“I seek joy in art, nature, and people. In my life journey, traveling and working closely with people around the globe and on a wide range of projects has made me an empathetic and culturally responsive designer. I want to leverage my skills, networks, and experience to connect design professionals and help transform the design profession through collaboration. These core values were the cornerstone for founding Designodal, Inc.”

​

Bio: 

Vinita Pugal brings over twenty-five years of professional expertise in Master Planning, Experience Design, Program Development, Landscape Architecture, and Architecture. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Landscape Architecture and Planning.

​

Vinita has spent two decades designing and constructing prestigious domestic and international projects in the United States. As a California-licensed landscape architect and LEED-accredited professional, Vinita combines her architecture and planning skills to deliver excellence in her field.

​

Her expertise lies in seamlessly integrating story and design narratives with branding strategies to deliver comprehensive master planning and design guidance. She has extensive experience planning location-based entertainment, theme parks, visitor attractions, and mixed-use developments. Her expertise includes planning, landscape architecture, and permitting for institutional campuses, urban spaces, hospitality, and resorts.

​

She has collaborated with premier experiential design firms worldwide in her career. She formerly served as the Principal Architectural Master Planner and Landscape Architect at The Hettema Group (now THG Creative). Other noteworthy collaborations with the esteemed experiential design firm Mycotoo, Inc. Since 2014, she has been part of remarkable projects such as the master planning & area development of Motiongate & Bollywood Parks, Dubai, experience design for Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, numerous Location-based entertainment and other FEC Experiences. Additionally, she was honored to receive the TEA Thea Awards Program 2018 for DreamWorks, Motiongate, Dubai, a project led by Mycotoo, Inc.

She was part of the team that conceptualized and planned projects such as Universal Studios' Epic Universe in Orlando and the visionary master plan for the Qiddiya Investment Company, one of the groundbreaking entertainment and tourism initiatives in Saudi Arabia with THG Creative.

 

Prior to relocating to California two decades ago, as Vinita Vijayan & Associates and Head of Planning and Landscape Architecture for Apollo Hospitals Enterprises, she spearheaded the design-build of numerous large-scale campus planning, healthcare, and development projects across South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Her journey includes collaboration with industry leaders such as AECOM, Moshe Safdie Architects, and H2L2 for projects. After moving to California, she joined as an Associate and Project Manager at Mia Lehrer and Associates, a reputed design firm working on designing and revitalizing various prestigious projects in the City of Los Angeles.

​

Driven by the power of storytelling as a medium for planning and design expression, Vinita founded Designodal, Inc., which fosters positive social and environmental impact by facilitating collaborations between designers, local artists, creatives, and nonprofits.

Vinita collaborates with institutions like USC, UCLA, and CalPoly as a design juror and mentor through ASLA. She supports nonprofits as a Board Member of Sustainable Claremont and as a Delegate for Arts for LA. Vinita was a principal contributor to the standardization of codes for landscape architecture for the Bureau of Indian Standards. Her research and design publications include significant works on sustainability published by The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) in India, including projects that restored dilapidated iron ore mines and forests in the Western Ghats of Goa.

 

Vinita believes in leveraging her design acumen to forge partnerships and collaborations rooted in a shared vision. She embodies her commitment to driving positive change through design and collaborates to create an immersive experience for design environments.

 

Storytelling inspires her as a medium of expression for planning and design. Website: www.designodal.