Karan Ranka

Apple Inc. was one of the reasons that made me interested in philosophy, critical thinking and design since my childhood. Though there were so many booming companies then, I believe it was Apple’s commitment to consistency and persistence amongst others that made it stand out. And this was something that would always stay back with me. My father is an architect so the expression of these qualities in the form of a building was innate to me. This is when my journey in architecture started. However, in my formative years until now Ar. Tadao Ando and Ar. Charles Correa have been an ingrained inspiration for me. My horizons were broadened towards looking at architecture from the perspective of a living design with my internship at Vo Trong Nghia Architects, Vietnam which was to be fine-tuned and brushed at PWL Partnership, Vancouver later. Since my internship at Vo Trong Nghia Architects, it has always been difficult for me to define a clear boundary between Architecture and Landscape Architecture. It was this confused state of mind I would say that made me choose Urban Design, as a relationship between built and unbuilt without any one specific being prominent. Though this interest was technically and consciously moulded in UBC with a better awareness of various other factors like affordability, mobility in addition other demographics bound by the purpose and long-term vision of Sustainability and Resiliency under the guidance of professors like Scott Hein, Patrick Condon, Derek Lee, Kees Lokman, Yuichi Watanabe amongst others could make an idea on paper come alive in reality.

I graduated in June 2022 with a Master of Urban Design from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. I have an experience of three years working with firms across cities in India like Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, my involvement in the scale of work ranged from a small single-family house to huge mixed-use (Residential, Commercial, Hospitality) Master plans along with my internships in two landscape-driven firms in Vietnam (Vo Trong Nghia Architects) and Vancouver ( PWL Landscape architects). In the span of these years, I have had the chance to look at design, architecture, landscape and Urban Design through various lenses of scale in addition to integral complexities like context, budget, client needs, processes timeline amongst many others.

Since my internship at Vo Trong Nghia Architects, it has always been difficult for me to define a clear boundary between Architecture and Landscape Architecture. It was this confused state of mind I would say that made me choose Urban Design, as a relationship between built and unbuilt without any one specific being prominent. Though this interest was technically and consciously moulded in UBC with a better awareness of various other factors like affordability, mobility in addition other demographics bound by the purpose and long-term vision of Sustainability and Resiliency under the guidance of professors like Scott Hein, Patrick Condon, Derek Lee, Kees Lokman, Yuichi Watanabe amongst others could make an idea on paper come alive in reality.