Madhu Dutta-Koelher

Dr. Dutta-Koehler has over fifteen years of experience in the field of urban planning, design, and architecture as an educator, researcher, and practitioner. An award-winning architect and planner, Dutta-Koehler maintains her own international architectural practice specializing in residential design. Prior to her current appointment, she has been part of the MET faculty since 2006 as an adjunct professor, receiving the Dean’s Citation for Teaching Excellence in 2011. She has also held faculty positions at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Wentworth Institute of Technology, and was a lecturer at MIT. Her scholarly interests are eclectic: her current research and teaching focuses on climate change adaptation – particularly in the urban Global South – and environmental sustainability in the built environment; her previous work has explored the hybridized and virtual milieus in the “new frontiers” of digital architecture, as well as Colonial-era urban planning in India and modern-day U.S. “company towns.”

Professionally, Dutta-Koehler has worked on various international design competitions and award-winning projects, which have been recognized by the World Habitat Award, Indian Institute of Architects’ Award, American Institute of Architects, U.S. Department of Energy, and others. Her teaching reflects a praxis-oriented pedagogy, through which she challenges students to connect classroom lessons to real-world issues in socio- cultural, economic, physical, and political contexts to explore critical aspects of the built environment, both from a technological and a policy-oriented perspective. Dutta-Koehler is also committed to the creative and performing arts and draws upon two decades of eclectic artistic pursuits, including photography, graphic arts, and Indian classical dance, to inform her design sensibility. Dr. Dutta-Koehler serves on the Faculty Advisory Boards for the Initiative on Cities and the Institute of Sustainable Energy, and is a Faculty Associate at the Pardee Center for the Longer Term Future at Boston University.