Principal Profile
Sandhya Sood, Principal at accent is a licensed architect, exhibited artist, certified green building professional (CGBP) and contributing author of Le Corbusier, Chandigarh and the Modern City.
Born in East Africa, Sandhya studied architecture in Chandigarh, the iconic modern city in India designed by European architects. This multicultural experience has facilitated an expertise of incorporating sustainable design practices and place making of the traditional and vernacular with contemporary architecture and urbanism. Leading a successful practice for over ten years in the US and in India, Sandhya also integrates new with re-use and alternative building technologies with hands on indigenous construction using low energy materials such as masonry, concrete and rammed earth.
As a community designer at Urban Ecology, she presented neighborhood revitalization strategies at community workshops in Oakland. As a project manager at Fisher Friedman Associates (FFA) in San Francisco, she led technical specifications for the Peninsula Jewish Community Center. In India, she was an intern with Raj Rewal and later taught architectural design studio at the undergraduate level. An invited critic at universities and speaker at professional organizations, Sandhya is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the California Preservation Foundation and Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.
Her research evaluates urban housing typologies for change in living patterns, passive climate control, movement hierarchies and socio-spatial qualities of private and public open spaces. in the investigation of a new paradigm of sustainable architecture and urbanism.
Sandhya has a Masters in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley.
