Reviewers of the 2021-22 Challenge
In the 2021-22 Challenge, these expert professionals from the building industry reviewed the pre-design and intermediate submissions of the participants. These professionals have significant experience working on net-zero and sustainable building projects.
Aafsha Kansal
Aafsha Kansal
Research Associate, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy
Aafsha is an architect and has completed her M.Sc – Sustainable Design and High-Performance Buildings from the University of Sydney, Australia, and previously worked as a Sustainability Consultant in Australia. Her expertise areas include delivering and integrating sustainability across the lifecycle of a project in the residential, commercial, and institutional sectors. Prior to joining the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), she worked with building energy rating systems namely BASIX, NaTHERS, LEED, Green Star, JV3, and NABERS. In her free time, she serves as an education support volunteer for the underprivileged and a mentor for aspirants.
Aalok Deshmukh
Aalok Deshmukh
Co-Founder & MD, SuperHumanRace Pvt. Ltd.
Aalok A. Deshmukh is Co-Founder & MD at SuperHumanRace Pvt. Ltd., a start-up at the intersection of technology and sustainability; offering CSR automation, alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Experiential Employee Engagement to corporations across various industry verticals. Aalok has over 20 years of experience spanning contributions to more than 125 projects in 11 countries. In 2016, Aalok was recognized as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Fellow (LEED Fellow), the highest professional credential awarded by Green Business Certification, Inc., USA. Aalok has experience in energy and sustainability strategy, implementation, consulting, and research; in the corporate, government and non-profit sectors. Before joining the SuperHumanRace, Aalok was at Schneider Electric India as Director – Sustainability & Influence Strategy. Prior to joining Schneider Electric, Aalok headed the USAID-funded bilateral ECO-III Project. Earlier, Aalok has worked as a Senior Consultant, Built Environment at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), USA.
Aarti Nain
Aarti Nain
Aarti Nain is an energy efficiency policy specialist with expertise in healthy and net zero energy buildings, sustainable cooling, energy efficiency financing and ESCOs, utility DSM programs and market development of low-carbon building technologies. Aarti advises think tanks such as Global Building Performance Network and Council on Energy, Environment and Water in developing policies for Indian and South Asia. Aarti has advised central and state governments and the private sector in implementing market-oriented energy efficiency programs that increase the cost-effectiveness of sustainable technologies. Notable among these are the ESCO-model based Super-efficient Air Conditioning Program and Building Energy Efficiency Program with EESL. Important policy development work in India includes an update of the Energy Conservation Building Code 2017. Seminal studies, authored by Aarti analysing capacity and perceptions of markets and consumers in India towards energy efficient technologies have informed national level strategies for climate change mitigation. Aarti is a recipient of the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship from University of Oxford and has a Master of Science from Carnegie Mellon University.
Amanda Thounojam
Amanda Thounojam
Technical Associate, Sustainable Energy Lab, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS)
Amanda Thounaojam has completed her Master’s in building Energy Performance and is working as a Technical Associate at IIHS. She provides technical support for net-zero-energy-water-waste aspects of the Solar Decathlon India challenge and assists coordination among the participating teams. She also provides technical support for monitoring the building energy performance of the new IIHS campus at Kengeri. She has worked as a Visiting Scholar at Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory at University of Oregon, USA.
Amor Kool
Amor Kool
Chief Sustainability Officer, Welspun Enterprises
Amor Kool is Chief Sustainability Officer at Welspun Enterprises, India. He was previously the Head of Green Value Partner (GVP) program at IIFL Home Loans. He led IIFL on the SUNREF Program by NHB in association with AFD. He was a panel member of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) committee involved in the National Building Code of India 2016. Amor was also a Steering Committee member of Eco-Niwas Samhita 2018 (ECBC for Residential Development in India.) He was an Expert Faculty for Sustainable Development Program in CPWD Academy.
Anamika Prasad
Anamika Prasad
Director, Environmental Design Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
An architect with a specialization in energy efficiency, Anamika founded EDS, an energy efficiency advisory firm, in 2003. EDS works in the areas of energy simulation, building codes & policy, and green building certification. Anamika graduated from SPA, New Delhi, and holds an MS from Arizona State University, USA.
Ar. Samvedna Jadhav
Ar. Samvedna Jadhav
Samvedna is an Environmental Architect, and Assistant Professor at Sinhgad College of Architecture, Pune. She is Co-Founder and Principal Architect at Design Connect Studio, Pune. She was a member of a finalist team in the 2018 US DOE Race to Zero. She is an IGBC Accredited Professional, GEM Certified Professional and Green Building Consultant.
