Neha Nair, Director, Academics, Anant Fellowship in Sustainability and Built Environment and Assistant Professor, School of Architecture at Anant National University, has a keen interest in multidisciplinary domains, which enables her to conduct the curriculum of the fellowship programme as a holistic take on the realities of the built environment. She is an architect, academic and researcher with a deep fascination for the stories embedded in historical monuments, how their architecture reflects the social, cultural, economic and technological worlds that produced them. 

At Anant, she brings these narratives directly into the classroom, using folklore, speculation and photography as pedagogical tools to make architectural design and history vivid, relevant and meaningful for students.

Neha’s teaching spans Architectural Design Studios, history courses and interdisciplinary electives that examine architecture through the lens of photography, socio-political thought and speculative practice. She actively encourages thesis explorations that push architecture into conversation with other design disciplines and beyond. Her mentorship of students in design competitions further extends this spirit of inquiry.

Her current research explores speculation as a tool for enriching studio-based teaching and learning. She continues to develop these approaches by undertaking courses such as The Museum of Modern Art’s ‘Seeing Through Photographs’ and the University of Sydney’s ‘Innovation Through Design: Think, Make, Break, Repeat’. She has also presented her research in multiple national and international platforms and published in AMPS conferences: Society, Spaces and Screens, Arizona University, AMPS conference, Research and Teaching, Prague and IDR 2024, Sri Lanka. In 2023, she co-convened the international symposium held at Anant that brought together voices from across the field to discuss architecture’s evolving role as an agency of sustenance in the future.

Beyond academia, Neha is an accomplished photographer, recognised by the World Photographers Club and WADe Asia in 2018 and 2019. She is also a trained Bharatnatyam dancer and finds equal joy in table tennis, reading and exploring new cuisines.