Anand Upadhayay, an Alumnus of SMVD University, secures a seat at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) for a Master's in Architecture (M.Arch). He is one among 19 who got into the program, and the only one representing India. Anand passed out in 2016, and during his time at SMVDU, he brought laurels to the university by winning the University of Westminster international design competition. He was also awarded a 361-degree scholar for his best work by I A&B (Indian Architect and Builder), a Semifinalist for the UC Berkeley essay prize competition, and the winner of the Padma Bhushan Charles Correa Foundation Bursary twice.Going the extra mile in his academics, Anand has also worked with Padma Bhushan Shri B.V. Doshi, the first and only Nobel prize laureate of architecture from India. The Faculty members of the School of Architecture & Design congratulated Anand for his success and wished him a bright future ahead.

28th June, Katra. An Architecture student, Mr Debadatta Jena (16BAL007) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) has been selected for internship at NAT office, Christian Gasparini Architecture at Reggio Emilia, Italy. He will be visiting Italy during 10th July-25th November, 2019. The Vice Chancellor, the Head and other faculty members congratulated Mr. Jena or his achievement.

Ar. Abhiney Gupta, Faculty of School of Architecture and Landscape Design (SoALD), Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), was awarded a certificate of merit for the outstanding contribution to Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) activities during the year 2021-22 by the IIA President, Ar. C.R. Raju in the recent annual convention - NATCON 2022, a national level event from May 14 to 16’ 2022 organized by the Telangana Chapter of the Indian Institute of Architects. The IIA (Estd. 1917) is a national body of Indian Architects, and it is playing a major role in promoting the profession of architecture by organizing and uniting the Architects of India to promote the aesthetic, scientific and practical efficiency of the profession both in practice and in education. The Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU, Prof. Ravindra Kumar Sinha, Registrar SMVDU, Mr. Narinder Jamwal (JKAS), and Head, SoALD, Ar. Aditya Kumar Singh, along with faculty members of SoALD& fellow IIA Architects congratulated the faculty for his achievement.

Students and alumni of School of Architecture & Landscape Design (SoALD) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University secured high ranks in GATE 2019 benchmarking examination. Two of SoALD budding professionals Harish Sharma and Ashutosh Kumar Singh has jointly secured 8th All India Rank in GATE 2019 examination, whereas, sixteen others of SoALD B. Arch. students and alumni have qualified GATE 2019.

This year number of GATE qualified students has significantly increased in SoALD, which was about 4 to 6 in previous years. Vanshika Sharma, Shantam Dhingra,, Pushpender Chauhan, Arijit Sarkar, Archi Kumari, Shriya Singh, Preksha Jain, Archi Kumari, Anubhav Sharma, Juhi Kumari, Shradha Gupta, Rajan Maurya, Dipti Lundia, Charu Singhal, Akshita Bansal and Shivangi Chauhan have qualified GATE this year.

Ar Vinod Kumar, Assistant Professor had voluntarily guided students and alumni this year and had conducted special sessions to help budding professionals. Head of School Dr Rajeev Garg have congratulated the achievers and has urged others to set newer heights. Vice Chancellor Dr Sanjeev Jain has congratulated faculty and students for their hard work and extended good wishes for their bright future.

aaAr. Satyanshu Kumar, Assistant Professor of School of Architecture and Landscape Design (SoALD), Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, scored as one of among the toppers with Gold medal+ Elite certificate of NPTEL course on “Environmental Impact Assessment” conducted by IIT Roorkee. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a tool to assess the environmental, economic and social implications of an infrastructure project, so that decisions can be taken to reduce the adverse impacts holistically. Such continuous learning is highly significant for the professionals like Architects, Planners, and Engineers etc. to upgrade their skills towards the emerging interconnected technological fields. Prof. Ravindra K. Sinha, Vice-Chancellor, SMVD University, Ar. Aditya Kumar Singh, Head, SoALD, and all faculty members of SOALD congratulated Ar. Satyanshu Kumar for the achievement.

SMVDU Katra: Expert talk and presentation by Birla White Cement Company (Aditya Birla Group) was organized by the School of Architecture and Landscape Design, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra. The talk was organized as part of the Institute-Industry interactions under Field-Studies course which aims at providing real-time experience and field exposure to the students. Approximately 75 students from B.Arch. attended the expert talk. Prof. Rajeev Garg introduced the speaker and topic of the talk to the students. Mr. Sharad Vyas, Head, Key Accounts and Projects, along with his team members Mr. Gaurav Khattar and Mr. Vikram Sharma introduced the company’s profile, organizational set up followed by the products dealt by the company with few ready samples also. The talk comprehensively covered the product manufacturing, installation and its benefits over comparable products from other makes. Presentation also covered very few prestigious projects dealt by the company in recent past with key innovations involved in the projects. Application of Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) was highly appreciated in view of its versatile nature and potential of use in built environment.

