Virajita Singh
Research Fellow, Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR)
Email: singh023@umn.edu
Telephone: 612 625 3447
Office: CSBR, 1425 University Ave SE, Suite 225, Minneapolis MN 55455

Education

2000 Master of Architecture, CALA, University of Minnesota

1994 Registered, Council of Architecture, India (No:CA/94/17294)

1991 Bachelor of Architecture, Sir JJ College of Architecture, Bombay, India

Biography

Virajita Singh is currently a Research Fellow at the Center of Sustainable Building Research and an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Architecture. Her teaching and research focus on issues of sustainability and cultural change. Her projects include conducting post occupancy evaluations on buildings and developing building related knowledge bases. She is involved in Greening of the Campus activities at the University of Minnesota including the Greening CALA Project that seeks to introduce new environmental practices through collaboration between students, staff, and faculty. Virajita came to the United States in 1996 from India where she worked as an architect in areas of energy-conscious architecture and participatory design. She graduated from the post-professional program of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, CALA, in 2000.

Teaching Areas

• Undergraduate Architectural Design/Sustainable Design
• ARCH 5282 : Architecture as Procedure - Earth, Water, Wind & Fire (6 cr; Taught Spring 2001, Fall2001, Spring 2002; Collaboration with other instructors - Ali Heshmati, Jennifer Yoos, Jim Widder)
• Sustainable Design seminars
• ARCH 1906w: Waste (Not): Envisioning Alternatives to a Throwaway Culture (2cr; Freshman Seminar, Fall 2002; cotaught with Tom Fisher)
• ARCH 5993: Green Mapping: Tracking Sustainable Design at the U (2cr; Directed Study/Seminar, Spring 2002; co-taught with Sarah Birtles)
• Graduate Thesis Advising
• Directed Study projects

Current Research

Conducting Post-Occupancy Evaluations on two area headquarter buildings for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Tower and Windom, Minnesota (In progress)

Conducting Sustainability Assessments on six county facilities for the 7 county Solid Waste Management Co-ordinating Board (SWMCB) (In progress)

Developing the first Green Map of the U - project co-initiated with Sarah Birtles and funded by the Design Institute (In progress)

Publications

Invited chapter authorship to be published on greening the campus issues in upcoming book "Constructing Culture: Built Environments and Land."; Brian Nerney and Peter Quigley, editors, 2003

Published paper "Teaching How to Learn: Reconsidering Architectural Design in Undergraduate Education" in proceedings of ARCC/EAAE 2002 International Conference on Architectural Research McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 2002

Published paper "Sustainability and the Life and Death of Buildings" at the Ecospheres conference, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, June 2001

Published paper "Pilot - Testing and Application: Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide" in the proceedings of American Solar Energy Society conference, May 2000.

Other Information

• Member, Environmental Design Research Association, 1997-present
• Member, Executive Committee for EDRA 34 conference to be hosted by CALA in May 2003 , 2002-present
• Member, Waste Abatement Committee (University), 1999-present