We are thrilled that Ruchi Chakravarty has today joined Benoy as Director of Masterplanning and Urban Design. An urban designer, masterplanner and architect with a focus on holistic placemaking, Ruchi has nearly two decades of experience, leading the design and delivery of projects and programmes of various scales across the UK, US, India, Middle East and Africa, including the newly created and award-wining Strand Aldwych in London.
Previously the Director of Place Shaping for Westminster City Council (WCC) in London, Ruchi created and established the Place Shaping team which acted as the Council’s in-house design and urban strategy team. The team enabled the Council to adopt the role of the “intelligent client”, convenor and enabler in areas of change, translating policies to projects and establishing a co-creative masterplanning and urban design methodology to deliver an agreed holistic vision.
Prior to WCC, Ruchi was Senior Associate: Lead masterplanner & Urban Designer at HOK in London where she led the masterplanning and urban design team within its Planning function. Projects included city extensions in Jeddah (Wadi Al Asla), Istanbul (New City around the Industrial Canal), 100-acre townships in India and numerous airport cities.
“I am delighted that Ruchi has joined the team, and her appointment is a pivotal moment for our masterplanning team,” said Tom Cartledge, CEO.
“Ruchi is passionate about raising the level of public experience in cities and is a strong advocate of people focused urbanism, which perfectly complements our own vision to transform spaces and build communities based on human-centric design. By curating experience in urban environments, we want to create clear and cohesive visions for cities of the future and design spaces and places that enrich human interaction.”
Based in London, Ruchi will lead an urban design team of more than 15 specialists, helping to expand its portfolio globally and play a critical role in design leadership, business development and client engagement.
Commenting on her new role, Ruchi added: “In an era marked by global challenges, especially climate change, the need for agile and multidisciplinary design thinking has never been more crucial. I am thrilled to join Benoy, a company distinguished by its diverse range of services and collaborative studio ethos. I look forward to leveraging the strengths of our exceptionally talented team to create holistic and impactful design solutions for our clients.”
