Juxt-a-Position is a thought-leadership blog by Apurva Pathak, Registered Architect (NZ & India), exploring how design, policy, and digital innovation—especially BIM = IT 2.0—can transform India’s built environment. It bridges global practices and Indian realities, advocating accountability, education reform, and smarter governance across architecture, urban development, and construction management for a truly Viksit Bharat 2047.
Every state interprets the National Building Code differently — formats, forms, and standards vary.
This fragmentation costs billions in delays and rework.
Digital compliance is not just efficiency — it’s accountability.
When rules become machine-readable, corruption becomes machine-detectable.
The Bigger Picture
SP 73 is to architecture what GST was to taxation — a unifier for growth and transparency.
It lays the foundation for a National BIM Stack that connects education, policy, and practice.
Why Global Architectural Firms Still Hold Power in India — and How That Needs to Change
When the European architecture of the time was moving from adapting remnants of Roman techniques into Christian churches and fortifications, India had the Ellora Caves — representing the pinnacle of large-scale, intricate rock-cut architecture imagined from top down for multi-religious purposes.
India’s design genius is not new; it is civilizational.
We have been architects of complexity for over a millennium — masters of urban form, material innovation, and spiritual geometry.
Yet today, in the age of BIM and AI, we find ourselves in a paradox: building the world’s projects while struggling to own our own systems.
The “Captive Offshore Studio” Model
Many Western practices — HOK, Gensler, SOM, AECOM, Atkins, and others — operate “Global Delivery Centers” in India.
Behind the faรงade of collaboration, most function as production back-offices, optimized for cost rather than creativity.
An architect in Pune or Gurugram, earning a fraction of Western salaries, delivers the same Revit models overnight.
The West calls it efficiency.
In truth, it is Digital Colonization — a new kind of empire where data replaces territory and intellect replaces raw material.
๐ง “Design Here, Draft There” — The Unspoken Divide
Creative authorship, client dialogue, and decision-making remain offshore.
Indian architects execute flawlessly but rarely influence design intent.
Even “India studios” of global firms often exist as optical partners — symbols of inclusion, not centers of authorship.
This is collaboration in name, control in practice — a digital hierarchy wrapped in corporate language.
๐ The Hidden Cost: Intellectual Dependency
When generations of designers are trained to execute someone else’s vision, innovation decays into repetition.
We create perfect drawings for imperfect systems — exporting intellect, importing validation.
This quiet dependency is the cost of the Second Colonization: when a culture that once designed Hampi now subcontracts its digital cities.
๐ฎ๐ณ The Reality: India Has the Technical Competence
Ironically, Indian architects already design to UK, US, and global standards every day — meeting NFPA, LEED, BREEAM, and ISO 19650 criteria.
If we can deliver to foreign frameworks, we can certainly deliver to our own — SP-73, the Indian standard for digital construction and governance.
The limitation is no longer capability — it is governance and political will.
India doesn’t need to learn more software; it needs to trust its own standards.
⚙️ From Outsourcing to Ownership
It’s time to shift from execution for others to innovation for ourselves.
That means institutionalizing our own digital infrastructure:
๐ฎ๐ณ Bharat BIM Stack — an open, sovereign digital backbone for design, construction, and compliance.
๐ SP-73 Digital Code — a unifying technical framework connecting architecture, regulation, and governance.
๐ Viksit Bharat 2047 Vision — a national mission linking education, technology, and built-environment policy.
These aren’t technical upgrades — they are instruments of autonomy.
๐ช A Mirror to the West
True collaboration means shared authorship, not shared folders.
If global firms truly value India, they must shift from extraction to exchange — empowering Indian professionals to lead BIM intelligence, sustainability, and regional design narratives.
Otherwise, the rhetoric of partnership simply extends the Second Colonization in a digital disguise.
✨ BIM = IT 2.0 — The Counter-Movement
This is precisely the intent behind my whitepaper,
Just as IT transformed India’s economic identity in the 1990s, BIM can now transform its architectural and regulatory DNA — if we reclaim authorship of the systems we build.
