Community Resilience Shelter

Mamta Rawat
Founder and CEO, ClimateNama Pvt. Ltd

Mamta is the Founder and CEO of ClimateNama Pvt. Ltd. She is a seasoned Sustainability Consultant with over 16 years of experience, committed to advancing Net Zero and Green Built Environment initiatives to support global climate change goals. She has spearheaded over 300+ projects, impacting 25M+ sq. ft. of built-up area. She has been actively involved in the planning, design, construction and operations & maintenance (O&M) of sustainable built environment. She has executed a wide range of projects across commercial, industrial, warehouse, retail, healthcare, hospitality and residential sectors, among others. She is a LEED Accredited Professional (USGBC), an IGBC Accredited Professional, a Certified Engineering Professional (ISHRAE) and a Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Certified Energy Manager. She has also been honoured with the prestigious IGBC Fellow Award. Mamta is the founding National Convener of the IGBC Green League (IGL). She serves as the Co-Chairperson of the FOCUS Mumbai Chapter and is a Core Committee Member of the IGBC Mumbai Chapter & PJMT West Community, and the Advocacy Chair of ISHRAE Education Committee.

Peeyush Sekhsaria
Independent Natural Resources & Disaster Risk Management Consultant

Peeyush Sekhsaria is an Architect and Geographer by training. His work in the last 15 years has been in the areas of Disaster Risk and Natural Resources Management, including a 6-year stint with a multilateral agency. He has worked extensively on Multi-purpose Cyclone and Flood Shelters, post-disaster housing reconstruction, and nature-based solutions for disaster risk mitigation. He works as an independent consultant based out of Delhi

Surya Kakani
Founder and Principal, Kakani Associates

Surya represents Kakani Associates, a practice established with his partner Jaai in 1995 in Ahmedabad, that has been naturally informed through their strong academic linkages as a collaborative between architecture and design, each informing the other and subsequently informing a way of life. Recognising his contribution to architecture practice and continued collaboration with academia, prof. Kakani was appointed as Dean Faculty of Architecture CEPT University in 2017, a position he held till June 2020.

Construction Worker Housing

Deepa Parekh  
Net-Zero Education Expert, Principal – Sustainability, Kapadia Associates 

Monish Siripurapu
CEO and Founder, Ant Studio

Monish Siripurapu is an alumnus of SPA Delhi and IAAC, Spain and the founder and Principal Architect of Ant Studio. His studio has received international recognition for their work on Nature inspired Biophilic Passive Cooling Building Envelopes. Their nature based low-carbon air-cooling solution, called the ‘CoolAnt’, won the Asia Pacific Low Carbon Footprint Challenge and was funded by UNEP. Monish is a TEDx speaker and has also presented his work at the TMK knowledge forum part of G20 summit at Bali, Science Museum London, Google’s Anthropocene, UCL Bartlett, CEDIM Mexico, IAAC Barcelona, and Construction symposium Ekaterinburg in Russia. He was a keynote speaker at the World Environment Day New Delhi, 2018. Monish was a visiting faculty at SPA, Delhi and has also lectured and exhibited his works in various IIT’s and IIM’s in the country. His works have also been published in the History Channel, CNN, World Economic Forum, Architectural Digest, Inhabitat, and ArchDaily.

Manjunath BL 
Independent Structural Consultant, Manjunath and Co.

Manjunath has 25+ years of experience in structural engineering, design, construction, and management. He has worked on design and detailing using specialised techniques for educational institutions, material handling plants in thermal stations, industrial buildings, townships, commercial complexes, hotels, group housing, resorts, etc. He began practicing as an independent structural consultant in 1994. He enjoys deciphering the seed of the structural system while designing and exploring materials to their full potential and considering their maximum stretchable bandwidth before failure. He learns about structures from nature and his vision for the role of engineering in design and of design in engineering was shaped by humanistic values, rather than simply technical principles.

