VARMA Architects is an architecture studio based in both Mumbai and Amsterdam, committed to blending modernity with tradition and research with practice across the fields of architecture and urban design.
The work of the studio aims to operate at all scales – “from the Chair to the City”. We believe in a cross-disciplinary approach, where different disciplines, issues and scales help foster better ideas and generate critical thinking within the studio. While we undertake work that ranges from residential interiors and product design to larger architectural and urban design projects, we are also deeply engaged in the social sector, bringing good design to where it is needed the most.
For new projects, commissions, media enquiries and other information, please contact us at:
E: info@varma-architects.com
T: +91 8879 39 3314 (India)
T: +31 626384712 (Netherlands)
Career Opportunities
We are always looking for motivated architects and interns to join our studio. Interested applicants must exhibit strong 2D and 3D drafting and modelling skills. Accepted applicants will be integrated into all phases of a project – from its conceptual beginnings to site supervision. If you are interested in applying for a job, please send us your portfolio (maximum 10mb) and email us at:
Rohan Varma
Rohan Varma is an architect, researcher and educator who graduated as an architect with first-class honours from the KRVIA (University of Mumbai) in 2009 and subsequently 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 Saudi Arabia, and the Aga Khan Ismaili Centre in Toronto.
As a Tata and Mahindra Scholar, Varma received his Master's in Architecture, graduating from the TU Delft in 2013 with honourable mention and an Archiprix nomination. For the next two years, he gained further experience at the Delft-based international practice Mecanoo Architecten working on a number of large-scale architecture and urban design projects in the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom and Chile.
Currently, Varma combines his work as the Principal Architect of the Mumbai-based VARMA Architects and the TU Delft, where his doctoral research and teaching activities focus on affordable housing design in the rapidly urbanising cities of the Global South.
Parallel to his private practice and research, Varma also actively engages in teaching and is currently a graduation studio tutor at TU Delft’s Global Housing Study Centre. He has lectured and presented papers at numerous universities worldwide, including ETH Zurich, Tunghai, and Harvard. Varma also regularly engages in academic and public writing and has contributed papers and essays to various publications and platforms such as Archdaily, Learning from Mumbai and The Routledge Handbook on Informal Urbanisation. In 2018, along with Prof. Dick van Gameren, he co-authored the book Living Ideals and co-curated an international travelling exhibition on the housing designs of Charles Correa. More recently, in 2020, he was appointed as a Delft Global Fellow, and in 2022, he, along with his colleagues at TU Delft, won the global edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions in Online Teaching and Learning for the course ‘Global Housing Design’. In 2023, he was appointed as an editor of the journal Delft Architectural Studies on Housing (DASH).
Awards
Global edX Prize, 2022
Delft Global Fellow, 2020
First Prize, Serendipity Arts Foundation, 2018
Archiprix (nomination), 2013
J.N. Tata Scholarship, 2011
K.C. Mahindra Scholarship, 2011
IIA P.S. Gokhale Memorial Award, 2010
Lectures
2025
"Constructing Narratives: Perspectives on Drawing." Lecture at TU Delft, Delft, March 25th, 2025.
2024
"Manifestos for Housing the Masses". Lecture at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, October 15th, 2024.
" The Bill of Rights for Housing in the Third World:
Charles Correa’s Manifesto for Housing the Masses." Lecture at The National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, October 13th, 2024.
"TU Delft Global Housing: Research, Education, Practice." Lecture at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, August 22nd, 2024.
"TU Delft Global Housing: India." Lecture at The India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, August 19th, 2024.
"Constructing Narratives: Perspectives on Drawing." Lecture at TU Delft, Delft, March 26th, 2024.
"Manifestos for Housing the Masses". Lecture at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, February 21st, 2024.
"From Affordable Housing to Affordable Cities: Tracing Charles Correa's Designs for Third World Development." Lecture at SUST, Sylhet, February 16th, 2024
2023
"Paradigms in Conflict: Global Models of Housing." Lecture at TU Delft, Delft, November 15th, 2023.
"Paradigms in Conflict: Global Models of Housing." Lecture at TU Delft, Delft, May 11th, 2023.
"Manifestos for Housing the Masses: From CIAM to Correa." Lecture at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, March 28th, 2023.
2022
"Expanding Habitat: From CIAM to Correa". Lecture at Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, November 11th, 2022.
