This Bhagavad Geeta shloka has been an inspiration behind my work on the Saptarishi Framework. For India’s built environment, the next challenge is to convert individual skill into institutional skill — a system where design, approvals, construction, compliance and public accountability are coordinated through reliable digital information.
In my earlier article, I argued that India now needs a Digital Public Infrastructure for the built environment. India has already shown how DPI can transform identity, finance, mobility, logistics and governance through Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, FASTag and PM Gati Shakti. The built environment now requires a similar population-scale digital backbone.
The first layer of that backbone is what I call the Atri Layer — a National Architecture & Construction Cloud.
Atri represents illumination, order and foundational clarity. In the Saptarishi Framework, the Atri Layer performs exactly that role. It brings clarity to one of the most fragmented parts of India’s development process: the design and construction information that sits behind every building, infrastructure asset, approval file, inspection and occupancy certificate.
The Problem: India Builds from Fragmented Information
Every building begins as information before it becomes concrete, steel, brick or glass.
There are architectural drawings, structural calculations, fire layouts, MEP services, accessibility provisions, environmental conditions, title information, survey data, planning rules, parking calculations, FAR statements, cost estimates and construction sequences. In theory, all these components describe one project. In practice, they often exist as separate PDFs, CAD files, spreadsheets, scanned documents, emails, WhatsApp messages and paper submissions.
This fragmentation creates a basic governance problem: there is no single authoritative digital source of truth.
A municipal officer may review one version of a drawing. A structural consultant may work on another. A fire consultant may refer to a third. A contractor may execute from a “Good for Construction” set that has already been superseded. The client may assume coordination has happened, while the site reveals unresolved clashes only after work begins.
This is not merely a technical problem. It is a governance problem. When information is fragmented, responsibility becomes fragmented. When responsibility is fragmented, risk increases. When risk increases, costs rise, disputes multiply and public trust weakens.
The issue becomes more serious when a project moves beyond design into the approval ecosystem. Municipal approvals, fire NOCs, environmental clearances, utility connections, land-use checks, accessibility compliance and completion certificates are often reviewed as documents rather than as structured data. Manual scrutiny then becomes slow, repetitive and vulnerable to interpretation.
A wall, staircase, basement, fire shaft, parking bay or building height should not need to be reinterpreted separately by every agency. If the information is already available in a verified digital model, the system should be able to read it, check it and route it intelligently. That is the gap the Atri Layer seeks to close.
The Cost: Rework, Delay and Loss of Predictability
The cost of fragmented design information is usually hidden inside project budgets, approval timelines and construction disputes.
A clash between structure and services appears as a site delay. A missing fire requirement appears as a redesign. An incorrect area statement appears as a compliance query. An outdated GFC drawing appears as rework. A poorly coordinated tender set appears as claims. A discrepancy between approved drawings and executed work appears later as an occupancy or completion problem.
Each issue may look isolated, but together they represent a national productivity loss.
Developers lose time and money. Contractors price uncertainty into their bids. Consultants spend valuable hours managing revisions instead of improving design quality. Municipal bodies spend manpower checking information that should have been digitally validated before submission. Citizens and buyers ultimately pay for inefficiency through higher costs, delayed possession, litigation or poor-quality buildings.
The cost is not only financial. It is institutional. When approvals take too long, the public loses trust. When drawings keep changing, construction quality suffers. When documentation is unclear, enforcement becomes discretionary. When compliance is not digitally traceable, accountability becomes difficult.
India’s construction and urban-development ambitions are too large for this model to continue indefinitely. As India moves toward Viksit Bharat 2047, the country will need enormous volumes of housing, urban infrastructure, public buildings, transport facilities, hospitals, schools, industrial parks and climate-resilient civic assets. That scale cannot be governed through disconnected files and manual interpretation. The built environment needs computable information.
The Solution: A National Architecture & Construction Cloud
The Atri Layer proposes a sovereign digital environment for design and construction information.
It is not simply a cloud storage platform. It is not merely a BIM software requirement. It is a governance layer that allows India to treat every significant built asset as a structured digital object before, during and after construction.
At its core, the Atri Layer would host:
▪ standardised BIM models
▪ version-controlled Good for Construction drawings
▪ automated compliance checks
▪ digital signatures and audit trails
▪ consultant coordination workflows
▪ 4D construction sequencing and 5D quantity intelligence
▪ approval-ready model data
▪ completion and occupancy-linked records
Such a system would allow projects to move from document-based submission to data-based governance.
