Bharat Patel
Founder, Aaditya Interior
Bharat is the founder of Aaditya Interior and leads client relationships, space planning and site execution across 180+ active projects.
Blog
Design notes.
Thoughts on homes, materials, detailing and craft – written by the people who design your spaces.
Latest Articles
From the partners' desk
Future of Design
Modular and Prefab Homes in India: Are They Ready
Prefab is ready in India for farmhouses, second homes, hill sites, rooftop additions, clinics and site offices, and hybrid prefab — precast stairs, factory-made bathrooms, doors, kitchens and wardrobes — is ready for every home. For a primary city house, fully prefab systems such as LGSF still face hurdles in approvals, loans and perception, and they save time far more reliably than money: indicative costs of about ₹1,800–3,500 per sq ft overlap with conventional construction.
Bharat Patel · 10 Oct 2026 · 26 min read
Design Styles
Maximalist Interior Design: How to Do More Without Chaos
Maximalism works when abundance is organised: one colour family that repeats around the room, patterns in three different scales, collections grouped rather than scattered, and deliberate quiet zones where the eye rests. In an Indian living room that usually means one wallpapered or painted feature wall, a gallery wall planned as one rectangle with 50–75 mm gaps, layered textiles in jewel tones, and clear 900 mm walking routes.
Afrin Mirza · 10 Oct 2026 · 25 min read
History of Design
Geoffrey Bawa and Tropical Modernism: Lessons for Indian Homes
Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka's best-known architect, showed that a modern building in a hot, wet climate should be a sequence of shaded verandahs, courtyards and gardens under big roofs, not a sealed box. For Indian homes the lessons translate into deep eaves of 900–1200 mm, verandahs 2400–3000 mm deep, courtyards that move air, local materials and rooms that open to planted outdoor spaces.
Afrin Mirza · 10 Oct 2026 · 27 min read
Materials & Finishes
Wooden Flooring Types: Laminate, Engineered and Solid
Laminate is a printed image of wood on a fibreboard core, engineered flooring is a real hardwood layer of about 2–6 mm on a stable cross-laminated base, and solid flooring is one piece of timber 18–20 mm thick. In humid Indian cities engineered wood is the safest real-wood choice, laminate (AC3 or above) is the value choice for dry rooms, and solid wood suits only dry, air-conditioned upper floors with a skilled installer.
Afrin Mirza · 10 Oct 2026 · 27 min read
Cost Guides
Tile Laying Cost Per Sq Ft
Standard floor and wall tiles — vitrified, GVT, PGVT and ceramic up to about 600 × 1200 mm — cost about ₹25–40 per sq ft to lay, and large slabs about ₹40–80 per sq ft with a specialist team (indicative October 2026). With vitrified tile at ₹60–120+ per sq ft, a laid floor lands at roughly ₹85–160 per sq ft before adhesive upgrades, epoxy grout, waterproofing, skirting and wastage.
Bharat Patel · 10 Oct 2026 · 27 min read
Commercial & Hospitality
Mobile and Electronics Store Design
A good mobile or electronics store keeps a clear 1.5–3 m entry, puts working demo tables of about 900–950 mm height near the door, lines one wall with accessories at 700–2000 mm, and puts billing, finance and service at the back so customers pass the products. Light it at about 500–750 lux, 4000 K, with spots aimed away from screens, wire a powered and secured point for every device, and budget about ₹1,400–2,200 per sq ft for a mid-range fit-out (indicative October 2026).
Bharat Patel · 10 Oct 2026 · 26 min read
Room Ideas
Kitchen Pantry and Tall Unit Ideas
The best Indian pantry is a run of tall units 2100–2200 mm high and 560–600 mm deep — a 300–450 mm pull-out tower for daily packets, a 600 mm larder with internal drawers for bulk, and a housing for the fridge or oven — or, where a 1200 × 1500 mm corner is free, a small walk-in store with 300–400 mm shelves. Zone by weight and frequency, not by catalogue, and budget about ₹1,340–1,800 per sq ft of cabinetry plus ₹15,000–35,000 per pull-out (indicative October 2026).
Afrin Mirza · 10 Oct 2026 · 31 min read
Heights & Depths
Crockery Unit Dimensions
A standard crockery unit is 400–450 mm deep at the base and 300–350 mm in the glass section above, 2100 mm high (with a loft to the ceiling if needed), and 1200 mm wide for a six-seater table, with drawers below about 900 mm and shutters no wider than 600 mm. Leave 1000–1200 mm clear between the unit and the table edge, use 18 mm board with 25 mm shelves on spans over 750 mm, and 8 mm toughened glass shelves only up to about 600 mm.
Bharat Patel · 10 Oct 2026 · 25 min read
Design Styles
Transitional Interior Design: Classic Meets Modern
Transitional design keeps classic proportions, symmetry and a few softened mouldings, then strips away ornament and pairs them with clean modern lines, a warm neutral palette and texture instead of pattern. A working ratio is about 60–70 per cent modern to 30–40 per cent classic, with one material or detail repeated through the home.
Afrin Mirza · 10 Oct 2026 · 24 min read
Future of Design
Solar-Ready Home Design: Roofs, Wiring and Inverters
A solar-ready home reserves about 8–10 m² of shadow-free, south-facing roof per kWp, keeps tanks and stair cabins to the north, casts anchor pedestals into the waterproofed roof, and runs a dedicated conduit from roof to a shaded, ventilated inverter wall beside the main board and meter. Planned at drawing stage, these provisions cost a few thousand rupees; added later, they cost far more and often reduce output.
Bharat Patel · 10 Oct 2026 · 25 min read
History of Design
Laurie Baker: Low-Cost Brick Architecture That Still Works
Laurie Baker cut the cost of building in Kerala by using less material more intelligently: rat-trap bond walls that save roughly a quarter of the bricks, filler slabs that replace dead concrete with clay tiles, unplastered brick, brick arches instead of concrete lintels, and jaali walls that cool rooms. Most of these techniques still work today when they are detailed and engineered properly.
Afrin Mirza · 10 Oct 2026 · 28 min read
Architecture Icons
Farnsworth House and the Glass Box Idea
Completed in 1951 near Plano, Illinois, Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House reduced a home to a raised floor, a roof, eight steel columns and walls of glass around a wooden service core. Its lessons — precision, open plan, a service core, a raised floor — travel well to India; its single-glazed, unshaded walls do not, and need deep overhangs, screens and better glass.
Bharat Patel · 10 Oct 2026 · 25 min read
The People
Meet the partners
Afrin Mirza
Co-founder, Aaditya Interior
Afrin is the co-founder of Aaditya Interior, leading the design studio – materials, colour, detailing and finishing – along with the office and design team at Katargam, Surat.