Rajnish Wattas is the former principal of the Chandigarh College of Architecture and currently  visiting professor at various institutions and forums. An architectural historian, critic, author and modern heritage expert, he has researched on Chandigarh’s architecture and landscape design intensively. For his pioneering work on ‘Trees as Elements of Urban Environment in Chandigarh he was awarded Masters in Architecture degree by the Queensland University, Australia. He has authored a huge compendium  of professional writings in journals like Architecture+Design, Architectural Digest, Inside-Outside, Architect’s Newspaper, New York and Landscape Journal. Besides writing for professional journals, he has also published prolifically –hundreds of commentaries, essays, book reviews, travelogues and features in leading journals and newspapers such as: The Tribune, Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express and The Hindu. He is co-author of two books ‘Trees of Chandigarh’ and ‘Sukhna — Sublime Lake of Chandigarh’ and co-editor of a seminal book ‘LE CORBUSIER REDISCOVERD: Chandigarh and Beyond.

Widely travelled, he has lectured at numerous prestigious forums in India and abroad including the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, The American Institute of Architects, New York and the Illinois Institute of Technology IIT, Chicago and recently at the Illinois Architecture Study Abroad Program at Barcelona-El Vallès, among others. On various expert groups, he was a team member of the ‘Master Plan of Chandigarh – 2031’ and currently a member of the ‘Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee’ that oversees all heritage issues of the city. He is also on the Expert Group for Futuristic Tree Plantation for Chandigarh. He was till recently on the Governor’s Advisory Council for arts, heritage and tourism in Chandigarh and is the founder-President of the ‘Chandigarh Tree Lovers’ group, that promotes awareness about Chandigarh’s Trees.

As a multifaceted personality he has keen interest in the arts and was the first Director of the renovated Tagore Theatre. An acclaimed photographer he has held numerous well received photo exhibitions and contributed to photo publications