Women Architects and Modernism in India: Narratives and Contemporary Practices (Visual and Media Histories) [1 ed.] 0367177439, 9780367177430

Studies on architecture in South Asia continue to ignore women in canonical histories of the discipline. This book attem

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Women Architects and Modernism in India: Narratives and Contemporary Practices (Visual and Media Histories) [1 ed.]
 0367177439, 9780367177430

Table of contents :
Cover
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
List of plates
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Part I Introduction
Part II Modernism, architecture and women in India
Part III Early narratives
1 Perin Jamshedji Mistri
2 Urmila Eulie Chowdhury
3 Gira Sarabhai
4 Pravina Mehta
5 Hema Sankalia
6 Hema Patel
7 Madhu Sarin
Part IV Contemporary practices
8 Minakshi Jain
9 Renu Mistry
10 Namita Singh
11 Brinda Somaya
12 Neera Adarkar
13 Meena Mani
14 Parul Zaveri
15 Nalini Thakur
16 Revathi Kamath
17 Sheila Sri Prakash
18 Vandana Ranjitsinh
19 Anjali Yagnik
20 Sujatha Shankar
21 Sonali Bhagwati
22 Suhasini Ayer-Guigan
23 Canna Patel
24 Chitra Vishwanath
25 Shimul Javeri Kadri
26 Samira Rathod
27 Pratima Joshi
28 Gurmeet Rai
29 Anupama Kundoo
30 Latha Raman Jaigopal
31 Mona Doctor-Pingel
32 Nisha Mathew
33 Shikha Jain
34 Archana Chaudhary
35 Shilpa Ranade
Part V Towards conclusions
Appendix
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

Women Architects and Modernism in India

Studies on architecture in South Asia continue to ignore women in canonical histories of the discipline. This book attempts to recover the stories of the women architects whose careers nearly parallel the development of modernism in colonial and postcolonial India. Writing their experiences into the narrative of mainstream architectural history within the challenge of non-existent archives, it sheds light on seven pioneering women who broke male bastions to go beyond the traditional confines of the era from the 1940s onwards. The author also examines 28 contemporary practices to demonstrate the ways in which architectural modernism in India was shaped by the contribution of women. The book uses a format that weaves together social, professional and biographical factors into a productive account; pluralizes various concepts of design; and redefines the idea of ‘work’ of women through a greater range of activities, including pedagogy, mentoring and activism. Alluding to challenges faced by women, the study celebrates practices in diverse regional settings even as the designers move in transnational contexts in an increasingly globalizing India. Extensively illustrated, featuring drawings and photographs, this book will be a milestone in the modernist narrative of South Asia and will be of interest to scholars and researchers of architecture, gender studies, modern Indian history and sociology. Madhavi Desai is an adjunct faculty member at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT (Center for Environmental Planning and Technology) University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. She is the author of Traditional Architecture: House Form of the Islamic Community of the Bohras in Gujarat (2008); co-author of Architecture and Independence: The Search for Identity, India 1880 to 1980 (1997), The Bungalow in Twentieth-Century India: The Cultural Expression of Changing Ways of Life and Aspirations in the Domestic Architecture of Colonial and Post-colonial Society (2012) and Architectural Heritage of Gujarat: Interpretation, Appreciation, Values (2012); and editor of Women and the Built Environment in India (2007).

Visual and Media Histories Series Editor: Monica Juneja, University of Heidelberg

This series takes as its starting point notions of the visual, and of vision, as central in producing meanings, maintaining aesthetic values, and relations of power. Through individual studies, it hopes to chart the trajectories of the visual as an activating principle of history. An important premise here is the conviction that the making, theorising, and historicising of images do not exist in exclusive distinction of one another. Opening up the field of vision as an arena in which meanings get constituted simultaneously anchors vision to other media such as audio, spatial, and the dynamics of spectatorship. It calls for closer attention to inter-textual and inter-pictorial relationships through which ever-accruing layers of readings and responses are brought alive. Through its regional focus on South Asia the series locates itself within a prolific field of writing on non-Western cultures, which have opened the way to pluralise iconographies, and to perceive temporalities as scrambled and palimpsestic. These studies, it is hoped, will continue to reframe debates and conceptual categories in visual histories. The importance attached here to investigating the historical dimensions of visual practice implies close attention to specific local contexts which intersect and negotiate with the global, and can re-constitute it. Examining the ways in which different media are to be read into and through one another would extend the thematic range of the subjects to be addressed by the series to include those which cross the boundaries that once separated the privileged subjects of art historical scholarship from the popular – sculpture, painting, and monumental architecture – from other media: studies of film, photography, and prints, on the one hand; advertising, television, posters, calendars, comics, buildings, and cityscapes on the other. Also in this series: No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: The Museum in South Asia Edited by Saloni Mathur and Kavita Singh Modern Art in Pakistan: History, Tradition, Place Simone Wille Garden Landscape Practices in Pre-colonial India: Histories from the Deccan Edited by Daud Ali and Emma J. Flatt Women Architects and Modernism in India Madhavi Desai Barefoot Across the Nation: Maqbool Fida Hussain and the Idea of India Edited by Sumathi Ramaswamy (Not for sale in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh)

Women Architects and Modernism in India Narratives and contemporary practices

Madhavi Desai

First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Madhavi Desai The right of Madhavi Desai to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-21069-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-45465-8 (ebk) Typeset in Goudy by Apex CoVantage, LLC

For Miki Desai, my friend and partner in life

Contents List of plates

ix

Foreword by Monica Juneja

xix

Acknowledgements

xxi

PART I

Introduction1 PART II

Modernism, architecture and women in India PART III

Early narratives   1 Perin Jamshedji Mistri   2 Urmila Eulie Chowdhury   3 Gira Sarabhai   4 Pravina Mehta    5 Hema Sankalia   6 Hema Patel   7 Madhu Sarin PART IV

Contemporary practices   8 Minakshi Jain   9 Renu Mistry 10 Namita Singh 11 Brinda Somaya 12 Neera Adarkar 13 Meena Mani 14 Parul Zaveri 15 Nalini Thakur 16 Revathi Kamath 17 Sheila Sri Prakash 18 Vandana Ranjitsinh 19 Anjali Yagnik

17 45 47 53 58 64 70 76 79 83 85 97 106 116 126 136 147 157 167 178 189 200

viii  | Contents

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Sujatha Shankar Sonali Bhagwati Suhasini Ayer-Guigan Canna Patel Chitra Vishwanath Shimul Javeri Kadri Samira Rathod Pratima Joshi Gurmeet Rai Anupama Kundoo Latha Raman Jaigopal Mona Doctor-Pingel Nisha Mathew Shikha Jain Archana Chaudhary Shilpa Ranade 

PART V

212 224 234 246 257 267 279 289 299 310 322 333 344 356 366 377

Towards conclusions

389

Appendix

396

Bibliography

402

Index

405

Plates    I.1    I.2    I.3    I.4    I.5    II.1    II.2    II.3    II.4    II.5    II.6    II.7    II.8    II.9    II.10    II.11    II.12    II.13    II.14   1.1   1.2   1.3   1.4   1.5   1.6   1.7   2.1   2.2   2.3   2.4

The interior of a Bhunga in Kutch Architectural students in class at CEPT University, Ahmedabad Men at a tea stall Women labourers on site An architect’s office Unit d’Habitation by Le Corbusier, Berlin, 1957 The Music College by R. F. Chisholm, Baroda, c. 1910 An Art Deco building, Mumbai A family c. 1912 in India The wearing of Khadi during freedom struggle The Secretariat by Le Corbusier, Chandigarh, 1953 The School of Architecture, CEPT University, by Dr B. V. Doshi, Ahmedabad, 1968 Own house by Laurie Baker, Thiruvananthapuram, 1974 The Ahmedabad Management Association by Dr Bimal Patel, Ahmedabad, 2000 Perin Mistri Bakhle House, Pune, 1966 by Hema Sankalia and Pravina Mehta Gira Sarabhai & Buckminster Fuller in 1971 Goa Institute of Technology, Library, Goa, by Brinda Somaya Kamath House, Bedroom interior, Anangpur, 1996 Perin Jamshedji Mistri Khatau Mills Borivali Extension, Mumbai Cable Corporation of India, Mumbai Ganges Printing Inks, Mumbai Entrance canopy, St Stephens Church, Mumbai Altar and pulpit, St Stephens Church, Mumbai St Stephens Church, Mumbai Urmila Eulie Chowdhury The front view of Government Polytechnic College for Women, Chandigarh, 1961 The master play of balconies and columns in Hostel Block, Government Home Science College, Chandigarh, 1961 The sculpturesque fire escape staircase in concrete in Government Home Science College, Chandigarh, 1961

4 6 8 10 10 20 21 22 24 25 28 28 30 31 34 35 36 38 41 47 48 49 49 50 51 52 53 55 56 56

x  | Plates

  3.1   3.2   3.3   3.4   3.5   4.1   4.2   4.3   4.4   4.5   5.1   5.2   5.3   5.4   5.5   5.6   6.1   7.1   8.1   8.2   8.3   8.4   8.5   8.6   8.7   8.8   8.9   8.10   8.11   8.12   9.1   9.2   9.3   9.4   9.5   9.6   9.7   9.8   9.9   9.10 10.1 10.2 10.3

Gira Sarabhai 58 Gira and Gautam Sarabhai with the Eames Office team at NID in 1964 59 House at Hansol, Ahmedabad 60 View of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, 1961 61 Extension to Vikram and Mrinalini Sarabhai house, Ahmedabad, 1954 62 Pravina Mehta 64 Study for New Bombay plan 66 Advani Oerlikon Electrodes Factory, Chinchwad, 1962 67 Shree Kirtan Kendra, Mumbai, 1989 68 The Patel House, Kihim, 1962 69 Hema Sankalia 70 Plan of the house for Mrs Rama Bakhle, Pune, 1966 71 House for Mrs Rama Bakhle, Pune, 1966 72 Frontage of LIG Housing, CIDCO, Navi Mumbai 72 Inner street of LIG/MIG Housing, CIDCO, Navi Mumbai 73 Master plan of CIDCO Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, c. 1985–86 74 Hema Patel 76 Madhu Sarin 79 Minakshi Jain 85 Fort of Bambora, site plan 88 Fort of Bambora, ground floor plan 88 Fort of Bambora, ramp entrance to the palace 89 Fort of Bambora, Jharokha90 Fort of Bambora, repeated historic pattern 91 Aerial view of Nagaur 92 Fort of Nagaur, fort wall 93 Fort of Nagaur, plan of the baradari (a pavillion space for informal meeting) 94 Fort of Nagaur, rectangular baradari – after removing walls, 2006 95 Fort of Nagaur, Abha Mahal view 95 Fort of Nagaur, Bakhat Singh Mahal at night after conservation 96 Renu Mistry 97 Aste Bar, section and plan 100 Aste Bar, recycled aircraft chairs 100 Aste Bar, parts used in wall murals 101 Aste Bar, spent missiles as bar stools 102 Villa 85, Laughing Waters ground floor plan 103 Villa 85, Laughing Waters roof garden 104 Villa 85, Laughing Waters sculptures in the court 104 Villa 85, Laughing Waters detail of bar counter 105 Villa 85, Laughing Waters interior detail 105 Namita Singh 106 INHS Asvini Hospital, master plan 109 INHS Asvini Hospital, a large recreational area created near seafront 110

Plates  |  xi 

10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 11.9 11.10 11.11 11.12 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 13.10 13.11 13.12

INHS Asvini Hospital, low-key facade as a quiet backdrop to the heritage structure110 Naval Academy, master plan 111 Naval Academy, aerial view 112 Naval Academy, northern entry 112 Naval Academy, southern entry 113 Naval Academy, the well-lit interior of the cadets’ mess 113 Naval Academy, interior of the covered link 114 Brinda Somaya 116 Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, rehabilitated village rebuilt in existing footprint 119 Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, plan 120 Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, view of the school 120 Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, corridors and pergolas provided for shading 121 Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, punctures on school walls facilitating ventilation 121 Nalanda International School, master plan 122 Nalanda International School, a view of the entrance 123 Nalanda International School, a view of the interior courtyard 123 Nalanda International School, hallway revealing jali detail in brick work 124 Nalanda International School, senior school with double-height pergola roofs 124 Nalanda International School, junior school, multifunctional corridor spaces 125 Neera Adarkar 126 Yuva Centre, entrance plaza 130 Yuva Centre, ground floor plan 131 Yuva Centre, section BB 131 Yuva Centre, fluidity within 132 Yuva Centre, spaces within building overlooking plaza and courtyard 133 Yuva Centre, stairs leading to entrance plaza 133 Book cover, Chawls of Mumbai: Galleries of Life 135 Meena Mani 136 Indian Institute of Management, site plan 139 Indian Institute of Management, site section 139 Indian Institute of Management, view of academic buildings from housing hill 140 Indian Institute of Management, covered link on academic hill 141 Indian Institute of Management, detail of library roof 142 Delhi Public School, site plan 143 Delhi Public School, the school building seen across the main sports field 143 Delhi Public School, amphitheatre with main dining block stair as stage 144 Delhi Public School, the hub connecting administrative block and classroom wing 144 Delhi Public School, the hub 145 Delhi Public School, serpentine stair 146

xii  | Plates

14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 14.8 14.9 14.10 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4

Parul Zaveri Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, entrance before restoration Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, entrance after restoration Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, around the inner court after restoration Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, detail Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, entrance facade after restoration Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, entrance facade before restoration Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, from the inner court after restoration Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, from the inner court before restoration Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, inner hall after restoration Nalini Thakur George V canopy, Delhi Chaumachi Khan tomb, Delhi Interior of Chausath Khamba, high Mughal tomb in Nizamuddin Basti, Delhi 15.5 The prayer wall of mosaic tiles set in sandstone of Ataga Khan’s tomb, Delhi, Mehrauli 15.6 Rajon ki Bains baoli part of a complex water network system, Delhi 15.7 Thakur with her students 15.8 Syllabus at a glance I 15.9 Syllabus at a glance II 16.1 Revathi Kamath 16.2 View of the Gateway of Tamnar 16.3 The Gateway, view from under the Gateway 16.4 The Gateway, relation to skyline 16.5 The Gateway, view of 3D construction model 16.6 The Gateway, construction sequence 16.7 Museum of Tribal Heritage, site plan 16.8 Museum of Tribal Heritage, north zone gallery internal elevations 16.9 Museum of Tribal Heritage, external view 16.10 Museum of Tribal Heritage, main corridor from courtyard at ground level 17.1 Sheila Sri Prakash 17.2 XS Pallava Heights, third-floor plan 17.3 XS Pallava Heights, elevation 17.4 XS Pallava Heights, aerial view – pool and building mass 17.5 XS Pallava Heights, facade view 17.6 XS Pallava Heights, Pallava portal 17.7 Cholamandal Artists Village, ground floor 17.8 Cholamandal Artists Village, elevation 17.9 Cholamandal Artists Village, entrance courtyard 17.10 Cholamandal Artists Village, the gallery 17.11 Cholamandal Artists Village, linking plaza 18.1 Vandana Ranjitsinh

147 151 151 152 153 154 154 155 155 156 157 160 161 162 163 164 165 165 166 167 170 171 172 173 174 175 175 176 176 178 181 182 182 183 184 185 185 186 187 188 189

Plates  |  xiii 

18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 18.8 18.9 18.10 18.11 18.12 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7 19.8 19.9 19.10 19.11 19.12 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4

Machaan, view from the south Machaan, ground floor Machaan, section Machaan, view from the driveway Machaan, main entrance and dining pavilion Fountainhead Centre for Learning, concept plan Fountainhead Centre for Learning, elevation from dining and club house Fountainhead Centre for Learning, staircase bay in residential block Fountainhead Centre for Learning, dining room Fountainhead Centre for Learning, pool Fountainhead Centre for Learning, guest cottages Anjali Yagnik Sasken Corporate Office, site plan Sasken Corporate Office, typical floor plan Sasken Corporate Office, view Sasken Corporate Office, entrance Sasken Corporate Office, internal courtyard Sasken Corporate Office, night view Esperanza apartments and row houses, typical floor plan Esperanza apartments and row houses, a view of the apartments Esperanza apartments and row houses, a view of the pool Esperanza apartments and row houses, bird’s-eye view of the row houses Esperanza apartments and row houses, a typical bungalow Sujatha Shankar Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, site plan Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, ground and first floors Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, deck wrapping around the conservatory sun room 20.5 Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, the textures of natural stone and wood 20.6 Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, main entrance 20.7 Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, the view after sundown 20.8 Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, ground floor 20.9 Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, entrance steps and ramp for the differently abled 20.10 Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, corner view 20.11 Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, functions grouped around central courtyard 20.12 Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, artwork 21.1 Sonali Bhagwati 21.2 Office in Delhi, ground floor plan 21.3 Office in Delhi, visitors’ lounge: a punch of colour 21.4 Office in Delhi, a free-standing island 21.5 Office in Delhi, tree of life: a staircase

192 193 194 194 195 195 196 196 197 198 199 200 203 204 205 205 206 207 208 208 209 210 210 212 215 216 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 222 223 224 227 228 229 230

xiv  | Plates

21.6 21.7 21.8 21.9 21.10 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8 22.9 22.10 22.11 22.12 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 23.7 23.8 23.9 23.10 23.11 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 24.7 24.8 24.9 24.10 24.11 24.12

Office in Delhi, the art wall DLF Sales Office, Gurgaon, fluid lines of the cafe juxtaposed against severe geometry DLF Sales Office, Gurgaon, the deconstructed facade at the entrance DLF Sales Office, Gurgaon, the cafe lounge DLF Sales Office, Gurgaon, palm trees fringing the water body and the floating pavilions Suhasini Ayer-Guigan Centre Guest House, site plan Centre Guest House, elevations and section Centre Guest House, cottage Centre Guest House, a smaller cottage Centre Guest House, balcony to garden view Visitors Centre, site plan Visitors Centre, elevations Visitors Centre, entrance view Visitors Centre, amphitheatre court Visitors Centre, arcade around the amphitheatre Visitors Centre, audiovisual room Canna Patel Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, site plan Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, elevation Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, nestled within the existing landscape Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, combining dining and sitting spaces Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, outdoor living areas Alliance Francaise, ground floor plan Alliance Francaise, the glass facade in the north Alliance Francaise, the attractive double-height entry Alliance Francaise, the bold use of the red grabs the attention of the viewers Alliance Francaise, a green screen that protects from the sun Chitra Vishwanath Our Native Village, site plan Our Native Village, main building plan Our Native Village, bedroom Our Native Village, the courtyard Our Native Village, the bio-pool Our Native Village, details of the porch Forysth Lodge, site plan Forysth Lodge, elevation Forysth Lodge, cottage cluster Forysth Lodge, room and verandah in the evening Forysth Lodge, interior of cottage

231 231 232 232 233 234 237 238 239 240 241 242 242 243 243 244 245 246 250 251 251 252 252 253 254 254 255 255 257 260 261 261 262 262 263 264 265 265 265 266

Plates  |  xv 

25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 25.5 25.6 25.7 25.8 25.9 25.10 25.11 25.12 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 26.6 26.7 26.8 26.9 26.10 26.11 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 27.6 27.7 27.8 27.9 27.10 27.11 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 28.6 28.7

Shimul Javeri Kadri Synergy Lifestyles, plan Synergy Lifestyles, section Synergy Lifestyles, stone gable wall Synergy Lifestyles, the lunch area Synergy Lifestyles, terracota vaulted roof Nirvana Films Office, site plan Nirvana Films Office, plan at second level Nirvana Films Office, view from the common lobby Nirvana Films Office, staircase Nirvana Films Office, west elevation Nirvana Films Office, south elevation Samira Rathod Mariwalla House, master plan Mariwalla House, panoramic view Mariwalla House, from the lawns Mariwalla House, interior bedroom Mariwalla House, the pool Broacha House, plan Broacha House, elevations Broacha House, external view Broacha House, interior view Broacha House, sit-out with a sloping roof Pratima Joshi Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, panoramic view Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, ground-floor plan Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, first-floor plan Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, section Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, a decorated kitchen Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, external view Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, side view Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, view of the internal courtyard Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, view of a house unit Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, view of a living space Gurmeet Rai Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, city plan Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, plan Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, panoramic view showing a moat Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, colonial bungalow on the Sikh plinth after structural conservation Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, masons at work Guru Ki Maseet, site plan

267 270 270 271 271 272 274 275 276 276 277 278 279 282 283 283 284 284 285 286 287 287 288 289 292 292 293 294 294 295 296 297 297 298 299 302 303 304 304 305 306

xvi  | Plates

28.8 28.9 28.10 28.11 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 29.6 29.7 29.8 29.9 29.10 29.11 29.12 30.1 30.2 30.3

Guru Ki Maseet, study of the elevation Guru Ki Maseet, first phase of project Guru Ki Maseet, Maseet with historic gate Guru Ki Maseet, artwork inside Maseet Anupama Kundoo Wall House, ground floor Wall House, external view Wall House, construction Wall House, bathroom Wall House, another view of the bathroom House partially re-created in the Biennale of Venice, 2012 Urban Eco-community, plan Urban Eco-community, diagrams Urban Eco-community, external view Urban Eco-community, view of the entrance corridors Urban Eco-community, internal view Latha Raman Jaigopal Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, site plan Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, free-flowing forms with brick, stone and RCC filler slab 30.4 Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, sunshades and wide overhangs protect and shade the wall 30.5 Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, jali wall in brick masonry 30.6 Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, the rainwater harvesting lake of 50 lakh litre capacity 30.7 Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, site plan 30.8 Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, the Chittoor palace and garden court 30.9 Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, plans 30.10 Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, the ‘Oottupura’ houses the dining and kitchen areas 30.11 Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, the verandah protects the living areas from rain and sunshine 30.12 Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, bedroom 31.1 Mona Doctor-Pingel 31.2 Cottage Restaurant, plan 31.3 Cottage Restaurant, sections 31.4 Cottage Restaurant, interior view of entrance 31.5 Cottage Restaurant, entrance foyer 31.6 Cottage Restaurant, detail 31.7 Temple Tree Retreat, plan 31.8 Temple Tree Retreat, elevation and section 31.9 Temple Tree Retreat, cottages and meditation space

306 307 308 308 310 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 319 320 320 321 322 325 326 326 327 327 328 329 330 331 331 332 333 336 337 337 338 338 340 341 341

Plates  |  xvii 

31.10 31.11 31.12 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 32.5 32.6 32.7 32.8 32.9 32.10 32.11 32.12 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 33.5 33.6 33.7 33.8 33.9 33.10 33.11 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 34.6 34.7 34.8 34.9 34.10 34.11 34.12 35.1 35.2 35.3

Temple Tree Retreat, courtyard of main building Temple Tree Retreat, meditation space Temple Tree Retreat, night view of meditation space Nisha Mathew Candy Tripetal, handcrafted display object designed by Mathew Bethel Baptist Church, plan Bethel Baptist Church, east elevation Bethel Baptist Church, external view Bethel Baptist Church, internal view Bethel Baptist Church, view of the entrance space Raju Mahtani House, ground floor Raju Mahtani House, external view Raju Mahtani House, view of the pool in the front Raju Mahtani House, detail Raju Mahtani House, internal view Shikha Jain Ghat ki Guni, aerial view of Rajniwas Ghat ki Guni, mandir Shri Janaki Vallabhji, proposed reuse as a crafts area Ghat ki Guni, Rajniwas exterior wall prior to conservation, 2007 Ghat ki Guni, Rajniwas exterior wall after conservation, 2009 Ghat ki Guni, restored double charbagh (Persian-style quadrilateral garden layout) at Rajniwas Garden City Palace Complex, Manek Chowk City Palace Complex, site section looking north, the Badi Mahal is left of the Zenana Mahal City Palace Complex, museum use and circulation City Palace Complex, Badi chitrashali City Palace Complex, colonnaded verandah of south wing of Zenana Mahal Archana Chaudhary Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, master plan Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, view of the house Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, ramp from the plaza Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, view from the plaza Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, details in the landscape Judicial Academy, site plan Judicial Academy, first floor plan Judicial Academy, entrance Judicial Academy, court within the academic block Judicial Academy, details of the ramp in the interior Judicial Academy, residential block Shilpa Ranade Generator House, plan Generator House, elevation

342 342 343 344 346 347 348 349 350 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 359 359 360 360 361 362 363 363 364 364 366 369 370 370 371 371 372 373 374 374 375 376 377 380 381

xviii  | Plates

35.4

Generator House, juxtaposition of warm aggregate finish against industrial galvalium382 35.5 Generator House, ramp leading up to the podium 383 35.6 Generator House, detail 384 35.7 Generator House, inside the bulbous form of the foyer 385 35.8 School of Sciences, plan 385 35.9 School of Sciences, the formal entrance at the north 386 35.10 School of Sciences, the south facade acts as an environmental buffer 386 35.11 School of Sciences, one of the multiple courts with a seminar hall to its left 387 35.12 School of Sciences, the ‘spine’ space within dappled light 388 A.1 Dame Jane Drew 396 A.2 Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh, by Dame Jane Drew 397 398 A.3 Minnette de Silva A.4 Senanayake Flats, Colombo, 1957 399

Foreword

Back in 1971 the art historian Linda Nochlin asked the famous question: ‘Why have there been

no great women artists?’ Some four and a half decades later scholarship in the field of architecture continues to suffer from the amnesia related to women in canonical histories of the discipline. The reasons for forgetting are varied: much of the work of early generations of women architects has passed into oblivion as few archives – the mainstay of historical research – have conserved the records of their activities, making it necessary for anyone wishing to recover the stories of the lives and careers of women architects to look for documentation in places beyond the official archive. More fundamentally, erasure has been built into the conventional frameworks within which both the professional practice of architecture and the figure of the architect have been configured. Much of the writing of architectural histories oscillates between two modes of enquiry: a monographic account celebrating the achievements of an architect conceived of as the sole creator of the entire conception of a building; alternatively, a narrative of style as a form of artistic evolution, largely unconcerned with the everyday context of building and the growth of the architectural profession. Both modes of writing obscure the distributed agency among members of a team of architects, often a single firm that marks modern building practice; further, they overlook the complex dynamics of architectural production that involves the firm, societal expectations, materials, trends and technology. Short architectural histories written in the conventional ‘art history modus’ that places the architect in a lineage of ‘great men’ have ended up excluding women from their accounts, as the latter’s practice has – for both personal and professional reasons – tended to eschew grandiose projects in favour of activities that cannot be accommodated into the straightjacket of the single-subject monographic format. In Women Architects and Modernism in India, the fifth volume of the series Visual and Media Histories, Madhavi Desai seeks to redress this shortcoming, not by offering another story, this time of female pioneers, but by choosing a format that weaves together social, professional and biographical factors into an intricate and productive account that not only demonstrates the diversity of modern architectural practices but uncovers the ways in which architectural modernism in India was shaped by the productive energies of women. By the simple act of writing women’s historical experiences into the existing narrative of mainstream architectural history, this book urges us to rethink the modes of enquiry, procedures and key categories of the discipline and the profession. At one level, the author delves into the real and messy challenges faced by women – both historically and in the present – while carving out a career in architecture. At another level, her investigation uses the practice of the profession by women to productively redefine and pluralize concepts, notably that of work with a view to encompassing and revaluing a greater range of activities, including pedagogy, mentoring or even

xx  | Foreword

environmental activism. The notion of design that international modernism had elevated to the status of a coherent – often ahistorical – philosophy and that had indeed ended up obscuring the eclectic nature of practices in diverse regional settings has been pried open to register the shifting relationship between architecture and design, the latter now understood to absorb elements from genres conventionally separated through taxonomic designations such as craft, landscape, interior or furniture design. By bringing forth a new angle of vision, this history of women architects is valuable in that it enables a re-reading of foundational texts to reveal a richer, more problematic and often more locally grounded narrative of the discipline, even as its practitioners have during the formative years of their careers partaken of global intellectual currents and continue to move in transnational contexts. Any discussion of architecture’s sexual politics both in historical perspective and in the context of ongoing struggles against prevalent gender inequities in the field inevitably draws on the resources made available by feminist movements as a potential force of change. And yet – understandably – many women profiled in this study reject the label of feminism and wish to be seen first and foremost as architects (and not women architects). The research that underpins Desai’s investigation shows that the profession as a whole can envisage more inclusive, experimental and interventionist approaches, only because an earlier generation of feminist thinkers and activists at a regional as well as global level had insisted that building was a quintessentially social and political act. Today the growing urgency of the need for a sustainable, flexible and environmentally sensitive architectural culture is a shared concern among women and men, for which an inclusive professional space becomes an important premise. Feminism, a movement grounded on the possibility of change, and with a history of wedding theory to practice, as well as a reservoir of creative strategies based on a fusion of social, environmental and political concerns, could still provide a direction for collective action across the gender divide to meet the challenges of the present. Through its thoughtfully chosen format that profiles the careers and projects of a large number of practitioners in the field, Women Architects and Modernism in India introduces a new narrative method that contributes to making the agency of women in the built environment more readily accessible to a reading community. This study propels us towards the next step, that of translating accessible knowledge into much-needed institutional practice at many levels – in the sphere of teaching curricula in universities and architectural schools, the structures of the professional job market and of reforming work cultures by making them more flexible and responsive to the needs of male and female professionals. Monica Juneja

Acknowledgements

Women students now constitute a majority in most Indian schools of architecture. In my teach-

ing career of over 25 years, I have been shocked to learn that students of architecture find it difficult to name five pioneering or leading women in architecture of India/world. This is a glaring gap in the history of Indian architecture. Women who completed their studies in the 1960s and 1970s have now created a substantial, varied and exciting body of built work in the past three decades. Younger women architects are also coming into their own, having their own practices, working in private or government offices or teaching in the more than 450 educational institutions. Therefore, I felt that this book project was long overdue, especially as I am myself located in the contemporary times.

I have had help from several people in this project. First, I am thankful to Dr Mary Woods of Cornell University with whom I began this research but later on we decided to go our separate ways. We have shared a lot of data we jointly collected though our interpretations may differ. I also acknowledge her funding my two trips to Mumbai and one to Chandigarh/Delhi from Ahmedabad with gratitude. I am grateful to Jaya Bhattacharjee and Amita Sinha for their initial encouragement for the project; to Shilpa Ranade for her comments on the proposal; to Canna Patel for her voluntary and sincere efforts in finding financial support; to Kalpana Korwar for her hospitality, time and again; to Archana Chaudhary for helping me with the Chandigarh data; to Meena Mani and Sridhar Balan for guiding me about publishing; and to Ismet Khambatta, Neera Adarkar and Brinda Somaya for comments on the manuscript as well as for hours of brainstorming over the years. I sincerely thank my dear friend Judy Barille for the final editing for which she is rather overqualified! This research was financially supported in part by Jaquar and Company Pvt. Ltd of Gurgaon and Kich Architectural Products Pvt. Ltd of Rajkot. I am immensely grateful to them for the faith they placed in me and my project. My sincere thanks also go to D & M Building Products Pvt. Ltd of Bengaluru for their support towards publication of the book. It has been a joyous experience to work with younger colleagues. I have been extremely fortunate to have a series of dedicated research assistants who have worked either on this book in particular or on this research in general. I am thankful to Gauri Bharat, Nidhi Bhatnagar, Gauri Gharpure, Nidhi Mittal, Padmapriya Srivatsan, Sagarika Suri and Heta Vyas. I have to single out four very sincere women in particular: Nisha Nair whose insight and diligence took the manuscript much further at crucial stages, Antara Patel who joined me towards the last phase and enthusiastically invested her energy in the project, Sreedevi Anand who gave the final push to patiently and creatively finalize the manuscript and Manuela Senese who patiently prepared it for the publishers.

xxii  | Acknowledgements

Finally, but most important, I am grateful to all the women in architecture who have contributed their time and work generously to this publication in spite of their busy schedules. They made available project material, accompanied by drawings, photographs and basic descriptions (minimally edited by me), in addition to having enormous patience for this long-drawn-out endeavour. This being a largely self-funded project, it took a fairly long time to get completed. I have the honour and privilege of knowing some of the women in the book personally. I also made more friends during the course of writing this book. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity. I remember my late mother, Kaumudini Dalal, for her unquestioning love and emotional support and my late father, Dr Narayan Dalal, for instilling in me a sense of equality, wholeness and integrity. I am deeply thankful to my daughters Ravija and Aatmaja for their belief in me/my work and to my husband and partner Miki Desai not only for generously sharing his architectural photo documentation of 40 years for the book but also for always holding my hand as we went on the feminist journey together; this book is dedicated to him.

Part I

Introduction

I

n the early 1990s, when I was a practising architect in India with a master’s from the United States and a mother of two girls, I had a personal crisis. I suddenly realized that my career had reached nowhere close to what I had imagined it to be in the heady days of being at the top of my class in high school. This dilemma sent me on a search that has taken more than 25 years. During this period, as the cliché goes, the personal became political for me. It has been at times a lonely walk, at other times very enriching and fulfilling, with the collective experience touching other women. This book is a culmination of that long journey that began when my feminist consciousness grew, eventually bringing gender and architecture together in my life. The entire experience has, however, given me tremendous positive energy as my network of women in architecture grew and some of them became close friends for life. It all began when I presented a paper at an Indian Institute of Architects’ seminar in Ahmedabad in 1991 on being a woman in architecture in India. This led to an informal meeting of about 50 women in Ahmedabad forming a loose-affinity organization called Women Architects Forum (WAF). In 1992, WAF had a much larger and more formal gathering at the Kalina Campus of Mumbai University, followed by one major and a few minor events, including my editing the newsletter of WAF from 1993 to 2001 for private circulation.1 However, WAF never grew as a movement, but everyone involved in it took something back from it, directly or indirectly. My interest in women as creators of the built environment was followed by my inquiry into women as consumers of space. Therefore, along with Ismet Khambatta, I organized the first national conference in India on gender and space in Ahmedabad in 2002 called Gender and the Built Environment, which also resulted in my editing a book of the same title. The seeds of this book were, perhaps, planted then.

Women and architecture in India ‘Although women were the original builders . . . in society, they have historically been on the fringe of the architectural profession throughout the world. In fact women have been assigned passive and marginal roles in the intellectual process that differentiated “building” from “architecture”.’2 In India also, from ancient times, the knowledge and the science of town planning and architecture, vastu vidya, was handed down from the sthapati (architect) to the apprentice. Oral traditions got translated into canonical texts and were later interpreted as regional guidebooks.

4  | Introduction In India, women architects are not part of the Indian tradition. The Vastu Shashtras allowed only men to be architects. However, the indigenous traditions have always had women builders participating in the actual creation and production of architectural images through the use of their skills in construction, preparation of materials, rendering and decoration.3

For example, in the Bunni area of Kutch in Gujarat, there is a traditional gender division found in the making of a house (called Bhunga). Men of the family dig the foundations, make mud bricks and do other major building constructions like walls and roofs. Women, on the other hand, are involved in the finishing activities which are artistic in nature and add a sense of aesthetics to the house. They do cow dung plastering of floor and walls as well as mud relief and mirror work on the walls that add a wonderful ambience to the house. Women also white wash the inside of the home and use coloured mud to paint the outside.4 In other traditional building-related and product-making activities, women also play a significant role. For example, all over the subcontinent, women prepare the clay in a potter’s community and also assist the men in the building as well as breaking of the kiln. They colour and pebble glaze the objects produced though the men are in charge at the wheel and the final products are

Plate I.1  The interior of a Bhunga in Kutch Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

Introduction  |  5 

associated with them.5 Women have been part of cultural production for ages. They habitually create household art such as patch work, painting and weaving in their everyday lives. Unfortunately, no one has so far delved into or documented the contribution of women (in visualization and design) in traditional building crafts or building processes. Therefore, in the perception of the society, only men have been strongly associated with the creation of the built environment. In the medieval time, the act of building remained in the hands of various craftsmen guilds until the colonial intervention when modern institutions and disciplines replaced the traditional systems and the professional education of women gradually increased. The discipline of architecture developed a separate identity apart from engineering in India through the 20th century. In the first half of the 19th century, architectural design was largely in the hands of military and other engineers during the colonial rule. In the second half, however, British and other European architects began to execute specific commissions or to set up their own practices. Many Indian architects, educated in India or abroad, joined British firms over the years. As the century progressed, Indian-headed firms challenged the Anglo-Indian offices for professional hegemony.6 Thus, although design is an ancient art in South Asia, the profession of architecture is relatively young. Since architectural production is closely linked to the sociocultural context, the profession has mostly remained the prerogative of men throughout this period, creating a dominant masculine culture as in the other parts of the world. The contribution of women has remained rather vague and marginal even though there is much to celebrate in terms of the achievements of women in architecture in the past few decades. This book attempts to fill this lacuna in the professional landscape.

The need for this book An examination of Indian architectural discourses in history and theory reveals that, for the most part, issues of race, gender or class do not figure in scholarship. However, in a number of disciplines parallel to architecture, scholars have challenged perceived notions of power, form and identity. In philosophy, health, sociology, history and media, feminist thinking has affected the production of knowledge and the modes of representation. In literature as well as cultural, postcolonial and gender studies, to name but a few, the question of ‘difference’ has been explored in new and innovative ways and attempts have been made at reconstructing history from the gender angle. But within the discipline of architecture, its marginalization in oral or written mainstream discussions has affected both theory and practice. This exclusion has also submerged the role of feminist knowledge in the narrative. ‘A systematic consideration of gender is a fundamental condition of any adequate analysis or knowledge of contemporary society.’7 Thus, it is central to architectural thinking to understand the complex involvement of women in architectural production, representation and space utilization.8 This book delves into this contested territory and attempts to bring together the roles of feminism and modernity to the making of architecture. In the past two decades, there has been a sharp increase in the number of women joining architectural degree courses in India. Yet there has certainly been a lack of female presence in the profession. A few successful women architects are taken as evidence that there are no barriers

6  | Introduction

to women’s total acceptance. The gap between politically assumed/constitutionally guaranteed gender equality and the ground reality, though decreasing day by day, is still vast and needs to be recognized. The success stories of women architects are yet to be acknowledged as part of history, theory or the contemporary scene. These are viewed as exceptions. There is a definite absence of role models and mentoring of younger girls by women with achievements.9

A large number of institutions teach architecture in the country at present, where 40% to 60% of the student body admitted each year are women, but only about 15% to 20% are eventually active in the field.10 Though a high number of young women join architectural offices as fresh graduates, they find it hard to keep going due to several reasons discussed later. In the collective consciousness of the society and the profession, the educational environment is gender neutral although women have minimal visibility in the public domain, marginal leadership positions and a noniconic presence. Belonging to the post-feminist generation, the young female students generally believe that equality has been achieved in their world. They are blissfully unaware of any of these issues; the majority are in complete denial and react with resistance and scepticism to them.

Plate I.2  Architectural students in a class at CEPT University, Ahmedabad. Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

Introduction  |  7 

There are a very limited number of single woman-headed large practices in India even today in the 21st century. Women’s practice was almost exclusively associated earlier with domestic architecture and/or interior ‘decoration’. Though the perception of the society is beginning to change, this stereotype dominates in contemporary times. Architecture is a difficult profession as recognized the world over. Setting up one’s own practice is a challenge for all architects. But women face an extra set of battles that raise their dropout rate in the profession. To a certain extent, all architects struggle to survive and excel in a profession where the educational preparation is long . . . the hours are gruelling and the pay is incredibly low. Yet many unrepresented architects [women] face additional hardships, such as isolation, marginalization, stereotyping and discrimination.11

It is difficult for women to realize that they require not only a full-time commitment to their careers but also sophisticated business and management skills in organizing the home as well as office. Shimul Javeri Kadri, featured in this book, feels that young women are left behind in the profession when they have to juggle family and work without adequate support. In other creative professions like media or graphic design, they have a lot more opportunities to lead and have an independent practice. It is primarily because it takes a long time to be recognized in this profession. The period of investing in a woman’s career generally overlaps with having a family and raising children among other things. The long hours and relatively low pay scales are further deterrents. If a break is taken to raise a family, then it is difficult for her to catch up as the situation changes in a few years, in terms of professional set-ups, building technology, materials and even software.12 So what happens to the hundreds of women who graduate every year? Because of architecture’s association with the arts, it falls in the category of design professions, in spite of its close connection with science, engineering and technology. Today, there are only about 30 recognized institutions that teach design (textiles and fashion, graphics, furniture, product, animation, film, etc.).13 In the 1960s and 1970s, there were only a handful. However, these two related disciplines are interlinked, with the field of design having undergone feminization in the second half of the 20th century. Due to the versatile and all-encompassing nature of architectural education, most graduates believe (rightly or wrongly) that they have the ability to shift between them, especially in an age when the clarity between the two is rather ambiguous. Therefore, many graduates of architecture are found to be successful in a variety of design fields. A majority of them typically veer off especially towards interior design. Some architects eventually shift towards graphics, textiles, fashion, photography/film or furniture design when their careers fail to make substantial progress. A number of them go abroad for postgraduation courses or gravitate towards master’s in planning, landscape or conservation in India as a more acceptable option. Some committed architects work with non-governmental organizations, while others opt for public-sector job security that has a daytime work schedule. Many women carve out a place in an alternative/experimental practice or find a career in teaching, research or writing. After being aware of many of their classmates dropping out of the profession due to various reasons, most women architects consider themselves fortunate to be working in the field even if they do not form a part of the mainstream. Thus, in

8  | Introduction

the collective consciousness of the society, women architects are not the norm, while, ideally, architecture should embody all types of diversities.

Women and space Besides being designers/creators, women are consumers of physical space, which is not innate but is the setting of life. The process of building is intrinsically connected to the politics of space in the built environment. Patterns of behaviour are culturally learned and accepted. At various levels, from the city to the neighbourhood and from institutions to the dwelling, the relationship between men and women is expressed in the built form. One finds almost invisible and subtle forms of spatial discrimination towards women. Space is often socially or psychologically off bounds for them. In architectural planning and design practices, women’s needs as consumers/users often remain unaddressed. Most Indian public spaces fall into this category because a majority of women freely use them only while carrying out

Plate I.3  Men at a tea stall Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

Introduction  |  9 

specific tasks. In addition, there are glaring issues of physical safety on streets and open spaces. ‘Women have only conditional access and not claim to city public spaces. Economic and political visibility may have brought increased access to public space, but this has not translated into greater rights to public space for women.’14 In addition, the absence of sufficient public toilets raises serious questions of privacy, health, sanitation and safety for a majority of women in rural and urban India. Patriarchy is strongly manifested in the institution of the family in the Indian society. On the domestic front, a woman is firmly ‘placed’ in the home, which accommodates the male/female dichotomy symbolically and spatially. Still predominantly responsible for bringing up children, a woman is largely bound to the domestic space. She lacks physical (and psychological) space of her own. The kitchen does belong to her but it is associated with the care and ‘service’ of other family members and is not her private zone.15

The non-acceptance of this reality means that in the process of design, the gendered considerations are ignored at various levels, from the residential projects to large-scale physical planning. Thus, ‘although the architectural profession in no way reflects the reality of relations within society, it does to a great degree reflect society’s power structures.’16

Feminism and the profession The concept of feminism is fluid; it changes with time and context. It has long been controversial in postcolonial context in India. The legacy of feminism has played a crucial role in the apparent rejection of the term and/or movement, especially in disciplines connected with the built environment mainly because of the problematic construction of feminism along the lines of a Eurocentric liberalism as understood by the society. As Bhasin and Khan explain, While the term feminism may be foreign, (it comes from the French word femme) the concept stands for a transformational process, a process which started in South Asia in the 19th century as an organised and articulated stand against women’s subordination. Thus feminism was not artificially imposed here, nor was it a foreign ideology.17

Architecture is assumed to be a visual and creative field, and its connection with women’s study is almost non-existent. The gendering of architecture is also not straightforward since the values and ideologies it embodies are seen as universal and are normally accepted as gender-free. ‘The gender issues surrounding architecture are extraordinarily complex and frequently, highly emotionally charged.’18 Men and women strongly believe in the neutrality of the profession. A majority of women prefer to call themselves ‘architects’ and not ‘women architects’ as all practitioners have had an impartial training. Most successful women in architecture do not see any connection with the women’s movement19 (and its benefits) and also distance themselves from feminism.20 Even if they are somewhat conscious of the issues of gender discrimination, they perceive it as being outside the profession and in the social realm.21 They prefer to associate with humanism, which is broad and inclusive. Though they empathize with women’s issues, most women say,

Plate I.4  Women labourers on site Photo courtesy of Siva Namberi

Plate I.5  An architect’s office Photo courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Introduction  |  11 

‘I have never personally come across any problem of being a woman in the profession.’ They strongly feel that gender is more a state of the mind and should not be used as an escape.22 They want to do good-quality work which speaks about their place in the profession and be judged on a level playing field. They also want to have fair conditions for competing for projects necessary for advancement. Many women profiled in this book belong to this school of thought and expressed a strong resistance to this categorization. They were also not very comfortable with the personal life history I tried to dig into. I believe that many women unconsciously negate this issue in order to survive in the mainstream.23 Though they often refer to inspirational teachers and employers, most of them are reluctant to name any single person as a mentor or a role model. Thus, this common acceptance of the subject as a non-issue results in undermining architectural history and its neglect in contemporary scholarship, thereby creating a paucity of literature in this area. I believe that unknown to many practising women, feminism has provided a framework to rethink architecture as a profession, with it playing a role in their own careers. However, there is the inevitable question for a book titled Women Architects and Modernism in India. Do women design differently than men? Is there something like ‘feminine/feminist aesthetics’? The idea that women respond to spaces differently – that a ‘feminine architecture’ exists, or ought to – remains controversial and difficult to qualify and quantify. The perception prevails that female designers are careful listeners, collaborative designers and good managers. These are highly contested issues (and it is also too early to ask in the context of India) on which not enough research has been done worldwide yet. So I will also leave them as questions for this book. Real estate development and the construction industry24 suffer from a similar gender imbalance, with very few women employed in the field in significant positions. Women architects generally have a much harder time landing developers as clients. This also marginalizes the issues dealing with women labourers, such as the persistent unskilled nature of their work, their and their children’s safety concerns and their housing conditions on site. In addition, a number of academic studies have found that women are, on the whole, more riskaverse than men.25 If women are not decision-makers and equity-holders, they cannot act as influential mentors. Though women designers are welcome in residential and interior projects, acceptance is especially difficult for commissions that deal with the urban and institutional scale. Architecture as a system of representation is saturated with meanings and values that contribute to the sense of self and the culturally constructed identity. Women are disadvantaged by stereotypical images and gender-defined societal roles. However, it should be emphatically stated that the situation has not remained status quo. The past two decades of post-economic liberalization and rapid urbanization have brought irreversible changes to the Indian society and indirectly to the profession of architecture. It is experiencing the effects of affluence as the networking into a global economy has led to enormous financial flows into the country. The urban as well as rural societies have turned increasingly consumerist, with a huge middle-class segment helping the growth in building industry. Thus, the mega city development has resulted in the involvement of several multinational companies in large building projects. In addition, there are design opportunities never seen before, such as gated

12  | Introduction

communities, luxury malls, multiplexes, IT campuses and corporate offices. With women gaining significantly more corporate influence and financial independence, their growing role as patrons is beginning to make a difference for women in architecture, as women clients are generally pleased to deal with a woman professional, the overall result being reduction of gender bias in the long run. The existence of the Internet and the growing role of technology have also resulted in the democratization of access to potential clients at the national and international levels. With the increased size and complexity of their projects, a few of the women architects tend to be perceived on par with successful men and also earn the respect of peers, which is important for gaining confidence and defining their professional selves.

How is this book different? This publication represents an important contribution to the existing literature on 20th and 21st century architecture in India, highlighting not only the role of women in architecture but also expanding the understanding of the range of architectural projects undertaken in the subcontinent, especially since the mid-1990s. By focusing on women, a slightly different range of buildings and projects are displayed here than in a "traditional" architectural survey text, because women are commissioned to do slightly different projects. Especially because this volume presents the day-to-day work of architects in addition to the grandiose, spectacular projects often highlighted in textbooks and other encyclopaedic volumes. This book radically and productively redefines the notion of work in view of feminist re-thinking by extending the boundaries of the definition of architectural work in an unconventional manner. I refer to creative and intellectual professional work, that is of course, apart from house work. The meaning of professional work in the careers of the women profiled here is plural and fluid. It begins with their practices that often encompass the diversity of interior design, planning, landscape and product or furniture design (sometimes even ceramics and farming) along with traditional architectural projects of varying scales (residential design to plans for entire cities) which involves mentoring and guiding large offices of architects and designers. For a few of them, it includes serious writing and design-related as well as pure research as important aspects of their professional identity. I have, therefore, included school curricula to art work done in conjunction with architecture to books published about architecture in India. Teaching is another activity they are sincerely engaged in. Today there are more than 450 institutions teaching architectural courses.26 Though no statistics are available, increasing number of qualified women join them as teachers. This is an area of further research. However, it was found that a majority of the women profiled in this publication are connected with architectural education in a myriad of ways. Women across generations are either intensely involved in teaching design and theory courses (mostly as visiting faculty) or are connected with teaching pedagogy. They participate in design juries as invited members, deliver occasional lectures or conduct occasional workshops. A few also get invited as judges for student competitions. The academic connection gives them opportunities to develop a different set of skills and to share their personal expertise with

Introduction  |  13 

the younger generations. A couple of the women architects profiled are, as exceptions, also activists in the field, coming from a feminist or an environmental movement as part of a collective action. All women seem to move with fluidity within their multiple roles/activities and seem comfortable with the resultant identity.

Perspectives and format of this study Though monographs and other publications on leading male architects such as Charles Correa, Balkrishna Doshi and Raj Rewal have come out since the 1980s, there is still not a single monograph on any woman architect of India. The participation and contribution of women in architecture is not clearly visible nor well documented so far, the inquiry having no place in the postcolonial scholarship in India. This book attempts to recover lost histories by digging up the life/work trajectories of some of the first-generation women architects who broke new grounds. By portraying a number of practices of currently active women, the book also documents the works of later generations of women who have arrived in the profession through many struggles and hardships with the strength of their inner fortitude. This is a small representation of women, by no means all-encompassing or exhaustive. The vastness and diversity of the country put it beyond the scope of this publication. This research has focused mainly on women in architectural practice. I have selected the practices in rather a random manner, making sure there is a substantial body of work and recognition in the field.27 Apart from the women architects (who are mostly leading a practice or partners) presented in this book, there are many women with flourishing careers within the field of architecture: critics, writers, researchers and teachers who are making significant contributions and deserve to be profiled in other publications. I have not been able to include a vast number of women working in government or private offices or with non-governmental organizations. I have also had to miss out on the selection from small towns as I could only cover the major metros28 within the existing resources and time frame. The selection thus has limitations. In general, it was found that there was very poor documentation of early projects of a majority of the women profiled here; therefore, the projects displayed are relatively recent. Even though this book celebrates the success stories of outstanding women in the profession, it does not pretend to present a totally realistic view. Underlying this celebration of their achievements is the ongoing struggle of these women to achieve professional parity with men in a field long dominated by males . . . ideally, architecture should embody the rich diversity that globalization has brought to all of our urban environments.29

It is a reality that most of the women in the field have different backgrounds and varying opportunities or access to resources in any given society in spite of being trained in an equal manner. At the same time, the crucial question that needs to be addressed elsewhere is, what can the educational institute and the profession do to make sure that they actively participate?

14  | Introduction

There are hardly any secondary sources existing on the subject in the Indian context. In general, an empirical approach was adopted, focusing on qualitative research for the book.30 I have interviewed colleagues, friends and family of the women who are deceased, relying on the tradition of oral histories. I have also consulted what little archival material exists about them in the public realm. Information about them was extremely hard to come by, as not much of their work (drawings, sketches, photographs) or life stories (letters, photographs) have been preserved. On the other hand, interviews about life/careers were conducted with all the women having contemporary practices. The profiles are mostly based on these interviews and publications as well as websites of the architects, sometimes with their contributions. Unfortunately, personal visits to the architectural projects were rather limited due to funding constraints. The interviews focused as much on the architects’ work as on their views on feminism and social experiences of being women in the profession. They were asked to share individual stories about their path to success and the obstacles they encountered to get to where they are today. I have also consciously attempted to locate the women’s personal narratives as an important part of their work and life because our history, origin and upbringing affect who we are and what we do. ‘The story of a woman’s life cannot be demarked into the “private” and the “public”; the black and the white. The private and the public are interdependent – one motivates the other in subtle and unexpected ways.’31 Some of the questions framed were: What kind of socio-economic and family background they belong to? What are the hard choices they had to make? How did they negotiate with the social and professional realities on the ground? Did they have any mentors or role models? What were their motivations? What are the commonalities and differences in their approaches? This narrative and interpretation to the national discourse should be looked at as an attempt at locating the women in architecture within the historic and contemporary architectural cannon in India. Though the book does not address the development of modernism directly, it forms an important backdrop not only in terms of its historical roots but also in framing the wider landscape of the contemporary work of the women in architecture. One of the main objectives of the book is to bring a more inclusive understanding of the reality to the profession, academia and society while enhancing their visibility as a collective representation. I hope that it will especially inspire the younger generations to view some of the women as mentors and role models. As this goes to print, I realize that works of many women in this book have been published piecemeal in magazines, but they deserve much more due to the quality and quantum of their work. These few pages do not do full justice to them. I am grateful that they were kind enough to be a part of the project. This book is divided into five parts: introduction, main essay, narratives of the early women architects in India, contemporary practices and conclusions. I have included a few images from books and journals that are out of print or defunct now. In general, all possible attempts were made to contact the copyright holders.32 I begin with the first generation of women architects which I call historical narratives. These are followed by profiles of 28 women in contemporary practices with their representative architectural projects. The text and drawings/photographs for the architectural projects have been provided by the architects, which had to be minimally edited by me due to the limitation of the

Introduction  |  15 

length of the book. The profiles are chronologically arranged by the year of birth and alphabetically arranged by their first names when the birth years are the same. There is a final section titled ‘Towards conclusions’ which offers my perceptions and insights. There is a large scope for research in this emerging and nascent area of investigation, including looking into women in architectural education or women in employment. For example, the value of the pioneers goes way beyond the buildings they designed, and they need to be given their rightful place in the architectural canon in Indian history. I hope this book will inspire further study on the newest generation of young women in architecture who are self-confident, multi-talented and strongly determined to succeed in the profession.

