Central Vista Project to Jagannath Temple: Bimal Patel, the architect behind such urban landmarks

The Central Vista project containing all these symbols of India's cultural and urban landscape might be situated at different corners of the country, but one name common with these landmarks is Bimal Patel, the main architect behind all these projects.

New Delhi: The Central Vista project in New Delhi, Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi, Sabarmati Riverfront Development in Ahmedabad or the master planning of Jagannath temple in Puri -- all these symbols of India's cultural and urban landscape might be situated at different corners of the country, but one name common with these landmarks is Bimal Patel, the main architect behind all these projects.

Patel is an architect, urbanist and academician who has traversed disciplinary, professional and institutional boundaries to explore the ways in which architecture, urban design and urban planning can enrich the lives of people in India's cities. He is President of CEPT University in Ahmedabad and leads HCP Design Planning and Management Private Limited, an architecture, planning and project management firm.

Apart from these landmark projects, the work profile of HCP Design says that many of the recent big urban projects in cities of Gujarat involve the services of Patel and his company. Whether it is Central Vista of Gandhinagar, multiple riverfront parks in Ahmedabad, walled city revitalisation plan in Ahmedabad, transit oriented zone of Ahmedabad or Centre for Performing Arts in Ahmedabad, Patel's company is involved with all these projects.

Similarly, Aga Khan Academy of Hyderabad, Amul Dairy of Mumbai, Container Terminal of Chennai, architectural design of IIT Jodhpur and many other such urban structures landscaped in parts of the country have some architectural contributions of Patel and his company.

Bimal received a Diploma in Architecture from the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, in 1984. He received a Master's degree in Architecture and City Planning in 1988 and a PhD in City and Regional Planning in 1995 from the University of California, Berkeley.

In 1996, he founded Environmental Planning Collaborative, a not-for-profit consultancy and policy-research and advocacy organisation. Since 2012, he has also been heading CEPT University as its President. His work has won numerous awards, including the Padma Shri in 2019, which is among the highest civilian honour conferred by the President. (IANS)