If we fail to define our own digital standards, we risk becoming architects of a Second Colonization — building global systems on our own servers, yet owning none of them.
๐ The Call Ahead
India no longer needs validation; it needs vision.
The question is not can India design to global standards —
The question is when will the world adopt India’s standards as global ones.*
Our architects have the intellect.
Our engineers have the skill.
All that remains is political will — and the governance courage to act.
The first colonization took land.
The Second Colonization takes data.
It’s time for India to reclaim both — through policy, design, and digital sovereignty.
๐ฌ What’s your view?
Are we ready to end Digital Colonization and lead the world’s next design movement?
Across India, BIM is still taught like AutoCAD — a three-month add-on.
Graduates leave knowing commands, not systems.
When they join firms abroad, they discover BIM is a language of liability, not layers.
The Global Lesson
Leading schools (UCL, MIT, ) embed BIM into studios and tech courses.
Their graduates don’t “learn BIM” after hiring — they deliver through it from day one.
India’s rise from the 1990s to the 2020s was powered by one
word: IT.
Software turned India into a knowledge superpower — exporting code, not
commodities.
But infrastructure remained fragmented: every project a new prototype, every
approval a reinvention.
The Shift We Need
The next three decades will not be coded — they’ll be built
digitally.
BIM (Building Information Modelling) is no longer a software skill; it’s the
operating system of construction.
Like the IT wave built servers and apps, BIM will build smart cities, digital
twins, and net-zero housing.
Imagine opening a BIM model that not only draws walls and windows but also reads the NZ Building Code, interprets RMA overlays, checks council zoning rules, and recommends compliant materials in real time.
This is not distant speculation. It’s the logical next step—BIM = IT 2.0—where data, design, and regulation merge into one intelligent environment.
1 | Designers & Engineers → From Documentation to Design Intelligence
AI-assisted BIM interprets NZBC clauses such as D1 (Access Routes) or E2 (External Moisture), flagging non-compliant details instantly.
No more hunting through PDFs; the system explains why and how to fix it. Design QA time drops by ≈ 70 %, freeing studios to focus on creativity rather than compliance.
2 | Councils → From Interpreters to Validators
Instead of deciphering hundreds of drawings, councils receive self-checking BIM models.
AI validates each element against NZBC performance clauses and local bylaws. RFI rounds fall by ≈ 90 %, and consent processing shrinks from 20–30 days → 3–5 days. Building Officers become curators of digital trust, not paper auditors.
3 | Developers → From Delays to Data-Driven Delivery
Every month saved on consent equals ≈ 1 % reduction in holding cost.
For a NZD 10 M project, that’s NZD 100 K per month back in cash flow.
Combined with fewer design iterations and earlier procurement, total ROI improvement reaches NZD 400–600 K.
Faster entry = faster returns = competitive advantage.
4 | Material Suppliers → From Catalogue to Compliance Engine
Products become data objects: AI-tagged with fire rating, durability, BRANZ Appraisal, and EPD.
When an architect specifies a faรงade system that meets E2/AS1 and C/AS2, it automatically surfaces in the BIM filter.
Manufacturers gain visibility at the moment of design, not weeks later.
Procurement errors drop, supply certainty rises, and specification influence grows.
5 | Government → From Regulator to Enabler
For MBIE, Kฤinga Ora, and local councils, this shift turns governance into a digital ecosystem:
Faster consents: 3–5× speed gain, ≈ 50 % cost drop.
Transparency: Full digital audit trail.
Sustainability: Real-time national carbon dashboard.
Economic Impact: NZD 4–6 B annual boost if scaled nationwide.
Government’s role evolves from arbiter of paperwork to curator of trust.
How BIM, codes, and corporatization are reshaping design itself
For much of the late 20th and early 21st century, architecture’s public imagination revolved around the starchitect—the lone genius whose sculptural forms seemed to rewrite the rules of the city. Buildings by Gehry, Hadid, or Koolhaas were cultural phenomena, monuments to individuality and ambition. Yet in the 2020s, this narrative is quietly being dismantled. The discipline is undergoing a fundamental realignment—from the cult of personality to the logic of the corporation, from the intuitive to the data-driven, from art to algorithm.
