New Parliament Building Case Study: Plan, Chambers and Construction (HCP Design)

The New Parliament Building in New Delhi was designed by HCP Design, Planning and Management, the Ahmedabad firm led by Bimal Patel, and built by Tata Projects for the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). It is a triangular building of about 64,500 sq m beside the circular Parliament House of 1927, with the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and a central lounge in its three corners. The foundation stone was laid on 10 December 2020 and the building was dedicated on 28 May 2023. This case study covers design and construction only, with MOA diagrams.

The brief: why a new Parliament building?

The old building was not designed for a Parliament. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Central Vista site describes it as the colonial Council House, completed in 1927 and converted to Parliament House after independence. It sets out the government's case in four parts:

• Seats. The old Lok Sabha could seat at most 552 and the Central Hall 436, with at least 200 temporary seats added in the aisles for joint sessions. The site notes that Lok Sabha strength has been frozen since 1976 and that a larger House may follow when the freeze lifts after 2026.
• Structure. The building lacks drawings to establish its strength, and Delhi has moved from seismic zone II, when it was built, to zone IV, so it could not be certified as earthquake safe.
• Services and fire. Building services were out of date and evacuation did not meet modern fire norms.

The same page lists letters asking for a new building from three Speakers of the Lok Sabha: Meira Kumar (13 July 2012), Sumitra Mahajan (9 December 2015) and Om Birla (2 August 2019). The project's guiding principles call the result "the first purpose-designed Parliament for independent India", to be used together with the old building once that is retrofitted.

New Parliament building architect: how HCP was chosen

According to the Central Vista site, CPWD advertised for design consultants on 2 September 2019. Six firms bid, a jury led by the Director of the School of Planning and Architecture marked their presentations, and HCP was appointed on 18 October 2019 on the highest combined quality and cost score. Construction was tendered separately: on 16 September 2020 Business Today reported that Tata Projects was the lowest bidder at ₹861.90 crore, ahead of L&T at ₹865 crore.

Site and context: Plot 118, beside the circle

The new building stands on Plot 118 of the Parliament House Estate, close to the old building, which CPWD said would keep working throughout construction (Business Today). Tata Projects' newsroom puts the gap at under 100 m and notes that the building covers the entire plot, which shaped how it was built (see below).

Clearing the plot meant moving trees: the Central Vista site says 404 were transplanted to an NTPC eco-park at Badarpur, with 4,040 more to be planted there.

New Parliament building design inspiration: why a triangle

Patel's own explanation starts from the plot. In a 2021 interview with Quartz, republished by Scroll, he said the team began by studying the old building and its historical plans, and that "the adjacent triangular plot was found to be the ideal location for a new building." The plot's shape and the functions to be housed, he said, made a triangular plan the logical choice, a pure geometric form to stand beside the circular one.

The history he refers to is documented. Writing for PRS Legislative Research in December 2020, Chakshu Roy notes that Herbert Baker had proposed a triangular design for the original Council House and Edwin Lutyens a circular one, and that Lutyens' circle was built.

Patel has also given a symbolic reading. The Sunday Guardian (Dibyendu Mondal, 1 April 2023), reporting an explainer video by Patel, quotes him saying that sacred geometries celebrate triangles and trinities and citing the Sri Yantra. No source we read says the building is modelled on a particular temple. On style, he told Quartz that the architecture is inspired by the present building, with patterns and motifs drawn from India's arts and crafts.

Plan and zoning: two chambers and a lounge

ArchDaily's project text, published on 5 July 2023 with HCP's material, describes three core functions held by the triangle: the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and a central lounge. The Sunday Guardian places them: the Lok Sabha in the north-west corner, the Rajya Sabha in the south-west corner and the lounge in the eastern corner, around an open courtyard with a banyan tree. Offices line the outer edges.

• Constitution Hall sits at the centre, with arms leading to three entrances through public galleries (Sunday Guardian). PTI reports a Foucault pendulum hung from a skylight in its triangular roof.
• The central lounge replaces the old building's Central Hall as the place where members meet. PIB's New India Samachar describes it as created to complement the open courtyard.
• Offices and committee rooms: PTI, in a report carried by The Week on 28 May 2023, counts six new committee rooms and 92 rooms for the Council of Ministers.
• Galleries: the same report names three: Sangeet, Sthapatya and Shilp.

The two chambers and their seating

Chamber	Old building	New building
Lok Sabha	552 at most (Central Vista site)	888 seats
Rajya Sabha	250 (New India Samachar)	384 seats
Joint sitting	Central Hall, 436 plus temporary seats	Lok Sabha chamber, up to 1,272

New figures: New India Samachar and PTI.

