Architect Habeeb Khan, graduated in architecture from VNIT (formerly VRCE) and went to the USA, where he completed his masters in architectural design from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After his masters degree he worked in Philadelphia, coordinating major retail design projects for retail giants across the world.
He returned to India in 1990 and started his own private practice. He was awarded the JIIA best interior Design award by the Indian Institute of Architects in 1998 and IIA-KAFF young architects award in 2000. He was also awarded the Orange City Achievement award in 2009 and State level excellence in architecture and education award by the IIA Maharashtra Chapter in 2011. Recently he and Smita were awarded the prestigious INTBAU award 2018 for large scale promotion of traditional and vernacular architecture in the world. INTBAU is an organisation promoted by HRH Prince Charles and their JD campus project was awarded the excellence award in the new building category.
Architecture to him is a passion, total commitment and something to enjoy and indulge in. He is fiercely committed to architecture being contextual and relevant. He believes that architecture shall be responsive to traditions, climate, context and be environmentally and ecologically responsible. His architecture is organic, traditional, contextual and contemporary. His architectural practice Smita & Habeeb Khan Architects, mostly deals with campus designs, institutions and wildlife resorts. He has worked with major hospitality groups like Taj, Citrus, Mahua and Celebrations and few major campuses in central India.
Habeeb has been invited to many national and international conferences as keynote speaker. Some of the few are IIA NATCON 2009, Nagpur and 2012 in Raipur, IIID NATCON at Goa 2008, Kolhapur 2014 and Indore2015, Chitale Endowment lecture Anna University Chennai,and the IIID Design Yatra in about 12 cities. He was also invited to speak at international conferences of IAPS, Glasgow 2012, Degrowth 2012 Venice and Degrowth 2016 Budapest.
Architect Habeeb Khan is also involved in teaching since the beginning of his career. He has been taking guest lectures and engaging design studios in architectural colleges all over the country, apart from juries and examinations. He is currently the Director at Priyadarshini Institute of Architecture and Design Studies (PIADS), Nagpur, and Lokmanya Tilak Institute of Architecture & Design Studies (LTIADS), Mumbai. His Design teaching revolves around sensitizing students towards their own heritage and roots, context and climate within the frame work of being contemporary. Habeeb has actively been working with the Govt. of Maharashtra on few policy framing guidelines. He has also been nominated by the Govt. of Maharashtra, on the Council of Architecture. He is the former President of the Council of Architecture and is currently the Chairman Board of Governors SPA Delhi. He is Prof. Emiritus at MSAJAA, Chennai and Member, Global advisory board of University of Maryland USA. Habeeb is also Member Advisory Board of NBA Architecture UG and Symbiosis Skills University, Pune.
Habeeb is an avid painter and has exhibited his paintings on Mahabharata, Ramayan and Kabir. He also dabbles in poetry and has written songs for IIID Natcon Indore, Design Yatra and IIA centenary anthem and the theme song for "Beti-Bachao-Beti Padhao" campaign.