The Rise of the Corporate Studio
The contemporary firm is no longer a small atelier built around a principal’s vision—it is a global consultancy, operating with the precision of an engineering company and the reach of a multinational. Architecture today is a system, and the system runs on BIM.
Building Information Modelling has become the lingua franca of corporate practice. Every wall, pipe, and lighting fixture is now part of a parametric dataset linked to performance metrics, cost, carbon, and compliance. This digital infrastructure allows mega-firms to coordinate across continents and deliver projects of enormous complexity—airports, transport hubs, high-density housing, and corporate campuses—within the tight constraints of time, budget, and regulation.
Yet this same technology that empowers also constrains. BIM enforces a hierarchy of precision, making creativity contingent upon data accuracy, model fidelity, and code compliance. Innovation must now fit neatly inside the logic of the model—one that prioritizes coordination over composition, constructability over concept.
The architect’s sketchbook has been replaced by dashboards, clash-detection reports, and ISO 19650 workflows. The act of design becomes a calibrated negotiation between geometry, data, and liability.
Codes, Compliance, and the Architecture of Control
In parallel, the rise of building codes and performance standards—from NZBC and SP 73 to ESG and WELL metrics—has redefined the boundaries of creativity. Every idea must navigate a labyrinth of clauses governing energy use, accessibility, seismic performance, fire egress, and sustainability.
While these codes embody collective safety and accountability, they also systematize creativity. Every line drawn in Revit carries contractual and statutory weight. The BIM model becomes not just a design tool but a legal instrument—a data-rich compliance record.
This environment aligns seamlessly with the corporate model, where risk management drives decision-making. The result: architecture that is efficient, compliant, and globally homogeneous.
The Decline of the Starchitect
The financial crash of 2008 marked the symbolic end of the starchitect era. The “Bilbao Effect” lost its magic as cities realized that iconic form could not guarantee social or financial success. Extravagant projects exposed cracks in both budgets and ethics, revealing the darker side of spectacle.
The modern starchitect has given way to the corporate avatar—a collective authorship operating through optimized workflows and data governance. The architect’s power now resides not in vision but in coordination.
The New Ethos: Collaboration, Systems, and Moral Purpose
A new generation is emerging with different priorities. They see BIM not as bureaucracy but as potential—a tool for transparency, collaboration, and measurable impact. Their focus is not the object but the system, not the signature but the solution.
The architect’s role evolves from auteur to orchestrator—balancing design aspiration with data discipline, aesthetic expression with carbon accountability, and creativity with compliance.
Toward Architecture’s Next Reality
Architecture today stands between corporate order and creative chaos, between algorithm and intuition. The challenge is not to resist this transformation but to master it.
BIM and codes need not extinguish artistry—they can redefine it. The mastery of the future architect will lie in embedding emotion within efficiency, poetry within parameters. The profession’s rebirth depends on this synthesis: a design culture that is data-driven yet humane, compliant yet courageous, and collaborative yet visionary.
The cult of personality may have faded. But in its place, a new architecture—systemic, ethical, and profoundly intelligent—is emerging.
๐งญ Series Note:
This essay launches the upcoming series “Architecture’s Quiet Revolutions”, beginning 3 November 2025, exploring how BIM, education, and technology are reshaping design culture. Upcoming posts include:
In New Zealand, every specialist who contributes to a building—from structural engineers to waterproofing installers—issues a Producer Statement (PS) declaring that their work meets the approved design and complies with building regulations.
This simple document does more than tick a compliance box—it creates traceability and personal accountability. When an installer signs a PS3 (Construction), they’re not just attesting that the job is done; they’re vouching that it’s done right. The designer or engineer then issues a PS4 (Construction Review) verifying that the work meets design intent.
Imagine this mindset applied in India. Instead of the entire liability chain defaulting to the architect or developer, responsibility would be distributed across qualified contributors. It would encourage licensed installers, reduce rework, and foster a more mature supply chain. When accountability becomes structured, collaboration follows naturally.