Ar. Sanika Kulkarni
Ar. Sanika Kulkarni
Sanika is an architect with a Master’s degree in Environmental Architecture from BNCA, Pune. She is an IGBC AP with experience working on green buildings. She has 2 years experience as an Assistant professor at SCOA, Pune. She is currently doing freelance work.
Autif Sayyed
Autif Sayyed
Autif Sayyed leads the South Asia Green Building program for International Finance Corporation, which aims to mainstream construction of resource efficient buildings through targeted investments, setting of market standards, and government policies.
Autif has supported mandatory Green Building codes for 7 national and local governments, and facilitated green building code compliance for over 18 million m2 of built space. He is currently facilitating certification of more than 100 projects using IFC’s EDGE green building certification. Autif also leads the development and implementation of IFC’s Green Building course that has been delivered to students in over 20 unoversities globally.
A trained Architect and Building Sustainability Expert, Autif previously worked with Johnson Controls in USA as an Energy Program Manager. He has over 18 years’ experience consulting governments, building developers and designers on resource efficiency.
Deepa Parekh
Deepa Parekh
Associate Director, Lead- Sustainability Education, Environmental Design Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Deepa is an architect and building science professional and leads the ‘Sustainability Education’ vertical at EDS. Her work at EDS includes facilitating green building certifications, high-performance building consulting, whole building energy and daylight simulations, green building policy research, analysis and communications.
She is A USGBC Faulty and ECBC Master Trainer, she has conducted over 40 training programs for a varied group of learners in various formats including online programs and in-person workshops. Deepa is also actively engaged in academics by regularly teaching graduate level courses, being part of juries, giving expert talks as well as advising students on their graduate thesis.
Dharini SK
Dharini SK
Dharini Sridharan is an architect with an M.Tech in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. She has hands-on experience working on various green building rating systems. Her broader interests lie in contributing to the environment through better buildings and policy level implementation.
Garima Kamra
Garima Kamra
Garima Kamra works as a Technical Manager with Asahi India Glass Ltd. She assists teams with their selection of glazing for their buildings through energy, daylight and comfort related analytical studies. She engages with various technical bodies in the field of green building facades and fenestrations, and has conducted multiple training sessions on these subjects. She is an architect LEED GA, CII IGBC AP, and GRIHA CP, and has an M.Tech in Building Energy Performance.
Gaurav Vakil
Gaurav Vakil
Gaurav Vakil is a Research Consultant at the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy. He has completed his M.Tech in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University, and has a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering. He has over 3 years of experience in the construction industry. He is also a LEED Green Associate and IGBC-Accredited Professional.
Harsh Thapar
Harsh Thapar
Founder, Envirolyser
Harsh Thapar, an Architect and Environmentalist, believes that sensitive design can go a very long way to make peoples life better. Architecture needs to find new expressions and a renewed meaning by exploring the hidden relationship with climate, lifestyle, energy, built form, technology and very importantly, business practices. He is passionate about use of building science and technology to designing healthier and environment friendly buildings. After studying Sustainable Environmental Design at the Architectural Association School, London, he worked as Associate at Foster and Partners, London. He achieved the title of a Charted Environmentalist in the UK recognising his expertise. After working as Vice President at HKS Architects New Delhi, he has recently founded an organisation called Envirolyser. Harsh has worked on high performance building and master planning projects like the Masdar, Abu Dhabi ( envisioned as Net Zero carbon city and powered with renewables), New Apple Campus at San Jose ( LEED Platinum ), Bloomberg Head Quarters in London (BREEAM Excellent Building ) and Amaravati New Capital Complex in Andhra Pradesh in India.
Harshada Akolkar
Harshada Akolkar
Harshada is an experienced architect with a Master’s in Environmental Architecture from BNCA, Pune. Her interest areas include building LCA, net zero buildings, and climate change impact on thermal comfort. Her expertise lies in analysis of embodied and operational emissions of a building stock. She is also an IGBC Accredited Professional.
Jagadeesh Taluri
Jagadeesh Taluri
Founder and CEO, 1EQ Edutech Pvt. Ltd.
