About
SK Das is an internationally renowned architect, urban planner, consultant, and professor, whose work has been honoured for its versatility and sensitivity to community and context. He has worked with international agencies, governments, private sector organisations, academia, and NGOs. His work spans a vast range of scales, including urban regeneration, townships and master planning, infrastructure developments, housing developments, mixed-use developments, educational and IT campuses, tourism and hospitality projects, cultural and institutional buildings, private residences, and low income housing. It also spans extremely diverse locales, as he has done projects in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the USA.
He has been a project consultant to many multilateral and international agencies, including UNDP/UN Habitat and the governments of Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. He has held several teaching positions, including that of Senior Staff Member, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (HIS), Rotterdam; Dean and Professor at the Sushant School of Art and Architecture, New Delhi; Visiting Professor at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi; and Visiting Professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium. He has also lectured and taught design studios at several universities, including MIT, Columbia, and the Architectural Association, London.
He received the Outstanding Global Urban Professional Award at the UN Habitat World Urban Forum (WUF) held in Abu Dhabi (2020), the National Award for Community Architecture from HUDCO/ Indian Government (1991), and the National Award for Outstanding Work in Rural Settlements of India from the Indian Institute of Architects, and was honoured as Architect of the Year by the Building Industries Bureau. Notable Fellowships include the Eisenhower Fellowship, the Chettle Fellowship, and the USIS Exchange Visitor Fellowship. His work on post-cyclone reconstruction in Orissa with CARE-India has been listed among the 100 Best Practices by UN Habitat. His works have been featured in exhibitions including at the Aedes Gallery, Berlin.
SK Das Associated Architects is an architectural firm with offices in New Delhi and Bhubaneshwar, and its design studio housed in Dehradun, India. The firm was founded by S.K. Das in 1988.
With a focus on the public realm, equity, and democratic ideals, our approach is to explore an architecture of contextual multiplicity.
Architect's Statement
Graduated from Sir JJ College of Architecture, University of Bombay, in 1974, learning more in spite of it, from the city of Bombay and the strong social dynamics of the 70’s that brought together all kinds of professionals on issues over drinks, in cafes and bars, endless discourses running late into the night. Artists, journalists, filmmakers, musicians and political activists who were at the lunatic edge of their respective professions, deriving inspiration and pleasure from everyone else’s experience.
Watched the planning and making of New Bombay from close quarters, touted as a self- help city by some, only to degenerate into a suburban mass lacking the energy and dynamism of Bombay and subconsciously negating it. This was also a period of activism.
Worked on the reconstruction of slums and against the mass eviction of squatters by a city that did not have a better alternative to provide them.
Spent a year with John Turner, just as his Housing By People was out, and, as an associate, met up with a large number of colleagues and constituents busy promoting autonomy, participation, and community.
Upon returning to Bombay in 1977, started to practice and teach. Soon fed up with nominal, peripheral, and inconsequential practice, left again to work as a faculty member at the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Rotterdam, consulting and teaching graduate courses. Was a spectator to the Dutch discarding their conservative red brick architecture and letting loose. Much later, this would produce both the most absurd tropical sandy beach, Las Vegas style, on the banks of the river Maas in Rotterdam, and the most sensible docklands developments in ‘Java’, ‘Sumatra’ and ‘Borneo’, Amsterdam. This was a period of extensive exposure to places, people, and institutions across the continents, from Latin America to Asia. Travelled widely and lived in perpetual jetlag. As the dependency of such international institutions on government funding grew, they imbibed the established philosophy of international development aid policies. Returned to India and resumed practice, swearing by public projects and architecture in the public domain.
Still mentally located in Bombay, Amsterdam, and other places of association, though bodily located in Dehradun. Conditions of practice remain largely hostile, but the nature of Indian democracy, administration, and institutions often provide partial opportunities. Decided that there’s no single project that can make a reasonable impact on a given situation, and decided instead to thread a storyline, build an ideological platform, and draw theoretical lessons informed by a series of failures and partial successes, through many assignments over a long span of time.
Having done this kind of work for such a long time, over the decades, some of the younger professionals working with me have branched out to their own firms but continue to work as associate architects for us. Thus I free myself to sit in the verdant Doon valley where our studio works as the design engine of the practice.
Hence, an interim statement of ideology and practice.
SK Das
23rd May 2025
Professional History
-
SK Das Associated Architects founded 1987
-
Habitat Urban Transformation Lab founded 2014 habitatutlab.com
-
Project Leader, Indian Human Settlements Program, IHS, Rotterdam, 1985-‘86 Set up the Human Settlements Management Institute (HSMI) and the Indian Human Settlements Program (IHSP).
-
Senior Faculty, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Rotterdam, 1980-‘85 Designed and taught postgraduate courses and provided international advisory services.
-
Associate to John Turner at Development Planning Unit (DPU), London, 1976-‘77 Helped set up the international housing network to support self help and community managed housing as a follow-up to Habitat I.
