Nimish Patel has studied architecture at MIT and CEPT Ahmedabad. He specializes in sustainable architecture and conservation in India. Some of his project examples included The Oberoi Udaivilas luxury resort in Udaipur, which blended contemporary needs with the historic ambience through traditional materials and crafts. The Mud House project experimented with using locally sourced earth and thatch to create a meditative retreat. The Diganter Rural School was constructed at a very low cost of Rs. 200/sqm using local materials like stone, burnt bricks, and thatch through a simplified construction process managed by the school principal.

1. NIMISH PATEL
Nimish Patel
Master of Architecture Degree
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
Cambridge, USA
Diploma in Architecture
School of Architecture, CEPT, Ahmedabad

2. Nimish Patel studied at the MIT, Cambridge, USA, with
specialization in Urban Settlement Design in Developing
Countries, and also has a Diploma in Architecture from CEPT,
Ahmedabad. He is a core team member of the Whole School
Development Plan carried out by Ministry of Human Resource
Development and a Member of the Panel of Sustainability,
Bureau of Indian Standards for the upcoming National Building
Code. He is a Member of the INTBAU India Committee of Honour
(IICoH) and also the IICoH Representative on Board of INTBAU
India, on the Editorial Board of StonEdge.
He has officiated as Member of the Jury for the UNESCO Asia-
Pacific Heritage Conservation Awards 2001 to 2004 & 2007 to
2009 & 2012 at Bangkok. He has lectured widely, nationally and
internationally and has been a visiting faculty at CEPT for
Architecture, Urban Design & Planning, and has taught at the
Masters of Built Environmental Programme at UTS, Sydney,
Australia.
BIOGRAPHY

3. DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Our Dhyeya (mission) is to explore the design directions, and processes, which make the built
environment, functionally, psychologically, environmentally and spiritually, more contextual
and more comfortable for all.
CONVICTIONS & BELIEFS
• Conservation of resources is the primary guideline for all our projects.
• We will design the buildings, which in their form, space and technology, reflect the continuity
of the Indian traditions.
• We will contextualize the design in all its aspects to be able to evolve responsible architecture.
• We will innovate responsibly in all our projects, since innovativeness for a developing society is
a necessity, not a luxury.
• We know that every problem, irrespective of its nature, magnitude or constraints, has an
appropriate solution.
• We also know that appropriate solutions will only come through clarity in the identification of
the problems, the selection of appropriate tools and their judicious application.
• Our design and construction processes will offer opportunities for creative inputs at all levels
for all involved.

4. ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
Sustainable Architecture
•Sustainability(read green) has many interpretations. Desirable for one contry may be excess
for another.
•India has suffered, and continous to do so, by adopting direction/materials alien to its
needs, creating preasure on its resource.
•Most of its traditional buildings are already sustainable.
• There is a need to create a dialogue to discuss what constitutes being ‘Green’ for different
regions and climate of India.
•Sustainability in context of India, Earth and Universe.
•Maximising the use of traditional wisdom and knowledge.
•Ensuring what is sustainable today, remains that way in decades to come, and is holistic in
nature, not just in parts.
•Accessing new techonologies in the context of India, from long term perspectiev and
development priorities before accepting them for use.

5. PROJECTS
•Torrents Research Centre
•The Oberoi Udaivilas
•Celebration Mall
•Samadhi
•Sanskardham
•Bal Prasoon
• Gujrati Vidyapeeth
•Mud House
•Samsara Luxory Resort
•Tree Of Life Resort
•Fort Barwada Resort
•Dighantar Rural School
•Monsoon Palace Resort
•Palace At Bharatpur
•The Trident

