niharikanshekhawat.com
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Work Experience

Grimshaw Architects, NY
Urban Designer 
November 2022  - Present

• Core member of the urban design team and working collaboratively with other members on a range of masterplan projects including mixed-use, commercial, transit, cultural and others.
• Responsibilities include developing placemaking strategies, design and planning concepts, resolve technical challenges through diagrams, program studies, 3D representations, and data visualizations.
• Urban Design scope includes - masterplanning, placemaking, urban design illustrations, analysis of site, planning guidelines, and proposal development.
• Architecture scope includes - illustrating concepts of architecture alternatives and typologies with an emphasis on sustainability, explanation and analysis of project requirements to develop project briefs, and jurisdictional planning and site design requirements.
  

Urban Design Forum, NY
Fellow
January 2024  - October 2024

• Co-authored strategies as a Rewire Fellow at the Urban Design Forum exploring how surface transit systems could be the key to building a transportation network resilient to both everyday disruptions and long-term climate chnage-induced threats.
• Developed ideas, content, managed project team, facilitated workshops, site visits and accomplished collaborative design and planning to create a vision and shape climate positive systems.

Asakura Robinson, TX-MN
Urban Designer 
January 2021  - August 2022

• Engaged as a core team member for multiple urban design and planning projects including two projects that won 2021 APA Texas Planning Awards.
  
• Contributions and responsibilities include design ideation and development; digital modeling, rendering and representation; data analysis, and documentation of design reports.
  
• Managed UD projects and community engagements as a deputy project manager.
  
• Additional graphic explorations through visual identity design and short films for community outreach.
  
• Oversaw internship program by reviewing and interviewing applicants, mentoring interns, and upgrading the company graphic design white papers for new hires.
  
• Developed strategic plans and monthly objectives for the 'Mentorship and Education' taskforce and the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) committee.

Center for Active Design, NY
Content and Engagement Fellow 
September 2020 - January 2021

• Co-authored objectives and strategies for the Active Design Guidelines 2.0.
  
• Developed content, managed project, facilitated partner outreach, conducted workshops, and accomplished other services related to unpacking the holistic heath impacts of built environment and placemaking.

The Center for Resilient Cities and Landscape, Columbia University, NY
Urban Designer
June 2020 - September 2020 

• Designed and executed a tactical urbanism project in Red Hook, Brooklyn titled 'Cool Streets'.
  
• Developed and tested prototypes aimed at urban activation by lowering the surface and atmospheric temperature and community engagement.
  

Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society, New Delhi, India
Architect and Research Associate
October 2018 - April 2019

• Developed design solutions for pop-up schools, child-friendly environments and sanitation systems, with a community lab embedded in the Karail slum in Dhaka.
  
• Secured winning selection for World Bank's Resilient Homes Design Competition.
  
• Co-authored grant for innovative WASH measures for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UNICEF.
  
• Upgraded the SEEDS training module for Community Innovation Course.

 
Verde 21, Cecina, Italy
Design Consultant
April 2018 - September 2018

• Conceptualized, designed, visualized and presented SOSTA, a series of economic and energy neutral urban hubs in Italy.

Hive India, Gurgaon, India
Architect
February 2018 - October 2018

• Designed, visualized and developed construction drawings for residential and commercial projects.  

Studio CoDe, New Delhi, India
Architectural Intern
January 2016 - May 2016

• Engaged on concept design and design development phases of architectural and interior projects.

AUM Architects, Gurgaon, India
Architectural Intern
May 2013 - June 2013

• Formulated solutions for facade design and residential design.
  

Public Engagement Projects

Cityscape & Stella Link (City of Houston Housing and Community Development) - public engagement
Designer and Facilitator
Houston, Texas, 2022

Business Working Group, Technical Advisory Group, public meetings (City of Corpus Christi) - public engagement
Deputy Project Manager and Designer
Corpus Christi, Texas, 2021

Active Design Guidelines 2.0 report - public engagement
Researcher and Facilitator
New York City (virtual) 2020

Cool Streets, Center for resilient cities and Landscapes
Designer, Researcher for on-site pilot project
Red Hook, Brooklyn, 2020

Green New Deal for Johnstown - public engagement
Facilitator
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 2019

SEEDS Innovation Lab - public engagement
Innovator and facilitator
Karail slum, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2018

Child friendly spaces at Rohingya refugee camp
Researcher and on site interviews
Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, 2019

DesignXDesign, 20 under 35 Exhibition
Exhibition production
Alliance Francaise, New Delhi, 2018

Student Mentoring Program
Senior Mentor
SPA, New Delhi, 2014 and 2015

Chorao Island Exhibition
Content creation & event production of documentation of Portuguese settlements
SPA, New Delhi, 2013

Education

Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design (MSAUD)
Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
New York, NY
Graduated 2020

Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch)
School of Planning and Architecture
New Delhi, India
Graduated 2017

Student Exchange Program
Fachhochschule University
Erfurt, Germany
Summer 2015



Certificate

LEED® Green Associate™
Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) &  U.S. Green Building Council
Issued 2022

Certified Architect
Council of Architecture - India
Issued 2018



Awards & Accolades

International Design Competition: Radical Urban Intervention ︎
ArcDeck.net, 2020
Winner (student category)
Project - Dispersing Wellness

Resilient Homes Design Challenge ︎
The World Bank / UN-Habitat / Build Academy, 2019
Architecture Competition  Winner (Top 12)
Project - Resilient Homes Challenge in Himalayan Mountain Range



Publications & Press

Strengthen Transportation Resilience with Bus Rapid Transit
Urban Design Forum, Rewire Fellow
Published 2024 ︎

International Design Competition: Radical Urban Intervention, Project - Dispersing Wellness, Winner (student category)
ArcDeck.net
Published 2020 ︎

Community Innovation Course
Module for Sustainable Innovation
SEEDS Learning Academy, New Delhi
Published 2020 ︎

The Climate Crisis: The Green New Deal in the Hudson Valley
Columbia GSAPP Urban Design
Published 2020 ︎

Resilient Homes Design Challenge
Build Academy/World Bank/UN-Habitat
Published 2019 ︎

Rapallo: la stazione diventa green
il Giornale
Published 2018 ︎

Archichakkar, Editor
Seminar Series Publication
SPA, New Delhi
Published 2017 ︎

Architecture Thesis - Rehabilitation through Reformation
Correctional Centre
Published 2017 ︎

Seminar - Safar ya suffer?
Archichakkar, Seminar Series
Movie and research paper
2016 ︎



Skills

Software
ArcGIS, Python, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe After Effects, AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit, SketchUp, Rhinoceros, Lumion, Urban Footprint, Microsoft Office Suite, 3D printing, Laser cutting

Language
English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Marwari