About SMRITI SARASWAT

Prof. Smrti Saraswat is trained as an Architect & Interior-Designer. She has been awarded with a Letter of Merit from the CEPT University, Ahmedabad. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture and Planning at IIT Roorkee (Uttarakhand, India). She is passionate about Interior-Architecture; Design Research and Writing; Craft and Technology; Traditional Building Practices; Indigenous Communities; Skill Development; Creative and Cultural Industries; Cultural and Architectural Heritage; Narratives; anthropological quests and ethnographic approaches in architecture; and Pedagogy.She has worked on prestigious projects focusing on conservation while working with Development and Research Organisation on Nature, Arts and Heritage (DRONAH), Gurgaon; projects and events discussing craft & technology, design innovation and interiorarchitecture during her tenure as a senior researcher at Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC), CEPT University, Ahmedabad, with a focus on conducting workshops, prototyping, developing monographs based on these, and creating material inventories; projects and events focusing on art-craft-interior-architecture traditions of Uttarakhand with IIT Roorkee and Ministry of Culture; and, a joint project on Model Village Development for the Juang Tribe of Odisha, funded by HUDCO. Recently, she has got a Research Grant A New Passage to INDIA, sponsored by DAAD, Germany, in collaboration with Prof. Axel Sowa, RWTH University, Aachen. Her Ph.D. (pursuing at IIT Roorkee) is an attempt to explore frameworks for interventions in Space-Making Crafts (more popularly known as building crafts or architectural crafts) of Uttarakhand (India). She has received several grants and scholarships; organized varied national and international workshops; training programmes; short term courses, including GIAN and NPTEL; trans-disciplinary academic workshops at IIT Roorkee that focus on materials; craft and technology; interior-architecture; and, design innovations.; set up collaborations with National and International schools and organisations; and authored several publications. She loves to travel; document; read; create photo essays; and tell stories.