Educational Building

Anuja Sawant
Principal – Architecture, SSA Architects

Anuja is an accomplished architect with over two decades of experience. An alumna of Sir J.J. College of Architecture, she draws inspiration from Le Corbusier’s ideas of space, light, and order. Her work spans high-rise residential, commercial, healthcare, mixed-use, institutional, and master-planning projects, with notable contributions to Crescent Bay Parel, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, IIT Bombay Institute, and Film City Master Planning. A strong advocate of sustainability, she holds LEED, WELL, IGBC, and carbon-footprint credentials. She also teaches, advises architectural institutes, and balances practice with music, yoga, and digital art pursuits too.

Markus Krauss
Partner, Transsolar

Markus is passionate about realising net-zero emission buildings. To achieve this, he underlines that they are future-proof through lifecycle analyses that also take into account the materials used. What Markus particularly loves is developing creative ideas and concepts within the design team at the table, because this process is essential to him for a project. In doing so, he advocates the importance of the environmental footprint, including materials and resource usage, and integrates carbon accounting into the design process.

Shailee Goswami
Building Science R&D Lead, Saint Gobain

Shailee is a Building Science R&D Lead at Saint-Gobain, driving building science strategy across multiple geographies through central portfolio leadership. She leads multidisciplinary research across decarbonisation, climate resilience, and advanced façade systems. With strong expertise in integrated simulations and field-based assessments for the built environment, she has contributed to 140+ projects & case studies across India, UAE, Europe, and the US. She also fosters strategic collaborations with industry partners and leading think tanks to translate research into impactful, real-world solutions.

Office Building

Sandeep Doddaballapur
Associate Director, Environmental Design Solutions

Sandeep is an Associate Director at Environmental Design Solutions, with over 15 years of experience in building performance, sustainability, and architectural design. Trained as an architect and urban designer, he holds dual master’s degrees from Arizona State University in Built Environment and Urban Design. His career spans impactful roles in the U.S. and India, driving energy efficiency, climate-responsive architecture, and integrated design solutions. Passionate about education and research, Sandeep blends technical expertise with a holistic sustainability vision, contributing to policy, practice, and pedagogy in the built environment.

Mahesh Basavanna
CEO, McD BERL

Mahesh is a sustainability and MEP consulting firm focused on net-zero, resource-efficient built environments. He has worked with the World Bank/IFC and contributed to the development of the EDGE green building simulation platform used globally. His work focuses on energy efficiency, climate-responsive design, water sustainability, and creating measurable environmental impact through buildings.

Vaishaly
Co-Founder and Director, Doodle Studio

Vaishaly is an architect and sustainability strategist leading Doodle Studio and Studio Macrocosm, practices advancing high-performance, net-zero architecture and carbon-negative interiors. She brings international consulting experience from WSP, where she supported sustainability initiatives across the Nordics. Previously at Environmental Design Solutions (EDS), she contributed to India’s ECBC 2017 daylight chapter and several landmark national and international projects. She has trained over 1,500 professionals and serves as Faculty at IIHS ASSURE for High-Performance Building workshops and as Lead Mentor for the Master’s in Computational Design at Novatr.

Residential Cooling Retrofit

Kshitij Sawant
Solution Consultant – Sahaj Software

Kshitij is a Solution Consultant with a focus on Product Innovation at Sahaj. His expertise lies at the crossroads of consumer research, design, product development, and brand strategy, providing invaluable insights to fuel business growth. A passionate innovation strategist and a systems thinker, he crafts frameworks that facilitate the transformation of ideas into human-centric products that help propel innovation agendas for organisations. With a 19-year career spanning architecture and design, Kshitij holds a Master’s degree in Design Methods from the Institute of Design, Chicago, a Master in Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Sir J.J. School of Architecture, Mumbai.

Swati Puchalapalli
Director, Terra Viridis Consultants LLP

Swati Puchalapalli has 20+ years of experience in sustainable design, computational analysis, and environmental policy research. A strong proponent of passive design, she combines learnings from vernacular with simulation-based data driven approach to building design. She focuses on high performance and high comfort leading to net-zero design along with value engineering in the areas of energy, water, and waste. Her projects range from sustainability consultancy to policy research and training, spread across various continents. She is a founding member of GRIHA Council and a visiting faculty at CEPT University and Manipal University.

