Pankaj Vir Gupta
Education
M. Arch., Graduate School of Architecture, Yale University; B.S. Arch., University of Virginia
Biography
Pankaj Vir Gupta is a licensed architect in the United States, and a registered member of the Council of Indian Architects. He is the co-founder and principal of vir.mueller architects, founded in 2003 by Pankaj Vir Gupta (with his partner Christine Mueller). The office of vir.mueller architects combines architectural research, education, and practice. vir.mueller architects strives to create timeless aesthetic relationships, evoking the spirit of contemporary culture, ecology, and technology.
Pankaj Vir Gupta has taught and lectured widely in the U.S.A. and in India. Since 2012, Pankaj has been a Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia; he is the Founder and Co-Director (with Inaki Alday), of the Yamuna River Project, a long-term, interdisciplinary research program whose objective is to revitalize the ecology of the Yamuna River in the mega city of New Delhi. The Project engages an interdisciplinary team with expertise in architecture, civil engineering, environmental science, public/private partnerships, anthropology, political science, history, and cultural studies. The team’s objective is to engage the efforts of government agencies, experts and activists in an effort to address the multidimensional challenges of Delhi and the relation with its river.
The practice of vir.mueller architects accords primacy to the process of design and the work evolves as a response to the particular character of each program, site, and budget. At every scale, the firm emphasizes the integrity of material and craftsmanship, establishing a fundamental relationship between the physical environment, and the art of making architecture. The professional work of vir.mueller architects has been widely published and awarded in North America, in Europe, and in India.
In 2014 vir.mueller architects received the Fritz-Höger Award for Excellence in Brick Architecture. The firm has also received awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Foundation for World Education, the George Nakashima Foundation for Peace and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. In 2015, vir.mueller architects was selected by an international jury for The Fifty Under Fifty: Innovators of the 21st Century - a selection of the most promising international designers.
vir.mueller architects have recently completed the India Centre for the University of Chicago and are presently designing the Humayun’s Tomb Site Museum for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, India’s first contemporary museum on a world heritage site.
