As a passionate young architect and educator, Arja sees architecture as a powerful statement to connect and communicate. With a conscious and deliberate intent to instrumentalize architecture to help transform local communities, the courses he teaches confront students with questions of how architecture, technology, and innovation can offer solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues, i.e., poverty, epidemics, environmental degradation, and civil unrest. As a proponent of interdisciplinary research, teaching, and experience, Arja offers his students the opportunity to work in new places, ecologies, and perhaps new approaches.

Arja’s research focuses on RURALISM and RURAL ARCHITECTURE. He is thoroughly examining responsive systems and disruptive approaches to re-valorize the rural economy. He introduces RURALISM not in opposition to URBANISIM, but rather an equivalent field that he believes is worthy of consideration and that is often overlooked in our architectural discourse. 

Arja is also working to advance earth architecture and ceramic production via additive manufacturing technology in rural communities and contexts. Currently, he is leading efforts to adopt the technology of additive manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa with a long-term goal of producing sustainable housing solutions and rural micro-infrastructures as well as low-tech solutions.

Arja has won numerous awards for his scholarly and creative works, including the Design for Spatial Justice Fellowship and Visiting Faculty at the University of Oregon, the John K. Branner Traveling Fellowship, the MasterCard Foundation Scholarship at UC Berkeley, Rondine Cittadella della Pace Fellowship - Italy, and the Fulbright Scholarship.

ARCH 209 Studio One Seminar

ARCH 100D Design Studio IV