Notes 1 A major conference and an exhibition called ‘Women in Architecture – 2000 Plus’, followed by a publication, was organized at the South Asian level in Mumbai in 2000 under the leadership of Brinda Somaya and her Heritage, Education, Conservation, Architecture, Restoration Foundation. 2 Neslihan Türkün Dostoglu, Cumhuriyet Doneminde Kadin Ve Mimarlik [Woman and Architecture during the Era of Turkish Republic] (in Turkish, with some English text), Ankara: Mimarlar Odası Yayınları, 2005, p. 44. 3 Revathi Kamath, ‘Community Centre’, Architecture + Design, Vol. IX, No. 2, March–April 1992, p. 43. 4 Based on conversation with Archana Shah, 18 November 2012, Ahmedabad. 5 Based on conversation with Miki Desai, 10 April 2013, Ahmedabad. 6 Jon Lang, Madhavi Desai and Miki Desai, Architecture and Independence: The Search for Identity, India 1880 to 1980, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 140–142. 7 S. K. Ravikumar, Indian Women: Status, Role and Empowerment, Jaipur: Mangal Deep Publications, 2006, p. 107. 8 Though it is beyond the scope of this book, the marginalization and discrimination that the women construction workers face, keeping them in the unskilled category, is an area of urgent study and action that is absent today. 9 Madhavi Desai, Women and the Built Environment, New Delhi: Zubaan (formerly Kali), 2007, p. 16. 10 Unfortunately, there is no study in India, and all my efforts to get statistics from the relevant organizations have failed so far. In the United Kingdom, however, in July 2003, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) published the results of its research into the dropout rate of women from architectural practice. This is the first research of its kind to have been completed in that country. Carried out by the University of the West of England on behalf of the RIBA, the report found that a combination of factors, including poor employment practice, difficulties in maintaining skills and professional networks during career breaks and paternalistic attitudes, cause women to leave the profession (RIBA website); 11% of the total persons involved in the profession of architecture are women, according to the website of the American Institute of Architects. 11 Kathryn Anthony, Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2001, p. 4. 12 Based on a written interview with Shimul Javeri. 13 http://www.designinindia.net/resources/institutions/educational/design-institutes-india.html, accessed on 4 May 2015. 14 Shilpa, Phadke, Sameera Khan and Shilpa Ranade, Why Loiter?: Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets, New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2011, pp. 176–177. 15 Desai, Madhavi, Women and the Built Environment, p. 12.

16  | Introduction 16 Tanja Kullack, Architecture: A Woman’s Profession, Berlin: Jovis Verlage, 2011, p. 6. 17 Kamala Bhasin and Nighat Said Khan, Some Questions on Feminism and Its Relevance in South Asia, New Delhi: Kali Primaries, 1986, p. 8. 18 Maggie Troy, The Architect: Women in Contemporary Architecture, West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, 2001, p. 9. 19 See Part II for a note on the women’s movement in India. 20 There are also firm believers who voice their concern about discrimination openly. Barbara Holzer, an architect from Switzerland, says, ‘I openly address imbalance and inequality in my professional everyday life – nothing will ever change if no one talks about it’ (Kullack, Architecture, p. 164). 21 Some of the younger women who studied abroad for their master’s were exposed to courses dealing with gender, including the concept of gender analysis. But a majority of the others lack this exposure in education. 22 This is in spite of the fact that many women admitted in the interviews to facing gender-related issues, especially in the early part of their careers, such as acceptance of their authority by construction site workers, clients and/or consultants. 23 Women in architecture may wish to be seen first and foremost as architects, but they cannot control the gendering gaze of society. 24 ‘In the UK, construction industry contractors are required to put 5% of their profits towards further research into progress of the industry’ (Troy, The Architect). 25 Amanda Kolson Hurley, ‘Double Whammy’ http://mydigimag.rrd.com/display_article.php?id=1164514, accessed in March 2015. 26 http://www.coa.gov.in/STATUS.pdf, accessed on March 2015. 27 I deeply regret missing some important people in the process. For example, Didi Contractor, Aparna Narsihman and Sonali Rastogi. 28 A few women architects I had contacted chose not to be included in the book for reasons of their own. 29 Peter Pran in Troy, The Architect, p. 6. 30 Earlier, I had also designed and conducted a survey questioning about 50 women architects on their backgrounds, training, careers and family lives. This data is indirectly used here. 31 Malvika Singh, Freeing the Spirit: The Iconic Women of Modern India, New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2006, p. 9. 32 If any copyright discrepancy is brought to our notice, we will certainly rectify it.

Part II

Modernism, architecture and women in India

O

ver the past couple of decades, there has been a growing interest in South Asian architecture in the context of modernist history and theory, especially as the concept of the ‘other’, ‘hybrid’ or ‘alternate’ modernisms takes root. There is a questioning of modernism’s homogeneity and universality as it developed in different geographic locations, time periods and cultures. It is no longer considered a mere lesser form of Western modernism. There is also an increasing awareness that the assumed linearity, autonomy and master narrative of canonical modernism need to be challenged.1 It is being recognized that its implication and meaning differed from place to place and it was appropriated by local forces.2 It had its own trajectories, discourses and references. Thus, a more contested, multiple and inclusive notion of ‘modernity’ is being constructed in view of the complexity of modernisms manifested across the globe. The narrative of Indian modernism has to be viewed from this perspective. Modernity as a dominant paradigm had profound impact on every aspect of life. It emphasized scientific attitude and rational vision, while combining the aesthetic with its social and political goals. Architectural historians have identified its dominant physical and stylistic manifestation as the Modern Movement, which attempted to create a new order in architecture that emphasized social justice and freedom from the constraints of the past. Modern aesthetics sought to replace the classical order with simple geometry, rejected decoration for the sake of it and emphasized abstraction and functionalism as well as honesty of materials. Closely integrated with the visual arts, modernist ideas of universalism and rationalism had an impact not only on architecture but also on urban design and city planning. However, the heyday of modernism is long over. For about 20 years after the [Second World] war there was a collective confidence among architects. New needs and social patterns, born of wartime devastation and the will to reform, required new buildings. . . . Gradually it became apparent that architects’ grandiose theories did not fit the way of life that people wanted to follow. The forms of buildings were influenced by economic and political pressures rather than social needs.3

Modernism also transported new concepts from the West to the East in terms of not only cultural forms, social practices and institutional arrangements but also discourses. It grappled with history,

20  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

Plate II.1  Unit d’Habitation by Le Corbusier, Berlin, 1957

Photo courtesy Miki Desai

ethnicity and culture in its transnational journey. It manifested multifarious local variations whose cultural and aesthetic complexity is yet to be fully understood. However, it is increasingly accepted as multiple and global in its manifestations and as a shared legacy. India has been one of the nations profoundly affected by it, even as it emerges as a vibrant economy in the 21st century. Modernism came to India as a dominant paradigm that was intrinsically connected to the colonial rule, especially the British Raj. Its authoritarian imperialism transplanted and imposed institutions, technology, concepts and forms based on its notions of modernity. For the colonial rulers, their versions of modernity were the only valid and universal ones, which when interacted with the traditional/local responses gave rise to plural forms of modernity.4 However, the old linear model of cultural imperialism is beginning to be rejected as the world tries to understand the several manifestations of modernism, especially in the former colonies.

The legacy of colonial era The 200 years’ colonization was formative for India. An agriculture-based economy was gradually transformed into industrial and commercial capitalism even as the country remained strongly tied to tradition and religion. The colonial encounter, coupled with a rising international trade, resulted in the travel of many intellectual and philosophical ideas and agendas across continents. Urbanization and the development of metropolis were affected by the colonial experience. It was not a passive transfer of styles but was connected to dynamic cultural processes of change.

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  21 

Thus, the concepts of European modernity interacted with the Indian situation, affecting architecture, urban design and city planning to a great extent.5 Architecture was the fulcrum of the colonial regime. With their civilizing mission, the British brought to their colonial subjects a different kind of architecture, laden with its own imagery and symbolism as well as new technology of building methods and materials, fundamentally changing not only the general appearance and function of buildings but also their identity.

Plate II.2  The Music College by R. F. Chisholm, Baroda,

c. 1910 Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

22  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

The Indian architectural symbols, imbued with religious, moral and historical meanings, were rewritten by the British Raj. This was done in the name of progress and modernity, rendering the old system of master-craftsmen irrelevant to the new modes of building production. The British set up the Public Works Department in 1862 to look after ‘empire-building’ that became an instrument of modernism through the built environment interventions on a large scale. The political and social changes simultaneously affected the evolution of British architecture in India.6 The colonial experience also connected India to global modernization that promoted themes of science, technology and rational thinking.

Plate II.3  An Art Deco building, Mumbai

Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  23 

In the long-drawn-out national struggle for independence against the British rule, the Swadeshi Movement of 1903–8 was one of the crucial turning points. It resulted in the revival of every aspect of Indian cultural life such as education, religion, languages, dress, the arts and even architecture. It emphasized non-cooperation with the British and the development of a national lifestyle as opposed to the colonial one. Eventually, the Indian nationalist struggle became a prolonged mass movement that inspired millions of people into participating in it. The period of the 1920s and 1940s was specifically an intense time under the leadership of Gandhi. The nature of Indian nationalism in this period significantly influenced intellectual and cultural practices in the subcontinent. It eventually found an echo in art and architecture, but its impact remained short-lived after independence. Around the 1930s, Art Deco, an avant-garde style, also arrived in India as a precursor to modernism. Art Deco was welcomed in the metro regions, especially Bombay (now Mumbai), for its simple but colourful decoration and flowing expressions. Under the influence of nationalism, it also took on the form of Indo Deco, a fusion of Art Deco and Indian motifs, during the pre-independence period.7 The origins of the women’s movement lie in colonialism, and it grew simultaneously with other societal changes. In order to understand the socio-political backdrop of this gradual but growing involvement of women in the profession, it is crucial to briefly look at the history of the women’s movement in India; understanding what defined women’s roles over the postcolonial decades gave it the dimension of modernity and contextualized the larger setting of this book.

Women’s movement in India The roots of the women’s movement lie in the social reforms8 of the 19th century during the British Raj which came about mainly as a result of the colonial encounter. ‘The spread of British education, which was part of the policy of building a class which would be loyal to their new rulers, introduced the native elite to ideas which were creating ferment in Britain.’9 As the British educational system spread, there was a strong desire on the part of Indian reformers to move India along the path of modernity and progress as articulated in the West. Therefore, the turn of the 20th century saw the traditional Indian society undergoing a metamorphosis, marking an ideological shift towards what was called the women’s question. The spread of modern education introduced Indians to concepts of liberty and equality. As time passed, along with new employment opportunities, it created a dichotomy between the home and the outer world among the middle-class men. They, therefore, attempted to change the traditional family and the domestic confines of women, but without disturbing the core of patriarchal norms determining women’s role and status.10 The men desired a new way of living with a modern concept of conjugality. Thus, there were stirrings of a cultural shift as education for women became more acceptable along with other gradual social reforms. It should be noted that the main aim of educating a woman was not the development of her independence and personal growth but her becoming a better wife and mother as well as holding the family together in the face of the modernizing forces. The women’s question was almost exclusively concerned with ‘women in relation to men’ in the 19th century.

24  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

Plate II.4  A family c. 1912 in India

Photo courtesy of Priyavadan Randeria

The 20th century brought further changes. As noted, ‘The experience of colonial rule was one of the most important formative influences on the feminist movement of the early 20th century, whereas an equivalent influence on contemporary feminism has been the experience of democracy in post-Independence period.’11 The nationalist struggle for independence under the leadership of Gandhi created a great interconnectedness between political and social issues. The 1920s saw the involvement of a large number of women in the nationalist movement and also the extension of women’s consciousness to the working-class women. During the Salt Satyagraha of 1930, women joined the struggle en masse, their contribution peaking in the Quit India Movement of the 1940s. In the initial stage, women participated largely from the precincts of their home, without disturbing their traditional responsibilities; however, with the civil disobedience movement, this changed and Indian women of all classes and castes came out of their homes and into the public realm in large numbers, inspired by Gandhi’s political call and philosophy. Gandhi had a special rapport with women from all backgrounds, regions, religions, castes, classes, professions and age groups. He wrote in Young India, ‘If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with woman.’ . . . The forces of nationalism and feminism, in fact, have remained closely intertwined in pre-independence times.12

Women participated in civil disobedience and underground movements, burnt British goods and willingly went to jail. It gave them confidence and inspiration, eventually leading to legitimization and expansion of their activities. They dressed simply in hand-spun Khadi, participated in underground movements and courted arrest to go to jail.

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  25 

It was a crucial happening that changed their introverted and protected lives. Though critics have faulted Gandhi for not challenging patriarchy and the role of women with respect to the family, his self-feminization as well as the feminization of politics was path breaking not only for the nationalist struggle but towards social change. It was within this scenario that the first few exceptional women joined the field of architecture in India, blazing a trail for generations to follow. The post-independence era in India became a period of major transition for women as the Indian society underwent tremendous economic, technological, socio-cultural and political changes while a new national identity was getting constructed. New work ethics, technology and lifestyles were introduced. Higher education for girls became more widespread in the urban areas though the ethos

Plate II.5  The wearing of Khadi during freedom struggle

Photo courtesy of Priyavadan Randeria

26  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

of the 1950s strongly emphasized the importance of family life. A significant number of women became employed in typical feminine occupations such as sewing, teaching, nursing and secretarial works, while a few, selected, urban-educated women participated in politics and the administrative services as citizens of modern India. However, these workplaces were without any social infrastructure like crèche, cheap eating facilities and safe transport, making it much harder for women.13 By the 1970s, there was a resurgence and redefinition of ‘Third-World’ women’s movement with a new feminist consciousness and a focus on development. In India the movement was well under way though it was not very visible or homogeneous, being rather regionalized and fragmented. In general, there were struggles and radical protests by different groups for representation within the Indian state, with the movement split into several campaigns while cutting across class, caste and community. The women’s groups demonstrated and agitated against dowry, rape, domestic and other violence, environmental issues, among others, and used new forms like street plays to spread awareness. Besides participation by urban, middle-class women, campaigns in many parts of India were started and sustained by poor, low-caste, often working-class women. There was also a realization about the existence of a vast gap between the laws and their implementation. Nevertheless, the new form of the movement was vibrant and creative. Women’s study as a separate discipline, along with their centres, got established around 1976. As Mazumdar says, The Indian women’s movement in the last quarter of the 20th century made choices to resolve various crises of identity, ideology, the politics of governance and the rule of law, society and culture, power and responsibility. It is an ongoing, live and complex process. . . . Our methods and sources of learning have been revolutionized. I have been learning, as well as unlearning, much more from unlettered peasant women and outspoken poor women in the urban informal sector, and have come to value and admire their courage, grit and intellectual and moral capacity to absorb the new knowledge and blend it with their inherited and experiential knowledge to challenge their subordination, exclusion and invisibility.14

The women’s movement created the legacy of interdisciplinary frameworks of looking at the women’s question. As against the woman as a mother and a wife, the postcolonial struggles concentrated on a woman as either a girl child (or a daughter) or a working woman. The continued focus on peasant women and those working in the unorganized sector, besides the inclusion of Dalit and Muslim voices, has kept the women’s movement alive in contemporary times. Later, attention shifted towards the new and more equalitarian husband–wife relationship, with women transgressing several boundaries and developing a new sense of individuality as the 21st century arrived. Women played an important role in defining progressive values and in bringing about change. Along with other social changes, family structure, household organization and lifestyles were gradually modified. The forces of change for women included a reduction in the number of children, predominance of nuclear family structure and less significant role of kinship and caste. They began to experience an inner urge for freedom and self-expression developing higher self-esteem. Further education fuelled a desire in them for being in the mainstream public space and gaining recognition. Professional women experienced economic benefits of financial independence, increased autonomy and control over one’s life and enhanced self-identity.15 Thus, the women’s movement has been positive and broad based with a widespread vision. Yet it has a long

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  27 

way to go.16 The women’s movement and feminist ideology have resulted in more acceptance of working women, creating an avenue for women to progress in many fields. Its impact was also seen in the context of architecture as the profession began to develop and women increasingly opted for it during the post-independence period.17

Modernist architecture in Nehruvian India The Golconde House, designed by Antonin Raymond in 1942 in Pondicherry, had already set the tone for modernist architecture in India. ‘Golconde remains a remarkable architectural edifice, seamlessly negotiating the tenets of early modernist architecture, while addressing the pragmatic impositions of a tropical context.’18 The decades after political independence in 1947 were decisive in the development of Indian architecture. As India embarked on an ambitious project of modernization, there was an intense search for identity and expression as architecture symbolically became the physical manifestation of what a young nation represented. On the one hand, revivalism was prevalent as a result of the long and painful struggle for freedom the country had experienced. On the other hand, there was a strong desire among the political leadership, more specifically the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to employ architecture as a means of expressing the vitality, progress and ‘modern-ness’ of the emerging nation state. There was a new optimism about the future and an intense desire to create a world to match the international standards. Design principles of the Modern Movement were widely adopted/adapted as they presented a vision of a future that was based on a functionalist language free of past associations. Modernism was perceived as the natural approach for expressing the new nationalism: it was unhampered by historical or cultural restraints, and reflected the optimism of a free people in their aspiration for economic development as well as a desire to link to the rest of the world.19

Grandiose modernist buildings served as visible representation of the ‘developing’ nation.20 As revivalism eclipsed, these buildings marked a shift away from the flamboyance of the Art Deco style as the architectural euphoria of the 1950s got imbued with a sense of rationalism of modernism. Architecture was thus able to express the modernization and secularism of Indian society in a tangible and visible way, especially after the arrival of master architect Le Corbusier in India. The invitation to Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew21 and others for the design of Chandigarh in the 1950s created a tremendous boost and fascination for modernizing architectural objects, culture and the profession. Chandigarh, a Euro-Asian enterprise, was hailed as a site of sophisticated progress. Corbusier’s projects were the first world-class major modern work to be encountered in India. His futuristic views and innovative architectural concepts were widely admired and accepted. The arrival of another master architect, Louis Kahn, in the 1960s was an added impetus to this movement, creating a trajectory of modernity for generations to follow. The modern masters and their ideologies, backed by state power and patronage, dominated the architectural scene. Chandigarh

Plate II.6  The Secretariat by Le Corbusier, Chandigarh, 1953

Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

Plate II.7  The School of Architecture, CEPT University, by Dr B. V. Doshi,

Ahmedabad, 1968 Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  29 

became the referential model for new architecture and urbanism, especially for new capitals like Gandhinagar and Bhuvaneshwar. In the second half of the 20th century, exposed concrete and brick became popular, along with iconic forms, due to Kahn’s and Corbusier’s influences as Indian architects attempted to find their ground. Urban planning was also used as a policy tool for modernization, economic growth and social change.22 Modernist principles directly (and indirectly) affected a majority of the architectural projects being undertaken in the 1950s and 1960s in India. The earliest influences were of Bauhaus rationalism on many post-independence architects. Initial modern buildings had simplicity of form and were defined by exposed materials and abstract formal compositions. Their predominant characteristics were volumetric play, solid and void contrast, horizontal layering and overlapping of inside and outside.23 The canonical mainstream modernism tended to integrate different approaches within a broadly similar set of principles. Most of the pioneering architects of Indian origin had higher education or practical training in the West, such as Habib Rehman, Achute Kanvinde, C.S.H. Jhabvala, Balkrishna Doshi, Charles Correa and Raj Rewal. So did most of the women who were first to join the discipline in the country, such as Gira Sarabhai, Pravina Mehta, Urmila Eulie Chowdhury and Minnette de Silva of Sri Lanka.24 The government remained the predominant client for the first few decades. The architects had to operate within the framework of socialist form of state-controlled industrialization. They worked with the restrictions on imports of construction materials and labour-intensive and low-cost methods as well as low-energy construction technology. In spite of the emphasis on universality and negation of culture, early architects, consciously or unconsciously, had substantial engagement with the local climate and cultural traditions, though rooted in the modernist legacy. They responded to the climate through creation of courtyards, shaded verandahs, brick jali (screen) walls and other devices, often resulting in rich expressions. Thus, during the formative years of the new nation, it was modernism that provided a manifestation of India’s deep commitment to secularism and democracy, through simple functionalism, rational restraint and appropriate form. Since then, the search for architectural identity has traversed a path that got modified and diversified almost every decade.

Regional manifestations By the mid- to late 1970s, as the leading architects’ work evolved, they began to challenge the abstraction and universalism of modernism, as in the rest of the world, and to counter the lost sense of the locale and identity. The prevalent architecture was criticized for its negation of the vast cultural landscape of India and for ignoring the vernacular and traditional aesthetics and references. In the 1980s, a paradigm shift began to occur when there was a search for defining an appropriate ‘Indian’ architecture, which took many forms. The vernacular revival in architecture saw a rejuvenation of (labour-intensive) craft-based traditions, particularly related to wood and metal work, including the use of discarded and recycled materials and elements into especially residential (or occasionally institutional) buildings. Architecture evolved while responding to the myriad sub-cultures, architectural styles and

30  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

Plate II.8  Own house by Laurie Baker, Thiruvananthapuram, 1974

Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

socio-political forces of the country. The principles of modernism interacted with the regional ideas, social norms and lifestyles as well as decorative schema, moving from the abstract universality to regionally appropriate forms. For example, traditional motifs and imagery were employed in buildings designed with modern materials and technology, drawing from an aesthetic derived from the vernacular. This was a challenging task, and the use of traditional architectural elements, myths and symbolism often resulted in mere pastiche. Nevertheless, modernism took several paths leaning sometimes towards postmodernism but more towards critical regionalism. These manifestations and interpretations as well as the idea of modernism in India are yet to be fully understood. However, till today, ‘the primacy and relevance of modernism as a generating force can be perceived in the range of contemporary projects as the principles of modernism provide a common ground.’25 Thus, after the 1980s, there has been a significant differentiation in architectural language and value system even as the built environment was affected by international currents and Indian realities. The 20th century, therefore, saw an extraordinary range of architectural productions.

Liberalization and its aftermath During the 1990s, India moved away from its socialist economy and went towards a path of liberalization and privatization, with the state no longer being the major patron. This changed the rules of engagement with the contemporary, globalizing world, impacting architectural production in a major way. The building industry was subjected to the impact of market forces in an increasingly consumerist society.26 A younger generation of designers began to respond with

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  31 

Plate II.9  The Ahmedabad Management Association by Dr Bimal Patel,

Ahmedabad, 2000 Photo courtesy of HCP DPM Pvt. Ltd

sophistication, professionalism and new management techniques to a different set of clients such as large corporations, land developers and multinational companies. Some contemporary architects evolved new directions, while others reinforced trends developed earlier. Both Indian and international architects began to get involved in a diverse range of practices and multidimensional approaches. Thus, the beginning decade of the 21st century was marked by ideological and aesthetic shifts away from modernist and regionalist positions. Post-economic liberalization, India’s integration with the global economy, has initiated a major phase of urbanization and programmes of globalization which are altering the country and reshaping the society. There is an increased engagement with the urban issues in contemporary times. With the slow erosion of regional boundaries and the fluid flow of ideas across the world, the designers are increasingly responding to global images and aesthetic styles. A huge construction market is emerging as real estate becomes one of the key industries for investment led by a new generation of educated and sophisticated developers. Multinational construction firms and international designers have entered the growing Indian market. In the 21st century, Indian architecture has seen huge changes in terms of increasing scale and variety of projects. There are advanced systems of creating and designing buildings through state-of-the-art technologies, imported materials and digitized systems. There are new architectural typologies such as huge shopping malls, multiplexes, large housing complexes and gated residential communities, involving project management and multidisciplinary agencies. Large-scale consumerism and a

32  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

market-driven, media-influenced economy have resulted in a new social dynamic. This restructuring is challenging India’s long-standing modernist ethos, revising notions of culture and identity. Responding to the changed socio-political reality, technical advances and newly defined functions, the built environment has acquired multiple new formal expressions with many parallel movements, as can be seen in the variety and versatility of practices of women in architecture as profiled in this book.

Women and architectural education Architectural education and practice in South Asia gained momentum following decolonization in 1947 and played its part in nation building. The first school of architecture in India established in the colonial era in the 1920s was the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai. It was set up essentially to produce efficient draftsmen mainly to help the Public Works Department and British architects. The architectural pedagogy was narrowly defined and strongly influenced by engineering skills. The same continued to some extent even after independence, most schools imparting conventional modernist education. Sir J. J. School of Art remained the only college of architecture for many years. By the 1950s, however, a number of departments of architecture were established. From a slow growth in the 1960s and 1970s to the present, the number of institutions/colleges teaching architecture has grown phenomenally. The early student batches in Sir J. J. School of Art had one or two women students. In the 1960s, five to six women would enrol in a batch of 30 students. As the 20th century progressed, the number of women students steadily increased from the early 1990s onwards, until they either were in equal percentage or dominated the men in numbers in a class. Today, there are about four institutions that admit only women students for architecture. The discipline of architecture is deeply embedded in the cultural world, and the culture of an institute is closely connected to its teaching ideology and pedagogy. Architectural education, although obviously intended as vocational training, is also intended as a form of socialization aimed at producing a very specific type of person. All forms of education transmit knowledge and skills. All forms of education also socialize students into some sort of ethos or culture. These two functions are inseparable.27

Institutional practices such as organization of curriculum, the relationship between theory and practice and administrative set-up enable or constrain particular forms of knowledge. The popular opinion in India is that this education is bias-free and relatively liberal and gives equal opportunity to all for success. By contrast, in the United States for instance, by accepting the fact that there is direct/indirect discrimination towards women professionals, much has been achieved. ‘In the West, affirmative action has been entrenched for close to three decades now. Gender equity and diversity at the workplace are embedded in systems and hiring processes in a mostly unobtrusive and constructive way.’28 This is a major intervention that can show a way forward. Most famous and celebrated architects that students study/see in publications are male. There are relatively few women in high positions such as heads of departments of architecture or principals in firms. It is not often that women find representation in national architectural competition

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  33 

juries, in lecture series, as inauguration guests, on interview panels or on college inspection visits except as tokens. This results in a more masculine perspective and a vicious circle that is hard to break. Central bodies like the Council of Architecture (COA) or the Indian Institute of Architects also have very few women on their boards or in a position of leadership.29 This, in turn, affects media coverage (print, television and Internet) and the overall perception of the society. With long working hours and relative low pay scale, women architects find it difficult to balance work/life. All these, and many more, factors need to be addressed in the educational processes.30 Professional schools and programmes in India generally suffer from implicit gender bias because gender thinking has not entered the mainstream educational consciousness in the fields dealing with the built environment. As a result, without the integration of feminist theory, the creation and transmission of knowledge on designed environments through curricula and pedagogy are largely missing. Ideally, one could use feminist pedagogic principles in the architectural and planning design studio to develop ways to break down hierarchies and work collaboratively using participatory processes.

Women in architectural practices The narrative of women in the discipline, in a way, parallels the development of modern Indian architecture. As a few pioneering women31 began to join in the 1940s, they were influenced by ideas of nationalism due to the freedom struggle led by Gandhi being at its peak then. At the same time, their design attitudes were also not above the dominant impact of the current trends of Western architecture then, such as the Art Deco, the International style, Brutalism and the Garden City movement. Mostly educated in the West, they were shaped by the aesthetics and utopian aspirations of early modernism. Belonging to well-connected and liberal elite families, these women were exceptional not only in their choice of the profession but also in their personal lives as they worked towards careers that made them transgress established spatial and social boundaries of home. They led unconventional personal lives in a society where women were traditionally defined by family, marriage and children. They had sophisticated taste and were aware of the arts such as literature, painting, dance and music. (See Part III for their profiles.) Perin Jamshedji Mistri (1913–89), from the Parsi community in Mumbai, is believed to be the first woman to be professionally qualified in architecture in India, with a diploma in 1936 from Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy School of Art. She joined her father’s firm of architects called M/s. Ditchburn, Mistri and Bhedwar in 1937 in Mumbai, eventually becoming a partner.32 Mistri’s work, unfortunately, has never made it to the heritage listing in Mumbai because of her absence in documented history. Urmila Eulie Chowdhury (1923–95), based in Chandigarh, had a degree in architecture from Australia in 1947. Having worked with Le Corbusier for many years and later breaking many male bastions in her career, she is hardly known in the field beyond Delhi and Chandigarh. Pravina Mehta (c. 1925–91) of Mumbai had a master’s degree in planning from the University of Chicago. Due to her vision and innovative approach, her influence on the architectural community went beyond her practice and teaching. Her major historical contribution

Plate II.10  Perin Mistri

Photo courtesy of Dossu Bhiwandiwala

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  35 

Plate II.11  Bakhle House, Pune, 1966 by Hema Sankalia and Pravina Mehta

Photo courtesy of Hema Sankalia

remains the conceptualization and proposal in 1965 of the New Bombay plan along with Charles Correa and Shirish Patel. Gira Sarabhai (1923–), born into an elite industrialist family in Ahmedabad, has had no formal education as an architect. Gira Sarabhai is credited with major contribution to modernist architecture, with excellent design projects and path-breaking institution building. Hema Sankalia (1934––2015) who graduated from the Sir J. J. School of Art in the mid-1950s has made a major contribution to the profession and academia in India. Hema Sankalia who graduated from the J J School of Art in the mid-1950s has made major contribution to the profession and academia in India. Hema Patel (1942–) of Baroda and Madhu Sarin (1945–) of Chandigarh have their own place in the historical timeline. Most of the women mentioned were held in high esteem by their clients, yet they have not been included in the canon of architectural history. They are hardly known nationally to students of architecture or the community of architects. With their relative invisibility in the public realm, their work is largely overshadowed by more well-known male architects.

36  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

Plate II.12  Gira Sarabhai & Buckminster Fuller in 1971

Photo courtesy of Mr. Navoze Contractor Ahmedabad

Contemporary practices Contemporary practices, a much larger section, profiles a range of the second (including perhaps the third) generation of women in architecture, whose practices belong to the post-independence period. These women studied architecture during the heady days of Nehru’s vision for a modern and industrializing India as the field of architecture began to become more popular. During the education in the 1960s and the 1970s, they were all exposed to modernist theories and praxis which form an underlying layer of their design approach. The educational institution is where one’s values are interpreted and legitimized. Modernity still exerts a profound influence on most contemporary architects in India, from the trendsetters to the designers of the commercial built environment. Modernist principles such as predominance of geometry, simplicity of form, overlapping of spaces and minute detailing are often found in their projects; however, many have moved beyond its narrow confines. They also came of age during the ‘new’ women’s movement of the 1970s, though most of them are not aware of it. These women took hesitant steps in the profession without mentors and network support. It was a hard struggle where the women had to, by and large, deal with severe social restrictions and lack of professional understanding or gender awareness among parents and the society. They negotiated several forces of resistance while venturing into the public realm, sometimes with non-conventional approaches and attitudes to reach a level of professional excellence. A majority of the architects developed their interest in the field early in life, choosing it for its

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  37 

innovative appeal and to see an imagined idea get realized in concrete form. They emphatically state that the creative process of spatial realization is a gratifying experience for them, so is the merging of their vision with the client’s. Designing gives them a high as they create something physically solid and intriguing from mere lines on paper. India’s built landscape is characterized by physical and visual complexity and contradictions and has incredible pluralism of expressions, reflecting India’s people and culture. It showcases the vastly disparate forms of buildings that coexist in our cities and towns.33 The work and life profiles portrayed in this book represent this diversity within a modernist framework. They are responsive to issues of climate change, sustainability and community engagement. It was a hard struggle where the women had to, by and large, deal with severe social restrictions, absence of any networking and lack of professional understanding or gender awareness among parents and the society. They are creatively involved in exploring innovative technology, alternative building materials, the sense of global aesthetics and site-specific context. Brinda Somaya, profiled here, says, There must be a few countries in the world where architects have such varied challenges as we have in India today. Our involvement ranges from up gradation of slums to large corporate and educational campuses, from low income housing, to the restoration of magnificent vernacular and colonial buildings. I see myself and hence, my work straddling the old and the new, the large and the small. While conservation work has its rich rewards, the joy of creating a new building cannot be underestimated. Both have a sense of place.34

The women architects profiled are located in Ahmedabad, Auroville, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. As discussed earlier, setting up and running a single-headed architectural practice is rather difficult for women. The reasons such as problems of career breaks and challenges of work/life balance are complex and beyond the scope of this book. The fact remains that women are extremely under-represented in the architectural profession in positions of leadership. The following single women practitioners strove hard to build up a high-calibre architectural practice of substance on their own. Canna Patel from Ahmedabad, who has created an identity as a leading interior designer in India, has been making her foray into architectural projects in the past few years. Anjali Yagnik of Bengaluru handles her office on her own after her husband and partner passed away in 2006. She has a reputation for personal integrity and an efficient, innovative attitude to design expressed through her growing practice. Archana Chaudhary, based in Chandigarh, represents the women in architecture working in the government sector, where she has shown unusual leadership and vision as she expands her work sphere beyond her job description. Namita Singh of the same city, on the other hand, epitomizes great success in a large private practice in the region after the death of her husband in 2001. Sheila Sri Prakash is a leading architect in Chennai with an extensive, varied practice and an international involvement, especially in the field of sustainability. Sujatha Shankar, another architect from Chennai, is a multi-talented personality, a practitioner and a passionate heritage enthusiast.

38  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

Plate II.13  Goa Institute of Technology, Library, Goa, by Brinda Somaya

Photo courtesy of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Ajay Lotlikar

Brinda Somaya, who has offices in Mumbai35 and Bengaluru, is one of the most celebrated and accomplished women in architecture in India with an extensive portfolio and an international reputation. Brinda Somaya has an honorary doctorate from Smith College, Massachusetts, and innumerable awards. Samira Rathod, also of Mumbai, has acquired a reputation of being quirky and offbeat through her designs. Practitioner of deconstructive concepts and aesthetics, she synthesizes seemingly hybrid and disparate forms and constantly attempts to break the box. Shimul Javeri Kadri from Mumbai, who is very well respected in the profession, redefines modernist principles by transcending beyond them. Minimalism often expresses the lines of Javeri Kadri’s designs, as do the references to the deconstruction of the box. A play of light and shadow through the juxtaposition of the solid and the void as well as contrasting surfaces creates a subtle ambience. Despite the merging of multiple materials, Javeri Kadri’s interior spaces retain an elegant simplicity. Besides paying attention to orientation, natural wind flow and sunlight, sustainable methods contribute to her decision-making regarding the use of certain materials, shading elements and creation of courtyards as integral to design. Many practices profiled here are based on a creative collaboration between a husband and a wife as partners. In rare cases, an unrelated man or a woman also join hands for establishing an architectural practice. The married-partner model, which is mutually supportive, has proved powerful and successful all over the world. Women professionals often struggle in isolation by contrast. Though such teams have become increasingly common in the past three decades, the

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  39 

arrangement has its own advantages and disadvantages. It sometimes leads to misattribution of the work to the male partner, often because the male is better known, or, rarely, the other way around. Generally, the partners attempt to co-design; however, it is rather difficult to exactly separate the roles and contribution of each one. As women strive for more independent identities, a relatively newer model has emerged where husband and wife clearly separate their projects even if they share the office space, staff and infrastructure. Nisha Mathew has a successful joint practice in Bengaluru with her husband Soumitro Ghosh, celebrated for deliberately deconstructing and refiguring the often rigid constraints of modern architecture. By contrast, Renu Mistry, also of Bengaluru, has much wider concerns in her wellestablished and extensive practice (institutions to interiors) that she and her husband Shahrukh Mistry share. For Mistry, besides the standard design considerations, urban issues, respect for old buildings/fabric and recycling of materials are of prime importance in a meaningful practice. Meena Mani, based in Delhi, was a partner in Mani Chowfla Architects and Consultants, where her partner Anurag Chowfla was not related to her. Mani, recently retired and busy with teaching, has extensive experience designing and executing a variety of large and prestigious projects. Sonali Bhagwati practices in Delhi with her husband Sohrab Dalal though she has handled her own projects from the very beginning. With many corporate clients, her architecture defines the state-of-the-art and contemporary urban milieu. Vandana Ranjitsinh, who shares a firm with her husband Ranjitsinh in Mumbai, is a committed practitioner and a teacher of architecture, with some of her projects bordering on critical regionalism. Besides the mainstream practices, one of the other dominant concerns developed in the past 25 years is conservation and preservation of India’s heritage and the involvement of the architectural profession in it. This is an area where women have been successfully involved in.

Women and architectural conservation, sustainability and appropriate technology The field of architectural conservation/preservation/restoration is still very nascent in India. From a mainly archaeological focus in the colonial times, the definition has become much broader to include selected traditional residential architecture, heritage zones and urban precincts. In addition, conservation planning, cultural management and heritage tourism pose varied challenges for the country. In fact, it is now recognized as an urban planning and an urban design tool because heritage can be a powerful source of identity for a city or a region.36 More and more government agencies as well as private architectural firms are beginning to get involved, including women architects who have had commissions of varying scales and have gained substantial visibility.37 Women definitely seem to have some advantages.38 In situations where there are strong social and political hierarchies, women can voice their concerns without being seen as aggressive. Some women also strongly advocate reintegrating the traditional crafts and skills of the artisans in the contemporary building design to ensure that the body of knowledge of the craftsmen does not die. In many cases, a realization and deeper understanding of the priorities of the women residents often neglected in many conservation plans emerges because of the positive and open response generated

40  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India owing to our being women professionals working and residing within historic areas. One gains a first-hand insight into everyday problems and women’s priorities and our open minded methodology consciously tries to record and incorporate the positive aspects of the traditional contributions of women into Heritage Area Development Plans.39

Minakshi Jain, one of the pioneers in the conservation movement, shares her architectural practice with her husband Kulbhushan Jain in Ahmedabad. Jain has won many accolades for her extensive and consistent work mostly dealing with the challenges of restoration and conservation of historic edifices of Rajasthan. Parul Zaveri and her husband Nimish Patel have a substantial and varied mainstream joint practice in Ahmedabad; conservation forms one of the important areas of their work. Zaveri works passionately to bring back traditional crafts and workmanship which have been marginalized over the years due to modernization. Nalini Thakur, a committed academic and a practitioner, has headed the Department of Architectural Conservation at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, twice. She has mentored many a young woman in the field and has contributed immensely to the development of the discipline. Founder of the Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative, Gurmeet Rai of Delhi has concerns that range from cultural heritage to rural and urban community initiatives and sustainable environment to site management. Shikha Jain, also based in Delhi, develops her conservation policies with an integrated approach to management based on thorough research and in-depth analysis of the complicated historic and socio-cultural layers of the site. Architecture and urban design have a direct impact on the energy efficiency and sustainability. The definition of sustainability has also broadened to include social and cultural concepts and concerns. From being a niche practice, it is gradually moving towards a wider acceptance as being fundamental to design by the mainstream architects. Some women architects are at the forefront of this movement in a myriad of ways. Chitra Vishwanath, one of the pioneers, is based in Bengaluru. For her, mud is a major material for buildings since it is well suited for local conditions, relatively labour intensive and locally available.40 In her successful practice, she employs local resources in an optimized way, to plan considering the natural elements, passively and actively, and to render the social impact of construction positive. A slightly younger generation of architects, Mona Doctor-Pingel, Anupama Kundoo and Suhasini Ayer-Guigan, profiled here, have found an international community in Auroville in Tamil Nadu that welcomes experimentation and innovation.41 Though they all have varying approaches to design, they are all highly innovative, bold and humane in their approach. Latha Raman Jaigopal is based in Kochi and has a joint practice with her husband Jaigopal. Being the director of infrastructure, Jaigopal guides design interpretation, project management and technical teams, besides playing a key role in the design and execution of total water management systems and renewable energy applications, both of which are of special interest to her.42 Revathi Kamath, one of the most successful architects of India, has more than 500 projects to her credit. Based in Delhi, she shares her practice with her architect husband Vasant Kamath. Her deep study and non-conventional exploration of raw earth and other indigenous building materials have created a unique identity for her contemporary designs.

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  41 

Plate II.14  Kamath House, Bedroom interior, Anangpur, 1996

Photo courtesy of Kamath Design Studio

Multiple identities A number of multifaceted women have creatively carved out a space for themselves in alternative architectural practices. They have developed an individual identity with a divergent attitude towards the mainstream as some of them resist the forces of consumerism and globalization. Their interpretation of their role as an architect is plural and much broader than a traditional one. A few are committed to social causes that deal with planning, the built environment and society, and participate in activism for the betterment of society. Many others opt to join non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have community engagements, including working with the informal sector. Though there is a great repertoire of women who have gone on alternative paths in the discipline of architecture, I have been able to portray just a few as representative examples, who are also involved in design practice because that is the focus of the book. The informal sector contributes very decisively to shaping the urban realm in India. A few women have filled a lacuna in community work, one in which men are generally less interested. Pratima Joshi of Pune has been doing incredible work, with international recognition, through her NGO in a bottom-up, incremental process working with slum dwellers to improve their physical environment and their social circumstances. Neera Adarkar of Mumbai, who comes from a leftist/ feminist background, not only practises architecture but is also an author, a researcher, a teacher and an activist. Shilpa Ranade of Mumbai is also a designer, a researcher/writer and an occasional teacher who is deeply involved in issues of gender and the built environment. A founding partner

42  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India

of the design collaborative DCOOP in Mumbai with her husband Quaid Doongerwala, Ranade is conscious of her multilevel identity. She is also an associate of Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research, where she has been involved in the seminal gender and space project, later co-authoring a book on the subject.43 Thus, women in architecture had numerous vistas and varied challenges open to them in the 20th and 21st centuries, as they were the beneficiaries of political reform and the project of modernity. Many narratives of architectural development have unfolded during the past 60 years. Within the larger framework of modernity, each architect followed a personal vision of architecture, often resulting in divergent approaches. They achieved professional success through their vision and tenacity. They have now created a substantial body of work and developed an identity in the national context.

Notes 1 Partha Chatterjee, A Possible India: Essays in Political Criticism, Delhi/New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 2 Sudha Pandya and Prafulla Kar, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Modernity, Delhi: Pencraft International, 2001, p. 9. 3 Matrix Book Group, Making Space: Women and the Man Made Environment, London and Sydney: Pluto Press, 1984, p. 5. 4 Jyoti Hosagrahar, Indigenous Modernities: Negotiating Architecture and Urbanism, London: Routledge, 2005, p. 2. 5 This has been amply illustrated in several books; see, for example, Metcalf Thomas, The Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain’s Raj, London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1989. 6 Peter Scriver and Vikramaditya Prakash, Colonial Modernities: Building, Dwelling and Architecture in British India and Ceylon, London and New York: Routledge, 2007, p. 15. 7 Jon Lang, Madhavi Desai and Miki Desai, Architecture and Independence: The Search for Identity, India 1880 to 1980, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 164, 168. 8 These include the abolition of Sati tradition, encouragement of widow remarriage, discouragement of polygamy and child marriages and other reform efforts. 9 Radha Kumar, The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women’s Rights and Feminism in India, 1800–1990, New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1993, p. 8. 10 Neera Desai, Feminism as Experience: Thoughts and Narratives, Mumbai: Sparrow, 2006, pp. 27–29. 11 Kumar, The History of Doing, p. 1. 12 Usha Thakkar, ‘Vimla Bahuguna and the Legacy of Gandhian Politics’, in K. Ganesh and U. Thakkar (eds), Culture and the Making of Identity in Contemporary India, 2005, pp. 156–157. 13 N. Desai and V. Patel, Indian Women: Change and Challenge in the International Decade: 1975–85, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1985, p. 7. 14 Vina Mazumdar, ‘Pages from the Diary of a Rolling Stone’, in Ritu Menon (ed.), Women Who Dared, New Delhi: National Book Trust, 2002, p. 42. 15 Unfortunately, there are no definitive studies to show the age, marital status and educational and class/ caste background relationships of professional women. 16 Women’s Reservation Bill, or the Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, is a pending bill that proposes to provide ‘thirty three per cent of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament

Modernism, architecture and women in India  |  43  of India (the Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies shall be reserved for women’. The Upper House (the Rajya Sabha) passed it on 9 March 2010 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Women%27s_Reservation_Bill#cite_note-ra-0). 17 Throughout the interviews that I conducted for this book (and in the earlier questionnaires), I found that a majority of the women I spoke to rejected the idea of their being feminist or having had any impact of the women’s movement on their successful careers. There were exceptions, but very few. 18 Pankaj Vir Gupta et al., Golconde: The Introduction to Modernism in India, New Delhi: Urban Crayon Press, 2010, p. 29. 19 Rahul Mehrotra, Architecture in India: Since 1990s, Mumbai: Pictor Publishing Pvt. Ltd, 2011, p. 30. 20 Duanfang Lu, Third World Modernism: Architecture, Development and Identity, London: Routledge, 2010, p. 13. 21 See appendix for a short note on Jane Drew. 22 Ravi Kalia, Gandhinagar: Building National Identity in Postcolonial India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 2. 23 Jon Lang, A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India, New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2002, p. 48. 24 See the appendix for a short note on Minnette de Silva of Sri Lanka. 25 Jagan Shah, Contemporary Indian Architecture, New Delhi: Lustre Press/Roli Books, 2008, p. 9. 26 Mehrotra, Architecture in India. 27 Garry Evens, ‘Struggle in the Studio: A Bourdivin Look at Architectural Pedagogy’, Journal of Architectural Education (1984), Vol. 49, No. 2 (November 1995), p. 105. 28 Sujatha Ramdorai, ‘Windows in the Ceiling: How to Create an Enabling Environment for Women in Science’, The Indian Express, 6 January 2012. 29 Out of the total architects registered with the COA, 27% are females. Women form 6.6% of the members in the (governing) council and 6.25% of the members of the All India Board of Architecture and Town Planning Education of All India Council of Technical Education. As per the Handbook of Professional Documents (2002), Council of Architecture, New Delhi, p. xxi. 30 Madhavi Desai (ed.), Gender and the Built Environment in India, New Delhi: Zubaan, 2007, p. 17. 31 I have tried my best to learn about their lives and careers with incomplete success as most of the deceased women’s drawings, plans and other details of their practises simply do not exist. The others have hardly kept proper records. It is sad that we have largely missed out on the life experiences of early women architects. However, I hope that their profiles begin to fill the current void in historical knowledge. 32 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perin_Jamsetjee_Mistri, accessed in March 2015. 33 Mehrotra, Architecture in India. 34 Brinda Somaya, ‘Urban Space and Identity’, Contemporary Women Architects, Architecture + Design, Vol. XXII, No. 12, 2005, p. 67. 35 Many questionnaire respondents from Mumbai have worked with Brinda Somaya, who has been their role model, consciously or unconsciously. 36 It is unfortunate that an urban designer or a conservation architect is not generally part of the planning process in India which creates a huge lacuna, especially when heritage is threatened by real estate markets, government indifference and modern ideas of development. 37 Ali Buxton, Pat Turrell and Sara Wilkinson, ‘Why Do Women Like Working in Building Conservation?’, http://www.fig.net/pub/athens/papers/wsug1/WSUG1_3_Buxton_et_al.pdf, p. 3, accessed in February 2013. 38 In a study in the United Kingdom in 2004, women respondents suggested that conservation requires ‘sensitivity’, ‘patience’, ‘care’, ‘consideration’ and ‘attention to detail’ which are all ­feminine characteristics. They also believed that building conservation was ‘less cut-throat’, ‘less

44  |  Modernism, architecture and women in India egotistical’ and is ‘less about business’ than construction is, which are often characteristics associated with men.  Ibid, p. 10. 39 Anuradha Chaturvedi and Smita Dutta Makhija, ‘Conservation Obstacle Race’, Architecture + Design, Vol. 9, No. 2, March–April 1992, p. 53. 40 http://www.earth-auroville.com/chitra_vishwanath_architects_en.php, accessed in March 2015. 41 Auroville was located on a barren rural land about 8 kilometres away from Pondicherry, a former French colony in South India. The visionary behind Auroville was the Mother (1878–1973), the spiritual partner of the philosopher Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950), who had formally set up an ashram in Pondicherry in 1926. Ever since the 1980s, when the works of Roger Anger, Poppo Pingel and the other Aurovillean architects became popular in the architectural press, the place has been held in high esteem and attracts an increasing number of students of architecture. The concept of Auroville was conceived in the 1968 community started near the town of Pondicherry with the idea of building a city dedicated to ‘a common vision for the future to create a harmonious living environment’. 42 http://www.archidev.org/mipaa/mission_presentation/inspiration/inspiration_philosophy_latha.htm, accessed in March 2015. 43 http://www.dcoop.in/, accessed in March 2015.

Part III

Early narratives

1 Perin Jamshedji Mistri (1913–89)

Plate 1.1  Perin Jamshedji Mistri Photo courtesy of Dossu Bhiwandiwala

48  |  Early narratives

Perin Jamshedji Mistri

was born in Mumbai in 1913 in a progressive Parsi family. Her father Jamsetjee Mistri was a renowned architect. Having had her early education in a Gujarati school in Mumbai, young Mistri entered as a boarder in Miss Kimmin’s High School in Panchagani. At the age of ten she went to England and completed her education from the Croydon High School. When she returned to Mumbai, she wished to pursue the legal profession. But at the behest of her father, she joined the Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (J. J.) School of Art. Being the first girl, dressed in simple skirt and blouse, she caused quite a flutter in the all-male bastion, even as she showed great talent for design. After obtaining her diploma in architecture in 1936, she joined her father’s firm M/s. Ditchburn, Mistri and Bhedwar in 1937 which was started in 1891 and had opened a branch in Karachi in 1916. She married Ardeshir Bhiwandiwala, founder-partner of Great Eastern Shipping Company, and encouraged both by her husband and by her father blazed a trail for women architects to follow. She preferred to use her maiden name in her professional life. She is believed to be the first woman architect to be professionally qualified in India. 1

Her family was in the construction business for four generations before Mistri was born. Their works included the Royal Mint in Mumbai, which was dismantled and replaced by the New India Assurance Building. They also built the Colaba and Cuffe Parade Sea Walls and the first runway for the Mumbai Airport. Mistri’s own repertoire of works shows an astonishing range: residences, church, chapel, office and even industrial buildings. Mistri was known to have been tough with contractors. One of her first projects was Sir Behramji Karanjia’s bungalow ‘Shangrila’ at Carmichael Road. Mistri designed hospitals, health centres and shelters for the Salvation Army in Byculla, Mumbai, Anand and Ahmednagar. Extension to the Bombay Scottish School was done by her in the 1970s. In addition, in an early attempt at conservation, Mistri renovated the

Plate 1.2  Khatau Mills Borivali Extension, Mumbai Photo courtesy of Dossu Bhiwandiwala

Plate 1.3  Cable Corporation of India, Mumbai Photo courtesy of Dossu Bhiwandiwala

Plate 1.4  Ganges Printing Inks, Mumbai Photo courtesy of Dossu Bhiwandiwala

50  |  Early narratives

dilapidated St Elizabeth’s Nursing Home at Malabar Hill, Mumbai, by strengthening it through creating an outer ‘envelope’ for safety. Besides other projects, the St Stephen’s Church at the tri-junction of Warden Road, Gowalia Tank and Napean Sea Roads is an iconic design of hers. The church is lifted up on pillars to provide parking underneath it, which was a new concept then. Unlike traditionally designed churches, its main hall of worship has a few floors above it. On one of the floors is a space available on hire for individuals and institutions to hold receptions or have music performances and so on. Designed in modern style, the church’s altar, pulpit and sanctuary are indeed an eye-catching ensemble. Mistri was equally adept at designing structures for industrial use, such as an extension to the Khatau Mills in Borivali, the Ganges Printing Inks factory and the office building for the Cable Corporation of India. These are modern and simple, two-storeyed reinforced cement concrete (RCC) structures. The facades display a dominant horizontal composition, with vertical RCC fins that create a rhythm

Plate 1.5  Entrance canopy, St Stephens Church, Mumbai Photo courtesy of Dossu Bhiwandiwala

Perin Jamshedji Mistri  |  51 

Plate 1.6  Altar and pulpit, St Stephens Church, Mumbai Photo courtesy of Dossu Bhiwandiwala

and break the box. The office building is, however, further articulated through the juxtaposition of the vertical and horizontal surfaces, a balanced proportioning system, playful massing and the use of round pilotis along with a bold curve. The design epitomizes the state-of-the-art modern style of the time. Architecture, however, was not Mistri’s only forte, because she was a woman of many interests. Music was in her blood. Besides playing the organ and the piano, she nurtured musical talent in the young and the old. From time to time she also arranged informal concerts at her own home in Bandra. Besides music, her passions ranged from hockey, gardening to the study of snakes in the Haffkine’s Institute in Mumbai. A couple of years prior to her demise, she set up a farm in Karjat to grow citron trees and also went all the way to Kandla to set up a factory in the Kandla Free Trade Zone. She also set up the Soroptimist Club, membership of which was open to women professionals of all hues, the members meeting to exchange notes, air their views and comment upon problems encountered. Her brother Mr Minoo Mistri was also an architect, who had launched Marg magazine along with two of his colleagues, Minnette de Silva and Mr J.P.J. Billimoria. After nurturing it for a decade it was handed over to the Tatas to ensure a reliable continuity. Mistri practised for almost half a century as a partner of the firm before she died in 1989.2 She was much ahead of her times and truly prepared a historic path for other women to tread.

