Verendra Wakhloo
Principal Architect
Principal Architect
Verendra Wakhloo is the principal architect of Matra Architects & Rurban Planners, based in New Delhi. Since founding the practice in 1990, he has worked across a wide spectrum of projects and scales over more than three decades. Wakhloo spent twenty formative years in Germany from the age of ten, where his exposure to a technologically advanced society deeply influenced his architectural perspective. He studied at the former Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe, where his engagement with modernism was shaped by the ideas of the late Prof. Fritz Haller.
Inspired by Indian architects such as Charles Correa, B.V. Doshi, and U.C. Jain, Wakhloo returned to India with a desire to explore an architecture rooted in Indian identity. His early work was marked by a quest for contextual relevance, leading to a design philosophy based on dialogue—a movement from the known to the unknown, in search of timeless principles and archetypal forms.
To broaden this dialogue beyond national boundaries, Wakhloo co-founded the ‘Indian Arch Dialogue’ in 2016, a platform for showcasing innovative contemporary architecture, and initiated ‘Unplugged Talks’ in 2020, a series of conversations with creative minds from diverse cultural fields. He has taught at the erstwhile TVB School of Habitat Studies, New Delhi, and has received numerous accolades, including the IIA Award, JK Architect of the Year Award, ID Architect of the Year Award, World Architecture Community Award, AD 50, Kohler Bold Design Award, and Trends Excellence Award, among others.