Deans List: Berkeley's Vishaan Chakrabarti on Rejecting the False Choices Embodied by Recent Architectural Pedagogies

2019-10-09T13:02:00-04:00

The Deans List is an interview series with the leaders of architecture schools, worldwide. The series profiles the school’s programs, pedagogical approaches, and academic goals, as defined by the dean–giving an invaluable perspective into the institution’s unique curriculum, faculty, and academic environment.

For this installment, Archinect spoke with Vishaan Chakrabarti, the founder of New York City's Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) who was recently selected as the incoming dean for the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. The school boasts a long history of nurturing multi-disciplinary approaches to improving the built environment while offering a slate of degree programs that include focuses on architecture, real estate development, urban design, and landscape architecture. As Chakrabarti prepares to assume deanship over the school in 2020, he offers a preview of what his tenure might hold, speaks out against the "false choices" ...

"I think of architecture as an act of writing in the city": Vishaan Chakrabarti discusses PAU's upcoming projects

2017-06-22T13:27:00-04:00

As the founder of PAU, Vishaan Chakrabarti is an architect and urban planner who considers every aspect of the city with foresight, but isn't as concerned with the culture of celebrity that has often dominated the profession. "Calling oneself a humanist over the last couple of decades was a real no-no," he explains via phone. "You're supposed to be a bad-boy, cape-wearing starchitect." He purposefully did not name the firm after himself in order to place emphasis on intelligent discussion, not hierarchy. Although he's excited about taking on more projects, he never wants PAU to grow beyond roughly 30 employees so that he will always know everyone in his office.

Archinect - Features

Deans List: Berkeley's Vishaan Chakrabarti on Rejecting the False Choices Embodied by Recent Architectural Pedagogies

"I think of architecture as an act of writing in the city": Vishaan Chakrabarti discusses PAU's upcoming projects