A properly structured BIM model can contain far more than geometry. It can hold building height, use classification, fire rating, material data, room areas, accessibility clearances, stair widths, energy parameters, parking counts, structural grids, services routes, maintenance access zones and statutory metadata. If aligned to national standards, this information can support automated checking against building codes, local development control rules, fire regulations, energy codes and accessibility norms.
This is where national standards become critical. India would need BIM metadata standards led by BIS, sovereign cloud infrastructure supported by NIC, policy direction from MoHUA and integration with state Urban Local Bodies. A National BIM Mission could define model requirements, submission protocols, validation rules, data ownership principles and implementation pathways.
The goal should not be to burden every small project immediately. The first phase could begin with public buildings, major infrastructure-linked developments, large housing projects and selected municipal pilots. Over time, the system can mature into a national digital approval and asset-information ecosystem.
Why Atri Must Connect to the Other Six Layers
The Atri Layer is foundational because every other layer depends on reliable built-asset information.
It connects to the Bharadvāja Layer, which deals with land records, title, cadastral boundaries, development plan overlays and legal lineage. A building model is meaningful only when it is anchored to verified land data.
It connects to the Gautama Layer, which deals with transport and infrastructure. A building does not exist in isolation. It affects roads, access, utilities, mobility, parking, right-of-way conditions and infrastructure capacity.
It connects to the Jamadagni Layer, which deals with environmental and geospatial intelligence. A building must be read against terrain, flood risk, drainage patterns, heat exposure, environmental buffers and climate vulnerability.
It connects to the Kaśyapa Layer, which deals with banking, mortgage and capital intelligence. Banks and insurers should not rely only on paper declarations when financing built assets. Verified geometry, compliance status and digital records can improve valuation and reduce lending risk.
It connects to the Vasiṣṭha Layer, which deals with municipal governance. A BIM-linked approval system can help Urban Local Bodies move from manual checking to transparent, rule-based digital workflows.
It connects to the Viśvāmitra Layer, which deals with security and disaster response. Emergency planning, evacuation modelling, structural risk assessment and critical-asset mapping all depend on reliable built-asset data.
This is why the Atri Layer cannot be seen as an architect’s or engineer’s tool alone. It is a public-governance foundation.
What Changes for India
If India creates a National Architecture & Construction Cloud, the benefits would be practical and visible.
Developers would gain predictability. Consultants would coordinate on a single source of truth. Municipal officials would receive structured submissions instead of disconnected drawings. Contractors would build from verified GFC information. Banks would have better asset intelligence. Citizens would receive safer, more transparent and better-documented buildings.
More importantly, India would create an institutional memory for the built environment.
Today, after a building is completed, its information is often scattered or lost. Future repairs, retrofits, taxation, insurance, disaster response and redevelopment then begin again from incomplete records. A national construction cloud would preserve the digital lineage of built assets from design to approval, construction, occupancy and lifecycle management.
This is not futuristic thinking. It is the logical next step in India’s DPI journey.
UPI made payments interoperable. DigiLocker made documents portable. FASTag made tolling digital. PM Gati Shakti brought infrastructure planning into a geospatial framework. The Atri Layer would bring the same logic to the architecture and construction process.
India does not only need to build faster. It needs to build with clarity.
A National Architecture & Construction Cloud would give India’s built environment its first layer of institutional illumination — a system where design information is structured, compliance is traceable, approvals are transparent and construction is coordinated.
For Viksit Bharat 2047, this may become one of the most important foundations of all.
Because no city can become truly smart if its building information remains fragmented. And no nation can govern its future built environment without first creating a reliable digital source of truth.
About The Author – (Apurva Pathak is a New Zealand-based architect, design manager, and built-environment governance
practitioner with more than three decades of experience across India, the Gulf, Africa, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand. He is the author of the Saptarishi Framework, a proposed seven-layer Digital Public Infrastructure architecture for India’s built environment, integrating BIM, GIS, land governance, municipal automation, digital twins, environmental intelligence, and resilience planning.)
Disclaimer – (The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Indian Masterminds. For feedback or queries, please write to [email protected].)
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