THE JOURNAL
From the Studio, page 7
Building Guidelines
Studio Contour: NKDA Rules for Fire Escape Staircase Placement
Studio Contour explains NKDA's fire escape staircase placement rules for New Town buildings, covering setbacks, widths, worked examples and the mistakes that get plans rejected.
Building Guidelines
Studio Contour: NKDA Rules for Internal Courtyard Design
Studio Contour breaks down how NKDA rules treat internal courtyards in New Town, covering FAR, ground coverage, light and ventilation norms, and where owners lose plan approval.
Decision Guides
Designing a New Town Flat for Rental Yield Rather Than Resale
How to design a New Town Kolkata flat for rental yield rather than resale, covering layout, finishes, services and compliance decisions that actually raise rent.
Room Guides
Grab Bars, Thresholds and Lighting: Ageing-in-Place Retrofits That Are Not Ugly
Ageing-in-place retrofits in Kolkata homes done properly: grab bar anchoring, flush thresholds, layered lighting and door widths, without the hospital look.
Building Guidelines
Studio Contour: NKDA Rules for Common Passage Width in Apartments
Studio Contour explains NKDA and KMC common passage width norms for New Town apartments, why plans get stuck on corridor widths, and how Sumana Kumar's team gets sanction through clean the first time.
Building Guidelines
Studio Contour: NKDA Rules for Electrical Meter Room Location
Studio Contour breaks down NKDA and WBSEDCL rules for electrical meter room placement on New Town plots, with a worked G+2 example and common mistakes to avoid.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: What Our NKDA Site Visit Report Actually Covers
Studio Contour explains what a proper architect's site visit report covers before NKDA sanction, from setback and frontage checks to corner-plot cases, and why it prevents costly New Town plan rejections.
Commercial & Workplace
Co-Living Layouts for a New Town Building: What Actually Works
Co-living layouts for a New Town building, explained by a Kolkata architecture studio: unit mix, bathroom ratios, corridors, services sizing and sanction reality.
Commercial & Workplace
Paying Guest Accommodation in Salt Lake: Layout and Compliance Basics
Paying guest accommodation in Salt Lake: how to plan layout, water, drainage, fire egress and parking for a PG conversion, and where the compliance handoffs sit.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: How We Brief a Structural Consultant for an NKDA File
Studio Contour explains how we brief a structural consultant before an NKDA file goes in, what drawings we hand over, and why that coordination decides whether New Town owners get a clean sanction.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: How We Handle an NKDA Objection From a Neighbouring Plot
Studio Contour explains exactly how an NKDA objection from a neighbouring plot gets resolved in New Town, from the site verification visit to the documents that actually decide the outcome.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: How We Track an NKDA File Once It Is Submitted
Studio Contour breaks down exactly how an NKDA building plan file moves after submission, the checkpoints that cause delay, and how active tracking gets a stalled file moving again.
Commercial & Workplace
Designing a Short-Stay Rental Flat Near Eco Park
How to design a short-stay rental flat near Eco Park, New Town: durable finishes, turnover-ready layouts, services, society rules and indicative costs.
Commercial & Workplace
Student Housing Near Sector V: Room Sizes, Storage and Shared Kitchens
Student housing near Sector V, Kolkata: practical room sizes, storage planning, shared kitchen ratios, bathroom provisioning and sanction issues from a New Town architecture studio.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: What Changes in an NKDA File for a Leasehold Plot
Studio Contour breaks down exactly what changes in an NKDA building plan file when a New Town plot is leasehold, from lease deeds to drawing sets to post-sanction mutation.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: What We Tell Clients Before Their First NKDA Meeting
Studio Contour walks New Town plot owners through what actually happens at the first NKDA meeting, what to carry, and how a plan gets sanctioned without delay.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: Why We Keep an NKDA Submission Log for Every Client
Studio Contour explains why every NKDA sanction file we run out of our New Town studio gets its own submission log, and what that habit actually saves a plot owner in rework, delay and rejected drawings.
Decision Guides
Home Automation Worth Wiring In Before Plaster, and What to Skip
Home automation in Kolkata: what to wire in before plaster, what to skip, and how conduit, neutrals and cabling decide your options years later.
Decision Guides
How Tenant Turnover Should Change Your Material Choices
Tenant turnover should drive your material choices in a Kolkata rental. A New Town architect on which finishes survive repeated handovers and which quietly cost you.
Building Guidelines
Studio Contour: NKDA Rules for Overhead Water Tank Structural Support
Studio Contour explains NKDA's structural rules for overhead water tanks in New Town, covering RCC support design, height limits, load paths and why the tank matters more than owners think.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: What We Ask For on the First NKDA Site Visit
Studio Contour walks through exactly what we check and ask for on the first NKDA site visit in New Town, from mutation records to setbacks, and why it prevents sanction delays.
Practical Guides & Ideas
CCTV and Intercom Planning for an Independent House in Kolkata
CCTV and intercom planning for an independent house in Kolkata: camera placement, cabling, DVR location, intercom points and what to decide before plaster.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour: How We Sequence Design Work Around the NKDA Calendar
Studio Contour breaks down how a New Town plot owner's design timeline should actually be built around the NKDA sanction calendar, with a worked example and the sub-cases that trip owners up.
Hiring Guides
Studio Contour's Sumana Kumar Answers New Town's Most-Asked NKDA Questions
Studio Contour's principal architect Sumana Kumar answers the NKDA questions New Town plot owners actually type into Google, from sanction paperwork to FAR, setbacks and occupancy certificates.