After graduating from the Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh, he travelled and worked abroad for several years. Upon completing his Masters in Architecture and Urban Design from Washington University, St, Louis, U.S.A. he worked in the U.S.A. for a couple of years with a large multi- disciplinary architectural office. In 1986 he returned to establish his own practice in New Delhi.
 
Soon thereafter he along with Radhika Doshi Kathapalia established a multifaceted design studio called Mansar. This practice has won several national design competitions, the most important being a Mixed Income Housing Scheme by CIDCO for Kalambloi, New Bombay. It has also been the recipient of the J K Cements commendation award, 1993 for a residence at Mt. Abu. The practices works have been published in several architectural journals from India and abroad.

Mansar has been amalgamated since 1995 with Vastu Shilpa Consultants, a partnership between the two principals of Mansar and Dr. B.V.Doshi.

Rajeev Kathpalia has been visiting faculty at the School of Planning and Architecture at New Delhi and continues to teach at the Centre of Environmental Planning at Ahmedabad. He has been called upon to lecture on several occasions in India and abroad. His interest in academics and research in the various aspects of the human habitat has led to a close association with the Vastu Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design, where he is now an Executive Committee Member.