Architecture Off-Centre is a podcast highlighting contemporary discourses that shape the built environment but do not occupy center stage either in the architecture curriculum or in professional practice. It features conversations with artists, journalists, policymakers, lawyers, educators, and cultural entrepreneurs, whose work is deeply engaged in comprehending and mitigating the current challenges of civic life and whose scholarship contributes to the ever-expanding discourse of architecture. Each season of Architecture Off-Centre begins with a prompt in the form of three associated words (for example—violence, crime, justice, or, agriculture, food, waste) that are integral to the functioning of our society but not necessarily central to an architect’s everyday lexicon. The host, Vaissnavi Shukl, uses these words as a springboard to discuss her interviewees’ work and how it is relevant to contemporary design practices.

Vaissnavi Shukl is an architect, educator, and podcast host based out of Ahmedabad, India. She received her undergraduate degree in architecture from CEPT University and her master’s degree from the Harvard University, Graduate School of Design. Her work has been published in “Arvind Talati: A Forgotten Pioneer of Modern Indian Architecture” (CEPT Archives, 2016), Platform 12: How About Now? (Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2019), and Dearq Journal of Architecture (Universidad de los Andes, 2020). She has also presented at the Society of Architectural Historians, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, CEPT University, Cumulus, Indian Institute of Architects’ NATCON and Design United. Shukl was most recently a visiting faculty at her alma mater CEPT University, where she cotaught a studio in the master’s in architectural history and research program.