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).
Early life
Kamal graduated from IIT Kharagpur 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.
Career
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. 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.
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.
In 2012, he founded Windmills Craftworks, a Jazz Theater, 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, bringing varied music ranging from Jazz, Blues, rock, folk, Bluegrass, Indian Classical music, Indian folk music and Latin.
Work
Design Philosophy Kamal’s work has focused on using natural materials to create warm living spaces, through handcrafted homes that embrace nature. His people-centric design philosophy and the idea of providing a garden with every home have defined the product offerings of Total Environment. Over the years, he experimented with various different formats for these gardens, with most rooms having visual/physical access to these gardens.
“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
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.
Projects
1995 Poonawalla Stud Farms, Hadpsar, Pune, India 1999 Ion Idea Corporate Campus, Whitefield, Bangalore, India 2000 Bougainvillea, Vibhuthipura, Bangalore, India 2000 Green is the Colour, BTM Layout, Bangalore, India 2001 The Good Earth, Ulsoor, Bangalore, India 2001 Webb India Limited – 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, Whitefield, Bangalore, India 2015 The Magic Faraway Tree, Phase 1, Kanakapura Road, Bangalore, India 2017 Van Gogh's Garden, Bangalore, India 2017 College of Engineering Pune 2020 Lost in the Greens, Bangalore, India 2021 A Few Honest Words, Bangalore, India 2023 Green-roof Walk Home, Hyderabad, India
Awards and recognition 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.
S. No Award Category Year Project 1 Distinguished Alumnus Award (DAA), IIT Kharagpur Distinguished Alumnus for Platinum Jubilee 2026 - 2 Finalist at WAF, Singapore Completed Buildings - House & Villa 2024 Green-roof Walk, Hyderabad 3 Finalist at WAF, Singapore WAF Completed Buildings: Housing 2023 Lost in the Greens, Bangalore 4 Winner of The Economic Times Real Estate Conclave & Awards Residential Project: Row Housing 2022 The Magic Faraway Tree, Bangalore 5 Winner of The Economic Times Real Estate Conclave & Awards Architectural Project: Residential 2022 Windmills of Your Mind 6 Finalist at WAF Highly Commended, Future Project: Office 2021 Total Environment Business Park 7 Finalist at WAF Completed Buildings: Display 2019 Think Design, Bangalore 8 Finalist at WAF Completed Buildings: Housing 2019 Van Gogh's Garden, Bangalore 9 Finalist at WAF Completed Buildings: Housing 2019 The Magic Faraway Tree, Bangalore 10 Finalist at WAF Completed Buildings: Higher Education and Research 2019 BHAU Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, Pune 11 Finalist at WAF, Amsterdam Best Large Scale Housing Project in the World 2018 Windmills of Your Mind 12 Winner of The Innovation in Structural Engineering Bentley – Be Inspired Awards 2013 College of Engineering, Pune 13 Best Luxury Residential Project – South Zee Business - RICS Real Estate Awards 2011 Windmills of Your Mind 14 Outstanding Concrete Structure ICI (Pune) – Birla Super 2011 Orange Blossom Special 15 Sustainable Design Award Society Interiors 2010 Windmills of Your Mind 16 CNBC Arabia International Property Awards Best Residential Architecture – Asia Pacific Region 2009 Windmills of Your Mind 17 CNBC Arabia International Property Awards Best Residential Development – India 2009 Windmills of Your Mind 18 Runner-up for the Style Icon for Excellence in Architecture Kansai Nerolac 2007 Shine On 2 19 Winner of The Habitat Award for Apartment Planning Architecture + Design Spectrum Foundation 2005 Time 20 Winner of The Habitat Award for Apartment Planning Architecture + Design Spectrum Foundation 2003 The Good Earth 21 Winner of The Best Group Housing Project JK Cements – Architect of the Year Awards 2002 The Good Earth 22 Habitat Award for Apartment Planning Architecture + Design Spectrum Foundation 2002 Reach for the Sky 23 Habitat Award for Apartment Planning Architecture + Design Spectrum Foundation 2002 Bougainvillea 24 Winner of The Institutional Architecture Award Architecture + Design Spectrum Foundation 2002 Webb India Limited 25 Young Enthused Architect Architecture + Design Spectrum Foundation 2002 The Poonawalla Stud Farms
References
External links
Total Environment Jazz Festival Kamal Sagar - Standing out while blending into nature Interview: Kamal Sagar, Total Environment, 2013 Executive Council: Credai Bengaluru Nestle in one of India's affordable cities Bengaluru beats Paris and all others for me: Kamal Sagar, Total Environment I'd raze metro lines & rebuild them with smart design: Kamal Sagar, Total environment building systems CEO