About Us

UrbanArch, founded in 2017 by Ar Shaunak Desai is a collaborative of young professionals who are passionate about the identification as well as preservation of India's tangible as well as Intangible heritage.
Street Section: Udupi, Karnataka
The foundation focuses on the identification and documentation of built and unbuilt heritage. We aim to create awareness through campaigns, workshops, and field trips for the protection of the tangibles and intangibles that shape the unique fabric of Indian cities through workable design solutions.
As part of the research activities, traditional housing spaces and clusters of cities like Jodhpur, Pondicherry, Udaipur, Nadiad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Udvada, Gokarna, Pragpur-Garli, Almora, Kutch, Manali, Udupi, Mangalore, have been documented by the foundation with the help of students as well as professionals.
The foundation also serves as a platform for various artists, workshop and seminar tutors as well. Various Architects have associated with us over the years for workshops like Bamboo construction, Vernacular construction methods of Kutchh, Deployable structure, GIS mapping techniques, Portfolio making, Theatre workshop, Film Making workshop, Photography workshop, Urban Design workshop, Joy of Abstract art workshop, parametric design workshop and 3D printing workshop.
About the Foundation
Founder
Ar Shaunak Desai founded UrbanArch in the year 2017 as an initiative to bring together individuals who are passionate about our collective history. He is an Architect and an Urbanist by profession, He has over 10 years of experience in the field of Architecture and Urbanism. Being a perennial student of history, he has a keen interest in the historical places with our shared heritage. He has completed his B.Arch from SCET, Surat and his M.Arch in Urban Design from a prestigious School of Planning and Architecture, SPA - Bhopal. He leads a design practice in Surat, Gujarat. He has been associated with academia for over 7 years. His major research focus is on the interpretation of heritage and Indian Urbanism.
He has a keen interest in the uniqueness of Indian cities and the complex network through which the cities function. His long-term research in the field of History & Heritage interpretation has given him a perspective and a level of expertise in the field. He has been invited to give lectures at various conventions of the National Association of Students of Architecture - NASA, Amity University, ITM University, Uka Tarsadia University, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, and Anant University to name a few. He has conducted a series of design workshops, a Travel Studio, Documentation Projects and Heritage Exploration.
He has guided over 35 Design theses and mentored over 200 architecture students from various institutions and he continues to do the same in the capacity of Associate Professor at Indus University, Ahmedabad.

Ar Shaunak Desai
B.Arch:
Faculty of Architecture, SCET, Surat, 2011
M.Arch, Urban Design:
School of Planning and Architecture, SPA- Bhopal
Practising Architect & Researcher with over 11 years of experience in the field of design and research.
Currently associated with Indus University, Ahmedabad as an Associate Professor
+91-9925955455
shaunak.desai17@gmail.com
IG : shaun_sdes