Vishaan Chakrabarti, Principal

Vishaan Chakrabarti is the founding principal of Vishaan Chakrabarti Design Collaborative.

Vishaan is the Marc Holliday Professor of Real Estate and the Director of the Real Estate Development program in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. In this position he leads the graduate program in real estate development and advocates for smart growth policies locally, nationally, and internationally.

For the 2009 academic year, the University of Virginia has also named Vishaan as the Jaquelin T. Robertson Visiting Professor in Architecture.
Formerly an Executive Vice President of Related Companies, Vishaan ran the design and planning operations for the firm’s extensive development portfolio including the Moynihan Station project and the Hudson Yards. Through VCDC, Vishaan continues to advance Moynihan Station, as well as consult on the urban design effort for Hudson Yards. In this capacity, Vishaan also assisted Related in the execution of five residential projects now complete and in closings.

From 2002 to 2005, Chakrabarti served as the Director of the Manhattan Office for the New York Department of City Planning. In this capacity, Chakrabarti served as a senior adviser to the Office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Planning Commission on all urban planning issues throughout Manhattan. While with the City, Chakrabarti successfully gained approvals for major projects and rezonings that have begun to reshape the west side of Manhattan including the the High Line, the Hudson Yards, and Lincoln Center. Vishaan also directed the City's design response to the State-led process for the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11, successfully fighting to reintegrate the street grid on the site.

Prior to joining the Department of City Planning, Vishaan was an Associate Partner for the New York Office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, where since 1996 he managed numerous global architecture and urban design projects including a number of Manhattan skyscrapers.
Vishaan Chakrabarti holds a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, a Masters degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and dual Bachelors degrees in Art History and Engineering from Cornell University. He is a Registered Architect in the State of New York.

Vishaan serves on the Board of Directors of the Architectural League of New York, is a trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission, and is an emeritus board member of Friends of the High Line. He is also a member of the Young Leaders Forum of the National Council on US-China Relations. Vishaan is a David Rockefeller Fellow and a Crain’s “40 under 40."