Bio:

Purvangi Patel is a great emerging intern architect and researcher who explores belonging, placemaking, and cultural sustainability within the built environment. After completing her Master of Architecture at Dalhousie, she began her career as a Healthcare Planner to extend her exploration into civic spaces and public institutions. Her work explores how architecture can cultivate care, strengthen community, and support cultural sustainability across domestic, healthcare, and civic environments. ​

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How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?

Growing up across multiple countries, I became fascinated by how homes reflected culture, identity, and life. Studying architecture transformed that curiosity into a passion for designing spaces that shape belonging as much as they shape buildings.

 

What do you do?

I am an Intern Architect and Healthcare Planner exploring how principles of belonging and placemaking can inform civic architecture. My investigation looks at how healthcare spaces can support care, wellbeing and community alongside clinical function.

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What excites you in the work you do?

I’m excited by exploring how architecture can foster belonging at every scale; from the home to the civic places that we engage with in our daily lives. I enjoy creating spaces that support care, and bring cultural sensitivity into sustainability.

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Who or what inspires you professionally?

Tatiana Bilbao inspires me through her socially grounded approach to architecture. I’m also inspired by overlooked spaces that reveal gaps in belonging, pushing me to design environments that better reflect the diversity of our communities.

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What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?

This project has been my proudest accomplishment because it pushed me to translate the challenges I have seen many of us face into an architectural framework. It continues to motivate me to rethink these principles and apply them at different scales.

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Featured Project Name: 

Designing for Belonging: Cultural Sustainability as a Framework for Rethinking North American Suburbia

 

Featured Project Location: 

GTA

 

Featured Project Completion Date: 

2026

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Role in Featured Project: 

Primary Researcher

 

Featured Project Description:

Designing for Belonging investigates how suburban housing can better support the cultural practices of transnational South Asian families in Canada. Through spatial analysis, mapping, historical research, and speculative housing design, the project proposes adaptable housing strategies that prioritize cultural sustainability alongside environmental and social resilience. Rather than asking families to adapt to standardized homes, the work reimagines suburbia around everyday rituals of belonging.

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Photography Credit:

Anna Tran