Architect, Educator, Author
Professor of Architecture, University of Virginia
W: www.virmueller.com
Pankaj Vir Gupta is a founding partner (with Christine
Mueller) of vir.mueller architects, in New Delhi, a firm encompassing
architectural practice, design research and education. He is a licensed
architect in the United States, and a registered member of the Council of
Architecture in India.
Pankaj Vir Gupta received a Bachelor of Science in
Architecture from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Architecture from
the Graduate School of Architecture at Yale University. Committing to the
evolution of Indian architecture and urbanism, vir.mueller architects have
designed significant public projects across India, including cultural and
institutional commissions. We are presently engaged in the design and
construction of the Humayun’s Tomb Site Museum for the Aga Khan Trust for
Culture, in New Delhi – the first contemporary museum in India to be built on a
World Heritage Site. The firm upholds an identity of citizen-architect; thus,
engagement with the public as an educated and informed voice of design-related
issues, remains critical to our identity as an architectural design studio.
This philosophy has guided our years of teaching and consulting for public and
civic agencies.
Pankaj Vir Gupta is a Professor of Architecture at the
University of Virginia, where he is the Co-Founder (with Inaki Alday) of the
Yamuna River Project, a major pan-university research project. Since 2012, he
has been teaching Urban and Architecture Design studios and leading a
multi-disciplinary research initiative focused on the revitalization of urban
precincts adjacent to the Yamuna river in New Delhi, creating a vital
ecological center for India’s capital city. The Yamuna River Project confronts
the dilemmas of unplanned urban expansion and challenges posed by extreme
weather in mega-cities, with an analytical, research- based methodology, and
facilitates a dynamic collaboration between diverse knowledge partners,
encompassing faculty and students in Architecture, Urban Design, Engineering,
Environmental Sciences, Anthropology, Public Health, Business, Economics, and
the Humanities - and including municipal authorities, political leaders, and non-government
organizations. This project has won several national and international awards
for the participating students and achieved significant recognition for the
University of Virginia School of Architecture.
Pankaj Vir Gupta is the co-author (with Christine Mueller
and Cyrus Samii) of the monograph Golconde: the introduction of modernism in
India (2010 Urban Crayon Press). The book documented a rare and early use of
cast-in-place concrete construction in India – in an exemplary modern building
by architects Antonin Raymond and George Nakashima. Most recently, he has
co-authored (with Inaki Alday) Yamuna River Project: New Delhi Urban Ecology
(2018 Actar Press, New York & Barcelona).This book encapsulates the
research conducted over the past six years, offering an evidence-based analysis
of the crisis afflicting the urban ecology of the Yamuna River in New Delhi. In
2018, the book was recognized as one of the top ten architecture books of the
year by the German Architecture Museum (DAM).
Pankaj Vir Gupta has taught and lectured in Europe, in the
United States, and in India. The professional work of vir.mueller architects
has been awarded and published internationally.