President, K2India Architects and Designers

Sunita Kohli is the President of K2India Architects and Designers (www.k2india.com).  Since 1972, she has been research-based interior designer, a reputed leader in historical interior architectural and architectural restoration and a manufacturer of fine contemporary and classical furniture.  She has worked in Egypt, where she designed several resorts and luxury hotel boats on the Nile River for the ‘Oberoi Group’. She has also restored, designed and furnished Naila Fort in Jaipur.  More recently, she has been working in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. She specializes in the design of public buildings such as museums, libraries, hotels, resorts, luxury hotel boats, forts, palaces, heritage properties, aircrafts, corporate offices and private residences.

In New Delhi, Sunita Kohli has restored and decorated many British period buildings– designed by Lutyens, Baker and Robert Tor Russell – notably Rashtrapati Bhawan (in 1982, 1985 to 1989, 2010 and 2012);the Prime Minister’s Office and Secretariat (in 1985 and 1986); Hyderabad House (1988 to 1999); Nos. 3 and 5 Racecourse Road (2004 and 1984), the Official Residence of the Prime Minister and the Bungalows of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum. She has interior designed the British Council Building (1990), the largest of their eighty institutions worldwide; and done the interior architecture and design of the DLF Corporate Office,(9^th Floor),onParliament Street, New Delhi.

In 1989, Sunita Kohli designed the National Assembly Building in Thimpu, Bhutan. Again in April 2010, for the SAARC Summit held in Thimpu, she and Kohelika Kohli (Architect, CEO and Creative Director of her company, K2India), worked on these Parliament Buildings. 

In January 2014, she was appointed Chairperson of the School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal, a post she held till February 2016.

Sunita Kohli is a Founder Trustee of ‘Satyagyan’ (www.satyagyan.com), an affiliate of ‘World Literacy Canada’ (www.worldlit.ca). She is Chairperson of the Governing Council of ‘Save-A-Mother’ (www.saveamother.org). She is aPatron of the Women’s Cancer Initiative – Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. In 2005, Sunita Kohli founded the ‘Museum of Women in the Arts, India’.

Amongst many institutions in the USA, Sunita Kohli has lectured at Harvard University and at Emory University, Atlanta. In 2003, she was the first Indian designer/architect invited to lecture at the National Building Museum in Washington DC. In October 2013, she was invited to lecture at the University of Edinburgh and at the Glasgow School of Art. She has presented several papers on Design, Architecture, Historical Conservation, Literature, Mughal Jewelry, and World Heritage Cultural Sites in India and on Social Entrepreneurship. In December 2015, she co-authored ‘The Lucknow Cookbook’ with her mother Chand Sur. This book has been number 2 on the non-fiction bestseller list and within weeks of its publication went into a second edition. It has been launched in several major literary festivals in India. Presently, four books are under her preparation and publication.

In 1992, Sunita Kohli was conferred the Padma Shri. That same year she was also presented the Mahila Shiromani Award, which recognizes women of achievement, by Mother Teresa.