Aurgho Jyoti is an Indian architect whose work aims to create cultural significance and social relevance through interventions that provide ‘temporal continuity’ and ‘spatial specificity.’ His work has a distinct interest in materiality and history explored through dichotomies of the global-local and the urban-rural condition. He was born and raised in the industrial coal and steel region of Bengal where he was trained as a visual artist before moving to Calcutta, in the year it got renamed Kolkata, a city that has been his source of constant inspiration. As a growing child, his travels across India with his parents fueled his cultural curiosity and a deep acknowledgment of history.

Aurgho is the Founder and Creative Director of AUR, an international architecture practice between New York and New Delhi. He previously worked as a Project Lead and Senior Architect for internationally acclaimed and Pritzker Laureate offices, which include SOM, OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Gehry Technologies, Studio Fuksas, and 3Gatti Architecture Studio. He is a licensed architect in the US and India and a member of the American Institute of Architects. With a cross-cultural international experience, he has lived and worked in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Rome, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New Delhi, and Calcutta. His architecture built projects include high rises, institutional, and cultural buildings spanning across the US, China, Italy, and India.

He holds an M.Des in Architecture and Technology from Harvard and an M.Arch-II in Architecture and Urbanism from Cornell as a Tata Scholar. He has conducted research on housing and materials at MIT Media Lab and Harvard. He holds a B.Arch with distinction from SPA, New Delhi. As an educator, he serves as an Instructor at the School of Architecture, Academy of Art, and has been a Teaching Assistant at Harvard and Cornell, and a Visiting Lecturer at Delhi College of Arts. He has been an Invited Guest Critic at Harvard, Cornell, UC Berkeley, Stanford, New York Institute of Technology, School of Visual Arts in New York, IE University Spain, California College of Arts, Academy of Art, University of Tennessee, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and the University of Hong Kong.

Aurgho’s works have been published and exhibited in the US, UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Austria, Turkey, and India, at venues that include, amongst others, Seattle Architecture Foundation, Heritage Museum in Astoria, Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, Harvard University, Alliance Francaise Delhi, and India Habitat Center Delhi. He has been featured in The Wire, Dezeen, The Times of India, Indian Express, India Today, and The Telegraph. Aurgho’s awards include ‘20 Under 35’ by Alliance Francaise Delhi, SOM Prize in Architecture Finalist, Special Mention in Evolo International Competition, New York, and National Finalist for Bhopal War Memorial and Ujjain Planetarium.

Subhradip Roy is the Director of AUR - Architecture Urbanism Research. He is a practicing licensed architect in India with an interest in materials and construction technologies, merging local materials with contemporary building technology. With a system-based approach and a thorough understanding and knowledge of building engineering systems and structural systems, Subhradip integrates technological understanding into architecture throughout all project phases. Structural logic and material properties and relationships drive his process and methodology. He leads design development, documentation, and administration of architecture projects at AUR. He also leads interior design and landscape design projects at AUR. He has extensive project experience in residential, commercial, cultural, and landscape projects in India.

He holds a B.Arch from SPA, New Delhi, where his thesis on housing was the best thesis project of the year. He has conducted extensive research on housing over the years. He has led an individual practice for 10 years where he designed and delivered well-crafted interiors for residential, office, and commercial projects along with residences and factory buildings. His landscape experience includes landscape design for factory complexes and campuses, office buildings, and parks. His cultural projects include Buddhist Circuit projects in Sarnath and Lumbini with the World Bank, and public projects include the Central Park in Namchi, Sikkim, a part of India’s Smart Cities initiative. He has worked as a Senior Project Architect with DAAT.DA, SWBI, and Polaris, and seen many projects from early conception to completion. Some key projects include Lotus City, Noida; Gurgaon Township; JSS Tower, Bhubaneshwar; Marriott Fairfield, Katra, Crater Group Tower and Residential Complex in Nairobi; Thika Group City, Nairobi; Vasanth Valley School; Sahara City Homes; Pegasus Office and Car Showroom, New Delhi.

Subhradip’s works have been exhibited at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi as part of the Urban Habitat Forum and at Annual NASA Conventions. His awards include All India 2nd Prize for Le Corbusier Trophy Design. He has been National Finalists for high-profile architecture competitions like the Bhopal War Memorial and Ujjain Planetarium. He led the team for Noida Botanical Garden Competition and DDA Bus Stop Design Competition which were both finalists.

Bawesh Pradhan is the Lead for Social Research and Community Partnerships at AUR. His focus lies in facilitating community relationships with marginalised communities in India and Nepal. He holds an M.Phil. in Development Studies and an M.Sc. in Urban Policy and Governance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. He also holds a B. Arch from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi and is a licensed architect in India.

His interest in society stems from his work in the rural areas of Odisha (eastern India), focusing on indigenous people dependent on minor forest produce, and his documentation of migrant labourers in post-earthquake Gujarat (western India). His research interests lie in the confluence of urbanisation, everyday lives, and social-spatial change in/of Himalayan hill towns. He helps network with potential organisations for collaborations on sustainable and inclusive urban infrastructure projects in the fragile ecosystems of the Himalayan valley. Bawesh's reading in sociology, anthropology, and philosophy, and his education as an architect helps position him uniquely to address community challenges holistically.

Bawesh has previously won the ACU Early Career Scholarship offered by the Commonwealth Foundation, which enabled him to present his work at the International Forum on Urbanism in Jakarta, Indonesia. He recently received the 2021 Up-Skill Scotland Scholarship from the Scottish Funding Council to attend the Heriot-Watt Edinburgh Business School.

Bawesh’s involvement in the visual representation of his research areas led him to curate an art installation at a diaspora event for the migrant community in India. He has also contributed to the Tacit Urban Research Network project as a visual documentation expert, interviewing the leading urban planners of today’s Mumbai city.