"TU Delft Global Housing: India." Lecture at TU Delft, Delft, October 10th, 2022.
"Global Housing: Mumbai." Delft Global Lecture, Delft, May 18th, 2022.
"Housing in Mumbai." Lecture at the Bengal Institute, Dhaka, April 30th, 2022.
"Housing and the City." Lecture at the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, May 9th, 2022.
“From Affordable Housing to Affordable Cities.” Lecture at the Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, May 3rd, 2022.
2021
“Housing Design as Urban Design: From CIAM’s ‘Charter of Habitat to Charles Correa’s ‘Bill of Rights for Housing in the Third World.“ Presented at the ‘Histories of Urban Design’ conference held at the ETH Zurich, November 17th, 2021.
"Housing the Urban Invisibles". Panel discussion at 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, September 22nd, 2021.
"Bombay/New Bombay: Planning the Self-Help City." Lecture at TU Delft, Delft, September 2nd, 2021.
"Dwelling Design: Between Ideals & Standards." Lecture at the Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune, August 31st, 2021.
"From Affordable Housing to Affordable Cities: Tracing Charles Correa's Designs for Third World Development." Lecture at the Bengal Institute, Dhaka, May 31st, 2021.
2020
"Decoding 'Housing for All'" Lecture for the Mixing Mumbai lecture series, TU Delft, May 12th, 2020.
“The Making of the Maximum City”, at the Mixing Mumbai lecture series, TU Delft, April 21st, 2020.
“Standards & Ideals: Low-rise High-Density Housing & Equitable Cities”. Lecture at the ‘Dwell 2020 Workshop’, Charles Correa Foundation, Panjim, India, February 25th 2020.
2019
"Mumbai: Housing Types & Typologies." Lecture at TU Delft, Delft, November 9th, 2019.
“Housing Transitions: Decoding ‘Housing for All’ in Urbanizing India”, at the ‘Housing the Urban Invisibles’ seminar, TU Delft, October 10th 2019.
2018
“Transfers, Transformations & Transitions: Architecture & Modernity in India." Lecture at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, Amsterdam, December 4th, 2018.
“The Third Way: Framing the Discourse on Human Habitat in Industrializing Countries”. Lecture for the International Planning History Society (IPHS) Conference, Yokohama, July 17th, 2018.
“Global Housing: Trends & Trajectories." Lecture at the ‘State of Housing in India: Aspirations, Imaginaries and Realities in India’ Conference, Mumbai, March 18th, 2018.
"Housing in India: Between Standards & Ideals". Lecture at the PhD Peer-Review Colloquium, TU Delft, Delft, May 18th, 2018.
2017
“Mumbai, A Collage”, Mixing Mumbai Global Housing Studio, TU Delft, The Netherlands, September 22nd, 2017.
“Shifting Scales: The Changing Role of the Architect in India”, Global Housing Seminar, TU Delft, June 22nd, 2017.
2014
“The Other Half: Types & Typologies of Housing in India”, Confronting Informality Seminar, TU Delft, December 14th, 2014.
2013
“Integrating Informality”, Global Housing Studio & New Town Institute Symposium, TU Delft, June 27th, 2013.