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Plate 1.7  St Stephens Church, Mumbai Photo courtesy of Dossu Bhiwandiwala

Notes 1 Some data is based on ‘Parsi Lustre on Indian Soil’ publication. I gratefully acknowledge the research help from Prof. Aban Sethna, with inputs from Mrs Mani Mistri and Mr Dossu Bhiwandiwala. I appreciate Mr Dossu Bhiwandiwala’s generosity in sharing the perspectives/sketches of his mother’s projects. I also thank Mr Jamshed Sethna for photographing them for the book. 2 Brida Somaya and Urvashi Mehta (eds), ‘Women in Architecture 2000 Plus’, http://www.thehecarfoun dation.org/perinmistri.html, accessed in February 2012.

2 Urmila Eulie Chowdhury (1923–95)

Plate 2.1  Urmila Eulie Chowdhury Photo courtesy of Amar Rajinder Singh, retired senior architect, Department of Architecture, Punjab, Chandigarh

54  |  Early narratives

Urmila Eulie Chowdhury (or Eulie as she was popularly called) was born in Shahjehanpur, in

the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. She got her Cambridge School Certificate from Kobe, Japan, and studied architecture and music in Sydney, and also acquired a diploma in ceramics from Englewood, New Jersey.1 After receiving her BArch from the University of Sydney in 1947, Chowdhury moved to the United States where she found a job with a good salary. However, she decided to return to India in 1951 when she found an opportunity to work with Le Corbusier on Chandigarh. She was with the project almost from the beginning, dealing with a virgin site, becoming one of the rare Indian women in architecture to work on the large project. She began with the High Court, the first building to be designed by Le Corbusier, and was soon actively involved, along with Pierre Jeanneret, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry, in the city that was taking shape. She spoke French, so she grew close to Corbusier, winning his respect and friendship. She became his interpreter and also took care of his correspondence with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. She also worked closely with Jane Drew during the years Jane lived in Chandigarh. Chowdhury subsequently held various official positions working under many governments: senior architect for Chandigarh (1951–63), chief architect of Haryana State (1970–71), chief architect for Chandigarh (1971–76) and chief architect of Punjab State (1976–81). She was the first woman to head a State Department of Architecture. She was responsible for the second phase of planning at Chandigarh as well as the designing of new townships. Chowdhury designed a wide variety of buildings for government, commercial and private clients in Chandigarh and Punjab in post-independence period. Besides rural hospitals, they included the main block of the Polytechnic for Women, Hostel Block for the Home Science, St John’s School, deputy ministers’ houses in front of Golf Club in Chandigarh as well as city centres of Amritsar and Mohali. She headed the team that designed the Talwara Township as well as the Rural Focal Village under Integrated Rural Development Scheme. Fire stations (Mohali and Chandigarh), cotton spinning mill (Kothapura, Markfed) and Adarsh schools (Punjab) were some of her other designs. She was an efficient and well-respected but a tough woman and wanted her office to be well disciplined, which was dominated by men. She was a good administrator and corresponded well.2 Even as chief architect, she personally designed many buildings. She used to give sketches to juniors for development and was known to be diligent in site visits. Chowdhury generally followed Le Corbusier’s concepts and scale in her building designs, exemplifying the principles of geometric compositions and honesty of materials. She also developed her own distinct modernist design vocabulary. She believed in simplicity and boldness as well as economy and workability. For example, the Government Polytechnic for Women (c. 1960) in Chandigarh is a fine example of early modern architecture. It is a wellintegrated campus, with the main building placed in the front. ‘It bears a starkly cubical facade, consisting of a grid of recessed windows.’3 With an imposing use of brick, the facade creates a horizontal composition displaying concrete bands while the entrance space is punched out with a double height. The other structures are more human in scale where Chowdhury has carefully used stone walls to create a variety in spatial experiences. ‘More varied textures are seen on the Hostel Block

Urmila Eulie Chowdhury  |  55 

Plate 2.2  The front view of Government Polytechnic College for Women, Chandigarh, 1961 Photograph by author

(c. 1970) for the Home Science College, Chandigarh, where rows of balconies consist of outwardly jutting triangles.’4 This project is also an excellent example of a modernist expression, with concrete staircase element being juxtaposed with large volumes of brickwork. It has the same emphasis on horizontality with recessed windows that are framed by concrete bands. Most important, Chowdhury was precise in detailing, which is illustrated in the use of Le Corbusier’s ‘the modular’ in the framing of the windows that resulted in breaking up the monotony of the geometrical facade of the Home Science Campus buildings. Chowdhury taught at the Chandigarh College of Architecture from 1966 till 1970–71. She was also the principal of the Delhi School of Architecture and Planning (1963–65). ‘She was a great teacher and an imposing personality. She wore skirts and had an elite lifestyle. The students were in so much awe of her and were so mesmerized by her that they could not ask questions.’5 A bold, fiery and cosmopolitan person, Chowdhury is remembered by her students as a brilliant teacher. She was a versatile and talented woman with interests in divergent fields. She wrote plays, was an excellent painter and held exhibitions of her art. She designed furniture for herself and for Pierre Jeanneret’s projects. Chowdhury established the Alliance Francaise de Chandigarh

Plate 2.3  The master play of balconies and columns in Hostel Block, Government Home Science College, Chandigarh, 1961 Photograph by author

Plate 2.4  The sculpturesque fire escape staircase in concrete in Government Home Science College, Chandigarh, 1961 Photograph by author

Urmila Eulie Chowdhury  |  57 

in 1983. A regular contributor to the Saturday Plus supplement of The Tribune, she also wrote for a variety of architectural journals. Member of a (now defunct) writer’s group from 1958 to 1963 which revived briefly in the 1970s, she wrote ‘Memories of Le Corbusier’ about working and relaxing with him and Pierre Jeanneret. She also translated The Three Human Establishments from French into English. Urmila Eulie Chowdhury was thus a very reputed architect, teacher, designer and writer who contributed immensely to the making of Chandigarh. She also had many other achievements. She became a fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects and was the first Indian woman elected as a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. A bohemian and unconventional personality, Chowdhury lived life on her own terms. She smoked, drank and had a bold lifestyle. Though dominating by nature, she was a person of integrity and honesty. An Anglo-Indian married to an Assamese, her husband Jugal Kishore Chowdhury was an engineer in Patiala, but later they got divorced. They had no children. She lived alone with maid servants. She got cancer but refused treatment and died in her seventies. Till the very end she was active and cause driven. She made a great contribution to the landscape of modernity in Chandigarh. She deserves an immense acknowledgement, missing so far in history.

Notes 1 The International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA), Newsletter No. 2, Fall 1990. 2 In conversation with Mr Amar Rajinder Singh, Chandigarh, 25 March 2010. 3 http://www.answers.com/topic/eulie-chowdhury-1, accessed on June 15, 2010. 4 Ibid. 5 In conversation with Mr Prithviraj Luthra, Chandigarh, 24 March 2010.

3 Gira Sarabhai (1923–)

Plate 3.1  Gira Sarabhai Photo courtesy of Navoze Contractor, Ahmedabad, 1971

Gira Sarabhai  |  59 

Gira Sarabhai was born in a very wealthy, industrialist family in the city of Ahmedabad. She had

an exceptionally privileged and progressive upbringing. Her family established the Calico Mills in 1880, one of Ahmedabad’s earliest and most prominent textile mills. Under the stewardship of Sarabhai’s father Ambalal Sarabhai, it became a modern and path-breaking production unit, manufacturing cotton textiles during the first half of the 20th century. Her family was a long-time supporter of Gandhi and his struggle for independence. Sarabhai never went to a school for formal learning. Liberal in her thinking, she was well versed with the art and architecture of the world. As a young girl in her late teens, Sarabhai lived in New York City with family members. She also trained with Frank Lloyd Wright at his Taliesin West studio in Arizona from 1947 to 1951. Sarabhai and her brother, Gautam (1917–95), worked together in Calico Mills but were also keenly interested in architecture though Gautam had a PhD in mathematics. They designed many projects as a team though she does not accept credit for any project, refusing to be called an architect but prefers being referred to as a designer.1 She set up the first textile design studio in the family-owned Calico Mills. She also started Shilpi, a graphic design agency, which was the first Indian-based advertising agency. Gira and Gautam Sarabhai were great visionaries and made significant contribution to modern architecture in the 1950s and the 1960s. In addition, they contributed prominently to the setting up of several leading national institutions in Ahmedabad such as the National Institute of Design (NID), the Indian Institute of Management and the B. M. Institute of Mental Health. They were

Plate 3.2  Gira and Gautam Sarabhai with the Eames Office team at NID in 1964 Photo courtesy of Knowledge Management Centre, National Institute of Design, Photo Archives

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Plate 3.3  House at Hansol, Ahmedabad Photo courtesy of the late Shri Dashrath Patel. From the archive of ARCHICRAFTS

also instrumental in inviting Ray and Charles Eames, Buckminster Fuller, Louis Kahn and Frei Otto, among others, to the city for designing buildings, for consultation on architecture or design education. Ahmedabad offered the kind of patronage that modern architecture in India had perhaps not experienced before. The families who owned the city’s cotton mills, particularly the Sarabhais, were more representative of the New India than the constituency for which Nehru was building in Chandigarh. The families saw the necessity of combining modernity and tradition in order to compete in a world market. Indeed, the Sarabhais were instrumental in bringing Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn to India.2

Sarabhai is an unparalleled and a multi-talented designer besides being innovative at many levels. She was the architect for the first multistorey building on stilts called Darshan Apartments in Malabar Hills in Mumbai, which she designed after coming back from the United States in the 1950s. The ground floor was used not to park cars but for children to play. She was greatly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. She also worked on the design of NID and the restoration of Maganbhai-ni-haveli at Ahmedabad.

Gira Sarabhai  |  61 

Plate 3.4  View of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, 1961 Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

Gira and Gautam Sarabhai’s work had the spirit of freedom in it. They did a lot of experimentation with material and technology; the use of glass and concrete – new building materials – was immense. Steel and glass have been used in a house in Hansol, whereas another one is entirely mud-plastered, with wooden floors finished in cow-dung. The opening up of the interior spaces to the outside forces was another bold step towards expression of the ‘free spirit’.3

The NID building marked the new era of structural engineering while raising the standard of construction and responding sensitively to the educational brief. Experiments were made in constructing domes, and the building was raised on stilts because it was near the Sabarmati River. In its design, industrial standards were applied to architecture, the high degree of modularity in its layout coming from Bauhaus principles. At the same time, it gave scope for changeability and flexible use of space. In 1964–65, Sarabhai designed the partition system of NID based on a grid that matched the flooring. The vertical dimensions of the partitions also followed the grid. Throughout the NID design project, she was immaculate in detailing.4 Sarabhai also designed an extension to her brother Vikram and sister-in-law Mrinalini Sarabhai’s house in Ahmedabad in 1954, which shows a distinct influence of Frank Lloyd Wright. Along with other buildings, Gira and Gautam Sarabhai also developed the experimental Calico dome with Buckminster Fuller, based on his principles. The engineering concept was Gautam’s,

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Plate 3.5  Extension to Vikram and Mrinalini Sarabhai house, Ahmedabad, 1954

Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

but Sarabhai did the detailing. It was the first space frame structure in India.5 Their work was always rather avant-garde. Her own one-room house was very modernist and minimalist. Sarabhai established and curated (and later designed) the Calico Museum of Textiles in 1949 in Ahmedabad. It is one of the most important handicraft (and to lesser extent industrial) textile museums of the world with an outstanding historic collection of Indian fabrics dating back almost six centuries. It is also a centre for design knowledge resource, research and publication. For housing the collection of the museum, the present building was sensitively created by Sarabhai with traditional facades and other carved wooden elements dismantled from old residential Gujarati houses and was built around a courtyard by Sarabhai which is ideal for a contemporary function. Sarabhai’s work was crucial to the development of modern architecture in the Gujarat region, if not at the national level. Paralleling these effort was the evolution of a more humane and organic architectural response to regional concerns by Gira and Gautam Sarabhai in Ahmedabad. The Sarabhai siblings were a way ahead of their time in that they sought to create architectural expression through tectonic exploration of using local materials. They recycled and collected components from historical buildings, used adobe techniques prevalent and alive as building traditions in rural India, employed bamboo screens and a host of other materials not ‘on the radar’ of the modernist.6

Gira Sarabhai  |  63 

Over the years, her design vocabulary has kind of evolved from the ‘Wrightian’ modernism to craft-oriented mud houses, as towards the later years of her career; she became interested in experimenting with traditional Indian forms, elements and motifs for her contemporary work. She never married and lives alone within her family compound.

Notes 1 I made several efforts to interview her but have not succeeded as she is a very private and reticent person. 2 Rahul Mehrotra, Architecture in India: Since 1990s, Mumbai: Pictor Publishing Pvt. Ltd, 2011, p. 31. 3 Urvi Desai, ‘The Universal and the Contextual: Influence of Frank Lloyd Wright on Indian Architecture’, unpublished undergraduate thesis, Faculty of Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University, Ahmedabad, 2000, p. 146. 4 Based on an interview with late Prof. M P Ranjan, the National Institute of Design, 3 July 2009. 5 I am thankful to late Mr Dashrath Patel for sharing with me his views and facts about Gira Sarabhai. 6 Mehrotra, Architecture in India, pp. 121–122.

4 Pravina Mehta (c. 1925–91)

Plate 4.1  Pravina Mehta Photo courtesy of Hema Sankalia

Pravina Mehta  |  65 

Pravina Mehta

was the daughter of a prominent Mumbai solicitor. She grew up in a household where important nationalist leaders met with her father. She was herself influenced by Gandhi and participated in the national freedom struggle, even going to jail in 1942. She studied architecture at Sir J. J. School of Art and was unconventional by nature, designing both furniture and clothing and having a strong passion for painting besides excelling as a professional classical dancer. She was fiercely independent and was an intellectual rebel. She studied further at the School of Design in Chicago (now the IIT Institute of Design) under Chermayeff and others during the 1940s, imbibing the Bauhaus philosophy. She also had a master’s degree in planning from the University of Chicago, studying under the legendary Rexford Tugwell. He was very important in developing her ideas on planning and the integration of disciplines – architecture and the social sciences and technology. She worked for two years in Washington, DC, before returning to India. 1

Sensitized with the colours of Chicago School of Design and the Bauhaus, Mehta first travelled extensively around the country. Then she established her practice – Associated Architects – in Mumbai and designed a variety of buildings. Coming from a well-to-do family, she was well connected with people in civic administration, industrialists and nationalist leaders. Over a period of seven years, she shared her practice with Hema Sankalia, a younger architect who is also profiled in this chapter. Mehta was socially committed and as an urban planner was very conscious of the disparities between classes, especially in the provision of housing. She would design community buildings for very little remuneration. She was strongly grounded in art and graphics. The New Bombay Plan with basic guidelines was proposed in 1965 by Pravina Mehta along with Charles Correa and Shirish Patel. It was published by MARG (Modern Architects’ Research Group) and partially implemented by the state government. Drawing on elements from Ebenezer Howard’s ‘Garden City’ model, the architects suggested a politically autonomous, multi-nucleated series of mixed-use and mixed-income neighborhoods that would neither be bedroom communities for commuters to Mumbai nor dormitory suburbs for the industrial sector of the mainland. Instead it was to be a ‘growth pole’ or ‘counter-magnet’ to the original city. In 1971, work on the new city began and continues to this day.2

Mehta was an innovative and visionary thinker with a clear-headed grasp of complexity. She linked form, structure and systems in an integrated design approach that was advanced for its time. Her design philosophy subtly brought together the complex geometries and proportions in classical Indian design and city planning canons into contemporary expressions of forms and materials. Besides a few interiors, some projects she designed are the Advani Orlikon factory, Avehi – a non-profit organization teaching disadvantaged children through audio-visual means, located in Sion, Mumbai; a school in south Gujarat in the rural-tribal area near Palghar; a house on Madh Islands and one in Pune (in collaboration with Hema Sankalia); and the Kirtan Kendra in Juhu, Mumbai. Most important, Parmanand Patel was Mehta’s client, and she teamed up with Charles Correa in the design of Kanchanjunga, the famous high-rise of Mumbai. Her office was involved in the design and production of the working drawings of Kanchanjunga. She was also a part of a team that was involved in the concept and realization of the 1985–86 Festivals of India. In general, she was multifaceted and had a great sensitivity about architecture.

Plate 4.2  Study for New Bombay plan Drawing courtesy of Brinda Somaya

Pravina Mehta  |  67 

Plate 4.3  Advani Oerlikon Electrodes Factory, Chinchwad, 1962 Photos from Mimar 2: Architecture in Development, Singapore: Concept Media, 1981

Mehta was familiar with classical architectural traditions and craft heritage of India, which influenced her designs. Her main preoccupation was with re-establishing a link between art and architecture and with Indian values which she felt was missing from the contemporary Indian buildings of that time. She seriously studied the ancient canons of urban planning. She believed that ‘we should seek inspiration from our own rich heritage. The rhythms one finds in our traditional dance forms can be translated into the language of concrete and mortar’.3 Her interest in Indian philosophy was subtly expressed, not overtly in forced diagrams but through form, proportion, light and in the mathematics of the relationships of various building elements to each other.

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Plate 4.4  Shree Kirtan Kendra, Mumbai, 1989 Photo courtesy of Miki Desai

Mehta taught at the Academy of Architecture, particularly the first-year studio, and introduced some important ideas to influence architectural education. She had a very Bauhaus approach.4 She came up with the ‘new’ concept of basic design. She also stressed integration of built environment designs with their infrastructure, and connection to social and economic systems. She communicated more by implication than direct articulation. She was strict with the students, who were in awe of her. She was also very meticulous.5 At the same time, she was a warm, perceptive and affectionate teacher, very generous with her time and knowledge. She also had uncompromising standards for quality in all aspects of work and personal conduct. She talked of art, music and dance along with architecture. There was no hierarchy in her design studio and she remained a teacher till the end. Mehta was above and beyond feminism. She said, ‘When a woman is truly committed to her career, when there is an inner compulsion, then she ceases to regard herself as a woman but only acts as a professional.’6 As a mentor to other women, her guidance focused on being a good architect and a professional. Deeply humane, she loved beauty in all forms, even in the aesthetics of concrete form and construction, and had a great and infectious sense of humour. She was married twice but did not have any children. Mehta’s work seems to have evolved over time, with the principles of modernism reinterpreted to fit the context. In her later years, she attempted to blend classical and folk Indian architecture with modernism. Her legacy of progressive ideas lives on in the greater awareness and appreciation of traditional Indian architecture and in urban planning. She has not been adequately recognized; her contribution to contemporary Indian architecture and planning has been almost entirely overlooked. Relatively few projects of Mehta remain in existence today, but her place in the history of Indian architecture is extremely important. She deserves far more credit than is given to her.

Pravina Mehta  |  69 

Plate 4.5  The Patel House, Kihim, 1962 Photos from Mimar 2: Architecture in Development, Singapore: Concept Media, 1981

Notes 1 I am thankful to Meenakshi Mani, who had worked with Pravina Mehta, for a detailed e-mail interview; part of this write-up is based on it. 2 ‘Pravina Mehta’, http://archnet.org/system/publications/contents/3879/original/DPT0361.pdf?1384777047. 3 Ibid. 4 Dr Mary Woods in conversation with Rumi Shroff, Mumbai, 30 January 2008. 5 Based on conversation with late Dileep Purohit. 6 ‘Pravina Mehta’, http://archnet.org/system/publications/contents/3879/original/DPT0361.pdf?1384777047.

5 Hema Sankalia (1934–2015)

Plate 5.1  Hema Sankalia Photograph by author

Hema Sankalia  |  71 

Hema Sankalia, one of the early women architects, said that her whole life was a matter of default.

She was born in Sialkot in undivided India, now in Pakistan, in a Maharashtrian Brahmin family. Her father was in Indian Medical Services and was educated in England. However, he died in 1935 in Lahore when Sankalia was only a year old. Thereafter, her mother Rama Bakhle moved to Mumbai with Sankalia and her sister Tara to live in their paternal uncle’s household. Her uncle was the general manager of Western Railways. Thus, hers was a socially and economically privileged and well-connected family. She joined Sir J. J. School of Art in 1951 when there were only three girl students in the class of 60. Rashmi Daftari and Chandramani Gandhi were the other girls in her class. Sankalia was not a focused student as she was highly involved in extracurricular activities; however, it was a great time to be in the Sir J. J. School of Art. Claude Batley was still alive, Mahtre and Merchant taught design studios and Durga Bajpai, who really awed the students, came to their juries. Anant Raje, Nozer Panthaky, Ratan Batliboy, Pheroze Kudianwala, Kamu Iyer and Dileep Purohit, all famous architects, were her contemporaries at Sir J. J. School of Art. Sankalia graduated from the Department of Architecture in 1956–57 and started her career as a trainee with the famous architect Piloo Mody where she was a site supervisor. ‘He was instrumental

Plate 5.2  Plan of the house for Mrs Rama Bakhle, Pune, 1966 Drawing courtesy of Hema Sankalia

Plate 5.3  House for Mrs Rama Bakhle, Pune, 1966 Photo courtesy of Hema Sankalia

Plate 5.4  Frontage of LIG Housing, CIDCO, Navi Mumbai Photo courtesy of Hema Sankalia

Plate 5.5  Inner street of LIG/MIG Housing, CIDCO, Navi Mumbai Photo courtesy of Hema Sankalia

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Plate 5.6  Master plan of CIDCO Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, c. 1985–86 Drawing courtesy of Hema Sankalia

in shaping my career as he pushed me to learn architecture the hard way on site and not on the drawing board,’ says Sankalia. She worked with him from 1957 to about 1960,1 leaving to begin her own practice. Through her architect friends, Hema Bakhle met Shirish Sankalia in 1956. He had a bachelor of arts with honours in history from Elphinston College and was a man of ideas. He started a furniture-making company and took on interior projects. They had a registered marriage in 1957 as they did not believe in rituals. Unfortunately, Shirish passed away in 1984 at the age of 52.

Hema Sankalia  |  75 

A turning point came in Sankalia’s career when she met Pravina Mehta (also profiled in this book) in 1962. They became partners the same year in a practice titled ‘Associated Architects’. Mehta had just come back from the United States. Sankalia found her to be brilliant and full of new ideas with a great sense of aesthetic. The house (not existing now), designed by the two of them for Sankalia’s mother Rama Bakhle in 1965 on a small plot of land in Pune, was an excellent example of early modernist architecture in India. The partnership lasted for seven years in an office on Marine Lines that later led to her own individual private practice. Till the end of her life, Sankalia respected Mehta as a guru. Sankalia’s career as an architect spanned over four decades, during which time she designed a number of remarkable projects. The Kalidasa Akademi in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, was her creation in 1983. She also designed a large housing project for CIDCO at Sanpada, in New Mumbai, and a hospital in Devas, Madhya Pradesh. She was a consulting architect to an organization called Environmental Planning and Co-ordination Organization, a department of the Ministry of Housing and Environment. She has also worked on the Madhya Pradesh Assembly building with Charles Correa. Some of the projects were done in partnership with architect Subodh Dhairyavan. Besides practising architecture, the Sankalias were instrumental with Wayna Mody in establishing the Contemporary Arts and Crafts in 1994, India’s first and very successful contemporary lifestyle store that closed down in 2011. Married with three children, it was hard for Sankalia to combine professional and private responsibilities but she overcame them all, with a loving and caring husband and encouraging mother as well as a mother-in-law and a devoted maid of 45 years. Between the 1970s and 1990s, Sankalia taught at many prominent schools of architecture in Mumbai, such as Sir J. J. College of Architecture, Rachana Sansad Academy of Architecture and Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture and Environmental Studies. She continued to teach in Pune where she moved after her retirement from active practice. She was a hard core teacher and preferred to focus on the practical issues of the production of architecture. A woman of principles, she had a formidable personality, was a rebel and always smoked a bidi (an indigenous cigarette). At the same time, she was a humanist who cared for the education of her servants. She believed that she had faced no discrimination in the profession and was an excellent role model for young women.

Note 1 ‘Making Money Was Never Our Objective’, http://www.financialexpress.com/news/making-moneywas-never-our-objective/73667/, accessed in March 2015.

6 Hema Patel (1942–)

Plate 6.1  Hema Patel Photo courtesy of Hema Patel

Hema Patel  |  77 

Hema Patel studied architecture in Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), Baroda, in 1959–

64. Her father was a civil engineer involved in building construction, and her elder brother Hasmukh Patel is a well-known architect. Her father had encouraged all of his six children towards professional courses. Patel’s three sisters are medical doctors, but she had set her heart on architecture from her tenth standard. At that time MSU had 20% out-of-state students (including from Africa), so the interaction was good in the department. The ratio of girls to boys was 1:8. Minakshi Jain (profiled in this book) and Nalini Otiya were her batchmates. Patel remembers Suryakant Patel and artist Pingleji as her favourite teachers. She was greatly inspired by Pingleji’s aesthetical values in architecture. The first couple of years were spent in learning the basics of architectural education, but then she fell passionately in love with it. She even stood second in her class in the final year. Because of her background, Patel was design conscious from the beginning and has been interested in gardening as well as designing jewellery and clothes since her early teens. After graduation in 1964, Patel worked with Hamukh Patel as well as with Bernard Kohn in Ahmedabad for two years. During these two years, she also taught at the new school of architecture which is now Faculty of Architecture at CEPT University. She also attended National Institute of Design, a leading educational college, which had a department of architecture then. It was a great site for learning for CEPT students as well as other young graduates like Patel. There she had the opportunity to mingle with the likes of Gira Sarabhai, Frei Otto, Charles Correa and Dashrath Patel, all of whom left a deep impression on her career. She also met the great modern master Louis Kahn, who was designing the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad at the time. In 1966 she joined the department of architecture at the University of California at Berkeley for a master’s course where Prof. Joseph Esherick was her graduate advisor. At Berkeley, she became familiar with Christopher Alexander and his work. Louis Kahn was invited to speak at the university, who at the conclusion of his talk made a special effort to speak with Patel who had previously met him while in Ahmedabad. She completed her master’s in 1967 and moved to the East Coast. She began her professional career working for a large architectural firm for six months before joining Louis Kahn’s practice for two and a half years. Architects Anant Raje and Kulbhushan Jain were at the firm with her. Raje’s influence on Patel greatly inspired her throughout her professional career. Louis Kahn took a special interest in her work; he had a passion for Indian culture and did not miss an opportunity to experience it, such as attending the wedding of Patel’s sister in Philadelphia. There were several projects that Patel worked on while at Louis Kahn’s office. The Kimbell Art Museum in Dallas stands out because of the unique design with natural light. The convention hall in Venice was a true inspiration for Patel as the presentation included a 15-feet drawing and a model. She was touched by Kahn’s warmth for his buildings as she saw that each sketch was special to him. After visiting Europe Patel returned to India in 1970 and stayed till 1972 and taught design in the architectural department at MSU, Baroda. In 1972 she went back to the United States, mainly working with I. M. Pei on the Bank of China in Hong Kong, Jacob Javits Convention Centre, New York, and Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York.

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Patel returned to India in 1986. The experience of practising made her aware of the patriarchal attitudes of the society towards women. Since her return to India she has continued to be active in her profession. She headed the School of Interior Design at the Institute of Environmental Design, Vallabh Vidyanagar, from 1990 to 1997; she also started a five-year architecture programme at Sardar Vallabhbhai Institute of Technology at Vasad, Gujarat. Since the inception of Kalabhavan Architecture Alumni Foundation in 1970, she has been an active committee member of it.

7 Madhu Sarin (1945–)

Plate 7.1  Madhu Sarin Photograph by the author

80  |  Early narratives

Madhu Sarin was born in a well-to-do family in Chandigarh. While a cousin and her elder sister

quietly made difficult adaptations to life after arranged marriages, she was clear in her mind early on that she wanted to support herself. Aloof to social pressures of the time, she resisted all efforts by her well-meaning extended family towards finding her a groom. For this free-willed young woman, such matrimony was out of the question because of its inbuilt inequality for the woman. She concluded that power relationships, like those in traditional arranged marriages of the time, were complicated and not suited for her personality. She wanted to be in total control of her life and saw professional education as the key to her independence. Sarin’s father was a lawyer, but she did not see herself cut out for that profession. Architecture seemed a softer field compared to engineering and got the least resistance from the family which led Sarin to the newly established Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) in 1962. In 1967, Sarin graduated from the second batch of CCA. She recalls that it was tough to adjust to architecture initially as the creative process of design is non-tangible and abstract, especially when the teaching faculty was young and relatively inexperienced. There were only two girls in a class of 30. She faced resentment over doing well in class exams and was always conscious of a strong undercurrent of subtle male aggression, be it on campus or out in the professional sphere during the early days of her career. Nevertheless, she slowly settled down and eventually graduated at the top in her class, winning a gold medal. She worked in Ahmedabad with Prof. B. V. Doshi as a student apprentice once for two months and again for five months where she got better exposure and interacted with foreign architects. After graduation, despite resistance from family and friends, she started architectural practice with two of her male classmates in Chandigarh, as the only other option of working in a government office was unappealing to her. One of the first projects of their new office was to design the house of the chief engineer of Chandigarh. In May 1968, she went to Italy on a six-week cultural exchange programme and decided to stay behind to work in an architect’s office. In August 1968, she left for London with five pounds in her pocket where an architect cousin helped her settle down. After working first in the Public Works Department and then in the well-known office of Colquhoun and Miller, Sarin joined the Architectural Association’s Postgraduate Diploma in Tropical Studies during 1969–70. Here, she was exposed to social, political and economic dimensions of architecture viewed in the context of development planning.1 This exposure made her aware of the arrogance of architectural values and she wanted to understand why, despite being a totally planned city, Chandigarh still had non-planned settlements. After postgraduation, her experience of working at an architect’s office in London turned her off physical building design and she obtained a research grant to study the non-planned developments of Chandigarh. She returned to India in 1977–78 and soon enough plunged into need-based planning and activism. Her book Urban Planning in the Third World: The Chandigarh Experiment was published by Mansell Publishing Limited, London, in 1982. Sarin’s hypothesis was that Le Corbusier romanticized labour and the city’s urban design framework that specified minimum building and service standards systematically excluded the poor from the newly planned city. She says, ‘What

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is lacking in the preoccupations of all these “great” planners is any direct consideration of the material reality of the people for whom they were designing these splendid creations.’2 In addition to urban development planning and policies for squatter settlements, she got actively involved in rural development and participatory forest management culminating in her joining a movement demanding the recognition of the land and forest rights of forest-dwelling communities, which resulted in enactment of India’s historic Forest Rights Act. She has been a catalyst for the transformation of lives in rural areas with her innovative designs such as an improved chula (an indigenous stove for cooking made out of mud). She is also the president of the executive committee of Vasundhara, a research and policy advocacy group that works on environment conservation and sustainable livelihood issues. She was on the expert committee formed to preserve architectural heritage of Chandigarh and also on the committee for developing Chandigarh’s master plan for 2030. Sarin’s aim is to integrate issues in the planning process. She is an activist and has advocated several changes in the urban land policy. Her stress is on need-based planning versus market-driven development. She is clear that she is not a careerist, and is not interested in positions and an institutional identity. To her, freedom and flexibility are the most important cornerstones of her personal and professional growth.

Notes 1 In 1971, this was renamed Diploma in Development Planning when the Department of Tropical Studies of the Architectural Association became a part of University College, London, as the Development Planning Unit. 2 Sarosh Anklesaria, ‘Chandigarh: Vision and Reality’, http://www.architectureweek.com/2001/0822/ culture_1-2.html, accessed on 25 March 2015.

Part IV

Contemporary practices

8 Minakshi Jain (1943–)

Plate 8.1  Minakshi Jain Photo courtesy of Minakshi Jain

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Minakshi Jain was born Minakshi Shah to liberal parents in Baroda against the backdrop of

the independence movement, being the second of five sisters. Her father was a lawyer, while her mother, with a BA degree, was an active freedom fighter who wore Khadi sarees and had been to jail for her role in the national struggle. As a young girl, Jain was quite interested in sports and was involved in swimming and boating along with other traditional games like Langdi and Khokho – of which she was the team captain. Being in a family with no brothers, Jain and her siblings were encouraged to be outgoing and to pursue a career. Her older sister pursued engineering, while all other sisters also have their own careers. Jain herself had many passions that ranged from ceramics to flying. She obtained a pilot’s licence and a scholarship for flying a single-engine aircraft back in the 1960s. Her interest in ceramics further developed into designing jewellery and other objects. As a student Jain was good at mathematics, and her choices for further studies were either home science or architecture. However, being a childhood friend of Hema Patel (an architect mentioned in this book), she was introduced to the world of architecture through Hema’s brother Hasmukh Patel, a prominent architect in Ahmedabad. This influenced her decision to choose it as a future career. In 1959, Jain joined the architecture course at the Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) in Baroda. Along with Patel, they were a total of five girls in a batch of 30 students in their class. Graduating in 1964 from MSU, Jain was influenced by the teachings of her professors like Prof. M. B. Dave and Suryakant Patel. Her career’s turning point came in 1965, when Jain had the opportunity to listen to lectures by the world-renowned architect Louis Kahn and to interact with him. She was a research assistant at the architecture cell in the National Institute of Design (NID) campus in Ahmedabad. Louis Kahn was designing the campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and its office was in NID. Jain was involved in the IIM project for nine months. Louis Kahn’s personal integrity and working methodology had a great impact on her growth and thinking. Watching him, she understood the importance of a systematic approach, discipline and commitment involved in the process of developing an idea into a design. Working at NID gave Jain a riveting exposure to the world of design, outside the regular circle of Indian influences. She was also part of an exhibition titled ‘My India, My People’ with Charles and Ray Eames at NID. This overall experience fuelled her desire to study abroad. With Louis Kahn’s recommendation, Jain went to the University of Pennsylvania for her master’s in architecture with a teaching assistantship during her course. There she gained immense exposure from her landscape teacher Prof. Ian McHarg and many others. She was also part of the Friends of India group, through which she gained camaraderie and knowledge, helping her grow as an individual. After her graduation in 1966, Jain worked in Philadelphia for four years. In 1970 she came back to India, and in 1971 she married architect Kulbhushan Jain, who was her colleague at MSU. In 1972, they started their own practice called Jain Associates that, along with mainstream projects, also got involved in documentation work such as that of the inner city of Jodhpur. She is also a principal partner of M/s. Minakshi Jain Architects, since 2000, a team of four partners with K. B. Jain, Vijay Arya and Meghal Arya, involved in design practices of architecture, urban design and conservation of built heritage. She has developed her own individual practice as well.

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Jain taught for a prolonged period of time at the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology University (CEPT University) as a visiting faculty. Her teaching experience has been very broad as it ranged from design studios, housing, urban design, interior design and conservation at the graduate as well as postgraduate levels. She was one of the few women architects who began teaching in the early years of the School of Architecture at CEPT. She gains pleasure through her interaction with young people and learns from their different perspectives. The Jains also began a non-profit organization called AADI Centre for the publication of their research on Indian architecture. Along with Prof. K. B. Jain, some of the books Minakshi has co-authored are Indian Cities in the Arid West (1994), Architecture of the Indian Desert (2000) and Thematic Space in Indian Architecture (2002). She has also made a few films on architectural issues. Jain conducted an independent research for the School of Architecture on housing typologies of Gujarat, which was later published as a monograph. The firm as well as individual partners have won many awards and acclaim in the academic world. Jain was awarded a grant from the Getty Foundation in 1993, for her conservation and restoration work on the Fort of Nagaur, which gave a tremendous boost to her career. The conservation programme had to deal with a large land area, scores of artisan craftsmen, constant new discoveries and lost traditions of construction. In 2002, the project got the UNESCO Award of Excellence for Conservation from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage. In 2012, she received a Domus silver award for restoration of Ranvas at Nagaur fort. Currently, Jain is working on a conservation project at Amber Fort, Hawa Mahal and Jantar Mantar in Jaipur among other projects. Whenever possible, she has been involved with social issues and was active in the process of saving the 100-year-old Ellis Bridge in Ahmedabad from being demolished. After setting up practice, Jain had two daughters, born in 1973 and 1976. Hence, she had the dual responsibility of handling an emerging practice and looking after growing children. She prioritized her children’s upbringing by taking on less work till 1979 and later managed to balance both, with support from helpful, caring neighbours. Jain ideally believes in the balance between men and women in both personal and professional lives. However, she understands that this is not the case for women from lower socio-economic backgrounds, who, she believes, are more oppressed. She has had to build her own identity and gain the trust of K. B. Jain before he gave her space to grow. She realizes that in the perception of other people, K. B. Jain holds the primary position in their workspace and is thus called upon first. But Jain has been at the forefront of architectural conservation and has her own identity. She strongly believes that conservation efforts allow the chance to bring back what was lost to the people and that is definitely an achievement to be proud of.

Minakshi Jain projects Conservation and adaptive reuse of the Fort of Bambora, Udaipur, 1992 The Karni Fort is set in Bambora, a tiny village in Rajasthan, located around 50 kilometres south of Udaipur. One night a lady of the aristocratic family of Karni Singh of Jodhpur dreamt of having

Plate 8.2  Fort of Bambora, site plan Drawing courtesy of Minakshi Jain

Plate 8.3  Fort of Bambora, ground floor plan Drawing courtesy of Minakshi Jain

Plate 8.4  Fort of Bambora, ramp entrance to the palace Photo courtesy of Minakshi Jain

Plate 8.5  Fort of Bambora, Jharokha Photo courtesy of Minakshi Jain

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a fort and bought this property while it was in a dilapidated condition. It was planned to turn this into a heritage resort in 1992 with great personal interest. The fort is on the east of the village. In historic times, the main entrance must have been on the east side and was approached on horseback. Now, the entrance to the fort is through narrow streets of the village, giving the visitor a flavour of local setting. Once inside the entrance gate, there is a large open space before the palace building is seen. The three-storey building with four corner lounges is spruced up as a 22-room heritage resort with a kitchen, dining facilities, a small museum and a souvenir shop. No addition has been made to the building and has been reconstructed on the same footprint. The large open land inside the entrance gate is developed as landscaped area with a swimming pool by the side of the fort wall. The toilets and changing rooms are tucked into the fort wall itself on the lower level.

Plate 8.6  Fort of Bambora, repeated historic pattern Photo courtesy of Minakshi Jain

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Most rooms are in two levels on the south and west side, and the services are on the east. The rooms are a unique experience of royal and historic interiors. The northeast burge is left untouched for the sake of the memory of its ruinous days. Transformed from a decrepit state, the fort is converted into an immaculate heritage resort, while also restoring its historic architectural character. This way the landscape, village set and historic planning have all continued to survive.

The Fort of Nagaur, Jodhpur, 2002 Nagaur, situated close to Jodhpur, forms an important part of the Marwar region in Rajasthan. The Nagaur kingdom, believed to be established by the Nagvanshi kings in 4th century ad, has a rich historical background. From the rule of King Harsha in the 7th century till the Mughal

Plate 8.7  Aerial view of Nagaur Photo courtesy of Minakshi Jain

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Plate 8.8  Fort of Nagaur, fort wall Drawing courtesy of Minakshi Jain

rule in the late 17th century, Nagaur has been a complex blend of diverse political and cultural influences. This aspect is clearly visible in the construction of the fort, which is a unique agglomeration of building complexes and architectural elements that have withstood the ravages of time. Currently, it is surrounded by urban settlements, monuments and water bodies, being an integral part of the city. Maherangarh Museum Trust commissioned the architect to prepare a preliminary report for the conservation and documentation of the main structures. It became the basis for application to the Getty Grant Program, United States, that fetched a grant of US$50,000 in 1992. With the architect as the principal consultant, the project included the repair, consolidation and restoration of all the main buildings in the palace complex, the main entrances and parts of the external walls; comprehensive restoration of Hadi Rani Mahal, Abha Mahal and

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Plate 8.9  Fort of Nagaur, plan of the baradari (a pavillion space for informal meeting) Drawing courtesy of Minakshi Jain

Bakhat Singh Mahal; and the cleaning up of water bodies and partial restoration of the water systems. Extensive repair and restoration were carried out for the main baradaris and the pavilions, inner aqueduct walls and the mosque and temples. Two wells were rejuvenated and the main structures were re-plastered.

Plate 8.10  Fort of Nagaur, rectangular baradari – after removing walls, 2006 Photo courtesy of Minakshi Jain

Plate 8.11  Fort of Nagaur, Abha Mahal view Photo courtesy of Minakshi Jain

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Plate 8.12  Fort of Nagaur, Bakhat Singh Mahal at night after conservation Photo courtesy of Minakshi Jain

A primary objective was the revitalization of the entire fort complex and not just individual buildings, in a manner that would not only stop further deterioration but also breathe life into the whole. It was successfully completed in 2002, winning the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award of Excellence for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Rehabilitation of Nagaur fort has also been shortlisted for Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the 2013 cycle.

9 Renu Mistry (1947–)

Plate 9.1  Renu Mistry Photo courtesy of Renu Mistry

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Renu Mistry has spent 30 years in Bengaluru. Both her parents were doctors. Her father was a

Maratha and her mother a Tamilian, who were originally family friends in Chennai. Her father treated girls equally and emphasized education as well as career development for them. Mistry was strong in mathematics, got good grades and took up architecture at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kharagpur. There were about 25 women in the undergraduate programmes in IIT with 3,000 boys. The students were housed in about ten boys’ hostels and one small girls’ hostel. So for all inter-hostel competitions for sports or cultural events, it was the 25 girls participating. It gave the girls tremendous opportunity to develop known and unknown talents. In academics also the girls were generally the class toppers. Overall, her experiences at the college of architecture were rather empowering for Mistry. After graduation, her first job was in Mumbai, where she worked with Talati and Shroff. Then she went to the Islamic Republic of Iran to work in an architect’s office for four years before she got married to Shahrukh Mistry in 1975. After marriage they had to choose a town and selected Bengaluru to settle down. They jointly set up Mistry Architects in 1980 as principals and designed their first house together in Indranagar. After the design of the house, Renu and Shahrukh have been handling separate projects while sharing an office with an average staff of 30 people. Mistry Architects is one of the most reputed firms in the country. Between Renu and Shahrukh, they have won several national awards. Their work ranges from residences, public buildings and social institutions to conservation and interior projects. Due to the small size of their office, they limit projects to maintain the quality of their work. They have a varied practice and avoid type-casting. They often take up socially relevant projects such as schools in slums and old-age homes which they design with sensitivity. The employees are treated as if they are one big family. The Mistrys take the entire staff for a vacation once a year and encourage leadership within the office. In fact, about 25 individual offices have grown from Mistry Architects, set up by their ex-employees. Mistry gives a lot of credit to the employees whose enthusiasm and excitement is the key to the success of their office, which now has a second generation of clients.

Mistry’s role models are Mother Teresa, Laurie Baker and Geoffrey Bawa of Sri Lanka. She adores Frank Lloyd Wright for his detailing. However, in her own work, she has increasingly become interested in what she calls ‘rearchitecture’ and the use of natural (and local) materials like wood and stone with little work on it as well as recycling of used or dismantled materials so that there is zero waste. For example, in the bar she designed at the Officers’ Mess on Old Madras Road, she has creatively used discarded elements from aircrafts’ scrap yard. It has won three major architecture awards. Mistry enjoys working on site and believes in keeping design as simple and green as possible. The concept of green means reuse of materials, minimum reinforced cement concrete (RCC), high ceilings, cross-ventilation and natural light including use of lime and thatch at places. She strives to integrate and draw from traditional crafts in design, especially using local people’s indigenous skills for decoration. Her designs are aesthetically and tactilely rich, often drawing on the historical and traditional architectural roots of the region, with imaginative detailing that goes beyond the modernist limitations.

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Mistry loves challenging projects, space-wise or money-wise. She has never refused a project for less money. She believes in enjoying any kind of work that comes by and having fun in the process. In conservation projects, she derives satisfaction and excitement from her success of enthusing new life to old structures to satisfy contemporary needs and yet provide a historical continuum by preserving a heritage. A few years ago, she had a change in her career and is now only involved in utopian designs for herself. Besides architecture, Mistry is a classical dancer (Bharatnatyam) and has also participated in contemporary dance and kalari (a form of martial art in Kerala) workshops. She loves to spend her spare time reading, travelling, trekking and scuba diving and in community service. While in practice, Mistry often felt that in order to make the practice economically viable, both Shahrukh and she had to handle between them 70 to 80 projects at one time along with six to eight project leaders and their teams. After a few years, she was not satisfied with the time spent on each project. So gradually, she moved away from the large practice and became a part of a small design and build group that designs only about eight to ten projects in a year. The group works towards making the building design as green as possible with recycled wood, natural lighting and ventilation, zero-waste construction, solar energy devices, windmills, rainwater harvesting, grey water recycling, metal scrap sculptures, light fixtures, art from waste and other methods. Mistry enjoys her work and innovates at site while valuing her interactions with the team of masons, carpenters, fabricators, plumbers, electricians and painters, which is a true learning experience for both. Mistry has five children. When they were young, she managed with the help of Shahrukh’s mother and her parents. The office employees also often extended support in running the household as a family. In addition, she says that Shahrukh is undemanding and has supported her completely. She consciously decided not to travel outside Bengaluru and managed to find all opportunities locally. Mistry found that reaching the top is ten times harder for a woman who has responsibilities of parents, in-laws, children and her home. She observes that women tend to buckle under stress, mainly because they often have to make sacrifices, and many have professionally missed out a lot due to this. As a working woman with a large family to care for, Mistry too had her share of difficult choices to make. Efficient time management helped her reach where she is. Her advice to young women struggling in the profession is that success is not necessarily the number of projects one accomplishes but it is the quality of the work and satisfaction of that work. Mistry believes one should try to achieve a fine balance of life, work and family. For her, it has been a wonderful journey so far.

Renu Mistry projects Aste Bar, Bengaluru, 2000 The client’s design brief for the project was ‘to surprise a bunch of straight-laced Air Force guys’, which was one of its most challenging aspects. To achieve this, the literal context in which everyday equipment is used by the Air Force was played around with. The project, along with fulfilling certain pragmatic requirements, also determined a ‘fun’ sphere for Mistry’s creativity to operate.

Plate 9.2  Aste Bar, section and plan Drawing courtesy of Renu Mistry

Plate 9.3  Aste Bar, recycled aircraft chairs Photo courtesy of Renu Mistry

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Plate 9.4  Aste Bar, parts used in wall murals Photo courtesy of Renu Mistry

The clients had a long list of wants along with a very stringent budget. The solution to this problem was to ‘steal from the client’. The trash on the camp was sieved to find something or anything reusable. The otherwise useless junk was assembled and given a new lease of life, and the process of doing the same became a fun project for the team. In the rewritten context, the wreckage is intricately linked to the design, making the ambience unique and giving the non-replicable entity a distinct identity. Mistry believes that the kind of architecture one inhabits influences the way he or she thinks. It is not the design and elements alone but the way architecture relates to the environmental context – that is the most important aspect of design. This project also professes the three R’s: Reduce,

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Plate 9.5  Aste Bar, spent missiles as bar stools Photo courtesy of Renu Mistry

Recycle and Reuse. Thus, the tangible, palpable object-related specificity of the interior anointed with recycled wreckage is an experience to the aesthetic perception. There was a new definition of conservation that was discovered in course of the project – that conservation does not always mean preservation. It also could mean a new form to an old fabric.

Villa 85, Laughing Waters, Bengaluru, 2010 Villa 85 is a four-bedroom home built in Laughing Waters, a township in Bengaluru. Built on a corner plot, the house has a built-up area of 4,000 square feet. The open plan layout has minimal walls where the solid external concrete walls provide sufficient thermal mass. It has a large glazing

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Plate 9.6  Villa 85, Laughing Waters ground floor plan Drawing courtesy of Renu Mistry

that overlooks the garden. Spaces in the villa are interlinked with connecting double-height volumes that also enable stack effect, keeping the building cooler and ensuring constant natural cross-ventilation and sky-lighting. The architect has used scrap automobile parts to create metal sculptures and window grills. Art has been made an integral part of the architecture with involvement of local artists and craftsmen. Moreover, all the materials used have been locally procured and manufactured, thus avoiding transport cost and carbon emissions. The doors and windows as well as the stones and pavers are reused from older buildings. Other reused materials include broken tiles (as china mosaic), broken glass pieces (for butch work) and wrought-iron railings made from recycled steel. Non-toxic, lead-free paints have been used, avoiding poly-urethane coats with a preference for natural oils. The design has consciously eliminated air conditioning with the terrace cover and garden that avoids solar gain. There is natural ventilation with skylights and a courtyard. Rainwater run-off is harvested, filtered, stored and reused for all purposes and the surplus rainwater

Plate 9.7  Villa 85, Laughing Waters roof garden Photo courtesy of Renu Mistry

Plate 9.8  Villa 85, Laughing Waters sculptures in the court Photo courtesy of Renu Mistry

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Plate 9.9  Villa 85, Laughing Waters detail of bar counter Photo courtesy of Renu Mistry

Plate 9.10  Villa 85, Laughing Waters interior detail Photo courtesy of Renu Mistry

is recharged into the bore well. The effluent is treated at the grey water reclamation plant of the community. Water heating is achieved through a 200-litre solar water heater with a provision for solar photo-voltaic panels and a windmill for power generation. The landscape comprises native vegetation and is irrigated by drippers.

