Programs

The Kamla Raheja Experiment started in 1992 with a goal to arrest the drift in architectural education. In pursuit of an illusive profile for a new syllabus, a positive and inclusive system seemed appropriate. Without negating existing archaic courses required for redundant exam oriented teaching, K.R.V.I.A.  converted them into discourses by deconstructed university prescribed syllabus. Interactive discourses by non-tenured scholars put dynamic charge into these topics to lift them from banality into deep inquiries. These events produced a new and congenial academic environment for learning.

– Sen Kapadia, Founder Director

Undergraduate Program

Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.)

Five year degree programme, recognized by the Council of Architecture (COA)

Post Graduate Programs

Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)

Urban Design/ Urban Conservation

Fellowship Programme


Research Fellowship Program since 1998 with the intent of promoting active research

Program Schedule

Time Chart 22-23-24new

Exchange Program

The KRVIA Exchange Programme was instituted in 1995. Since its inception, the school has taken a keen interest in developing dialogues and exchanging learning experiences with various universities in India and abroad. Since then the exchange programme has grown and we now have MOU’s with several schools in North America, Asia and Europe.

Formats

The exchanges are of various types based on intent, schedule, location, interest, etc. Some of these exchange programmes are workshop based; others are semester based, where students have an exposure to regular courses within the host institution. We have also explored the joint studio and joint research format with some institutions.

Workshop Exchange

In this format our students visit a host institution and the students from the partner institution visit us for a period of around 10-15 days, where a concentrated workshop is conducted by KRVIA faculty or faculty from the partner institution. The theme of the workshop is jointly decided. The Guangzhou Academy of Fine arts (GAFA), Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, Tunghai University, Taiwan, TU Delft, ENSAS, France and UBC, Canada have engaged with the KRVIA in this format.

Semester Exchange

This is a format in which our students visit the host institution for part/all of a semester. Our partner institution also sends their students to participate in our semester. We generally offer them one studio, either the Architectural Design studio or Masters studio and theory courses and electives, amongst other choices available.

Joint Studio

This format was instituted by the Tunghai University where partner schools believed that they could work on a common area of interest. This has taken the form of PAAU (Platform for Asian Architecture and Urbanism).

Joint Research

This was a format instituted with the Technical University, Berlin, where a joint grant will allow students and faculty to conduct joint research projects and share experiences from similar contexts across the world. The work produced as part of this collaboration was presented at the Venice Biennale 2016.

Semester Exchange: Bergen School of Architecture (BAS)

This is a format in which our students visit the host institution for part/all of a semester. Our partner institution also sends their students to participate in our semester. We generally offer them one studio, either the Architectural Design studio or Masters studio and theory courses and electives, amongst other choices available.

ENSAS Workshop Exchange: Strasbourg School of Architecture, France

Since 2015, the urban context chosen for the studio has been that of Indian cities (Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar), an ideal context in which to experience the process of the urban project and the use of parametric computer design in relationship to urban densification. The rapidly changing urban fabric of a major Indian city offers a stimulating context in which to experiment with a parametric approach to urban and architectural design. 

Since 2017, ENSAS has been associated with KRVIA, an architecture and environmental studies institute in Mumbai (India), and results in the organization of a workshop each year entitled “From Big data to a more human and sensitive city”. On average, it involves 15 to 20 students from each school.This year the duration of the program is from 30th September to 15th February.  

This year the studio Complex Densities aims to develop the students’ awareness of urban density situations present in contemporary cities. The workshop proposes a particular focus on the effects of migration on the structure of urban cities faced with sharp demographic increases. The studio also encourages students to question the notion of density in relation to urban typologies. A thorough analysis of existing urban typologies viewed from the morphological angle in both their socioeconomic and demographic content allows us to link spatial devices, encrypted density and the ways of living in the city. The studio offers a close look at the process of densification of a territory and a thorough study of the support system for food and energy needs of new inhabitants. The project is approached as a dynamic ecosystem. This approach, built on a large volume of different data, is to be transcribed in diagrams and pre-formal schemes allowing students to move from working with an abstract, quantitative dimension to a progressive and qualitative formalization of their project’s intentions.

Tunghai University, TAIWAN

KRVIA has a semester-based exchange with Tunghai University. Students of both universities take courses in partner institutions for a period of around 2 months. This helps them experience the semester at the partner institution without losing out on the academic work in their own institution. KRVIA students generally leave between October and December, between the Diwali break and Christmas break.

TU Delft, NETHERLANDS

The workshop-based exchange program focuses on housing in the peripheries in both contexts. A site or condition is undertaken for study each year and students of both Universities work on studying the site and design interventions.

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CANADA

Students explore the differences and similarities between Vancouver and Mumbai. Mumbai and Vancouver have many commonalities. They are port cities that attract substantial international investment and have historic ties to the British Empire. While the issues affecting the cities are unique, the effects of urban design in both cities are mediated through shared economic and political climates.  The students spend two weeks in Mumbai/Vancouver working on a joint project with faculty and students that explores urban and environmental problems

Aalto Residency Program, FINLAND

Aalto Residency is an international residency programme focused on architecture and design. The residency programme operates at the Säynätsalo Town Hall, designed by Alvar Aalto and considered one of Aalto’s most significant designs and provides an inspirational environment for creativity. The residency programme is conducted in co-operation with the Alvar Aalto Foundation. Aalto residency programme is planned to be 4-8 weeks. Residency stay includes accommodation, space for studying/working, study visits in Jyväskylä, two two-day-visits in Finland and organized free time programme once a week.

Platform for Asian Architecture and Urbanism (PAAU), VARIOUS PARTNERS

The Platform for Asian Architecture and Urbanism was formed to discuss and deliberate on contexts of Asian urbanism. KRVIA is one of the partners in this workshop-based exchange program. The other partners are Tunghai University, Silpakorn University, Chulalongkorn University, Petra University. One partner hosts the workshop and formulates the theme for exploration every year.

School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, INDIA

Semester I and III students of the Urban Design and Urban Conservation Master’s program participate in a workshop exchange with the M.Arch Urban Design students of SPA, New Delhi. The students collaborate on the intervention stage of the studio project for the semester. 

Past & Current Collaborations

Exchange Programs: Update