Kamal Sagar: A Journey Through Architectural Innovation
Kamal Sagar is an Indian architect, designer, real estate developer, restaurateur and music enthusiast. He is based in Bangalore, India. He is the founder and chairperson of Total Environment Building Systems, and Total Environment Hospitality (Windmills Craftworks and Oota). Kamal Sagar is a CEO of Total Environment is also the Principal Architect at Shibanee & Kamal Architects.
Early in his career, he worked with the Poonawalla Group of Companies (Pune), where he designed and executed projects for Poonawalla Stud Farms. He has also worked under Omni Architects Lexington, Kentucky, in the USA.
Early Life and Background
Kamal Sagar was born on 16th July 11969. Kamal graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 1992, with a degree in Architecture. After a short stint with Omni Architects at Lexington, Kentucky, USA, he returned to India.
As a young architect, he was entrusted with the design and construction of Poonawalla Stud Farms at Hadapsar and Theur, Pune. For this project, he extensively used exposed brick masonry, evolving a special technique with the help of steel spacers to bring out the character of every individual brick โ in line with his core design philosophy of using natural materials that blend with the landscape and age gracefully.
He built this out in a span of just 8 months, in time for the Asian Racing Conference by Asian Racing Federation on 27 January 1995. He married Shibanee Sagar. She is also an architect.
Career in Architecture
In 1995, Kamalโs move to Bangalore, it marked the beginning of a significant chapter in his career. He started his own architectural practice. First he started it under his own name, and later as Shibanee & Kamal Architects, along with his wife and partner.
In 1996, in his search for a one-bedroom apartment, he realized just how bad the state of large scale housing projects was. He saw tremendous scope to make a difference in this area. After several failed attempts in trying to get developers to accept his design ideas, he decided to take on the task of developing and constructing his projects.
So he founded Total Environment, a construction and real estate development company, to build out his designs. Total Environment has since built more than 4.5 million square feet of individually customized and furnished space. Most of them are homes, across Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.
โTapestryโ, located in Frisco, Dallas-Fort Worth metro area in the US, is a 56-acre, 121-home residential community, which is the companyโs first international endeavor.
Kamalโs work has always been inspired by music, art and nature. His architectural inspirations include Frank Lloyd Wright, Bart Prince, Bruce Goff, Alvar Aalto, Mies van de Rohe, and Tadao Ando. He is also inspired from sources as varied as Enid Blyton, Alexandre Dumas, Pink Floyd, Ahmad Jamal, Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, Los Paraguayos, etc.
In 2012, he founded Windmills Craftworks, a Jazz Theater, Microbrewery and Restaurant, where the audience gets to experience talent from across the globe at close quarters, with superior sound quality in a setting with beer and food.
In less than two years, Windmills Craftworks soon established itself as a live music venue in Bangalore, bringing varied music ranging from Jazz, Blues, rock, folk, Bluegrass, Indian Classical music, Indian folk music and Latin.
Work
Architectural Philosophy and Style
His work is focused on using natural materials to create warm living spaces, through handcrafted homes that embrace nature. Over the years, he experimented with various different formats for these gardens, with most rooms having visual/physical access to these gardens.
Total Environment has leveraged technology to deliver custom-designed homes at scale. Their proprietary platform โeDesignโ offers homebuyers options to customize their floor plan and furniture layouts, feature enhancements, design studio, functional planning and much more in an online, 3D format.
Some of his notable projects are:
- 1995 Poonawalla Stud Farms, Hadpsar, Pune, India
- 1999 Ion Idea Corporate Campus,[20] Whitefield, Bangalore, India
- 2000 Bougainvillea, Vibhuthipura, Bangalore, India
- 2000 Green is the Colour, BTM Layout, Bangalore, India
- 2001 The Good Earth, Ulsoor, Bangalore, India
- 2001 Webb India Limited โ Corporate Office & workshops, Bommasandra, Bangalore, India
- 2004 Shine On, Rahath Bagh, Bangalore, India
- 2006 Footprints, Indiranagar, Bangalore, India
- 2006 Residence for Navin Dhananjay, Hennur Road, Bangalore, India
- 2009 Orange Blossom Special, Uday Baugh, Pune, India
- 2010 Greensleeves, Singasandra, Bangalore, India
- 2015 Windmills of Your Mind, hitefield, Bangalore, India
Recognition and Awards
In recognition of his work, Kamal has won many Architectural Design Awards. He won it at both National and International levels โ including many projects that were finalists at the World Architecture Festival.
Read more Life Story & Biography of famous architects at Middle Height. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
ย