Jagadeesh is the CEO and Founder of 1EQ Edutech Pvt Ltd. He is an Architect and an IIM, Calcutta alumnus, and has over 19 years of professional experience in the design and development of large-scale corporate and institutional projects. He has spearheaded notable projects such as the National Secretariat Complex for the Royal Government of Bhutan and Suzlon One Earth Campus in Pune. He was trained in advanced energy simulations and low energy HVAC design by various International experts and US National Labs.
Jaydeep Bhadra
Jaydeep Bhadra
Jaydeep provides technical support to the Solar Decathlon India programme and has been involved since its inception. He is doing his PhD at Loughborough University, UK, where his research focuses on personal comfort systems, thermal and sleep comfort. Prior to that, he worked on developing and implementing policies & programs for energy-efficiency in the built-environment.
Jiten Prajapati
Jiten Prajapati
Principal Architect, Jiten Prajapati
Jiten Prajapati is an architect, teacher and GRIHA – CP based in Mumbai. He has been involved in a range of architectural and research projects pertaining to sustainability since 1994. The focus of his consultancy is on design innovation, client satisfaction and research. He was a consultant for IGP-Gulbarga, which is the first passive cooled public building in India to be awarded LEED Gold Rating by the US GBC. He is the author and co-author of several books, articles, papers and software tools for sustainable architecture.
Kanika Sathe
Kanika Sathe
Kanika Sathe is an aspiring environmental architect and sustainable design enthusiast. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Environmental Architecture from BNCA. She is keenly interested in exploring energy efficient design practices and technologies, which cater to thermal comfort and reduce carbon footprint.
L Venkatesh
L Venkatesh
Director, Integrated Digital Delivery, Invicara
Venkatesh is an architect who has started a new innings as a sutradhar for digital tech in design. After active designing for more than 25 years he has shifted his focus to digital delivery and technology at the intersection of the drawing board and site. When not at his work desk, he can be found quizzing or indulging in his interest in the outdoors – the better if it is as remote from a cell phone tower as possible. He has a Master’s in Architecture from Iowa and a Bachelor’s from the erstwhile University of Roorkee
Maaz
Maaz
Maaz Dixit is a practicing Energy Consultant and consultant architect at GEDA for ECBC and ENS implementation. She is also the Founder-Partner of Neev Energy and Sustainable Solutions at Ahmedabad. She is an architect by profession and has a combined experience of 5 years in the field of architecture, building energy efficiency- research & consultancy, and teaching.
Mansi Parikh
Mansi Parikh
Senior Sustainability Consultant
Mansi has 5+ years experience in sustainability and architecture. She has been actively involved in various campus projects with net-zero targets for energy, water, carbon emissions and waste, pan-India. Her area of expertise lies in developing sustainability frameworks for built environments. She also has knowledge and experience in the field of passive design strategies, low energy cooling systems, HVAC systems and controls, energy efficiency, lighting, and daylighting design.
Mili Jain
Mili Jain
Mili Jain is an architect and building energy professional with expertise in LCA and Carbon Footprints. She has worked on the quantification of the cradle-to-cradle carbon footprint of existing buildings to be able to formulate carbon offset plans. Mili founded Monk Spaces with the belief that both people and buildings can benefit from a little more mindfulness.
Minu Agarwal
Minu Agarwal
Minu Agarwal (PhD) currently works as an Adjunct Assignment professor at CEPT University, India where she teaches daylighting and lighting related subjects. She has a doctoral degree from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland and Masters from Carnegie Mellon University, USA. She also worked as an energy performance specialist for several years on commercial office and institutional buildings in the US.
Nidhi Joshi
Nidhi JoshiNidhi Joshi is a strong believer of making buildings resilient through integration of disaster mitigation and adaptation, environmentalism, sustainability, design and research. She is an environmental architect, interior designer and an academic by profession. Nidhi is also an IGBC Accredited Professional with a keen interest in disaster risk management from the building to the community level, passive design strategies and building physics.
Niveditha Paulraj
Niveditha Paulraj
Niveditha is an architect with an M.Tech degree in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. She worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy, focusing on the thermal comfort in Indian residences. Her post graduate thesis focused on thermal comfort in the affordable housing sector. Her areas of expertise include building energy simulations, research, and documentation.
Pooja Mundhe
Pooja Mundhe
Pooja Mundhe is an Architect with an M.Tech in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. She is proficient in analysing natural ventilation using water table apparatus, lighting, daylighting, energy simulations and green building certifications. She is a member of the Board of Governor, Student Activity Co-Chair of ASHRAE Pune Chapter, Society Year 2021-22.
