Meghal Arya
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Dr. Meghal Arya

Professor
Programs
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About Dr. Meghal Arya

Meghal Arya, professor at FA, CEPT U, chairs the PhD program and teaches design studios developing a narrative structure with tools like story boards to foreground experiential qualities of a space in the design process. As chair of the FA, PhD program she encourages dialogue, interaction and networks amongst all the diverse research structures within the Faculty including UG and PG. 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.
Prof (Dr) Meghal Arya graduated from the School of Architecture, CEPT and completed her Master’s in Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has been teaching design studios, history and theory at CEPT since 2000 apart from guiding research dissertations. 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.
  • Architectural Design
  • History of Architecture
  • Urban public spaces and public architecture
  • Water as a resource and the expressions for it
  • DRP — S‑2026
  • DRP — S‑2025
  • Narratives in Architecture — S‑2025
  • DRP — M‑2025
  • HRW 5 — Perspectives on the Architecture of the Global South — M‑2025
  • Spatial Ecology as a Framework for Design — M‑2025
  • Moving Boundaries: Spatial Ecology and Human-Centered Design at the intersection of human habit — W‑2025
  • DRP — S‑2024

Seminar

  1. Before the blueprint: Navigating architectural competitions BRICKS College, Pune
  2. Indegineity CEPT Research Symposium
  3. Patterns of Flow: Spatial Dimension of Water IIT, Roorkee
  4. Perspectives on the architecture of the global south Architecture of Africa
  5. Practice of Research Curation in Architectures of Transition Laxmi Mittal Institute / Harvard University
  6. Safarnama: Travel narratives Beyond Design (Leaf Foundation)
  7. The Spatial Dimension of Water GSD, Harvard University

Conference

  1. Celebrating People: BRTS Bus Stations Re-imagining Inclusive Urbanism
  2. Changing Paradigms of Technology Oxford conference, Oxford, UK
  3. Gender and the spatial dimension of water GenderSte, Rome
  4. The Knowledge Paradigm IGNCA and GREHA, New Delhi
  5. Theory at the end of the millennium University of Shreveport, USA
  6. Transition Spaces — BRTS Intl. Assoc. for Humane Habitat, Mumbai
  7. Water, Humanities, Territories Learning from the desert, ENSA Versailles, Paris
  8. Whispers of the Vernacular 1st International Congress Vernacular Architecture
  9. Structuring Frameworks Rethinking Build Environment with Ancient Wisdom and Modern Practices

Workshop

  1. Digital Documentation Workshop AADI Center / Univ. of Ferrara / MRS Group
  2. Integrated Water Management CMAG Gujarat / CPD, CEPT
  3. Monument conservation workshop AADI / MMT / HHT (Jodhpur)
  4. Step into history (Bani Begum Bagh) AADI Center / MGMU University
  5. Teaching Conservation Nagaur, India
  6. Teaching Design Studios IMPACT College / CPD CEPT
  7. Teaching Design Studios R. V. College of Architecture, Bangalore
  8. The Spatial Ecology of Water FDP: Designing with Nature (IESCOA)
  9. The Spatial Ecology of Water National Water Museum Workshop (Jal Shakti)
  10. Urban Public Space / Critical Thinking Satyabhama University, Chennai
  11. Zoo Design and Landscape architecture New Delhi

Symposium

  1. FA Doctoral Program Research Symposium CEPT University
  2. Placemaking as a strategic intervention Learning Speculating from Mauritius

Book Chapter

  1. Architecture for water: A repository of Knowledge - Renewing Design with Communities (Routledge)
  2. Courtyards - Thematic space in Indian architecture
  3. Sarkhej Roza, the complex at Ahmedabad - Gujarat, glimpses of glory(Govt.)
  4. Charting the course, the water structures of Jodhpur Balzani, M., Jain, M., Rosati, L. (Eds.) Between History and Memory (Maggioli)
  5. Balkrishna Doshi Work. Weaving Body Context Gattara, A., Robinson, S., Ruzzon, D. (Eds.) Intertwining. Vol 3(Mimesis Intl.)
  6. Amber Fort Kulbhushan Jain (Ed.) Conserving Architecture(AADI)
  7. Architectural education Kulbhushan Jain (Ed.) Learning Architecture(AADI)
  8. Courtyards Lori Brown (Ed.) Feminist Practices(Ashgate)
  9. A Dialogue of Two Infrastructures: The Choreography of Water and Pathways in India Marinic, G. & Meninato, P. (Eds.) About Streets (Springer)
  10. Academics and Teaching Rathod, S. & Bhagwat, A. (Eds.) Behind Closed Doors(Spade)
  11. Communication Rathod, S. & Bhagwat, A. (Eds.) Behind Closed Doors(Spade)
  12. Patterns of Flow — The Spatial Dimension of Water in the Desert Seta, Fumihiko et al. (Eds.) Understanding Built Environment (Springer)

Book

  1. Spatial Ecology of Water Arya, Meghal Embedded knowledge in Architecture
  2. Mehrangarh An Ensemble of Poetic Spaces Jain, Kulbhushan; Jain, Minakshi; Arya, Meghal Forts of Rajasthan and their conservation
  3. Architecture of a Royal Camp – the retrieved Fort of Nagaur Jain, Minakshi; Jain, Kulbhushan, Arya, Meghal Forts of Rajasthan and their conservation
  4. Celebrating Heritage. The Rejuvenated Fort of Nagaur Jain, Minakshi; Jain, Kulbhushan; Arya, Meghal Forts of Rajasthan and their conservation

Journal Article

  1. Architectural education Smita Dalvi (Ed.) Authoring Design Studios

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