Dr. Vikramāditya Prakāsh
Professor of Architecture, Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture
The University of Washington in Seattle
vprakash@uw.edu

“Uncertain urbanism”, my current mantra.

Curriculum Vitae
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Short Bio

Dr. Vikramāditya Prakāsh grew up in Chandigarh, India. He received his B. Arch. from the Chandigarh College of Architecture, Panjab University (1986), and an M.A. and Ph.D. in History and Theory of Architecture and Urbanism from Cornell University (1989, 1994). He taught at the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, India (1991 - 1993) and Arizona State University, Tempe (1994-1996) before coming to the University of Washington in Fall 1996. Dr. Prakāsh served as the Associate Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning from July 2001 to May 2002, and as Chair of the Department of Architecture from July 2002 to December 2006.

Dr. Prakāsh teaches studios on issue in contemporary architecture and urbanism, particularly in the Asian theatre. He is also working on a new reading of the history of the architecture of India, based on a course on this topic he has taught for the last 15 years. Alongside, he is also writing a series of essays parlaying between postcolonial propositions and architectural questions.

Dr. Prakāsh has published several paper and books including Chandigarh's Le Corbusier: The Struggle for Modernity in Postcolonial India (University of Washington Press, Seattle & Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 2002), A Global History of Architecture (with Francis DK Ching & Mark Jarzombek, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006) and Colonial Modernities: Building, Dwelling and Architecture in British India and Ceylon (co-edited with Peter Scriver, Routledge, 2007). A Global History is being translated into five languages.

Dr. Prakash is the Director of the Chandigarh Urban Lab, dedicated to researching small and mid-size urbanism in globalizing India. For the last 3 years the Chandigarh Urban Lab has conducted studio based research on Chandigarh as it changing in response to globalization in search of sustainable urban practices for the future to Asia’s cities. Conducted in collaboration with the faculty and students of Chandigarh College of Architecture, the Lab actively engages local architects, landscape architects, urbanists, planners, activists and the local administration in its work. Dr. Prakash is currently finalizing his book S&M Urbanism: Chandigarh in the Age of Globalization that documents the studio based research done by the Chandigarh Urban Lab (under review with Routledge).

Dr. Prakāsh is partner in Verge Architecture with Leah C. Martin and Chetna Purnami. He lives in Seattle with his wife and three children. He dabbles in painting and poetry, and is a theater enthusiast. An unpublished play lurks on his harddrive somewhere.