STUDIO OurPeopleTree
Since 2000

‘Ourpeopletree’ is a platform showcasing works and thoughts of two architects,
both graduates from School of Architecture, CEPT, Ahmedabad, currently practicing out of Rajkot, India

The office believes that the basis of a better-built environment should be its cultural context and appropriate technology resulting out of participatory decision making.

The office aims to produce sound architectural works reflecting culture and climate of a place. At the same time, it is a desire to disseminate information towards a better-built environment using cultural context and appropriate technology.
Issues of ecologically balanced architecture; concerns for water conservation and environmental degradation, vernacular reflections are at the core of its design principles and will try to address these issues with innovation and in the given contextual frame.

BPS Architects consists of two principal architects. Brinda and Parth Shah

Parth graduated from the School of Architecture, CEPT in 1997. Thereafter he continued working in CEPT and devoted all his time to working under Prof Varkey. It was Prof Varkey’s confidence in him that made him re-start the CEPT Design Cell, later to become a full-fledged CEPT Research and Development Unit. Subsequently he also worked with Prof Doshi and Prof Vasavada for about 3 years.

In Ahmedabad, Parth continued to practice along with his wife Brinda until 2003, when he went to the Netherlands to pursue his master’s course in water resources management, a subject dear to him. He enrolled at the prestigious ITC, the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, now, the Faculty of GIS and EO at the University of Twente.
He was awarded a full bright scholarship under the NUFFIC program from the Netherlands Government.
He completed his course with distinction and returned to India in 2005 to resume his practice from Rajkot

He is Professor at Indus University, Ahmedabad and has been visiting Professor at CEPT and at IPSA Rajkot where he teaches Architectural Design; Topographical Systems; Building Materials and Photography.

Brinda graduated in 1998 from CEPT. She has worked under Prof BV Doshi and Prof. R. J. Vasavada on Architectural and research projects.

She is the recipient of the prestigious Paul Hodgkinson Scholarship to do her Masters in Vernacular Architecture at Oxford Brookes University at Oxford, England in 2003. During the masters course she passed with distinction in all her subjects. Her teachers at OBU, Dr. Paul Oliver and Marcel Vellinga inspired her to practice architecture in new direction, exploring various working methods. She returned back to India in 2005 and restarted architectural practice at Rajkot with Partner Parth Shah.
Their firm OURPEOPLETREE-BPS ARCHITECTS has won many prestigious architecture awards includes
JK Cement young designer, JK Cement Green Architecture, A+D, AISAA (All India Stone Architectural Award).

Brinda has been associated with academics since 1998 as research assistant at CEPT and is an Associate Professor at the Indubhai Parekh School of Architecture since 2005. She has been associated with teaching assignments and jury at Nirma University, Ahmedabad & Navrachna University, Vadodara. She teaches Architectural Design and History of Architecture. She paper on Cypriot Dwellings is published in ISVS conference papers. Recently, she conducted an International Design workshop at Archiprix 2017.

Brinda also has won INTACH Research Scholarship in 2017 on Vernacular Dwellings of Saurashtra, Gujarat. She has deep interest in knowing local culture and built environment. She also has travelled extensively in India and abroad.