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Arijit Chatterjee M.A. (Architect)

Modern History

Research Fellow

Contact

Work S3|12 512
Residenzschloss 1
64283 Darmstadt

Arijit Chatterjee, an architect and researcher, is a visiting research fellow at the Institute for History at the Technical University of Darmstadt from June to August 2024 under the guidance of Professor Nicolai Hannig. During his stay in Darmstadt, Chatterjee will critically assess corrective regimes of renaturation and re-meandering of river systems under the topic: Hoarding of natural resources and the projection of risk in 18th-century hydrocultures.

Arijit Chatterjee, an architect and researcher, is a visiting research fellow at the Institute for History at the Technical University of Darmstadt from June to August 2024 under the guidance of Professor Nicolai Hannig. During his stay in Darmstadt, Chatterjee will critically assess corrective regimes of renaturation and re-meandering of river systems under the topic: Hoarding of natural resources and the projection of risk in 18th-century hydrocultures.

Chatterjee’s ongoing research investigates lost ‘meanings of repair’ at the intersection of political theology, environmental humanities, and the history of technology studies. As a 2021-22 James Harrison Steedman fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA, Chatterjee is working towards a framework for repair through extensive archival research, fieldwork, and observational recording of fluvial geographies across Central Asia, China, and continental Europe.

Previous research includes Swiss-German technology transfer to the Malabar coast, India, in printing and mechanical tile production by the Basel Evangelical Mission, critical infrastructure in insular archipelagic communities in Chilean Patagonia, and Botanical knowledge transfers around colonial south Indian tea plantations.

Architect, CA/2013/0058626
Date of Birth: 4th July 1981
Nationality: Indian

EU Residence: Bakkedraget 10, 8270 Højbjerg, Aarhus Danmark
Permanent Address: F -402 Samrajya Apartments, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad 380052, India
Tel: +91 9108297642
+49 1637252318

Email:

Current Research

2021-22 James Harrison Steedman Fellow, Project: Mapping the Mind of the River: Architecture as a loss of Control, Washington University in St Louis and American, Institute of Architects, St Louis, MO, USA:

16000 Km Travel-based field and archival research on anthropogenic fluvial geographies across Asia, Central Asia and the Americas leading to a ‘Handbook of Repair’

Education

2012-2015 M.Arch, Magíster en Arquitectura y Diseño Mención Náutico y Marítimo e(ad) Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaíso, Chile
Thesis Project: ‘Critical Infrastructure’ to Found and Cultivate Maritorio Settlements in the Interior Seas of Western Patagonia: A Navigable Workshop for Construction & Cultivation in the Interior Seas

2008-2009 Master Studio Program
Ecole Nationale Superieure d’architecture de Paris-Belleville, ENSAPB, France
Final studio project in academic collaboration with Sun Yat- Sen University Guangzhou, Pearl River Delta, China, Shipai village-‘De La Typologie Aux Territories’
Research project: ‘Inventing complexities- towards a theory of constraints –a study of form’

2003-2008 B.Arch – Bachelor in Architecture
Faculty of Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, CEPT, Ahmedabad
Design thesis: Building with the River, Khulna, Bangladesh

Professional Practice & Teaching

2022 Visiting critic and presentation at the KADK School of Architecture, Copenhagen, Denmark

2021 – Ongoing: L3 STUDIO Lead Faculty, School of Architecture, CEPT, Ahmedabad: Living Museum: Salvaging Le Corbusier's floating refuge, 2021, monsoon

Zuari Connect: Ecologies of Mining around Zuari River, 2022-23 CEPT- Ahmedabd, Akademie der Bildenden Künste-Vienna, TU Munich & ETH -Zurich

2019 – Ongoing: Visiting Faculty, Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements, Dhaka, Bangladesh

2014 – Ongoing: Independent Architectural and Nautical Practice, Chile, India and the UK including Talapady House, South Canara, India (completed, 2022)

Chennaitodi Farm Facility, Bantwal, India (Under Construction)

Commonwealth Tile Factory Office, Mangalore, India (Completed 2019)

Extension to El Claro House, Coyhaique, Patagonia, Chile (Completed, 2015)

