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Architecture and heritage work in Guwahati and across Assam
The studio has worked in Assam for years, from a hotel in Bongaigaon to a 96-year-old tea-estate bungalow in the Udalguri district restored as a heritage homestay that the Ministry of Tourism recognised with a Gold Star.
Places: Guwahati, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Udalguri district. The studio is at Golf Green, Jadavpur, Kolkata.
What the studio does in Assam
Mrinalini Architects is based in Kolkata and works across Assam for hoteliers, tea estates, families and institutions. The work covers architecture, interiors, heritage conservation and landscape, and the drawings the approving authority needs.
Its Assam projects include Hotel Nirvana in Bongaigaon and the Budlapara Tea Retreat, where a colonial planter’s bungalow was conserved and adapted for guests while keeping its verandahs, proportions and red oxide floors.
Building in Assam: approvals
In Guwahati a project goes through the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority for the planning permit and the Guwahati Municipal Corporation for the building permit. Assam moved building permission online in 2025 through its Online Building Permission System for the municipalities, and small houses can use the state’s instant permit route.
Land matters as much as the drawings. Tea-estate land, and land in tribal belts and blocks such as those in the Bodoland Territorial Region, carry their own rules on use and transfer, so the studio checks them before design starts.
Building in Assam: climate and ground
Most of Assam lies in the highest seismic zone of the Indian code, and the Brahmaputra valley floods. That shapes structure, plinth heights, materials and drainage from the first sketch. The traditional Assam-type house, light and timber-framed, is a lesson in both, and the studio draws on it.
Services
- ArchitectureNew buildings, additions and renovation: houses, apartment buildings, schools, colleges, hotels and banquet halls, from the first layout to site-ready working drawings.
- Interior designTurnkey interiors, custom furniture and space planning, from a 457 sq ft studio apartment to a duplex on the 17th and 18th floors.
- Heritage conservation and adaptive reuseOld buildings kept and given new use, and new buildings that draw on the architecture of Bengal.
- Urban designStrategies for streets, blocks and districts, from feasibility to design briefs.
- LandscapeLandscaping that ties a building back to its ground and its setting.
- Site supervision and project managementFrom periodic site visits to full project management: the architect on site, checking that what is built matches what was drawn.
- Building plan sanction and approvalsSanction drawings prepared in-house, by an architect registered with the Council of Architecture and empanelled with KMC, NKDA and Rajpur Sonarpur Municipality.
Questions clients ask
Does Mrinalini Architects work in Guwahati?
Yes. The studio is based in Kolkata and works across Assam, including Guwahati, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and the Udalguri district.
Has the studio restored a tea-estate bungalow?
Yes. At Budlapara in the Udalguri district it conserved a 96-year-old planter’s bungalow and adapted it as a heritage homestay, which the Ministry of Tourism recognised with a Gold Star.
Who approves a building plan in Guwahati?
GMDA issues the planning permit and GMC the building permit, through online systems. The studio checks the current procedure for each project.
Guides from the blog
- Assam type house design: ikra walls, timber frame and earthquakes
An Assam-type house is a light timber frame with ikra walls (reed or bamboo mesh plastered with mud) and a corrugated iron roof, with posts sunk 600 to 900 mm into the ground. It performs well in earthquakes because it is light and its joints flex. Fire, damp and landslide sites are its weak points.
Design and styles, - Homestay design in India: Silver and Gold rules, West Bengal and Assam
The Ministry of Tourism classifies homestays as Silver or Gold, with 1 to 6 rooms and an owner living on site. West Bengal's 2026 policy allows 1 to 8 rooms but only in rural areas. Assam's cabinet approved new homestay rules in June 2026. Hotels follow a different route, with a fire NOC at any size.
Public and commercial, - Building permission in Guwahati: GMDA, GMC, Assam OBPS and seismic zone V
In Guwahati the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority issues the planning permit and Guwahati Municipal Corporation the building permit, under the Assam Unified Building Construction (Regulation) Byelaws, 2022 and its amendments. The byelaws allow 30 days for the planning permit and 45 for the building permit. Residential buildings up to G+2 on plots up to 670 sq m can get an instant permit.
Guides, - Flood-resilient house design in eastern India: plinth, walls and utilities
NDMA and BMTPC advise a plinth at least 0.6 m above the flood level, stilts in frequently flooded zones, and burnt brick in cement mortar of 1:6 or richer for the lower walls. Assam's flood plain zoning bill is still proposed, so the rule that binds a plot is the local building rule.
Materials and climate, - Tea garden bungalow restoration and homestay conversion in Assam
Assam allows up to 5 per cent of a tea estate's land to be used for activities such as tea tourism, and a 2026 amendment Bill would extend this to leasing. A bungalow conversion also meets homestay rules, a Ministry of Tourism classification and heritage care. The studio converted a 96-year-old bungalow at Budlapara.
Heritage, - Adaptive reuse of old buildings in India: approvals and structural checks
Adaptive reuse means changing an old building to suit a new use while keeping what makes it significant. The Burra Charter accepts it only where impact on significance is minimal. In Kolkata, work on graded heritage buildings goes through KMC's Heritage Conservation Committee, and structural checks follow IS 15988:2013 for concrete and IS 13935:2009 for masonry.
Heritage,
