Verendra Wakhloo
Principal Architect
Verendra Wakhloo is the principal architect of Matra Architects & Rurban Planners in New Delhi. Incepted in 1990, he has worked across diverse programmes and scales over the last three decades. His twenty-year-long stay in Germany, from the age of ten onwards, exposed him to the high-technology-driven society that spilled into his architectural education at the erstwhile Technische Hochschule, Karlsruhe, where, under the influence of late Prof. Fritz Haller, his exploration into modernism started. Inspired by Indian Architects Charles Correa, BV Doshi, and UC Jain, he returned to India, where his initial work involved a search for an Indian identity. Leading to a synthesis through ‘a dialogue’, he attempts to move from the known to the unknown for his work, in search of ‘timeless principles’, with a focus on ‘archetypal’ form.
To expand the dialogue across national and international boundaries, he co-initiated in 2016 the ‘Indian Arch Dialogue’, a forum for innovative contemporary architecture, and in 2020 the ‘Unplugged Talks’, a series of conversations with creative minds from across cultural landscapes. He has taught at the erstwhile TVB School of Habitat Studies, New Delhi, and has received honors, including the IIA Award, the JK Architect of the Year Award, the World Architecture Community Award, the AD 50, the Kohler Bold Design Award, and the Trends Excellence Award for his projects.