10 Namita Singh (1948–)

Plate 10.1  Namita Singh Photo courtesy of Namita Singh

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Namita Singh is a very well-known Chandigarh-based architect who was born in Ferozepure,

India. She comes from a highly educated background; her maternal grandmother taught herself till tenth standard and her mother had a master’s degree in arts. Her grandmother became her role model, as she had voiced her injustice at being married to a widower at a very young age and hence she made it a point to educate her daughter, Singh’s mother.1 Her father was a civil engineer and mother a lecturer in Lahore. Singh was the oldest daughter among four sisters and her maiden name was Agnihotri. Her parents brought her up to be a thinking person. Her father was posted in Pakistan at the time of the partition of India in 1947. Her newly married parents had to flee to India as part of a five-mile-long caravan of people after leaving all their belongings behind. Singh remembers growing up listening to tragic horror stories. Singh’s passion for architecture comes from her civil engineer grandfather’s obsession with buildings, especially the house he had built for himself. To help him design this house, he had employed full-time carpenters and smelters to make models of his designs. Though Singh never knew him, she grew up exploring these models which opened out showing fully furnished rooms at various levels. Her father was part of the design team at Bhakhra Dam and Le Corbusier was invited to give some aesthetic touches to it. This became Singh’s first introduction to architecture. Her parents were liberal and encouraged all their daughters to be professionals. In 1965 Singh joined the architecture course at Chandigarh College of Architecture, an institution set up by Le Corbusier. There were three girls in her batch during that time, and she faced no discrimination in college. Until her third year, Singh was unsure and perplexed about her choice of career, finding design solutions confusing and subjective as till then she had studied very precise scientific subjects. But the turning point came when her class was given a house as a design problem. Struggling with it, Singh discovered her ability to be a part of the space created by the lines of the plan. Now instead of the plans, sections and elevations being just geometrical projections and drawings, they became living and breathing spaces which she could imagine herself moving through. This was the beginning of her long and exciting journey with architecture. Just after graduation with honours in 1970, she joined the fledgling practice of architect Satnam Singh for Rs 500 per month. In 1973 she got married to Satnam Singh, who was a Sikh, and she was a Hindu Brahmin from Punjab. They had two children. In the beginning, being part of a very small-staffed office, she had to immediately familiarize herself with the various nuances of construction and site work, while grappling with small residential projects. This made her realize the inadequacy of her college education and the need to do the learning herself. She experienced the anxiety of translating what she put on paper into actual construction, as she had planned or imagined it. Singh believes that it was this process that helped her in not becoming complacent and to keep learning and growing. The first big project she designed was the Sangeet cinema in Ludhiana. The prestigious Congress Bhavan followed in Chandigarh, the foundation stone of which was laid by late Indira Gandhi. Her first big break came in the form of Sri Dasmesh Academy, a residential public school on 200

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acres of land in Anandpur Sahib. While working on her entry for the design competition, she had to leave her two small children in the care of her mother, as she was involved in the project work day and night, which was responsible for getting her recognition from the outside world. In 1987–88, Singh participated in the two-stage competition for the Naval Academy. Singh worked on this project for a year with a team of young architects mostly from Chandigarh and her younger sister who had an architectural degree from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. They won this competition, and it was a matter of great prestige for them to do this project in Kerala, one of the most beautiful sites in India. There was a gap of almost 12 years between their selection and the first tender being called. In the interim her office got involved with several acclaimed and important projects such as large institutional complexes, housing schemes, multipurpose auditoriums, hospitals, hostels and other noteworthy buildings such as clubs. Her current portfolio also consists of many prestigious projects such as Punjab Engineering College (master plan and detailed design), Nehru Centre for Performing Arts, the future cultural centre of Chandigarh along with a plaza which will form part of the Sub-City Centre and the extension of the Punjab and Haryana High Court located within Le Corbusier’s Capital Complex. Singh, however, derives great satisfaction from designing homes, especially for family and friends. She enjoys designing liveable spaces taking into consideration site orientation, natural light, cross-ventilation and the personality of the clients, who she involves in the design process.2 Her design approach ranges from leaning heavily towards modernist principles to experimenting with contextual references. She stresses clarity of circulation, functionality and sensitivity to nature. She consciously responds to climatic and topographical factors along, often using exposed bricks and earthy textures. The seamless flowing of inside and outside spaces are common experiences in her designs. She uses bold, geometric compositions in exposed brick but also incorporates traditional components of the locale in terms of form and materials such as riverbed stones. In short, her design approach attempts to synthesize people, the context and the environment. To Singh, finding her own identity and interaction with clients have been important factors throughout her professional life. She handled her projects independently from her husband’s and carried on running the practice successfully after his demise in 2001. Her daughter is also an architect, who instead of working in a mainstream practice has chosen to make her career in the development world, working with women migrant labour living in the slums. Regarding architectural education and profession, Singh feels that it is increasingly becoming commercial while the necessary amount of idealism is missing. Her observation has been that the new generation of students, though sharp, somewhere lack a complete grasp on design; maybe working on small screens of computers makes them engage with only a ‘piece’ of the design. Singh designs intuitively and believes that a responsive design is always site specific, conscious of its context, concerned about its users and works from inside to outside while weaving in the landscape. She does not follow any ‘isms’ and believes that buildings should create supportive background for human activities and perceptions, with considerable restraint and modesty.

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For Singh, feminism means equality between men and women wherein women should be brought up by parents with parity and educated to become empowered and be financially independent. She has never been conscious of her gender in her architectural practice while dealing with clients or staff and has not been aware of any constraints as a woman.

Namita Singh projects INHS Asvini Hospital, Colaba, Mumbai, 2004 Originally, the INHS Asvini Hospital was a prime site along the Mumbai coastline, containing old structures. Over the years the natural beauty of the site got lost due to the chaotic and jarring new development around it. Thus, the hospital was designed ensuring that it would integrate the existing structures with the surrounding environment. Organization of the entries, circulation

Plate 10.2  INHS Asvini Hospital, master plan Drawing courtesy of Namita Singh

Plate 10.3  INHS Asvini Hospital, a large recreational area created near seafront Photo courtesy of Namita Singh

Plate 10.4  INHS Asvini Hospital, low-key facade as a quiet backdrop to the heritage

structure Photo courtesy of Namita Singh

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and plan forms were based on the original heritage building along the sea and other structures. The new building was designed having a maximum sea view. The new structure was lifted up so that the ground behind became continuous with the seafront. Its entrance was arranged such that both the old and new can exist without getting overshadowed by each other. The heritage building has been meaningfully integrated with the new hospital, by using it for rehabilitation, occupational therapy and family welfare. These facilities open into the large recreational areas in the front creating a secure and pleasant sea-side environment for the recuperating patients. The new facade has been kept low key and free of elements, to act as a quiet backdrop. Apart from designing a modern, technologically and functionally efficient hospital building, another factor that greatly increased the challenge of the task was the need to phase the construction so that the present hospital could remain operational during the ongoing construction.

Naval Academy, Ezhimala, Kerala, 2009 The Naval Academy, a campus to train 750 cadets, has been built on 2,300 acres of land along the Arabian Sea on the northern tip of Kerala. The picturesque site of Ezhimala, with its natural expanse of seven hills, has a magnificent coastline. The Mount Dilli, forests, backwaters and a six-kilometre beach are the dominating features of this site. A township is being created on it,

Plate 10.5  Naval Academy, master plan Drawing courtesy of Namita Singh

Plate 10.6  Naval Academy, aerial view Photo courtesy of Namita Singh

Plate 10.7  Naval Academy, northern entry Photo courtesy of Namita Singh

Plate 10.8  Naval Academy, southern entry Photo courtesy of Namita Singh

Plate 10.9  Naval Academy, the well-lit interior of the cadets’ mess Photo courtesy of Namita Singh

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Plate 10.10  Naval Academy, interior of the covered link

Photo courtesy of Namita Singh

which has facilities like institutional buildings, sports complexes, parade ground, laboratories, classrooms, library, auditorium and various types of housing. The total construction area is 30 lakh square feet. During the design process, the objectives of the architect were to conserve the wooded ridge line, retain the existing topography, maintain the ecological balance by retaining the natural drainage course and leaving large stretches of unbuilt land as forest reserve and cater to local climate and building traditions. The challenge lay in harmonizing the natural grandeur of the site and the built forms. This has been achieved by creating an identifiable focus on the landscape through Mount Dilli and the academy, establishing a complimentary dialogue between the two.

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A balanced blend of natural spontaneity and disciplined organization is achieved by creating an orderly sequence between different areas without enforcing any rigid geometry. A blend of academic and military environment has been achieved by creating an axial and ceremonial relationship. An all-pervasive experience of the aqua medium – the raison d’être of the navy – has been ensured by designing the buildings into three-sided enclosures with their courts oriented towards the sea. Taking clues from the elements typical to vernacular architecture, the designs respond to the extremely hot and humid climate conditions. The plans are developed into a sequence of single depth spaces having openings on two sides with semi-open spaces and deep roof colonnades, ensuring good cross-ventilation. A strong and prestigious character is created for the institutional buildings through the use of granite in the form of sharply delineated gable ends, a commonly used local element. A well-organized circulation system for the entire academy was created ensuring that the piazzas and terraces act as pedestrian short cuts linking different areas. The campus, with its three zones, is designed to ensure expansion for future facilities and growth.

Notes 1 Nirupama Dutt, ‘Women Who Made It: Building Castles, But Not in the Air, http://www.tribuneindia. com/2005/20050416/biz.htm#1, accessed in May 2015. 2 Namita Singh, ‘My Architectural Journey’, Contemporary Women Architects, Architecture + Design, Vol. XXII, No. 12, December 2005, pp. 97–98.

11 Brinda Somaya (1949–)

Plate 11.1  Brinda Somaya Photo courtesy of Brinda Somaya

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Brinda Somaya is an acclaimed architect of India and South Asia with a prolific work portfolio. Her expansive volume of work over three decades has led to her name being associated with the league of post-independence Indian masters of architecture and the creation of a successful, multi-project practice. It includes commercial, educational, institutional, interior, corporate and conservation commissions. Somaya’s signature is the inclusion of a social element in every project, whether it is ensuring the upgrading of pavements outside the buildings of large corporate clients or designing a sustainable school by reviving age-old traditional building techniques. In 2012 she received the honorary doctorate degree from her alma mater the Smith College, Massachusetts.

Somaya’s architectural journey began in the ruins of Nalanda, the ancient university in Bihar, at the age of six when she was Brinda Chinnappa. The initial dream was to become an archaeologist but soon shifted to architecture. Exposure of the field through extensive travel in her younger days nurtured her passion for the profession. Somaya recalls, I lived in Kolkata till the age of eight and moved to Mumbai thereafter. My father was a power engineer and worked with the Damodar Valley Corporation and my mother was a Zoologist. We once drove from Kolkata to Mumbai stopping at various sites on the way.

Somaya graduated from the architectural course at the Sir J. J. College of Architecture in Mumbai in 1971, where out of the 60 students in her class, she was one of about six women. She later did an MA in the arts at Smith College and a short design course at Cornell University. Brinda married an army cardiac surgeon, Anand Somaya, a staunch supporter of her work till date. She joined her sister to form a partnership architectural practice in 1975. At the time architectural firms headed by women were practically non-existent. The firm opened its first office in a garden shed behind their home in Mumbai. Within a year of starting the firm, Somaya’s sister left for Holland with her husband. Thereafter, Somaya forged ahead on her own, building up the foundation of her practice. At the young age of 24 Somaya got her breakthrough assignment – a factory for a Mumbai industrialist – and her firm began to grow. During the 1970s and 1980s there was a highly regulated economy. In spite of having to work within the limitations of building materials’ shortage and small budgets, Somaya continued to build projects of high architectural merit. Over the past 20 years, Somaya’s projects grew dramatically in diversity and scale, with every project becoming a journey and a learning experience. Though there are modernist roots to her design, she is not tied down by any stylistic inhibitions. Each design is a different challenge for her, projecting true multiple expressions in the postcolonial period. Her body of work is characterized by the simplicity that modernists seek but also has free-flowing lines and a visual richness.1 There is a successful blurring of the peripheries between the internal and external environments in her buildings. Light seems to play a central role with an inherent understanding of climatic factors reflected in the deep recesses as well as the use of large verandahs and differently scaled courtyards. For the external facades, Somaya uses neutral, earthy tones, including an extensive selection of natural materials like stone, terracotta and brick. Within modernist sensibilities, Somaya’s architecture has a touch of the postmodern.

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Somaya has built her practice based on prescribed principles and discipline that ensured the delivery of high-quality architecture to match international standards, which has also led to her working collaboratively with acclaimed international architects. As an urban conservationist, Somaya has undertaken a plethora of restoration and conservation projects, winning many international and national awards in the field. The projects range from the revitalization of the West End Hotel in Bengaluru in the 1990s to restoring Rallis House, a colonial building in the fort area housing the global headoffice of Tata Consultancy Services. The St Thomas’ Cathedral in Mumbai is one of the oldest Anglican churches in the city built by the British. With absolutely no drawings and minimal photographic evidence, Somaya took up the challenging task of restoring this structure. It won her the prestigious UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage. Somaya has a great diversity of skills and as a master planner has designed a belt of housing at the magnificent township of Lavasa in Dasve, and she has completed several institutional campuses, including the Goa Institute of Management in Sanquelim. She is also the lead architect for the master planning and restoration of the Birla Institute of Management in Pilani. Somaya is conscious of the context and uses vernacular architectural elements such as courtyard, pergolas and locally available materials and techniques to develop an Indian ethos. The Nalanda International Schools in Vadodara are testament to her method of design being naturally engrained in sustainable architecture. The project was awarded the prestigious European Leaf Award for Architecture in the highly commended category for the use of traditional methods of environmental control and was recognized for a simple design reflective of an Indian ethos resulting in a space highly conducive for learning. It was also nominated for the renowned Aga Khan Award. Somaya’s strong identity with uplifting her country through her professional skills led to a project of the rehabilitation of a village in Kutch, Gujarat. After the 2001 earthquake devastated Gujarat, Somaya found herself sitting on a charpoy under a tree and talking to the villagers of Bhadli who had lost their homes and livelihoods. Seeing herself as a facilitator for the village, Somaya’s ability to design sensitively emerged, and instead of relocating the villagers to another site, it was decided to rehabilitate each family in their own parcel of land, which they cherished as their neighbourhood. Somaya was awarded the 2008 Vassilis Sgoutas Prize for the architecturally sensitive reconstruction of an earthquake-devastated poor village by the International Union of Architects. In his article titled ‘On the Precious Work of Brinda Somaya’, the eminent professor P. G. Raman of Edinburgh University opined: There is an order and appropriateness in her work. For her everything deserves serious architectural attention. Whether it is private houses, a garden for the slum dweller, vendors stalls for a temple complex or the conservation, restructure and extension of a colonial school, she seems to be bringing a sort of native intelligence to all of them.2

In a profession dominated by men and where so few women dare to venture, Somaya continues her trailblazing architectural work. Somaya successfully raised two children through her illustrious career. Her daughter, who after qualifying as a lawyer in London and re-training as an architect and interior designer, now has the fortune of working by her mother’s side while facing

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her own obstacles and challenges that the profession holds. As the first woman recipient of the prestigious Weinerberger Golden Architect Award, India, for lifetime achievement, her career was summarized as follows by them: ‘It is heartening to observe a person’s lifetime dedication, involvement and focused creativity being applauded with such unanimity. . . . Architect Brinda Somaya will always be remembered as an institution in herself.’

Brinda Somaya projects The Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, 2002 The village of Bhadli was devastated by the 2001 earthquake. A co-ed primary school with 194 students and 6 teachers was completely destroyed by the earthquake. It had classes from one to six, with children of ages ranging from 5 to 14 years. In addition, a small kindergarten with 52 students was taught by three teachers and functioned for seven months in the year. The villagers were afraid that once the children were out of school and started working and earning, their parents would not send them back to school. So a temporary school was built during the time the new school was designed and built. Additional land required was generously donated to the village by a farmer whose fields were adjoining the school site. The new school centre, completed in 2002, consisted of classrooms, a library and dining facilities along with a balwadi (kindergarten), a community centre with a multipurpose hall and a space for

Plate 11.2  Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, rehabilitated village rebuilt in existing footprint

Drawing courtesy of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd

Plate 11.3  Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, plan Photo courtesy of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Ajay Lotlikar

Plate 11.4  Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, view of the school Photo courtesy of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Ajay Lotlikar

Plate 11.5  Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, corridors and pergolas provided for shading Photo courtesy of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Ajay Lotlikar

Plate 11.6  Bhadli Village School and Community Centre, punctures on school

walls facilitating ventilation Photo courtesy of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Ajay Lotlikar

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the women to work on their bandhani (a type of tie-dye cloth). The architects worked closely with the villagers to fulfil their dream. Looking into the future, they requested for a flat roof so that one day their village school would expand right up to class 12. The group of buildings was ground and one upper floor, built of brick and lime plaster. The jalis were created from bottles and the artwork by the students of the school. Local materials were used to save money, and earthquake-resistant detailing was adhered to. The buildings are strung around the central courtyard that serves as a collection space for the children. The courtyard has become the nerve centre of the village. The community hall is used for the Gram Vikas Kendra meetings of the village.

Nalanda International School, Vadodara, 2010 The inspiration for the design of this project came to the architect from the ancient Nalanda University in Bihar. The site was a flat, green carrot field with trees on the periphery. The architect’s desire was to create a peaceful space suitable for learning, one that would raise the spirit of the students and would more than just reflect the culture and heritage of India. Wide-open courtyards, corridor spaces, shaded classrooms, jalis, pergolas, Kotah and Jaisalmer stone and brick vaults connect the buildings with the indoor learning spaces within as well as the outdoor green spaces.

Plate 11.7  Nalanda International School, master plan Drawing courtesy of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd

Plate 11.8  Nalanda International School, a view of the entrance Photo courtesy of Brinda Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Noshir Gobhai

Plate 11.9  Nalanda International School, a view of the interior courtyard Photo courtesy of Brinda Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Noshir Gobhai

Plate 11.10  Nalanda International School, hallway revealing jali detail in

brick work Photo courtesy of Brinda Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Noshir Gobhai

Plate 11.11  Nalanda International School, senior school with double-height

pergola roofs Photo courtesy of Brinda Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Noshir Gobhai

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Plate 11.12  Nalanda International School, junior school, multifunctional

corridor spaces Photo courtesy of Brinda Somaya & Kalappa Consultants Pvt. Ltd and Noshir Gobhai

The 20-acre site, built in phases, is a complex of four school buildings – the nursery, primary, middle and high schools with certain similarities and differences in their architectural vocabulary. The use of materials, scale geometry and proportions changes according to the design while forming a distinct unified entity in the overall master plan. Courtyards are used in the junior school such that they create clusters of four classrooms, enabling the children to be close to nature while minimizing the use of artificial lighting and ventilation. Consequently, no part of the buildings requires air conditioning except the computer labs. Natural stone flooring contributes to the cooling effect, while the china mosaic used in the nursery school along with the patterned and coloured cement lends a sense of play for the young children. The brick buildings with their terracotta-tiled roofs provide a cool atmosphere in the hot and dry climate of Vadodara. The workmen used local bricks and traditional construction methods. Brick piers, vaults and cavity walls are structural and comprise the overall structure. All the existing trees have been retained on site even as the courtyards and pergolas enhance the space. The architecture expresses the complex interaction between the site, climate, tradition, material and the human spirit. The Nalanda School won two awards, the Leading European Architects Forum award in 2006 for the use of traditional methods of environmental control and the Aga Khan Award in 2007.

Notes 1 Jon Lang, A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India, 2002, p. 159. 2 Space and Society magazine, Anno XX, No. 83, July–September 1998, p. 86.

12 Neera Adarkar (1949–)

Plate 12.1  Neera Adarkar Photograph by author

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Neera Adarkar is a leading academician, researcher, urban activist and practitioner in the field

of architecture in India. A multifaceted personality, she graduated from Sir J. J. College of Architecture in 1971 as Neera Adivarekar. She then obtained a postgraduate degree in industrial design at Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, in 1974. She grew up in a progressive household. Her maternal grandfather had established a school for girls in the middle-class area of Mumbai’s Girgaon. Her parents had met in the Indian National Theatre. Theirs was an intercaste marriage with no religious ceremony. Interestingly, Neera and her husband Arvind Adarkar also met when they acted together in a play in Sir J. J. College of Architecture.

Adarkar grew up in the idealistic environment of post-independence period of ‘nation making’, in which she was encouraged to enjoy freedom in all respects. Her father, a Gandhian, wanted her to study in the Marathi medium, which she did for the first seven years of her education, giving her a deeper cultural understanding of the society. True to the times, Adarkar also studied Indian classical dance – Bharatnatyam. Her father’s work entailed travel throughout Maharashtra, and during the vacations she stayed with him in the government rest houses – typical vernacular bungalows with verandahs built on specially selected scenic locations. Through these early travels, she developed sensitivity to ‘place’. When Adarkar was in the final year of her high school, she toyed with two choices for her college studies: history and architecture. Designing buildings and studying archaeological sites sounded more glamorous to her. Adarkar thinks that Sir J. J. College of Architecture, in spite of and because of its premier status in the city, aimed to create efficient draftsmen than architects. Further, the architectural pedagogy was narrowly defined, devoid of any social context while being influenced by engineering skills. The definition of modernism was limited to ‘Form Follows Function’, which justified the ‘box with a flat facade’ type of architecture completely ignoring the possibilities of creating a myriad of spaces within. However, her understanding became wider after being exposed to the works of modernist architects like Richard Neutra, Le Corbusier, I. M. Pei, Rem Koolhaas and Gropius. Adarkar says, My short stint with architect Pravina Mehta who, in her own way, was trying to link other Indian art forms like the classical dance with architecture, and to situate the cottage industry crafts within her modernist forms, helped me both, to develop an inter disciplinary approach and disown the stifling pedagogical influence.

In addition, the postgraduation course in product design drew on film and graphics which reawakened her interest in these art forms. Adarkar joined the women’s movement in the early 1980s, which offered her an opportunity to revisit and examine her discipline from the lens of both class and gender. Soon after that, her romantic belief in the neutrality of space went through a massive deconstruction process redefined by feminist thinking. Since then, she has strongly felt that design philosophy has to be understood in the context of the social and political relationships in any given society for built environment, especially while planning a city. To her, feminism means eradicating exploitation of

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women’s labour and sexuality while recognizing women’s right to make choices at all levels. She strongly feels that women’s identity should be independent of their marital status while recognizing their right to housing and infrastructure. Adarkar, along with her husband Arvind, was drawn into the politics of urban space through Mumbai’s mill lands in the early 1990s during the decline of Mumbai’s erstwhile textile industry. During the past decade, Adarkar has contributed significantly to two important processes in the city: creating a common platform by engaging a wide spectrum of civil society organizations (including leading professionals) to wage a struggle against the state policy of developing the mill lands and working on alternative development plans for those lands. Demanding the recognition of the right of mill workers to share the fruits of the development of mill lands, she participated in preparing an alternative proposal against the one by the state government. This furthermore led to working on a framework for the development policies of the city from a subaltern perspective. Adarkar Associates was established by Arvind Adarkar in 1975. Neera joined him in 1980 after she completed her postgraduation. In 1983, a younger partner Arun Kale joined them, which made it more than a spousal practice. The Adarkars grew together and shared common concerns, a fact that was at the core of their joint practice and their teaching careers. However, the presence of the third partner helped in diffusing the moments of conflicts arising out of marital presuppositions. Their projects range from mass housing and institutions to heritage listing/conservation and urban research. The firm has two awards through design competitions to its credit, with Adarkar attempting to bring in concerns regarding gender and class in all projects. Formally, she faces the challenge of crossing the boundaries of modernism without falling into the trap of global corporate genre of a placeless image making. While most women profiled here have distanced themselves from radical grass-roots movements, Adarkar passionately participates in demonstrating against urban issues of the city as an activist. Adarkar’s concern in social, urban and gender issues has resulted in her associations with various civil society organizations. She is a founding member and trustee of MAJLIS, a non-governmental organization engaged in cultural and urban projects. She is also closely linked with the Textile Workers’ Union in the city of Mumbai.1 She was conferred an honorary doctorate from Katholieke University in Belgium in 2014. Over the past two decades her architectural practice, research and active participation in the urban movements have been running parallel. This has led to sharpening of her sensibilities, which has further added a dimension to her role as a practising architect and as a teacher. Her dream is to work on an urban planning project in order to bring together the concerns she has acquired through her long association with various movements challenging the norms of urban development. Adarkar has to a large extent succeeded in connecting to the process of designing to the sensibilities she has acquired over the years.

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Besides a practising architect, Adarkar is a writer and a devoted teacher. She has been a visiting faculty at several colleges of architecture in Mumbai. She is also on the faculty and governing council of School of Environment and Architecture. She has lectured in the universities of Chicago, Cornell, Columbia, New School, Leuven and so on, on the urban and heritage issues. In 2004, Adarkar co-authored a book titled One Hundred Years, One Hundred Voices, Oral History of Girangaon which has reconstructed the history of Mumbai’s textile mill district, popularly known as Girangaon, based on the oral narratives of the residents. Then in 2011, she edited a book titled Chawls of Mumbai: Galleries of Life. The chawl is an industrial housing typology, unique to Mumbai. Associated with the early migrants from rural Maharashtra, the chawl neighbourhoods shaped the political and cultural identity of the city over a century. Thus, Adarkar’s career path is unusual and fascinating as she has extended and keeps extending the boundaries of architecture at the personal and professional levels.

Neera Adarkar projects Yuva Centre, Navi Mumbai, 2002 The Yuva Centre belongs to a non-governmental organization (NGO) called Youth for Voluntary Action (YUVA), which was allotted a plot by CIDCO in Navi Mumbai. The social activities of this NGO cover a wide spectrum. The requirements of this centre ranged from the provision of the office of the South Asian Institute for Human Rights Education along with residential facilities for international guests participating in seminars. At the same time, Yuva is active in the issues of housing rights, especially of the poor and women. The centre holds residential workshops for women from the slums and for street children to create awareness on urban issues. It houses a wellequipped video unit to teach filming skills to the youths. There is a ‘building centre’ on the ground floor, in collaboration with CIDCO, which produces building blocks made out of waste materials. The plot for the centre is linear and inadequate to create outdoor spaces even though an adjoining plot is managed by Yuva as a green open space. Therefore, the built form is structured to create a kind of transparency within the building. A landscaped courtyard and a paved plaza have been created in the core of the building at two different levels, facilitating a visual connection as well as cross-ventilation throughout the centre. This arrangement, at the same time, provides necessary privacy for the residential areas needed for various functions. International norms for physically challenged persons are strictly followed. The building has made use of eco-friendly GGBS cement, solar panels and rainwater harvesting system.

Plate 12.2  Yuva Centre, entrance plaza Photo courtesy of Neera Adarkar

Plate 12.3  Yuva Centre, ground floor plan Drawing courtesy of Neera Adarkar

Plate 12.4  Yuva Centre, section BB Drawing courtesy of Neera Adarkar

Plate 12.5  Yuva Centre, fluidity within Photo courtesy of Neera Adarkar

Plate 12.6  Yuva Centre, spaces within building overlooking plaza and courtyard Photo courtesy of Neera Adarkar

Plate 12.7  Yuva Centre, stairs leading to entrance plaza Photo courtesy of Neera Adarkar

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One Hundred Years One Hundred Voices: The Millworkers of Girangaon: An Oral History Meena Menon and Neera Adarkar, published by Seagull, Calcutta, 2004 At the turn of the 19th century, the skyline of the city of Mumbai was defined by the chimneys of the cotton textile mills. A hundred years later, it is being marked by the chrome and glass-clad high-rises, while the chimneys are no more. In their place stand shiny towers with luxurious apartments, expensive shops, restaurants and the offices of the burgeoning media and advertising world of Mumbai. The history of central Mumbai’s textile area, known as Girangaon, is one of the least known stories of modern India. Covering textile mills, housing neighbourhoods and cultural centres, this area (approximately 1,000 acres) is the heart of India’s commercial and financial capital. The authors of the book were keen to preserve the memories of a glorious and turbulent past even as the physical structures are being destroyed. The most appropriate and effective way was to hear the voices of the men and women who have contributed extensively to the politics and economy of Mumbai but who have been given no place in its future. The book contains a hundred testimonies, accompanied by recorded historical data. It reveals the divide between official histories and people’s memories, expressing the reality of what went into the making of Bombay/Mumbai.

Chawls of Mumbai: Galleries of Life, 2011 Edited by Neera Adarkar, ImprintOne Publication, New Delhi, 2011 This book is an edited volume that attempts to capture a significant phase in the urban history of Mumbai, marked by industrial economy and its close links with the evolution of a migrant community in decentralized, sustainable and low-income neighbourhoods. They were not planned; but by the virtue of their proximity to the place of work – mainly the textile mills – an interesting network of physical and social infrastructure developed. While the chawl typology presents a character associated with box-like three- to five-storeyed army barracks, a creative use of the hierarchy of its private and public spaces by the migrant families encouraged a wide range of community networks. The chawls would invariably be built around a courtyard, which turned out to be an important social and political public place. Its unique community culture has found an significant place in Mumbai’s popular art and cultural narratives in literature, cinema, theatre and music. There are still over 15,000 chawls in Mumbai. The wave of gentrification in the city at present has led to the demolition of several chawls, destructing the existing social fabric, as the threat of displacement looms large over the community. The objective of the book is not to look at the past with nostalgia but to examine the future in the context of the current models of development in the city. The essays are a spectrum of readings/writings on a subject that are not only urbanistically and architecturally innovative but also incredibly important in the socio-cultural (and even political)

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Plate 12.8  Book cover, Chawls of Mumbai: Galleries of Life Photo courtesy of Neera Adarkar

history of Mumbai. The combination of scholarly essays, personal narratives and visual documentation has resulted in a lively and interesting book that will interest a wide range of readers.

Note 1 ‘Gender and the Global Slum’, http://socialdifference.columbia.edu/people/neera-adarkar, accessed in March 2015.

13 Meena Mani (1950–)

Plate 13.1  Meena Mani Photo courtesy of Meena Mani

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As a child, Meena Mani was exposed to arts and crafts by her parents. Her father was an electri-

cal and mechanical engineer and also had the gift of drawing. She was surrounded by his largerthan-life drawings on the walls of their home. Her parents took Mani and her siblings to many art exhibitions and tried to introduce them to the charms of art from an early age. She herself was involved in many hands-on activities, such as making paper flowers or decorating/making a doll’s house as well as drawing and painting. Her father had a larger-than-life persona and so, when he suddenly passed away, Mani at 13 years of age was at an utter loss. Her mother, a housewife, had led an extremely sheltered life. However, she had great inner strength, and the family soon came to terms with the loss and young Mani became the ‘son’ of the family, shouldering many responsibilities at an early age. Not only that, Mani was also eager to start earning as soon as possible because of financial challenges. Meena Mirchandani got married to Moti Mani, an importer and seller of books, in 1976 but lost him to cancer within a short span of two years. Architecture was not Mani’s first choice as she was rather keen on studying nuclear physics. However, she stood first in the entrance test at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi, in 1966 and decided to take it up, which she eventually grew to love passionately. There were about eight boys and eight girls in her graduating class. SPA had an unconventional environment in the 1960s–1970s, with students working through the night. Mani managed to stand first in class in the design studio almost every year. SPA had an exceptionally good faculty. Teachers like Jhabvala, Raj Rewal, Ranjit Sabikhi, Surinder Sharma, Ajoy Choudury and Satish Grover made learning very interesting and kept her in touch with the real world outside. Later in her career, Mani also became part of the faculty at SPA from 1982 to 1988 and taught subjects such as design studios and building construction. After a gap of many years, she has recently joined SPA again. Mani got a job as soon as she graduated. She first worked at Kanvinde and Rai; then eventually in 1981, she joined an office owned by Stein, Doshi and Bhalla (SDB), both in Delhi. Stein was one of the prominent Western architects to practise in post-independence India. He adopted the universalizing influence of modernism adapting it to local conditions. While designing in harmony with land and nature, he blurred the line between inside and outside.2 At both the firms, Mani found a supportive office environment. Moving to SDB was a huge transition for her – at least 100 people worked in this non-commercial office, where great attention was paid to all aspects of architectural design, from concept development to detailing. Mani had a very busy career there, growing as a designer. Around 1991–92, SDB dissolved, and Mani and another architect, Anuraag Chowfla, joined Joseph Stein as partners. After Stein passed away, Mani and Chowfla continued their partnership till 2011. It is one of the leading architectural practices in India in recent years. Mani and Chowfla share the same values and broadly adopted Stein’s design principles while also bringing in the inevitable change with confidence. Their design philosophy throughout was to seek the character of the solution in the nature of the problem. They endeavoured to respond to local climate, materials, construction techniques and context as well as to incorporate humanist values in the built environment, with an attempt to connect to nature in the surroundings. The firm led

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several key projects in Kerala, Chennai, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Jaipur and Alwar. While executing a wide spectrum of building types including institutional, educational and health care, the firm also did a number of large-scale private projects in housing and urban design. Both Mani and Chowfla often worked on master planning together and then divided the buildings to be designed individually.1 The office paid a lot of attention to regional elements, local materials and achieving the human scale in buildings. The designs evolved out of site conditions, topography, climate and traditions, balancing them with the client’s brief and aspirations, perhaps falling in the category of rigorous modernity. Traditional courtyards and careful sequence of movement are prominent features in her contemporary designs, in addition to colour and patterns. Mani tries to ensure that the buildings do not intimidate or create negative feelings for people who use them. For Mani, the experience of architecture is a journey of discovery in which she chooses to to understate design elements rather than make bold statements. Rich textures, colours and careful detailing set her buildings apart. The designs have a constant interplay with the surrounding landscape, creating spaces of vibrant harmony. Site visits and close client contact are very important for Mani. She works in the old-fashioned way, not relying on computers, but using sketching as a predominant tool for design as it helps her think and resolve. Once the sketches are finalized, a team of designers make study models and final models using materials like thermocol, cardboard and wood. The volume of work has been large and with extremely demanding deadlines, leaving barely any time on hand with immense pressure to work faster, accompanied by much stress. However, she is satisfied that clients return to her. She has derived great satisfaction from schools and institutions designed by her, more than from mass housing schemes, where her clients have been developers. Mani treats each design project as unique, working within a range of geographical, socio-cultural and economic contexts around the country. ‘As architects we have the potential to influence society, culture and lifestyles. We therefore have the responsibility to refrain from adopting a frivolous or banal approach. Nor should we look for easy gratification in merely the sensational,’ says Mani, who believes architecture is about bridging gaps: be it art and science, inside and outside, conceptualization and actualization, drawing and execution, constraints and aspirations, client and architect. Over the years, about 50% of Mani’s staff has been women. Recalling her initial years of struggle, Mani is also very supportive and flexible as far as her employees and colleagues are concerned, particularly when they have problems of health or family to deal with. Anuraag Chowfla shared these values and the practice benefited from this professional understanding. Mani does not regard herself as a feminist although she has dealt with life on her own terms and has remained single and lives with her sister and mother in Delhi. She has now opted for a more relaxed schedule that includes teaching and a scaled-down design practice which allows her more time for herself. Mani treasures her solitude, discovered late in life. She likes to read, attend music and dance performances and travel the world for relaxation.

Meena Mani  |  139 

Meena Mani projects Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, 1999 The design of the Indian Institute of Management campus was dictated by topography, climate, local traditions and spectacular views. Limited flat land conducive to outdoor activities was available only at the hilltops and some in the paddy fields below. The buildings were, therefore, built at the edge of the plateaus and into the slopes, leaving the tops unbuilt. This resulted in scaled-down buildings rather than mega-structures, which minimized cutting into the hills. The intention was also to render the buildings invisible once the trees grow.

Plate 13.2  Indian Institute of Management, site plan Drawing courtesy of Meena Mani

Plate 13.3  Indian Institute of Management, site section Drawing courtesy of Meena Mani

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The academic and administrative blocks and students’ hostels, located on one hill around a series of plazas, are linked by covered walkways to protect against the prolonged monsoon and allow easy access to all facilities round the clock, round the year. The administration block, library, computer centre, auditorium, faculty and teaching blocks and students’ dining are all accessed from a hilltop plaza, with hostels located lower on the slopes. The buildings are spaced to allow views over roofs of buildings lower down the slope. The faculty and staff housing located on a second hill is built into the slope of the hill and oriented to maximize views. The sports field as well as water and sewage treatment plants (STP) are located in the paddy fields along with a rainwater harvesting lake – the primary source of water for the campus. The waste water from the STP is used for horticulture, with the excess flowing into groundwater recharge basins. Sloping tiled roofs with large overhangs are the local tradition and the logical way to protect walls and deal with the abundant rain. Overhangs with mosaic tile fascias and gutters, along

Plate 13.4  Indian Institute of Management, view of academic buildings from housing hill Photo courtesy of Meena Mani

Plate 13.5  Indian Institute of Management, covered link on academic hill Photo courtesy of Meena Mani

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Plate 13.6  Indian Institute of Management, detail of library roof Photo courtesy of Meena Mani

with overhanging floors, are used throughout the campus. The base of the buildings is made of locally available black granite rubble masonry with bands of terracotta tiles – also a local material.

Delhi Public School, Jaipur, 2005 The campus, located on a busy highway, is divided into three zones – sports field, school buildings and residences, with the main sports field at the front forming a buffer between the highway and the school. The school comprises multiple blocks interconnected by shaded links. The formal entry through the atrium lobby leads to the main circulation spine. Classroom wings branch off to the right and to the left are strung the common facilities – stores, infirmary, multipurpose hall, squash courts, laboratories, arts and cafeteria – providing easy connectivity from the classrooms. The design

Plate 13.7  Delhi Public School, site plan Drawing courtesy of Meena Mani

Plate 13.8  Delhi Public School, the school building seen across the main sports field Photo courtesy of Meena Mani and Taj Mohammad

Plate 13.9  Delhi Public School, amphitheatre with main dining block stair as stage Photo courtesy of Meena Mani

Plate 13.10  Delhi Public School, the hub connecting administrative block and

classroom wing Photo courtesy of Meena Mani

Meena Mani  |  145 

Plate 13.11  Delhi Public School, the hub

Photo courtesy of Meena Mani and Taj Mohammad

strives to create stimulating, child-friendly and informal spaces, with a variety of multiuse spaces and multiple connections between inside and outside. The recessed ground, third floors and the ‘floating’ overhanging roof shade the openings, and coupled with horizontal bands of sandstone, it emphasizes the horizontality. The student and faculty residences are towards the rear. The courtyard plan of the hostels provides privacy and access to secure and shaded open spaces with ample natural light and ventilation. Each floor functions as an independent ‘house’ with its own common room and house-parent’s apartment. The hostels are, in turn, grouped around the dining complex. The wings of the dining hall embrace an amphitheatre, with a tuck shop, hairdressers and tailor shops built under the slope. Stairs and ramps form special features at the school. The brightly tiled stair of the dining block is both a rear wall of the stage and a prop, an arched opening under it serving as an entry to the building. Another stair climbs three floors in a series of straight flights creating a dramatic serpentine form. The orientation, the courtyard plan, covered links and window-shading devices are responses to both climate and tradition. Indigenous stone has been used extensively as cladding

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Plate 13.12  Delhi Public School, serpentine stair

Photo courtesy of Meena Mani

and flooring. Rainwater harvesting and waste water recycling systems are integrated into the design.

Notes 1 http://www.manichowfla.com/, accessed in March 2015. 2 Rahul Mehrotra, Architecture in India: Since 1990s, Mumbai: Pictor Publishing Pvt. Ltd, 2011, p. 122. 3 Architecture plus Design, Vol. XXII, December 2006, p. 55.

14 Parul Zaveri (1951–)

Plate 14.1  Parul Zaveri Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

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Parul Zaveri was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, a city where her forefathers were invited

to inhabit from their ancestral town of Osian, Rajasthan. The daughter of a jeweller father and a less educated but visionary mother, she came from a family of five siblings, of which only two survived. Her father, who once owned a jewellery shop, unfortunately passed away when Zaveri was in the fifth standard. She has fond memories of the stories he used to tell her from the Jain scriptures. Her gynecologist elder sister 16 years older to her, who had studied at Jaipur and in the United Kingdom, was not only her inspiration and role model but also the guiding force in shaping her life. A fiercely independent child, with a mind of her own, she had a wide range of experiences while growing up and was exposed to many pioneering individuals from different fields, despite her relatively constrained family circumstances. Parul Zaveri’s interest in the field of architecture came about through her exposure to the educational pedagogy of Shreyas School, despite never having studied there. Her uncle, Kalyanbhai Zaveri, who had moved to France in the 1920s had many stories to share about European architecture during his annual visits to India. Listening to various discussions on architects and buildings coming up in Ahmedabad at the famous scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai’s residence, and then being a silent observer to the process of designing and building of their own house, strengthened her decision to pursue architecture as a career. Parul Zaveri received her diploma in architecture from the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad, now CEPT University. She joined her husband Nimish Patel, during his postgraduate studies at MIT, Cambridge, USA, and took up independent courses in the fields of housing and planning. After Patel’s graduation, they travelled to Phoenix, Arizona, to pursue her interest in passive solar architecture at the Arizona State University and to participate in construction site workshop of architect Paolo Soleri’s dream city, Arcosanti. She also spent a few months at Soleri’s office at Scottsdale. Patel got a teaching assignment in Nigeria, where they spent the next two years working in different capacities. During her education, the individuals she came in contact with who influenced her thinking were Nirubhai Desai, Nimuben Desai (freedom fighters), Sarabhai Family, architect B. V. Doshi, Neal Barille, Kurula Varkey, Horacio Caminos, Paolo Soleri and so on. On their return to India, Zaveri and Patel established their own design practice firm Abhikram (meaning ‘initiation’ in Sanskrit) in 1979. In the initial years, their Dhyeya (aim) was to explore all avenues with a view to pursue design directions and processes, which make the built environment functionally, psychologically, environmentally and spiritually more responsible, contextual and comfortable for the end-users. It was manifested in their convictions and beliefs, some of which are as follows:

• • • • •

Conservation of resources must be the primary guideline for all projects. Innovativeness for a developing society is a necessity, not a luxury. It is necessary to design buildings which, in their form, space and technology, reflect the continuity of the Indian traditions. Responsible architecture will emerge only if the design is contextualized in all its aspects. Appropriate solutions will come only through clarity in the identification of the problems, the selection of correct tools and their appropriate application.

Parul Zaveri  |  149 

The sieve formed by these convictions and beliefs helped them accept or reject the assignments that came their way. In the first eight years, their practice comprised a wide range and scales of projects, including revising 900 construction documents and preparing 300 new ones, for a US$150 million project in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as collaborators to Beeah Group Consultants. In 1987, they chanced upon the assignment of ‘Evolving Policies for the Conservation of Udaipur city’, which was a significant milestone. This assignment, spanning nine months, altered their perspective of understanding the historic built environments and their relevance in the contemporary context as a more climate-responsive and sustainable approach to planning and architecture. Their practice now fanned out to four clearly defined directions, generally ignored by educational and developmental processes. They were as follows: • design of built environment which minimizes the use of electrical/mechanical energies for human comfort internally and externally; • help conserve the cultural heritage, using traditional materials, technologies and crafts persons, through historic conservation or adaptive reuses; • in new buildings, maximize the use of traditional materials, technologies and crafts so as to increase employment generation for the local crafts persons; and • maximize the same in all interior design projects.

The practice found its niche and work began to flow in more frequently. Zaveri’s explorations with use of crafts in design began to attract more converts. A few of the significant projects for the practice during this period were the renovation, adaptive reuse and interiors of various palaces within the City Palace complex of Udaipur, followed by architectural designs for The Trident and The Oberoi Udaivilas. The latter used the traditional crafts extensively, generating employment for 300 highly skilled crafts persons for over three years. It went on to receive 100 international hospitality recognitions, including the ‘Best Resort of the World’ in 2007. Now due to its popularity, other hoteliers began to use crafts persons in their projects. Zaveri and Patel lost their only daughter, Kanineeka, after a brief illness in 1995, an event that altered their personal lives significantly. Zaveri began her pursuit of holistic understanding of living, alternative healing techniques, education and spiritualism, which resulted in the establishment of two foundations, namely Kanineeka Foundation and Virasat Foundation in 2002. The year 2001 was also another significant opportunity for the practice to further their cause. Zaveri, with Patel, headed the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH)-Jaipur team for the utilization of Rs 50 crores for the conservation of the built heritage of Jaipur and Amber. This government initiative gave a huge and continuous impetus to the increased employment for traditional crafts persons. Around this time, Zaveri could realize her lifelong dream of becoming an organic farmer. On a small eight-acre farm, she, with her team of believers and the advice of a seasoned organic

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and biodynamic farmer, started converting an extremely rock-hard soil to begin cultivation. After about four years she was able to grow a range of organic grains, pulses, vegetables and fruits. Today, close to 70% of what her family consumes comes from her farm, and, as was the original intent, she has begun to get the local villagers interested in this method as an option. Presently, apart from an active design practice, she is also pursuing the goals of Kanineeka and Virasat Foundations in the dissemination of the traditional knowledge and wisdom and teaching as visiting faculty at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. She goes to many schools of design for juries, workshops, professional meetings and conferences within and outside India. She also aims to advise other practising professionals on working with local crafts persons for their interior designs, products and accessories for the revival and survival of India’s highly valuable traditional knowledge and wisdom base for the future generations.

Parul Zaveri projects Conservation of Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli at Amber, Rajasthan, 1993 The ruin, known as Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, belonged to the family of palanquin bearers in the Court of Amber, the then kingdom of the Kachhwah Rajputs in western India, and had been abandoned for many decades. It was purchased by J. P. Singh (convener of The Jaipur Chapter of INTACH) and Faith Singh, who wanted to initiate the process of conservation/restoration with no specific function in mind. The flexibility of converting it into a residence/guest house/ restaurant/conference venue was to be kept in mind. The restoration and renovation of this ruin was an integral part of the larger objective – conserving the 800-year-old historic town of Amber by J. P. Singh and the architects Nimish Patel and Parul Zaveri. The issues, therefore, focused on reinvigorating a part of the historic area of the town. The team attempted to establish that the ruins of Amber were not as dilapidated as they appear to be nor were they as difficult for adaptive reuse. They could be restored using only traditional materials and technologies for which traditional craftsmen were still available. This process was expected to create conditions to regenerate a sense of pride among the people of Amber about their history, heritage, capabilities, knowledge and competence. Consequently, many of the decisions, design and construction were taken with initiation, participation and proactive contribution of the craftsmen and local residents, and the use of appropriate and artisan techniques and materials. It was decided that none of the contemporary materials but only traditional materials will be used in its conservation, no drawings will be made in the process and all design/conservation decisions will be taken with the inputs of the traditional craftsmen. The owners decided to convert it into a museum for the traditional block printing work of Jaipur promoted by Anokhi for the past 35 years. The Haveli is also known by the locals as the Anokhi Haveli. The project received the UNESCO’S Asia-Pacific Conservation Award in 2000.

Plate 14.2  Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, entrance before restoration Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

Plate 14.3  Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, entrance after restoration Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

Plate 14.4  Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, around the inner court after restoration Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

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Plate 14.5  Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, detail Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

Conservation of Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli at Khadia, Ahmedabad, 2001 This haveli in the walled city of Ahmedabad belongs to the family of Ranchodlal Chotalal, who was the pioneer of the textile industry in Ahmedabad. It was owned by Meera Chinubhai and was given on lease to the Kirtidev Chinubhai Trust (KCT) to be used for philanthropic activities only. CHETNA, a lessee of KCT, wanted to restore the haveli to its traditional glory in order to conserve its rich cultural heritage and historic value. The agenda was also to establish the possibility of improving the urban environment through infrastructure upgradation, conservation of heritage resources and appropriate utilization of heritage properties. The project also intended to be a role model for other structures in the walled city, by demonstrating that the skills required for the restoration and reconstruction of traditional heritage are locally available with appropriate materials, techniques and craftsmen. The usage of cement was minimized while that of traditional lime was maximized. The other task was restoring all the wooden frames and shutters of openings, introducing new wood only where it was necessary. Remedial approach was used for the restoration of existing wooden frames and shutters. The task of reducing the roof load and reversing the direction of the

Plate 14.6   Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, entrance facade

after restoration Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

Plate 14.7   Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, entrance facade before restoration

Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

Plate 14.8  Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, from the inner court after restoration Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

Plate 14.9  Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, from the inner court before restoration Courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

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Plate 14.10  Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, inner hall after restoration

Photo courtesy of Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

slope was extremely challenging. The cracked terrace roof had 12-inch-thick lime concrete which had to be removed by hand chiselling and replaced by effective, thinner and traditional waterproof concrete. During the course of the project, the team discovered that traditional skills and craftsmen are still available in adequate numbers for continuity of their centuries-old knowledge. Responsible architecture can only evolve by contextualizing it in all aspects.

15 Nalini Thakur (1952–)

Plate 15.1  Nalini Thakur Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur and Jatinder Singh Marwaha

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Widely regarded as India’s leading conservationist, Nalini Thakur hails from Madras (now

Chennai) and grew up in a disciplined home environment. Known for her uncompromising sense of purpose, Thakur found her calling as a conservationist in the 1970s when she moved from Madras to New Delhi to study architecture and was awed by the Mughal and British buildings in the capital. One of the primary reasons for coming to the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi, to pursue architecture was that she could not get admission to Anna University in Chennai, which was thus a blessing in disguise. In high school, Thakur had done well in all subjects. She was not familiar with buildings and designing till her French teacher gave her a book on French Gothic Architecture as a prize. Due to this incident and her subsequent interest in architecture, Nalini Madhav joined SPA with architect Revathi Kamath (also profiled in this book) in 1969. She initially found the educational environment oppressive, and it was difficult for her to adjust. Though she did not have inbuilt skills like many other classmates, she was a thinking person and this helped her in tackling the rigorous demands of college. She fell in love and got married in her second year of college to Karamchand Thakur, who was studying urban design at SPA. She had her first daughter while still in the fourth year of college. This disrupted her career, and she had to take a break from studies several times. However, she managed to survive with support from Professor Jhabvala, the head of the Department of Architecture. Thakur even dabbled with learning Italian language and got a scholarship to do Corso Medio at the University for Foreigners at Perugia in 1975. Knowing the language helped her to travel extensively in Italy, which was a living education in historical architecture. She finally graduated in 1977 and immediately joined as a research associate in the Department of Architecture, SPA, to conduct research on Delhi and work on the exhibition ‘Making of New Delhi’, which was held in 1981. Thakur had considered becoming a tour guide until her professor persuaded her to write a thesis on Nizamuddin, the city’s Muslim quarters. She soon realized that she was the first person to systematically chronicle the area and was effectively ‘rediscovering a sacred historic settlement’. This introduced her first hand to conservation, and as a result, she got deeply involved with historic monuments. She got an ICCROM scholarship in 1982, and in 1985 she joined the University of York in England to study conservation. She then returned home to use her new expertise and skills in academics and in her practice. In the meantime, Thakur became a core member of the pressure group Conservation Society Delhi (CSD) founded by Kamala Devi Chattopadhyaya in 1984. Thakur joined the Department of Architecture at SPA as a lecturer in 1980, and the Department of Architectural Conservation in 1989. She eventually became its head from 1995 to 2005 while undertaking some experimental projects. She has developed the master’s programme for architectural conservation based on a holistic and integrated approach. Independent and outgoing, she could not work with her husband, as she could not adjust to his style of work. In the 1990s, she began focusing on independent ‘projects’, taking on a large variety of work. Thakur felt that she had to be involved in the professional practice in order to learn, which was essential to teach as the subject was new and had to be developed. So she enthusiastically became involved in all its facets, considering nothing beyond dignity, her work becoming an all-consuming passion. She is hailed for her proactive and innovative ways. She was the president of CSD, which was

Nalini Thakur  |  159 

a leader as far as conserving Delhi’s heritage is concerned. Even so, she often feels isolated and overwhelmed in this field. ‘It’s tough,’ Thakur says. ‘I’m on my own.’ The ‘Holistic Framework’ (the conceptual model for Indian heritage site protection and management) developed by Thakur as a result of the past 25 years of her work experience in India stresses on conserving heritage values. It seeks to integrate established international systems of heritage protection and management with local contexts. It deals with the existing Indian administrative situation and creates mechanisms to comprehensively protect and manage the cultural resources of all categories, especially the ‘living’ heritage. The model is an entirely a post-independence initiative for protection and management of cultural resource.1 As a professional, Thakur has developed the good practices of conservation through experimental assignments such as restoration of the St James Church, the Integrated Management Plan for Hampi World Heritage Site, Conservation of Kangla Fort and Manipur as an Archaeological Park including the conceptualization and development of a strategy for Champaner, now Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, a World Heritage Site. Thakur believes that conservation is not contradictory to development as it is generally assumed. Instead, one should aim for development with long-term gains, with respect to environmental and ecological aspects, including sympathy for the living community. Besides the practice and her contribution to the field of conservation in India, Thakur’s greatest strength has been in the field of academics. She is a devoted teacher totally committed to the cause of conservation and has mentored many students, especially women. Many leading women conservation architects in India are her former students. She believes it to be imperative that education in architectural conservation be broad-based, holistic, objective and multidisciplinary. There must be maximum scope for flexibility and sensitivity, with opportunities for experimentation through new methods and new systems to rediscover architecture. She further emphasizes that it is the duty of an educational institution to provide a competent education that is appropriate to prevailing professional requirements.2 To Thakur, students are a vital component of India’s nascent preservation movement. She recognizes the need for a greater emphasis on students’ engagement with their surroundings and the built environment as well as systematization into an otherwise abstract, creative process. She likes to make her students aware of architectural make-up of different cities and localities. She feels a sense of urgency and outrage in the face of decades of disappointment and is determined to keep fighting. To her, feminism means the complementary balance of the male and female that brings a sense of completeness. A mother of two daughters, Thakur met her family pressures with strength, seldom compromising on her professional output. Her elder daughter was brought up by her parents and was taught at a boarding school. She believes that women need more time to prove themselves; however, she has no role model herself. Now, she wants to concentrate on academics and writing books. Through her involvement in the discipline and her activism, Thakur has made an immense contribution to the field by creating a broader definition and concerns that touch upon not just historic heritage but planning, legislature and management.

