Meghal Arya

Meghal Arya, an educator and an architect is a full professor at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, India where her design studios build narratives with tools like story boards to foreground experiential qualities of a space in the design process. Her doctoral research Embedded Knowledge in Architecture, later published as Spatial Ecology of Water has influenced a paradigm shift in the manner of studying and analysing traditional architecture for water, positioning the objects at the intersection of architecture, systems thinking, infrastructure planning, landscape, heritage and history. She developed a framework to unpack this intersection calling it Spatial Ecology wherein the spaces embedded an interconnected network of influences that included the physical built and natural environment, technology, materials, social and cultural practices. She has collaborated with teachers at ETSAM Madrid, TU Wien, Vienna and POLIMI, Milan to conduct design studios. She conducts training programs for teachers in architecture and has several publications to her credit.

The academic orientation influences the building projects at Arya Architects where Meghal is a founding partner. The firm’s work is shaped by the idea of ‘appropriate’ that straddles traditional and contemporary technology through abstract diagrammatic conceptual ideas, often materialised by local material and building traditions. The negotiation of this dichotomy, is reflected in the relation with the outside, where the boundaries between binaries like built-unbuilt, inside-outside, natural-human, open-closed are ambiguous, blurred and diffused. The narrative incorporates elements like courtyards, semi-open spaces and transition spaces, translating as an emphasis on investigating meaningful ways of interaction between these binaries. Most projects of the firm are in the public domain, seeking to bring dignity, equity and inclusion in the everyday. The firm’s portfolio includes public projects related to transport infrastructure, educational institutions and special buildings like zoo. They are published in leading publications and recipient of numerous awards. She is also the managing trustee at AADI Center, a non-profit trust dedicated to furthering knowledge in art, architecture and design.