Thomas Oommen
Global histories of architecture and urbanism, visual, material, and architectural culture of modern South Asia, eco-critical art, architecture, and urban history, Indian Ocean histories
I am an architect, urban designer and historian of global modernism with a focus on the visual culture, architecture and urbanism of South Asia. My work titled, "Small Places, Global Histories" looks at ‘small places’ - ordinary buildings and ecologies constituted by local actors, practices, and materials. I explore how such environments that occupy a non-metropolitan grey space between urban/rural, high/low, expert/non-expert occupy much of the planet and can be narrated as part of a global history. The ethnographic object at the center of my dissertation that delves into the urban-rural continuums and monsoon ecologies of Kerala in Southern India is the 'house-in-the-garden'. The project also draws on eco-critical/planetary art and architecture history, Indian Ocean Histories, and the history and philosophy of science.
Architectural Theory (2012-2014, 2015-2017) for B.Arch program at Sushant School of Art and Architecture (SSAA), Gurgaon as Associate Professor of Architecture,
Research Methods/Studio – Reading the City (2015-2016) for M.Arch program at Department of Urban Design.
School of Planning and Architecture Delhi as Visiting Faculty in Urban Design,Contemporary Theories of Architecture and Urbanism (2014) for M.Arch (Urban Design) at R.V. College of Architecture (RVCA), Bangalore, as Assistant Professor of Architecture.
Architecture Design Studio (3rd, 4th year) & Urban Design Studio (5th year) from (2012-2017) for B.Arch at SSAA and RVCA – as Asst. and Assoc. Professor.
ARCH 230, Advanced Architectural Theory (Spring 2018, Spring 2021), Graduate Seminar, CED, UC Berkeley – as Graduate Student Instructor (GSI)
ARCH 270, History of Modern Architecture (Fall 2018), Graduate Seminar – as GSI, Prof. Greg Castillo
ARCH 170A, A Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism - pre 1400 CE, as GSI, Prof. William Littmann (Fall 2019), Prof. Andy Shanken (Fall 2021)
ARCH 130, Introduction to Architecture Theory and Criticism, (Fall 2022), GSI, Prof. Greig Crysler
The Center on Contemporary India Dissertation Research Grant, UC Berkeley, 2023-24
The John L. Simpson ABD Research Fellowship in International & Area Studies, UC Berkeley, 2023
Junior Fellowship, American Institute of Indian Studies, 2022
International Dissertation Research Fellowship, 2021, Social Science Research Council
UC Berkeley Graduate Division Fellowship, 2020-2021
Stevens Scholars Program, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley, 2019
Everyday Built Environments and Modern Architecture of South Asia, Eco-Critical Art, Architecture and Urban History, Histories of the Indian Ocean.
Oommen, Thomas, (2024) “Catherine Bauer's passage through India: Frontier Urbanization and the Construction of 'Interdisciplinary Urban Research at the College of Environmental Design, Berkeley”, Journal of Planning History.
Oommen Thomas, (2022) "The Glazed Eyes of Architectural History: Reflections on the (Dis)Contents of Global History Survey Courses", Architectural Histories 10(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.16995/ah.8280
Oommen, Thomas and Sequiera, Ryan C, (2021) "The politics of infrastructural aesthetics: a case of Delhi’s Bus Rapid Transit corridor", International Development Planning Review, 2021, 43, (4), 479–500. https://doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2020.21
Oommen, Thomas, (2019), "Rethinking Indian Modernity From the Margins: Architectural Politics in Thiruvananthapuram in the 1970s," Architectural Theory Review, March 19, 2019, 1–24, https://doi.org/10.1080/13264826.2018.1516684
Oommen, Thomas, (2016) "Modern Urban Heritage and public engagement: The case of Thiruvananthapuram" in The Future of Historic Cities: Urban Heritage in South Asia, Special edition: Context: Built, Living and Natural, Volume XII, 2016. Aryan International Books, Delhi.
Oommen, Thomas and Pal, Shreyasi, (2015). "The Politics of Architecture", Economics and Political Weekly, Vol – L No. 14, April 04, 2015. Mumbai, India.
https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/14/commentary/politics-architecture.html
Oommen, Thomas and Singh, Radhika, (2013), "From the ground up: Re-Appropriating Urban Infrastructure in Delhi" in Critical Planning, 20th anniversary edition, December 2013. University of California at Los Angeles. Los Angeles
https://criticalplanning.squarespace.com/volume-20-1