Plate 15.2  George V canopy, Delhi Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur

Nalini Thakur  |  161 

Nalini Thakur projects Historic city of Delhi The city of Delhi has been an inspiration in initiating Thakur into the discipline of conservation. She began as a student of architecture with a thesis on Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti and then continued a professional practice with the SPA-British Council Exhibition – ‘The Making of New Delhi’ – as a research assistant and then as founder member and later president of CSD (1982–97), a pressure group that aimed to raise heritage awareness. The themes of ‘Rediscovery’, ‘Redefinition of Delhi’s heritage’ and ‘Historic City as a Playground for Learning’ for community-based decentralized organization through engaging events were structured by CSD for the people of Delhi. The aim was to inspire citizens into expressing in poetry/ prose and film about their historic city. CSD organized several educational and innovative programmes, campaigns and World Heritage Day celebrations in the public realm for the people of Delhi, bringing to light Delhi’s potential as a world heritage city for the very first time.

Plate 15.3  Chaumachi Khan tomb, Delhi Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur

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Plate 15.4  Interior of Chausath Khamba, high Mughal tomb in Nizamuddin Basti, Delhi Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur

The CSD was also instrumental in filing petitions against demolition of Chaumachi Tomb, resisting the installation of Mahatma Gandhi in the canopy vacated by King Emperor George V at India Gate and resolution of issues concerning allocation of facilities appropriately in Jama Masjid. As conservation professional, Thakur was involved with conservation of the St James Church, Delhi (1988–94), for INTACH, Delhi Chapter, and the craft-based reconstruction of the north corridor of Miranda House, Delhi University (1996–97). The Integrated Conservation for Mehrauli Heritage Zone (1988–90) recommendation of Archaeological Park became an experimental project of CSD, which was supported by the US National Park Service. The experience and insights gained were applied in shaping concepts such as Archaeological Park and helped in drafting a heritage legislation for Delhi.

Nalini Thakur  |  163 

Plate 15.5  The prayer wall of mosaic tiles set in sandstone of Ataga Khan’s tomb, Delhi, Mehrauli Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur

Architectural conservation education curriculum Framing the syllabus for the Department of Architectural Conservation is the culmination of 25 years of educative and professional activities. The subject had to be constructed from idea to research to the development of teaching methods. These had to be grounded into sustainable professional works, which at times involved students, and then taught through different methods, including lectures, studio interactions, workshops and streams. The approach and methods followed were integrated. The need for heritage education in India is very high and relevant as heritage education must move from information to knowledge and take rediscovery of historic architecture to playground for learning. This is possible only by traversing from discourse mode to management mode. The current curriculum is hinged on three principles – holistic, integrated and interdisciplinary, an

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Plate 15.6  Rajon ki Bains baoli part of a complex water network system, Delhi Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur

approach which is a need for South Asians in order to understand the ‘context’ and to develop heritage protection and management systems. The programme maintains equal emphasis on theoretical understanding of the conceptual and philosophical base and vigorous scientific enquiry into various heritage conservation issues and operationalizes ideas into apt management and actions covering aspects of conservation at all levels. The students are encouraged to adopt the knowledge system approach to understand

Plate 15.7  Thakur with her students Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur MODULES

SUBJECTS

CODES

SEMESTER I

Philosophica I Basis PB

PB I

A) Foundation Course B) Visual Communication

Redefinition of Heritage Resource HR

HR - I

Theory / Parameters TP

TP – I

Technical– Structure and Fabric SF Conservation Management CM AC Studio CS

A) Natural and Designed Landscape B) Inventory and Documentation Techniques

A) History and Theory of Conservation) Planning– I C) Archaeology

SEMESTER II

PB II

A) Architectural Knowledge System B) Written and Oral Communication

HR - II

A) Historic cities and its Heritage Components B) Quantitative survey Techniques

TP – II

A) History Theory and Criticism of Architecture – I B) Planning– II C) Sociology and Anthropology

SEMESTER III

PB III

New Paradigms

HR - III

A)Cultural Regions and Landscape B) Qualitative Survey Techniques

TP – III

A) History Theory and Criticism of Architecture – II B) New Theories C) Museology

SF – I

A) Introduction to Traditional Building Materials & Systems & Deterioration Process B) Chemistry of Traditional Materials

SF – II

SF – II

CM – I

CM – II

CM – III

CS – I

CS – II

CS – III

Quality Management of Historic Buildings and Sites.

Building/Area Level project

Plate 15.8  Syllabus at a glance I Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur

Convervation of Traditional Building Materials and Structure

Integrated Heritage Management – ITUC

City/Area Level Project

Up gradation of Historic Buildings for contemporary use

National Level Heritage Management Systems in India and Abroad. Cultural Regions/Complex Historic City

SEMESTER IV • Research Paper on a theoretical area relating to thesis (TP IV – A) • Elective (TP IV – B) • Heritage Management– (Seminar) (CM IV) • Thesis Studio (CS IV)

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MODULES

SUBJECTS SEMESTER I

SEMESTER II

SEMESTER III

Foundation Course, Visual Communication

Architectural Knowledge Systems, Written and Oral Communicacation

New Paradigms

Redefinition of Heritage Resource

Natural and Designed Landscape, Inventory and Documentation Techniques

Historic cities and its Heritage Component, Quantitative survey Techniquws

Cultural Regions and Landscape Qualitative Survey Techniques

Technical – Structure and Fabric

Introduction to Traditional Building System, Materials & Deterioration Process, Chemistry of Traditional Materials

Conservation of Traditional Building Materials and Structure

Up gradation of Historic Building for contemporary use

Integrated Heritage Management – ITUC

National Level Heritage Management Systems in India and Abroad

Philosophical Basis

Conservation Management

Theory / Parameters

Quality Management of Historic Buildings and Sites

History and theory of Conservation, urban Planning, regional Planning Housing, transport Planning, Archaeology

History Theory and Criticism of Architecture – I, ecological Planning, environmental Planning, development Planning, conservation Planning, Sociology and Anthropology

History Theory and Criticism of Architecture – II, Heritage Economics, Heritage and Jurisprudence, Cultural Tourism, Museology

Plate 15.9  Syllabus at a glance II Photo courtesy of Nalini Thakur

India’s heritage by appreciating the colossal information represented by the surviving heritage. They are also made aware of the need to find a way to realize and harness the same to extend their knowledge of historical architecture. From 1996 to 2005 as the head of the department, Thakur initiated numerous educational themes which culminated into international collaboration, like the ASIA-Link Project MUMA with Brandenburg Technical University (2004–6). All this hard work enhanced her experience and added an international dimension to the department. The judicious use of resources available within and giving opportunity to those interested resulted in a collective achievement in conservation education. Many of these educational themes were tested as studio works with students.

Notes 1 Nalini Thakur, ‘The Conceptual Model for Indian Heritage Site Protection and Management’, EU-Asia Link Project Muma – Beijing Workshop 18–24 July 2000. 2 Nalini Thakur, ‘A Holistic Framework for Architectural Conservation Education’, Third World Planning Review, Vol. 12, No. 4, 1990, p. 345.

16 Revathi Kamath (1955–)

Plate 16.1  Revathi Kamath Photo courtesy of Revathi Kamath

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Revathi Kamath’s childhood was spent in Odisha and Bengaluru, where her grandparents had

settled, and in Delhi where her parents lived. Her maiden name was Sekhar. Her father was a hydraulic engineer, who set up flood forecasting system in India. Her mother, a talented homemaker, was passionate about painting, gardening, sewing, ikebana (Japanese art of flower arrangement) and baking. Both sets of her grandparents belonged to an upper-middle-class, well-educated society. Kamath stayed with her maternal grandparents in Bengaluru from five to nine years of age. Her childhood experiences of living in nature in Odisha and with a large urbane extended family in Bengaluru influenced her towards architecture in an indirect manner.

Kamath’s maternal grandfather loved architecture, subscribing to Progressive Architecture which exposed her to Paul Rudolph, Bruno Taut, Venturi and others. As a child, Kamath built a playhouse from bricks, with a small lily pond and a shrine. However, after the structure was finished, she did not like it. She again started from scratch, this time making it in mud. A tribal woman, whom she immensely respected, helped Kamath build it with a thatched roof. It is thus that Kamath took an instinctive liking for mud structures and also came to respect the traditional knowledge of the Sambhalpuri tribals of Odisha. Kamath was very clear that she wanted to pursue architecture, setting her heart on School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) in Delhi. She stood first in its entrance test in 1971. It was a very active place then and had a great faculty, but there were just seven girls in a class of 40. She admits that she initially struggled to find her space having done her schooling in a girls’ convent, but soon she began to enjoy her education and felt completely at ease in the vibrant academic environment. Kamath was exposed to the works of Fuller and Soleri and saw films on Le Corbusier. She was also inspired by caring teachers like Jhabwala, Satish Gujaral and H. D. Chhaya. In her second year, when Kamath visited Kerala, especially Laurie Baker’s numerous projects, she realized that there was a possibility of a different and creative way of thinking/designing. Her exposure to the traditional architecture of Karnataka also got her interested in vernacular architecture of the world. Having rejected an offer to pursue further studies at Oxford, she proceeded to do her master’s degree in urban and regional planning from 1979 to 1981, also at SPA. Her thesis was concerned with understanding the potential of the informal and unorganized sectors and adapting their principles into urban planning, design and architecture.1 Revathi married Vasant Kamath, a professor at SPA in 1980. They have a joint architectural practice since that year. Their nine-year age difference never became an issue because they shared the same creative vision. She and Vasant work together if the clients demand it; but whenever possible, they handle separate projects. Vasant is systematic and patient, and his working style differs a lot from that of Kamath’s, who is rather intense and intuitive. Today, Kamath has her own identity in the profession, having gained respect and admiration from her peers and society. Kamath’s first design in 1983 was Anandgram, a slum redevelopment project, for 450 lowincome families. She tried to get them the right to land ownership in the city of Delhi. Almost single-handedly, she prepared individual sheets of each of the families with drawings and text in order to understand their spatial patterns and architectural elements as framed by culture. The Mandava Tourist Resort in Rajasthan was her first built project, which was very successful and was copied extensively by other architects. She has never looked back after that project.2

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Kamath likes to assimilate local craftsmen in making details for superior aesthetic appeal in spite of the use of simple materials. She works in close association with indigenous tribes and strives to evolve traditional knowledge of building, design, symbolism and rhythms, especially using the skills of local women extensively. One of the key foci of Kamath’s design philosophy is to integrate the traditional with the modern.3 Her projects, the Nalin Tomar’s House, the Community Centre and Housing at Maheshwar Fort and the Akshay Pratishthan School, were nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Kamath is very passionate about environment, ecology and architecture. Her diligent quest has been the exploration of raw earth and other indigenous building materials for over 30 years, becoming an authority on the subject. Kamath loves to experiment with earth buildings, often making them half in mud and half in stone. In urban and industrial settings, she insists on using fly-ash bricks on site and recycled and waste materials whenever possible. She uses the principle of inducing natural cooling through courtyards. In her attempt towards an integrated architecture, she uses low-energy-consuming local materials. Since 1990, Kamath has been experimenting with steel as a material. She has done the master plan for various Jindal townships. She has explored steel in about 20 projects, some as large as 10,000 square metres, integrating the widespread craft skills in steel fabrication into the architectural vocabulary and expression of buildings. She has also designed the tallest stainless steel structure in South Asia. Steel has been taken beyond its ‘modernist and mannerist’ expression. She believes that the use of steel in the structural frame minimizes the quantum of reinforced concrete which is un-ecological as its constituent materials are irretrievable and not re-usable. For Kamath, a woman’s consciousness is an integral part of the idea of humanism. She is more interested in feminine aspects rather than that brand of feminism that sees the woman as a surrogate male.4 She wants to assimilate women’s everyday traditional knowledge such as the geometry, patterns and symbols, seen in decorative floor/wall patterns, cow dung plastering and mirror work. Kamath believes that her chief role is that of a catalyst to bring about change in an aesthetically acceptable manner. So she does not let any professional boundaries interfere, interacting freely with bureaucrats, engineers and politicians. Democratic processes are important to her, with people’s participation as the key.5 She sketches by hand and also designs the basic structural systems to not be dictated to by engineers. To her, structure is craft, and precision is encoded in the drawing system. ‘Let the process of building evolve the aesthetics,’ she says. When her first child was born, she had a tough time managing her projects and looking after the baby. She often went to sites with her son clung to her back, a maid in tow. Luckily, their studio was just across their home, and her son literally grew up in the office. Her daughter was born six years later. The children spent time in the office and on the site by drawing, writing, reading or simply observing and participating in the numerous activities going on. Kamath also taught at SPA for a few years when the children were growing up. Kamath has said in an interview, ‘First of all, being a woman in this field is not a very easy task – on a daily basis.’6 In spite of this, the prolific work done by her and all the accolades received portray her as a strong, dynamic, passionate and committed individual.

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Revathi Kamath projects The Gateway, Tamnar, Chhattisgarh, 2006 The Gateway forms the entrance to a power plant located at Tamnar in Chhattisgarh. Tribals have been the main inhabitants of the state from prehistoric times. Their culture has shaped the character of these lands until the industrial invasion of the recent past. A consciousness of this transformation has informed the design of the Gateway. Iconic images of tribal constructs – the magician’s ladder stepping upwards, linking the earth to the sky; the swing of the gods pivoted to its supports, symbolizing movement and absorbing the variations in the rhythmic forces of nature; the bamboo fishing basket, the umbrella hat and the winnow, all shaped with a gentle parabolic curve, characteristic of the split bamboo weave – have all been amalgamated with industrial technologies and materials to shape the form of the

Plate 16.2  View of the Gateway of Tamnar Photo courtesy of Revathi Kamath

Plate 16.3  The Gateway, view from under the Gateway Photo courtesy of Revathi Kamath

Plate 16.4  The Gateway, relation to skyline Photo courtesy of Revathi Kamath

Plate 16.5  The Gateway, view of 3D construction model Drawing courtesy of Revathi Kamath

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Gateway. The pylons delineating the skyline, carrying electricity away from the power plant, determined the scale of the installation. A statue of Ardhanareshwara on the banks of the nearby Mahanadi River was interpreted as an abstract composition incorporating the manifest and the void. Meditative qualities of the concentration and radiation of lines in space forming the hyperbolic paraboloids suggest a transformation of energy. The two hyperbolic paraboloid halves are independently hinged on the base and connected to each other. The design development was undertaken through physical and 3D digital modelling, with the geometric information of the digital model being used to manufacture computer numerically controlled prefabricated components that were made in a factory and finally assembled on site.

Plate 16.6  The Gateway, construction sequence Photo courtesy of Revathi Kamath

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The Museum of Tribal Heritage, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, 2012 The Museum of Tribal Heritage at Bhopal was commissioned by the government of Madhya Pradesh in 2006. Since over 30% of the population of the state is tribal, it was important to create an architecture that was informed by their rich culture evolved over millennia. The museum is designed to create a built fabric, which the tribal communities could identify with, extend and evolve to represent themselves and express their own ideas and way of life with ease and spontaneity. While the architecture of the museum is inspired by tribal rhythms, geometries, materials, forms, aesthetics and spatial consciousness, these very qualities are now acting

Plate 16.7  Museum of Tribal Heritage, site plan Drawing courtesy of Revathi Kamath

Plate 16.8  Museum of Tribal Heritage, north zone gallery internal elevations Drawing courtesy of Revathi Kamath

Plate 16.9  Museum of Tribal Heritage, external view Photo courtesy of Revathi Kamath

Plate 16.10  Museum of Tribal Heritage, main corridor from courtyard at ground level

Photo courtesy of Revathi Kamath

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as points of inspiration for the display materials being created by tribal artisans and supported by anthropologists, sociologists and social workers. Built on a site of seven acres, the galleries are raised above the ground on columns, forming a continuous, multi-levelled verandah, following the contours of the sloping, rocky terrain. Courtyards puncture the built mass, bringing in light and air, while enabling the roof forms to establish modulated scales and compositions. The structure is built of steel tubes, castellated girders and steel rods fabricated into intricate trusses. Steel seemed to be a natural choice in the land and location of ancient Iron Age and Bronze Age civilizations, and the contemporary truck body building industry. The walls use both local stone left exposed and brick plastered with crushed stone on the outside and mud plaster on the inside. The roofs are made of half-round tiles, galvalume sheets and concrete with a topping of grass and groundcover. The landscape is designed to collect and store rainwater, to be used for both cooling and irrigating the green roof and gardens. The plant material is composed of largely local forest species. The architecture of the museum integrates seamlessly into a continuum – the outside with the inside, the natural with the human construct, the tribal with the urban and the viewer with the viewed.

Notes 1 2 3 4

Revathi Shekhar Kamath, ‘Bag Se Bazar’, Urban India, Vol. 2, No. 4, January 1983. ‘Tourist Village at Mandawa’, Architecture + Design, Vol. IV, No. 1, November–December, 1987. Revathi Kamath, ‘Building Tomorrow with Yesterday’, Times of India, April 1986. Community Centre, ‘Women in Architecture’, Architecture + Design, Vol. IX, No. 2, March–April, 1992, p. 43. 5 Revathi Kamath, ‘The Sustainable Eco-literate Architect, Earth Matters’, The Awakening Ray, Vol. 13, No. 6, November–December, 2009. 6 Babita Krishnan, ‘Mud, Naturally!’ Design Matrix, Vol. 1, No. 5, July–August 2011.

17 Sheila Sri Prakash (1955–)

Plate 17.1  Sheila Sri Prakash Photo courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

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Sheila Sri Prakash is a successful Chennai-based architect with a prolific practice spanning

architecture, planning, landscape and interior design. She was born in Bhopal, in a Tamil Brahmin family of Pathys, her father (who was in the army) had Telugu and her mother had Kerala roots. She was a single child and has lived all over the country while growing up, having varied opportunities and exposure. From an early age, she was trained as a classical Bharatnatyam dancer and gave her Arangetram (graduation in the training of Bharatnatyam dance) very young. She had a close relationship with her father, who involved her in many decision-making processes. Academically she was a bright student who ranked first in the state of Tamil Nadu in chemistry in her matriculation exams. However, she chose architecture as it represented a combination of art and science and she loved its creative challenges. She had a lot of experience in emoting ‘unbuilt spaces’ as is required in the practice of Abhinaya (acting) in Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi. Sri Prakash joined the architecture programme at the Anna University School of Architecture and Planning, Chennai, in 1972, though her mother was initially reluctant about her decision. Sri Prakash herself was not aware of the vastness of the field and was resultantly staggered by the amount of work involved in the course. But she managed to excel in the profession eventually. During her architectural education, the study trips to historic cities like Kathmandu and Jaipur shaped her understanding of vernacular architecture. One such trip to Auroville introduced her to the various experimental building techniques. This resulted in her developing a keen interest in the issues of sustainability. In 1974, while still in college, Sheila married Sri Prakash, who was a chemical engineer and had an MBA degree. Sri Prakash graduated from Anna University in 1977 and worked with a chartered engineer for two years. In 1979 she started her own architectural practice called Shilpa Architects. As a woman practising alone, she found the first few years difficult in a relatively conservative society of Chennai. She had to wear sarees to sites to be taken seriously and to be acknowledged as a professional architect. There was a lot of learning on site and hard work. The office slowly grew from a small firm to a 50-people practice over the years. Dance has also had a profound influence on Sri Prakash’s life as a person and later as a designer. It helped her in the visualization and creation of space. It was through dance that she understood the principles of rhythm, balance and harmony. Her guru was from Chennai, and Sri Prakash continued her dance training, performing till she was in her early forties. She also attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Executive Education Program in 2002. Sri Prakash’s projects range from commercial, residential, hospitality, institutional to industrial. It also includes housing, township developments and infrastructure design for corporate clients. Her modernist references seem clear in building form, spatial organization and facade development. At the same time, she consciously brings about an Indian ethos in her buildings through elements, detailing and subtle ornamentation. Some of her projects are characterized by the use of state-of-the-art materials as well as global aesthetics and images. In her overall approach, she focuses on environmental as well as socio-economic sustainability. Sri Prakash uses the principles of sustainability right from the orientation of the building to the evolution of the form, such

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as planning for maximum natural light in the structures or using rainwater harvesting. She is continuously amazed at the new available technology. Always experimenting with construction methods, Sri Prakash was one of the initial designers to use the concept of the Madras Terrace as well as the Rat Trap bond by Laurie Baker in her buildings. Sri Prakash has two children, a daughter and a son, who were born after she started her practice. She managed to balance her family and professional life with the help of a supportive husband and her parents, especially her mother. She believes that women need not ask for preferential treatment as long as they are treated equally and they can gain empowerment through socioeconomic independence and knowledge. But she believes that women bring certain sensitivity in their approach to design and teamwork. Her office has many women, some of whom have been with her for years due to her open attitude. Her daughter, an architect and urban designer, is a partner in her practice. Sri Prakash’s design philosophy is to be reciprocal to each stakeholder involved in the process, including the animals, flora and fauna within an ecosystem. She draws from the various crafts of the nation in her designs to differentiate Indian design sensibility from global practices. She strongly believes that public spaces should be used to empower people. She desires that the people of India become aware of design and infrastructure for the future development of the country. Her dream is to have a cultural centre in every city of India. Apart from mainstream architectural projects, Sri Prakash has also been a scientific researcher in building construction processes and has a few patents to her credit. An important one is the development of a monolithic polyethylene chamber in 1988, to prevent contamination in protected water supply pipes from damaged sewers in Indian urban centres. She has also been a collaborator on the design of a diversion chamber with the Public Health Department for use in rural sanitation. In addition, she developed a housing prototype for the economically weaker society in 1987, which was highly appreciated. Sri Prakash currently serves on the Board of Trustees at the School of Architecture and Planning at Anna University (her alma mater). In the past few years, she has received international recognition such as being invited to the council on Design Innovation of the World Economic Forum as well as addressing Bloomberg’s Global Green Summit on Sustainability and the Design Summit in Milan. She also attended the Rio+20 Conference in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil June 2012 upon invitation from the United Nations and a meeting in the UK to help enhance the Sustainability of the 2012 London Olympics Infrastructure. She was named to the Top 100 most influential architects in the world by the Italian Design Journal – Il Giornale Dell’ Architettura. She was nominated by the German Government, Leibniz University Hannover and University of Valencia, Spain (2011) as one among 7 women architects of reputable influence from across the world, and was featured in a touring exhibition of professional work across Europe. Sri Prakash believes that every project is like a child that grows and has a lifespan of its own. It is in a constant state of evolution and she derives great satisfaction from its completion.

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Sheila Sri Prakash projects XS Pallava Heights, Chennai, 2005 Mylapore is the cultural fountainhead of Chennai, steeped in its arts, crafts, temples and handwoven silks. The Pallava dynasty grew to its pinnacle of glory, and Mylapore was one of its major centres, a flourishing port. The kings had the title of Mylai Kavalar (protectors of Mylapore).

Plate 17.2  XS Pallava Heights, third-floor plan Drawing courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

Plate 17.3  XS Pallava Heights, elevation Drawing courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

Plate 17.4  XS Pallava Heights, aerial view – pool and building mass Photo courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

Plate 17.5  XS Pallava Heights, facade view Photo courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

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When Shilpa Architects started on the design for housing in this location steeped in tradition and history, Pallavan architecture was the design inspiration, primarily the rock-cut temple of Mahabalipuram. Columns with the characteristic seated lion at the base are used as flanking elements to the entrance of the apartment block. Fixed glass framed by intricately sculpted granite friezes separates the swimming pool from the foyer that accommodates a concierge’s desk. The building is designed around the swimming pool, just as the Teppakulam (temple pond) of Kapaleeswarar Temple was the epicentre of Mylapore three centuries ago. The backdrop to the pool is a miniature based on the story of Arjunas Penance (a mythological story from the Mahabharata), specially carved by the artisans from Mahabalipuram. They also sculpted a lifesized OorKavalan (the guard of a place), who stands gallantly at the pool deck to check accidents. The parapets and balconies are interpretations of traditional Pallava screens of metamorphic stone emulated in reinforced cement concrete and finished with a texture to empathize with natural stone.

Plate 17.6  XS Pallava Heights, Pallava portal Photo courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

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The parking is at the lobby level, and each level accommodates five apartments. The first level of apartments is large and opens out into landscaped terraces, which makes residents forget that they are amidst a dense city district. The entry to each apartment leads one on to the main door through a Thinnai (a semi-open entrance space) after a small meander. The design of this apartment complex is dedicated by Shilpa Architects to the dexterous craftsmen of stone sculpture.

The Cholamandal Artists Village, Chennai, 2009 The Cholamandal Artists Village is named after the ancient Chola kings who were great patrons of art, as is evident from their magnificent temples in their capital (Tanjore). The Chola’s influence had spread to the corners of Asia. In 1965, the Madras Movement of Art crystallized around the legendary K.C.S. Paniker, who along with likeminded artists set up their residences and studios in a rural setting on the sandy beaches of the Bay of Bengal. The Artists Village is acclaimed as among the successful and surviving art communes in the world. In the beginning there was an artists’ gallery in a modest structure of thatch. With international acclaim and growing stature, the artists wanted to exhibit their signature works in

Plate 17.7  Cholamandal Artists Village, ground floor Drawing courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

Plate 17.8  Cholamandal Artists Village, elevation Drawing courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

Plate 17.9  Cholamandal Artists Village, entrance courtyard Photo courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

Sheila Sri Prakash  |  187 

Plate 17.10  Cholamandal Artists Village, the gallery

Photo courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

a permanent structure. A core team of great artists comprising Nandagopal, Senathipathi, Gopi and Senthil coordinated the project. An important criterion was to design the structure without affecting the trees and the sculptures in the landscape. The architect opted for a contemporary structure in tune with the skills of the local masons and craftsmen. The display areas were maximized in rectilinear-shaped galleries with natural daylight and high ceilings. The galleries opened to the gigantic trees and the sculptures blended into the landscape. The common entry led to the gallery and the museum, each opening out as two wings from the entry space. The staggered placement of the two display areas helped retain the existing landscape. The larger wing housed the permanent exhibit area and the museum in the building. The focus of the design was to get as much natural light as possible while cutting out the glare

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Plate 17.11  Cholamandal Artists Village, linking plaza

Photo courtesy of Sheila Sri Prakash

and heat. This was achieved by orienting the openings to get in the glare-free lighting from the north. The building was treated with exposed brickwork and concrete. No additional plaster or painting was envisaged. The lofted spaces in the museum/permanent exhibit wing, overlooking the lower-level spaces, navigate natural light into all corners of the building.

18 Vandana Ranjitsinh (1955–)

Plate 18.1  Vandana Ranjitsinh Photo courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

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Vandana Jayawant developed an early interest in architecture, spurred by a number of different

influences. She wanted to be an architect since she was nine years old. She became familiar with the field as her great uncle was a town planner. She also gives credit to her wonderful art teachers in school, Mr and Mrs Paul, who discovered the strength in her artistic abilities. While everybody was making paintings, Ranjitsinh was helping paint the drama sets. In short, she was engaged in many extracurricular activities through her high school years. She was also head girl and topper in school. Her father was in the army and she had a rather anglicized upbringing. Her mother gave up an active dentistry practice after marriage, but she never let go of her skills and independence. She made Ranjitsinh believe that she can do anything in life and was pivotal in many choices of her life, like sending her to a boarding school for best education and encouraging her to enrol in architecture. Another important person is her grandmother, who taught her that one can be soft but strong and hold the family together. Ranjitsinh joined CEPT University, Ahmedabad, in 1971. There were just two girls who graduated from her class. Her five years spent at CEPT enabled Ranjitsinh to nurture her love for music, literature and the arts. Some of her favourite courses were history of contemporary architecture with Prof. Anant Raje and an elective with Madhu Rye on theatre. The diversely academic and artistic environment of CEPT allowed Ranjitsinh to develop her own, unique sensibilities as an architect, with the help of mentors such as Prof. B. V. Doshi, Prof. Anant Raje and Prof. Kurula Varkey. Her cultural base, developed in high school, was nurtured in CEPT. She remained a high performer throughout at CEPT, was in the spot light as a star student and never experienced any discrimination on campus. The predominant Gujarati culture at CEPT was wonderful for her as it created a cultural continuum after her growing years at Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya in Gwalior. An opportunity to work with Prof. Dolf Schnebli in Ticino was an intense experience. Prof. Schnebli encouraged her to read, travel and meet architects like Aldo Rossi and Jaqueline Tyrwhitt. Ranjitsinh graduated in 1977 from CEPT and spent a year researching handicrafts with Haku Shah and later working at the NID, following which she spent six years (1982–86) working at the well-established Architects Combined in Mumbai with architect Kamu Iyer. He has been a guiding influence and the strongest mentor in her professional career. Her time spent at Architects Combined gave Ranjitsinh her first experiences in designing and dealing with clients, contractors and the actual process of seeing a project through to completion. Kamu Iyer gave Ranjitsinh new insights into architecture, specifically modernism in contemporary practice in Mumbai and the Indian subcontinent. Vandana Jayawant Ranjitsinh is married to Ranjit Sinh, her senior at CEPT. They began their joint architectural practice called Ranjit Sinh Associates in 1982. During the early years, they were commissioned to do residences. In 1988, there was an opportunity for Vandana and Ranjit Sinh to work in Bhutan. They moved to Thimpu and were involved in designing six large-scale projects, in the process establishing their identities and practice as independent architects. This period, until 1992, served as another learning phase for Ranjitsinh as she worked in the cultural and geographical context of Bhutan. In addition to her career as an independent architect, Ranjitsinh has been teaching architecture in Mumbai for many years now, which she enjoys and

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which remains an important part of her life. She maintains that it helps keep her grounded, giving her the opportunity to mentor young architects. Besides not being isolated in her practice, she finds it a great learning experience, especially while interacting with a lot of young faculty who experiment with new methodologies. Ranjitsinh’s experiences at institutions like CEPT and KRVIA and practice in culturally and topographically diverse places such as Ahmedabad, Switzerland, Thimphu and Mumbai have provided her with broad exposure to develop into a successful professional. At Archi­ tects Combined, Ranjitsinh spent a lot of her time serving as a site coordinator, develop­ ing construction details. While in Bhutan she interacted with construction teams, from the ­contractor to the workers on site, enabling her to develop her strengths as an architect. In addition to having strong on-site skills, Ranjitsinh says that being on site is her strength, where she realizes that she has a way with people interactions, allowing her to be effective with team building. She also deals with them in a softer manner and is good with negotiations. Also, as a woman, people tend to give her a longer lead. This helps in pulling a project together and getting work done. However, people expect her to excel at interiors for which she says she has little patience and needs to put in more effort, while design at a larger scale, macro-planning aspects of each of her projects, comes more easily. In the four and a half years in Bhutan, Vandana and Ranjit’s two daughters were born. They came back to Mumbai because the children were young. Practice at that time took a backseat for Ranjitsinh, who was fortunate to have very supportive in-laws, especially her mother-in-law who was educated and enlightened. Ranjitsinh had kids late in life and therefore could travel and establish her practice earlier, which, she realizes, many young mothers cannot do. Having established a joint practice, Ranjitsinh says that the key responsibilities and focus between her and Ranjit vary from project to project, with an immense contribution from each partner. She mainly deals with the site and context, including the initial studies. However, Ranjit, who has a theoretical bent of mind, is predominantly engaged in the design through research and understanding the regional typology as well as negotiating with contractors and working with architectural details. She believes that working closely with a partner over the years enables one to let go of some areas and focus and develop strengths in others. Ranjitsinh is passionately dedicated to excellence in design and execution. Her work is characterized by a conscious and intense response to the site context. Straight lines and volumes serve as dominant elements in the making of the form. Her work is a reaction against the simplistic model of modernism though conceptually based on it. She develops an architectural vocabulary that is site specific, using a variety of earthy materials and elements that respond to the climate. She pays specific attention to fine detailing. She can be called a modern regionalist, with perhaps an indirect influence of the Bhutanese vernacular. While designing, ‘integrity’ is of prime importance to Ranjitsinh. Its interpretation stretches from the regional, social and cultural context of the project and its surroundings, affecting the choices she makes as a designer. She emphasizes that she has no manifesto in her design process and no byline since it is crucial for her to be able to change to be alive.

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Vandana Ranjitsinh projects Machaan, Khandala, Maharashtra, 2001 Machaan, as the name suggests, perches on the shoulder of a steep hill with spectacular views of the Khandala gorge on three sides. The house was designed to grow out of the hill in tiers, with each level opening out onto terraced gardens. It is massed around a bridge (family room) with staircases at either end and rooms opening off the landing levels. The house is experienced as a route of movement from the lower slopes up to the top of the hill, the rooms negotiating the hillside from the lower service areas up to the top-most contours. The dining and guest rooms hang out over the precipice. The materials are chosen from a local palette and are deliberately recessive-deep green roofs, exposed concrete, Kotah stone cladding and basalt plinths. The only distinctive detailing is provided by the richness of teakwood and bronze anodized door and window panels. The structure is clearly expressed as it rises out of the hill and suspends the house above. The tiered hip roofs break down its scale into a cluster of pavilions against the sky. The roofs float above deep eaves with a shadow band below.

Plate 18.2  Machaan, view from the south Photo courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

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Plate 18.3  Machaan, ground floor Drawing courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

It forms intimate connections with the landscape. The steep winding approach road is planted with masses of trees to cover the hillside and eventually screen the base of the house, giving it a floating quality like a machaan.

Plate 18.4  Machaan, section Drawing courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

Plate 18.5  Machaan, view from the driveway Photo courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

Vandana Ranjitsinh  |  195 

Plate 18.6  Machaan, main entrance and dining pavilion Photo courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

Fountainhead Centre for Learning, Bamansure, Alibaug, 2001 The seven-acre property at Alibaug was developed as a management training centre as well as place of recreation and rest. The campus is laid out along a winding route of movement,

Plate 18.7  Fountainhead Centre for Learning, concept plan Drawing courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

Plate 18.8  Fountainhead Centre for Learning, elevation from dining and club house Drawing courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

Plate 18.9  Fountainhead Centre for Learning, staircase bay in residential block Photo courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

Vandana Ranjitsinh  |  197 

Plate 18.10  Fountainhead Centre for Learning, dining room

Photo courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

attenuating the whole experience of the site. It links diverse functions and buildings as a series of experiences engaging with the landscape. The buildings use RCC frames and basalt infill panels. The idea of framing the outdoors is constantly reiterated, while the internal spaces remain linear in disposition and act as verandahs and passages housing functions along the routes of movement. During the winter, ‘Fountainhead’ hosts an Art Walk festival, the ‘walk’ taking one through each of the buildings, looking out at framed views, edges along the paddy fields (with sunflowers as a winter crop) and crosses the still pools which form the central tableau, all with artworks hung along the basalt panel walls. The site was barren with a schism where the land dropped and rose up to three old trees. These form a focus – an island of green across the paddy fields and pools, enhancing the quality of Alibaug’s affinity with green and blue.

Plate 18.11  Fountainhead Centre for Learning, pool

Photo courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

Vandana Ranjitsinh  |  199 

Plate 18.12  Fountainhead Centre for Learning, guest cottages

Photo courtesy of Vandana Ranjitsinh

The campus has training and conference facilities, an auditorium, breakaway spaces for discussion, workshops, a library and lounge, which have cross-ventilation and natural light. A cluster of cottages form a weekend enclave for employees and their families. Black basalt and black flooring with earth-coloured walls root the buildings to the landscape. As time goes by the buildings will sink into the background as greenery takes over. The row house variations are stacked in two layers and interlocked with a view to optimize land use. Disposed in a staggered configuration, each dwelling is open to the breezes on two or three sides, and combines to form oblique clusters rather than the typical long blocks of conventional row housing. While the lower house gets a garden court, the upper house has a series of private terraces. Apartment crescents are curved around the central park, with staggered floors relieving their heaviness. The stepped facade forms three penthouses with extended terraced gardens. The long swing of the facade was detailed to carry plants and greenery across its length making a green backdrop for the entire complex.

19 Anjali Yagnik (1957–)

Plate 19.1  Anjali Yagnik Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Anjali Yagnik  |  201 

Anjali Yagnik is passionate about architecture and feels it is an interesting combination of the

arts and the sciences. Yagnik (née Balachandran) grew up in Delhi and later did her schooling at The Lawrence School, Lovedale, a boarding school near Ooty, as her father was in the army. Yagnik’s classmate’s mother had just completed an interior design course. Hearing about her experiences when she was 13 got Yagnik quite interested and excited about the field. Soon, she read an article about the School of Architecture (now Faculty of Architecture) at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University (CEPT University) located in Ahmedabad. The article left a strong impression on her, and she promised herself that she would study there. Eventually, she joined the 1974 batch at CEPT. It was a little difficult for Yagnik to assimilate at first on CEPT Campus with its different cultural milieu since she came from a somewhat anglicized, south Indian background. But though her initiation was slow, once she adjusted herself to the atmosphere, there was no looking back. Yagnik stresses that she felt no discrimination in CEPT as a girl student, except for occasional instances when male students would talk about girls ‘wasting precious seats’. Here she matured as an individual combining academic rigour with freedom. Immediately after graduation, Anjali got married in 1981 in New York to Vijay Yagnik, who was two years her senior at CEPT. He had completed his master’s in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and moved to the Bay Area in California. Vijay was on the practical training segment of his student visa, so she could not officially work and did small, unpaid assignments from home. This period bored her professionally as she was frustrated about not using her education. In 1983, the Yagniks returned to settle down in India. For two years, they practised in Delhi, mainly designing houses. Yagnik recalls that the Delhi experience was not pleasant for her as the social situation for women was quite different 30 years ago. Also, she was just 25 and was not taken seriously, especially by contractors who were a difficult lot to deal with. However, in 1985 they decided to return to California. The economy was booming then, and the couple soon got jobs and settled down. In 1987–88, Yagnik joined a one-year master’s programme in architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, mostly taking courses in the building processes programme with Prof. Christopher Alexander, the famous theoretician and designer. It was an experience that was significant for her. Chris made his students ask basic questions and brought out unique perspectives from mundane situations. He almost became Yagnik’s guru when she learnt to be really free and creative. She has had a history of working with women designers in the Bay Area, which has given her a positive and confident attitude towards her own career. In 1990, their son Vivek was born. The Yagniks returned to India for good in 1991 as opportunities were opening up with the new economic reforms. They began a joint architectural practice in Bengaluru; however, it was with a clear and equal division of work, and Yagnik insisted on handling her own projects from the very beginning. Both worked independently on their respective projects, with the added advantage of having a trustworthy partner for discussion and argument as required. Still, she recalls a very hard initial period of about two years when she felt she was being perceived as an appendage of Vijay, as conservative clients, mostly men, did not feel comfortable

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calling her alone for meetings and so forth. However, after reaching the age of about 40 and proving herself in the practice, she has begun to feel completely at ease in all situations, although she continues to be an unapologetic feminist with a capital ‘F’. The writings of Simone De Beauvoir were an early influence that shaped Yagnik’s personality and later her approach to life. Yagnik’s mother, a dynamic and vivacious personality in her youth, became her role model. In addition, belonging to the matrilineal Nair community from Kerala perhaps has a lot to do with Yagnik’s independence, self-confidence and identity. This is what helped her keep her balance in life when Vijay suddenly passed away in 2006 in a matter of hours. Most of Vijay’s clients have come to her with new projects, and her work has grown phenomenally. Yagnik believes that while designing, the core functionality and other ground realities such as planning regulations are also very important. The physical product comes out better when all professional relationships are cooperative. She rejects the concept of the master architect and believes that the contractor and his workforce are also a critical part of the process. Yagnik feels that at a practical level, an architect’s job stands out for its creative satisfaction, its aesthetic leanings and its potential to go beyond the mundane. Yagnik’s firm has completed a wide variety of projects in the past 20 years, including several multi-family residential buildings and service apartments, large single homes, commercial and institutional buildings and retail and restaurant interiors. Yagnik’s practice has been particularly successful at designing residences in Bengaluru, where her design references are from the regional to the vernacular/colonial but they support contemporary lifestyles. The houses are simple, often focused around a courtyard, where a lot of attention is paid to the elemental detailing, sometimes bordering on ornamentation, with generous use of wood and natural stone. Natural light and ventilation play an important role in the design. In public projects, Yagnik Architects’ approach has been to make the built environment sensitive to the users. Here also Yagnik often uses a courtyard as a climatic as well as a cultural space. Extensive landscapes add to the ambience of the public buildings. The designs also consciously address the issues of passive and active energy conservation, cost-effectiveness, safety and hygiene, in addition to rooting the building in its locale. Yagnik is very collaborative with clients, interacting with them at length to learn from them. She attempts to maintain a high degree of tolerance by engaging in frank exchanges of varying views and tries to approach design work without self-conscious and preconceived notions. She avoids making self-limiting rules, such as the development of architectural language, or getting ensnared by ‘architectural movements’. She is conscious that architecture consumes huge resources, occupies lots of space and exists for a long period of time, all of which are critically as important, if not more, than her individual authorship. When asked what she brings to the practice as a woman, she says that she encourages consensus as a team and lets everyone have his or her say. In the same breath, Yagnik confides that she is very demanding and autocratic as an employer. In spite of having a prolific practice, Yagnik prefers to keep a low profile. She has deeply held beliefs and values. A worldview greatly influenced by reading popular science books on evolutionary biology and psychology, and the glimpse of deep time that this offers to the layperson, Yagnik believes, has put the significance of her life and work as an individual relatively light, and this gives her humility and a rare objectivity.

Anjali Yagnik  |  203 

Anjali Yagnik projects Sasken Corporate Office, Bengaluru, 2000 Sasken Corporate Office was jointly designed with Anjali Yagnik’s husband and late partner, Vijay Yagnik. Conceptually, two important factors were key to the design. A vast majority of the employees

Plate 19.2  Sasken Corporate Office, site plan Drawing courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Plate 19.3  Sasken Corporate Office, typical floor plan Drawing courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Plate 19.4  Sasken Corporate Office, view Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Plate 19.5  Sasken Corporate Office, entrance Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

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Plate 19.6  Sasken Corporate Office, internal courtyard Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

were in their early twenties, and because of their youthfulness, the architects wanted their work environment to be an extension of the vigorous college environment they had just left behind. The other factor was the company’s vision statement, ‘Unleashing Indian Creativity’, at that time. Therefore, the design is an environment that would be energetic and still rooted in its locale. The building is laid out around a large, central, landscaped courtyard, or Quad. This is connected to the outside at the front through a large, double-height open space with an entrance, reception and waiting areas. Collective, public-related spaces such as auditorium, cafeteria or library, with potential to extend out into the courtyard, are also housed at this level. Elevator/service lobbies are located at the four corners and are interconnected by wide walkways overlooking the courtyard. These walkways, which form a major means of circulation in the building, are not air-conditioned and shade the wholly glazed, transparent edge of the workspaces facing the courtyard. In contrast, the outside edges of the workspaces are more solid with smaller, shaded openings in response to climatic issues. With respect to overall form, it is built over two basements for parking and electromechanical services, and steps up from three floors around the courtyard to eight floors at the rear, tower portion. The terrace over the third floor is landscaped and forms a large garden for individual or collective use. The design is primarily of an introverted building where spaces look inwards to a

Anjali Yagnik  |  207 

Plate 19.7  Sasken Corporate Office, night view Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

green courtyard, through glazed walls protected from the elements by wide walkways, bringing all parts of the building together. Though Sasken Corporate Office was designed jointly with Yagnik’s late husband and partner, Vijay Yagnik, and contrary to the assumption that she was merely assisting him, she can rightfully claim full and equal contribution to present it as a significant part of her body of work.

Esperanza apartments and row houses, Bengaluru, 2009 Esperanza Phase 1 is the first part of a larger residential development of apartment buildings and row houses on an eight-acre plot for a developer in Bengaluru. It consists of an apartment building

Plate 19.8  Esperanza apartments and row houses, typical floor plan Drawing courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Plate 19.9  Esperanza apartments and row houses, a view of the apartments Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Plate 19.10  Esperanza apartments and row houses, a view of the pool

Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Plate 19.11  Esperanza apartments and row houses, bird’s-eye view of the row houses

Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Plate 19.12  Esperanza apartments and row houses, a typical bungalow

Photo courtesy of Anjali Yagnik and Clare Arni

Anjali Yagnik  |  211 

with 98 units and 12 row houses. The former has four contiguous blocks, each with a circulation core of lifts and stairs in the middle, with short walkways leading to four apartments around each core. The blocks, varying in height from eight to ten floors, include an interconnected basement floor for parking and infrastructural services. The building also has a spacious, open, double-height entrance area with shallow pools and fountains for large, in-house get-togethers. The ground floor consists of common amenities like a gym, swimming pool, squash court, multipurpose hall, children’s playroom, changing rooms and additional car parking. The apartments themselves have been laid out to maximize light, view and ventilation in all major rooms, that is the living room and all bedrooms. Long, unobstructed views, extroverted or introverted like in courtyards, have been an important part of the architect’s design efforts. The dining room and kitchen also have large windows facing the service courtyard between apartments, which provide good light and cross-ventilation if not the best views. The apartments make efficient use of available space without nooks within the units. The row houses are arranged in two blocks of six each and face each other across a wide access way with perpendicular parking bays on both sides. Each house also has a significant, roughly 20-feet-deep private garden at the back. Moreover, the row houses are wide and shallow, as facilitated by the dimensions of the site, and are consequently well lit and ventilated.

20 Sujatha Shankar (1960–)

Plate 20.1  Sujatha Shankar Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

Sujatha Shankar  |  213 

Sujatha Shankar is a well-known, Chennai-based architect. A multifaceted personality, Shankar made a film on the city of Madras (now Chennai) in 1992, highlighting the evolution of its architecture and exploring the city’s wealth of heritage. Clearly in love with Chennai, Shankar is well versed with its history as well as contemporary architecture. Born to Maharashtrian parents originally from Tanjore, her maiden name was Sujatha Nagoji Rao. Her father was an actuary with UK qualifications and her mother a homemaker, greatly interested in reading, needlework and gardening, among other things. Her great grandfather was the dewan of the state of Travancore and Indore as well as Baroda in colonial times, two other ancestors were also dewans and another great grandfather was the first Indian commissioner of police in Chennai.

From a young age, Shankar was very creative and her mother and grandmother encouraged her in different activities. An extremely bright student in school, she attended special art and instrumental music classes. In her high school finals, Shankar ranked first in school and tenth in the state; she secured admission in Guindy Engineering College, but she was drawn more to architecture. The field attracted her as it seemed to be a synthesis of art and science, both of which she was passionate about. At that time, Shankar was also fascinated by the drawings made by an uncle who was an aeronautical engineer and his use of a fine set of scales, all of which reinforced her resolve to pursue that field. Shankar studied architecture from 1977 to 1982 at Madras University, where only 5 seats out of 20 were reserved for girls. Prof. Madhavan, her favourite teacher, taught her basic design and sketching. She found architectural education all-encompassing, sensitizing students to life and aimed towards them becoming whole human beings. She served as treasurer in the student council and helped create a slide library for the college. She was also selected for the prestigious Tata Scholarship Award. Immediately after graduation in 1982, Sujatha had an arranged marriage to Shankar Sundaram, an industrialist from Chennai with two MBA degrees. Three days after the wedding she left for her master’s in architecture at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, specializing in urban design. She found the variety in courses offered extremely stimulating. Living by herself for the first time in a new culture was an important experience in her life. So was the overall graduate school experience, moulding her personality as she objectively viewed Indian culture and architecture from a distance. From 1984 to 1988, on return to India she worked in Chennai setting up her independent practice in 1996 under the name Sujatha Shankar Architects, Planners and Interior Designers. Since then, recognition and awards have flowed her way. Quality, and not quantum, is her aim. Shankar’s architectural repertoire of varying typologies and scales is diverse and includes industrial, commercial, health care and residential buildings. Her architectural pursuit is to create humane places for people. It is the creativity and close relationship to art that she draws on and which gives her immense joy while designing. Shankar completely immerses herself in the project on hand, focusing on understanding a client’s wishes and bringing them to fruition while being a catalyst, an interpreter of the client’s dreams and a guide. For the design of projects in tight urban contexts, she attempts to maximize light

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and air to create a flow of spaces without compromising on functionality, along with being in consonance with nature. When some clients desire, she often complies with the tenets of Vastu Shastra. There has been a subconscious influence of modernism on her work because she studied about Louis Kahn, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright and others. Her design philosophy ranges from being predominantly and purely modernist to being influenced by local materials and contextual references. She does not believe in developing the built form for the sake of it. Her buildings are noted for their simple clean lines and detailing of geometric patterns in the interiors. Her obsession with perfection makes her designs that much richer. She has carved a niche for herself in Chennai as a designer. She is socially committed and promotes humanist values. Light is often the focus of her design concepts that include flowing spaces, transparency and creative detailing. Drawing on her interest in the arts, she creates a unique ambiance for every project. Having been brought up in hundred-year-old houses of both grandparents, restoration, adaptive reuse and revival of old heritage structures are issues close to Shankar’s heart, even though these projects are fewer in number. Passionate about heritage, she is a co-convener of the Chennai Chapter of INTACH and a member of the core group engaging in the historic preservation and conservation in Chennai. She was also a member of the Heritage Conservation Committee constituted by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority. Shankar’s secretary and her chief engineer (with more than 20 years’ service) in her office are both women. She has many young women working on her projects, but she observes that after marriage, higher studies or due to other family commitments, many quit the job or move out of the city. Even Shankar had to juggle between career and domestic responsibilities. After her only son was born in 1995, she could still manage the career front because she had full support from her in-laws and her own parents to whom she was very close. Shankar won a national IIID-MK award for excellence in commercial interiors in 1998. In addition to practicing, Shankar’s academic inclination has found her teaching architecture at Anna University, Measi University, SRM University and a few other schools of architecture where she deals with juries and design criticism. She is a member of the Board of Studies for Architecture at Anna University and has been on the advisory committee in some of the other schools. She was the correspondent for the architectural journal A+D (Architecture + Design) for over a decade, has contributed articles in The Hindu and Folio and has participated in programmes on architecture on radio and television. Despite being a compulsive workaholic, she manages to make time to pursue some other passions such as classical Indian music, travel and photography. Her background has made her a polyglot of sorts with fluency in Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil and English, a working knowledge of Hindi and Kannada and exposure to Sanskrit and Japanese. Shankar believes that the challenge facing an architect in India today is to give a contextual meaning to a building with relation to the street and the people who use the street and as an element in the fabric of the city as a whole. She says,

Sujatha Shankar  |  215  The role of the architect needs to be understood with far higher clarity. With multiple decision makers in a project, like project consultants, who are a very necessary interface, the role of the architect has become blurred. But the designer is the key nodal point from where decisions must flow, and this has to be acknowledged.

Self-effacing and gracious, Shankar will soon be moving to her own office building.

Sujatha Shankar projects Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, Kodaikanal, 2009 The hilly site of this residence presented a challenge to the architect. The slope of the site was in one direction downhill and the scenic view was in the opposite direction uphill. The triangular site had a beautiful canopy of old, well-grown native trees towards the side with the

Plate 20.2  Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, site plan Drawing courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

Plate 20.3  Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, ground and first floors Drawing courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

Plate 20.4  Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, deck wrapping around the conservatory sun room Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

Sujatha Shankar  |  217 

Plate 20.5  Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, the textures of natural stone and wood Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

highest altitude, a view that has been maximized in the design. The entry road is from the third side with shorter and less dense fruit trees. Building along the natural contours, from east to west, was decided for minimizing the cut and fill. The challenge was to open up the vistas towards the dense tree canopy. The architect staggered the spaces hugging the earth and cascading down along the contours. Individual spaces are expressed as a series of pavilions with rhythmic pyramidal roofs, at the same time, maintaining continuity and flow. The wooden entrance gate is at the lowest tip of the site, where the car is parked. A meandering walk leads one up to the house while experiencing nature. An informal black stone–paved area indicates arrival. The wooden pergola creates a transition from the unbuilt to the built and frames a huge solid wood entrance door. The conservatory with a roof, walls and windows of glass becomes the sun-lit heart of the house, enveloped by nature. It is a relaxed lounging space with towering trees overhead during the day and starlit skies at night. At slight levels from the foyer are the living and dining spaces, with the more private bedrooms

Plate 20.6  Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, main entrance Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

Sujatha Shankar  |  219 

Plate 20.7  Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, the view after sundown Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

at the far ends. Each room along the staggered outline has windows, at least two opposite corners capturing the essence of the site and its landscape.

Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, Chennai, 2009 The design of this building has been conceived with children in mind, a spatial organization with both visual and physical clarity. The spaces are grouped around the focal point of a central courtyard. The ramp acts as a vertical spine. Light and air are key features. Sunlight is abundant with plenty of air circulation. Windowsills are low to allow visibility of nature for the children in bed. Art has been integrated into the spaces for its therapeutic effect. The building housed on 22,000 square feet has ground, first and second floors, with provision for an additional floor for future expansion. Different configurations of wards provide inpatient facility for children. The building has complete disabled accessibility, with an entrance ramp, an internal connecting ramp, bed-lift and washrooms that are suitably fitted. Water is heated by a solar heating system and light fittings are energy-saving fixtures.