Yash Sanghvi
Head of IoT practice at Atomberg Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Yash is the Head of Internet of Things (IoT) at Atomberg. He has 7 years of experience in IoT, spanning agri-IoT, industrial IoT and consumer IoT. He did his mechanical engineering from IIT Bombay, but his work spans diverse engineering domains, from writing the firmware for a student satellite launched by ISRO, to developing a custom secure cloud infrastructure catering to lakhs of IoT devices, to building highly rated consumer apps, to ideating and realising consumer products that change the way a category is perceived and evaluated. Currently focused on making home appliances smarter and living spaces more efficient, he strongly believes that technology can play a seminal role in making sustainable living commonplace.

Grand Jury

C. Velan 
CEO, CEEBROS Group

C. Velan is CEO of CEEBROS Group, Chennai, a role he has held since April 2024. With over 30 years of experience, he has led major real estate and infrastructure businesses, including as City Head – Chennai Operations at Pan India, Head for Property Management at Ascendas India, and CEO for TRIL’s flagship IT project, Ramanujan IT City, Chennai.
He is a Civil and Structural Engineer with a postgraduate degree in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, focused on sustainable green building design. A Senior Fellow of the Indian Green Building Council and executive committee board member, he has also received the Professor of Eminence award from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.

Gautam Khot
Managing Partner, 7th Gen Ventures

Gautam Khot is Managing Partner at 7th Gen Ventures, an emerging Category 1 fund that invests in startups innovating in Energy Transition, Air & Water purification, and the Built Environment, specifically using materials science & advanced materials as a foundation.
Over a career spanning 3 decades, Gautam has been a technology leader in startups across diverse focus areas. He holds multiple US patents for his work. Prior to founding 7th Gen, he was the CTO in Residence at Brigade REAP, Asia’s earliest PropTech accelerator, where he mentored over 60 startups to scale impact in the built environment.
Gautam is also a professionally trained craft brewer, an avid long-distance motorcyclist and a published wildlife photographer.

Hari Prasad Hegde
Founding Partner, Edhina Capital

Hari is Founding Partner at Edhina Capital Advisors LLP, an angel investor with The Angel Investors / Invests Early Stage, and Venture Partner at Radnor Labs. He supports early-stage companies in green technologies, electric mobility, energy and the built environment, with a focus on scaling deep-tech, electronics and ICT ventures in India. Hari brings over four decades of experience across venture capital, business leadership and operations. Before Edhina, he spent 20 years with Wipro, leading multiple businesses and playing a key role in the growth of its IT Development Centres, Energy Strategy and Sustainability initiatives. Earlier, he served 15 years in the Indian Army. He serves on industry bodies, advises government, and enjoys art, mountains and Bengaluru.

Harleen Oberoi
Senior Vice President and Head of Project Management for India & South Asia, Tata Realty & Infrastructure Ltd

Harleen Oberoi is the Senior Vice President and Head of Project Management for India & South Asia at Tata Realty & Infrastructure Ltd., with over 36 years of leadership experience in project and construction management. A recognized thought leader in sustainable infrastructure, BIM, and smart city development, he is a Member of the BIS CED‑29 Committee, contributing to India’s national codes for Project Management and Building Information Modelling. Harleen has represented India’s Net Zero Carbon initiatives at COP27, is a Board Member of Lean Construction India, and a frequent international speaker on digital transformation, sustainability, and high‑performance project delivery.

Jayashree Deshpande  
Director, Council of Architecture – Training & Research Centre (COA – TRC) 

Jayashree Deshpande is a renowned architect, educator, and sociologist, currently Director of the Council of Architecture – Training & Research Centre (COA-TRC). A university topper and award-winner, she has led over 500 faculty development programs, championing the philosophy of “enabling the enablers” to foster critical thinking and leadership in students. She has shaped curriculum, postgraduate, and doctoral programs across India, and advances inclusive design through collaborations with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Widely recognized for contributions to academic policy, sustainable design, heritage documentation, and national awards, she is also a global speaker on socially responsible architectural education.