Teaching
TU Delft
Lecturer
2017-till date
2024-2025
TU Delft MSc 3/4 ‘Architecture of Transition in the Bangladesh delta’
Teaching team: Prof. Dick van Gameren, Dr. Nelson Mota, Prof. Marina Tabassum, Ir. Rohan Varma
TU Delft MSc2 ‘Buenos Aires: Dwelling on the Border’
Teaching team: Dr. Nelson Mota, Ir. Harald Mooij, Prof. Flavio Janches, Ir. Rohan Varma
TU Delft Q3 Elective ‘Architectural Ethnography’
Teaching team: Dr. Nelson Mota, Ir. Pierijn van der Putt, Dr. Brook Teklehaimanot, Ir. Rohan Varma
2023-2025
TU Delft 'Sustainable Housing Design' MOOC
Teaching team: Prof. Dick van Gameren, Dr. Nelson Mota, Ir. Frederique van Andel, Ir. Harald Mooij, Ir. Rohan Varma
2023-2024
TU Delft MSc 3/4 ‘Architecture of Transition in the Bangladesh delta’
Teaching team: Prof. Dick van Gameren, Dr. Nelson Mota, Prof. Marina Tabassum, Ir. Rohan Varma
2024
TU Delft Q3 Elective ‘Architectural Ethnography’
Teaching team: Ir. Pierijn van der Putt, Dr. Alejandro Campos Uribe, Ir. Rohan Varma, Ir. Antonio Paoletti
2023
TU Delft MSc2 ‘Buenos Aires: Dwelling in Barrio Ricciardelli’
Teaching team: Dr. Nelson Mota, Ir. Harald Mooij, Prof. Flavio Janches, Ir. Rohan Varma
TU Delft Q3 Elective ‘Architectural Ethnography’
Teaching team: Dr. Nelson Mota, Ir. Pierijn van der Putt, Dr. Alejandro Campos Uribe, Ir. Rohan Varma
2022
TU Delft MSc2 ‘Dwelling in the Delta: Dhaka’
Teaching team: Prof. Dick van Gameren, Prof. Kazi Ashraf, Dr. Marina Tabassum, Ir. Rohan Varma
2021
TU Delft MSc2 ‘Dwelling in the Delta: Dhaka’
Teaching team: Prof. Dick van Gameren, Prof. Kazi Ashraf, Dr. Marina Tabassum, Ir. Rohan Varma
2020-2021
TU Delft 'Global Housing Design' MOOC
Teaching team: Prof. Dick van Gameren, Dr. Nelson Mota, Ir. Frederique van Andel, Ir. Rohan Varma
2020
TU Delft MSc 2 ‘Mixing Mumbai: Redeveloping Worli’s BDD Chawls‘
Teaching team: Prof. Dick van Gameren, Ir. Rohan Varma
2017-2018
TU Delft MSc 3/4 'Mixing Mumbai: Affordable Housing for Inclusive Development'
Teaching team: Prof. Dick van Gameren, Dr. Nelson Mota,
Ir. Rohan Varma
Research Mentor
2022-till date
ArtEZ University of the Arts, Zwolle
Visiting Professor
2018-2019
KRVIA, Mumbai
Visiting Design Critic
2022
Department of Interior Architecture, Rhode Island School of
Design (RISD), Providence
Assistant Professor of Architecture
2010-2011
KRVIA, Mumbai
Reviewer/Juries
2025
Charles Correa Gold Medal Jury
Charles Correa Foundation, Panjim & Mumbai
‘Conservation Approach to Modernist Housing’
CEPT University, Ahmedabad
2024
‘Form follows Affordability’
CEPT University, Ahmedabad
‘Housing & Urban Design’
KRVIA, Mumbai
‘Home x Habitat x City’
CEPT University, Ahmedabad
2023
‘Modulating Change’
Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
‘Future Proof Neighbourhood: New and Old Housing Ideals’
Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
‘Experimental Housing: Density & Incrementality’
Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
2020
‘Re-coding Mumbai’
KRVIA, Mumbai
2019
‘Housing Ecologies’
KRVIA, Mumbai
2018
‘Dwelling in Rotterdam Zuid’
TU Delft, Delft
Exhibitions & Seminars
2023-2024
Concept designer for the exhibition 'Bouwkunde in Delft: A Chronology',
TU Delft
2021
Organiser for ‘Dhaka: Hydro-logical Housing’ lecture series that invited scholars such as Kenneth Frampton (Columbia University), Rahul Mehrotra (Harvard GSD) and Zachary Lamb (UC Berkeley)
2020
Mentor for the ‘Dwell 2020 Tube House Workshop’, Charles Correa Foundation, Panjim
Organiser for ‘Mixing Mumbai’ lecture series that invited several urban practitioners that included Aditya Barve (MIT), Samarth Das (PK Das & Associates), and Vidhee Garg (Affordable Housing Institute, Boston)
2021
'The Observers Observed: Architectural Uses of Ethnography', TU Delft & Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
2019
Co-curator for the international travelling exhibition ‘Living Ideals: Designs for Housing by Charles Correa’, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Panjim, Kolkata
2017
Platform for Affordable Dwellings, TU Delft
‘Housing in India’ Seminar, TU Delft
Co-curator for the exhibition 'Building on Ideas: Charles Correa's Built & Un-built Designs for Housing', BK Expo, Delft
2014
‘Double Day on Dwelling’, TU Delft
‘The Blessings of the Sky', TU Delft
Professional Registrations
Council of Architecture, India (COA) Number: CA/2011/52681
Netherlands Architecture Registration Number: 1.131115.017