Spotlight

From dream to reality

Niteen Parulekar, design principal of Niteen Parulekar Architects (NPAPL), had no plans to become an architect, but today he has designed various mega projects and is seriously looking at the hospitality industry now. By Sayoni Bhaduri

Niteen Parulekar is living his father's dream. "My father wanted to be an architect but I chose the path instead." He dreamed of doing different things like become a doctor or an engineer. But after spending five years in JJ College of Arts in Mumbai doing a course in commercial and fine arts, this ambidextrous genius chose the path he would walk on in his final year of JJ in 1988.

After he passed out from college, Parulekar started his first venture with a start-up company called Edifice with two other associates. After a successful run for about seven years, Parulekar decided it was time he moved on to do something on his own. Thus was conceived Niteen Parulekar Architects which started out with 12 people in 1995 and has grown to more than 180 employees over 13 years.

It is definitely not an easy task heading an organisation which is creatively driven. "Being a perfectionist I have suffered from lack of delegation, where I wanted to do everything by myself," he says. But with more projects coming in, it is not a good idea to keep everything to oneself, there is always a need to delegate and increase the bandwidth of the company. This definitely entails trust in people, and this is exactly why a lot of people have stayed with Parulekar.

"We do not follow a cookie-cutter design but allow the team to have freedom and satisfaction in their work. The quality of work here is good," Parulekar says with pride. But to achieve this level of knowledge, constant training remains the key. His company has evolved from just designing to providing end-to-end solutions for both captive projects as well as turnkey solutions.

New ventures

With so much expertise it now has various verticals and education is one of them. "We will be looking at education in a big way and will be providing end-to-end solutions," he says. There are also plans to enter the hospitality industry. Eventually he may also venture into real estate. "We however prefer being consultants and have opened a new segment for the hospitality and restaurant business," he says.

NPAPL has already established Hospitality Consulting & Management Group (HCMG) which will look at end-to-end solution for various hospitality projects. These include hotels, restaurants, food courts, etc. They will also look at spas, gyms, restaurants and health bars. Restaurants provide a fresh change to the concept of designing because details like theme and cuisine also play a major role in the design. This is further extended to the crockery and other subtle details that make the entire experience in designing a restaurant very creative.

With a developed hospitality vertical, Parulekar has undoubtedly noticed emerging trends. Speaking in particular about the security awareness, he says that people are more and more aware of security issues, but a developer may or may not look at security as a priority. "We on our part definitely keep security high on our list of priority while designing. The future will definitely see the development of panic rooms and bomb shelters within the hotel premises," he says.

What inspires this man? He says the most simplest things can be a source of inspiration. His approach to the subject of vaastu and feng shui is also very clinical; it is a requirement as specified by the clients. "We try to be as flexible as possible with our designs," he says. According to him, the palate of design is very huge. “This is reflected the world over,” believes Parulekar.

A family man, Parulekar is married to a cardiologist and has two daughters. He proudly reveals that both his daughters have a creative bent of mind, but he isn't going to push them in any direction; they will make their own decisions when it comes to their future. During his holidays, he loves to explore, but with two young children, quality time is crucial. Hence Parulekar settles for a family-style vacation at unique hotels. However, when it comes to hobbies he looks at a very different option: he enjoys mall walking. This idea came to him after reading 'Call of the Mall' by Paco Underhill. Apart from the pleasure of the activity he says it allows him to absorb new styles and formats, making it a great learning experience.