Board of Directors

SPOTLIGHT...
	Mahendra Parekh, AIA was born and reared in Bombay, India. About a year after he graduated with a 5-year B.Arch., he moved to the United States. He studied City and Regional Planning at the graduate level at Clemson University. Although this field felt alien to someone who had grown up in another country, it provided a valuable background for Mahendra’s return to architecture.

He obtained licensure in 1977 and opened his own practice in 1980. A year later, he began teaching at Morgan State University. In 1985, his home in Mt. Washington won a BALTIMORE magazine/AIABaltimore Residential Design Award. By 1986, the firm had grown to a half-dozen people. Over the years, he has completed a number of projects for the African-American community, including the Great Blacks in Wax Museum in the early 1980s. In 1989-90, Mayor Kurt Schmoke appointed Mahendra to the Architectural/Engineering Commission to oversee the approval of city contracts. During this service, he came to know many Baltimore architects and engineers. By 1990, the size of his firm decreased and Mahendra returned to India in 1992-3 in the attempt to create a practice there. In 1994, he came back to Baltimore, where he continues to teach and practice, mostly in custom residential work. He returns to India twice each year to consult for a philanthropic client who runs privately-owned and managed educational institutions under the authority of the University of Bombay.

Throughout the 1980s, he participated in the Baltimore Architecture Foundation watercolor exhibits, and later served on its board of directors. He served on the Neighborhood Design Center board from 1982-88, and has been active in community advocacy with planning advice. Most recently, he has helped Waverly promote the best-possible plan for its new chain food store. As an AIABaltimore representative, he serves as a commissioner on the Civic Design Commission that promotes 1% art for civic and municipal projects.

Mahendra has been a member of the AIA since 1980. He served on the board of directors in 2002, and this year is treasurer. He continues to work to build a strong AIAS at Morgan, and to create greater ties between the University and the work of AIABaltimore.

“I asked Paul Goldberger, New York architecture critic, once to recommend any successful project(s) in this country driven by social and community concerns. To this, he replied, ‘I do not know any here, however, you can find plenty if you look up Aga Khan Awards.’ It is a sad commentary on the state of architecture. Let us begin do something about it,” said Mahendra.