DHIRU A. THADANI, AIA, CNU
Architect + Urbanist
5015 16th Street NW
Washington DC 20011
(202) 882 7722 work
(202) 321 8655 mobile
EDUCATION:
Master of Architecture
Catholic University of America, 1978
Bachelor of Science in Architecture
Catholic University of America, 1976
Continuing Education Classes, 1980 to present
Catholic University of America
Harvard University
Maryland Institute College of Art
National Building Museum
University of Maryland
University of Miami
AFFILIATIONS:
American Institute of Architects (AIA)
American Planning Association (APA)
American Society of Engineers from India
Asian Indian Architects Association
Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)
Board Member 2005 - 2013
National Building Museum
Professional Circle Member
International Society of City and Regional
Planners (ISOCARP)
TEACHING:
Catholic University of America, 1980-86
University of Miami, 1993
University of Maryland, 1992-94
RECOGNITION & FELLOWSHIP:
Sam van Embden 2015 Achievement Award
(ISOCARP) Inaugural Recipient
2015 Fellow of the Congress for the New Urbanism
2011 Seaside Prize Recipient
Seaside, Florida
2001-2002 Knight Fellow, The Knight Program in
Community Building, University of Miami
LECTURES:
Mr. Thadani has lectured on a variety of subjects
such as: revitalizing college towns; repairing
academic campus fabric; indigenous design
solutions for developing countries; traditional
town planning and urban design; and global
housing needs.
AWARDS:
PUBLICATIONS:
Mr. Thadani has initiated and organized in
excess of 30 symposia and lecture series,
working with a wide variety of institutions.
ISOCARP 2015 Design Excellence Award
Luhe City Center, Nanjing, China
Mr. Thadani has self-published 22 Comparative
Plan Posters, which document at the same
scale, outdoor public rooms; monumental
civic spaces; ancient cities; new towns; college
towns; academic institutions. These posters have
been distributed free-of-charge to encourage
the discourse on urbanism and the failing autocentric planning paradigm.
“CNU XI: Ideals to Reality: The Evolving City”
Mr. Thadani was instrumental in organizing
the first meeting of the Congress for the New
Urbanism in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1993.
He has actively participated in all twentyfour congresses and was Chair of the host
committee for the eleventh congress which
was held in Washington DC, June 2003.
[email protected]
REGISTRATIONS:
Registered Architect 1981
Maryland #5312 / District of Columbia #ARC5850
SYMPOSIA:
Dhiru A. Thadani is an architect and urbanist who has been in practice
since 1978. As a design principal and partner for more than thirty years,
he has completed projects the world over, and he continues to provide a
broad range of consulting services in architecture and urban design.
Thadani was born to the boisterous urbanism of Bombay, India and
moved to Washington, D.C. in 1972 to attend the Catholic University
of America, where he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees
in architecture. During his forty-three years in Washington, he has
taught, practiced, and worked to place architecture and urbanism in
the public eye.
He is the author of The Language of Towns and Cities: A Visual
Dictionary, published by Rizzoli in 2010, and co-editor of Leon Krier:
The Architecture of Community published by Island Press in 2009.
Thadani’s latest endeavor was published by Rizzoli in September 2013
— Visions of Seaside: Foundations / Evolution / Imagination / Built &
Unbuilt Architecture, it chronicles the 33 year development of the first
new urbanist community.
Since its formation in 1993, Thadani has been a charter member of
the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), and has been a member
of the CNU Board from 2005 - 2013. He was a 2001 Fellow in the
Knight Program for Community Building, a five-time recipient of the
CNU Charter Award for Design, the recipient of the 2011 Seaside Prize,
and the inaugural 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by the
International Society of Regional and City Planners.
Thadani has been the principal organizer of numerous design
workshops, charrettes, and professional symposia, and his work has
been widely exhibited and published. He has lectured extensively
throughout the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.
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Gerd Albers Book Award 2014 (ISOCARP), for
Visions of Seaside
Gerd Albers Book Award 2011 (ISOCARP), for
The Language of Towns & Cities: A Visual
Dictionary
“The Idea of New Towns”
Lecturer and participant in two day
symposium to address issues of rapid global
urbanization, the design of new towns, the
ability of contemporary society to ‘make’
a New Town, and the validity of traditional
principles in the contemporary context.
The symposium was sponsored by the Max
Mueller Bhavan and the Urban Design
Research Institute at the Prince of Wales
Museum in Bombay on February 1997.
CNU 2008 Charter Award
Vedanta University, Orissa, India
“Making Towns: Principles & Techniques”
Conceived and coordinated a lecture series
and publication of a catalogue focusing
on the design and planning of new towns.
