Nandini Bagchee
Nandini Bagchee is an Architect based in New York City. She grew up in India and moved to New York to study architecture in 1989. She has since worked with the Dianne Lewis Architect, David Hotson Architect and Ten Arquitectos in New York City. In 2002 she worked on the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis with architects Herzog & De Meuron. In particular, in this project, she worked to develop the design for the McGuire theater by re- interpreting the ornamental interiors of old theaters to house the radical vision of the Walker's performing arts agenda. The resultant architecture is a modern interpretation of ornament that ties to an age old tradition of fabric décor within theater.
In 2005 Nandini Bagchee began an independent practice based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work currently focuses on housing and interior projects in New York and Pennsylvania. She works closely with clients and local builders to create customized environments. Her interest in the ad hoc yet innovative use of available materials is inspired by the architecture of the north Indian hill towns where Nandini spent her childhood.
She has also studied Islamic art, urbanism, landscape and book arts in Iran and she brings this understanding of culture, nature and history to her architectural work.
Conceptual proposals for institutional and urban scale projects have won her recognition in recent years. In 1999, her proposal for the Petrosino Park was exhibited at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York. In 2003, her entry for the Great Egyptian Museum in Cairo was published in a catalog put forth by the museum to honor the winning entries.
Nandini teaches architectural design at the City College of New York and Interior Design theory at the Parsons School of Design. She is the recipient of the Agha Khan travel and study grants for Islamic Architecture (1999-2000). Nandini holds degrees from the Cooper Union (B. Arch 1993) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SM Arch 2000).
