Working in Mumbai

Rahul Mehrotra is a practising architect, urban designer and educator. He is 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 (GSD). Mehrotra founded his Mumbai- and Boston-based firm RMA Architects in 1990. RMA Architects has designed and executed projects in India and across the world, including government and private institutions, corporate workplaces, private homes, social housing, retail and art spaces, as well as conservation and restoration projects. In 2018, RMA Architects received the Venice Architecture Biennale Jury's 'Special Mention' for "three projects that address issues of intimacy and empathy, gently diffusing social boundaries and hierarchies." The projects of RMA Architects will be published as a book titled "Working in Mumbai" in 2020. Since 2014, Mehrotra has been a member of the CICA the International Committee of Architectural Critics. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Laxmi Mittal South Asia Institute at Harvard. Mehrotra studied at CEPT Universty, Ahmedabad, where he received the gold medal for his undergraduate thesis (1985) and graduated with a Master of Architecture in Urban Design (MAUD) degree with distinction from Harvard University (1987). At Harvard GSD, Mehrotra has served as Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design (2010-2015 and 2020 to date); the Director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program; and the Co-Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program (2018 to date). He has also taught at the University of Michigan (2003-2007) and at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007-2010).

'Working in Mumbai' is one of the most important books in recent times, with commentary on our cities complex nature through the lens of RMA's work. It deserves a special mention for anyone who is navigating the complexities of designing our built environment. This is indeed not a monograph.--Design City Team