New Parliament building interior design: peacock and lotus

The Lok Sabha's interior takes the peacock as its theme and the Rajya Sabha's the lotus, with the banyan as a third reference (STIRworld, Meghna Mehta, December 2020). The Sunday Guardian describes a green Lok Sabha, a red Rajya Sabha, two-seat desks with tablets, and peacock and lotus jaalis inscribed with verses from the Constitution that let daylight into both Houses.

Section and structure: how the building stands

The most detailed construction account is the Tata Group newsroom feature From Blueprint to a Landmark (Monali Sarkar and Haroon Bijli, February 2024). Its main structural points:

• Frame: reinforced concrete in M50 and M60 grades, with bars up to 40 mm.
• Seismic design: Delhi is in zone IV; the engineers designed to zone V standards. A PTI report of January 2022 linked part of a cost increase to this change.
• Chamber ceilings: the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha ceilings each span 47 m and are hung from the top slab by a steel structure of about 220 tonnes.
• Emblem: the bronze National Emblem on the roof was cast in Jaipur and welded in place on a steel support. India Today, linked from the Central Vista site, gives it as 6.5 m high and about 9,500 kg; Tata's figure is about 10 tonnes.

Materials and construction

Stone, wood and crafts from across India

The exterior is red and white sandstone, chosen, Patel told STIRworld, to match the old building and the Central Vista. The Central Vista site names sandstone from Sarmathura in Dholpur district and granite from Lakha village, which it places in Jaisalmer; PTI places Lakha near Ajmer. PTI's fuller list:

• teak from Nagpur, with furniture made in Mumbai
• Kesharia green stone from Udaipur and white marble from Ambaji
• stone jaali work from Rajnagar in Rajasthan and from Noida
• steel for the chamber false ceilings from Daman and Diu, and brass work from Ahmedabad
• fly ash bricks from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and manufactured sand (M-sand) for concrete from Charkhi Dadri
• hand-knotted carpets from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh (also named on the Central Vista site)

For how the same stones behave in houses, see our comparison of Kota, sandstone, granite and marble.

New Parliament building structure in numbers: building it in 26 months

Tata's newsroom says the company had 26 months from the foundation stone and split the work into a year of foundations and RCC and a year of finishing. STIRworld reported in December 2020 that the Supreme Court had halted construction until it decided the petitions, which it did on 5 January 2021 (see Reception). The feature gives these quantities: 1,75,000 cu m of concrete, 27,000 tonnes of reinforcement, 80,000 sq m of stonework and 1,350 km of cable. Two methods stand out:

• Off-site work. Because the building filled its plot, steel bending, concrete mixing and prefabrication were moved to a yard at Kirti Nagar, about 10 km away. Parts were designed on a digital model, CNC-cut and bolted together on site.
• Stone cladding. About 45,000 sq m of sandstone, 40 to 225 mm thick, was bolted to the walls; pieces averaged 90 kg and some weighed 800 kg. Output began far below target, and after the process was redesigned it rose from 4 to 200 sq m a day.

On 29 August 2022, Tata Projects' CEO Vinayak Pai told PTI that the main structure was complete and internal finishing was under way.

Light, climate and services

The figures here are mostly design claims. New India Samachar describes the building as eco-friendly, with power consumption reduced by up to 30%, designed to meet needs for the next 150 years, and "platinum-rated". It does not name the rating body, and we did not find a certificate from GRIHA or another body; ArchDaily lists a GRIHA consultant. For what each rating measures, see our guide to green building certification in India.

The conditions set at environmental clearance are more specific. The Central Vista site gives an operational water demand of 7,818 kilolitres a day, of which 5,209 is to be recycled water, and sewage treatment capacity of 4,100 kilolitres a day for reuse in flushing and HVAC. The Supreme Court's 2021 judgment also required smog towers as part of the project and smog guns during construction (LiveLaw).

Reception: courts, cost and use

The building has been part of the wider public debate on the Central Vista project. The dated record:

• Supreme Court, 5 January 2021. By a 2:1 majority, Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari upheld the approvals, including the change of land use, the environmental clearance, the Heritage Conservation Committee's approval and the selection of the consultant. Justice Sanjiv Khanna agreed on the tender and award but dissented on the change of land use, citing public participation and prior heritage approval (LiveLaw).
• Cost. The tendered cost was about ₹862 crore (Central Vista site). On 3 February 2021, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told the Rajya Sabha that the estimate had been finalised at ₹971 crore (ETV Bharat). Press reports in January 2022, citing unnamed sources, said the cost was likely to rise. We did not find an official final figure.
• Official response. The Central Vista site answers objections on cost, heritage, green cover and consultation point by point.
• Leak, 1 August 2024. After heavy rain, water leaked into the lobby. The Lok Sabha Secretariat said the adhesive fixing the glass domes, which bring daylight into the lobby, had shifted slightly and was fixed at once (PTI, via ETV Bharat).
• In use. Sittings moved to the new building on 19 September 2023, and the old one was named Samvidhan Sadan (Scroll). The government's plan is to retrofit the old building and use the two together.

