Book Talks: Living Together — More-Than-Human Ecologies for Architectural Thinking

The CEPT Library is hosting a book talk on Living Together — More-Than-Human Ecologies for Architectural Thinking, published by Birkhäuser in 2025. Authors Sonal Mithal and Akshar Gajjar will present the book, followed by a conversation with Melissa Smith.

Wednesday, 13 August 2025 | 6:00 PM onwards | Sagra Basement, CEPT University

About the Book
The book explores what it means for architecture to be a truly collaborative venture where plants and other species also exercise agency. It calls for an architecture that is receptive — physically, by creating spaces accommodating multispecies, and intellectually, by acknowledging the needs of more-than-humans.

Living Together positions itself within fragmented design approaches and advocates a holistic vision, bringing materialist and ecological inquiries into architectural practice. It features a survey of contemporary projects and techniques that foster multispecies alliances, including works developed in CEPT University studios between 2018 and 2023.
 

About the Authors

Sonal Mithal is an architect, artist, and educator, and serves as Chair of the Masters in Conservation and Regeneration program at CEPT University. Her work spans architecture, landscape architecture, queer studies, history, and conservation, with a focus on climate change, feminist-materialism, and intersectionality.

Akshar Gajjar is an architect, urban and territorial designer, and a PhD student at EPFL. His research examines territorial transformations linked to architectural material production, particularly brickmaking in Gujarat, and its ecological and socio-economic impacts.

Moderator
Melissa Smith is an architect and urban designer, and founding partner of BandukSmith Studio. At CEPT University, she was the founding Program Chair for India’s first Bachelor of Urban Design program.

This event is open to all.