6. THE OBEROI UDAIVILAS
•Achieve a balance between continuity with the past, without fossilizing it, and a change for
the future without making it incongruous with its contextual surroundings.
•The Oberoi Udaivilas is a super luxury heritage resort on the banks of Lake Pichola at Udaipur.
Spread over 35 acres it comprises 90 rooms (including 85 standard guestrooms, 4 suites and 1
presidential suite) with a lobby, dining areas, a bar, conference and meeting rooms having a built
up area of 25,000 sqm.
•The entire complex was given a creamy white monotone using lime wash, the commonly used
surface paint for centuries. The domes were covered with traditional lime plastering technique
called �Ghutai�. Everything used in the building is a gentle reminder of the past from brass
doors with spherical doorsteps to the corridors with 450 stone columns each carved by hand
and given a local ghutai finish to the �thekri� work in the dome of the Candle Room and in
small niches all over to the gold leaf work on ceilings.
•The design shows that contemporary needs can be blended well with the historic ambience of
the product, without compromising with any of the bottom lines of the end-user. It also
establishes that it is possible to respect the land, the land form, the rocks, the tree cover, the
skyline, and other natural features of the site, while designing a project of such a magnitude and
complexity. It has also shown that local traditions and crafts have a quality of timelessness that
transcends nationalities and technologies to redefine grandeur in public spaces and that
traditional aesthetics and contemporary taste are not at cross purposes if used in a balanced
manner. The project also generated employment for more than 300 craftspersons for more than
3 years.

7. MUD HOUSE
•The one-acre site was a flat ground with existing 3-5 year old Eucalyptus trees as the only
natural feature. The client was open to any experiment which leads to the efficient utilizations
of resources and agreed to experiment with the use of mud as the material for construction and
made available the agricultural land for the experiment. He wanted a construction made in a
round shape for a 2 bedroom unit made from natural materials for meditative activities. He
wanted the place to be used as a weekend resort away from the crowded city while at the same
time being equipped with basic modern necessities.
•A traditional mud builder from the Kutch area where mud houses have survived was sought
out. The earth for the sun dried mud blocks for the walls was dug from the site itself while the
thatch for the roof was locally purchased. Babul wood was used for the doors and windows. The
chikni mitti (sticky clay) from Kutch, got by the artisans, was used in the decorative relief work,
the mirror work and the storage units. The mirror work on the wall used to allow the openings
to be kept small and de�crease the heat gain at the same time increasing the light levels
through internal reflection. The roof construction was in wood and bamboo. The crevices were
filled with mud over which layers of thatch were laid in such a manner that rain water cannot
seep in.
•The retreat offers a visual treat at all times of the day or night. It offers an ambience of a simple
rural setting in the exterior, a rich a textured blend of craftsmanship and innovative and creative
ideas in the internal spaces, with a balance input of landscaped spaces co-existing with the

8. DIGANTAR RURAL SCHOOL
•Diganter is an institution started by faith and John Singh at Jaipur to implement their own ideas
and convictions on the methods of imparting education. The school is headed by Rohit and Rina
Dhankar who are associated with it since its inception. It was conceived as an eleven classroom
school, with four rooms for other facilities for 200 students.
•The principal was convinced to centralize all decisions in his person, from de�sign stage to
execution stage, and perform all the balancing acts in the process, all by himself. The role of the
professional architect was restricted to half an hour of inputs at the start of the project, in which
he explained to the principal, the materials, the system of construction, and the system of
openings for a typical classroom.
•The basic structure consists of three vertically placed stone pattis. The walls located between
the outer stone pattis, are made from rejected burnt out bricks available from the kilns. The
roof, from local thatch is put together in the traditional manner to make it waterproof. The floor
is compacted earth, retained by a vertical piece of local rough stone embedded in the ground to
facilitate the compaction. Walls are covered with mud plaster both internally & externally, with
lime wash on the external plaster.
•A covered area of about 375 sq. mts. has been constructed at a cost of Rs. 200/- sq.mt. It was
possible to construct this school for such a low cost because it was accepted that there was no
choice but to do it, and there was only one individual mak�ing all the decisions. The material
and technologies, when reduced to a level of simplification that could be understood by any
villager demonstrate their full potential. This work process is a challenge to any designer, to
either design a cheaper structure or a better structure at a marginally increased cost.