Rahul Mehrotra has been appointed Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
From the announcement: “As we look toward our collective ‘near future,’ Rahul brings an unmatched depth of insight to this contemporary moment. His extraordinary synthesis of pedagogy, practice, and a generous ethos will continue to guide us into challenging but essential debates and discoveries.” – Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture.
See the full announcement here.
See the citation from the jury for RMA Architects’ shortlisted scheme for the Sydney Modern Project, as well as the other finalists here
The scheme is conceived to take advantage of the natural landform of the site by embedding the new building in the landscape. This formal modesty allows the design concept to articulate a striking relationship between the existing and new buildings with most of the new spaces placed underground.
The scheme is porous and facilitates movement from the Royal Botanic Gardens and The Domain through the Gallery with a strong series of stepped terraces and ramps that reach down the site into Woolloomooloo.
The central concept of a ‘void’ connecting to both sky and earth is a powerful idea and the suggested creative programming would offer interesting ways of interpreting an art museum and its collection. Spaces created through the setting of a circular void in a rectilinear plan would provide unique spaces for curatorial creativity within the art museum context. The galleries for both contemporary art and temporary exhibitions are beautifully articulated spaces.
Through its deep commitment to the site and its potential for innovative programming the rigorously argued scheme presents a number of interesting ideas that address the concept of a 21st-century art museum.
‘The building is an armature for Art.
A Gallery should not be a singular image and overpower the artefacts; rather the site allows a plural dispensation of architectural strategies and form (or non-form, or earth-building)’
-RMA Architects
Rahul Mehrotra was interviewed by Scroll.in regarding the Mumbai Coastal Road Project. See the full interview here
Rahul Mehrotra gave at TED Talk on ‘The Architectural Wonder of Impermanent Cities’ at TED2019 | Bigger than Us in Vancouver. See the full video here
Three Court House was featured on ArchDaily. See the full article here.
Rahul Mehrotra was interviewed on RMA Architects’ exhibit for the 2018 Venice Bienalle, Soft Thresholds, which was awarded a special mention by the jury. See the full video here.
Rahul Mehrotra visits and explains the design for the CEPT Library in Ahmedabad for the Getinspired short film series. See the video here.
Rahul Mehrotra wrote an opinion piece for Domus, “The crucial issue in our cities today is inequity”. See the article here.
Rahul Mehrotra was interviewed by Craig Applegath on “Designing for Adaptation and Regeneration” for the Twenty First Century Imperative Podcast.
See more here and listen to the full podcast.
RMA Architects feature in Arkinka Magazine 274, September 2018
CEPT Library published in Architectural Record Magazine
Rahul Mehrotra was interviewed by Tracés as part of their ‘Being in a Biennale’ interview series. Rahul spoke about RMA Architects’ installation at the 2018 Venice Biennale, which received a special mention from the jury. See the interview here.
Rahul Mehrotra and RMA Architects were awarded a special mention at the 2018 Venice Biennale “for three projects that address issues of intimacy and empathy, gently diffusing social boundaries and hierarchies”. The international jury was composed of Sofía von Ellrichshausen, Frank Barkow, Kate Goodwin, Patricia Patkau and Pier Paolo Tamburelli.
See more at the official website of the Venice Biennale and on ArchDaily.
Rahul Mehrotra will give a lecture on July 26 in Johannesburg, South Africa as part of the GSA Boogertman+Partners International Lecture Series. Events begin at 18:00 in the FADA Auditorium at the University of Johannesburg.
Rahul Mehrotra discussed Ephemeral Urbanism with Vikram Prakash on Architecture Talk. Listen to the full interview here.
Episodes of Architecture Talk are curated conversations with contemporary critics on architecture, and architectural thinking.
Soft Thresholds: Projects of RMA Architects, Mumbai to open at the Harvard GSD, August 21, 2017. See more information on the Harvard GSD website here
An interview of Rahul Mehrotra, by Ibai Rigby for urbanNext, was featured on Architizer. Read more and see a clip from the interview here.
ArchDaily has featured the recently published book, Extreme Urbanism 3: Planning for Conservation: Looking at Agra, edited by Rahul Mehrotra, Vineet Diwadkar and José Mayoral Moratilla.
See the article here.
Rahul Mehrotra was interviewed by urbanNext to discuss the landscapes of future growth in India. See the interview here.
