SANDIP KUMAR
PRINCIPAL | PARTNER
Sandip Kumar, holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi, graduating in 1992. At post graduate level, he received the prestigious India Scholarship from the University of Oxford, UK for the Masters in Science program in Sustainable Urban Development. He is also a post graduate associate at the ‘Future of Cities’ program of the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Oxford and a member of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN).
At Oxford, Sandip’s key research interests were exploring the theory and idea of urban sustainability, and its intersections with the politics and architecture of urban production. These concerns were also central to his dissertation on understanding ‘densification’ as a strategy of urban sustainability and its influence on design and planning interventions in Delhi. At his under graduate studies, Sandip excelled academically with the best dissertation in class and his studio design project being exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Italy 1990. Sandip received a ‘special mention’ in the ‘Young Architects Award’ by the ‘Indian Architect and Builder’, in the year 2000. He, along with Suneet Mohindru were invited to present their work and thoughts at the prestigious DesignXDesign expose’ talks, organized by the Alliance Francais de Delhi, New Delhi in 2014. A design project led by him was also nominated for the NDTV Design and Architecture Award, 2015.
He is a visiting Professor at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, his alma mater, where he has now been teaching for the last several years. Apart from his role as a tutor and a mentor in the design studio, he has guided several student dissertations and seminars. He has also been on a number of student design juries and was a member of design jury for the India International Trade Fair 2011.
With his leadership quality, vast array of experience, exposure, applied knowledge and professional expertise, Sandip heads the twin studios of Plural Design and Plural I’Des, both as a founder director and design principal. He is also a partner and design principal at Oracles, a landscape design consultancy firm. Sandip has been responsible for, and has led the design process for a variety of prestigious projects, across the categories of residential, hospitality, institutional, commercial and industrial. His work and interests have seen him travel across the globe and acquire extensive exposure while also establishing strong collaborative bonds with leading international practices. Prior to his engagement with Plural Design and Oracles, Sandip has been a coordinating member of an International Consultants consortium for the preparation of the Urban Structure Plan and Techno-Economic Feasibility for Integrated tourism development at Bekal, Kerala. He has also been a project consultant to INTACH for the celebration marking the centenary of re-discovery of Pataliputra, Patna, Bihar in 1996, and for research and documentation on the built heritage of Mehrauli, Delhi in 1994.
His key competence lies in context assessment, design ideation, sustainable urbanism and development, urban design, master plans, programming, architectural design and coordination.