Cities in India should depict the legacy and vernacular art form

Ar. Kapil Mehta, Principal Architect, Kapil Mehta & Associates in conversation with Leandra Monteiro shares his views the latest budget and their goals for 2020. The professional Journey  With an extensive experience of more than two decades, Ar. Kapil Mehta has managed to reach the zenith in the design fraternity. Born and brought up in a household pertaining to Business of Publications that also included Architecture and Civil Publications, his house was frequently visited by authors from the industry. Having consistently been under the influence of learned men it inspired him to pursue the profession of designing spaces. In the hindsight of travelling the world, he also kept an open mind to study the nuances and nitty-gritties of architecture. In the year 1993 with few mid-sized residential projects in hand, Ar. Kapil Mehta started his own organisation which got a kickstart with two prestigious projects for the owner of Priyagold Biscuits at Noida and further with their new factory at Surajpur, Greater Noida. In the year 1995, Factory Building for Sai Security Printers at Faridabad inculcated humongous amount of confidence and intensified his project handling skills. Later in 2013, Acharya Balkishan gave Kapil Mehta & Associates a chance to design an industrial building in Patanjali Food and Herbal Park Padartha Haridwar. Today Kapil Mehta & Associates is handling various architectural and interior projects in Delhi, NCR and overseas. They are involved in designing and execution of a wide variety of projects like Residential, Group housings, Commercial and Industrial. With an ardent passion for their projects, they firmly believe in a complete amalgamation of Functionality and aesthetical approach with technological blend in their designs, which acts as driving force for all their projects.   What are the types of projects you undertake? We are involved in overall architectural and interior services including hospitality, commercial, residential, workspace and industrial.   What is your opinion on the new budget and its impact on real estate? Budget 2020 has come up with several surprises for the real estate sector, as well as the common man. Real estate buyers could lose a major tax incentive while purchase a new house. With the new personal income tax regime coming in, although optional, the tax incentives on interest payment will have to be foregone. The impact could be severe on the real estate industry in India, which is already facing one of the biggest slumps ever with an unsold inventory continuing to be piling up.   Future goals and expansion plans Our agenda is to provide aesthetically pleasing interiors of all typologies of projects. As built form in cities needs an audit with respect to energy efficiency, fire safety and natural calamities, infrastructure projects need to be given due diligence. Architects are supposed to be involved in bringing harmony and overall Cityscapes need to be made better. Our firm is looking for such projects to improve the cities. We firmly believe that all the cities in India should depict the legacy and vernacular art form to give an indigenous character to the architecture.