we set out to do at Windmills Craftworks.

Our focus is on nuance rather than scale. We value clarity over loudness, intimacy over excess. Silence and pauses are treated as part of the music, not as gaps to be filled.

By reducing visual distraction, the music has room to breathe. Its depth and complexity come through more clearly.

Why was it important for food, service, and lighting to follow the rhythm of a performance rather than compete with it?

A live performance has its own rhythm, and everything around it needs to respect that flow. Lighting is warm and restrained - present, but never demanding attention. Service is intuitive and discreet, available when needed and absent when it isn’t.

Food is timed and designed to complement the evening, not interrupt it. When these elements move in rhythm with the music, the experience feels cohesive. Nothing pulls you out of the moment. Each detail quietly supports the act of listening.

Do you see Windmills Craftworks as an effort to build a deeper listening culture in India - one that encourages audiences to slow down and truly hear the music?

Yes, very much so. India has an extraordinary musical heritage, but in many contemporary settings, listening has become rushed or secondary. Windmills Craftworks is an invitation to slow down. To sit with music and give it your full attention.

We’re not trying to prescribe taste or formally educate audiences. We’re simply creating conditions where attentive listening feels natural and rewarding.

If people leave feeling a little calmer, more present, and more connected - to the music, and perhaps to themselves - then the space has done what it was meant to do.