Long before he ever stepped into an architecture classroom, Vandan was already sketching out blueprints for a house he hoped to build one day. That early, intuitive curiosity about how spaces work ultimately shaped his entire career. Before moving to the U.S., Vandan built a strong professional foundation as a licensed architect in India, where his undergraduate thesis even took home a prestigious National Award from the Council of Architecture. He went on to earn his Master of Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology, where his design work won top project honors, and his natural leadership led him to found the Project Management Excellence Club and intern for the City of Chicago’s planning department.
Vandan was naturally drawn to the Pacific Northwest because of its forward-thinking, sustainable approach to urban design. At Freiheit, he blends his eye for graphic design and photography with a fascinating obsession with geometry and spatial systems. What really excites him about the profession is its scale of impact—the idea that a single line drawn on paper can change how thousands of people navigate and experience a city. He brings this big-picture, holistic thinking to our multifamily residential projects, ensuring every design hooks into the broader neighborhood to improve walkability and community connection.
Outside the studio, Vandan is a dedicated observer of urban life. You’ll often find him exploring Washington’s neighborhoods on foot, sketching, and taking in the city at a slower pace. While he is currently focused on wrapping up his Washington state architectural licensure, his ultimate bucket-list goals are to use design to create a lasting social impact in dense urban spaces, and to continue traveling the world to build a personal, hand-sketched album of his favorite global cities.
