Studio Matrx Monthly · Volume 1 · Issue 2 · July 2026
Amogh N P
 In loving memory of Amogh N P — Architect · Designer · Visionary 
The Practice Brief

Week of 16 June 2026 · 3 items

Zaha Hadid Architects drops its founder's name to become ZHA — a global lesson in succession, brand and who owns a practice's name — while at home the shift to NBCS 2026 keeps rolling out state by state.

Policy & Schemes

Government moves that touch the built environment

Solar / MNRE

Reported early Jun 2026

PM Surya Ghar past 40 lakh households — rooftop solar now a standing design assumption

With rooftop-solar installs running in the lakhs each month under PM Surya Ghar, solar-readiness has shifted from an add-on to a baseline brief on residential work — plan roof structure, shading, cable routes and inverter/battery space for it from the concept stage rather than retrofitting later.

PM Surya Ghar portal

Deadlines & Dates

Don't-miss windows in the weeks ahead

NBC / BIS

Ongoing

NBCS 2026 (SP 7:2026) state adoption — keep watching your own state, there is no single national switch-on

Because SP 7:2026 is a reference framework, each state and municipal authority amends its own byelaws on its own timeline. Track your state's DTP/UDD notifications week to week rather than assuming a single national changeover, and re-check fire-NOC and structural assumptions made under the older edition.

One Thing to Read

The report or ruling worth your time

International / Practice

Announced 13 Jun 2026

Zaha Hadid Architects rebrands as ZHA, dropping its founder's name

On 13 June 2026, a decade after Zaha Hadid's death, the London practice she founded announced it will trade simply as ZHA — new name, identity and website. The firm frames it as the coming-of-age of an employee-owned collective of nearly 500, with the final founder-led projects nearing completion. The backdrop is harder: a 2013 licensing deal with the Zaha Hadid Foundation (royalty reportedly ~6% of revenue; some £21.4m paid 2018–2024), a 2024 High Court loss, and a March 2026 Court of Appeal ruling (Lord Justice Birss) that the licence was not perpetual — clearing the way to rename and end the Foundation contract. Worth a read for any practice carrying a single founder's name: it is a rare public worked example of succession, brand equity and the intellectual property in a name.

Dezeen