​Prof. Christopher Benninger is an internationally known distinguished architect, planner, teacher and an institution builder. With A Master's in Architecture from Harvard and Masters in City Planning from MIT he's has been associated with CEPT University since 1968. He resigned his tenured professorship from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University to found the School of Planning in 1971 and thereafter he founded the Centre for Development Studies and Activities in Pune in 1976. A recipient of the coveted Great Master Architect Award in India and several other lifetime achievement awards, he has won the Indian Institute of Architects’ National award six times, more than any other architect. Having an expansive practice in both architecture and planning, he is perhaps the only person today with a multi-faceted career spanning over fifty years. His architectural practice has produced hundreds projects located in about cities in India as well as Bhutan, China and Africa. He has designed campuses and buildings for over twenty universities including IIT Hyderabad; IIM Calcutta; Azim Premji University; CEPT University; Bajaj Institute of Technology that focus on sustainability and human scale. He has designed award winning manufacturing plants; a clinic for mentally challenged children; and Suzlon One Earth Corporate office that became globally known for its zero energy consumption being certified as platinum LEED certified as well as Griha five star green certified building. He has worked closely with the Buddhist community designing the Mahavihara in Pune and Nagaloka in Nagpur. He has designed the Supreme court of Bhutan and several ministry buildings along with the Thimphu National Capital region paving a path for the Himalayan kingdom to move from monarch to democracy.He is presently designing the National Parliament complex in Burundi, Central Africa and a Brain Research Centre in Shanghai, besides landmark institutions like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and 23 Metro stations for metro line 3 in Pune.   ​  His work has had an immense impact on affordable housing, leading to the construction of India’s first EWS housing scheme by HUDCO at Jamnagar [1972]; 15,000 Site and Services housing units in Chennai funded by the World Bank [1973-8], and the EWS Yousufguda township for 2,000 families [1976-80].   ​ He wrote the theme paper for the 7th Session of the UNCHS and the ADB’s Board Paper on urban infrastructure investments [1986], bringing ADB funds to cities for the first time. He has acted as a planner in India, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kenya and Zambia for the World Bank, UNCHS, UNFAO, UNICEF and ADB.   ​ His books, ‘Letters to A Young Architect’ has been reprinted 6 editions and was in the top 10 non fiction books by the Hindu newspaper, perhap the only architecture  book to be inthe list till date. This book has been translated into Gujarati, Bangla in Dhaka and into Chinese. A monograph ‘Christopher Benninger: Architecture for a Modern India’ has been published by Skira in Italy and Rizzoli in USA in 2016. He authored the chapter on built heritage in ‘Connecting Through Culture’ published for the Ministry of External Affairs and many chapters in books both in India and outside along with over a hundred articles.