Refuge and Improvements to the Cutipay Boatyard, Valdivia, Patagonia, Chile (Detailed Design Stage) Condominiums Camino Balmaceda, Coyhaique, Patagonia, Chile (Design Stage)

Siddhartha Cabin, Coyhaique, Patagonia, Chile (Design Stage)

Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Sailing Vessel, Patagonia, Chile (Design Stage) Gap Extension to a South London House, UK (Design Stage)

2017-2019 Collaborative Film-maker: ‘Unfired’ a short film on the Mangalore Tile Factories, Screened at

Bangalore International Centre, India and Art in Clay Festival, Farnham, UK

2016 Mangalore Smart City Project Consultant, Mangalore City Corporation: Complete Report writing for successful application for the India Smart Cities Program Funding (approximately $67 million)

2015-16 Program Co-Ordinator, Bearys Enviro-Architecture Design School, Mangalore, Karnataka

2014 Visiting Critic at the University Austral, Valdivia, Chile

2012 Studio Master, Studio Seaforce: Mandvi Shipbuilding, School of Architecture, Vadodara

Design Academy (VDA), India: A Living Museum for the shipbuilding town of Mandvi, Gujarat

2011-2011 Junior Architect at Allmann Sattler Wappner, Munich, Germany

2008-2009 Naval Architect at VPLP, Paris: Detailed design development for the Emirates Floating Hospital, Savar, Bangladesh

2007 Design and construction of housing for Sidr Cyclone victims in Gaibanda, Bangladesh with Friendship NGO Conceptualizing ‘Living Museum for country boats of Bengal’, Savar, Bangladesh with Friendship NGO

2006-2007Linear house, Cochin, Kerala, India (Design Stage)

2009 Chettinad Baroque, Residence, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India (Design Stage)

2006-07 ARTES-Human settlement Development Centre NGO, Chennai

Selected Exhibitions, Workshops and Presentations

2022 Chatterjee Arijit & Sumra Asha, Works + Words 2022 Biennale in Artistic Research in Architecture, Round Tower (Rundetårn), Copenhagen, Denmark

2019 Workshop co-leader: Space of Water: A Floating Workshop for the Bengal Delta, Bengal Institute for

Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements, Dhaka, Bangladesh & TU Delft, Netherlands

Exhibition: Work featured in Nogornama – The Future of Our Habitats, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Lecture: Inhabiting Interior Seas, EMK Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh and CARE School of Architecture, Trichy, India

Lecture: Making & Mess, Christ University, Bangalore

Workshop leader: The Future of Factory, CARE School of Architecture in Mangalore

2018 Workshop Mentor: Culture of Resilience: Resilience of Culture, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and

Technology, Bangalore, UNESCO Chair in Culture, Habitat and Sustainable Development & Aga Khan Trust for Culture

2016 Lecture: Inhabiting Interior Seas, Design Centre, Goa

2014 Practical Experience in Wooden Boatbuilding, Astillero Cutipay, Valdivia, Chile

2014 Workshop Leader: Water Architecture: Scarcity and Abundance, Catholic University of the North,

Antofagasta, Atacama, Chile Visiting Critic at the University Austral, Valdivia, Chile

2012 Travesia Náutico y Marítimo, Southern Chilean Patagonia, Escuela de Arquitectura y Diseño, PUCV, Valparaiso

2009 MII(Made in India) – Archiving instant architectures, ENSA Paris Belleville, France

2009-10 CEPT interactive Workshop on Sabarmati riverfront development, Ahmedabad/River ecology/city planning/neighborhoods

2008 ‘Asia Link Urban and City Design Curriculum Development’ workshop/planning.