Lecturers and contributors to the catalogue
included: Peter Katz; Daniel Solomon;
Victor Dover; Andres Duany; and Tony Hiss.
The lectures were hosted by the School of
Architecture, University of Maryland in the
Fall Semester 1993.
CNU 2004 Charter Awards
Lexington Kentucky College Town
“Five Architects: Twenty Years Later”
Conceived and coordinated a lecture series,
exhibition, and publication of a catalogue
commemorating the 1972 publication of Five
Architects. Professor Kenneth Frampton, who
contributed one of the essays in the original
book, gave the introductory lecture to the
series. Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves,
Charles Gwathmey, and Richard Meier
lectured during the Fall Semester 1992, and
John Hejduk delivered the final lecture in the
series in the Spring Semester 1993. Exhibitions
of the work of the Five were installed to
coincide with the lecture series. The lectures
and exhibitions were hosted at the School of
Architecture, University of Maryland.
“Building the City III:
Where Nature and the City Meet”
Coordinated the third of three annual
symposia at the Smithsonian Institution, to
commemorate the bicentennial of Pierre
Charles L’Enfant’s plan for Washington, DC in
1991. Speakers included: Leon Krier, Steven
Peterson, Andres Duany, Lawrence Speck,
Carroll William Westfall, Jack Burnham,
Diana Agrest, Patrick Pinnell, and was
moderated by Steven W. Hurtt, April 1991.
His professional work has included new and adapted buildings, new
developments, neighborhood revitalization, and urban retrofits and infills.
Thadani seeks to support planning at the regional level that provides for
coherent open space, transit systems, and architectural environments
that are responsive to their culture, climate, and context. His goal has
been to create neighborhoods, town, and city centers that are walkable
with a balance of workplace, housing, shopping, public spaces, and civic
institutions in proven patterns that are essential for them to endure.
CNU 2015 Charter Award
Luhe City Center, Nanjing, China
CNU 2007 Charter Award
Long Beach Mississippi Redevelopment Plan
CNU 2006 Charter Awards
Jury Chair
CNU 2005 Charter Awards
Beall’s Hill Georgia Redevelopment Plan
American Institute of Architects / Baltimore
Maryland Chapter, 2007 Design Awards
for Excellence in Architecture to Vedanta
University
American Institute of Architects / Baltimore
Maryland Chapter, 2005 Design Awards for
Excellence in Architecture to Beall’s Hill
Georgia Redevelopment Plan
American Institute of Architects / Washington DC
Chapter, 1987 Design Awards for Excellence
in Architecture for Thadani/Schum Residence
Metropolitan Home Magazine 1987 Design
Awards, Home of the Year, Honorable Mention
for Thadani/Schum Residence
EXHIBITION:
Drawing, cartoons, and photographs by Mr.
Thadani have been widely exhibited and
published.
Architect Drawings, Cross Mackenzie Gallery,
Georgetown, 2016
Seaside Prize Winner - Exhibition of Drawings,
Seaside, FL, 2011
Alumni and Faculty Exhibition:
Catholic University of America, 2009,
1999,1986
Home Plates: An exhibition of dinner plates
designed by Washington DC artists,
November 2008
Architects Fired: An exhibition of clay work by
ten Washington DC architects, October 2008
The Architectural Guide to Seaside,
Seaside Neighborhood School, 2015
Visions of Seaside: Foundation, Evolution,
Imagination, Built & Unbuilt Architecture,
Author, Rizzoli International, 2013
The Language of Towns & Cities: A Visual
Dictionary, Author, Rizzoli International,
2010
Leon Krier: The Architecture of Community
Co-Editor, Island Press, 2009
The Teaching of Architecture and Urbanism,
Contributor, Caleidoscópio Ediçao, 2006
Windsor Forum on Design Education: Toward
an Ideal Curriculum to Reform Architectural
Education, Co-Editor, New Urban Press, 2004
Monumental Core of Washington DC: Digital
AutoCAD figure-ground drawing of 7.5 sq m.
CD-ROM Edition, DC/AIA, 2000
Making Towns: Principles and Techniques
Editor, University of Maryland, 1993
Five Architects: Twenty Years Later
Editor, University of Maryland, 1992
Building the City: Where Nature and the City
Meet, Editor, Smithsonian Institution, 1991
Current project include the documentation of
100 small towns in America, analyzing their
historical genesis, economics, mix of uses,
transportation options, and architectural typology
and character.
In the works is the completion of a Nolli-type
drawing of Seaside, Florida. The 9 panel
drawing measuring 9’ by 6’ is inspired by
Gambistta Nolli’s 1747 Plan of Rome.
COMPETITIONS & JURIES:
Mr. Thadani has served on several design award
juries during his professional career, including
the National Endowment for the Arts and the
American Institute of Architects.
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