What designers in India can take from it

Our reading, for practice and study:

1. Read the plot and the programme first. HCP's stated reason for the triangle is a triangular site and three main functions, one per corner. Test whether a site's own geometry can organise the brief.
2. When the building fills the site, move the work off it. An off-site yard and parts cut from a digital model work on a dense city plot at any scale.
3. Prototype the cladding before you schedule it. Tata's figures show stone output starting at a fraction of the plan. Put a mock-up and a fixing sequence in the programme.
4. Detail rooflights as carefully as the structure. The 2024 leak came from the adhesive at the glass domes: daylight from above needs a waterproofing detail that allows for movement and heavy rain.

If you are writing this up for a studio or thesis, our guide to documenting a building for a case study covers how to organise it, and our Hall of Nations case study covers another Delhi building shaped by a hard deadline.

Visiting and where to see the drawings

The building is a working legislature, not a monument with open entry. We could not find an official page that sets out a public booking route, so we give no timings: check the Parliament site, sansad.in, or ask your MP's office. Photographs and project data are on ArchDaily's project page; the real drawings belong to HCP.

FAQ

Who is the architect of the new Parliament building?

HCP Design, Planning and Management of Ahmedabad, led by Bimal Patel. CPWD appointed the firm on 18 October 2019, and Tata Projects built it.

When was the new Parliament building built?

The foundation stone was laid on 10 December 2020, construction went ahead after the Supreme Court ruling of 5 January 2021, and the building was dedicated on 28 May 2023. Sittings moved in on 19 September 2023.

Is the new Parliament building design based on a temple?

No source we read says it is modelled on a particular temple. Patel explains the triangle by the shape of the plot and the three main functions, and has also cited triangles in sacred geometry, including the Sri Yantra.

How many seats does the new Parliament building have?

888 in the Lok Sabha, 384 in the Rajya Sabha, and up to 1,272 in the Lok Sabha chamber for joint sittings.

What materials were used in the new Parliament building?

A reinforced concrete frame clad in red and white sandstone from Sarmathura, Rajasthan, with granite, marble, Kesharia green stone, Nagpur teak, Bhadohi carpets and steel-framed chamber ceilings.

Planning a building of your own? Find an architect on MOA.

Sources

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Central Vista: Myths and Realities, Guiding Principles, Contributions from Across the Country and Strengthening and Refurbishing (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• ArchDaily, Hana Abdel: New Building for the Parliament of India / HCP Design, Planning and Management, 5 July 2023 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Tata Group newsroom, Monali Sarkar and Haroon Bijli: From Blueprint to a Landmark, February 2024 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• PIB, New India Samachar: 16 to 30 June 2023, page 20 and page 23 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• PTI via The Week: New Parliament building highlights India's rich democratic traditions with modern touch, 28 May 2023 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Quartz, Niharika Sharma, via Scroll: Interview: Central Vista chief architect Bimal Patel, July 2021 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• The Sunday Guardian, Dibyendu Mondal: Parliament building designed keeping in view needs of New India, 1 April 2023 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• STIRworld, Meghna Mehta: Foundation laid for four-storey triangular edifice for new Indian Parliament complex, 18 December 2020 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• PRS Legislative Research, Chakshu Roy: The evolution of India's Parliament building, 9 December 2020 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Business Today: Tata Projects wins bid to construct new Parliament building for Rs 862 crore, 16 September 2020 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• ETV Bharat: New Parliament building estimated to cost Rs 971 crore: Centre, 3 February 2021 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• LiveLaw, Radhika Roy and Sanya Talwar: Supreme Court upholds Centre's plan for the Central Vista project by 2:1 majority, 5 January 2021 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• PTI via The Hitavada: Main structure of new Parliament completed, finishing work in progress: Tata Projects CEO, 29 August 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• PTI via The Week: New Parliament building cost likely to go up, 20 January 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• India Today via Central Vista: 9,500 kg bronze National Emblem cast on new Parliament building, 11 July 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• PTI via ETV Bharat: Minor leak from glass dome of Parliament building fixed: Lok Sabha Secretariat, 1 August 2024 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Scroll: Parliamentary proceedings shift to new building, 19 September 2023 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Parliament of India: Lok Sabha, Digital Sansad (accessed 11 Nov 2026)