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
Architecture & Planning
Bungalow Design Guide for Indian Families
A good Indian bungalow is planned in zones — a public front, a family core around a courtyard or double height, a service side, an elders' suite on the ground floor and private bedrooms above — and shaded on the west and south. On a 50 × 80 ft plot that gives a G+1 home of about 3,500–3,700 sq ft built-up, costing roughly ₹1,800–3,800 per sq ft to build (indicative October 2026).
Bharat Patel · 05 Oct 2026 · 32 min read
Heights & Depths
Window Size and Sill Height Standards
The standard Indian window sits on a 900 mm sill with its head at the 2100 mm lintel line, so a typical window is 1200 mm high and 1200–1800 mm wide; kitchens raise the sill to 1050–1200 mm above the counter and bathroom ventilators sit high at about 1800 mm. As guidance, NBC 2016 asks for openings of at least one-tenth of the floor area in habitable rooms and kitchens.
Bharat Patel · 05 Oct 2026 · 24 min read
Materials & Finishes
Veneer Types: Teak, Walnut, Oak and Smoked Veneers
Teak is the warm, forgiving Indian classic; walnut gives a deep chocolate luxury; oak brings the light, open grain of Scandinavian and Japandi interiors; and smoked veneers are woods darkened right through by fuming for a moody, even tone. All are about 0.5–0.6 mm slices of real timber, and a finished veneer shutter typically costs ₹600–1,100 per sq ft (indicative October 2026), rising for rare species, smoked veneers and book-matched work.
Afrin Mirza · 05 Oct 2026 · 26 min read
Room Ideas
Sofa Back Wall Design Ideas
The wall behind the sofa works best when it is designed from the sofa up: art or a panel about two-thirds of the sofa's length, its bottom edge 200–300 mm above the backrest, and lighting that washes the wall without glaring into seated eyes. A painted or textured wall costs a few thousand rupees; a full-height fluted or veneer panel on a 3.6 m wall typically costs ₹40,000–1,60,000 (indicative October 2026).
Afrin Mirza · 05 Oct 2026 · 24 min read
Future of Design
Smart Homes in India: What Is Worth Automating
Automate the things that solve daily Indian problems — the door, the water pump, the geyser, passage lights, curtains on large windows and the air-conditioners — and leave the rest on ordinary switches. A focused wireless package for a 3BHK typically costs ₹60,000–2,00,000, while a full wired system starts in the lakhs and must be planned before plastering.
Bharat Patel · 05 Oct 2026 · 29 min read
Architecture Icons
Sabarmati Ashram: Simplicity in Architecture
Gandhi lived at the Sabarmati Ashram from 1917 to 1930 in Hriday Kunj, a plain tiled cottage with a verandah, and in 1963 Charles Correa added a museum of brick piers, tiled roofs and wooden louvres arranged around a water court. Together they show that a building can be modest in means and still deeply comfortable — a lesson any Indian home can use.
Bharat Patel · 05 Oct 2026 · 24 min read
Process & Trust
Payment Schedule for Interior Projects
A balanced interior payment schedule takes a booking advance of about 10–20 per cent, ties the next payments to verifiable stages — materials delivered, carcasses installed, finishes complete, handover — and keeps a 5–10 per cent retention until the snag list is closed. On a ₹19 lakh mid-range 3BHK, that keeps the client's money no more than about ₹1–2 lakh ahead of the work at any point.
Bharat Patel · 05 Oct 2026 · 26 min read
Lighting
Outdoor and Facade Lighting Guide
Good facade lighting reveals texture and form with a few well-aimed fittings — narrow grazers 150–300 mm from textured walls, wider washers 600–1500 mm back from smooth ones — at warm 2700–3000 K, while paths need only about 5–20 lux from low, shielded bollards and step lights. Every outdoor fitting should be at least IP65 (IP67 in the ground), on its own 30 mA RCCB-protected circuit with a timer or photocell.
Afrin Mirza · 05 Oct 2026 · 29 min read
Vastu
Factory Vastu Basics
Traditional factory Vastu puts the gate in the north or east, heavy machines and raw material in the south-west, the boiler, DG set and transformer in the south-east, finished goods in the north-west and water in the north-east. Most of this also suits good industrial planning, but fire access, statutory clearances and material flow must decide wherever the two disagree.
Bharat Patel · 05 Oct 2026 · 31 min read
History of Design
Chettinad Houses: Athangudi Tiles, Burma Teak and Courtyards
Chettinad mansions are deep courtyard houses built by the Nagarathar merchant community of Tamil Nadu, mostly between the late nineteenth century and the Second World War, with Burma teak colonnades, polished lime plaster and handmade Athangudi cement tiles. Their lessons — shaded courts, high rooms, durable local floors — translate well into modern homes when used with restraint.
Afrin Mirza · 05 Oct 2026 · 26 min read
Design Styles
Art Deco Interior Design: Geometry, Brass and Glamour
Art Deco is a 1920s–30s style of bold geometry — sunbursts, stepped forms, chevrons and fans — rendered in rich materials such as brass, lacquer, figured veneer, terrazzo and mirror. In a modern Indian home it works best as one strong framework of symmetry and geometry with brass used as thin lines, not as gold on every surface.
Afrin Mirza · 05 Oct 2026 · 26 min read
Architecture & Planning
Row House Design Guide
A row house is an independent house that shares its side walls with its neighbours, so it gets light and air only from the front, the rear and the roof. Good row house design puts living rooms at the ends, the staircase and a skylit court in the middle, and detail the shared wall properly; a typical 6 × 16.5 m plot gives a G+1 home of about 1,300 sq ft.
Bharat Patel · 04 Oct 2026 · 30 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.