(The studio)
Quiet buildings
Est. 2012 — Hisar — Chandigarh
Black Ant Studio is an architecture practice working between Hisar, on the Haryana plains, and Chandigarh — a city drawn by Le Corbusier. We carry one city's pragmatism to the other city's discipline, and back again.
The name is the method: ants build patiently, collectively and without monuments to themselves. Fourteen years and a hundred projects in, we remain deliberately small — every project in the office is drawn, argued over and site-visited by the people whose names are on it.
(The architect)
The studio
behind the work
Black Ant Studio is led by Ar. Dipesh Panghal — practicing since 2013, with more than two hundred homes delivered. Calm, timeless spaces in natural materials; comfort and long-term value over the trend of the season.
Ar. Dipesh Panghal — Founder(Lineage — 2019 to 2025)
The Bangalore years
- Studio
- DDIR Architecture Studio, Bangalore
- Role
- Partner Director & Shareholder
- Tenure
- 2019 – 2025
- Collaboration
- Ar. Dominic Dube — multiple projects
Before leading Black Ant Studio full-time, our founder spent six years inside one of Bangalore's most exacting design studios.
From 2019 to 2025, founding principal Ar. Dipesh Panghal served as Partner Director and Shareholder at DDIR Architecture Studio in Bangalore, working alongside Ar. Dominic Dube on multiple projects. Six years of partnership in one of India's most design-literate cities — its craftspeople, its material culture, its demanding clients — sharpened the standard the studio holds every drawing to.
That experience now travels north: the rigour of a metropolitan practice applied to homes, hotels and wellness projects across Haryana, Punjab and the Chandigarh tricity. When clients ask what separates Black Ant Studio from a local drafting office, the Bangalore years are a large part of the answer.
(How we work)
Four rules
(01)
Light before material
A plan is judged first by where the sun enters it. We model daylight before we choose a single finish — the cheapest material in India is still the sky.
(02)
Climate is a client
Forty-five degree summers and foggy winters sit at every design review. Deep façades, shaded courts and thermal mass are not features; they are the brief.
(03)
Detail is the design
A building is a thousand joints. We draw them at full scale, argue about them on site, and believe a project is won or lost at ten millimetres.
(04)
Build less, better
The most sustainable square foot is the one never built. We routinely return briefs smaller than we received them — smaller, and better.
(People)
A small office
Ar. Dipesh Panghal
Principal Architect
Practicing since 2013
Ar. Uma Panghal
Interior Designer
Practicing since 2012
Ajay
3D Specialist
Architectural & interior visualisation
Neta Nand
Draftsman & Project Coordinator
Working drawings & site coordination
Sampat Jhorar
Landscape Consultant
Planting & site strategy
Mr. Vineet
Model Maker
Physical study models
Mrs. Puneet
Architect
Design & documentation
Tajender Kalsi
MEP Consultant
Mechanical, electrical & plumbing
Mr. Vikas
Energy & Vastu Consultant
Orientation & energy planning
Mr. B. S. Chahal
Structure Consultant
Structural engineering
Mr. Rahul Sharma
HR & Media
People & communications
Mr. Sohan
Site Supervisor
On-site execution & quality
One office, twelve disciplines — plus contractors and craftspeople across North India
(Recognition)
(Where)
Two cities
Hisar
235, Model Town, Tausham Road
Hisar 125001, Haryana, IN
29.1369° N, 75.7388° E ↗ — IST (UTC +5:30)
Chandigarh
E-190, 1st Floor, SB Tower
Industrial Area, Sector 74, Mohali (SAS Nagar), Punjab, IN
30.7104° N, 76.6879° E ↗ — IST (UTC +5:30)