Manisha Natarajan  
Independent Media & Content Strategist

Manisha is a noted journalist in Real Estate and Urban Development, and Personal Finance. She is known for hosting the prime-time show – ‘The Urban Reality’, ‘The Property Show’, ‘Let’s Talk Money’ on NDTV, and ‘Urban Reality’ and ‘The Real Deal’ on CNBC-TV18. Manisha continues to write on real estate and sustainability in her column, ‘Let’s Get Real’, for Hindustan Times Digital, and also creates video features for Mint and its YouTube channel. She has been a reporter for BBC World programs – ‘Moneywise’ & ‘India Business Report’ and has anchored over 2,000 hours of live business news, including key events such as the Union Budget, Economic Survey, Credit Policy and Tax Roundtables with NDTV.

Niladri Prasad Mishra  
Senior Vice President, Head – Global Infrastructure & Climate Action, Infosys  

Niladri Prasad Mishra has been working with Infosys for the past 27+ years and has over 29 years of experience. He has extensive experience in Transforming Real Estate, Financial System & Process. Setting up Distributed Workplace strategies expanding to tier-2 & tier 3 cities as well as influencing significant positive changes to Govt Policy and Process. Since 2020, as a head of Corporate Real Estate orchestrated a paradigm shift in workplace dynamics, revamping building interiors to accommodate hybrid work models. His strategic prowess and dedication have been instrumental in shaping Infosys’ trajectory, exemplifying his commitment to innovation and organisational excellence. He has a Chartered Accountant membership from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Rachana Singh  

Head – Planning and Design, Bengaluru Airport City at Kempegowda International Airport

Rachana is a master planning and design leader with 18+ years’ experience in large-scale, sustainable, mixed-use developments exceeding 40M sq. ft. With degrees in Architecture and Planning, she leads the master planning of Bengaluru Airport City, integrating business, retail, hospitality, and entertainment within the Airport Master Plan. She specialises in end-to-end design management, stakeholder coordination, and collaborations with global firms like NBBJ, HOK, ATKINS, and DPA. Skilled in aligning projects with organizational vision and navigating regulations, she has delivered iconic, commercially viable urban spaces. Her leadership has earned multiple awards in smart city planning and real estate development.

Shiny Varghese  
Senior Editor, The Indian Express   

Shiny has been a senior editor for 12 years and has been following design and architecture in the country, lending her voice to urban issues, and tracking new approaches to design. Her stories evaluate the relevance of design and promote the need for thinking about it as a way of life. From interviews with architects to stories on new materials and experiments in practice, she attempts to present the connection architecture has with people and society. Previously, at Design Today magazine, Shiny curated columns by architects critiquing the profession and showcased projects presenting qualitative aesthetics that did not bow to elitist thinking. With 18 years in design journalism, she poses the crucial question: “Is it necessary?” Shiny has edited design publications, collaborated with organisations, and judged national design competitions. In the past, she has worked with the India Today Lifestyle group, the Deccan Chronicle and Down To Earth.

Sudesh Kolte
Director, Kolte Housing & Infrastructure

Sudesh is a 1993 Computer Engineering graduate from the University of Pune and a serial entrepreneur with experience across real estate, infrastructure, technology and sustainable architecture. After completing management studies, he began building businesses that connected emerging market needs with practical execution.
His ventures include Kolte Housing and Infrastructure, Megacity Project, Computer Hardware Software and Networking Solutions, Cyber Consultants, Archeson Enterprises and Systyle Education. He has led work ranging from software and hardware distribution to sustainable architecture consulting and large-scale real estate development, including the launch of a 36-acre mass housing project in Wagholi Annexe, Pune. His work reflects a strong interest in scalable enterprises, built-environment solutions and value-driven start-up growth.