Associate Architect
Reshma Mathew

Reshma Mathew is an architect, urban designer and academic practitioner based in Cochin with over twelve years of experience. She completed her Bachelors in Architecture from the University School of Design, Mysore in 2010 where she trained under the tutelage of eminent architects such as Navnath Kanade and S G Srinivas. She went on to practice with reputed firms in Bangalore such as Dominic Dube’s DDIR Architecture Studio and Venkataramanan Associates before leaving to the United Kingdom to pursue her master’s degree. She was enrolled in the University of Edinburgh, in a course led by Prof. Dorian Wiszniewski, and graduated summa cum laude in the year 2017. While in Edinburgh she was one of the delegates from her department to participate in the World Heritage Cities Design Charette at ARCHIP (Architectural Institute in Prague) in Prague, Czech Republic. Her research interests are based on speculations on ecological urbanism and gender-based constructs of space. Her Master’s thesis based on Calcutta titled, Casts & Skins: Kumartuli + Tolly’s Nullah, explored visualisations of a resilient and regenerative architecture for the post-colonial, metropolitan Indian city. 

Reshma has been active in architectural education since 2018 and started her journey in teaching at Avani Institute of Design, Calicut. She conceptualised and led several architectural design studios, including a Semester 6 studio that explored a pedagogical toolbox for postcolonial network cities through the study of factories started by and for colonial interests. Her paper on this studio and its accompanying research was presented and published in 2020 by AMPS Proceedings (Teaching- Learning-Research: Design and Environments, AMPS Proceedings Series 22) in collaboration with the University of Manchester. She has been associated with Cochin Creative Collective since 2021 and leads most of the research work carried out by the firm. Most recently her paper, co-authored with Lijo John Mathew, was awarded the IIA State Award for Academic Research Paper and published in JIIA (Journal of the Indian Institute of Architects) Vol 49, Issue 2. Apart from her work at the practice, she is a visiting faculty at SEED: APJ Abdul Kalam School of Environmental Design where she leads the Semester 7 Housing Studio, exploring a multifunctional, mixed-use, mass housing insert in the urban realm. Reshma cultivates a deep interest in architectural history and theory and uses a practical, design based approach to understanding and demystifying theory in her work.