About Sunita Kohli
Ms Sunita Kohli is a globally recognized, national award winning architectural restorer of some of the most prominent heritage buildings, forts and palaces in India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka that are vital links to the history and culture of South Asia. Through her singularly unique vision and work that has been lauded by national and international political leaders, including the Prime Minister and President of India, Ms Kohli has helped preserve these national treasures that had significantly decayed and were on the brink of loss.
For her work, Ms Kohli was conferred one of the highest national awards, the "Padma Shri" by the President of India for contribution to excellence in national life in the field of "Architectural Restoration and Design".
Ms Kohli has notably helped restore the famous architects, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Robert Tor Russell’s foremost architectural legacies from the British Raj in the capital city of Delhi.
These include the President's House, (nee Viceroy’s House), Parliament Building, the Prime Minister's Office and Secretariat as well as the official residence of the Prime Minister.
In January 2014, Sunita Kohli was appointed Chairperson of the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal -- one of the leading national universities in India -- to help define and implement a new vision for the field of architecture in the country.
She was awarded the prestigious Mahila Shiromani Award, which recognizes women of achievement in the field of civil society, by Mother Teresa.
Ms Kohli is also a highly regarded civil society leader in India.
In 2005, she founded the one-of-a-kind Museum of Women in the Arts in India (in conjunction with the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC, on whose international advisory board she sits). Through this Museum, national award winning artists have been regularly showcasing their work to inspire and engage with the next generation of women artists to effect positive change in society at the state, city and village level.
Further, within MOWA, an NGO has been established for the empowerment of rural master craftswomen in India to revive India's rich heritage and provide sustainable employment.
Ms Kohli is a Founder Trustee of 'Satyagyan', (an affiliate of 'World Literacy of Canada'), an organization that works in over 400 slum communities in Varanasi and its environs with children's education and women's empowerment through literacy and vocational training.
She is also the Chairperson of the Governing Council of 'SAVE-A-MOTHER', a leading NGO which is dedicated to decreasing maternal and infant mortality rates in India in 1200 districts in India.
Ms Kohli has lectured regularly at leading academic institutions globally including Harvard Kennedy School and at Emory University, Atlanta.
She was the first Indian architect invited to give a seminal lecture on India at the National Building Museum in Washington DC.
Most recently, in October 2013, she was invited to give the inaugural lectures of the Arts and Culture Programme of the Asia Scotland Institute, at the University of Edinburgh and at the Glasgow School of Art.
She has regularly presented papers in leading museums and universities across the world on ‘Sir Edwin Lutyens and the Planning of New Delhi’; on Design, Architecture and Historical Conservation; on Literature; on 'Traditional Mughal Jewellery as a Statement of Empire'; on 'Social Entrepreneurship'; and on 'World Heritage Cultural Sites in India and the Subcontinent'.