INI Design Studio Plans 1 Million m² Sea Face Overhaul for Surat

INI Design Studio has unveiled the Dumas Sea Face Masterplan, a 1,020,618 m² transformation of Surat's neglected Arabian Sea waterfront scheduled for 2026. That's an area roughly the size of 140 football fields handed back to the public as coastal open space.

Lead architects Harsh Goel, Jayesh Hariyani and Pathik Gandhi lead the project for the Ahmedabad-based firm. Vinay Panjwani photographed the design. The build draws on a long supplier list, from Tata Steel and Saint Gobain India to Philips, Honeywell, Kajaria Ceramics, TK Elevator and Legrand.

Why does Surat's shoreline need a masterplan?

The architects frame the problem bluntly: for decades, Surat's relationship with the Arabian Sea was shaped by a "fragmented and underutilized shoreline." Despite the coast's long cultural and recreational role, they point to three failures that held it back: fragmented development, limited accessibility, and the absence of a cohesive vision.

Surat is one of India's fastest-growing cities, and demand for high-quality public open space has outpaced what the shoreline delivers. The Dumas coast carries historic weight, but piecemeal building left it disconnected from the city it serves.

What does the plan actually do?

The masterplan's core move is stitching. It joins disparate segments of the coastline into one continuous waterfront experience, reconnecting Surat with the sea.

In the architects' words, the plan "reimagines this edge as a living coastal landscape, transforming a neglected waterfront into a resilient public realm where ecology, civic life, and urban identity converge."

Three ideas drive the design:

• Continuity — one linked waterfront instead of disconnected parcels
• Resilience — coastal ecology built into the public realm rather than around it
• Identity — a civic edge that ties the city back to its maritime history

What happens in 2026?

The project lands in a city still absorbing rapid growth, and its scale — just over one square kilometer of coastal territory — makes it one of the more ambitious waterfront interventions in India's current pipeline. If the stitching strategy works, Dumas becomes a test case for how other fast-growing Indian cities can turn neglected edges into usable public ground.