Prasad Vaidya
Prasad Vaidya Director, Solar Decathlon India
Prasad Vaidya leads the Solar Decathlon India effort and is Senior Advisor to the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy. He has served as a Professor and Area Chair for Building Energy Performance at CEPT University, and a Partner at The Weidt Group. He has over 25 years of experience in working on energy policy, energy efficiency program development, and net-zero-energy building projects. He is a LEED Fellow, and has been an ASHRAE and USGBC faculty member.
Rajan Rawal
Rajan RawalSenior Advisor, Centre for Advanced Studies in Building Science and Energy (CARBSE)
Rajan Rawal is faculty member at CEPT University and Senior Advisor of Centre for Advanced Studies in Building Science and Energy (CARBSE) at CEPT Research and Development Foundation. He teaches energy-efficient built habitat, energy modelling and, energy policy at the postgraduate level. His work emphasis is on energy performance of human habitat and architectural science education.
Sahil Priyadarshi
Sahil Priyadarshi
Sahil has over 5 years of professional experience in climate responsive architecture, green buildings & zero-carbon building design, policy & research, artificial intelligence, business management and skill development. He has contributed in 40+ projects with Public & Private Organisations and have conducted 25+ training and awareness programs for professionals & students. You can know more about him at www.linkedin.com/in/sahilpriyadarshi
Samit Bhowmick
Samit Bhowmick
Co-founder, VeraTatva
Samit is co-founder at VeraTatva, a collaborative engineering consultancy that specializes in high performance, sustainable designs at little or no additional cost. Earlier, he was part of the infrastructure team at Infosys, where he managed MEP services for their new, ultra-efficient office buildings. He has held senior management positions at Transtech Turnkey, M+W Zander and ABB, delivering projects for critical facilities having close control of temperature, relative humidity, differential pressure and particle content. Samit believes that every designer should own the responsibility of minimizing the environmental impact implied by his/her design.
Sanchi Pathella
Sanchi Pathella
Sanchi Pathella is an architect from L.S.Raheja, with an M.Tech. in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. She was an Assistant Manager – Sustainability at Ecofirst Services Limited – A TATA Enterprise, and has worked on the sustainable design of 50+ buildings. Her expertise lies in energy and daylight simulations. She is a LEED GA, IGBC AP, GRIHA CP and GEM CP.
Sandhiya Jayakumar
Sandhiya Jayakumar
Computational Building Engineer, OMRT, Amsterdam
Sandhiya Jayakumar holds a bachelor degree in Architecture and a Master of Technology in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. She has over 3 years of work experience in the field of building sustainability, including working at Transsolar, Stuttgart and Environmental Design Solutions, Delhi. She is currently working as a Computational Building Engineer at OMRT, Amsterdam.
Sanjay Prakash
Sanjay PrakashPrincipal, SHiFt Studio
Sanjay Prakash is the Principal of SHiFt: Studio for Habitat Futures, with a commitment to energy-conscious architecture, eco-friendly design, people’s participation in planning, music and production design. His professional and personal life integrates urbanism and sustainability. His practice and research over 40 years includes passive and low energy design, hybrid air-conditioning, autonomous energy and water systems, bamboo, wood and earth construction, community-based design of common property, and computer-aided design. He has mentored hundreds of professionals. He is a co-founder of Future Institute and Himalayan Institute for Alternatives, Ladakh.
Shailee Goswami
Shailee GoswamiResearch Engineer, Saint Gobain Research Institute
Shailee is an Architect and holds a Master’s degree in building energy performance (BEP) from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. With over 7 years of experience in Building Science and Sustainable Architecture, she has worked with multiple projects related to energy efficiency, indoor comfort assessment, green building certifications, and integrated design. She is currently leading the building science team at Saint-Gobain Research India and is involved in simulations and measurements based assessment of built-environment in Hot & Humid climates.
Shatakshi Suman
Shatakshi Suman
Architect with 8+ years’ experience in the field of energy-efficient building design and sustainable construction. PGD in Environmental Law and Urban Management and a Diploma in Housing Law. Worked towards Energy efficiency building code development, policy framework and its implementation in India. Passive design strategies, daylighting, building energy simulation, and envelope design optimization is her area of expertise.
