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
History of Design
History of the Pooja Room in Indian Homes
The home shrine began as a fire tended by the household, became an image-centred corner as puja and bhakti spread, and grew into dedicated rooms in courtyard houses before shrinking to a niche in the modern flat. The lessons that survive are simple: light, ventilation for the flame, a raised and clean seat for the deity, and space for the family to sit in front of it.
Afrin Mirza · 12 Oct 2026 · 28 min read
Architecture Icons
Gardens by the Bay: Biophilic Architecture at City Scale
Gardens by the Bay, opened in Singapore in 2012 on reclaimed land at Marina Bay, combines the Supertree Grove — vertical gardens on steel-and-concrete structures 25–50 m tall — with two cooled glass conservatories, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest, and a lake system that cleans water. Its lesson for India is not the spectacle but the system: plants, water, shade and energy designed together at every scale.
Bharat Patel · 12 Oct 2026 · 24 min read
Room Ideas
Bedroom Colour Combinations for Couples
The bedroom colours that suit most couples combine a soft, light base on three walls (LRV about 55–75) with one deeper, muted colour on the headboard wall and warm wood or textiles — for example sage and warm white, dusty rose and greige, navy and cream, or terracotta and sand. Keep the wall opposite the bed calm, light the room at 2700–3000 K, and test large swatches before painting a 12 × 14 ft room, which costs about ₹6,000–16,500 in emulsion (indicative October 2026).
Afrin Mirza · 12 Oct 2026 · 24 min read
Future of Design
Ageing-in-Place Design: Homes for Senior Citizens
Ageing-in-place design lets people stay safely in their own homes as they grow older by planning a step-free route from the gate to the bed and bathroom, 900 mm doors, 1200 mm passages, slip-resistant floors, grab bars, good lighting and switches within easy reach. Most of it costs little when planned at the design stage, and a complete retrofit of a typical flat's key items usually runs into tens of thousands, not lakhs, unless a lift is involved.
Bharat Patel · 12 Oct 2026 · 27 min read
Materials & Finishes
Terrazzo Flooring Today: Cast-in-Situ and Tiles
Terrazzo is stone chips set in a cement or resin binder, ground flat and polished — laid either in situ (cement about ₹200–450, epoxy about ₹600–1,200 per sq ft) or as precast tiles (about ₹150–350 per sq ft installed). In-situ cement terrazzo gives a seamless, regrindable floor that lasts generations, but only with divider strips, a proper underlayer and at least two to three weeks of curing and grinding.
Afrin Mirza · 11 Oct 2026 · 27 min read
Architecture & Planning
Shading Devices: Chajjas, Fins and Louvres
Shade south windows with a horizontal chajja — depth ≈ window height ÷ tan of the shadow angle, about 580–600 mm for a 1500 mm window in Surat, extended 300 mm past each side — and shade east and west windows with vertical fins, angled fins or louvres, because low morning and evening sun slips under any overhang. Shading outside the glass removes heat that curtains cannot.
Bharat Patel · 11 Oct 2026 · 25 min read
Commercial & Hospitality
Pharmacy and Medical Store Design
A good medical store puts the pharmacist at a 1000–1050 mm high counter with dispensing racks 300–400 mm deep behind, keeps a customer aisle of at least 1000–1200 mm, and gives cold-chain, controlled and stock storage their own zones. A typical 200–400 sq ft fit-out costs about ₹900–2,200 per sq ft (indicative October 2026), before AC, refrigeration and licensing, which must be confirmed with the local drug control authority.
Bharat Patel · 11 Oct 2026 · 22 min read
Lighting
Inverter, Solar and Backup Power Planning
Size backup from the loads that must run, not from the flat size: a typical 3BHK's essentials (lights, fans, router, TV, fridge, laptops) draw about 500–700 W, which needs a 1–1.5 kVA sine-wave inverter and about 3.6 kWh of battery for 2.5–4.5 hours. On-grid solar alone gives no backup; a hybrid system with a battery does, and rooftop solar costs about ₹50,000–75,000 per kW installed (indicative October 2026).
Bharat Patel · 11 Oct 2026 · 24 min read
Cost Guides
Electrical Wiring Cost for a Flat
At indicative October 2026 rates, new concealed wiring costs about ₹900–1,800 per light point, ₹1,000–2,000 per 6 A socket, ₹1,800–3,500 per 16 A power point and ₹3,500–7,000 per AC point. That puts a 2BHK at roughly ₹1–2.3 lakh and a 3BHK at about ₹1.5–3.5 lakh including the distribution board, before light fittings and fans.
Bharat Patel · 11 Oct 2026 · 23 min read
Future of Design
Work-From-Home Design: The Permanent Home Office
A permanent home office needs about 75–110 sq ft for one person, a door that closes, a desk wall with 500 lux of task light and side daylight, and a power-and-data plan drawn before the walls are painted. Sound control — a solid door with seals, soft surfaces and a rug — matters as much as the furniture.
Afrin Mirza · 11 Oct 2026 · 25 min read
Architecture Icons
Marina Bay Sands: Design and Engineering
Marina Bay Sands, designed by Moshe Safdie and opened in Singapore in 2010, is three 55-storey hotel towers joined at the top by the SkyPark — a long steel deck that cantilevers far beyond the last tower and carries a rooftop pool. It works because each heavy idea — leaning tower legs, a bridge over moving towers, tonnes of water on a roof — was given its own structural answer.
Bharat Patel · 11 Oct 2026 · 23 min read
Design Styles
French Country and Parisian Interior Design
Parisian style is the city apartment — pale walls with applied panel mouldings, herringbone floors, a marble fireplace and tall glazed doors; French Country is its rural cousin — limewashed walls, beams, terracotta, painted furniture and faded linens. In an Indian flat both work when the mouldings are proportioned to the real ceiling height and the furniture is edited, not crowded.
Afrin Mirza · 11 Oct 2026 · 28 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.