Vandana Ranjitsinh

Vandana Ranjitsinh is an architect and educator who is a Founder Principal of Ranjit Sinh Associates. A graduate of the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, Vandana began her career with prestigious firms like Atelier Dolf Schnebli Associates, Switzerland; with Kamu Iyer at Architects Combine, Mumbai and Kuenleg Professional Consultants, Bhutan. At Ranjit Sinh Associates – established in Mumbai in 1982 – her work focuses on a commitment to design and environmental sustainability. With over four decades of experience as an educator, Vandana has taught Architectural Design and Theory at the Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai since 1993, where she has previously held the position of Chairperson of the Academic Forum. She has conducted workshops and has been a juror across various universities. In 2011, she was awarded Best Architectural Design Teacher by the Maharashtra Association of Schools of Architecture.

Samir D’Monte

Samir is the Principal Architect of SDM Architects, a Mumbai-based firm he founded in 2008. With over 23 years of experience in design and execution of large-scale projects, his work spans technically intensive buildings, institutions, housing, industrial projects, and master plans. Notable works include the BMW Guggenheim Lab Mumbai, a floating restaurant in Goa, conservation of the Jaisalmer Fort, and aircraft hangars at Delhi Airport.

He is also a founding member of Bandra Collective, a group of architects working on public projects in and around Bandra, where he has contributed to the Carter Road Promenade redesign and the revitalisation of Ranwar Village. Deeply engaged in citizen-led initiatives, Samir continues to shape both built environments and public life in Mumbai.

Ainsley Lewis

Ainsley Lewis, Dean of the M. Arch program at USM’s Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA), is an urban designer and has been a distinguished academician for more than two decades. His pedagogical philosophy centers on the synergy between architectural research and manifestation, grounded in semantics and phenomenology. He has contributed significantly to architectural education through capacity-building workshops and lectures on Architectural Design, Informal Housing, and Conservation. Professionally, his firm’s exploration of spatial nomenclatures has earned him national and international recognition, including the UNESCO Asia Pacific Cultural Heritage Award of Merit in 2019 and IIA National Award winner in 2021. He recently presented a paper at the UIA2024KL international conference of architects. His work has been published in professional journals of architecture, conservation, urban design, and interior design.

Shilpa Ranade

Shilpa Ranade is a practising architect and researcher based in Mumbai. She is founding partner with Quaid Doongerwala of the firm Design Cooperative (DCOOP), where her portfolio includes campus planning, institutional buildings, housing, interior and product design. As a researcher, her areas of interest are architectural theory, gender studies, and the intersection of social and material space. Shilpa is the co-author, with Shilpa Phadke and Sameera Khan, of the critically acclaimed book “Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets”. She is actively involved in pedagogy as a visiting faculty and reviewer at institutes across India.

Rohan Varma

Rohan Varma graduated as an architect from the University of Mumbai and worked for Charles Correa between 2008 and 2010 before receiving his master’s in architecture from the TU Delft as a Tata and Mahindra Scholar. He currently divides his time as the Principal Architect of VARMA Architects with his work at the TU Delft, where his doctoral research and teaching activities focus on affordable housing in the rapidly urbanising cities of the Global South. In 2018, he co-curated an international travelling exhibition on the housing designs of Charles Correa. More recently, in 2020, he was appointed as a Delft Global Fellow, and in 2022, he, along with his colleagues at TU Delft, won the global edX Prize for the online course ‘Global Housing Design’. In 2023, he was appointed editor of the journal Delft Architecture Studies on Housing.