Gita Balakrishnan

Architect and Founder of Ethos

Visiting & Regular Faculty

Gita Balakrishnan, founder of Ethos, is currently en route her journey on foot from
Kolkata to Dhaka to showcase the essence of unity through design. Earlier this year she
completed a 1700km journey on foot from Kolkata to New Delhi to raise awareness on
the role good design can play in changing lives. ‘Walk for Arcause’ is a campaign that
aims to take thoughtful, empathetic and sustainable design ideas to the masses,
focussing on the difference architects and designers have made, through their holistic
interventions, in different spheres of life. The overall intent of ‘Walk for Arcause’ is to
bring the focus on architects in the social realm and on architectural social
responsibility.

A graduate from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, Gita Balakrishnan
completed practical training at the Centre for Building Performance and Diagnostics at
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. She underwent a training programme on
Stabilized Mud Blocks and other alternative methods of construction at Indian Institute
of Science Bangalore. She worked with an NGO, AVAS – as a shelter coordinator in the
slums of Bangalore. She is now a trustee of AVAS, Indian Heritage Cities Network
Foundation and Ethos Foundation. She started Ethos in 2002 with the intention of
making the architectural and civil engineering community alive to the changes
happening globally and in our country in the field of architecture and construction.
Ethos launched ACEDGE in August 2018 – to offer online EDucation modules that give
the EDGE in the field of Architecture, Construction, Engineering and Design. Gita was in
the Shortlist of the top 25 People in Kolkata in the Lead India Campaign by The Times of
India.\
An avid runner, she has completed three full marathons and multiple half marathons.