CPKA and the New India Redefining Architecture for the 21st Century

Over the past five decades, CP Kukreja Architects (CPKA) has emerged as one of India’s most influential architectural firms, crafting a wide-ranging portfolio of public projects that reflect the country’s geographic diversity and evolving aspirations. From Kashmir’s alpine terrain to the coastal belt of Kerala, from the deserts of Rajasthan to the forests of Arunachal Pradesh, the firm’s designs function as milestones in the making of modern India.

“India is not one story—it’s a thousand stories unfolding at once,” says Managing Principal Dikshu C. Kukreja. “Our role as architects is to listen carefully to those regional voices and translate them into built form that is both visionary and rooted.”

In the North, the firm’s design for the Central University in Kashmir addresses not just functionality, but also a deeper civic symbolism in a region long marked by conflict. In Delhi, the under-construction Thal Sena Bhawan introduces a new architectural language for India’s defence infrastructure—modern, dignified, and secure. In Bhopal, Hamidia Medicity is rising as one of Asia’s largest healthcare campuses. “Healthcare today needs to move beyond clinical walls,” Kukreja says. “It must also offer spaces that heal emotionally and socially.”

CPKA’s work stretches into India’s eastern frontier with the creation of a civic-commercial district in Itanagar, including a Taj Hotel and public infrastructure. “This project is about giving a growing city its identity while respecting its native spirit,” he explains. Meanwhile, in Bagdogra, their international airport design draws inspiration from the Kanchenjunga range, fusing natural imagery with operational efficiency.

In Kerala, Technocity in Thiruvananthapuram is being envisioned as a next-gen digital hub. Out West, in Barmer, Rajasthan, the firm is designing a climate-resilient township. “Architecture must respond to its environment—it cannot be copied from elsewhere and pasted across the country,” Kukreja asserts.

The firm is also behind some of India’s most transformative mobility projects, such as Delhi’s underground metro network and the redevelopment of Gomti Nagar Railway Station in Lucknow. The East Delhi Hub—India’s first Transit-Oriented Development—represents a new vision of density and walkable urbanism. “Transport hubs can no longer be just stopovers—they must become public domains that support urban life.”

Beyond mobility and institutions, their cultural projects like the Ayodhya Vision Plan 2047 and Ekatma Dham in Omkareshwar reinterpret sacred geographies through contemporary design. “Spiritual architecture must evoke timelessness without becoming a replica of the past,” he says.

Under Kukreja’s leadership, CPKA is now ranked among the top 100 architecture and planning firms globally and top 5 in Asia. “Architecture is never neutral,” he concludes. “Every line we draw is a reflection of who we are and where we hope to go as a nation.”