Tutor Profiles

Kireet Patel is the founding faculty member and Professor at Faculty of Design, CEPT University. He has been a fellow at the Institute for Light-Weight Structures, IL Frei Otto at Stuttgart, Germany and has initiated the knowledge of tensile architecture into a number of academic activities at CEPT. He received a scholarship from Asian Cultural Council- New York to visit different architectural departments, universities and design-craft studios of different artists and museums across the United States. He has worked as Chief Designer for National Cultural Festival New Delhi, 1986 and has worked on several architecture and interior projects by establishing his own practice.

Meghal Arya has been teaching architectural design and history since 2000, including international studio. She has a deep interest in the architectural design traditions of India and their relevance today. She curates training programs for teachers. Her firm Arya Architects, with Vijay Arya, engages with the design of public institutions as inclusive dignified realms. Mercy Samuel has done her doctorate in Management & is engaged in the field of Urban Management from a services perspective to ensure better citizen experience from municipal services. Her interest lies in urban governance, municipal finance & designing better systems for service delivery in SWM. She engages in the above from a policy perspective to create appropriate impact at micro level.

Mili Parekh is an architect & interior designer with over 17 years of professional experience. Having completed her bachelor’s in Architecture at Woodbury University, Los Angeles, USA. She also worked in Los Angeles, USA for seven years to gain experience with renowned Architectural firms. She joined HCPIA in 2007 and has worked on numerous architecture as well as interior projects.

Narendra Mangwani is an academician, researcher and practicing architect-urban designer with his firm URBSCAPES, Ahmedabad. He has been involved in master planning housing landscape, and community projects. He teaches urban design at CEPT University. He pursued his graduation in Architecture at D.C. Patel School of Architecture, Anand, and a master’s program in Urban Design from CEPT University.

Neeru Bansal has over 24 years of experience spread across academics, working in regulatory bodies and in research. She is a civil engineer and urban planner with a doctorate on Industrial Development and Water Pollution in Gujarat. Her interest areas mainly include fields associated with Environmental Planning and Infrastructure Planning with a focus on Environmental Laws and Policy, Environmental Governance, EIA, Sustainable Development, Renewable Energy and Urban and Industrial Infrastructure.

Nikhil Dhar completed his B. Arch. from SPA, Delhi and his M.L.A. from the Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has been a practicing landscape architect as owner of the firm Artemisia, is also a member of the visiting faculty at the School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi and is closely involved with ISOLA’s Education Board. His interests include writing and studying the ways of teaching landscape architecture.

Nitika Bhakuni is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University. She is a geographer-planner with a Doctoral Degree from CEPT University and Masters in Planning from SPA, New Delhi. She has 18 years of experience, and her expertise lies in database management, land use, transport integration, and equity issues for a wide range of transportation projects undertaken at CRDF, CEPT.

Prachi Patel holds a master’s degree in Furniture Design from CEPT University. She has industry experience of over three years working with residential furniture and various scales of Interior Projects. She has been associated with the Master of Furniture Design program at CEPT University as Teaching Associate for the past two years.

Priyanka Kanhare is a practicing Architect and Landscape Architect. She is currently a Visiting Faculty at CEPT University (Faculty of Architecture), Ahmedabad and Navrachana University (School of Environment, Design and Architecture), Vadodara. Her teaching interest lies in representation and communication. She is pursuing PhD in Landscape Architecture at SPA, Delhi.

Purvi Chhadva is an architect, urban designer and educator with over 20 years of work experience. She has professional experience in designing institutes, housing and various urban and master planning projects. She is a partner at ‘AVN Architecture & Urbanism’ practice at Ahmedabad. Since 2007, she has been teaching UG and PG programs in architecture and urban design at CEPT University.

Rahul Paul graduated as an architect and subsequently completed his MA degree in Landscape Urbanism from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London. Currently, he is working as a Senior Associate at Integrated Design, a multi-disciplinary consultancy practice based in Bangalore. His focus lies in developing design and research narratives intersecting environmental and social ecology.

Rajendra Mistry is an alumnus of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. As a Product Designer he has been practising as a freelance Design Consultant for Consumer & Medical Products, Lighting, Packaging, Exhibition Design, Museum & Experiential Designs for over 25+ years. The studio has an in-house workshop facility for prototyping and for custom exhibit production. The studio designs, builds and commissions its own projects pan India.