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Plate 20.8  Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, ground floor Drawing courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

The ground floor is predominantly for outpatients and common facilities – the reception, waiting lounge and consultation cubicles; counselling room for patients and parents; and blood collection supported by lab and other facilities in the main institute. The first floor has predominantly inpatient beds in wards, of which one is an isolation unit for children who need special care. Tortoise ward, Elephant ward, Duck Ward, Hippo Ward and Giraffe ward are some of the names of wards that the little ones can identify with. The second floor has a minor procedure room with special epoxy finish, scrub room, critical care unit with 6 beds and central monitoring station, duty doctors’ rest rooms for men and women, conference with provision for telemedicine, library and meditation room. There are special rooms

Plate 20.9  Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, entrance steps and ramp for the differently abled Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

Plate 20.10  Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, corner view

Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

Plate 20.11  Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute, functions grouped around central courtyard

Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

Sujatha Shankar  |  223 

Plate 20.12  Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute,

artwork Photo courtesy of Sujatha Shankar

for single- and twin-sharing occupancy. Service corridors are designated on all floors for electrical, air handling unit (AHU), linen, housekeeping, stores and other facilities. A separate oxygen manifold is provided. A three-floor-high colourful mosaic mural on the central courtyard wall by renowned artist Thotaa Tharani becomes the focal element of the hospital linking the spaces vertically.

21 Sonali Bhagwati (1961–)

Plate 21.1  Sonali Bhagwati Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

Sonali Bhagwati  |  225 

Sonali Bhagwati belongs to a highly educated and accomplished Gujarati family, her father

being a former chief justice of India. Most of her uncles are well-known and accomplished professionals at national and international levels. She grew up in New Delhi with two other elder sisters, with their parents encouraging them to have careers while contributing to the national progress. In fact, Bhagwati has imbibed important values from her father such as honesty and integrity. Debating the selection of a course after high school, Bhagwati found economics rather boring and engineering a bit too hard. Therefore, even before she cleared her 12th board exams, she knew that she wanted to pursue only architecture. Being independent by nature, Bhagwati came to Ahmedabad without her parents and succeeded in getting admission in the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology University (CEPT University), Ahmedabad, in 1979. She found the campus fascinating. There were only seven girls in her class of 30. She had generally hated high school (maths and science in particular), not quite excelling in studies. But in the first year of architecture, Bhagwati started taking great interest in her courses, surprising herself by working night after night without complaints. She cherishes not just her education at CEPT, but the experience that the semi-bohemian atmosphere of the campus provided for youngsters to blossom and bond together. Everything seemed radical and charged, the freedom actually inspiring students to work harder. In 1983, she trained with architect Bernard Kohn in Paris, as a recipient of a scholarship from Institute Francaise D’Architecture, and worked on projects such as cooperative housing and Maison du Culture. She was drawn to urban design from her fourth year onwards. Professors at CEPT such as Leo Pereira, Anant Raje and B. V. Doshi had a lasting influence on her. She imbibed many values and skills from them, including thinking out of the box. Bhagwati’s firm was started as ‘Atelier 2001’ in 1985 as a joint architectural practice in Delhi with her friend Khushroo Kalyanwala and fiancé Sohrab Dalal, who was a year senior to her in CEPT. Sonali and Sohrab got married in 1988. She began her practice by designing houses, clubs and apartments and insisted on handling separate projects on her own from day one. When that partnership ended in 1993, the practice was restructured as SPAZZIO, later being converted to a private limited company in 1999. The firm has three directors – Sonali Bhagwati, Sohrab Dalal and Rajinder Puri, who are all alumni of CEPT. Rajinder Puri heads the Jaipur office of SPAZZIO. There is a vertical division in the firm, with Bhagwati and Dalal working independently. SPAZZIO, which means space, is essentially at the core of their design philosophy. Modulation of forms to create spaces that lend themselves to visual sensibilities is what they continuously strive for. Every project is treated as unique with a personality of its own, as this approach creates an opportunity for innovation while Bhagwati attempts to combine technology, functionality and sensuousness. Her design team attempts to provide comprehensive design solutions and to develop a client–architect relationship. She pays a lot of attention to detailing as well as to using the right materials and colours to create a sensible and complete design experience.

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Over the years, Bhagwati has handled corporate clients and build-to-suit projects that also included interior designing, while Dalal preferred pure architecture. Expertise in both fields enables the firm in delivering comprehensive solutions. Efficient integration of design with engineering services in order to optimize on resources, time and quality forms the backbone of the firm’s philosophy. Her minimalist approach focuses on efficient space management, clean lines, modern systems and a multidisciplinary approach to work. Bhagwati and Dalal have two children. She says she brought them up: ridden with guilt, multitasking, connecting with them on phone during the day and spending as many evenings with them as possible. She also had the support from her parents and mother-in-law. As a woman, the first three years of practice were difficult for Bhagwati due to the general chauvinistic attitude within the profession. Initially, she was not entirely comfortable dealing with male clients and consultants in addition to the overwhelming pace of Delhi. Over time, however, as her exposure and confidence increased, she learnt to deal with corporations, hotel chains and IT companies. She has built her professional standing while maintaining a long-term association with her clients, many of whom return with new projects. By and large, Bhagwati is happy with her professional life. Her office is set up in the corporate mode. She is very conscious of the team effort that all her employees put in the projects. She does not believe in personality-oriented architecture. Her staff of 40 people comes from vivid backgrounds, and she attempts to use their different cultural strengths. Of her staff, 40% are women, who, she feels, have the same capacity to excel as their male counterparts, especially the young girls, who are more enthusiastic to take up any job, are good with AUTOCAD and are generally sincere but face problems while meeting deadlines. Bhagwati is flexible and occasionally allows women to work from home if the children are unwell. The roots of her work are in her modernist education, but the design compositions are drawn from the principles of postmodernism. She is bold and innovative in her approach and strives for the avant-garde in spatial experiences, lighting and use of technology. Using volumetric plays and materials such as glass and steel, Bhagwati creates alluring structures that not only meet the aesthetic and functional requirements but also become successful marketing tools for the clients. She almost deconstructs the modernist box while achieving flexibility and fluidity of interior spaces in large work areas. She uses the luminosity of certain materials and surfaces to create a dynamic spatial juxtaposition. She is trying to keep pace with the speed at which the socio-technological context of architecture is changing, as the 21st century has opened up new international horizons. In 2010, DESIGNPLUS, an architectural firm established in 1976 by Mr Satish Gujral, a world-famous painter, muralist, sculptor and architect, merged with SPAZZIO as a single entity called DESIGNPLUS Architecture when Dalal took over as the managing director and Bhagwati became the president of the company. Bhagwati perceives the School of Architecture building at her alma mater CEPT University by Balkrishna Doshi as the backbone of the modernist thought process. ‘It has a delicacy of space and a quality of timelessness,’ she says. She struggles to design contemporary and dynamic spaces and

Plate 21.2  Office in Delhi, ground floor plan Drawing courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

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plastic forms that are interesting and complex in themselves (not just as external dressing) with a sense of mystery and drama. She is currently a member of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission, initiating projects such as updating of by-laws to make them user friendly and net accessible as well as developing a green pedestrian track across a large part of south Delhi. Bhagwati dreams of taking her firm to a global level with an ambitious expansion. Even now, as they use foreign consultants, boundaries already seem to be fading away. She is looking forward to a seamless shifting while she ventures in the international market.

Sonali Bhagwati projects Office Project, New Delhi, 2003 The high-profile law firm decided to create its own building in an attempt to achieve a facility, which was on the cutting edge of contemporary design and technology. The one-acre site in Okhla, New Delhi, allowed approximately 65,000 square feet of built-up area over four levels. Since the current space requirement could be accommodated in half the space, it was decided to lease out the balance area for a period of six years. The entire facility is an exercise in combining principles of vastu (an ancient building science) with contemporary design ideas. The solid front facade consists of two curvilinear planes. The entrance is in the form of clear glass enabling the curvilinear planes to penetrate

Plate 21.3  Office in Delhi, visitors’ lounge: a punch of colour Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwat

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the interior, thus combining the exterior and interior forms seamlessly. The inclined planes along the long side give way to a recessed top floor and metal canopy that helps relieve the facade. The entire frontage is flanked by a water body in the form of a still pool, which reflects the blue-lit facade at night. The entry is a bridge leading to the triple-height building reception. The foyer with its ‘light and flying’ staircase is a prelude to the clean-lined, transparent, contemporary yet warm interiors of the spaces housed in the building. A large ‘tree of life’ – a cast bronze by Radha Krishnan – fills the reception. A scenic elevator looks onto a dynamic central court, with zen-like landscaping that gives natural light to the interior spaces. A reception space along with the conferencing centre celebrates the courtyard at the second floor. The open office exudes warmth by use of soft pastel colours that are befitting the nature of work. The rear core with exit stairs and service elevator connects all the levels. The basement houses common facilities such as cafeterias, private dining, gym, library and support areas. The shifting of basement wall creates a continuous skylight that provides soft natural light during the non-usage hours. Sensitive and articulate lighting is used to enhance the building elements such as the staircase, curvilinear frontal planes and metal canopy along the length. Richa Suri was project architect for the project.

Plate 21.4  Office in Delhi, a free-standing island Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

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Plate 21.5  Office in Delhi, tree of life: a staircase Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

The Delhi Land & Finance (DLF) Sales Office, Gurgaon, 2012 The leading developer of India, DLF’s keen business acumen comes to its forefront when it approached the architectural firm of DesignPlus Architecture to design and build an office for them to showcase their 1000-acre Garden City project. The office is a Marketing and Sales Office situated in ‘Gurgaon–The Millennium City’ on the NH 8 highway close to the international

Plate 21.6  Office in Delhi, the art wall Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

Plate 21.7  DLF Sales Office, Gurgaon, fluid lines of the cafe juxtaposed against severe geometry Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

Plate 21.8  DLF Sales Office, Gurgaon, the deconstructed facade at the entrance Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

Plate 21.9  DLF Sales Office, Gurgaon, the cafe lounge Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

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Plate 21.10  DLF Sales Office, Gurgaon, palm trees fringing the water body and the

floating pavilions Photo courtesy of Sonali Bhagwati

airport. The office has a built up area of approx. 15,000 square feet, including a zone for sample flats, plots, and residences. It is a living breathing interchanging environment, which adapts itself for the future. The design intent was to highlight the hospitable nature of a corporate office. The design strives to ensure the customers’ comfort and relaxation by taking its cues from the hospitality industry. The finishing takes into account a number of elements which are new to the corporate environment namely floating sales cabins, light reflecting pools, preserved trees, plants and imported lighting fixtures. Warm tomes of beige, cream and brown have been used in abundance with Travertine stone to provide the perfect backdrop. Lighting has taken precedence to softly highlight the ceilings and create an inviting space. A double height space with glazing on three sides creates a sense of awe and wonder as the customers arrive and allows them to enjoy the views and scenery outside. A silent water body was designed to dance around the sales pavilion for an appearance of floating islands and to reflect the filtered light coming through the glazing. The corporate office and other ancillary requirements such as conference room, manager’s office, etc. have been provided on the first floor. The sales floor on the ground floor consists of the model display areas, sales cabins, lounge, bank counters and audio video display room. The team consists of Anand Mahindra, Sudha Sah, Pranav Arora, Dipanjan Mitra, and Natwar Lal Jangid.

22 Suhasini Ayer-Guigan (1961–)

Plate 22.1  Suhasini Ayer-Guigan Photo courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

Suhasini Ayer-Guigan  |  235 

Suhasini Ayer-Guigan, popularly known as Suhasini Ayer, belongs to south India spent about

12 years in Rajkot in Gujarat while growing up. Her father was a government officer and mother a homemaker. As a student, while cycling to school, construction sites caught her interest. That was the early 1970s, when Gujarat and the whole of India was witnessing a boom in construction business. This interest later led her to study architecture. While in Rajkot, she had enrolled in art classes with college students. There was a strong arts movement in Gujarat at the time, and this proved a blessing in disguise for young Ayer. Ayer was the middle of three siblings. Unlike her introvert brother, she was rebellious and outspoken. She refused to pursue a career in medicine as per her family’s wish. At the same time, other than the clarity that she wanted her career to do something with buildings and design, she did not have any clue about the professional nitty-gritty of the architectural field. She went to Delhi, met students of architecture and, after some discussions, decided to pursue a degree in that discipline. Hailing from a liberal family, like Ayer, her sister also pursued a profession that inspired her creativity, and she is now an established filmmaker. While she had made up her mind to study in Delhi, Ayer was not in awe of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA). She did not think much of it. SPA seemed non-impressive, and she had the confidence that she could easily make it into the institution. She lived up to her conviction and easily got into the college in 1980. However, in spite of her preparedness, it took time to get adjusted to the system, and it was in the second year that she finally felt at home. In her third year, Ayer met K. T. Ravindran (popularly known as KT), who had just returned from Iran. He taught urban design and hung around the canteen, immersed in discussions about urbanism, vernacular culture and other interesting topics. KT had a considerable influence on Ayer. She was also introduced to a lot of foreigners at SPA. KT, Raj Rewal and Satish Grover were her important teachers and were doing cutting-edge work in the field of architecture. The ‘other view’ was provided by Vinod Gupta, Ram Sharma and others with an emphasis on energy efficiency and urban design issues. Sanjay Prakash had just graduated. Six to seven years after her graduation, when she came across the notes of the aforementioned people’s lectures, she finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel as it all made sense then. In her fourth year at SPA, Ayer went to Auroville. She interned with Poppo Pingel and learnt actual designing under his training. He encouraged her to make a lot of models, and thus, she learnt to accurately materialize a two-dimensional design into the three-dimensional form. Working under him extensively on models gave her a good grounding on proportion and scaling in design. She also appreciated his client approach. Back in Delhi, Ayer used to work on architects’ designs on a part-time basis. She learnt about construction design from her first intense period in Delhi. She graduated from SPA in 1985. Ayer moved to Auroville the same year. Her first two projects were huts, where she attempted to create a co-relation among materials, space and volume, earning only around Rs 6,000. She took up small projects where scale and intimacy were crucial in her design approach. She learnt directly from the trade roof ‘master’ builder.

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Ayer does not really have a philosophy of design but she does believe in holding on to one idea and developing it in isolation to crystallize it. She tends to browse in terms of information, ideas and thoughts and focus on the pragmatic. With a team, she has been working on integrating principles and techniques of sustainable design in projects, both institutional and residential, while aesthetically leaning towards minimalism. She is fascinated not only by the principle of trying to achieve the maximum using only the minimum in terms of space, material, time and energy, but also by the visual quality of minimal architecture in this world of excess. She attempts to create spaces and forms that are non-intrusive and quiet, and that encompass rather than bombard the senses constantly. She prefers to use nature as the counter-focus for exuberance and to understate the design intervention in the tropical zone of India. She is more enthusiastic when designing institutional projects, especially educational buildings, though she does design residences. In most of her buildings, she lets the climate, site conditions, building materials, availability of the primary natural resources and user’s aspirations mould the form of the project. Her role models are Jeffery Bawa, Glenn Murcutt and B. V. Doshi. Ayer was married to a French civil engineer but was later divorced. She has a son from her marriage. She does not really look at women as having a unique or different role than men in the development of India. She feels that within the last generation, the women of this country have crossed over from the traditional role of the homemaker to being partners in development on all levels. What is unique about India is that this change has happened in a harmonious fashion in most sections of the country. Of course, there is still discrimination based on gender, but its mindset has been breached and its total collapse will depend on each individual’s effort within her environment and society. To enable this, the main criterion has to be equal opportunity. Ayer feels women have shown that given the opportunity they are able to do just as well if not better than men. The area where women as architects have a definite advantage is in the area of communication and team work. According to Ayer, evolutionary biology shows that because of the difference of roles in human society for thousands of years, women are better wired to work together; they have the built-in advantage for communication, networking and sharing. If development and architecture have to move along a sustainable path, then the emphasis would have to shift from a single master architect’s challenge of aesthetic design innovation to a team effort of several participants working for the greater good. This team effort would have to be non-competitive and include the users, the environment (human and natural) while being economically and socially responsible. The bane of urban architecture in India today is that every architect feels compelled to leave a distinctive stamp of his or her own style on the projects he or she designs, giving our towns and cities a surreal atmosphere – an ode to the built form of identity crisis. This overload of the ego could be eliminated or slowed down by women architects if they pitch in to humanize our urban landscape. Ayer looks forward to challenging projects in terms of design and architecture that allow her to create elegance without artifice, provide comfort without having to indulge in irrelevance and, finally, be truthful without becoming dogmatic.

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Suhasini Ayer-Guigan projects Centre Guest House, Auroville 1996–2001 This complex of buildings, one of the largest guest houses in Auroville and used by international guests, has been developed over the past two decades. The buildings are very eclectic as they

Plate 22.2  Centre Guest House, site plan Drawing courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

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Plate 22.3  Centre Guest House, elevations and section Drawing courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

use tile roofs, ferro cement and concrete. The landscape design is used to knit these buildings together. It integrates a large banyan tree and a line of palmyra trees that have been on the land before the Auroville project began. These landmarks create spaces between the buildings that allow an intimate scale, giving it a unique character. Every new development kept the cluster model of the layout of cottages using the banyan tree as the focus and the centre of activity. The vernacular design language emerging from the building materials of low plastered brick walls and Mangalore tile roofs on wooden beams with deep-set windows formed a loose circle around the tree respecting its scale. The new millennium brought new challenges to this project – boom in the number of visitors to Auroville and the new ideology of the town planning authorities, which promoted a more urban scale of development. So the architect moved to a larger footprint and double-storey buildings in concrete framed structures, well set back from the tree. The massing of the buildings was dictated by the covered walkways that are held by 12º inclined columns shading the building throughout the year and providing a comfortable drip line for the rains. The spaces are perforated with verandahs and alcoves to bring the play of inside–outside, also to recreate a tropical setting. The finish of the exterior is a combination of exposed concrete and lime stucco plaster that gives it an egg shell-smooth finish, eliminating the need

Plate 22.4  Centre Guest House, cottage Photo courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

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Plate 22.5  Centre Guest House, a smaller cottage Photo courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

for exterior painting. The insides are all done with natural stone/stucco plaster and built in furniture. The landscaping is a mixed use of vegetable gardens with fruit trees and ornamental shrubs/trees. The waste/sewage water is treated and reused in the gardens. This guest house serves a dual function: it houses the visitors and also is a meeting point of several Aurovilians and groups that come for trainings/workshops.

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Plate 22.6  Centre Guest House, balcony to garden view Photo courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

Visitors Centre, Auroville, 1988–ongoing This project is located in Auroville International Township in south India, and the purpose of the building is threefold. It serves as the reception centre for thousands of visitors who visit Auroville

Plate 22.7  Visitors Centre, site plan Drawing courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

Plate 22.8  Visitors Centre, elevations Drawing courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

Plate 22.9  Visitors Centre, entrance view Photo courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

Plate 22.10  Visitors Centre, amphitheatre court

Photo courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

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Plate 22.11  Visitors Centre, arcade around the amphitheatre

Photo courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

every day. It also serves as a demonstration complex for alternative technologies such as appropriate building construction, land reclamation, afforestation, renewable energies, water management and biological waste water recycling techniques. And most important, it has been a field of training for local villagers who have learnt soil block making and earth building techniques to mobilize them to self-build using earth. This building comprises an exhibition space, information office, shop to sell handicrafts manufactured in Auroville, video room, conference facility, restaurant, kitchen and toilets. Visitors Centre has received funding from several agencies (private and government) as it is a high-visibility complex with a minimum of 2,000 daily visitors. The project has been growing with several additions and extensions since 1990. The building was nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1992 and has received the Hassan Fathy Award for Architecture from Egypt in 1991. This building had to lend itself to various types of people, be inviting for visitors who are drawn to explore the space and become aware of the possibilities offered by various appropriate

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Plate 22.12  Visitors Centre, audiovisual room

Photo courtesy of Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

technologies. In order to reduce the cost and simplify the construction, a grid pattern of 4 × 4 m was adopted, with load-bearing pillars and arched or corbelled openings. The built-up area of the main complex is about 1,500 square metres and has been expanded to almost double the size over the last decade to meet Auroville’s growing needs.

23 Canna Patel (1962–)

Plate 23.1  Canna Patel Photo courtesy of Canna Patel

Canna Patel  |  247 

Although she grew up as the daughter of a nationally acclaimed architect, Canna Patel had

no intention of pursuing a career in architecture; she had a greater inclination towards the field of design, particularly textile design. However, she was clear early on that she did not aspire to simply be a homemaker. She applied to the National Institute of Design in 1980, certain that she would be accepted in this prestigious institute. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Although she saw this as a setback then, she considers it a blessing in disguise now as this incident led to her joining the Faculty of Architecture at CEPT University the same year. Patel was one of only seven girls in a class of 28. She studied there for six years and enjoyed model making and free-hand sketching. She fondly remembers actively participating in the annual festival. While Patel was focused on her education, she also had a passion for dancing as well as baking, hobbies since her childhood. Throughout the course of her undergraduate life, Patel maintained a balance between her hobbies and her education. During her time at CEPT, Patel ventured to Switzerland in 1983 to intern at Fritz Schwarz’s architectural practice for six months. While in Zurich, she took full advantage of the opportunities at hand, visiting Italian furniture showrooms as well as international furniture design fairs, where she would often make detailed sketches of the pieces she liked. Her experiences helped in developing her opinions of the essence of flawless design, leading to her belief that good design at the expense of utility is worthless. In the final year of her undergraduate degree, she undertook her most challenging design studio project yet: a civic centre on the banks of Sabarmati River. She then began her undergraduate research thesis, which was based on effective environments in residential open spaces. Her work was highly commended, earning her a gold medal from CEPT. It also proved to be critical to her application to US universities for her master’s in architecture. After completing her undergraduate degree, Patel took up a position in her father’s architectural practice – Hasmukh C. Patel & Associates – where she gained invaluable experience working closely with her father on several architectural projects. After two years, she decided to pursue her postgraduate degree at UC Berkeley and enrolled there in 1988. Patel maintained a 4.0 grade point average at UC and also earned tuition waivers. This exposure allowed her to evolve, grow independent and mature besides honing her talent and developing her skills. Patel remembers those years as some of her most memorable; she describes it as being a real eye-opener in terms of the theoretical aspects of architecture. She also developed certain hands-on practical skills that proved to be integral to her future career. In 1990, upon returning to India, Patel joined her father’s firm as a partner. Within a matter of months, she also decided to get married to Dr. Mukesh Patel. The couple moved to California in 1991. Patel’s husband was teaching at UC Berkeley. She had a job at a small architectural firm, after which she worked in the store planning department of The Gap (clothing store) in San Francisco, gaining valuable experience of working within a large organization and picking up management skills.

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In 1993, they moved to Europe on account of Patel’s husband accepting a prestigious EU-funded postdoctoral fellowship. Without work permits for Italy and Greece, Patel was unable to practice architecture. Undeterred, she commenced work on an interior project through her father’s office in Ahmedabad, India, communicating through fax. This, coupled with regular trips to India, ensured that she remained professionally busy. Throughout her stay in Milan, a design capital, Patel made ‘learning through seeing’ her mantra and spent a lot of time visiting furniture showrooms, where she would observe/draw/photograph various pieces of furniture. These processes were a valuable addition to her skill set, and Patel’s projects continue to benefit from the rapid re-creation of details for furniture and interiors. Upon her return to India in 1996, Patel rejoined her father’s firm. Her brother Dr. Bimal Patel was also a part of the same firm. Within the organization, she established an interior design studio starting with 3 people, which expanded to 15 people by 2005. Between 2002 and 2005, she was engrossed in the construction of her own house, a joint project along with her father. Her extended exposure to interior design allowed her to think about the house from inside out. After working on the volumetric and climatic aspects of the new house, the desire to practice architecture grew within her. The tone was set by her first architectural project of a weekend home, and more work began to flow in. In 2006, she decided to establish her own practice, HCP Interior Architecture Pvt. Ltd, which enabled her to express her personal vision and gain an independent identity. Her practice at present consists of 25 people with design and execution of architecture and interior design projects all over India. Through the use of geometrical form, plan organization and tactile choices, her architecture embraces the modernist vocabulary. Her designs are functionally precise, yet playful and superbly executed with fastidious detailing. She is sensitive to the qualitative differences between materials as she articulates spatial experiences. She creatively uses the interplay of light and colours to characterize her spaces. Her treatment of the inside and outside often creates a sense of transparency in the designs. Her overall perspective remains Indian with traditional aesthetics reinterpreted to incorporate contemporary expressions. Patel is the recipient of several awards in recognition of her work. In 2007 she was one of six leading Indian architects and designers invited by the Institut für Auslandsbesziehungen to exhibit their respective works in Berlin. In 2012, she was invited to a conference called ‘India and Design: What’s Going On?’ in Pordenone, Italy. She is also a founder member and past chairperson of IIID, Ahmedabad Regional Office (established in 2003). She takes an active interest in training and educating architects and interior designers and contributes by way of teaching at workshops and delivering lectures and seminars in India as well as internationally. Patel counts several people as her role models, one of them being her own mother, who she describes as a quietly strong personality, with a modern outlook and an incredibly positive sense of mind. She has encouraged Patel to do things she herself could not and has taught her to look for a

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positive side in everything. Patel prides herself on being her father’s daughter and has developed several design sensibilities from him. After the birth of her son, she admits to being a bit worried about the future of her career. But due to the support of her mother and her husband, she has been able to successfully balance both. Patel strives to create spaces that provide an experience and hence maintains a careful balance between the client’s necessities and her own architectural ‘rules’. While designing, she weaves her own experiences into each creation, making for characteristic output. Her involvement with classical dance has considerably influenced her sense of aesthetics and approach to design.

Canna Patel projects Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, Ahmedabad, 2007 The client is a renowned jeweller in the city who often entertains business clients at home. The brief for the project was to create a space that would cater to this without compromising the family’s need for privacy. Thus, a design was developed to construct two closely linked structures within the plot. House-1 serves as the day house and fulfils the purpose of living and socializing. The main kitchen, formal living, dining area, guest rooms and a gym have been incorporated within it. House-2 is suited for after-dark hours, an informal, unwinding space for the family. Bedrooms, a living room, a bar with a pantry, a study and a library are a part of this house. Connecting spaces have been clad with a blend of river-finished and polished granite to break the plastered look of the house. These tower elements bring in light and add height to the structure, thus changing the facade. A swimming pool has been attached to House-2. A short paved walkway connects the two houses. The client is passionate about gardening, and thus large openings were used to connect the inside to the outside. ‘For me, the green environs proved to be an absolutely exhilarating part of the project. The area is covered with old, mature trees and it was exciting to build the houses in harmony with the existing landscape,’ says Patel. Since both houses cater to different requirements, the treatment of interiors too was different. However, continuity was achieved through materials, furniture design and a harmonious colour palette. It was a conscious decision to adhere to a stark white colour scheme in all the bathrooms of both the houses. The end result is a modern, elegant home whose interiors are subtle yet vibrant, effectively fulfilling the needs of its residents yet at peace with its surroundings.

Plate 23.2  Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, site plan Drawing courtesy of Canna Patel

Plate 23.3  Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, elevation Drawing courtesy of Canna Patel

Plate 23.4  Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, nestled within the existing landscape Photo courtesy of Canna Patel

Plate 23.5  Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, combining dining and sitting spaces Photo courtesy of Canna Patel

Plate 23.6  Manubhai Zaveri’s Residence, outdoor living areas Photo courtesy of Canna Patel

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Alliance Francaise, Ahmedabad, 2013 The client’s brief for the Alliance Francaise Centre in Ahmedabad primarily dealt with a number of different activities. These include hosting art exhibitions, providing French-language classes and resources as well as hosting lectures, cultural events such as such as music, film and theatre. This objective was rendered quite challenging given the fairly restricted amount of land available. The architect’s aim was to design the building as a cultural as well as academic centre, by giving inbuilt flexibility for multipurpose spaces. The academic centre includes a cluster of classrooms arrayed around an open area designed to feel like an open-air balcony: the idea was to provide a

Plate 23.7  Alliance Francaise, ground floor plan Drawing courtesy of Canna Patel

Plate 23.8  Alliance Francaise, the glass facade in the north Photo courtesy of Canna Patel

Plate 23.9  Alliance Francaise, the attractive double-height entry Photo courtesy of Canna Patel

Plate 23.10  Alliance Francaise, the bold use of the red grabs the attention of the viewers

Photo courtesy of Canna Patel

Plate 23.11  Alliance Francaise, a green screen that protects from the sun

Photo courtesy of Canna Patel

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common space for the students to hang out between classes. The library and the area designated for French conversational classes together also double up as a more formal space. The cultural centre element of Alliance Francaise is located on the ground floor, which includes an entrance foyer, a multipurpose space for shows and exhibitions and a centrally visible cafe adjoined to a small shady garden. The mass of the building is done in a manner that reflects the environment as well as site context. An extensive amount of front openings with glass makes up the north facade of the building, which enhances the interior spaces with plenty of natural light. The south facade faces a residential building. To shield the view, a four-storeyed green metal screen is raised, which acts as trellis for creepers. This will have the additional benefit of cutting out the harsh sunlight in summer by rendering the inner spaces a lot cooler. The occupants of the residential building will also have the benefit of enjoying a vertical garden. In short, Alliance Francaise is a modern building designed by keeping its uses and site condition in mind. It is a building that can play many difficult roles comfortably and yet stand out on its own.

24 Chitra Vishwanath (1962–)

Plate 24.1  Chitra Vishwanath Photo courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

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Born in Banares, to a sculptor father and a talented homemaker mother, Chitra Vishwanath

(née Krishnan) belongs to a Tamil Brahmin family. Her father, a teacher at Banares Hindu University, had gone for his master’s in sculpture at the University of Oregon in the United States in 1967. It is here that he came to know about architecture and design and was much swayed by the possibilities. He therefore decided that his daughter should study in one of these fields.

So when Vishwanath was growing up, he used to show her state-of-the-art architectural projects in old SPAN magazines. He also happened to read an article about the School of Architecture at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, and decided that it was the best place for her to go to. After Vishwanath completed her tenth standard in 1977, her father went on an UNDP assignment to Nigeria. Vishwanath was able to join a course in civil engineering diploma. This was high-quality education, and it helped her realize the potential of architecture as a career choice. Eventually, Vishwanath joined the School of Architecture at CEPT in 1982. CEPT campus was an overall positive experience for her, including the bonhomie and discussions at the canteen and working nights during submissions. CEPT gave her the chance to explore a wide range of ideas besides interacting with a fascinating mix of people. Vishwanath trained with architect Sarto in Goa and also worked with Gautam Bhatia for six months after graduation. In 1989, Chitra married S. Vishwanath, an engineer from the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore, whom she had met in Ahmedabad in 1985 while he was at the School of Planning in CEPT. After working on a job for a year, Vishwanath started her own practice in Bengaluru in 1990 with the help of her husband. It was tough to keep the practice going initially. Vishwanath’s engineer in-laws greatly supported their endeavour and struggle. Her own engineering education helped when structures were needed to be detailed. Luckily at that time the government was promoting alternative low-cost housing, which was her passion. The middle class had just started building in Bengaluru, and such clients helped her establish. Though they are not a typical husband–wife architect team, Chitra has garnered a lot from S. Vishwanath over the years. The Vishwanaths decided to design and build their own house in 1995, a house that is a live laboratory where experiments of sustainability and aesthetics continue to take place, dealing with material use, micro-climates, biodiversity, water recycling, natural ventilation, rainwater harvesting and making fertilizer from waste. These new ideas are later used in the projects commissioned by clients. Initially, Vishwanath began working exclusively on ecological and cost- effective solutions. In 2008, when she felt her practice had grown beyond her, she integrated the Rainwater Club (a group of water management experts) in order to become a broader-based organization called Biome, which includes sustainable water designs. Rainwater Club was set up by S. Vishwanath, to engage with people who are keen to work on sustainable water and sanitation solutions/ issues. Thus, Vishwanath’s practice is interdisciplinary and the design evolves in an integrated manner. The philosophy is to employ local and site-based resources in an optimized way. She also plans buildings considering the orientation, landscaping and passive and active natural elements in order to minimize external energy-consuming devices. In the past 20 years, Biome has executed nearly 600 projects of all scales. In the fast-growing city of Bengaluru, it has been her persistence and firm belief that mud is possible in urban settings that has seen much success. When Vishwanath set up her firm, sustainable design was practised by a handful of architects in the country, most of them working in the field of low-cost housing or for rich and affluent clients with a whim. Vishwanath believed that sustainability should be a household issue and should

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reach the urban masses. She worked within the constraints of local planning and policy issues, expensive real estate values and the shortage of skilled labour for earth construction in the city. Her work has changed the notions of lifestyle of city dwellers as these principles have gained a wider acceptance on a day-to-day basis. To implement her experimental design ideas, it was imperative for her to work with the contractors as a team member and not as a diva, insisting that they be treated in a rightful manner. She takes no financial kickbacks from contractors. For the past 18 years, Vishwanath has worked with the same team of engineers, even retaining the same masons from her very first projects. She has often had recurring clients, for which she gives credit to her young and energetic office team. She has made senior members in the office shareholders, who see themselves as driving the future. For Vishwanath, mud is a major component since it is well suited for local conditions, is relatively labour intensive and is locally available. Earth – in the form of compressed stabilized blocks and rammed earth – is used for load-bearing structures, arches, vaults and domes. Also alternative systems and energies are used: waste water treatment system, grey water recycling system, rainwater harvesting and solar and wind energy generation system. They are designed and integrated to complete buildings as sustainable systems.1 She has also been instrumental in training and encouraging workers all around India and abroad in adopting these construction techniques. Her work has always been an open source for others to adopt. The philosophies and methods of Laurie Baker, the Indian Institute of Science and its innovations in mud construction and the experiments at Auroville have been her teachers. Vishwanath was also shortlisted for the Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize in 2012. Vishwanath considers herself a mainstream, urban architect for middle-class clients. She credits her success to hard work, curiosity, creativity, good interpersonal skills and family support. For her, maintaining relationships has been very important while building a team spirit. She works very closely with her clients and has patience for a detailed dialogue. It is an extremely ethical practice and the clients know where the money is going. Vishwanath has one son who grew up by being on the site with her since he was three months old or was looked after by his grandparents. Vishwanath feels males generally have a mountain of an ego. Her message to young women studying architecture is to marry an open-minded person. Equally important is to respond to the demands of the times, to be flexible enough for the social and economical environment and to seek mentoring. She believes it is important to maintain a good network within the professional and academic community. Vishwanath has always been encouraging women in the design and construction industry. This is reflected not only in her employees but also by her attitude towards women workers on site where jobs are dominated by men. However, if an architect is sensitive, opportunities for women in on-site construction roles also exist. Vishwanath recognized this fairly early in her career, which has led to a build-up of an on-site and off-site equal opportunities team. What is exceptional in this framework is that these women further mentor others who come to the city looking for jobs.

Chitra Vishwanath projects Our Native Village, Hesserghatta, Bengaluru, 2006 Located in Hesserghatta, Bengaluru, the resort is built on a three-acre site, which is part of a larger farm dedicated to organic farming. The idea behind an eco-resort is to provide customers a

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calm place with conventional comforts but built on ecological principles to give the commercial venture some rationality. The architect joined hands with a consultancy firm from Austria to do the initial planning. Each room, space and opening has been strategically positioned to maximize the passive use of elements and natural light. Space is translated to harmonize with land and with the purpose it is to serve. At Hesserghatta, the idea has been to conserve the vastness and openness of the land and translate it into the kinesthetic of the campus. The sanitary water is treated through a twin leach pit wherein after the anaerobic hygenization process, the remaining solid is collected and used for farming. The rainwater from the roof is collected and used for cooking and drinking needs. The site run-off water is directed to do deep water recharge in the proximity of bore wells. Being an important commercial element, the swimming pool has been made in an unconventional way. Using the oxygenating quality of plants, cleaning quality of microorganisms and the presence of local birds, frogs and dragonflies, it is possible to re-create a complete ecosystem functioning on its own like a healthy lake. The resort has been designed to use very little energy for operation through a hybrid system that uses sun, wind and biogas as resources. Cross-ventilation, natural light and wide semi-open spaces have been used to keep running energy low. Solar photo-voltaic panels account for approximately 42% of the source and aero-generators account for 22%, and the rest is produced by the biogas generator. The same biogas plant that supplies

Plate 24.2  Our Native Village, site plan Drawing courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Plate 24.3  Our Native Village, main building plan Drawing courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Plate 24.4  Our Native Village, bedroom Photo courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Plate 24.5  Our Native Village, the courtyard Photo courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Plate 24.6  Our Native Village, the bio-pool Photo courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Chitra Vishwanath   |  263 

gas for the generator diverts a certain amount to the kitchen. Water is heated using a solar water heater hybrid with a Gujarat boiler.

Forysth Lodge, Satpuda, 2008 The lodge is situated in 40 acres of land next to Tawa reservoir. It was decided to leave most of the land to regenerate and become a habitat for small animals. This allows the team of naturalists to take the residents in the night to see these otherwise elusive and difficult-to-see animals. Wild grass seeds were sourced and planted. The planning area for the resort building was around three acres. Small detached cottages, a service area with kitchen, lounges, dining and bar, facilities for staying for the managers and staff were also planned. The raison d’être of this project was the construction methods adopted. The cottages were made from cob and mud sourced from the swimming pool digging. This soil was mixed with a bit of sand and chopped wheat straw. The expertise of locals was used in this construction, and women of the village finished the same with a cow dung plaster locally called ‘Lepai’. These women are in the payroll of the lodge and do the maintenance of the wall during the lean period. The facility building was constructed with rammed earth in the ground floor and local fired bricks on the first floor.

Plate 24.7  Our Native Village, details of the porch Photo courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Plate 24.8  Forysth Lodge, site plan Drawing courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Plate 24.9  Forysth Lodge, elevation Drawing courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Plate 24.10  Forysth Lodge, cottage cluster

Photo courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

Plate 24.11  Forysth Lodge, room and verandah in the evening

Photo courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

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Plate 24.12  Forysth Lodge, interior of cottage

Photo courtesy of Chitra Vishwanath

The idea of using two different technologies was to impart new construction techniques to the local workers. Cob was an indigenous construction method, and the only improvement made was to provide for higher plinth and better roof projection. The rammed earth showed them that heavy RCC floors and larger spans are possible in a mud construction too. The waste water treatment systems are of two types: 1. reed bed and polishing pond system for grey water and twin leach pits for each individual cottage and 2. wetland with baffle reactor for the facilities. Forsyth Lodge is the brainchild of Mr Hashim Tyabji.

Note 1 ‘Chitra Vishwanath Architects’, The write-up is based on the material provided by Chitra's office. http://www.earth-auroville.com/maintenance/uploaded_pics/03b-chitra-vishwanath.pdf, accessed in May 2015.

25 Shimul Javeri Kadri (1962–)

Plate 25.1  Shimul Javeri Kadri Photo courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

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Shimul Javeri Kadri decided she wanted to be an architect when she was only 13 years old. She

belonged to a family of professionals living in Mumbai, being the youngest of three sisters. Her father was a chartered accountant and mother was a practising gynaecologist. One of her older sisters is a medical doctor and the other a chartered accountant. Shimul Javeri’s father did not think very highly of the profession of architecture and tried to persuade her to take up medicine as she was an excellent student in high school. In fact, Javeri Kadri was a topper in the 12th standard. She was rebellious by nature and was determined to explore architecture. She believed that its combination of science and arts was a great option and a challenge. When Javeri Kadri graduated from high school in 1980, she got admission in medicine, engineering and architecture due to her high grades. But she chose to join the Academy of Architecture in Mumbai. The first three years were invigorating and stimulating, but during the last two years, the course dragged on for Javeri Kadri. Through the college years, Kahn and Corbusier, Doshi and Correa were big figures and Bauhaus was venerated. Bawa and Laurie Baker were also making a big dent in the students’ perspective. Vernacular was becoming a very important word. Over the years, Javeri Kadri has been able to synthesize these varied influences, even though she was critical about the masters at times. She felt demotivated and isolated and could not decide whom to work for after graduating from the academy. In Mumbai, at that time, she used to meet Pravina Mehta (profiled in Part III in this book) off and on, and she was impressed by her charisma and her wonderfully aesthetic and energetic mind. Pravina had a deep understanding of religion and Hindu philosophy. Javeri Kadri worked with her for five months in 1985. She went to the United States in 1986, where she joined the master’s course in architecture at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. There Javeri Kadri had two fabulous years of learning that resurrected her life. She dabbled with Marxist economics and Buddhist studies for instance and crossed many disciplinary boundaries. She also completed a master’s course in urban planning at Ann Arbor while assistance teaching a course in women’s studies. Shimul had met her future husband Rahul Kadri in Mumbai at the Academy of Architecture. They both moved to Berkeley, California, when Rahul wanted to work with Christopher Alexander and Javeri Kadri was employed with a small firm in Emeryville. After travelling through Central America, they returned to India in 1989 and got married in 1990. Initially, Javeri Kadri found it difficult adjusting to life in India, with its veiled hierarchies in family as well as at workplaces. She attempted to work in organizations such as CIDCO and MAHDA but found that the salaries were rather limited. Fiercely independent by nature, Javeri Kadri decided not to join the thriving practice of her father-in-law ‘Kadri Consultants’, where Rahul became a partner. She chose to have her own small office with modest residential and interior projects, using them as stepping stones. The first 10 to 15 years were hard for Javeri Kadri, especially when she had to juggle bringing up two children and a new practice. She has climbed ladders and roofs when she was pregnant and breastfed her babies at factory and bungalow sites. She does not have any role model, but unique and interesting virtues in different individuals inspire her, irrespective of the gender. She learnt a lot from Pravina Mehta, even though her age and the context of her practice were rather

Shimul Javeri Kadri  |  269 

different. Feminism is an important lens through which she views the world, feeling quite comfortable to call herself a feminist. She says, Feminism is the most misunderstood word in the dictionary. It is not about bra-burning and chest thumping, but it is about valuing the natural characteristics of being nurturing and sustainable – in practice as well as in life. These values have been severely undervalued in the material world today.

At the moment, Javeri Kadri has a small but reputed firm with about 15 people, all highly committed women with a few men. The firm designs factories, schools, corporate office buildings and residences, with the office gradually moving towards larger public projects such as galleries, museums, hotels and tourist centres. Slowly the trust of clients has built up in her practice, and many of them often come back with proposals to design more complex projects, ranging from interior design to institutions. As an office, they enjoy the versatility of design at all levels, from the nuts and bolts of a high-end retail shop to a hospitality facility where every piece of furniture is designed to support the conceptual ideology. Her interiors have an unusual sensual quality and a sense of drawing from the traditional essence to transfer it into the contemporary needs and image. She carefully uses wood and stone as natural materials and has a range of colours to create an ambiance needed for the function. Each architectural project responds to site conditions and reflects the clients’ lifestyle. Her office responds to two clients – the client who commissioned it and the society at large (within which the project sits), which could be the locality, the city, the multiple users or even the onlookers. Architecture fascinates Javeri Kadri because it addresses all the larger issues of life. As a practice she avoids gimmicky and bombastic architectural statements. Her signature is the quality of light and space she creates in her buildings, their connectedness to nature, the outdoors and the ecological principles that are followed so that the architecture sits lightly on the earth both figuratively and literally. The design also strives to be people-centric and imbibes the unique culture of the context of the situation. Javeri Kadri believes that being a woman has influenced these aspects in her practice. Her designs are rooted in the earth, where they use the sun, the wind and every natural element to their advantage in order to create harmony, happiness and beauty. The innovations in modernist vocabulary often draw from Indian traditions and spiritual metaphors. Javeri Kadri believes that the most mundane function has an architectural solution that connects human beings to nature, and reflects and promotes the best in them. She creates micro-climates through landscape design and use of small water bodies that, add a sense of aesthetics. Simplicity is built into the designs by employing clean lines in the spatial organization as well as volumetric development. At the same time, richness is achieved through play of volumes and use of natural materials like stone and wood in addition to careful detailing. One can see sensitive use of courtyards to match the scale of the buildings and effortless overlays of inside and outside along with intimate personal spaces and humane ambiance. The practice has designed in the smaller towns and cities of India as well as the large metropolises. In doing so, it strives to create an architecture that is culturally and ecologically relevant to the diversity and depth of India.

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Shimul Javeri Kadri projects Synergy Lifestyles, Karur, Tamil Nadu, 2006 This factory for a home textile company is located in a hot dry town in Tamil Nadu called Karur. Synergy Lifestyles wanted a comfortable building for their factory workers. The architect

Plate 25.2  Synergy Lifestyles, plan Drawing courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Plate 25.3  Synergy Lifestyles, section Drawing courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Plate 25.4  Synergy Lifestyles, stone gable wall Photo courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Plate 25.5  Synergy Lifestyles, the lunch area Photo courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

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conceptualized a cocoon which would protect the micro-environment within from the harsh environmental conditions outside like the heat and glare, and help derive a basic architectural shell structure that would be a joy to work in. After studying the local architecture and climate, a building was developed linked with different scaled courtyards and passive energy-saving building technologies. The little town had an interesting history of gable walls, a local stone quarry and many other traditions of

Plate 25.6  Synergy Lifestyles, terracota vaulted roof Photo courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Shimul Javeri Kadri  |  273 

country-wood joinery for doors and an entire village that specializes in metal hardware for locks and hinges. The entire building has been cocooned in 18-inch-thick random rubble masonry walls which, being a good insulator of heat, helped in cordoning off excessive heat and had an added advantage of not requiring any plaster or paint over the exterior surface. It also had a vaulted roof over clear storey that allowed shaded north–south light. The roof was built using hollow terracotta blocks which were fitted within a grid of precast RCC ribs, spanning between semicircular beams of steel. A thin cement screen with a china mosaic finish over it completed the roof construction, making it economical and lightweight while reducing heat gain. Several courtyards on the west provide a vegetation buffer against the heat. The winds also come from this direction filtered by the plants and trees. The attempt has been to build locally for a global context, using local materials, labour and technology. Thus, the building is very much part of a global market, functionally and aesthetically. However, the architect’s ultimate payback was when the client informed that their production increased twofold.

Nirvana Films Office, Bengaluru, 2011 Nirvana is an office space for an ad film production company – one ‘that thinks out of the box’. Its workspace is based on the thought that the connection of synapses creates ideas, not privacy or isolation. The ‘box’ for Nirvana emerged out of a small corner plot in the heart of the busy neighbourhood of Indiranagar in Bengaluru. Optimizing space, site setbacks and allowable FSI for a commercial project are given, in gaining 8,000 square feet of built-up area on a site that is 3,000 square feet. The resulting urban typology overturns all norms – using almost no electricity for light or ventilation. The core of this box is the north–south connector staircase that slices through the building with a huge skylight above, suffusing it with sunlight and natural ventilation much like a courtyard would in another typology. The divisions of work and non-work, outside and inside, are obliterated by the presence of the staircase core. The facade further facilitates the connections to the outside with the solid glass and openable acrylic louvres. Thus, the louvres – opaque and solid – open in unison to allow the breeze in, modulating light, wind and rain. The notions of wall (transparent and open) and window (solid) are interchanged, leading to a dynamic facade. These louvres, built of 100% acrylic solid surface sheets, were customized and used as an exterior element for the first time in India. The staircase core needed a permeable flexible device to allow light and ventilation and yet block out rain and peering neighbours. This 18-inch-high wood and clear acrylic jali is actually a set of 6-inch-wide louvres interlocked with each other, capable of moving in unison and opening

Plate 25.7  Nirvana Films Office, site plan Drawing courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Plate 25.8  Nirvana Films Office, plan at second level Drawing courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Plate 25.9  Nirvana Films Office, view from the common lobby Photo courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Plate 25.10  Nirvana Films Office, staircase

Photo courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Shimul Javeri Kadri  |  277 

to ventilate the stairway. The solid black bathrooms, the only space that demands privacy, were created to contrast the suffused light quality. The studied lightness of structure and material (no use of beams and use of wood, concrete and glass) produces a building where light and shadow interplay. A contemporary building that ignores any ‘isms’ and stands for innovation, sustainability and pluralism.

Plate 25.11  Nirvana Films Office, west elevation

Drawing courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

Plate 25.12  Nirvana Films Office, south elevation

Photo courtesy of Shimul Javeri Kadri

26 Samira Rathod (1963–)

Plate 26.1  Samira Rathod Photo courtesy of Samira Rathod

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To trace the journey of Samira Rathod (née Mehta) from an uninterested student of architec-

ture at Sir J. J. College of Architecture, an eager graduate at the University of Illinois, Urbana– Champaign, to her growth as a fiercely ardent professional is certainly an interesting one. Defying her father’s initial desire of taking up medicine, she found herself rather impassive at Sir J. J. in Mumbai back in 1981. Three years into the course, her interest in architecture was reinstated with the patient guidance of architect Uday Master, under whom she was made an apprentice by her father. In her final year, Prof. Chandavarkar further fuelled her involvement in architecture, encouraging her to do a thesis that she enjoyed immensely. Nevertheless, her aspirations as a student were a far cry from the fervour and zeal her work expresses today. A broken engagement lent Rathod an opportunity to travel to the United States, where she found her true passion in the world of design. She acquired a master’s degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1987, the university experience lending her confidence, maturity and a new sense of independence. On returning to India, she worked in the office of Ratan J. Batliboy from 1991 to 1995. During this time, she made her mark in the realm of furniture design through the exhibition ‘Both Feet on the Ground’. She went on to be one of three partners at RLC Architects in 1996. In 1999, Rathod staged a solo show of contemporary furniture ‘Liasons des Formes’, developing an avant-garde portfolio of furniture, before founding Samira Rathod Design Associates (SRDA) in 2000. A career built on strong design principles, managing her individual practice along with her two children was only possible with the continuous support of her husband, Kirti Rathod, and other family members. Rathod’s first project itself was a breakthrough. Designing a farmhouse in Karjat for a friend, Rathod took single-handed decisions with her three-year-old daughter, an older son, a maid and a driver in tow. It was then that she sharpened her technical knowledge through hands-on collaborations with carpenters and other craftsmen. The appreciation the project won was a clear reflection of her enthusiasm and dedication towards design aesthetics. More than a decade later, SRDA today has carved a niche for itself. The firm is known within the fraternity to work as a versatile studio with projects ranging from product design to largescale corporate environments in architecture, interior and furniture design. Quirky and tectonic, Rathod’s work displays a wonderful sense of materiality and craftsmanship, a rare quality that has won her many accolades, awards and recognition in various national and international publications. In 2011, her design ‘The In-between’, a sensitive take on a hybrid programme in Noida, was shortlisted among the winning entries at the SPIRETEC International Design Competition. At SRDA every project is treated with fervour for exploration and innovation of ideas, and is tested for relevance to physical and social contexts. Influenced by postmodern and, at times, deconstruction theories, she creates state-of-the-art designs with bold, sensual and unconventional ideas. She believes in using drawings and models extensively as tools for design, enhancing spatial experiences through the filtering of light and play of volumes. At SRDA, traditional craft is seen not as an embellishment but as a methodology of composition in materials and form. Known for a diverse material palette, she finds delight in detailing by accentuating the inconspicuous.

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Rathod struggles to find a deeper understanding of the regional context as she attempts to evolve Indian contemporary aesthetics. Her buildings have apparently informal compositions characterized by a play with the opaque and translucent surfaces in the form of the building skin as well as inner walls by using stone, glass, steel and aluminium. Thus, she strives for an architecture that is fluid, sophisticated and challenging. Rathod’s design philosophy is centred around a response to site and careful understanding of the clients’ needs, leading to an intuitive expression of the built environment. The acronym BLIRS, B – beautiful, L – local, I – indigenous, R – recycle, S – small, sums up Rathod’s take on the notion of sustainability and, consequently, the philosophy of the firm. And it is through this architecture of BLIRS that she looks at human aspirations, desire and context, consciously paying more attention to the process of design. She attempts to run her office not as an industry but more as a studio, integrating academics within the practice. Multi-talented and rebellious, Rathod is in constant search for new challenges. She was a columnist for a year for the magazine Design Today, and since 2008 she has been the co-editor of SPADE, a biannual architectural journal that deliberates design in India. It began as an offshoot of Samira Rathod Design Associates as a non-commercial venture, but today enjoys support from various multinationals. She feels that one is so often trapped in pursuits of worldly comforts and a meaningful expense of time that the significance of the leisurely vagabond daydreamer is little realized. Indulgence in unyielding experimentation of ideas, not necessarily propelled by needs, is often labelled esoteric and a waste. Time and again, she says, history has proved that thinking alone leads to innovation, and new paths in instilling living ideologies and even philosophies of times. It is with such a premise that SIRCLE, Spade India Research Cell, an offshoot of SPADE India, has emerged. SIRCLE today supports studies and explorations in ideas that influence design thinking. Teaching plays a huge role in her life as she feels that it makes her a free thinker. She has taught as visiting faculty at KRVIA, Mumbai, for architectural and landscape design from 2004 to 2011. Rathod now wishes to bridge the chasm between academia and practice by founding The Spade School, a space where a finer understanding of holistic architecture will be developed. A person of principles, she is conscientious towards how labour is treated by the clients. A strict disciplinarian, she moulds young designers in her practice to be honest and forthright in their approach to design and also to the profession. Though she is all for equal rights of men and women, Rathod does not quite support the idea of feminism within the field. She finds that in most instances, one gets subsidized attention under its label. She strongly feels that women should not demand any concessions based on their gender. Rathod has found an indirect impact of the women’s movement in India on her personality and growth. When asked how she manages work–life balance, she is of the view that it is not a work versus life situation at all. ‘It is what it is: it is how you look at it.’ She was oblivious to the duties of a woman, which to her was a blessing. However, over the years of her practice she has observed that men are more rational and pragmatic while women are sensuous and more involved with context and details. Passionate and committed to her architectural practice, Rathod dreams of heading a school to empower the youth in the near future.

