Rajeev Thakker is Director of Studio-X Mumbai, one of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) advanced laboratories for exploring the future of cities.

The global network of Studio-X spaces are a new kind of international workshop in which the best minds from Columbia University can think together with the best minds in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Each Studio-X is located in the liveliest part of the historic downtown of a leadership city at the heart of a major region of the world Those regions undergoing the most radical transformation have the most to teach us about the future of cities. The continuous flow of exciting ideas and people between these sister Studio-X spaces turns the simple idea of an open collaborative studio into an unprecedented global network aimed at the brightest possible future.

Rajeev Thakker studied architecture at Syracuse University, and architecture and design at the GSAPP of Columbia University. He worked for firms in New York such as SOM and The Arnell Group on architecture, product and graphic design projects.

He moved to Mumbai in 2000 to pursue a career in teaching and has lectured, hosted workshops, and led architectural design studios at institutes like KRVIA and BSSA Schools of Architecture. He also runs a design studio for a leading developer and manages his own practice called “a-RT” which provides consultancy and design services for architectural and interior projects and takes a keen interest in documenting the city and various spatial conditions through cartographic, architectural and other creative processes (i.e. drawing, painting, and photography).

Rajeev Thakker was a Facilitator of the Mobile Workshop “Retrofitting brownfields” at the 4th International Holcim Forum held in Mumbai in 2013.