Rajiv Kadam is an associate professor at Faculty of Planning in CEPT. He completed his postgraduation in 1991 from FA, CEPT and has been engaged in teaching studios, the Humanizing Cities course, Urban Design Theory and guiding theses in Architecture and Urban Design. His major emphasis and interests are in the area of developing an in-depth understanding of nature, human aspects and urban ecology as the basis to design the built environment.

Rishav Jain is an Assitant Professor - Program Chair for Master of Design (Interiors) at the Faculty of Design, CEPT University. His research and writings explore the idea of craft beyond traditions and craft beyond objects, dwelling into an exploration of the contemporary perspective on Building Crafts in India. He has designed and curated several exhibitions, publications, conducted seminars and workshops at national and international forums. He also has been instrumental in creating toolkits and various educational models and has conducted various training sessions for craftspeople and designers.

Rudrapalsinh Solanki is a computational designer. He specializes in computational design, digital fabrication, and robotic fabrication. His area of interest is in research and development, on timber and metal structures fabricated using computational and digital tools. Part of his research is on the development of structural surfaces through computational design techniques.

Rushika Khanna is a Landscape Architect from CEPT University (2018) and has done her B.Arch from Institute of Environmental Design (2012). She is currently teaching at CEPT University and is actively involved with academics and research. She has recently authored a book ‘Transgressing Wilderness’ facilitated by the LEAF Fellowship 2019, which investigates the wilderness idea within the urban realm.

Samir Bhatt has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from NID and has been teaching at NID and CEPT as a visiting faculty since 2008. He has taught at the Faculty of Design for furniture design studios (1992-2007). He owns a design and manufacturing furniture studio. He has worked with Sarabhai electronics research center for 2 years, with Calico textile mills for retail shop furniture, and with HCP for 1.5 years (1975-1982).

Sandip Patil is a landscape architect who balances his professional work along with academic explorations at the postgraduate Landscape program of CEPT. He has presented his work extensively at various forums and institutes. As an academician, his interest lies in landscape planning, programmatic inquiries, water management and relationship of landscape to the human psyche.

Saswat Bandyopadhyay is a professor at CEPT and has over 24 years of experience in the Urban Development sector with a focus on Urban Infrastructure Planning and Sustainable Development. He has a postgraduate degree in Planning, Professional Master’s in Urban infrastructure and Ph.D. in Climate Resilience.

Sejal Patel is Chair, Master of Urban Housing Program and Head, International Office. She has engaged in professional practice, teaching and research in areas of housing policy and projects, urban planning and legislations, urban regeneration and gentrification policies, and participatory urban governance. As Head of the International Office, she has steered academic and research collaborations with institutions of excellence in many countries in various disciplines of Human Habitat studies.

Shalini Sinha is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Planning and a transport planner. She has more than 20 years of work experience in India and the United Kingdom and has been involved in the areas of transport policy and public transport planning and operations. She has a Master’s degree from the University of Leeds and a PhD from CEPT.

Shivani Gaur is a multi-disciplinary architect, focused on people-centric designs. In the last 20 years, she has delivered several projects in the Retail, Hospitality, Corporate, Aviation and Museum sector. She believes in a design process that is holistic, inclusive and culturally rooted in its approach. Shivani holds experience in delivering projects in Singapore, US, Indonesia, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Sonal Mithal is an architect-artist. She holds a PhD from UIUC, USA; MArch. from SPA Delhi; and BArch. from Lucknow University. As co-founder of People for Heritage Concern, she provides research-based consultation for urban projects at varying scales. She focuses on feminist, materialist, intersectional inquiries for architecture. She has exhibited her artworks in the USA, Europe, East and South Asia.

Sophiya Islam is an architect and urban designer. She holds an undergraduate degree in Architecture from Aligarh Muslim University and a Master of Planning (Urban Design) degree from CEPT University. Since her graduation, she has been engaged in teaching at CEPT University. Recently, she has started working with ITDP as Associate – Urban Development.

Tapan Modi is a Landscape Designer & Academician. He did his Masters in Landscape from CEPT University in 2014. His area of interest is in pursuing landscape planning policy & research through open space projects in public as well as private domain. He is an associate director with ECPL Consultant, Ahmedabad. He is a visiting faculty and teaches Landscape Engineering and Water Management Systems.

Tapan Shah is an architect and urbanist and founder of Ahmedabad based “Studionine Architects”. He studied architecture from Gujarat University, graduated in 2010 with honors and holds an M.Arch in Urban Design from CEPT University. He also holds a post graduate- diploma focused on City/ Urban Community and Regional Planning deom University of Cergy- Pontoise Paris, France.

