Behind every iconic building that graces the skyline is a story of inspiration. There is something that ignited the imagination of influential architects and moved them to transform their ideas into physical structures. The practice of innovative and well-designed spatial structures is growing at a considerable pace. India has also embraced this growth in the architecture and design community. The field is blessed with great minds that have broken the constraints of the profession and created design marvels. Each of them has made unique and lasting contributions to the field, and their work has helped profoundly shape our civilization and culture. Here are the best architects of all time who have carved their footprint in the architecture industry.
Rahul Mehrotra
Rahul Mehrotra is an important transitional architect in 21st-century Indian architecture. He is one of the major links between the Nehru generation of architects and those who began their careers after economic liberalization in 1991. Mehrotra has been active as a practitioner and educator in India and abroad and has taught in the United States for decades. He grew up in a family of machine tool company owners. The family lived in different parts of Delhi, Lucknow, and Mumbai in apartments assigned to the company's many facilities. These frequent moves allowed young Mehrotra to experience life in various urban environments. He developed a strong interest in studying architecture and urban design because he learned from a very diverse international lifestyle.
In 1990, just one year before India's economic liberalization and transition from a socialist to a capitalist economy, Mehrotra opened RMA Architects. He also has an office in Boston, teaches at GSD, and currently serves as chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design and director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design program. His major architectural works include the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Rural Campus in Tuljapur, Hatigaon in Jaipur, KMC Corporate Office in Hyderabad in 2012, and Lilavati Lalbhai Library at CEPT in Ahmedabad. His role in Indian architecture, resistance to client expectations of global architecture, heritage preservation, and urbanism as a resilient condition, is a big inspiration to young artists.
Chitra Vishwanath
Chitra Vishwanath is an Indian architect who has worked on numerous projects in residential, industrial, and institutional niches. These projects are guided by aspects of ecological principles, healthy water integration, energy, and land use.
She runs an architectural firm, Chitra K. Vishwanath Architects, which meets the demands of her projects by integrating elements of sustainability with client dialogue. Chitra’s philosophy is deeply rooted in the intersection of architecture and ecology. She is committed to integrating various textures and impressions to create designs that resonate with nature. Her projects include Swastika Dance School, Bengaluru; Buddhi School, Bengaluru; Orlando Estate, Kulakumbai; and Govardhan Eco Village, Wada.
She is a design teacher too, conducting a workshop at Archiprix in 2017 and running the Monsoon semester at the School of Architecture CEPT Ahmedabad in 2020. She was the Charles Correa Academic chair at Goa College of Architecture in 2018 and a design mentor at NITTE Mangalore in 2019. She was also a member of the jury at the 2A Continental Architectural Awards Madrid 2019 and the Asia Edition of YTAA 2020 conducted by Fundacio Mies Van Der Rohe Barcelona.
Brinda Somaya
Brinda Somaya is an architect and urban conservationist. After completing her Bachelor of Architecture from Mumbai University and her Master of Arts from Smith College in Northampton, MA, U.S.A. She started her firm Somaya and Kalappa Consultants (SNK) in 1978 in Mumbai, India. For 40 years, her projects have blended architecture, conservation, and social justice, from the reconstruction of an institutional campus and earthquake-destroyed village to the restoration of an 18th-century cathedral, showing that progress and history need not be in conflict.
Her philosophy is that the role of the architect is that of guardian and conscience of the built and inbuilt environment. This belief underscores the extension of her work across large corporate, industrial, and institutional campuses into public spaces. Master planning and architectural design of campuses for multiple corporate and educational institutions has become one of her specialties. Her award-winning campuses include Tata Consultancy Services, Banyan Park (Mumbai), Nalanda International School (Vadodara), and Zenzer Technologies (Pune). Her firm won the competition to restore and upgrade the historic Louis Kahn Building at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-A) in Ahmedabad.
Over the years, she has won numerous international and national awards. Brinda Somaya won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation Award of Merit for Malabari Memorial Hall, Seva Sadan Society, Mumbai in 2020, and many more.
Bimal Patel
Renowned architect Bimal Hasmukh Patel, 64, was involved in the design of the recently inaugurated triangular Parliament House. Born on August 31, 1961, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Patel is a distinguished expert in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and academics.
According to reports, he played a pivotal role in the design of the new parliament building as part of the Central Vista project. His passion for architecture stems from his father, Hasmukh Chandulal Patel, who founded the HCP firm in 1960. Bimal received his architectural education from the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad, graduating in 1984.
Bimal is a respected architect with over 30 years of experience and is a highly regarded urban planning and design professional. In addition to his leadership role at HCP Design Planning and Management Private Limited, he also holds a position at CEPT University in Ahmedabad (formerly the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology), where he serves as the Dean. His remarkable contributions to the field have earned him several accolades, including the esteemed Padma Shri award in 2019, which is one of India's highest civilian honors presented by the President.
Manit Rastogi
Manit Rastogi studied architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi before moving on to the Architectural Institute, where he graduated cum laude from the Sustainable Environmental Design Program under Simos Janas. The influence of these three programs has shaped and influenced his thinking to this day: creating sustainable architecture through a framework of evolutionary practices inspired by nature, with an emphasis on passive design. Founder of Morphogenesis, Manit has received over 80 international and national awards, including India's first World Architecture Festival (WAF) Award winner, five Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) Awards, three AD50 Awards, and the Singapore Institute of Architects Getz Award. Morphogenesis is one of the leading architecture and urban design firms in India. Morphogenesis has been ranked among the top 100 architectural design firms in the world for six consecutive years in Building Design Magazine's WA100, 2017. Morphogenesis has been featured in over 600 national and international publications.
He has spoken at the Brown University Art Symposium, International Green Building Council Singapore, GRIHA Summit, TEDx, Dubai Design Week, and the World Architecture Festival Berlin (WAF), and has published research papers on zero-energy buildings. He also co-authored the first monograph on morphogenesis, which was published in the Master Architect series by Images Australia. He is a director of the Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Young Presidents' Organisation, Delhi. A Fellow of the Institute of Indian Architects (IIA) and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), Manit's commitment to a sustainable environment extends beyond the realm of architectural practice. As a founding member of the GRIHA Council, India's green rating system, Manit is spearheading initiatives with urban policymakers that focus on environmental sensitivity and social welfare.