Shubham Solanki
Shubham Solanki
Shubham is an integrated building designer, and Founder of CoLEAD LLP, an architectural and environmental design consultancy. He is an architect from University School of Architecture and Planning, Delhi, with and an M.Tech in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. He has worked on institutional projects, infrastructure projects and industrial buildings. He was also part of the Global Cooling Prize as a member of the field testing team.
Smitha M B
Smitha M BSenior Manager, Academics, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS)
Smitha was a Professor of Architecture, and Program Coordinator at the Center for Smart and Sustainable Technologies, SJB School of Architecture and Planning (SJB SAP), Bangalore, India. Smitha has lead and coordinated studio teams, which explored methods to incorporate larger concerns impacting built environments through analytical studies and design projects at the undergraduate level. As an academic Planning Consultant for the Center for Sustainable Development, Bangalore, a not-for-profit organisation, Smitha contributed to the review of the BIAPA (Bangalore International Airport Planning Area) Master Plan. Her special interests lie in the expressions of identity, modifications of cultural markers and the intersections of built environment and public health.
Snowy Christophel
Snowy Christophel
Snowy is an Energy and Environmental Engineer with a specialization in Building Energy Performance. Her core interest lies in the concepts of buildings and sustainability throughout the project life cycle. She is passionate about renewable energy technology, energy efficient retrofit practices, and whole building design approaches for a sustainable built environments. Her background in the energy and environmental sector, and her passion towards energy performance has helped her channel her thoughts towards designing and practicing sustainability in her work with built environments.
Sreejith Jayaram
Sreejith Jayaram
Sreejith is a consultant at IIHS. He has extensively worked on developing the Self-Learning Modules on building science provided to participants of Solar Decathlon India. He is an architect with a Master’s degree in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. He is also a LEED Green Associate and GRIHA CP. He was part of the finalist team in Solar Decathlon U.S Design Challenge 2019, that presented their work at Colorado, Denver.
Stuti Goyal
Stuti Goyal
Stuti is an Architect and Building Energy Analyst, and a sustainability enthusiast. She has a Bachelor’s in Architecture from USAP, Delhi, and completed her M.Tech. from CEPT University. She has a keen interest in working towards achieving sustainable built environments. She is a former participant of Solar Decathlon India as part of Team KillBill 4.0.
Surya Kakani
Surya Kakani
Founder and Principal, Kakani Associates
Surya represents Kakani Associates, a practice he established with his partner Jaai as a collaborative between architecture and design in 1995 each informing the other and subsequently informing a way of life. His work situates itself in the larger modernist paradigm of efficiency and seeks to integrate a holistic understanding of structure, construction and design, broadly related to sustainability along with the habitual essence of buildings. The ethos of his work has been to achieve efficiency in operation, minimize waste and match form and expression closely to the imperatives of the chosen construction systems and processes, keeping in mind the subtlest needs of the dwellers. Surya is the former Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at CEPT University.
Suyashi Srivastava
Suyashi Srivastava
Suyashi Srivastava is a Building Performance Analyst with a background in architecture, and is trained to evaluate energy-efficiency measures and green strategies through analysis and simulations. Her professional experience includes working as a BIM Architect at SYSTRA MVA and an Energy Analyst at Ecofirst Services Limited-A TATA Enterprise. During her participation in the 2019 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge, she worked on the water-cycle for her project, by optimizing the landscape and net-water use on-site. Her vision for her career is driven by her intent to bridge the gap between the building design and its environmental surroundings.
Swati Puchalapalli
Swati PuchalapalliDirector, TerraViridis 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.
Utkarsh Mathur
Utkarsh Mathur
Utkarsh is a graduate of Architecture and Planning from IIT Roorkee. He has completed his postgraduation in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University. He holds the best technical thesis award which was formulated in a technical research paper published in the Journal of Building Engineering (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.102302). He has also been awarded the prestigious BHAVAN’s national scholarship in 2018 to work with Dr. Harvey Bryan at Arizona State University. He has an overall experience of 3 years and is currently working with EY as an associate under the Power & Utility sector.
Vismaya Paralkar
Vismaya Paralkar
Vismaya is an architect with a vision to bring an optimistic change through her work. She has over 2 years of exexperience working in the fielf of building physics, sustainable and energy-efficient designs. She is currently a Green Value Partner at IIFL Home Loans.
Yashima Jain
Yashima Jain
Yashima Jain is an architect by profession and holds experience of 2 years in architecture and design. She has completed her M.Tech in Building Energy Performance from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. She is an Associate at IIHS. She previously worked with the Green Business Certification Institute (GBCI).
