Nirmal Kulkarni is a practicing architect with the ability to traverse the boundaries between education and the practice of architecture and design. His work and his teaching reflect the goal of evolving an architecture, which heightens the sensory experience of the user in space, to that of aesthetic delight. He has varied interests and talents, from designing human habitat, book covers and expressing himself through a range of mediums of art. Through interactions in studio, he constantly examines the relationship between practice and pedagogy of architecture. He believes that design can be the ‘tool’, which can help resolve big and small issues in the world, through creative thinking, innovative strategies and out of the box solutions. He says that an individual’s own way of ‘thinking-doing’ is crucial as is conversation among groups for a confluence of ideas, so that creativity can flourish. Nirmal is concerned about art and design education in schools to promote lateral thinking in the minds of the future generation. He trained as an architect from Academy of Architecture (AoA), Mumbai and has been awarded prizes for national and international design competitions. He is currently based in Gurgaon and runs his practice, AUM Architects.The practice prides itself on innovative design and have been recipients of awards in National Architectural Design Competitions.The works, built and un-built, reflect the goal of evolving an architecture which enables one to heighten the sensory experience. He is also in the process of writing a book on architecture based on his experience as a practitioner as well as educator.