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Sameera Rathod projects Mariwalla House, Alibaug, 2006 The farmhouse – located in Alibaug near Mumbai on a four-acre property – was designed for a couple. It is a play of forms and is a further evolution of previously designed houses in terms of spatial narrative and material semantic.

Plate 26.2  Mariwalla House, master plan Drawing courtesy of Samira Rathod

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Plate 26.3  Mariwalla House, panoramic view Photo courtesy of Samira Rathod

Plate 26.4  Mariwalla House, from the lawns Photo courtesy of Samira Rathod

The Mariwallas are a couple in their late sixties, who have found a new life in togetherness and companionship. The house makes an attempt to translate this vibe of a newly founded love, exultation and celebration. The architecture metaphors a certain kind of zaniness, an undaunting madness, that is in the emancipation of a long-felt unexpressed emotion. Designed as three forms connected by a spine, each represents a different mood. The house exudes a sense of frivolity and fun in a coherent manner in which the three incongruous forms, each with a definite and different concept, are amalgamated to form the living spaces in a bold and intuitive design approach. The clients had an image of a ‘dream house’, which was achieved with the help of the architect. Influenced by Frank Gehry on this project, the architect had a way of dealing with the materiality of the building and the unconventional shattering of the form.

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Plate 26.5  Mariwalla House, interior bedroom Photo courtesy of Samira Rathod

Plate 26.6  Mariwalla House, the pool Photo courtesy of Samira Rathod

Three incoherent industrial-looking objects are strung together along an unapparent spine to create a spatial narrative that essentially strives to be unassuming, in spite of its large vistas and constant dialogue with the outside. An uninhibited palette of industrial materials such as aluminium, mild steel, glass, stone and fabric adorn this medley that is truly contextual in all its nuances of being. Not a single tree was cut on site, which offers views of mountains all around.

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Broacha House, Alibaug, 2009 The weekend home in Alibaug is designed as one that has a playful and flirtatious form, and flaunts reason and logic. A series of outdoor rooms exploit the expansive and dynamic natural

Plate 26.7  Broacha House, plan Drawing courtesy of Samira Rathod

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Plate 26.8  Broacha House, elevations Drawing courtesy of Samira Rathod

landscape. Since the clients were working in Bollywood – she a photographer and he an actor – the architect decided to use the metaphor of a camera and attempted to create a cinema set-like ambience. The original idea was flamboyant. However, due to budget constraints, the design became increasingly sparse. In hindsight, this was the project’s saving grace, and, as it stands, the architect and client have succeeded in resolving the design with control and restraint, without losing any of the original ambition. It has an apparent temporal quality like a stage set, ‘where one gets a sense that everything is going to move and shift and change. Nothing looks like it is here to stay, and the whole house is in limbo’. Incoherent and inconsistent with purpose, the house is derived from the form of a camera a film set and exaggerated scales like an illogical melodrama that is characteristic of Bollywood scripts. A fragmented composition with influence of deconstruction style, the house is unique from inside as well as outside. The architect designed the house as a series of outdoor rooms that exploit the region’s cool breeze to reduce reliance on air conditioning and thus cut down on energy consumption with the bedrooms and studio above. The house feels more like an informal camp, centred around an external living area that sits beneath the generous cement board canopy. This open, sheltered space forms the heart of the house, welcoming guests and linking kitchen and dining spaces. Moreover, the colour palette is neutral, and a major connection to the outdoors is brought about a long verandah next to the swimming pool, covered by a huge sloping roof. Free and animated, it is less about formal composition and more about spatial freedom – which is the antithesis of life in Mumbai. The client intends on eventually farming the land.

Plate 26.9  Broacha House, external view Photo courtesy of Samira Rathod

Plate 26.10  Broacha House, interior view

Photo courtesy of Samira Rathod

Plate 26.11  Broacha House, sit-out with a sloping roof

Photo courtesy of Samira Rathod

27 Pratima Joshi (1964–)

Plate 27.1  Pratima Joshi Photo courtesy of Pratima Joshi

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The career narrative of Pratima Joshi is rather different from many women profiled here. She has

trodden on a less-travelled path and has made an enormous difference in many lives. Her organization has led several community-based projects where the users have been fully involved. Her aim has been to work towards the recognition of slum dwellers as legitimate city residents with rights to basic public services and housing. Her organization generates and analyses information on slum demography by mobilizing the slum youth to collect data. She pioneered the use of geographical information system (GIS) technology for mapping poverty in a creative and innovative manner. Born in a progressive Kokanasth Maharastrian Brahmin family, also with a last name Joshi, in Chennai, Joshi had a happy childhood with two brothers. Her father is a metallurgical engineer and her mother a homemaker. Her mother is rather academically inclined with extensive interest and capacity to lead in cultural events. She has a visharad (equivalent to a master's) degree in classical music and has conducted Marathi plays in Chennai on Maharastrian reformers like Ramabai Ranade, Anandibai Joshi and Karve. Her mother still goes regularly to the gym for a workout and has set an example of perseverance and time management for Joshi. While she was studying in a convent school in Chennai, Joshi took an active interest in sports, especially athletics, dramatics, music and elocution. She also regularly performed under Hindustani light vocal section of Air India Radio. She was not a tomboy but had only boy cousins to hang out with. Actually, it was Joshi’s mother who went and got an admission form for architecture for Joshi from the Anna University in Chennai.

Joshi found architecture to be a good combination of the arts and sciences when she joined the course in 1981. Out of 19 students in her class, six were girls. Though Joshi enjoyed the five years of her studies, she found the large studio projects rather unrealistic. Two important personalities during her college sowed the seeds of her alternative work trajectory. The first one was her climatology teacher, a visiting professor from Britain called Michael Slingsby, a sensitive human being. Michael was involved in ‘Sites-and-Services’ projects supported by the World Bank. When Joshi visited the projects, she was greatly impressed by the respect he drew from people, his personal concern for the labour and his simplicity and deep involvement. Another personality who formed an impression on her mind was Dr Chamanlal Gupta, an internationally known expert on renewable energy, under whose guidance she completed her dissertation in Pondicherry on ‘Looking at Passive Solar Concepts and Applying to Architecture’. After graduating in 1986, Joshi immediately went for further studies to the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, partially supported by an Aga Khan Scholarship. Her master’s course in building design for developing countries impressed upon her the need for using alternate energy and a more sustainable approach to the resources of the world, leading her away from mainstream architecture towards development issues. Joshi returned to Chennai in 1987 and had an arranged marriage with an electrical engineer of her caste in 1988, after which she moved to Pune. A daughter was born to them within a year. For the next four years, Joshi worked part-time in Christopher Benninger’s organization called Centre for Development Studies and Activities (CDSA) in Pune. In 1992, she left CDSA (while being pregnant with her second child), and a year later, she formed her own non-governmental

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organization (NGO) called Shelter Associates with two close and committed friends. They were funded for the first five to six years by another NGO called SPARC (The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres), run by Sheila Patel in Mumbai. The three bright individuals toiled very hard to work with slum dwellers in the area of cost-effective housing. They separated from SPARC in 2000, and over the years the two friends went their way, therefore for the last ten years Joshi is solely in charge. Shelter Associates has grown steadily in number and scope of meaningful work with strong support of some enlightened municipal leaders and funding from organizations such as the Tata Foundation, US AID, the World Bank and Cities Alliance. The organization now comprises architects, social workers, GIS experts, community workers and mostly foreign volunteers. It works with the urban poor, particularly women, in informal settlements to facilitate and provide technical support for community-managed housing (slum rehabilitation) and infrastructure projects, always partnering with Baandhani, an organization of women and men slum dwellers. Joshi believes that the poor have to be totally involved in the decision-making process. They have been successful with projects like smokeless chula and community and individual toilets, besides conducting educational and training workshops to impart lessons in health, hygiene and sanitation and to create employment generation initiatives. Joshi has realized that there is very poor information system on slums in the government, which results in mismatched data and disjointed ground reality for practice and policy issues. Therefore, they bought GIS software and after a year’s efforts tailored it for mapping poverty, user profile and spatial layouts for surveys to collate information about slums for an inclusive urban planning. Their research and documentation ranges from film documentaries, photographs and one-page flyers to in-depth analysis of settlements, including physical land use and socio-economic factors. Extensive primary research and accessible reporting heightens awareness of slum areas and their residents, and this, in turn, improves levels of participation and the sustainability of projects. The study material directly feeds into their work, and the information is also made available to stakeholders for planning projects and impacting policy. As a woman, Joshi has personally never experienced any discrimination. In her work, it has been an asset as she is able to strike a dialogue with women of the slum communities immediately. There are 60% women in her staff, as it is the poor women who are affected by the woes of water supply, sanitation and housing in any slum. Joshi is aware of the women’s movement in Maharashtra in particular and in India in general. She realizes that she could not have been where she is without the steps taken by the earlier generations. With two children, she has managed her responsibilities on both the fronts with the help of considerate in-laws and with incredible support from her husband who would get up in the middle of the night not only to change diapers but to prepare a snack for the children. She also credits her success to her sound upbringing and to parents who practised what they preached while valuing ethics and transparency. Her maternal uncle, Vasant Sathe, was one of her role models. Her father, who is a man of principles, has contributed to her organization when they faced the challenge of making sense of the enormous data collected. Joshi’s work is recognized internationally, but it has remained relatively unknown in Pune as well as in India. Her organization received the HUDCO award for best practice under sanitation category in 2015.

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Prathima Joshi projects Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, Pune, 1997–2004 The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) asked Shelter Associates to carry out detailed surveys of six slum pockets along the river. Kamgar Putala, one of the oldest slums in Pune, was the worst hit by floods in 1997. The only solution was for the people to move to a different area.

Plate 27.2  Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, panoramic view Photo courtesy of Pratima Joshi

Plate 27.3  Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, ground-floor plan Drawing courtesy of Pratima Joshi

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Plate 27.4  Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, first-floor plan Drawing courtesy of Pratima Joshi

One hundred and sixty families in this settlement became part of Baandhani (a federation of slum dwellers) as they struggled to resettle on an alternate site. As negotiations continued, Baandhani and Shelter Associates tried to improve the existing environment. When it was announced that the PMC would cover the expenses of making vermiculture pits in housing societies, Shelter Associates got this facility extended to slums as well. Vermiculture is an ideal way of dealing with garbage in slums as most of the garbage generated is wet garbage. Baandhani made the pit with PMC funds. After continuous efforts of Baandhani, the municipal commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad (2000) agreed to visit Kamgar Putala and listen to what the people had to say about moving. He visited the Shelter Associates office and saw tentative plans drawn up for them. The basic design was in modules of eight tenements: four on the ground and four on the first, clustered around a central courtyard with just one flight of stairs leading to the first floor. The courtyard was flanked asymmetrically by two small courtyards, which provided access to the individual tenements on the ground floor and the staircase. This design allowed plenty of sunlight and ventilation. It was

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Plate 27.5  Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, section Drawing courtesy of Pratima Joshi

Plate 27.6  Rehabilitation of Kamgar Putala, a decorated kitchen Photo courtesy of Pratima Joshi

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decided with the community that each house would have one big window and five concrete jalis or trellised openings. The community had voted for individual toilets, and this was incorporated in the design. By then HUDCO was willing to give loans and to handle the entire construction and management, finding this an extremely viable and interesting project. They identified relocation land in Hadapsar, and the project was completed in 2004.

Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, Dattawadi, 1999 In May 1996, during the first rains of the monsoon, the houses of Rajendranagar slum were demolished by the city authorities. In September 1998, families moved into their brand new community-constructed houses in a slum rehabilitation housing project in Dattawadi from their informal settlement.

Plate 27.7  Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, external view Photo courtesy of Pratima Joshi

Plate 27.8  Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, side view Photo courtesy of Pratima Joshi

Plate 27.9  Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, view of the internal courtyard

Photo courtesy of Pratima Joshi

Plate 27.10  Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, view of a house unit

Photo courtesy of Pratima Joshi

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Plate 27.11  Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum, view of a living space

Photo courtesy of Pratima Joshi

Shelter Associates and another NGO were the architects of the rehabilitation project and worked with the community of the Rajendranagar slum to provide them with new houses, essential services, sanitation and freedom from the threat of eviction on a site less than two kilometres from their slum. Shelter Associates envisioned the two-storey residential building to have sustainable impact on the quality of their lives in relation to health, hygiene, safety, employment, education and matrimonial options. The community took more responsibility for the cleanliness of their environment, especially the public areas. There were 12 toilets between the 50 resident families. This strategy was devised and adopted by the community to ensure that toilets remain clean and well maintained. All children, regardless of caste or religion, play in the central courtyard, which is a safe place constantly under supervision. This space has also encouraged a feeling of community spirit as no child is marginalized. All children now receive education, even the poorest among the lowest castes. Today, the situation has improved as more members of Rajendranagar community are now employed in the service sector. The youth also receive better education, hence have better employment opportunities. The rehabilitation scheme has had a positive impact on the quality of life of Rajendranagar community. All the residents have reported that, compared to the slum where they used to reside, their new homes are healthier and safer, and as a result, education, employment and marriage options have all increased.

28 Gurmeet Rai (1966–)

Plate 28.1  Gurmeet Rai Photo courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

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Born a Sikh in Punjab, religion is a critical part of Gurmeet Rai’s (née Sangha) identity. Belong-

ing to Gurdaspur, she was the second of five sisters in a rather conservative family with parents who had a feudal background. Hence, she perceived herself as a ‘small town girl’ in her teenage years. As a meek, ten-year-old girl studying in an all girls’ convent school, Rai was greatly influenced by the gutsy spirit of her female cousin who was an architect. It was this admiration that led her to join the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) in 1983, when the ratio was 15 girls to 20 boys. It was the craft of building that further attracted her to architecture. Joining CCA thus became a turning point in her life. At that time, Chandigarh was a conservative city where the social boundaries between girls and boys were clearly defined. Hence, Rai’s mother was initially anxious about the culture of CCA, but this later turned into admiration after Rai’s success in the field. Encouraged by Prof. Joshi, who used to teach her history of architecture, she chose her thesis topic in the field of architectural conservation. Prof. Nagia guided her in the thesis, and it became her lifelong profession and passion. Graduating from CCA in 1988 Rai worked with Ravi Sikri for one year, but the designing of modernist architecture did not interest her at all. The School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi, had begun the first master’s course in architectural conservation in the country in 1987. Rai joined that programme in 1989, where she met Prof. Nalini Thakur (also profiled in this book) for the first time. It was an intimate set-up with only two boys and three girls in her class. Both CCA and SPA have played a great role in shaping Rai’s career. In 1986, Gurmeet Rai met photographer Raghu Rai. Through that connection she began to meet artists, appreciated films and moved in a different kind of social circle. She got married to Raghu Rai, one of the most famous photographers in India, in 1989, and their first daughter was born in 1992, followed by the second in 1995. Between 1992 and 1995, Rai worked part-time for the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which proved to be a valuable experience as the process of documentation gave her a good exposure as well as a solid knowledge base. In 1996, Rai founded the Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative (CRCI) with other conservation architects to document, preserve and promote India’s cultural heritage and revitalize the community through various activities. Over the years CRCI has worked with a multidisciplinary team and has acquired experience and skills while developing practices and procedures for conservation at both micro and macro levels. It works both in rural and in urban areas with a focus on community participation to develop appropriate strategies for conservation. Rai’s team is almost entirely made up of women professionals. In the early years, CRCI generated work by creating documentation projects of historic and cultural significance. After establishing itself, it has been working in partnership with several local, national and global institutions like Archaeological Survey of India, INTACH, UNESCO and UNDP. Rai also serves as a member secretary of The Lime Centre and has won two UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards. Rai is totally committed to the discipline of architectural conservation as she strongly feels that ‘we should hold on to the collective memory of our past’. She is emotional about Punjab as she identifies with the land as well as the religion strongly. Thus, she has several conservation projects

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based there as she understands the cultural nuances, successfully restoring contested religious structures over the years. In her design approach, she seeks to address the ‘value’ of the historic fabric and intervene in a manner that the authenticity in material, construction technique, workmanship and aesthetics is preserved. The idea of cultural heritage has gradually grown to include diverse aspects of culture, thereby widening her scope of work and mainstreaming conservation. Rai believes that this field is an integral part of development and should not be perceived as a peripheral activity. From this standpoint, the strength of modernity in the Indian context can be harnessed on the basis of the heritage footprint of the geographical region or the context. Her approach recognizes the sensitivity and the complexity involved in understanding, conserving and interpreting cultural heritage, while stressing the process verses the product. It is Rai’s view that the legal framework for protection, conservation, preservation and restoration projects in India is rather archaic compared to other parts of the world. Government should not be encouraged to put these public assets out in the market without taking responsibility for the kind of plans they produce. A lot of cultural heritage projects often end up in court because it is related to land and property. She has herself had to fight several court cases while intending to conserve a monument. She believes that when the private sector is generating a large amount of money and has a lot to invest in public assets in a fast-globalizing society, potential public–private partnerships (PPPs) should be looked at. However, India lacks a policy in this respect, and the instruments of planning and of equity are not being adequately developed. Here the government needs to make a list of monuments and grade them to lay down principles that guide planning as well as the kind of interventions that are permissible for PPPs.1 Rai’s passion and commitment to the field of architectural conservation has led her to undergo training in the United States, the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. She has also travelled extensively on international delegations. She sees no difference between activism and practice as she fights for the preservation of heritage structures. She strongly feels that in general in India the process of conservation of buildings is carried out rashly, without adequate thought, proper planning or an examination of long-term sustainability. Government processes do not allow for public consultation and are totally inflexible.2 She is aware of the difference between her setting and the corporate setting, in other words Delhi/Punjab versus more progressive Mumbai and the difference in challenges this situation poses. Rai feels much empowered as a woman in the field of conservation. She believes that this field is about caring and nurturing feelings which is a woman’s forte, including having a minimal ego. Women are also more tuned into the joy of documentation rather than always aiming for profit. She acknowledges that success is difficult for women in architecture, as they generally resist corrupt practices and also face difficulties in deploying the requisite social skills necessary for keeping potential clients. But if women can demand their own space, they will certainly grow. As a woman coming from the small community of Jat Sikhs, Rai has been unusually successful through perseverance and hard work, including dealing with the male-dominated authorities that manage public properties including cultural heritage. Today, Rai dreams of being effective in policy making at the state and national levels.

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Gurmeet Rai projects Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, Amritsar, 2008–2010 In 2006, as part of the development of Amritsar as an ‘integrated tourism destination’, conservation work of two of the historic structures in Gobindgarh Fort – bungalow on Sikh plinth and the

Plate 28.2  Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, city plan Drawing courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

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Plate 28.3  Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, plan Drawing courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

Chloronome House – started. The Punjab government recognized the need for a comprehensive conservation/revitalization plan and Rai’s firm CRCI won the contract to prepare a conservation, reuse and management plan for the fort. The quintessence of Gobindgarh Fort reuse plan lies in being able to not only conserve but also revitalize it into an invaluable public space. It also aims to mainstream cultural heritage conservation

Plate 28.4  Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, panoramic view showing a moat Photo courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

Plate 28.5  Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, colonial bungalow on the Sikh plinth after structural conservation Photo courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

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Plate 28.6  Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort, masons at work Photo courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

through a proposal based on a PPP while not undermining the significance of the site. Therefore, a set of performance indicators and maintenance standards have been laid down for those who wish to be part of the concessionaire agreements for the PPP. A socially and environmentally sustainable framework for the fort is the primary aim of the plan. The proposal builds upon its historical significance as the last defence bastion of Sri Harimandir Sahib and of Amritsar. The possibility of Gobindgarh’s future role as an icon of peace, equality and freedom has been recognized, and a dedicated centre of peace, reconciliation and the arts has been proposed in the fort. The implementation of the conservation, reuse and management plans for the fort have been divided into three phases spanning five years, with phase I beginning in 2011. CRCI has worked within the projects and programmes of the government with whatever limitations in resources and immediate concerns but has never lost sight of the overall vision of the project.

Guru Ki Maseet, Sri Hargobindpur, Punjab, phase I, 2000, and phase II, 2010–11 Sri Hargobindpur is older than Shahjahanabad – the historic medieval city of Delhi. It is the only existing city associated and built by Guru Hargobind. The Guru Ki Maseet was one of the first

Plate 28.7  Guru Ki Maseet, site plan Drawing courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

Plate 28.8  Guru Ki Maseet, study of the elevation Drawing courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

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projects of Gurmeet Rai, begun in 1996, and is continuing. The area around the Maseet suffered from encroachment and erosion of the hillside. The land surrounding the Maseet was purchased, which created a link between this beautiful Maseet and River Beas. The conservation of the mosque was started as part of the UNESCO and UNDP-UNV’s Culture of Peace programme, with additional financial support from the US-based Sikh foundation. Finally, on-site restoration work has been completed with support from Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board. The Maseet was originally constructed in the early 17th century by Guru Hargobind, who is the sixth Sikh Guru. He built it near the River Beas after his battle with Jalandhar’s ruler Abdullah Khan. He never condemned the community, and that is why it is considered a peace project. With the turmoil of India’s partition in 1947, the mosque fell into a state of neglect and disrepair after the Muslims living there migrated to Pakistan. In time, the care of the masjid fell into the hands of a group – Nihang Singhs who installed the Sikh scripture Shri Guru Granth Sahib in the abandoned masjid after 1947 and maintained the mosque for many years. Through a memorandum of understanding between the Nihangs and the Punjab Waqf Board, a sect of Nihangs has agreed to conserve Guru Ki Maseet as a traditional mosque by allowing Muslims to perform prayers there. The holy Guru Granth Sahib from the mosque was taken to the newly constructed adjoining building so that the mosque’s original form could be preserved.

Plate 28.9  Guru Ki Maseet, first phase of project Photo courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

Plate 28.10  Guru Ki Maseet, Maseet with historic gate

Photo courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

Plate 28.11  Guru Ki Maseet, artwork inside Maseet

Photo courtesy of Gurmeet Rai

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This project has helped restore the connection between the non-Muslim residents of the town and the Guru’s mosque, and the people of Sri Hargobindpur visit all these places frequently and freely, regardless of their religious affiliations.

Notes 1 ‘Conversation on conservation’ interviewed by Revati Laul, http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp? filename=hub140712Gurmeet.asp, accessed in March 2015. 2 Ibid.

29 Anupama Kundoo (1967–)

Plate 29.1  Anupama Kundoo Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo

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Anupama Kundoo, an internationally known, multi-talented architect, began her practice in

Auroville in 1990 but now lives and teaches in Spain while still doing projects in India. She has had a distinguished and productive career and has made a name for herself as an alternative practitioner at a very young age. She has won numerous prestigious awards, has written and been published extensively, and has been engaged in practice, researching and teaching in a variety of cultural contexts across the world. She was invited to present her work in the Venice Biennial in 2012 and 2016. Kundoo was at crossroads after her twelfth standard exams and could not choose between fine arts and mathematics. So she underwent an aptitude test and was advised architecture. She joined Sir J. J. College of Architecture in Mumbai in 1984. Though the aesthetics of modernism appealed to Kundoo, its influence remained unconscious to her during her studies. After graduating in 1989, she worked in Mumbai for a year, self-supporting and living by herself. Having rejected the role of an interior designer or doing a commercial job, she chose to write for architectural magazines. Her mother was a homemaker, who did not pursue her own career after the children were born. Based on this experience and conversations with her, Kundoo has never glorified the importance of being a full-time mother. In 1990 Kundoo went to Auroville where she got her first commission of a house from a Frenchman Pierre Tran. In 1992, she went to Berlin where she worked for four years at a practice that focused on architectural conservation. In 1996 Kundoo returned to Auroville, joining friends Dharmesh Jadeja and K. Raman in a young organization called Kolam. Kolam allowed individual projects in addition to team work. She continued to work under the Kolam umbrella for several years after the others left. Since then she has been practising alone, with an emphasis on experimentation, culminating in the design of her own house around 2000. By 2002 she had increased interaction with Europe, finally moving again to Berlin where she began her PhD in 2005 while continuing with architectural projects in India. She also worked on Auroville planning with Roger Anger of France, the visionary chief architect of the idealistic Auroville project, enjoying the shuttling between the two regions and meeting him regularly in both contexts. Kundoo is deeply inspired by the Golconde House by Antonin Raymond in Pondicherry, constructed in 1948 – perhaps the first modern building in India. She believes it was extremely contextual, climate-specific and site-responsive, and had an intimate contact with nature. She is greatly impressed by Le Corbusier, his writings and his ‘architect-as-artist’ model on one hand and was most moved by Laurie Baker’s work, his social commitment and humanity on the other. In 1987, she met Baker at a conference, visited his home and had interactions that left a deep impact on her. In addition, Roger Anger of Auroville was a major influence and a mentor for Kundoo. With him she shared the joy and playfulness of experimentation, research and innovation while aiming for beauty and harmony. One of the other important personalities who influenced her work is Ray Meeker, a ceramist from Pondicherry. In general, architecture to Kundoo is a manifestation of theory (and thought) besides the physical expression. For her, sensory experiences are very much part of architectural perceptions as she strives for sensual modernism in her architectural designs. Kundoo likes to learn from as well encourage the involvement of contractors, engineers, masons and labourers in her projects. She works with local people, trains them and learns with them. She likes to take into account the socio-economic, climatic and environmental realities of a project.

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It is extremely important for her to enjoy the whole process of architecture and how it is made, rather than aim for the product or vision alone. She strives to explore, understand and then expose the inherent quality and beauty of each material, while making the least damage possible on the environment in the process. Typically, the building and manufacturing are both done on site. There is no shuttering in rural areas, and she emphasizes on judicious use of concrete, using rammed earth when building for tribals. Her main area of applied research has been in the various alternative, low-impact roofing technologies, particularly using terracotta elements. She is also interested in rammed earth, ferro cement and baked in situ earth construction. She enjoys working with details. To her, technology is not more important in creating a space than the sense of beauty and well-being. In teaching, she attempts to bridge the gap between structure, construction and architectural design, bringing creativity and design initiatives into an integrated solution, especially through model making and actual handling of materials. Kundoo has a fine sensitivity towards materials. She believes that harmony arises from an overview, a larger perspective and the accommodation of everyone’s role, and that it is easier for women to strike this balance. She guides students unofficially and also conducts practical training programmes for them. Kundoo has designed several public buildings, collective housing and single residences, using the principles she believes in while experimenting on other concepts. Her work has been categorized as contemporary and vernacular by some critics and as sustainable architecture by most. Since the past few years, Kundoo has become a global citizen, having learnt five languages. She got a PhD from the Habitat Unit, Technical University Berlin, in 2008. She has taught architecture and urban management in various international schools of architecture and has lectured, conducted workshops and reviewed student work at several others. In 2011 she was the chair for Environmental Technology and Material Sciences besides teaching at the Parsons New School of Design, New York. She has also taught at the University of Queensland in Australia. Kundoo is married to Luis Feduchi, an architect from Spain, and has a young son and a daughter with whom she now lives in Spain for most part of the year. She is also the author of Roger Anger: Research on Beauty Architecture: 1953–2008, Jovis Verlag, 2009. In the years after the children were born, she did a lot less building and more academic work, completing the PhD and the book, as these tasks offered more flexibility. With a very cooperative husband, she has, since then, continued to develop her career. In one of her essays, Anupama says, Until as recently as the year 2000, I must admit that I had never thought about myself as a ‘Woman Architect’ but only as ‘Architect’, nor had I ever dwelt upon gender issues in this profession, . . . Although I never ran into major problems as a woman, I was very moved by the difficulties faced by the lesser privileged women that I would come into contact with.

Anupama Kundoo projects Wall House, Auroville, 2000 The residence was a result of extensive research and experimentation in three main areas: eco-friendly building materials and technology alternatives, energy efficiency and

Plate 29.2  Wall House, ground floor Drawing courtesy of Anupama Kundoo

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Plate 29.3  Wall House, external view Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo and Alka Hingorani

climate-responsive building language. Further, the quest was aimed at replicability in urban as well as rural areas. It included an eco-friendly infrastructure in the management of water, waste and energy. Linear in plan, the house is oriented to the south-east for optimum air circulation. It is a 2.2-m narrow, but long-vaulted space contained within the brick masonry with various activities arranged in a row. The activities can spill over on the north-east side in the form of alcoves and projections, and under the large 4-m overhang provided by the main vaulted roof on the south-west side. The house is simple with clearly defined lines, yet the play in the volumes is such that it becomes hard to distinguish where the inside ends and outside begins. Long steps create a further demarcation, continuing into the garden. The south-west facade is a transparent wooden structure with a mesh to allow the full sunset view, while the vault overhang provides adequate shade. The exposed brick facades are scaled down due to the use of local ancient achakal (name of ancient bricks) bricks, proportions 18 cm × 10 cm × 2.5 cm. The bricks are set in lime mortar (with 10% of cement) with raked joints. The walls are of 30, 20 or 10 cm thickness with specially designed bonds. The double-height volume enhances the

Plate 29.4  Wall House, construction Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo and Andreas Deffner

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Plate 29.5  Wall House, bathroom Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo and Andreas Deffner

air stack movement and ventilation. Catenary vaults with hollow clay tubes create climatic insulation and reduce the use of steel. The flat terraced roof over the guest room has been made from burnt clay trapezoidal extruded modules over part precast beams as in a jack-arch, which were specially manufactured locally to find insulated roofing solutions. In the intermediate floor, terracotta pots were used as fillers to increase the effective depth of concrete while minimizing its volume. The house was partially reconstructed at a 1:1 scale by Kundoo at the 2012 Venice Biennale.

Plate 29.6  Wall House, another view of the bathroom Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo and Andreas Deffner

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Plate 29.7  House partially re-created in the Biennale of Venice, 2012 Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo and Andreas Deffner

Urban Eco-community, Auroville, 2006 Urban Eco-community project seeks to be a social research endeavour, allowing a deliberately diverse group of approximately 50 Aurovilians to live together in the residential community. As the experiment unfolds, the process and the experiences will be fully documented to serve as a reference to others who wish to understand more about creating workable urban eco-settlements. This project forms the first part of a larger housing development called Harmony to accommodate 360 residents along with their common facilities on a 2.17-hectare site. Urban Eco-community is planned for a healthy cross-section of members in terms of cultural background, age and a residential mix for a balanced community. Attention is paid to transition spaces. Integrated work and studio spaces are present to be used during the day. Fifty-five per cent of the site is a consciously earmarked green space. The residents are grouped in independently managed communities of 50 to 60 persons sharing common facilities. The use of solar energy, rainwater harvesting, waste water treatment plant and eco-friendly building materials has been employed. Though there is low density, the design is urban in character. There is an effort in creating streets and interconnected courtyards that are alive with community spaces opening directly onto them.

Plate 29.8  Urban Eco-community, plan Drawing courtesy of Anupama Kundoo

Plate 29.9  Urban Eco-community, diagrams Drawing courtesy of Anupama Kundoo

Plate 29.10  Urban Eco-community, external view

Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo and Aurovici Sercomanens

Plate 29.11  Urban Eco-community, view of the entrance corridors

Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo and Andreas Deffner

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Plate 29.12  Urban Eco-community, internal view

Photo courtesy of Anupama Kundoo and Aurovic Sercomanens

The project is collectively and not individually financed. Spaces are allotted as per needs rather than financial criteria. Flexibility is provided to sustain the community as it evolves, enabling apartments to be easily converted from one use to another. Thus, design is able to serve specific needs without being tailor-made. There is a sense of climatic comfort with hollow roofing materials, cross-ventilation and funnelling effect. The design is cost-effective, and individual energy investment savings is done by maximizing the use of common facilities. There is a presence of barrier-free architecture, thus providing easy access to units on the ground floor to accommodate handicapped, sick or aged persons.

30 Latha Raman Jaigopal (1967–)

Plate 30.1  Latha Raman Jaigopal Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Latha Raman Jaigopal  |  323 

Latha Raman Jaigopal is an architect born and brought up in Kochi, Kerala. She comes from a

middle-class background and was the youngest among five daughters in the Raman family. Her father, a quiet man of mild temperament, worked for the Life Insurance Corporation of India, who strongly encouraged his daughters towards higher studies. Jaigopal’s home maker mother was a strong-minded, extrovert and an efficient person who loved music and stitching clothes. She was responsible for the siblings’ all-rounded upbringing, including learning Bharatnatyam and taking part in extracurricular activities. Jaigopal remembers her self-defining moment when she stood first in her tenth standard in the whole of Ernakulam district, an event that boosted her overall confidence. While in school, Jaigopal saw her father struggle to financially support the studies of all his daughters. It was then that she decided to have a career to be economically independent. Through her engineer brother-in-law, she got her initial exposure to structures, construction sites and buildings. Though civil engineering was her first choice, her brother-in-law suggested architecture as a more inclusive field of work. Jaigopal eventually joined the architecture department in 1984 in the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, after experiencing mechanical engineering for a while. There were eight girls and 22 boys in her batch. She enjoyed this all-encompassing course which broadened her thinking. Jaigopal was a headstrong student and faced no discrimination as a woman. In 1987, Jaigopal trained with Y. K. Das and Associates in Mumbai for six months. She spent the weekends discovering the city of Mumbai. Around this time, she developed an interest in energy efficiency in buildings and carried it forward through her thesis, design of a renewable energy campus. She spent a lot of time researching energy-efficient systems through which she met many interesting people. Right after her graduation, Jaigopal joined the Eco-Sensitive and Sustainable Development Centre (ESDC) in 1990, where she met her future husband – architect Jaigopal G. Rao. The ESDC group, which was informal and democratic, was highly inspired by the Laurie Baker movement. It was mostly involved in housing, institutional campuses and community buildings for economically lower-income groups. However, ESDC broke up in 1992 for various reasons, and Jaigopal joined a well-established non-governmental organization called Program for Community Organization (PCO), set up in the 1970s in Trivandrum, which worked with the fishing communities in the villages. Jaigopal and two young women architects worked on creating various housing plans for them. This new challenging experience helped define her own identity. Here she also closely interacted with Nalini Nayak, a sociologist and eco-feminist, who became one of her role models. Laurie Baker and Prof. R.V.G. Menon, an expert in sustainable water management issues, are her other mentors. At PCO, Jaigopal also addressed infrastructural problems like sanitation, decentralized waste water treatment and recycling for the community. After two years at PCO, Jaigopal and her husband, along with Laurie Baker, worked for the rehabilitation housing in Latur after the earthquake of 1994. In 1995, Latha and Jaigopal got married and decided to settle down in Kochi, mainly to look after their ageing parents. Jointly they found their practice called Inspiration in 1996. This was also the year Jaigopal gave birth to a son and thus had dual responsibility. At the age of two, she began taking him to sites with her, as she did not want to burden her parents. She and Jaigopal Rao often took turns in looking after him. Their design of the Sarovaram hotel, an early project

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in Kochi, has been hugely successful and set the tone for their successful practice. In Sarovaram, Raman incorporated in situ rainwater harvesting by creating a lake, decentralized waste water management and other sustainable methods, while its aesthetics had a direct influence of Laurie Baker’s work in Kerala. The work of Inspiration has been nationally and internationally acclaimed and awarded. Its commitment to evolving an ecologically sensitive, sustainable aesthetic language of architecture is seen in many projects, especially holiday resorts. It also strives for a cost-effective built environment that is appropriate in terms of climate, materials and site context. Jaigopal is fascinated with the vibrant vernacular architectural traditions of India and attempts to preserve and nurture several dying building crafts and knowledge unique to each bio-region by integrating them in design. She fuses together modernist simplicity and conscious or unconscious application of spatial conceptions of the past. Exploring bamboo as an aesthetic material is her other passion. She strongly feels that in India each practising professional should ensure that every project is designed with in-built genes of sustainability, with all consultants coming together to deliver the design, within stringent budgets and the required attention to quality and detail. Jaigopal heads Inspiration’s project management and contracts wing, responsible for overall design interpretation, management and technical coordination. With meticulousness as her forte and a passion for ‘responsible integrated approach to architecture’, she also plays a key role in designing and detailing concepts of total water management, decentralized solid and liquid waste management and relevant renewable energy applications. Jaigopal admits to experiencing a feeling of being marginalized, both as a woman and as a person not from a privileged upper-class background. She affirms that it has been a tough and painful process to be accepted as a professional. In the beginning she was not taken seriously by her workers, and she had to learn construction details by discussing with the engineers, masons and others. However, once she gained technical confidence, it has been smooth sailing. Jaigopal and her husband have a balanced system in which he does the initial conceptual design development, which he is good at, and she takes care of detailing, construction, tendering, project scheduling, services and coordination. Jaigopal has a high level of respect for and trust in her husband, whom she looks up to, and who is also her role model. Being an introvert by nature, she admires his immense energy, drive and focus. In her firm Inspiration, 60% of the staff are women, as both engineers and architects. Jaigopal believes that women are more loyal and tend to stay longer, observing that they have less ego hassles besides the ability to form deeper, emotional bonds in and out of the workplace. Consequently, she gives them flexibility in work schedules if required. Interested in women’s position in the profession, she attended a women’s conference organized in Beijing in 1995. Jaigopal was also on the advisory committee for the ‘safe city for women and children’ project initiated by UN Women’s wing and Jagori, Delhi, which was coordinated in Kochi by Sakhi Womens’ Resource Centre and the Centre for Gender Development and Ecology in 2012. Jaigopal professes that, despite their equal partnership, in the larger family and in public perception her husband Jaigopal Rao is perceived as being at the forefront in their practice. But her

Latha Raman Jaigopal  |  325 

office and clients are well aware of her abilities and talent. As she has largely involved herself in construction management, she occasionally misses designing. She plans to practise professionally for the next seven to eight years and then reduce her pace in mainstream work. She has a desire to work at policy and urban levels.

Latha Raman projects Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, Kochi, 1999–2012 BTH Sarovaram was perhaps the first of commercial projects in Kerala, where eco-sensitivity was the core theme of design in the late 1990s. With over 60,000 square feet area, built in phases, the business hotel has a crafted architecture with clean straight-line built forms and stands apart due to the custom-designed details. The building technologies include a combination of composite

Plate 30.2  Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, site plan Drawing courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Plate 30.3  Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, free-flowing forms with brick, stone and RCC filler slab Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Plate 30.4  Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, sunshades and wide overhangs protect and shade the wall Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Plate 30.5  Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, jali wall in brick masonry Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Plate 30.6  Bharath Tourist Home (BTH) Sarovaram, the rainwater harvesting lake of 50 lakh litre capacity Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Latha Raman Jaigopal  |  328 

masonry with RCC frames, neatly pointed exposed load-bearing brick masonry walls and RCC filler slab using reject Mangalore Pattern tiles for floors and roofs. It pays homage to the architectural heritage of India through judicious use of brick arch, corbels and buttresses which are all structural elements, flooring with natural stones, handrails that shape into built-in seats, rough hewn stone slabs used for floors and lintels. Besides, it uses wooden pillars, wooden lintels, and so on from traditional Kerala architecture as structural members; reject wooden planks from dismantled old wooden structures are adaptively reused in the interiors and furniture. Handcrafted terracotta mural tiles from the potter community of Nilambur in combination with polished red oxide clad several of the RCC columns. Hand-painted traditional Kerala murals created by the Mahe Kalagramam adorn interfaces of RCC and exposed brick work. Almost all pieces of furniture in the property are custom designed and crafted by local artisans. Sarovaram has a man-made lake that can hold 50 lakh litres of harvested rainwater, channellized through a network of sub-surface filter drains. All bathing and washing needs of the hotel are met by this source. The entire sewage and waste water from the hotel are treated through a predominantly anaerobic treatment plant and reused for gardening and other non-potable end uses. Up to 60% of electricity is saved through a combination of climate-sensitive design, optimizing air-conditioning load, low-energy LED/CFL for lighting and use of energy-efficient technology.

Adaptive restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, Kochi, 2007 About six kilometres from Kochi is the Chittoor Kottaram, almost 400 years old, once the summer home of the Maharajah of Cochin. After years of neglect, a Cochin royal family member dreamt

Plate 30.7  Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, site plan Drawing courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Latha Raman Jaigopal  |  329 

Plate 30.8  Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, the Chittoor palace and garden court Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

of renovating this dilapidating family property to turn it into an exclusive homestay resort. Typical of Kerala palaces, its entrance is through a humble Padippura on one side of a pond. A large garden court forms the foreground of the double-storeyed palace. The ground floor of the main structure comprises a living space and two rooms flanked by spacious verandahs on either side. The first floor also has the same but only one bedroom with a verandah, one overlooking the front garden and the other the rear garden and Chittoorpuzha. The dining room and kitchen are housed in a separate outhouse structure. The palace has rich woodwork for roof and joinery as well as lime-plastered masonry. The renovation system involved removing all the roof tiles, replacing all broken and termite-eaten members, adding on structural members wherever necessary, providing protective coatings for wood and so on. The doors and windows were mostly intact; however being fully wooden plank shutters, they permitted very little light inside when closed, so plain glass was introduced there.

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Plate 30.9  Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, plans Drawing courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

The lime wash and several layers of paint in the walls were painstakingly peeled out to expose the original surface. The flooring was redone with handmade, coloured Athankudy tiles with polished red oxide borders and skirtings, the toilets were reconstructed with more contemporary finishes and all utilities were revamped. The furniture was detailed, taking off from the traditional colonial style but introducing some contemporary features. The landscaping was subtle with emphasis on local (buffalo) grass, trees and shrubs. A small boat jetty gives access by boat to the palace. This heritage project was nominated for Aga Khan International Award 2009.

Plate 30.10  Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, the ‘Oottupura’

houses the dining and kitchen areas Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Plate 30.11  Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor

Kottaram, the verandah protects the living areas from rain and sunshine Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

Plate 30.12  Adaptive Restoration of Chittoor Kottaram, bedroom

Photo courtesy of Latha Raman Jaigopal

31 Mona Doctor-Pingel (1967–)

Plate 31.1  Mona Doctor-Pingel Photo courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel

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Mona Doctor-Pingel comes from a family of doctors, so much so that her maiden name was

‘Doctor’. However, her family based in Ahmedabad had decided that she should not become one as there were too many in the family. As a child, Doctor-Pingel was good in drawing and sketching. During her 11th and 12th standards in Delhi, she took up technical drawing. She was exposed to the field of architecture through one of her architect aunts. Doctor-Pingel joined CEPT University in 1984, but she admits that she was not very excited about the field during her initial years. She did not face any discrimination as a woman at CEPT, either from the professors or during various projects/assignments. In fact, she felt privileged at times since people found it safer to allow girls into their homes for measured drawings or site visits. Doctor-Pingel’s experience at CEPT was very rewarding, but she realized it much later. It was only after she underwent practical training in 1987 at the behest of Laurie Baker, under Poppo Pingel, a German architect based in Auroville, that she became passionate about architecture. From 1990 to 1992 she worked with Poppo, during which time they jointly design-built their own house. She got married to Poppo in 1992. However, the urge to go West was strong and she went to Germany the same year when she won a two-year DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship to study ‘Appropriate Rural Technology and Extension Skills’ at Flensburg University. The programme at the University of Flensburg was particularly designed for the context of the southern countries. Besides architecture, the course focused on sustainability (then called appropriate technology), concentrating on renewable energy. Here, Doctor-Pingel deepened her knowledge of solar energy, mud-block making, wind mills, water harvesting and building biology, of which the latter deeply interested her. Building biology is a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the impact of built environment on the health of people and the planet. Doctor-Pingel was also influenced by the German culture in general, and particularly by their discipline, efficiency and organizing skills. Personally experiencing the history of European architecture that she had learnt at CEPT was an enthralling opportunity for her. Pingel, who is 25 years senior to Mona, had a substantial practice when they got married. To have a much older and experienced partner in the same profession had its own advantages and disadvantages. He was a strong support in case of doubts and emergencies; at the same time, it led to Doctor-Pingel either not being taken seriously as a woman or having to prove her point vigorously. But with life and work experiences gained, she felt more empowered and was soon treated as an equal. After returning from Germany in 1995, Doctor-Pingel set up her own practice while sharing the office space with Pingel for 13 years. Pingel, a major influence on her, accepted her need for her own identity. Later, in 2008 she designed and built her own office near her home, which gave her an immense amount of freedom and concentration and helped her to be open to new opportunities. Doctor-Pingel likes to take small steps and focuses within herself for inspiration. She began by designing residences and low-budget schools. The early projects were hands-on jobs that required her to be the supervisor, contractor, architect, structural engineer as well as interior and landscape designer all at the same time. This set the foundation for all her future projects. She began

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experimenting with domes and vaults in brick and exploring the field of building biology. She attempts to use local materials and questions the idea of beauty, which she feels is still dominated by Western notions. The liberal atmosphere of Auroville gave her the opportunity to apply concepts like optimum use of solar energy, reduction of electromagnetic fields at places of regeneration, waste water recycling, rainwater harvesting and landscaping with indigenous and water-resistant plants as intrinsic parts of her designs. Since people from all over the world live in Auroville, there is better gender sensitivity and more opportunities for women. She says, To be honest, I have personally not confronted the issue of feminism at a deeper level. . . . My family in Ahmedabad was also very liberal and gave me equal opportunities and responsibilities as my brother. I do agree with the issue of equality. . . . But very often, like many things in life, I feel it depends on the person herself . . . it is up to each one of us how we deal with it internally.

However, in the last few years, having worked in the town planning team of Auroville as joint secretary and one of the two women members out of 11, she realized that the male energy always has the inherent tendency to dominate in subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle ways. The feminine energy is, in fact, more resilient, giving and ready to make compromises for the larger good. Doctor-Pingel experiences a deep sense of gratitude towards Auroville and its pioneering architects as well as the many unnamed craftsmen who are helping to build Auroville. It does not have the same competitive or survival spirit of other cities in India where the emphasis is on commercial gains instead of on quality and experimentation. Auroville has given Doctor-Pingel the freedom to explore and experiment in different ways, while enabling her to set time aside to develop other sides of her being. She strongly believes that the consciousness one puts into the building process is bound to show in the end product. Doctor-Pingel’s education at CEPT inculcated an awe and reverence for modernism. Yet she found a dichotomy between vernacular influences and modernism. She likes the universal language of Kahn, Mies, Corbusier or Zumthor and admires the works of Indian architects like Doshi, Correa and Kanvinde while other iconic ‘star’ architects like Gehry and Liebeskind leave her cold. In design, she draws inspiration from the Golconde House and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (Samadhi), both in Pondicherry. There is a definite influence of Pingel on Doctor-Pingel’s work, including the Japanese imagery and sensibilities. There is a simplicity as well as tactility in her detailing of buildings. Landscape is a priority in all her projects. She is keen on experimentation and innovation, be it in the structural system, the use of appropriate building materials or in spatial form. Currently, her studio is involved in designing and executing one of the biggest projects in Auroville: 50 apartments on a one-hectare site that aims to incorporate sustainable practices available. In 2006, she also initiated the Auroville Architects Monograph Series, documenting and analysing the works of the early architects. The first monograph authored by her, about her husband’s work, titled ‘Poppo Pingel’, was published by Mapin Publishers in 2012.

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The recent two-year term at L’Avenir d’Auroville (Auroville’s planning and development body) has once again brought forth to her the difficulty of planning a city that is constantly in a flux without the external pressures of commercial interests. Having no detailed guidelines or by-laws and no legal monitoring systems, Auroville’s planning is a huge challenge. In future she sees a great scope in exploring the equation between man-nature-economy and combining the three aspects of reason, ethics and aesthetics in an approach to life and architecture.

Mona Doctor-Pingel projects Cottage Restaurant, Pondicherry, 2006–9 Designed for the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust in Pondicherry, Cottage Restaurant is situated on a prime location on the main canal of the old city. The restaurant, started by The Mother in 1954, is interwoven with the fabric of the ashramites’ life through memories and emotions. The building was reinvented through continuity of the intangibles while the tangible, the built envelop, is fresh and contemporary. The design is simple with an understated elegance that does not call for attention. It strives for beauty in cleanliness while creating an ambience similar to the old Cottage Restaurant. It has inward-looking spaces, created by courtyards with a dry landscape, while saving an existing neem

Plate 31.2  Cottage Restaurant, plan Drawing courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel

Plate 31.3  Cottage Restaurant, sections Drawing courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel

Plate 31.4  Cottage Restaurant, interior view of entrance Photo courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel and John Mandeen

Plate 31.5  Cottage Restaurant, entrance foyer Photo courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel and John Mandeen

Plate 31.6  Cottage Restaurant, detail Photo courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel and John Mandeen

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tree. It has an unconcealed structure, with the exposed concrete and precast free beams giving it scale and rhythm. Basically, the focus is on subtle energies created by proportions, use of natural materials and electromagnetic fields. Since the site of 15.5 m × 24.6 m ‘happened’ to be in golden proportion, the modulor guided the design grid. The resulting building, with courtyards, ramps and cantilevered overhangs, creates an ensemble, with minimal embellishments, so as to not distract from the simplicity of the whole. It uses a spare material palette of exposed concrete elements combined with black unpolished cuddapah flooring, frameless glass panels and white plastered walls. The interior design is also an integral part of creating total harmony. The tables, chairs and display units are locally produced, keeping the weather and comfort of the users in mind. The landscape is integrated with the building through three courtyards. Yellow and black bamboos create a serene atmosphere, lending a feel that the terrace restaurant sits in a garden rather than beside a busy road. While the entrance wall of exposed concrete with steel shuttering creates an impenetrable appearance, the visitor is surprised by the cocoon of intimate space at the entrance.

Temple Tree Retreat, Auroville, 2009–11 On the outskirts of the green belt of Auroville, a residence-cum-guest house has been built with the client’s vision to create a welcoming atmosphere. The design engages with the landscape and the sky, creating a dialogue between nature and the observer. On entering the site, a carefully laid-out rough granite stone pathway and precast concrete lamps lead one to the stepping stones over the pond that wraps itself around the arrival verandah. The pink lilies and the relaxing sound of a water fountain greet the visitor. The ponds and gardens integrate with the verandahs of the elevated ground floor. Each room has a well-laid-out landscaped space in the front and back. Designed around an internal courtyard for light and privacy, the main house contains a kitchen, dining, two guest rooms and a private apartment on the first floor, opening onto a terrace garden. Sloping roofs use precast concrete rafters cast on site, refining the technology that was developed by Poppo Pingel. Black cuddapah floors, sliding glass windows with grills, panelled teak wood doors, exposed concrete sills and lintels with a sprinkling of free beams for scale and continuity complete the simple palette of materials. Plastered walls made from hollow clay blocks provide for adequate sound and thermal insulation. A meditation space is nestled over a pond between the main house and cottages. Use of white marble for flooring and wall panels allows for a diffused light quality, lending a sense of sanctity to it. The client was open to experimentation, and a ‘natural pool’ was created allowing the water and fish from the lily pond to be channelled there. This ‘bio-pool’ avoids the use of filtration or chlorine and is a self-regulating body. Clearly, this project is the result of a close collaboration between the team at Studio Naqshbandi, the local, self-made contractor Mohan Ayyanar and the client Nalin Patel.

Plate 31.7  Temple Tree Retreat, plan Drawing courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel

Plate 31.8  Temple Tree Retreat, elevation and section Drawing courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel

Plate 31.9  Temple Tree Retreat, cottages and meditation space Photo courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel and Jeremy

Plate 31.10  Temple Tree Retreat, courtyard of main building

Photo courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel and Jeremy

Plate 31.11  Temple Tree Retreat, meditation space Photo courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel and Arusha Shridhar

Plate 31.12  Temple Tree Retreat, night view of meditation space

Photo courtesy of Mona Doctor-Pingel and Arusha Shridhar

32 Nisha Mathew (1969–)

Plate 32.1  Nisha Mathew Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew

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Nisha Mathew’s family has a Syrian Christian lineage from Kerala. Her mother’s large family grew up and did their schooling in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and was westernized by way of social graces and cuisine. So the household in which her sister and she grew up in Bengaluru was not traditional in the least. As girls, they never felt less than the boys, with special encouragement from their father. Thus, they grew up with strong, close and happy extended family bonds. When Mathew was in the ninth standard, her uncle saw her making intricate doodles at the back of her notebook. Impressed, he suggested that she could pursue a creative course like architecture. Her father, who was a geophysicist, earnestly began collecting information about the School of Architecture at CEPT University in Ahmedabad. It was a major setback for Mathew, though, when her father suddenly passed away in early 1987, leaving her with memories of his wholehearted encouragement.