Tithi Soladhara is a Post Graduate in Urban Management from CEPT University, and BSc Environmental science and resource management from St. Josoph’s College of Arts and Science Bengaluru. She has also been involved with CRDF, iEnzigarting pvt. ltd., Mahila Housing Trust and leading a Research Project at Nirma University, as an urban practitioner.

Utkarsh Patel is an Engineer, Urban Planner with more than 24 years of practice experience leading the preparation of master plans, town planning schemes, township and strategic framework plans for Ports, Tourism circuits, and Special Investment Regions. Utkarsh is currently working as Director, Metromorph Planning and Design LLP and S P Patel Architects and Planners Pvt. Ltd. He has been associated with CEPT University as Visiting Faculty since 2009.

Vasav Bhatt is an architect with 20 years of work experience in architecture as well as interior design. He believes in perfection with timely delivery of work and has worked with architects A. D. Raje and B. V. Doshi. His interior projects include residences, offices, hospitals, radio stations and cricket stadiums. He has been teaching for 5 years at various architecture colleges.

Venugopal Agrawal is an architect-planner, previously trained under leading practitioners and worked as a Sr Engineer in the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project. Currently a Program Manager at Saath Charitable Trust, he has managed programs on improvements in informal settlements in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Varanasi and Porbandar. His areas of study are affordable housing, infrastructure and environmental issues.

Vipuja Parmar is an architect and urban designer with over 15 years of work experience. Her work experience involves designing projects related to Architecture, Master Planning, Landscape Design and Interior Design. She has been a partner at UA Lab (Urban Architectural Collaborative), since2016. She has been involved with academics since 2015. She holds a Bachelor’s in Architecture and a Master’s degree in Architecture (Specialization Urban Design) both from CEPT University.

Viral Bhavsar is a graduate of MSU, Baroda; an architect, planner and academician who has been practicing and teaching for about 10 Years. He has worked and led design teams at MEGPL for 4 years. Currently he is a principal architect at Forme’45 design studio and a visiting faculty at IAPNU, Ahmedabad. His keen interests are the future of urban living, architectural history and design detailing.

Vishwanath Kashikar is a tenured associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture. Scope of architecture in mainstream urban housing and pedagogy in architectural education are his main interests. He holds a diploma in architecture from CEPT University and a Master’s by research degree from the NUS, Singapore.

Editorial Team

Tridip Suhrud

He is the Provost of CEPT University. He has been the Director of CEPT Archives for the past 2 years. Prior to this, he served as the Director of Sabarmati Ashram for 5 years. As an academic he has worked with DAIICT (Gandhinagar), NID, CSDS (New Delhi), and, St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad. He is a scholar of Life and Thought of Mahatma Gandhi and has published many books. He is a member of the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission of the Government of India. He is also a member of the governing board of MICA since 2015. He holds a doctorate in political science along with master’s degrees in economics and political science.

Chirayu Bhatt

He is the Deputy Provost–Academics, CEPT University. He has been leading the academic initiatives across all programs of the university and played a pivotal role in steering academic activities during the COVID-19. As an architect-urban planner, he has been working at the confluence of urban planning, urban design, public policy and more recently, education, for over 15 years. He holds a master’s in urban planning from Georgia Tech and a bachelor’s in architecture from CEPT.

Anjali Kadam

Anjali Kadam is an architect and urban conservationist and Head, Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) at CEPT University. TLC was set up to inspire, support and strengthen new directions in pedagogy and learning at CEPT. Her work in historic cities, feeds into her research and academic experience of over 20 years. She holds bachelor’s in architecture from M.I.T.S Gwalior and master’s in architectural conservation from SPA, Delhi and is currently, pursuing her PhD in Architecture from CEPT University.

Copyrights Page ©

L4 Studio Units Catalog – Spring 2022 Teaching and Learning Center, CEPT University

Editors: Tridip Suhrud Chirayu Bhatt Anjali Kadam

Editorial Coordination & Layout: Bhuvaneshwari S. Devna Vyas Ishaq Faheem Sneha Anand

Cover Design by: Ratik Verma Cover page Image credit: Dipak Khandelwal, AD4014

Published by: CEPT University Press Kasturbhai Lalbhai Campus University Road, Navrangpura Ahmedabad-380009 Gujarat India

ISBN: 978-93-83184-53-8 Copyright © 2022 CEPT University Press

Individual contributions are copyright of respective authors. Images are copyright of respective creators, unless otherwise noted.

All rights reserved. This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner, whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher.