Aarati Kanekar

Aarati Kanekar , PHD

Professor

DAA Addition

7211

DAAP School of Arch & Interior Design - 0016

Professional Summary

Dr. Aarati Kanekar has a professional degree in architecture from CEPT, India, a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A., and a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, U.S.A. Prof. Kanekar has been involved in teaching architecture theory and design studios in the graduate and doctoral program at DAAP, University of Cincinnati where she also served as the M.Arch. thesis coordinator, and the director and coordinator of the M.S.Arch. program. She has been the primary advisor and chair for over 250 graduate theses and dissertations. Her research focuses on issues of design formulation, more specifically representation & spatial construction of meaning, and morphological studies in inter-media translations. These explorations are reflected in her publications on topics ranging from issues of representation and drawings of Lebbeus Woods, Terragni's Danteum and translations of the Divine Comedy across media, spatiality in Calvino's novels, and game design. Prof. Kanekar has published numerous book chapters, articles, essays, and encyclopedia entries. Her publications extend from architecture journals such as Perspecta and The Journal of Architecture to Literature and Philosophy journals such as TLE and Philosophica. Her book on translation and representation in architecture titled “Architecture's Pre-texts: Spaces of Translation” was published by Routledge in January 2015. She is currently working on spatiality in traditional Indian representations.

Prior to embarking on her doctoral studies, Prof. Kanekar has worked at the office of B.V. Doshi in India on large institutional projects (IIM Bangalore and MPEB), and later at the National Institute of Design (NID) on conservation and tourism development projects in South India. She has also worked on post-war reconstruction and conservation projects in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Prof. Kanekar has been a recipient of the U.S. Fulbright senior scholar fellowship (teaching & research), a three-time recipient of the Pogue Wheeler Award, the Doctoral Achievement Award, the ARCC/King Award for Architectural Research, the Aga Khan/MIT Fellowship, and the Aga Khan Travel Award. She was the International Special Faculty Advisor for India to the Provost and is part of the India Strategy Group for UC International.


 

Education

PhD: Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA, U.S.A., 2000 (Architecture Theory)

SMArchS: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 1992 (Architecture Studies)

Dipl Architecture: Center for Environmental Planning and Technology Ahmedabad, India, 1989 (Architecture (Professional degree))

Research and Practice Interests

  • Translations across Media
  • Morphological Studies
  • Contemporary Architectural Theory
  • Conservation in the International Context
  • Socio-cultural Approaches in Architecture

Student Advising

Mae Al-Ansari (Doctoral ) Chair Status:Completed 10-2016

Kory Beighle (Doctoral ) Chair Status:Completed 2020

Venus Akef Suleiman (Doctoral ) Chair Status:Completed 03-2019

Rasha Al Tameemi (Doctoral ) Chair Status:Completed 03-2019

Samah Abrahem (Doctoral ) Chair Status:Completed 05-2018

Namtip Yamali (Doctoral ) Chair Status:Completed 05-2020

Amy Latessa (Doctoral ) Chair Status:Completed 04-2019

Muhammad Rahman (Doctoral ) Chair Status:In Progress

Gulen Cevik (Doctoral ) Co-Chair Status:Completed 05-2019

Samira Sarabandikachyani (Doctoral ) Chair Status:In Progress

Weiqi Chu (Doctoral ) Committee Member Status:In Progress

Lavanya Varma (Doctoral ) Chair Status:In Progress

Sarmid Abdulhadi (Doctoral ) Committee Member Status:In Progress

May Khalife (Doctoral ) Committee Member Status:In Progress

Shuo Qin (Doctoral ) Committee Member Status:In Progress

Hariwan Zebari (Doctoral ) Committee Member Status:In Progress

Almoiad Alkadam (Doctoral ) Committee Member Status:In Progress

Courses Taught

M.Arch. Thesis

Research Methods M.S.Arch./Ph.D.

Research Methods M.Arch.

Cultural Approaches to Architecture

Visionary Projects and Theoretical Explorations

Representation and Translations Across Media

Contemporary Theories in Architecture

Critiques of Modernity - History Post 1966

M.Arch. and M.S. Arch. Colloquia