Representative Work
-
Mass Housing at Nerul, Navi Mumbai (CIDCO) through a national selection process
-
Kota Tigaraksa New Town Development, Indonesia
-
Subarnarekha Resettlement Project, National Award for Community Architecture
-
Crossings New Town Development, NCR, with Sasaki Associates
-
Dronagiri New Town Development, Navi Mumbai, with Kanvinde Rai & Chowdhury
-
Post-cyclone reconstruction in partnership with CARE, Odisha, 1999, listed in UN Habitat 100 Best Practices
-
Kashmere Gate Urban Redevelopment, Delhi
-
Public Space Improvement Project, Bhikaji Cama Place District Centre, New Delhi
-
Mixed Income Civil Servants’ Housing, Andrews Ganj, New Delhi, through a national selection process; exhibited at Aedes Gallery, Berlin
-
Community Centre and Support Facilities for 100,000 Population, Rohini, New Delhi
-
Shamuka Seafront Development of 1000-acre international tourist destination, Odisha
-
Biju Patnaik University of Technology Campus, Bhubaneswar
-
Chandrasekharpur Composite Housing, Bhubaneswar
-
India Islamic Cultural Center, New Delhi
Services
-
Vice President, ISoCaRP (International Society of City and Regional Planners), 1995-1998
-
Technical Advisor to HUDCO, 1987-1992; HDFC, Mumbai, 1987-89; and IDFC, 2002-2004
-
Advisor, Delhi Urban Art Commission
-
Board Member, Habitat International Coalition, 1981-1986
-
Member, Committee for National Building Codes, Bureau of Indian Standards
-
One of the 15 presenters at Habitat Forum "Self Help and Low Cost Housing Symposium", Habitat I
-
Rapporteur General of Planning Forum, "Mediation in Planning", Habitat II
-
Rapporteur General, ISoCaRP National Congress, Sydney, 1996 on "Planning and Resilience"
Selected Academic Apointments
-
Director & Professor, Sushant School of Art & Architecture, 2000-’02
-
Visiting Professor, Postgraduate Centre Human Settlements, University of Leuven, 1994-’95
-
Visiting Professor, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, 1990-’93 and 1997-’99
-
Member, Selection Committee for faculty positions, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 1997-2001
-
Member, Board of Studies, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, departments of Physical Planning, Housing, and the Doctoral Research Committee, Urban Design
-
Member, International Jury, Union of International Architects (UIA) Design Competition for Schools of Architecture, 1994
-
Member, Selection Committee, Indo Canadian and CIDA Fellowships for doctoral and postdoctoral research, 2000-2001
-
Member, Selection Committee for Architecture, INLAKS Scholarships, India, 2004
-
Juror, National Awards for ‘Excellence in Architectural Thesis’, India, 2005 - present
-
Guest lectures at MIT, Columbia University, University of California – Berkeley, Architectural Association Graduate School, London, Oxford Polytechnic, University of York, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Bartlett School, London, Catholic University at Bandung, Delft University, Chulalongkorn University, University of Sydney, Yildiz Technical University, University of Nairobi, Centre for Planning and Architecture Studies (CPAS) – Cairo, Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Medellin, Delhi University, among others.
Major Consultancies
-
UN Habitat: Evaluated the Building Repair and Reconstruction Program in Bombay
-
UN Habitat: Research publication on inner-city slums based on a global survey and with case studies from Santiago, Lima, Cairo, Bombay, Colombo and Bangkok
-
UN Habitat: Designed the project format and research methodology for Revitalisation of Inner-city Slums
-
UN Habitat: Prepared a monograph on Bombay resulting in the UN Habitat publication Metropolitan Planning and Management in the Developing World Spatial Decentralization Policy in Bombay and Mexico, 1993
-
UN Habitat: In a team of four, evaluated the Phnom Penh Housing and Squatter Upgrading Program
-
UN Habitat and University of Leuven: Workshop on “Urban Coherence and Housing Strategies”, Bandung, Indonesia
-
UNESCAP/ UNDP: wrote proposal and project document to create a network of local authorities and NGOs in Asia and the Pacific, which subsequently evolved into Asia Pacific 2000 and then into CityNet
-
Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC): Policy and Planning Guidelines for Redevelopment along the Metro Corridors, New Delhi
-
Delhi Development Authority (DDA): Member, Expert Planning Group on Housing and Urban Renewal for Delhi Masterplan 2020
-
NOVIB, The Hague: In a team of two, evaluated Habitat International Coalition (HIC), on behalf of a consortium of donors
-
NOVIB, The Hague: Wrote policy document on Housing the Poor in the Asian Region for a workshop involving NGOs from across Asia
-
Ministry of Housing, Sweden: Roundtable and collaborative publication, Rethinking the City
-
CORVIDE, municipal housing agency of Medellin, Colombia: Assisted in the preparation of site layout proposals for aided self-help construction of shelter and community facilities in Camilo Torres Mutual Aid Housing Project on behalf of IHS, Rotterdam
-
Building Together Project, Bangkok: Assisted in the preparation of conceptual and detailed design for a low income mutual aid housing
-
National Housing Authority, Thailand: Assisted in the design of World Bank funded low-income housing projects for the Bangkok Metropolitan Urban Development Exercise.
-
National Housing Development Authority (NHDA), Sri Lanka: Design and training support for One Lakh Housing Program of the then Prime Minister.
-
Mayor of Seoul, South Korea: As part of an international team of professors, advised the University of Seoul on setting up a Department of Urban Studies