Vishal Joshi is a researcher and architectural preservationist with over ten years of work experience in the field of historic preservation. He joined Architectural Preservation Studio in 2016 after graduating from his master’s program and having hands-on experience in documenting earthquake-damaged World Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu Valley. Vishal has worked on several key design and preservation projects in India, Nepal, Uganda, Kenya, the USA, and Hong Kong.

His past experience in research, preservation, and architectural design, in Mumbai, especially his works on colonial buildings, led him to pursue further studies in the field of research and historic preservation in the US. While in Texas, has was involved in the design, investigation, and analysis of the Report on the Economic Impacts of Historic Preservation with the Texas Historical Commission, University of Texas, and Rutgers (https://www.thc.texas.gov/public/upload/publications/economic-impact-historic-preservation.pdf). His research, thesis, and publications on the reconstruction of historic buildings in the Kathmandu Valley won him several awards mentioned below.

Vishal is involved in all stages of a design project that begins with rigorous archival research/ fact-finding, survey and documentation, preparation of construction documents, construction administration, and problem-solving. Over the years, Vishal has worked on a varied set of projects that range from Art Deco skyscrapers, row houses, and historic stations in New York, monuments and historic sites in New Jersey, modernist concrete buildings in Hong Kong as well as Frank Lloyd’s World Heritage site of Fallingwater in Pennsylvania. Vishal is an expert in terra-cotta and concrete restoration techniques. He has worked with organizations such as L.H. Charney, New York University, NYC-MTA, and the PANYNJ.

He is the founding member of the APT’s South Asia Chapter, which focuses on preservation efforts in that part of the world (https://www.apti.org/south-asia). Vishal has a passion for architectural photography, and his photos from his Nepal research in 2015 were displayed at the UT Austin School of Architecture in 2016: (https://soa.utexas.edu/events/vrc-exhibition-heritage-risk-rescue-rehabilitation-and-impact-gorkha-earthquake). He is also pursuing his architecture licensure in NYS.

Additionally, he is a member of various preservation organizations that, include the

• US/ICOMOS, ICOMOS-ICORP (Council for Risk Preparedness)

• Association ofPreservation Technology (APT)

• Construction History Society of America (CHSA)

• the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)

Published Papers:

• With Pamela Jerome, “Preserving Ely Jacques Kahn’s Bricken Casino Building.” Applicator (43.2, Spring 2021): 6-20

• With Hemant B. Kaushik, “Historic Earthquake-Resilient Structures in Nepal and Other Himalayan Regions and Their Seismic Restoration,” EERI Spectra Special Issue on the2015 Gorkha, Nepal Earthquake (2017): 299-319

Published research in the following books:

• Nancy McCoy and David Woodcock, “Architecture That Speaks – S.C.P. Vosper and Ten Remarkable Buildings at Texas A&M.” Texas A&M University Press, College Station, 2017.

• Neils Gutschow et al., “Nepal: Patan Durbar: Earthquake Response Campaign.” Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust, Kathmandu, 2016.

Awards

• 2019 – APT David Fischetti Award - For an outstanding article in the field of conservation engineering.

• 2017 – US/ICOMOS – Murtagh Graham Award – outstanding student scholarship in the area of historic preservation technologies.

• 2017 – APT Martin Weaver Scholarship – outstanding student scholarship in the area of historic preservation technologies.

• 2016 – APT Student Scholar.

Education

• M Sc, Historic Preservation; University of Texas School of Architecture, Austin, TX, 2016

• - B Arch, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, University of Mumbai, India, 2011