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Kamal Sagar


Kamal Sagar
Born (1969-07-16) 16 July 1969 (age 55)
NationalityIndian
Alma materIndian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Occupation(s)Director, Total Environment
SpouseShibanee Sagar

Kamal Sagar (born 16 July, 1969) is an Indian architect, designer, real estate developer, restaurateur, and music enthusiast. Based in Bangalore, India, he is the founder and chairman of Total Environment Building Systems, and Total Environment Hospitality (Windmills Craftworks and Oota).[1]

Early life

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Kamal graduated from IIT Kharagpur[2] 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 – 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.[3]

Career

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In 1995, Kamal's move to Bangalore marked the beginning of a significant chapter in his career. He started his own architectural practice, first 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, and 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. He founded Total Environment, a construction and real estate development company, to build out his designs.[4][5] Total Environment has since built more than 4.5 million square feet of individually customized and furnished space, mostly homes, across Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. "Tapestry", located in Frisco, Dallas-Fort Worth metro area in the US, is a 56-acre, 121-home residential community - the company’s first international endeavor.[6][7]

Kamal’s 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 also draws inspiration from sources as varied as Enid Blyton, Alexandre Dumas, Pink Floyd, Ahmad Jamal, Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, Los Paraguayos, etc.[8][9][10]

In 2012, he founded Windmills Craftworks, a Jazz Theater,[11][12][13] 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,[14] bringing varied music ranging from Jazz, Blues, rock, folk, Bluegrass, Indian Classical music, Indian folk music and Latin.[15][1][16]

Work

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The Magic Faraway Tree, Kanakapura Road, Bangalore
The Good Earth, Ulsoor, Bangalore
Section of the terrace garden
The Magic Faraway Tree, Kanakapura Road, Bangalore
Windmills of Your Mind, Whitefield, Bangalore

Design Philosophy

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Kamal’s work has focused on using natural materials to create warm living spaces, through handcrafted homes that embrace nature.[17] His people-centric design philosophy and the idea of providing a garden with every home have defined the product offerings of Total Environment.[18] Over the years, he experimented with various different formats for these gardens, with most rooms having visual/physical access to these gardens.[4]

“We combine our design skills with excellent craftsmanship to deliver homes of the highest quality, always striving to design and build the most beautiful homes in the world," says Kamal Sagar[6]

Total Environment has leveraged technology to deliver custom-designed homes at scale. Their proprietary platform "eDesign" 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.[19][5]

Projects

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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,[21] Ulsoor, Bangalore, India
2001 Webb India Limited[4] – Corporate Office & workshops, Bommasandra, Bangalore, India
2004 Shine On, Rahath Bagh, Bangalore, India
2004 Time, Indiranagar, Bangalore, India
2006 Footprints, Indiranagar, Bangalore, India
2006 Residence for Navin Dhananjay, Hennur Road, Bangalore, India
2008 Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, India
2009 Orange Blossom Special, Uday Baugh, Pune, India
2010 Greensleeves, Singasandra, Bangalore, India
2015 Windmills of Your Mind,[22] Whitefield, Bangalore, India
2015 The Magic Faraway Tree, Phase 1, Kanakapura Road, Bangalore, India

Awards and recognition

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In recognition of his work, Kamal has won several Architectural Design Awards - at both National and International levels – including many projects that were finalists at the World Architecture Festival[23]