Expert talk also contained the details of Birla White Yuvaratna Awards-2018 announced by the company, which are awarded on the basis of design competition between the students of architecture under different themes. It was informed to the experts that students of SMVDU participate in the awards every year with full enthusiasm and this year too, students are working on their design concepts. The response of the students was well applauded by the expert. The expert talk ended with the vote of thanks by Prof. Rajeev Garg, followed by the healthy interaction between Birla White representatives and students. The talk was organized and coordinated by Prof. Garg, Ar. Anoop Sharma and Ar. Abhimanyu Sharma.

Taha Mughal, alumni of School of Architecture & Landscape Design, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), made it to the prestigious Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Master in Design (M.Des.) program (Narratives Domain) in 2022-23 session. He is the first SMVDU alumni to be admitted to the course, among 14 others worldwide. After completing his Bachelor’s in Architecture, 2009-2014 batch, from SMVDU under the guidance of Ar. Aditya Kumar Singh, Head & faculty members of SoALD, he joined Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Kashmir Chapter, a leading organization in the region working for the conservation of Heritage. He has been associated with many national and international organizations and has several national awards and fellowships to his credit.Taha is currently pursuing his MPhil in Heritage Studies at University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He is also been awarded with British Council’s fully funded Charles Wallace India Trust Award and the highly prestigious Chevening Scholarships UK 2021-22.

In addition to Harvard Graduate School of Design, Taha has also made it to the prestigious Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania.Prof. R. K. Sinha, Vice Chancellor of SMVD University, has applauded the feat. The School has been producing the alumni with such high achievements like National UG thesis awards, International Design competition awards and GATE/CEED rankings along with 100% placements.

SMVDU Katra: School of Architecture and Landscape Design, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University displayed its students work at two-day 5th National Conference and exhibition on “Emerging and Innovative Trends in Engineering Technology (NCEEITET), organized by GCET Jammu in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, from 19th-20th Feb, 2018. Architecture students displayed their Architectural Design, Art and Other work including building models at the exhibition organized by the organizers. Around 15 national and state level institutions, organizations and research institutes have displayed their projects, works at the exhibition. The exhibition was evaluated and applauded by the Hon’ble Minister of Education Mr. Altaf Bukhari and MoS Ms. Priya Sethi, on day 01 of the exhibition. Further, it was adjudicated by Mr. Chander Parkash Ganga, Hon’ble Minister of Industries and commerce on day 02 of the convention; which also resulted in healthy interaction of SMVDU students with the Hon’ble Minister. The GCET Principal and organizing team of the conference have also accompanied the Ministers during the evaluation and assessment of the exhibition. From the School of Architecture and Landscape Design, three students Mr. Anchit, Mr. Debadatta and Mr. Hardik exhibited the works of B.Arch. Students at GCET convention. Ar. Anoop Sharma from SMVDU coordinated the exhibition of Architecture students at GCET. The SMVDU’s particular exhibition stall has a good response from nationwide visitors including faculty, students and researchers of different organizations like DRDO, Konkan Railways, IRCoN, STERLITE, JKSPDC, NIELIT, J&K BANK, NHPC, BSNL etc. Prof. Rajeev Garg, Head of School of Architecture and Dr. Yugal Khajuria Dean of Students, SMVDU, congratulated the faculty and students for participation in the exhibition.

Ar. Aditya Kumar Singh, Head, School of Architecture & Landscape Design, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katra, delivered the keynote lecture on “Happiness through Architecture” in a two-day online neo-international conference on "Habitable Environments" and "International Professional Meet" at Lovely Professional University, Punjab, in collaboration with Indian Institute of Architects, Punjab Chapter, from 12-13 November, 2021.

Ar. Singh sensitized the audience about the significance of intangible human factor for sustainable habitable environments. The conference was attended by over 300 participants from universities & colleges globally through Live YouTube Link and Zoom Link.The talk was appreciated by the participants and applauded by peer international architects for putting forward the intangible perspective on sustainability.

SMVDU Katra: Dr Rajeev Garg, Professor and Head of School of Architecture and Landscape Design, was invited as Eminent Speaker in National Seminar organized by Apeejay School of Planning in Noida during January 12 and 13, 2018. The National Seminar of Two days duration was organized on the theme “Architecture Theory and Praxis”. In an interactive session entitled ‘Rifts Challenges and Divergences in Architecture Education & Profession’; Dr. Garg presented his views and strategies to be adopted for Bridging GAPs in Academics and Profession of Architecture. He mentioned that multidimensional and effective training is necessary for all faculty members to contribute better in architectural education.

It is pertinent to mention here that he has a vision to strengthen School of Architecture and Landscape Design at SMVDU through innovation in teaching learning, initiate Master level degree courses and Doctoral research study. His thoughts on uplifting standards of architectural education by adopting Learners Oriented Approach through an Outcome Based Curriculum were well received by the participants. Prof Vivek Sabherwal, Director Apeejay School of Planning and Architecture, Ar Vijay Garg, Vice President CoA, Ar. Balbir Verma, Former President IIA, Ar Yatin Pandya, Eminent Architect and Ar. Anurag Verma, Professor of Apeejay School of Planning and Architecture were also present and participated during the interactive concluding session. Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. Sanjeev Jain and Dean Faculty of Engineering Prof. V. Verma congratulated Prof. Garg for the Invited Talk at Apeejay School of Planning and Architecture, Noida. The faculty/staff members of the School also extended their warm appreciations for the successful deliberations of Dr. Garg in the seminar.