2️⃣ Insurance-Linked Approvals – Reducing Risk and Raising Standards
For India, where project risk often gets buried in layers of subcontracting, insurance-linked approvals could be a game-changer. Approvals for major developments could be contingent on proof of professional cover—aligning incentives between competence and compliance. It also opens up room for private insurers to become part of the quality-control ecosystem, ensuring that the design, execution, and certification processes are independently audited and financially underwritten.
In effect, this system transforms “approval” from a procedural step into a financial commitment to quality.
3️⃣ Councils With Enforcement Teeth – Making Safety Non-Negotiable
In New Zealand, local councils have clear, enforceable powers to halt, inspect, and even demolish non-compliant works. They maintain public registers of licensed practitioners and track building consents through digital portals. This ensures not only transparency but also real-time governance of construction safety.
In India, while local bodies issue building permits and occupancy certificates, enforcement often ends at approval. Strengthening the regulatory muscle—whether through empowered municipal departments or regional Building Control Authorities—would create the deterrent India’s fast-growing cities need.
The key is not more paperwork, but predictable enforcement: digital tracking of consents, mandatory inspection logs, and transparent records of who signed what. When professionals know their work can be audited, safety becomes an embedded habit, not an afterthought.
From Compliance to Culture
These three practices—producer statements, insurance-linked approvals, and empowered councils—aren’t just administrative reforms. Together, they represent a cultural shift from compliance to accountability.
India doesn’t need to replicate New Zealand’s system wholesale. It needs to adapt the spirit of these mechanisms—anchoring trust in competence, not just certification. As India gears up for Viksit Bharat 2047, the transformation of its building ecosystem will depend not on more regulation, but on smarter, shared responsibility.
Over 120,000 registered architects, thousands of schools, and a construction sector growing at nearly 9% annually — yet the architecture–education–practice loop remains broken.
Students graduate fluent in design jargon but ill-prepared for real approvals.
Developers navigate code interpretations rather than design excellence.
Authorities rely on outdated paper trails while being blamed for inefficiency.
The result? A system that produces frustration instead of innovation.
If this gap persists, we’ll keep building faster than we can regulate or sustain.
The Missed Opportunity: The Developer–Authority–Education Interface
Every project approval generates priceless data:
which codes caused rejections, what design oversights repeated, what clarifications delayed progress.
That data is usually discarded.
But what if it were anonymised and fed back to architecture schools as learning content?
Authorities could highlight recurring design/code conflicts.
Developers could share constructability and compliance lessons.
Academia could teach code literacy, BIM auditing, and accountability ethics using real-world material.
When governance becomes pedagogy, education starts solving real problems.
From BIM = IT 2.0 to Education 2.0
Interface Reform Direction
Developer ↔ Authority Digital audits, anonymised compliance data
Authority ↔ Education Data-sharing to teach compliance, not just design
Education ↔ Developer Internships on live BIM projects + regulatory exposure
Together, these create the Accountability Loop — a feedback system where every project teaches the next generation.
Leadership’s Role
Large developers like Adani Realty, L&T Realty, and Godrej Properties already possess the digital infrastructure to lead this change.
By collaborating with universities and local councils, they can institutionalise digital governance as learning, creating a shared knowledge commons that strengthens public trust and professional competence.
From Projects to Policy
India doesn’t need more buildings — it needs better systems to build them.
Architects must evolve from gatekeepers to governors.
Developers must see governance as a collaborator, not a hurdle.
And education must stop teaching architecture in isolation.
If we can link these three worlds through data, design, and accountability, we can finally transform architecture from a regulatory challenge into a nation-building profession.
“This isn’t about teaching architecture — it’s about teaching how architecture governs lives.”
When we speak of redevelopment, the conversation too often narrows to land availability, FSI, and finance. But anyone who has walked through an old neighborhood in Ahmedabad, Dharavi in Mumbai, or a historic settlement in Kigali knows this: redevelopment without reading the morphology is like designing blindfolded.
Urban morphology—the layers of history, community, infrastructure, regulation, and economics—is the silent blueprint that decides whether a project thrives or fails.
1. Historic Patterns ๐
Every city carries a memory in its streets and built forms.