Sl No. Award Institution Year Project
1 Best Group Housing Project JK Cements - Architect of the Year Awards 2003 The Good Earth, Bangalore
2 Habitat Award for Apartment Planning Architecture + Design Spectrum Foundation 2003 The Good Earth, Bangalore
3 Habitat Award for Apartment Planning Architecture + Design Spectrum Foundation 2005 Time, Bangalore
4 Best Residential Development CNBC Arabia 2009 Windmills of Your Mind, Bangalore
5 Best Residential Architecture CNBC Arabia 2009 Windmills of Your Mind, Bangalore
6 Best Residential Architecture CNBC Arabia 2009 Windmills of Your Mind, Bangalore
7 Best Innovative Design Credai Bangalore 2013 Windmills of Your Mind, Bangalore
8 Winner, Innovation in Structural Engineering Bentley- Be Inspired Awards 2013 Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership
9 Finalist, Completed Buildings: Large-Scale Housing World Architecture Festival 2018 Windmills of Your Mind
10 Finalist, Completed Buildings: Hotel and Leisure World Architecture Festival 2019 Windmills Restaurant & Craft Beer
11 Finalist, Completed Buildings: Housing World Architecture Festival 2019 The Magic Faraway Tree
12 Finalist, Completed Buildings: Higher Education and Research World Architecture Festival 2019 Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Leadership
13 Finalist, Completed Buildings: Display World Architecture Festival 2019 Think Design
14 Finalist, Completed Buildings: Housing World Architecture Festival 2020 - 2021 Van Gogh’s Garden
15 Highly Commended, Future Project: Office World Architecture Festival 2021 Total Environment Business Park
16 Residential Project - Row House The Economic Times Real Estate Conclave & Awards 2022 Windmills of your Mind
17 Architectural Project - Residential The Economic Times Real Estate Conclave & Awards 2022 The Magic Faraway Tree
18 WAF Completed Buildings: Housing World Architecture Festival 2023 Lost in the Greens
19 Winner, Architectural Project - Residential High rise (15+ Floors) ET Designscape 2024 'Green-roof Walk’ home
20 Winner, Architectural Project - Private Residences (4501+sq.ft.) ET Designscape 2024 BHAU Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership (BIIEL) at the College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP)
21 Winner, Architect of the Year ET Designscape 2024 Windmills of your Mind
22 Iconic Project (commendation) ET Designscape 2024 Kamal Sagar, Founder, Shibanee + Kamal Architects
23 WAF, Completed Buildings: House and Villa World Architecture Festival 2024 Green-roof Walk

References

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  1. ^ a b "Drink, Listen, Browse". Rohin Dharmakumar, Forbes India. forbesindia.com. 26 October 2012. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Total Architecture: Different Kind of Builders". Rohin Dharmakumar, Forbes India. forbesindia.com. 29 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Total Focus, Absolute Intent". Subroto Bagchi. forbesindia.com. 10 October 2009. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "Bringing Nature Home" (PDF). Apurva Bose Dutta. apurvabose.com. 2 April 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  5. ^ a b Dharmakumar, Rohin (24 July 2020). "The Interview: Total Environment's Kamal Sagar on his 25-year mission to build the Apple of real estate". The Ken.
  6. ^ a b "Total Environment, World's Largest Builder of Custom-designed Homes, Launches $250 Million Project 'Tapestry' at Frisco, Texas". www.businesswire.com. 17 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Tapestry in Frisco: art, community and green living are behind this luxury development". Local Profile. 25 October 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  8. ^ "Playing across genre lines". The Hindu. thehindu.com. 11 December 2014. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  9. ^ "Hamlet: Method and madness". TIMES NEWS NETWORK. timesofindia.com. 17 October 2015. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. ^ "LIVE STREAMING PLANNED - City Becomes a Stage for Bard's Globe Theatre". Divya Shekhar, The Economic Times. timesofindia.com. 15 October 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  11. ^ "A devoted fan, a legendary pianist and all that jazz". Khushali P Madhwani, Bangalore Mirror Bureau. bangaloremirror.com. 5 July 2014. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  12. ^ "How Jazz Legend Ahmad Jamal Wowed Bengaluru". Sunil Sampat, Rolling Stone India. rollingstoneindia.com. 6 July 2014. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  13. ^ "Jamal comes to town". Susanna Chandy, Rolling Stone India. The New Indian Express. 4 July 2014. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  14. ^ "How Bengaluru Architect Kamal Sagar Convinced Jazz Legend Ahmad Jamal To Perform In India". Lalitha Suhasini, Rolling Stone India. rollingstoneindia.com. 26 June 2014. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  15. ^ "Have a jazzy time at the Total Environment Jazz Festival". Times News Network. timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 25 November 2014. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  16. ^ "Sway to crossover jazz tunes". TIMES NEWS NETWORK. timesofindia.com. 30 December 2015. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  17. ^ "Personalise Your Space". Deepika Mital, Times of India. timesofindia.com. 27 March 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2015.[dead link]
  18. ^ Dharmakumar, Rohin (2 February 2023). "Picking principles over convenience | Podcast". The Ken.
  19. ^ "Customizing Homes". Sujit John. Times of India. 7 September 2011. Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  20. ^ "How to bend it like Beckham in work space design". Utkal Mohanty. DNA. 5 February 2011. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  21. ^ "Total Elegance Intent". Shrabonti Bagchi. telegraphindia.com. 24 August 2008. Archived from the original on 17 November 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  22. ^ "The million buck home in Bangalore". Gargi Gupta. rediff.com. 16 June 2007. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  23. ^ "Search – World Buildings Directory | Architecture Search Engine". Retrieved 15 May 2024.
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