IIT Kharagpur Offers 10 Free Online Architecture Courses, Apply by Aug 18

• IIT Kharagpur offers 10 free online architecture courses via NPTEL.
• 2 courses open for enrollment till Aug 18, rest self-paced.
• Covers planning, acoustics, heritage, materials, and sustainability.

IIT Kharagpur has offered 10 online free courses in architecture and planning on the NPTEL platform. Today, these offerings contain two programs that now have open enrolments—Inclusive Planning & Universal Design and Architectural Acoustics programs which continue available for enrolment until August 18, 2025 whereas the other eight programs are available at any time for self-paced learning.

Here’s a quick course overview:

• Inclusive Planning & Universal Design (Prof. Haimanti Banerji): Focuses on creating accessible public spaces, featuring global and Indian design principles. Duration: Aug–Sept 2025; final exam on Nov 2, 2025.
   
• Architectural Acoustics (Profs. Sumana Gupta & Shankha Pratim Bhattacharya): Covers sound physics, room acoustics, and noise control key for designing effective lectures halls and performance venues. Duration: Aug–Oct 2025; exam: Nov 2, 2025.
   

The rest of the courses are: Landscape Architecture & Site Planning -- Basic Fundamentals (Prof. Uttam Kumar Banerjee): Investigates planting design, vegetation management, and climate resilience. Architectural Conservation & Historic Preservation (Prof. Sanghamitra Basu): Covers international conservation frameworks and heritage-preservation issues facing India. Environmental Soil Chemistry (Prof. Somsubhra Chakraborty): Covers the chemistry of soil and soil remediation--a core area of knowledge for getting started with site planning.

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Building Materials and Composites (Prof. Sumana Gupta): Covers both traditional and advanced building materials, including nano-composites and installation methods. Structural System in Architecture (Prof. Sankha Pratim Bhattacharya): Applies architectural design with techniques regarding engineering's role related to structural selection and communication.

Urban Land Use & Transportation Planning (Prof. Debapratim Pandit): Covers smart cities, transport modelling, as well as emergent mobility trends for example, shared transport, Urban Services Planning (Prof. Debapratim Pandit): Equips learners to design and assess urban systems such as waste management and fire service, Urban Utilities Planning: Water Supply, Sanitation & Drainage (Prof. Debapratim Pandit): Studies sustainable systems design and blue-green infrastructure.

NPTEL allows free auditing of all content, with a certificate available on passing a proctored exam (usually ₹1,000).