2007 Berlage Institute Rotterdam, Netherlands, Masterclass-‘FORM &CITY ‘International Biennale with Joan

Ockman, Elia Zenghelis: Construction of floating structures in the Flood plains

Awards, Scholarships, Positions

2021 Final Shortlist for the 2020-21 cycle of the Merit List for Office for the Commonwealth Tile Factory

2019-2020 INTACH Scholarship: Kidneys of Kolkata: The East Calcutta Wetlands as Critical Infrastructure

2017-2018 INTACH Scholarship: Topographic-Responsive Water Architecture of the Kolar Mountain Range, Kolar, Karnataka

2013 Invited resident, Corporacion Cultural, Amereida, Valparaiso, Chile

2008 The ‘KSHITIJ JAIN MEMORIAL AWARD’ scholarship for academic excellence

2007 Berlage Masterclass Scholarship, Rotterdam

2007-2008 Academic Secretary of the Students Council CEPT University, Ahmedabad

Selected Publications & Press

Mission Clay: Architectural Imprints of the Basel Mission and the Mangalore Tile (Eds: Chatterjee, A. Huber, A & Sumra, A, Christoph Merian Verlag, anticipated 2026).

Chatterjee, Arijit, and Sumra, Asha. “Imprints of the Basel Mission Industries on Indian Ocean Architectures” in Architectural Encounters in Asia Pacific: Built Traces of Intercolonial Trade, Industry and Labour, 1800s-1950s, edited by Amanda Achmadi, Paul Walker, Soon-Tzu Speechley (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024).

Chatterjee, A and A Sumra. Basel Mission: Building Cultures, Architecture Suisse, (Eds: Frederic Krafft-Gloria, Issue 326, Pully, Switzerland, 2023).

Book Chapter: Tagore in Padma within The Great Padma book: Life and Times of an Epic River. (Ed. Kazi K Ashraf, San Francisco: ORO Editions,2023).

Setting the sun and the sea for Le Corbusier, Journal for Civic Architecture(Issue 9, 2022, London: Canalside press).

Press: A sunken barge to come alive as CEPT students pay tribute to Le Corbusier(December 18 2021, Indian Express).

The Travel of the Tile (CAMEA Adelaide Congress 2021).

Chatterjee, A and A Sumra. Imprints of the Basel Mission Industries on Indian Ocean Architectures (5th Annual International Symposium of ACAHUCH, Melbourne, 2021).

Press: An architect couple lends support to Mangalore's crumbling sunset industry (June 7, 2020, The Business Standard).

Chatterjee, A and A Sumra. Office for the Commonwealth Tile Factory , Mangalore, 2019 (Architecturez, 2020) Chatterjee, A and A Sumra. Making and Breaking: Talapady House. Mangalore, 2020 (Architecturez, 2020). Chatterjee, A and A Sumra. Mangalore Tile Factories In Office for the Commonwealth Tile Factory(Architecturez, 2020).

Drawings of Water Architecture in Ashraf, K (eds.) Locations: An Anthology of Architecture and Urbanism 2 (Upcoming).

Vessel Drawings of the Puppet Theatre Barge in Middleton & Rogers, Keeping Afloat: An adventure on a river barge that became a theatre (London: Jack and Mare Publishing, 2019).

‘Critical Infrastructure’ to Found and Cultivate Maritorio Settlements in Western Patagonia: Collage Sea: A Navigable Workshop for Construction & Cultivation in the Interior Seas (Masters Research Thesis, Catholic University of Valparaiso, 2015).

Studio SEAFORCE: Mandvi Shipbuilding (Studio Documentation, Baroda, 2012).

Understanding Principles of Construction of the Sultanate Mosques of Bangladesh (Undergraduate Research Thesis, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, 2009).

Selected publications, 2023 onwards:

2026. Forthcoming. As editor. With Ariel Huber and Asha Sumra. Mission Clay: Architectural Imprints of the Basel Mission and the Mangalore Tile. Basel: Christoph Merian Verlag

Chatterjee, Arijit, and Sumra, Asha. “Imprints of the Basel Mission Industries on Indian Ocean Architectures” in Architectural Encounters in Asia Pacific: Built Traces of Intercolonial Trade, Industry and Labour, 1800s-1950s, edited by Amanda Achmadi, Paul Walker, Soon-Tzu Speechley (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024).

Chatterjee, A and A Sumra. Basel Mission: Building Cultures, Architecture Suisse, (Eds: Frederic Krafft-Gloria, Issue 326, Pully, Switzerland, 2023).