Ar. Aditya Kumar Singh, Head, School of Architecture & Landscape Design, SMVD University has been awarded the prestigious National Architecture & Interior Design & Conference 2021-Global Edition Award for Quality Education & Infrastructure under the category of most promising & leading Architecture School of the year 2021 by Beginup Research Intelligence Private Limited, Bengaluru on 17.08.2021.

SMVD University Vice-Chancellor, Padamshree Prof. S.K. Sinha congratulated the faculty for the achievement. He wished that the School of Architecture and Design would bring more laurels to the university while making a niche amongst other Architecture Institutes.

SMVDU Katra: Ar. Anoop Sharma, Astt. Professor in the School of Architecture and landscape Design at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra delivered the Key-note address at International conference on ‘Sustainability, Art & Culture’ organized by Warmadewa University, Bali from 20th -21st Oct-2017. The key-note address was delivered in the inaugural session of the conference which also saw 03 other Key note addresses from other experts from Australia, UK and Japan. The topic of the Key Note session was, “Sustainability vis-à-vis Tradition and Culture-Case of Diverse India”. During the address, Ar. Sharma introduced the cultural, traditional and climatic diversity of India all across its length and breadth along with the fore-front challenges. Pertinently, the diversity in historicalinterventions in Architecture was also introduced in the address. The follow up with the judicious contemporary architecture examples inspired from traditional wisdom in Architecture and constructional techniques examples from India from different climatic zones were presented. Subsequently, need to establish a path-breaking sustainable practice with examples is proposed other than just emphasizing on sustainability as just a matter of ‘FAD’.

Ar. Anoop Sharma also presented one research paper in one of the technical session of the conference on the topic, “Legibility of contemporary building in India amid cultural/contextual evaluation”. The paper focused on the condition of contemporary architecture in India which is more fascinated towards western methods nowadays. Accordingly, the heterogeneity and contextual values of Indian architecture suiting local attributes are getting increasing diluted and mismanaged. Suitable examples pertaining to the targeted notion were also presented. The presentation resulted in fruitful interaction among the attendees and delegates. Vice-Chancellor of the University Dr. Sanjeev Jain and faculty colleagues of the department of Architecture and landscape Design congratulated Ar. Anoop for his successful participation in the event.

Prof. Rajeev Garg, Faculty in School of Architecture and Landscape Design at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, authored a book titled “Science Beyond Quantum”, which presents knowledge, principles and codes that may be useful for researchers and scientists across disciplines in order to create matter from light.

The book comprises ancient Indian wisdom on the subject matter as well as tries to interpret modern age science.

Prof. Garg argues that quantum level is not the finishing line and we need to explore beyond in order to get the answer to the questions:

What is the coding, by virtue of which a specific number of protons, neutrons and electrons forms the atom of various known elements, and nucleotides are arranged in the strand of the DNA?

What is that coding which initiates the development of tissues and limbs in an embryo?

What is the science behind astrology/movement of celestial bodies, by virtue of which they affect the characteristics of a person born on planet earth at a particular place and time?

How do we breathe? Is there any science in breathing?

Whether life is also a program in the cosmic computer? What is praan and what are the codes which regulate the pulses in our body?

No milestone in the journey of modern science and technology can be considered to be achieved unless it is explored and understood at a subtle level,” emphasizes Prof. Garg.

The book is also available on Amazon.

Ar. Navin Gupta, Assistant Professor in School of Architecture and Landscape Design at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra presented research paper on “Sustainable landscapes in context to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University” at First International Conference on the topic “Sustainability, Art & Culture” organized by Warmadeva University, Bali, Indonesia. The main theme of the conference was related to Architecture & Civil Engineering. As such more than 50 delegates from all across the world deliberated in the event. The conference also featured visit to traditional villages and temples of Bali and showcased their vernacular practices which are religiously followed even in their urban areas.

The research paper stressed on the need of sustainable landscape practices in the institutional planning of the campus so that the campus becomes self-sustaining with such practices in near future in terms of energy and vegetation. The research paper received a very good response and resulted in healthy interaction with the delegates. Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Sanjeev Jain and faculty colleagues of the School congratulated Ar. Navin Gupta for his fruitful participation in the event.

SMVDU, Katra. The Landscape Architect and Fellow of ISOLA, Ar. Aditya Kumar Singh, Senior Faculty, School of Architecture & Landscape Design, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), delivered an online lecture on Sunday at OCULUS India platform, during OCULUS India’s International Events.

The lecture titled “Streetscape Perceptions”, presented the world view of urban streets and challenges in Indian urban streets. He also replied to various inquisitive queries of participants from all over the world.

OCULUS India is organizing the student International design competition on urban streets titled “GULLY” for which OCULUS India invited industry experts to interact on the design & use issues related to urban streets through the lecture series started from 04th October. OCULUS India has invited Ar. Aditya Kumar Singh to initiate this lecture series with his vast professional & academic experience of over 20 years.