Akshat Bhatt

Principal Architect

Architecture Discipline

Akshat Bhatt is the Principal Architect at Architecture Discipline, a New Delhi-based multi-disciplinary architecture practice he founded in 2007. His work, spanning varied typologies from residential and retail interiors to large-scale public and commercial assignments and spread across the length and breadth of India, highlights the emergence of an architectural expression that is contemporary, yet rooted in a critical understanding of regionalism. The outcome of every commission at Architecture Discipline is determined by a series of design processes, from full scale mock-ups to long-term material investigations, which strive to develop programmatic and technical flexibility. As a result, all buildings are integrated from conceptual framework to tactile experience.

Bhatt’s notable projects include the hotel Mana, Ranakpur (2013), the Discovery Centre, a town hall and sales office for the Bhartiya City township in Bangalore (2014), the India Pavilion at Hannover Messe (Hanover, 2015) which was adjudged the best Pavilion in the 65-year history of the Messe, and the Corporate Headquarters for The Oberoi Group, Gurugram (2019).

His work has been published extensively and critically acclaimed: multiple Indian Institute of Interior Designers (IIID) Awards, an NDTV DAA Architect of the Year Award (2013); and citations from the Alliance Francaise (2012), the National Gallery of Modern Art (2015), and the Government of India (2015). More recently, he won the ID Honours Award (2020) and was included on Architectural Digest’s AD100 2020 list of the hundred most influential architects and interior designers in India.

He is currently engaged in many critical commissions for large scale public spaces, which include JDH, an urban regeneration project that aims to restore the historic Walled City of Jodhpur to its former glory; and new brand developments for The Oberoi Hotels & Resorts (the refurbishment of the 19th-century edifice of The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata, and a series of new modular, urban hotels for the group), The Leela Group, The Postcard Hotels and Resorts, and neighbourhood-level primary healthcare facilities called the Mohalla Clinics for The Government of Delhi in response to the pandemic.

Two of his concept proposals are also slated to be a part of the India Pavilion at the upcoming London Design Biennale in June: LifeCMF, a community medical facility built out of repurposed shipping containers, and the sChoker, a digital neck piece enabling social distancing and proximity control using infrared detection.

Over the last sixteen years, Bhatt has taught at three architecture schools in New Delhi, actively engaging with the city’s academic community.