Savoir-faire

Rishav Paul is an architect with over fourteen years of experience in vernacular, climate-responsive, and earth-based construction. He graduated from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, in 2011. His architectural sensibility was shaped early through an influential internship under mentor Ini Chatterji, whose philosophy of craft and materiality left a lasting mark on his practice.

After working across architectural studios and multinational firms on projects ranging from campus masterplanning and mixed-use urban developments to boutique residences, Rishav established Studio ARCO in 2016. The studio has since grown into a practice with a clear point of view: buildings that belong to their place, made from the materials and character of that place.

Much of that work has been in Ladakh, where Rishav spent seven years building in one of the world’s most demanding climates. Projects like the Dakpa Rural Homestay and the Pal Hotel in Leh draw on rammed earth, passive solar heating, and trombe wall systems. Across Ladakh and Goa, the studio has completed over 50,000 sq.ft of construction in natural materials.

Beyond practice, Rishav conducts workshops on earth construction for architecture students and professionals, and currently teaches at Goa College of Architecture. His work has been published in the LA Journal of Landscape Architecture and featured as a cover story in Homes and Estates Goa (2024).