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Viren Brahmbhatt is
an architect and urban designer. For the
past several years, he has focused on
affordable
housing and infrastructure in New York
City. He has worked with the New York
City Housing Authority’s Design
Department on design and implementation
of the Community
Centers Program, GIS, Urban Design projects,
and a Master Plan for HOPE VI Project
in Brooklyn. He has also collaborated
on several research projects with the
School of Architecture & Urban Design
and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Mr. Brahmbhatt holds a Masters degree in
Architecture and Urban Design from Pratt
Institute and an undergraduate degree form
the School of Architecture (CEPT), Ahmedabad,
India where he also held a faculty position
(1988-1992). His published work
includes such independent projects as “The
Vacant City: Urban Design Project for
The Mont Des Arts, Brussels (Belgium)
and “Investigations into Architectural
Design: Conceptions and Processes” published
in 1988 (CEPT, India).
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Personal Statement
The most satisfying aspect of my fellowship experience, on Hell's
Kitchen South: Developing Strategies, was that it provided me with critical distance
from day-to-day work and allowed me to explore my preoccupation with planning
processes that mitigate "differences" rather
than superficially unify. I am concerned with a wide range of issues: from the
quality of design to how physical environment impacts our lives; I am interested
in architecture and urban design as public policy. I am equally interested in
the future form of the city, and how designers along with policy makers may find
ways and tools through dialogue, for greater urban sustainability and socially
responsible approaches to urban design, housing and infrastructure design. I
believe this interdependence between various disciplines (architecture, urban
design, landscape and infrastructure) is vital to how cities grow incrementally;
it is also important for the future of the cities as we become more and more
multivalent and diverse as a global society. The Design Trust For Public
Space fellowship provided me a valuable opportunity to explore these and
other issues.
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