A-01 Advisory · Health infrastructure

Climate-resilient health infrastructure advisory

Feasibility, standards, and certification for rural and public health facilities. I work with health NGOs, funders, and public agencies to get better buildings for the same money.

ScopeBrief & feasibility · Design review · Certification
Proof of work Nikhita Bhagwat · Health infra
National guidelineDesign adopted into India's national guidelines (PATH)
Built facilityPalliative care facility, Tamil Nadu
CertificationsWELL AP · Fitwel Ambassador · LEED
Training & degreeGensler-trained · M.Arch, Carnegie Mellon
Countries worked3
Years in practice10+
Health projects4
EngagementFixed-fee · Independent · 2–4 weeks
A-02What I do

Three ways to engage

01

Facility brief and feasibility

A fixed-scope brief for a new or upgraded facility: siting, climate strategy, IPHS compliance, spatial program, and cost logic. Two-week turnaround. You get a document your architect, contractor, or funder can act on immediately.

Brief · siting & climate · IPHS program
02

Independent design review

A second pair of expert eyes on a facility design before you build it — reviewed against IPHS, WHO climate-resilience guidance, and infection-control-compatible passive design. Findings in plain language, ranked by cost of ignoring them.

Marked-up review · ranked findings
03

Certification advisory

EDGE, Fitwel, and WELL Health-Safety steering for health estates — from gap assessment to certification. Green certification unlocks funding and signals quality to donors; I make it achievable on NGO budgets.

Gap assessment · certification path

All engagements are fixed-fee and independent. I don't sell drawings or construction services — where a licensed architect of record is required, I work alongside your local team.

A-03Health infrastructure work

Built, adopted, and specified

Milk collection room, human milk bank national guidelines design with PATH, India Adopted as policy
PATH initiative · 2016 · India

Human milk bank design guidelines — with PATH

National-scale facility design and planning guidelines for human milk banks, incorporated into India's national guidelines. Replicable clinical facility design, adopted as policy.

Outcome

Incorporated into India's national guidelines.

Palliative care facility exterior, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
Built 2016 · Erode, Tamil Nadu

Assisted living & palliative care

Built and operational. Climate-responsive design for round-the-clock palliative care in a hot climate, delivered on a charitable budget.

Built & operational
Teaching hospital masterplan exterior render, Neply, Léogâne, Haiti
2018–2019 · Neply, Haiti

Teaching hospital masterplan

Campus masterplan for a teaching hospital in a resource-constrained, climate-exposed context. Humanitarian design under real constraints.

Masterplan · with MyLifeSpeaks
Psychosocial rehabilitation centre interior courtyard render, India
Concept · India

Psychosocial rehabilitation centre

Design for mental health recovery: dignity, daylight, and wayfinding as clinical tools.

Concept study
A-04How I work

Fixed scope, fixed fee, fast

Most engagements run two to four weeks. I'm independent — not attached to any contractor, product, or construction method — so my only incentive is a building that works. Based in Tallinn, working across India and the development sector in English and French.

01 / Scoping call

A 20-minute call to understand your facility, timeline, and constraints.

02 / Fixed proposal

A fixed-fee proposal with named deliverables and dates. No open-ended retainers.

03 / Focused work

Two to four weeks of defined phases with checkpoints, so you always know where things stand.

04 / Handoff

Documents your team, board, and builders can use without me in the room.

Nikhita Bhagwat, architect and health infrastructure advisor
A-05About

Who you'd be working with

I'm an architect (M.Arch, Carnegie Mellon; trained at Gensler) certified in WELL, Fitwel, and LEED, with humanitarian design experience in Haiti and a decade of climate-responsive work for NGOs and government bodies in India. I also founded MAKRR AI, a computer vision company — which is why my facility briefs think about sensors, data, and maintenance, not just walls.

A-06Start here

Planning a health facility?

Get the typology note — The Resilient Rural Health Unit — or book a 20-minute call. No pitch, just a useful conversation.