In Ahmedabad’s pol houses, the narrow lanes are not inefficiency—they are a climate response.
Redevelopment that bulldozes these patterns risks erasing identity and alienating residents.
2. Community Networks ๐ฅ
People don’t just live in buildings—they live in social ecosystems.
Displace them without rebuilding trust and networks, and you inherit resistance, litigation, and half-empty towers.
Successful rehabilitation acknowledges these invisible bonds.
3. Infrastructure Spine ⚙️
Beneath every settlement lies an infrastructure map—often unseen until it fails.
Drainage alignments, transit nodes, and service corridors determine long-term livability.
Ignore them, and you invite chaos, cost overruns, and demolitions after occupation.
4. Regulatory Overlay ๐
Development Control Regulations (DCRs) and GDCR in Ahmedabad define what is permissible.
Yet, too often they are seen as obstacles rather than frameworks for safety.
Shortcutting compliance means liability, unsafe structures, and eventually, demolitions.
5. Economics of Viability ๐ฐ
No redevelopment survives without viable economics.
Density, land value, and ROI must balance affordability and incentives.
But when economics drives everything else, projects stall or lose public trust.
A Comparative Lens ๐
New Zealand: Urban codes actively integrate morphology—producer statements, compliance-linked insurance, and enforceable council approvals give the system teeth.
Middle East: Mega-projects once ignored morphology but are now learning—integrating community, culture, and identity to avoid sterile outcomes.
Why This Matters
Redevelopment is not a one-dimensional exercise. When all five layers align:
Authorities grant faster approvals.
Communities accept change with less resistance.
Developers reduce litigation and risk premiums.
Investors see long-term stability.
Urban morphology is not academic theory. It’s the hidden map behind every successful redevelopment.
๐ In your city, which of these layers do you think is most overlooked—history, community, infrastructure, regulation, or economics?
When I look back at my childhood in the seventies and eighties, I can still smell the aromas wafting from my mother’s kitchen. Every meal—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—was prepared at home, lovingly cooked by mothers and grandmothers. There was no special treatment, no "kids menu," and certainly no endless buffet of alternative cuisines. The rule was simple: eat what was cooked, or go hungry.
Restaurants were rare, and even when they did exist, eating out was seen as a luxury that few families indulged in. For most Indian children of that time, the concept of pizzas, burgers, or Thai curries was completely alien. What we had was wholesome, balanced, home-cooked food—simple, yet nourishing.
The Shift to Convenience
Fast forward to today, and the story is very different. On average, families now eat out or order takeaway at least once a week. Food delivery apps have made it possible to access an endless choice of cuisines at the tap of a finger. Children today are spoilt for choice—Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Indian, Thai—you name it, it can be delivered in under 30 minutes.
But this convenience has come at a cost. We are slowly abandoning the tradition of cooking at home in favor of restaurants and takeaways. The result? A rise in obesity, lifestyle-related diseases, and a disconnect from the very food that sustains us.
Why Eating at Home Matters
Home-cooked meals aren’t just healthier; they also represent sustainability in action. Cooking at home means:
Controlled portions and ingredients, reducing excess and promoting health.
Connection to tradition and family, as cooking often brings people together.
The Value of Leftovers
Another sustainable practice we often overlook is the value of leftovers. In earlier times, leftovers weren’t wasted—they were reinvented into new meals for the next day. A simple dal could become a paratha filling; rice could be transformed into fried rice or curd rice. Today, leftovers are often thrown away, contributing to food waste on a massive scale. Embracing leftovers is not just about frugality—it’s about respecting the resources, energy, and effort that went into producing that food.
A Call Back to the Kitchen
Sustainability isn’t only about solar panels and electric cars—it begins in our kitchens. Cooking at home more often, making creative use of leftovers, and reducing dependency on processed, restaurant-prepared food are small but powerful steps. They improve our health, lower our environmental impact, and preserve the traditions we grew up with.
So maybe it’s time to reintroduce that old rule: eat what’s made at home—or go hungry. In doing so, we may just rediscover a healthier, more sustainable way of living.
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