Rohan Varma
Founder Principal, REP (Mumbai + Amsterdam)
Tutor & Doctoral Candidate, TU Delft
Rohan Varma is a researcher, educator and architect who is the Principal Founder of REP and tutor at the Chair of Dwelling at TU Delft. He studied at the KRVIA in Mumbai and worked for Charles Correa on several important commissions such as the Champalimaud Centre in Lisbon, the Charles Correa Foundation in Goa, the Mahindra Research Valley in Chennai, the Masterplan for the redesign of Mecca in Saudia Arabia, and the Aga Khan Ismaili Centre in Toronto.
As a Tata and Mahindra Scholar, Varma received his Masters in Architecture, graduating with honourable mention from the TU Delft under the tutelage of Prof. Dick van Gameren.
Between 2013 and 2015, he gained further international experience at the Dutch firm Mecanoo working on a number of large-scale architecture and urban design projects in the Netherlands, Russia, U.K. and Chile.
Varma combines his work as the Principal Architect of REP – an architecture studio he established in 2015 based both in Mumbai and Amsterdam – with his work at the TU Delft where he is a doctoral candidate and researcher focusing on affordable housing design and delivery in the rapidly urbanizing cities of India.
Parallel to his private practice and research, Varma also actively engages in teaching and is currently a graduation studio tutor at the TU Delft's Global Housing Study Centre and a visiting professor at the KRVIA in Mumbai.
He has published and presented several papers and articles on topics as diverse as urban development, affordable housing and public space. Most recently, he co-authored the book 'Living Ideals' and co-curated an international traveling exhibition on the housing designs of Charles Correa.
Awards
2018 First Prize in a national competition for a school in Goa
2017 Special Mention in the international Dencity competition
2011 K.C. Mahindra Scholarship
2010 IIA PS Gokhale Memorial Award
2010 Pidilite Award for Architecture
Lectures & Presentations
2018 "Transfers, Transformations & Transitions", AHK, Amsterdam
2018 "The Third Way", IPHS Conference, Yokohama
2018 "Global Models of Housing", State of Housing, Mumbai
2017 "Shifting Scales", TU Delft
2014 "The Other Half", TU Delft
2014 "Housing in Mumbai", TU Delft
2014 "Beginnings", Tata Office, Mumbai
2013 "Integrating Informality" TU Delft
Teaching
2018 Visiting Design Critic, KRVIA
2018 Tutor, Global Housing Studio Tutorial, TU Delft
2017 Tutor, Global Housing Studio, TU Delft
2016 Tutor, TU Delft-CEPT workshop
2011 Part-time Faculty, KRVIA
Research & Publications
2018 "Doshi: A Life in Architecture"
2018 "The Third Way"
2016 "Architecture as an Agent for Change"
Exhibition Design & Curatorial Work
2018 "Living Ideals", CEPT, Ahmedabad
2018 "Living Ideals", Charles Correa Foundation, Panjim
2018 "Living Ideals", IIA, Kolkata