Mathew was interested in ‘order’, and abstract forms or ideas did not appeal to her readily. Not quite knowing what a course in architecture entailed, she also started taking drawing lessons to prepare for the highly competitive CEPT entrance exams and succeeded in getting admission there in 1987. The first year at CEPT was most crucial for Mathew, which opened up a whole new world, the education leading to a life-changing experience. In spite of her liberal family background, Mathew admits that she was rather timid, having had a somewhat sheltered life and this also being her maiden venture out of home terrain. It took her a while to get into the swing of living life alone. The atmosphere at CEPT was open and highly conducive to a creative learning process, pulsating with exposure to all the arts, sciences and experimentation in the teaching and understanding of architecture. She plunged into the demands of her course with a great zest. Mathew was in the late Prof. Kurula Varkey’s first batch. Varkey was an exceptional teacher devoted to architecture. His integrity was commendable, and he practised what he preached. His constant presence on campus and involvement in all student projects were exceptional. Even today, Mathew nostalgically looks back at that period as the golden years of her learning and experimentation with ideas in architecture and a brief but lasting interlude with textiles and craft. After graduating from CEPT in 1992, she worked for few months with Prof. Ravindra Vasavada in Ahmedabad. She recalls this as a satisfying period where she was passionately involved in the work. She left for Bengaluru in 1993 to be a practising architect. Mathew got married to Soumitro Ghosh, a batchmate from CEPT, in 1995. Soumitro is a Bengali who never lived in Bengal, but grew up in Uttar Pradesh, having done his schooling in Meerut. They established their joint architectural practice as Mathew and Ghosh Architects the same year in Bengaluru. Her first project was a small outhouse in Kerala, followed by a house for her mother in the same city. Both Mathew and Ghosh are generally actively involved in the first phase of any new project, in the threshing of ideas and the development of a concept. The detailed working-out of the design is then headed by either one of them (the other is involved as a critical observer/participator) with a team from the office. The designing and detailing process is not linear but lateral as one moves back and forth from detail to idea. The core design philosophy of their practice has been the desire to introspect and build a critical architecture that is rooted in its physio-social context and simultaneously at another level to transcend context towards the abstract universal. The built/unbuilt object must reveal relationships between man and nature and between man and man. The technology used must strive to express the poetic possibilities inherent in the nature

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of material and its construction while refining the concept. Elegant and often sculptural spaces, ample light and human scale characterize their architecture. Mathew is interested in Indian cities as repositories of tradition and an archaeologico-architectural delight that informs their practice with an understanding of the past. Inspired by the works of Balkrishna Doshi, Charles Correa, Corbusier and Rem Koolhaas and some newer practices in the world, her work may be said to be rooted in modernist principles. Mathew believes that to execute a good project, core ideas need to be conceptually strong and clear. Each work is an experiment in form and space, in order to create a unique solution. The singular style of their works and the formative processes in their practice began with both Mathew’s undergraduate research on Bohra houses in Surat and Soumitro’s research on Ujjain. Mathew is adept at different skills, being also committed to jewellery and space accessory design (objects/props/lights) which happened unintentionally but seems to just be a natural extension of who she is. Boundaries between the design disciplines blur and one practice informs the other. Nisha Mathew employs the more unconventional methods of postmodern and deconstructive thinking in her architectural style. This is partially achieved through juxtaposing and overlaying of volumes. Careful use of colours and tactile surfaces enhance the overall form. While using the abstract language of modernism, she draws on the vitality of the local history and memories.

Plate 32.2  Candy Tripetal, handcrafted display object designed by Mathew Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew and Shamshad

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The literal thinking outside the ‘box’, exploration of volumetric play and overlaying of textured surfaces have given immense recognition to this young, prolific practice. Mathew has two children. She manages site visits, for the projects under her purview, but because of the children, she prefers to travel less. Her office, which is next to her house, is very convenient from this point of view. With a hectic professional life, being a keen student of Western Classical Bel Canto–Vocal and having a deep interest in spiritual biblical studies, there is often less time for socializing. As a woman, she brings a unique perspective to her projects, being able to improvise satisfactorily on intuitive feeling to get desired results, and this is one of her significant professional strengths. Mathew’s message to girls studying architecture is to always maintain their passion for the profession. Today, Mathew’s firm Mathew and Ghosh Architects does cutting-edge work and has won many national as well as international awards. The success of the practice was heralded as much by the Young Architect Award they won in 1998 as by their prize-winning entry for the prestigious competition of 2003 for the Freedom Park in Bengaluru, a revitalization of the city jail and its site. Their projects are as diverse as urban parks, office buildings, the private house, corporate spaces and a number of institutional buildings, the Max Mueller Bhavan, Bethel Baptist Church in Bengaluru and more recently the National Military Martyrs Memorial, Bengaluru.

Plate 32.3  Bethel Baptist Church, plan Drawing courtesy of Nisha Mathew

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Mathew and Ghosh’s work has also been widely published. Their distinctive style has attracted critical and scholarly attention. They were invited to present at the World Architecture Congress in Singapore in 2007 and the India Conference by the Architecture League of New York in 2009, among others. Having already won many accolades, the firm is now moving towards larger and more public projects.

Nisha Mathew projects Bethel Baptist Church, Bengaluru, 2002 The project for the Bethel Baptist Church looks at the transformation of the traditional, ecclesiastical, spatial type and its interpretation in the present context, as well as examines the thresholds and negotiations between the neighbourhood and the place of worship. The physical context

Plate 32.4  Bethel Baptist Church, east elevation Drawing courtesy of Nisha Mathew

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Plate 32.5  Bethel Baptist Church, external view Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew

around the site is rather amorphous in nature. Through the opportunity to build a quasi-public institution in the neighbourhood, the attempt is to suggest a restructuring of public perception of the urban space. The church building presents itself as a self-contained form, whose street facades seem to reconstruct the cuboid. On the street, juxtaposed against this form is the ‘plinth of negotiations’ – the street platform. This is a place of dialogue, shorn of boundary walls to the neighbourhood. This space stretches from the outside to the double volume of the entrance space inside. By means of pivoted door/fins, the sanctuary was lifted higher than street level, to allow a complete opening up of the lower space. The sloping slab of the sanctuary sits on exposed concrete columns. The movement up to the sanctuary is slow and discontinuous – defined by irregular steps of the street platform. The main door is on axis with these steps. Within the building, the external cuboid transforms into a series of shifting planes, which, together with the gently stepped floor, leads to the altar. The plane breaks down in scale at the altar and gets a mild wash of light from full-length openings on the sides.

Plate 32.6  Bethel Baptist Church, internal view Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew

Plate 32.7  Bethel Baptist Church, view of the entrance space Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew

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Simple white-washed masonry walls and exposed concrete have been used as building material. The qualities of worship – exuberance, simplicity and purity – are expressed through the careful and meaningful articulation of natural light. The essential characteristic of the sanctuary is derived through design to be an intimate space that would inspire the feeling of fellowship and prayer.

Raju Mahtani House, Bengaluru, 2005 In the urban disarray, ‘islands of paradise’ or the popularly called ‘gated communities’ have become coveted places for inhabitation. The idyllic setting of homes in the suburb creates the feel of being on ‘the edge of the city’. Making a home in such a location is an opportunity to make a building that reflects the suave urban lifestyle of the residents and a very strong relationship with nature, that is reminiscent of the lost paradise outside (in the urban wilderness of the city). The RRM 1 house reflects these desires in the most explicit ways. It connects the world inside the physical structure of the home and the outdoors as a controlled and a deliberate act of negotiation. It is an ideal setting that works around the primordial need for water, trees and a safe shelter of the home to realize the balance of life.

Plate 32.8  Raju Mahtani House, ground floor Drawing courtesy of Nisha Mathew

Plate 32.9  Raju Mahtani House, external view Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew

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Plate 32.10  Raju Mahtani House, view of the pool in the front

Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew

The contemporary dwelling is an expression of a yearning for a mutually beneficial coexistence with nature – in the context of a mindless lack of an urban ecological vision for the city. These two twin sites fragment the landscape on which they stand on stilts into zones of occupation and retreat. East-west-oriented perforated roof wraps create the ‘solar topee’ effect as they capture the gentle light of this region. Below the roof wraps, the lower level of activities is distinguished from the bermed green landscape by free-standing screen planes which negotiate enclosure and landscape.

Plate 32.11  Raju Mahtani House, detail

Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew

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Plate 32.12  Raju Mahtani House, internal view

Photo courtesy of Nisha Mathew

A continuous water strip makes a floating island of the existing coconut trees, and the living room pavilion opens up as a deck to the water strip. All boundaries disappear as the landscape berms up and down to conceal, reveal and negotiate. The engaging of the landscape at the lower level in a reoriented and erasure of thresholds is mandated by the rapidly depleting green cover in this city which was once called the ‘Garden City’.

33 Shikha Jain (1969–)

Plate 33.1  Shikha Jain Photo courtesy of Shikha Jain

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Shikha Jain belongs to the city of Jaipur. Academically, she has been a bright student since

childhood. She scored a second position in Rajasthan in her tenth standard and scored 89% in her twelfth standard. She has a brother, three years older to her, whom she always looks up to. Her parents (the Khannas) were both civil servants working with the Rajasthan state government. Her father wanted her to become a doctor. She got admission in BITS Pilani in Rajasthan as well as in SPA (School of Planning and Architecture) in Delhi. She chose to go to SPA to experiment in a new field that was unknown to her. After getting into SPA in 1986, Jain really enjoyed architecture whether it was the tours during the electives or documentation through measure drawings during the entire course. From the fourth year onwards she was clearly interested in historic architecture and was guided by a senior faculty named Madhuri Desai. In 1992, with full funding, she pursued her master’s in preservation and community from the University of Kansas, which largely dealt with urban issues. After she returned, Jain’s father wanted her to join the government department as a town planner/architect, but she was very clear that it was not suited for her. She got married to Rakesh Jain, her batchmate in SPA, and they both shared their practice. With her roots in Jaipur, Jain has always been passionate about regional Rajasthani architecture. Therefore, she also pursued her doctorate degree, where her research focused on the havelis of Rajasthan under the guidance of A.G.K. Menon from 1998 to 2002. Every year she used to spend six weeks in Prasada, a centre devoted to the architecture, visual arts and material culture of South Asia at De Montfort University, Leicester (which has now moved to Cardiff University), in the United Kingdom during her PhD period. For this research, she visited 45 towns in nine different regions of Rajasthan to collect data of about 150 havelis. By the time Jain completed her PhD, she lost faith in mainstream practice of architecture. She set up a non-governmental organization (NGO) in 2003 called Development and Research Organization for Nature, Arts and Heritage (DRONAH), with the aim of getting involved in the activities of regeneration, restoration and development of built heritage, ecology, environment and community living. The motivation behind DRONAH is to understand and document the complex matrix of the environment, connecting different aspects of life with traditions, art, architecture and people through research, education, training and skill transfer involving individual and communities. DRONAH has four branches at Jaipur, Bhopal, New Shimla and Kolkata besides the main office in Gurgaon.

Jain’s strong emphasis has been on a people-based approach as well as community participation for conservation projects. She was appointed as co-convener of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage’s (INTACH) Haryana Chapter (2007–9) and convener in 2009, where she worked on listing of 500 structures. She is also a founding trustee of the Indian Heritage Cities Network Foundation, supported by UNESCO, and has been the founder/editor of a reputed, referred biannual journal called Context: Built, Living and Natural since 2004. She has co-edited the first state-level guide and mapping for Haryana and INTACH in 2012. She has written extensively on core issues affecting the field. She also worked as assistant professor at Vastu Kala Academy for two years and worked for another NGO, namely Maharana Mewar

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Charitable Foundation. Since 2012, she is engaged by the Ministry of Culture to work as member secretary for the newly formed Advisory Committee on World Heritage Matters – a committee to guide ASI and Ministry of Culture on World Heritage issues for India. Thus, Shikha Jain is an unusual combination of a scholar, writer and practitioner in the area of conservation in India. At school, Jain did not experience much discrimination as a woman. But in practice, she faced some misconceptions such as clients as well as site engineers not being very confident of a woman supervising site work. She also experienced a general trend where clients felt that hiring a woman consultant will be cheaper as they usually charge lesser fees than men. She does not have any children and has channellized all her energies into her work. She travels extensively for her projects. Her husband, being an architect, understands her commitment to the field. The pleasure of seeing her ideas coming to realization keeps her going. Jain says that conservation is more complicated than mainstream architectural practice – where you see your design being translated on site in a matter of one or two years. But especially urban conservation projects take much longer, which is a challenge in itself. In her design approach, she takes an integrated view of the built and natural environments, ecology and communities involved. She also attempts to identify potential economic opportunities for private enterprises, such as sustainable tourism to provide additional funding and support for long-term values. Jain has participated in many national and international conferences. Her design sensibilities have evolved from a detailed study through archival research of various architectural styles, elements, water systems, materials and technology. She has developed a broader approach in her design processes through employing conservation management strategies for master plan proposals. DRONAH holds a vision for a better quality of life without forgoing links to the past and, above all, seeks to re-emphasize how the built, living and natural environments are connected. It wants to ensure that future development does not conflict with existing natural resources and aims to keep man-made structures intact, with their original glory redefined by changing space, time and people. It conducts workshops on building materials as well as for people’s participation in urban planning. Strangely though, now most of Jain’s projects are with the government since it owns maximum heritage structures in India. She has developed a knack of negotiating with them for projects. She sees her role as a consultant who is also involved in training and capacity building the government sector to a large extent, since it is a long-term caretaker of the heritage structures, so creating sensitivity becomes essential. Jain is not very aware of the women’s movement in India. Her role models include Prof. A.G.K. Menon and Ms Minja Yang. She strongly feels that the labourers are meekly paid. Thus, she encourages training programmes for ‘heritage’ conservation with a conglomeration of stone craft artisans and architecture students. Jain is totally committed to a pluralistic and a multidisciplinary approach. She dreams of the cities being preserved with the conservation of crafts persons’ skills and processes. She says that heritage is in a state of flux and wants to define and redefine it within the framework of a participatory approach that is community oriented. Her work satisfaction is her driving force.

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Shikha Jain projects Ghat ki Guni, Jaipur, 1991 onwards The historic complex of Ghat ki Guni or Purana Ghat, Jaipur, is located 3 kilometres away on Agra Road. It has an impressive conglomeration of 52 unique properties of great architectural

Plate 33.2  Ghat ki Guni, aerial view of Rajniwas Photo courtesy of Shikha Jain

Plate 33.3  Ghat ki Guni, mandir of Shri Janaki Vallabhji, proposed reuse as a crafts area Drawing courtesy of Shikha Jain

Plate 33.4  Ghat ki Guni, Rajniwas exterior wall prior to conservation, 2007 Photo courtesy of Shikha Jain

Plate 33.5  Ghat ki Guni, Rajniwas exterior wall after conservation, 2009 Photo courtesy of Shikha Jain

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and historic significance with a scenic narrow valley. This two-kilometre-long spine cuts through the site with temples gardens and havelis. This has a lot of tourism potential with the nearby resplendent Galta. Since 1991, several government initiatives have been envisaged for the revitalization of the culturally, historically and aesthetically rich heritage zone of Ghat ki Guni. In 2009, the Department of Urban Development and Housing finally decided to make an integrated effort for the restoration and revival of the Ghat ki Guni stretch. A detailed project report was hence commissioned by the Jaipur Development Authority for preparation of an urban conservation and reuse proposal that revaluates all past initiatives and presents an updated action and investment plan for the Ghat ki Guni stretch. The plan is under implementation since December 2009. This street revitalization project was one of the most important learning experiences in conservation work for the architect. Associated with it since 1991, the site was selected for her college thesis project. Since then she has been involved in it through various government departments over several years.

Plate 33.6  Ghat ki Guni, restored double charbagh (Persian-style quadrilateral garden layout) at Rajniwas Garden Photo courtesy of Shikha Jain

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After almost 20 years of waiting, watching and reproducing drawings and proposals at all levels, involving college students in documentation during her teaching experience and overseeing restoration, it was a great satisfaction to see the 52 heritage structures finally being restored within the unique geographical setting of the Aravalli valley and, most important, the local residents being part of the process. Though a long-term development and maintenance strategy is pending, these kinds of examples are key to urban conservation.

City Palace Complex, Udaipur, 2005–9 The preparation of the conservation master plan (CMP) for the city palace complex, along with other planning documents and detailed working drawings, was undertaken by the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, through grants awarded by the Getty Foundation, United States. Its preparation in coherence with the policies, strategies and framework outlined in the CMP and drawings took place in two phases, with training and workshops under each phase.

Plate 33.7  City Palace Complex, Manek Chowk Photo courtesy of Shikha Jain

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The first phase (November 2005–July 2007) encompassed preparation of a primary plan (CMP) for the site along with executing a few identified emergency works. Under the second phase (November 2008–October 2009), secondary plans – environment management, interpretation and use, lighting and risk management plans – were prepared, with an intermediate-level cultural heritage tourism plan that links all primary and secondary plans and external frameworks affecting the site. In addition, condition assessment/technical drawings and detailed estimations were prepared. Also, the CMP, being a dynamic document, was reviewed and updated, with inputs from the plans developed as a part of the second planning phase.

Plate 33.8  City Palace Complex, site section looking north, the Badi Mahal is left of the Zenana Mahal Drawing courtesy of Shikha Jain

Plate 33.9  City Palace Complex, museum use and circulation Drawing courtesy of Shikha Jain

Plate 33.10  City Palace Complex, Badi Chitrashali

Photo courtesy of Shikha Jain

Plate 33.11  City Palace Complex, colonnaded verandah of south wing of

Zenana Mahal Photo courtesy of Shikha Jain

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The approach followed for the assessment of cultural significance of the city palace complex is value based. Though parallels have been drawn from the Conservation Charters, this assessment is arrived at by understanding the site and identifying its associated values. The approach included inputs from stakeholders and experts adding to the strength of the process of data collection and analysis. Two prototype implementation works undertaken during master conservation planning of the site are the restoration of Naqqar Khana ki Chhatri and Ghadiyal ki Chhatri at the entrance and restoration and reuse of Bhagwat Prakash, an unused palace as a photography gallery. Both these projects helped in establishing norms and guidelines for the phase-wise implementation of the CMP and also supported the next phase of funding of the Museum Grant by the Ministry of Culture in 2012. At present, more restoration works are being carried out along with adaptive reuse of palace spaces as museum galleries.

34 Archana Chaudhary (1970–)

Plate 34.1  Archana Chaudhary Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

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Archana Chaudhary has a vast and varied experience spanning over 20 years in the area of

architecture, planning and architectural education. She has the distinction of serving various state agencies in separate capacities, including the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA), the Department of Architecture, Punjab State, and the Housing Board, Haryana, where she was the department head. Her journey to success has been incredibly challenging. Born in the small town of Ludhiana, Chaudhary grew up in Sundernagar near Chandigarh in Himachal Pradesh. Her mother was a home maker and her father was an engineer, a government officer with a transferable job. Though Chaudhary’s mother was not much educated, she and her father always encouraged her and her two siblings towards higher education. Her elder sister is a medical doctor in Canada, and her younger brother is an engineer-cum-financier in New York. Her father, being hard working, set an example for the children. In addition, the parents made them independent by giving them total freedom of thought. Chaudhary had always lived in houses designed by Pierre Jeanneret, who was part of Corbusier’s team in designing the city of Chandigarh. Though she could not fully understand it at the time, she found her relatives’ houses lacking this ‘design’ quality. Even her high school was designed by Pierre Jeanneret. Besides these experiences, her fascination with drawings and an inspiration from within made her join the CCA in 1988. She had topped the HSC board exams in the three states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh with 97%. Chaudhary, being a small town girl, found the adjustments at the liberal campus of CCA as well as in the urban lifestyle of Chandigarh enormous for the first couple of years. However, being very sincere and hard working, she took all her submissions seriously, winning over the teachers. Almost 45% of students in her class were girls. She became a loner in school as she was not comfortable mixing with the boys on one hand, and on the other, most girls were rather not pleased with her success in college. Chaudhary studied with the help of a scholarship for all five years and also worked part-time to fund her college fees. She graduated from CCA in 1993 as a gold medalist. Chaudhary began her career as a research assistant in CCA itself, where she also worked on the college journal. After six years, she got restless about not being involved in design and joined the department of architecture in the Punjab government as an assistant architect. She got a lucky break from the very beginning as she was given two to three buildings to design on her own. Meanwhile, Chaudhary had an arranged marriage to Rajan Dhingra, an electronics engineer, in 1997. Her only child, a daughter, was born in 1998. Being very ambitious and determined, Chaudhary pursued two degrees as evening programmes: master’s in history of art and town planning. Later, she also did a postgraduate diploma in environmental education from the Kurukshetra University in Haryana. She got support from her in-laws as she lived in a joint family at that time. In spite of the busy schedule, Chaudhary occasionally worked on private competition projects during off hours with a leading firm in Chandigarh. Her experience from 2000 to 2006 in the Department of Architecture, Punjab, gave her tremendous confidence in spite of undergoing the stress of managing a balance between her personal and professional life. In 2006, Chaudhary moved to the Housing Board of Haryana State, the appointment being another turning point in her professional development. Having been educated and having lived in Chandigarh for more than 25 years, its ideology and architecture have influenced her about the function of spaces and their interrelationships. Many of the houses and health care projects designed by Jane Drew have also had an impact on

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Chaudhary’s design methods because of their simplicity. On the other hand, she also draws inspiration from the Sikh architecture of the region, often keeping the social and cultural values of the people in mind. Most important, Chaudhary has taken a lead role in looking into the contemporary issues of sustainability. She has also received Runners Up State Level Energy Conservation Award 2010 from the Punjab government. The notions of modernism seem writ large on most of Chaudhary’s work that has a distinct formal clarity, attempting at times to break away its bonds. Her buildings realize notions of simplicity and cost efficiency, and at the same time, her design approach is innovative as well as humane. She finds her architectural and aesthetic challenges in the non-traditional government projects. Though Chaudhary states that empowerment as a woman has not been an issue with her in her career, she admits that it was hard for her to establish her authority over male engineers in the department at Haryana. She had to struggle with those issues for at least the first three years. However, having a considerate IAS officer as her boss helped her establish authority in the department. Feminist ideology, for her, is sometimes strength and sometimes a weakness. Some male colleagues, who respect women professionals, value her opinions and proposals. But sometimes male chauvinism comes in the way. Chaudhary laments the fact that many women professionals are not serious about their work or the fact that some pull other women down out of jealousy. Chaudhary has been involved in a first-time project of developing rural housing in Haryana. Though no one says anything, she gets a sense of non-acceptance as a woman in rural Haryana, which is very conservative. However, she marches ahead with her work, brushing these feelings aside. In fact, Chaudhary feels that her feminine sensitivity towards housing design has helped her in places where careful detailing has added value to the functionality of the houses. While designing and constructing homes in the villages, she has had a great rapport with the women in contrast to the male engineers who usually deal with them. Chaudhary has a multidimensional personality and defies the typical ‘government’ persona. She is active in the Indian Institute of Architects, Chandigarh Chapter, where she has held different positions and has organized many conferences. She is a prolific writer and is widely published nationally and internationally. Her research focuses on Chandigarh, housing and sustainability in architecture. Chaudhary has been invited by various television/radio channels to deliver talks and interviews on diverse issues regarding the built environment. She was a weekly columnist on ‘Design’ for the Daily Post, a national daily newspaper. In addition, she has been on the jury panel of various competitions and examinations of departments of architecture. She has also worked as co-convener and co-editor of conference proceedings of ‘Urbanism and Green Architecture’ held at NIT, Hamirpur, in 2010 and ‘Contemporary Architecture: Beyond Corbusierism’ held in Chandigarh in 2011. She has won many awards over the years, and her work has been exhibited in India and in Singapore. Her dream is to start an NGO for economically backward people to involve them in the housing decisions, especially the women.

Archana Chaudhary projects Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, Khatkar Kalan, Punjab, 2005 The project is a green tribute to the martyr Bhagat Singh built as an extension of his ancestral house, a modest abode built of nanakshahi (decorated bricks used in Mughal era) bricks, in his

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native village. It is now a protected monument that houses rare exhibits, furniture and his clothing. The park was merged with the total surroundings by creating stepped terraces after relocating some small existing structures. A low-height concrete jali punctuated by ornate columns hides the structures on one side of the park, thus forming an enclosure. The larger part of the land, which was closer to the house, was designed as a formal, passive area and the smaller one designed for parking, public conveniences, kiosks, seating and children’s play area. The topography of the site was used to create terraces at different levels approached by wide steps and a comfortable ramp. The upper and lower levels were integrated by providing landscaped green grass on sloping ground all around. The main feature of the park is the colourful water fountain, which has a cascading effect forming a visual axis with the ancestral house. The colonnade at the entrance creates a spectacular look. The floral flooring pattern is symbolic of paying tribute to the martyr. It is constructed in red sandstone and has a stone grit finish. An open-air seating carved out of the slope has been planned in its proximity to allow people to enjoy the entire setting.

Plate 34.2  Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, master plan Drawing courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

Plate 34.3  Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, view of the house Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

Plate 34.4  Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, ramp from the plaza Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

Plate 34.5  Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, view from the plaza Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

Plate 34.6  Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, details in the landscape

Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

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Red sandstone, concrete and grit have been used for the pavements and pathways, in contrast to the green grass. Its micro-climate has been enriched by creating a screen of tall evergreen trees, and colonnade, grass, shrubs and jalis on the upper level form a backdrop. Meticulous lighting in the park enhances the entire landscape. Since the site is low-lying, a special treatment has been incorporated to harvest rainwater, thus providing water for the entire area. The architectural team consists of S. L. Kaushal, Sumit Kaur and Archana.

Judicial Academy, Chandigarh, 2009 Spread over 8.5 acres, the Chandigarh Judicial Academy has an academic as well as residential blocks. The academic block is a five-storeyed building, accommodating lecture halls, a conference room,

Plate 34.7  Judicial Academy, site plan Drawing courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

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tea room, computer room and research wing as well as offices of senior faculty members and staff. The residential block is a four-storeyed building, including a gymnasium, dining room and cafeteria. The client’s brief was to design a state-of-the-art building with modern facilities within the constraints of the strict zoning by-laws of Chandigarh, which was a challenge. The building was segregated into two phases. The first building was planned on the rear so that the empty front can act as a green buffer to ameliorate the micro-climate. A fixed structural grid has been adopted for the entire complex, which adds to its cost control. Both the blocks have been planned around a central courtyard, most suitable for the composite climate of Chandigarh. The water body in the academic block and a swimming pool in the residential block are natural cooling and ventilation shafts. Moreover, the windows are well protected from the harsh sun. High ceilings, verandahs, double-height terraces and white plastered

Plate 34.8  Judicial Academy, first floor plan Drawing courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

Plate 34.9  Judicial Academy, entrance Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

Plate 34.10  Judicial Academy, court within the academic block

Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

Plate 34.11  Judicial Academy, detail of the ramp in the interior

Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

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Plate 34.12  Judicial Academy, residential block

Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary

surfaces in the interiors add to the energy-efficient features. A rooftop and ground rainwater harvesting system has also been installed. The vaulted porch at the entrance is grand, with separate entries for the judges and the public. The exterior is clad in Dholpur and red sandstone, giving it a magnificent look. The entire complex is interlinked with covered corridors with ramps for the disabled. The other architects who worked on the project from the Department of Architecture, Punjab, were S. L. Kaushal and Sumit Kaur.

35 Shilpa Ranade (1973–)

Plate 35.1  Shilpa Ranade Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

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Born in Mumbai, Shilpa Ranade grew up in Ahmedabad. Her father, an electrical engineer from IIT Mumbai, worked as a computer engineer, while her mother, a science graduate, conducted private tuition classes. Her only brother is involved in the field of water resource management. Growing up in the particular cultural milieu of a middle-class Maharashtrian Brahmin family, it was taken for granted that she would pursue higher education. Ranade recalls that both her grandmothers, although they did not have a high formal education, were extremely independent, strong-willed women and were an inspiration to her.

Ranade sort of wandered into the field of architecture when she joined the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) University in Ahmedabad in 1990. It was a hop away from home and did not ask for a great HSC score, and her mother, who had once wanted to be an architect, seemed to think it was a great idea. Her first couple of years passed in kind of a daze while she learnt to negotiate the new culture of the campus. Though she did well academically and enjoyed herself while working, she did not have a grip on architecture. It was only sometime in the third year of her undergraduate studies – when she began to reflect and write about architecture – that she got a hang of things around her. Living independently, away from the protected environment of her family during her training at Edgar Demello’s office in Bengaluru, was another turning point. She loved the discipline as well as the freedom of working in an office. Her subsequent fellowship to ETH in the city of Zurich, Switzerland, as an exchange student from CEPT in 1994 furthered her independent thinking. After graduation, Ranade worked in Mumbai with Rahul Mehrotra and Associates first as an associate editor of the South Asian volume in the series, World Architecture 1900–2000: A Critical Mosaic, and then as an architect on design projects. Not being quite satisfied with her understanding of material culture, in 2001 Ranade decided to go to the University of Arizona in Tucson to pursue her master’s in cultural studies. Moving into an intensive theory-reading-writing focused programme in a completely new field was very challenging, but after the initial months she thrived in the new interdisciplinary learning environment. During her graduate studies, she read a lot of feminist writers who operated from a position of strength rather than seeing women as victims, and that really changed the way she looked at women’s issues. The idea that feminism could be practised with a sense of humour, that it need not have simplistic women versus men discourse and that there was joy in the comradeship of other women appealed to her. Her master’s thesis dealt with the subject of gender and Hindu nationalism. Ranade returned to Mumbai in 2003 and got married to her batchmate from CEPT, Quaid Doongerwala, soon after. They also started their joint architectural practice called DCOOP Architects in the same year, even as Ranade got involved with a major research project on gender and the public spaces in Mumbai with colleagues Shilpa Phadke and Sameera Khan. This seminal project was conducted under the aegis of Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research, a Mumbai-based research-focused NGO. One of the outcomes of this research was a book titled Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets by Penguin India in 2011. Ranade and Doongerwala have a small design-centred practice, where their portfolio of work ranges from product design to institutional architecture. While being rooted in their modernist education, their approach to design attempts to dwell on the contingencies of every project to

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make it contextual in the deepest sense of the word. Since 2008, Ranade has been handling separate assignments while being involved part-time with DCOOP, and now she works out of home on her own projects which span design, research and writing. Ranade feels that the very modernist inclination of her education was an asset in the rigour and passion it imparted in approaching architecture. On the other hand, it was a limitation because of its totalitarian singular approach to design and society. She says, ‘As a woman, I find that my approach to architecture is less single-focused than that of my male colleagues. I find myself drawn towards the supposedly “peripheral” issues of architecture such as its social and environmental impact.’ She believes that every project presents its own unique set of issues and the design is an attempt at finding an appropriate solution to these, yet one that is expressed through poetry rather than prose. Design for Ranade ‘is the attempt to reach for timelessness while wallowing in the contingencies of the present’. Ranade states that being an architect is just one part of her self-definition. She has been involved in several activities besides designing. She is interested in ecology and botany. Her writings on architecture and on gendered spaces have been published in various books, academic journals and professional magazines. She has taught architecture and humanities courses at various colleges in Mumbai and at CEPT University in Ahmedabad. She is very clear that the architect is just one among the many people who make the act of building possible, and she feels that the design/building processes ought to include practitioners of other disciplines. It has been an ongoing struggle for Ranade to balance the sometimes contradictory ideological leanings of her various cross-disciplinary interests – design, research, ecology and writing. It is only recently that she is getting to a comfortable place and hopes to achieve a more seamless flow between these activities. Ranade calls herself a feminist. Although her parents were fairly liberal in their outlook and supported her in whatever she wanted to do in life, she recognizes that the usual conditioning as a woman – to walk, talk and behave in a certain way – was part of her growing up. She acknowledges that the women’s movement/feminism helped her articulate what appeared at first personal issues as larger social problems, empowering her to deal with them with a greater sense of awareness, such as the difference in the experiences of men and women architects. She has faced situations until recently where she was not given due acknowledgement as compared to her male counterparts. Surprisingly she has found more prejudice in the architectural community, than among clients or contractors although it exists even there. Besides her own experience, she has heard/ read enough stories from other women architects – friends, acquaintances and even superstars like Zaha Hadid – to believe that women still do have a tougher time proving themselves as compared to men. She personally feels that it is important for experienced women architects to claim their gender identity and speak about the challenges they faced along the way so that younger women entering the field do not feel the isolation that her generation sometimes experienced.

Shilpa Ranade projects Generator House Siddheegram, Veraval, 2007 This building houses six mammoth diesel generators for a cement manufacturing plant in Gujarat. The generators, as well as the electrical, mechanical and electronic equipment, and

Plate 35.2  Generator House, plan Drawing courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

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Plate 35.3  Generator House, elevation Drawing courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

the cooling and ventilation systems were predetermined, which made the initial requirements of the project clear. The involvement of vaastu consultants clarified its functional organization. So, with the innards in place, the skin had to be re-imagined. The challenge then was to negotiate between the mundane and the supernatural to create an architecture with its own identity. In order to scale the box that houses mammoth machinery down to human proportions, it was decided to design the areas that house human activities differently in volume, materials and scale. The knotty bulbous form of the entrance foyer expresses the junction between the human and the machine areas and acts as a counterpoint before one enters the hard fuming space of the generators. The main shed is the largest volume in the building. Galvanium sheets make up its enclosure, and its roof is articulated as a sweep making the mass look much lighter. The lowest (service) level of the shed is pulled out to create a podium in the front that breaks the massiveness of the block.

Plate 35.4  Generator House, juxtaposition of warm aggregate finish against industrial galvalium Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

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Plate 35.5  Generator House, ramp leading up to the podium Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

The main facade, literally a skin that encloses the generators, is explored as a generative system based on construction rather than as a singular composition. There is an abstract system for the fenestrations where the modular size of the windows is fixed, their final positions determined on site by the positions of structural members and other details, creating the apparently random staggers. This building is an exploration in working with open-ended nature of industrial construction. Its success lies in its negotiation of these limitations and a creative intervention towards making it more human – aesthetically and functionally – while celebrating its sensorial aspect.

School of Sciences, Cudappah, Andhra Pradesh, 2008 The School of Sciences is part of a larger 420-acre campus plan designed by the architects for a postgraduate university. The grand double-height entrance lobbies, the maze-like movements punctuated with light courts, the corridors with light filtering in through concrete screens and the flowing terraces on the first level make it an enigmatically layered event. While the solemn

Plate 35.6  Generator House, detail Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

Plate 35.7  Generator House, inside the bulbous form of the foyer Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

Plate 35.8  School of Sciences, plan Drawing courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

Plate 35.9  School of Sciences, the formal entrance at the north Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

Plate 35.10  School of Sciences, the south facade acts as an environmental buffer

Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

Shilpa Ranade  |  387 

Plate 35.11  School of Sciences, one of the multiple courts with a seminar hall to its left

Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

front of the structure conveys the image of serious academic pursuit, the building itself is centred around its users – faculty and students. From small alcove seats to halls and large courtyards, it offers variously scaled spaces for them. The School of Sciences has been designed to house multiple postgraduate departments of science with their mix of teaching and research facilities, with an inherent flexibility to adapt to future changes. The design is based on a rigorous analysis of the programme where functions are categorized into flexible or specific. A key stimulus has been the reinterpretation of thematic elements of traditional Indian architecture such as the jali, the courtyard and vast columnar halls. They stand as examples of a sensitive and tested response to context and climate. The building rests on four organizational strategies: the FINGER, the PLUG, the STACK and the SPINE. The FINGER is made up of modular bays that house the labs and classrooms with service ducts. The FINGER’s orientation responds climatically to the context with minimum exposure to east-west radiation, natural north lighting for all workspaces and a south facade buffered by movement corridors with screens. Four such FINGERs are held together by three PLUGs housing

388  |  Contemporary practices

Plate 35.12  School of Sciences, the ‘spine’ space within dappled light

Photo courtesy of Shilpa Ranade

more specific functions such as faculty rooms, libraries and administration offices. The STACKs house the main services – staircases, toilets and lift blocks connecting the vertical and horizontal movements. Tying the entire group together is a movement SPINE with its vast halls of massive diamond ‘columns’ and an eccentric waffle slab.

Part V

Towards conclusions

E

conomic, political, social and professional changes in the past 25 years have profoundly altered the lives, education and practices of the emerging generations of architects. By highlighting the role of women, frequently erased from architectural histories, this publication contributes to the existing writings on 20th- and 21st-century architecture in India by bringing their contribution back into the narrative. Making women ‘visible’ also implies rethinking South Asian modernism through the lens of architectural production. This study has viewed gendered dimensions of architectural training and production by locating them within the social context of modern and contemporary South Asia – a context that shaped gender roles and was also transformed by them. Because women are commissioned to do different projects, the works illustrated in this study vary from a ‘traditional’ architectural survey text, especially as this volume represents the day-to-day work of women architects in addition to the grandiose, spectacular projects often highlighted in standard monographs and survey volumes featuring the work of male architects. The case studies in this book bring forth a tremendous breadth of accomplishments as well as a heterogeneity of design approaches and attitudes. Most of the women profiled here are products of postcolonial, modernizing society that has retained its traditional and patriarchal roots. They were the beneficiaries of political reform, the women’s movement and modernity during the second half of the 20th century. They were also part of the promotion and acceptance of modern architecture through the educational and professional processes. They have struggled to go beyond the limits of societal boundaries, some personally, some professionally or both, in order to reach a level of success and to develop their individual identity as they traversed a difficult path. Though this book by nature is rather descriptive and it is not easy to generalize, I venture to share a few social and professional observations and insights. With a few exceptions, most of the women profiled here belong to middle or upper strata of society, having been born into families that have an ethos of higher education and enjoy the privileges of class.1 These women’s upbringing, community standing, family background and connections are crucial to their professional growth in a direct or an indirect manner. Each of them received special encouragement from one of her liberal parents to develop her career, almost being a role model for her. In many cases, while the mother was a homemaker, the father has

392  |  Towards conclusions

been closer to the daughter, being very proud of her achievements. The culture, education and progressive outlook of grandparents also played a role in the women’s growth. However, no matter how supportive the families were, they had to overcome social restraints regarding educational tours, late-night ‘charrettes’ and gendered interactions. It is interesting to note that most women themselves have managed to have a family life with successful careers. The important turning points in their lives are joining architecture, at times also marriage and birth of a child. Although driven by their own passion, the families and husbands (of the married women) continue to be their main physical and moral support and strength. A majority of the women mentioned in the book (from all generations) are interested in and at times accomplished in other arts such as craft, dance, music, dramatics, painting, ceramics and even jewellery making and clothes design. In the 1960s and the 1970s, it was a strong tradition in the progressive upper-middle class in India to groom the girls into one or two of the arts or performing arts as a cultural norm along with their studies. This tradition is still somewhat prevalent at present in India. These hobbies and activities of child and adulthood have moulded these women’s multi-talented personalities and their self-esteem. They seem to draw an inspiration from these experiences, creating an indirect connection between their art form and their architecture. This book radically and productively redefines the notion of work in view of feminist rethinking by extending the boundaries of the definition of architectural work in an unconventional manner. I refer to creative and intellectual professional work, that is of course, apart from house work. The meaning of professional work in the careers of the women profiled here is plural and fluid. It begins with their practices that often encompass the diversity of interior design, planning, landscape and product or furniture design (sometimes even ceramics and farming) along with traditional architectural projects of varying scales (residential design to plans for entire cities) which involve mentoring and guiding large offices of architects and designers. For a few of them, in addition, it includes writing, design-related as well as pure research and academic involvement as important aspects of their professional identity. The women seem to move with fluidity within their multiple roles/activities and seem comfortable with the resultant identity, which needs to be recognized as their special strength and contribution to the field. Today there are more than 484 institutions teaching architectural courses in India.2 Though no statistics are available, an increasing number of qualified women join such institutions as teachers. This is a major area of future inquiry. It was found that a majority of the women profiled in this publication are connected with architectural education in a myriad of ways in spite of their busy practices. Beginning with the first generation, women mentioned here either are intensely involved in teaching design and theory courses (mostly as visiting faculty) or are connected with teaching pedagogy. They participate in design juries as invited members, deliver occasional lectures or conduct workshops. A few also get invited as judges for student competitions. The academic connection gives them opportunities to develop a different set of skills and to share their personal expertise with the younger generations. The school curricula, artwork done in conjunction with architecture and books published on Indian built environments included as projects represent this diversity of talent. A couple of the women architects profiled

Towards conclusions  |  393 

are, as exceptions, also activists in the field, coming from a feminist or an environmental movement as part of a collective action. Higher education, more often in the United States than Europe for many of the women, also impacted their production, sense of discipline and professionalism. This experience was important to them due to the accessibility and high commitment of the teachers, the academic environment and the open intellectual culture of the universities where they studied. The international exposure and connectivity was crucial for the development of their self-image. Majority of them lived overseas for a significant portion of their formative careers. A few continue to live partially both in India and in some other country. Several of the architects worked/lived in nonEuro-American locations in the global South during their professional careers. This transnational element brought a sense of confidence to them. A master’s degree also gave them a professional respectability, especially in the eyes of the clients, when they began their practice after returning to India. But above all, their identities and personalities had a hybrid nature, and they could negotiate comfortably between Eastern and Western values in their designs and other creative endeavours such as teaching and research. The women of the first generation were clearly influenced by Art Deco and pure modernism in the beginning, but they moved with the times, responding to the changing architectural styles, including critical regionalism. Many of the second-generation women in architecture were educated during the 1960s and the 1970s and were exposed to secular modernism during their formative years, which indirectly suggested a universal paradigm of creating architecture. Its direct and indirect impact is felt on their sensibilities, and their designs are often rooted in modernist aesthetics. A majority of these architects began their practice working for private clients, later moving on to larger public commissions. They have a unique amalgam of innate talent and acquired skills. The following can be concluded about their design approach. It is obvious that a singular search for an Indian identity does not exist; it is rather fragmented and takes multiple directions through cultural transfers and localization. Their extremely self-assured work expresses maturity and confidence as they gradually turn to alternate forms for appropriate models. Rather than directly copying Western solutions, they struggle to arrive at an Indian consciousness of design. For them, modernism is not universalized but is reframed as fundamentally transient and regionalized. As seen all over the world, modernity has a possibility of manifesting itself within the diverse cultural, contextual and ideological realities. Modernism is variously adopted, adapted and resisted by the architects profiled here. Their style and aesthetics range from being purely modernist to having absorbed elements of postmodernism, regionalism and, rarely, deconstructionism. Having been exposed to modernism through the profession and educational practices, its influence remains strong in their spatial organizations and planning layouts. Though the master narrative of some still adheres to it, most architects have moved beyond the formal dictates of rationalism and functionalism, seeking freedom from the rigidity of the modernist grid. These architects prefer to locate their designs in the contemporary ethos even when they refer to elements and forms of the past. As their work has evolved over time, it increasingly transcends

394  |  Towards conclusions

modernist banalities that often characterize ubiquitous design practices today. A few larger practices are definitely affected by global aesthetics and images. However, most of the women treat each project as unique, with a rather pragmatic approach to design, preferring to remain free to change and reinvent themselves rather than develop a consistent style as a mark of identity. The urban, social and financial contexts are important for them as they attempt to materialize the identity of a client and a site. A few are committed to heritage conservation, while others work passionately with sustainable issues in architecture. Most architects tend to subscribe to the trend of searching for a relevant architecture situated firmly within the ethos of its place and time. They attempt a dialogue with the locale and local history as they are concerned about place making. One also sees a predominance of the buildings broken down to smaller scales rather than designing a monolith structure. Thus, a few have nurtured more appropriate practices rooted in building traditions to meet contemporary needs, while others let the process of building evolve the aesthetics as far as possible. In many projects, inside and outside spaces interact with one another and merge into a continuous visual space. Having a preference for traditional materials like brick and stone, they create a play of textured surfaces and light; using colour compositions in design and incorporating decorative arts, often drawing from arts and crafts talent, are certain common design approaches. So are traits like sensitivity to labour, sophistication in materials and dexterity in blending buildings and landscaping. Thus, negotiating cultural sensibilities, they synthesize the client’s brief, contextual references and programmatic logistics, the designs becoming increasingly transnational in character. These women bring certain distinct advantages to the profession. They are generally not interested in playing the ‘hero’ but tend to have a broader vision of architecture, which makes them avoid bold or iconic statements, a hallmark of many successful male architects. Most of the architects seem to concentrate more on their work or personal fulfilment than fame and glory. They attempt to follow the collaborative model with a bottom-up and inclusive approach. Their emotional investment in their work is high. Team spirit is of critical importance in architecture, especially as designs and project management get more complex. These architects tend to share credits with the team. From interpersonal communication with clients, colleagues and collaborators to social and environmental causes, the solutions brought about reflect their concerns. Many tend to do pro bono, community-oriented work, especially for the marginalized people who have been left out of design considerations. They are often proactive in taking leading roles and responsibilities in larger social contexts, where they believe their ideas can make a difference. Collectively they have made and will continue to make a substantial and qualitative difference in the profession and its culture at large.

A final word A definite paradigm shift is observed as the Indian society begins to rediscover itself in the 21st century. There are social and professional conditions that are beneficial to women. There are newer prospects and opportunities in the field of architecture today. Women are more educated and ambitious than ever before with far greater awareness of their career paths. Younger women are freer in their movements and their thoughts; this has a lot to do with their sense of self-worth.

Towards conclusions  |  395 

They are beginning to delay marriage and having children for the sake of their professional growth. There have been many modifications in the societal structures. Travel has become easier for the single woman. Parents are now ready to send their daughters out of town to work before marriage; overall, there have been tremendous changes at the social, physical and infrastructural levels. It is time to rethink conventional approaches and established paradigms to go beyond male/female duality in dealing with history, theory, practice and education to meet the challenges of the 21st century. We need to have a supportive professional community, to develop an alternative model that combines professional and family life and to create more opportunities for women to embrace non-traditional modes of practice. It is beyond doubt that in the 21st century, women are set to reach excellence in the production of a vital contemporary architecture of India and to mark their new places in a rapidly changing societal landscape.

Notes 1 Studies have shown that in India professional class developed from upper-caste and higher socioeconomic class. See Liddle Joanna and Joshi Rama, Daughters of Independence: Gender, Caste and Class in India, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1976. 2 https://www.coa.gov.in/index1.php?&lang=1&level=0&linkid=7&lid=11 accessed on July 16, 2016.

Appendix

The book will have a sense of incompletion if I failed to mention two non-Indian architects

who were crucial in the development of modern architecture in the subcontinent. One is the British architect Dame Jane Drew (1911–96), whose work in West Africa and India had won her immense fame and honour in the international world. The other is Minnette de Silva (1918–98) of Sri Lanka.

Dame Jane Drew (1911–96)

Plate A.1  Dame Jane Drew

Photo courtesy of Jon Lang

Appendix  |  397 

Jane Drew was a modernist architect and an urban planner from England. She qualified at the

Architectural Association in London in 1934 and then had difficulty finding employment in an office as a woman. So she formed her own practice in 1939.1 Prior to World War II she became one of the leading exponents of the Modern Movement. Drew was a prolific practitioner, a writer, an exhibition-designer and a teacher; in short, she was a woman of great achievement throughout her long career.2 She was influenced by MARS group and also CIAM. She got married to architect Maxwell Fry in 1942 and then had a joint practice with him in London. She was active during and after World War II, designing social and public housing in England, West Africa, India and Iran, showing sensitivity to local housing needs and suggesting simple improvements that cost little. Drew, along with Fry, also set up the first Tropical Architecture School with the Architectural Association in London and was given the title ‘Dame’ by the Queen of England.3 From 1951 to 54, she worked as senior architect at Chandigarh, the new capital of Punjab, supervising construction work for Le Corbusier as well as designing her own projects such as the Government College for Women and the Government Higher Secondary School. She was

Plate A.2  Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh, by Dame Jane Drew

Photo courtesy of Archana Chaudhary.

398  | Appendix

responsible for the recruitment and training of all Indian staff.4 She worked with Maxwell Fry and Pierre Jeanneret on much of the housing as well as schools, shopping centres and other civic structures. Le Corbusier left most of the design to Jane Fry and Jeanneret, with a collaborative team of Indian architects on this vast project.5 Drew and Fry were concerned with the climate and building methods in India, though the architecture that evolved was very much international in character.6 They utilized the sun-sheltering properties of canopies and deep recesses in their houses. Their sector layout design was based on modern planning principles. In addition, they were sensitive to the inhabitants’ lifestyle, budget constraints, aesthetics and requirements of low maintenance. Drew paid careful attention to the harmony of design with the environment as well as landscape of low-cost housing schemes. She also experimented with proto types to finalize the housing. Though based on modernist principles, Drew’s work was rather contextual for her time. She was fully immersed into Indian culture within the framework of her education as a modern architect. Though research on Dame Jane Drew’s impact on Indian architects and architecture is yet to come out, I am sure she was a model of inspiration for them, at least in Chandigarh. Architect Urmila Eulie Chowdhury, profiled in this book, was her colleague.

Minnette de Silva (1918–98)7

Plate A.3  Minnette de Silva

Photo courtesy of Ashley Devos

Appendix  |  399 

The study of de Silva’s life reveals her to be an absolute rebel as well as a free and bold thinker. She had to struggle financially, physically and emotionally to study architecture, which she first did in India and later in England. Never having completed high school in Sri Lanka, she began learning about architecture by being an apprentice for the architectural firm of Mistry and Bhedwar in Mumbai in 1940. Then she studied at the Academy of Architecture and later at Sir J. J. from where she was expelled in 1942 for taking part in a student rally against Gandhi’s arrest by the British rulers. She completed her studies at the Architectural Association in England in 1948, where she was exposed to the world of progressive architecture and the propagation of modernism after the war. She returned to Sri Lanka in 1948 to set up an architectural practice in Kandy, her home town. In 1960 she left Sri Lanka for five years and called it her period of self-renewal. She spent this time travelling in Greece, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan and revisited India. After her return to her practice in Sri Lanka she got engaged in the design of a series of large tourist hotels. In 1975 de Silva went to Hong Kong to join the Department of Architecture, where she taught some pioneering courses in history of Asian architecture. Returning after spending five years in Hong Kong, in 1982 she designed the Kandy Art Centre and settled down to work in her hometown.8

Plate A.4  Senanayake Flats, Colombo, 1957

Photo courtesy of Ashley Devos

400  | Appendix

De Silva was an internationally recognized architect and a pioneer of the modern architecture in Sri Lanka. She was not only the first Sri Lankan woman to be trained as an architect but was also the first South Asian woman to be elected a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. She was a fellow of Sri Lankan Institute of Architects and won its gold medal in 1997.9 De Silva was a multi-talented personality, being a good sketcher and a weaver. She had edited the early issues of MARG in India. She had travelled extensively and had interacted with the leading architects of the 20th century in the world such as Le Corbusier, Königsberger, Jane Drew and Homi Bhabha. She had worked with Le Corbusier, who later became a friend and a mentor to her.10 De Silva was conscious of the sensitivity of vernacular Sinhalese architecture towards the natural landscape and its intimate relations to buildings. In her designs, de Silva attempted a synthesis of the traditional and modern influences as opposed to what she perceived as creating a second-hand veneer of modernism. In order to discover an indigenous contemporary expression, she strove to respond to climate, topography and nature. While experimenting with RCC, she tried to integrate the architect, craftsman and the artist together. Her buildings had to evolve out of social needs and regional context and had to carry the Sri Lankan sense of aesthetics. She reinvigorated traditional materials, landscapes and building typologies with modern forms and endowed the contemporary with a historical memory.11 In a hot humid island, de Silva’s use of courtyards and her composition of freely flowing inside/ outside spaces responded to the tropical climate as well as the living patterns of the users. De Silva reinterpreted indigenous methods of construction in Sri Lanka and explored different textures through the use of stone, wood and brick, including experimenting with rammed earth for housing. From the outset, she insisted on the importance of incorporating the rich local tradition of arts and crafts into her buildings. She made a point of commissioning local potters, tile-makers and artists, and taught herself weaving in order to instruct craftsmen in the making of woven panels to divide rooms and cover ceilings.12

De Silva paid special attention to detailing and to the making of elements like the jalis/screens and sliding doors. Her buildings were integrated with the landscape and the garden at different levels.13 In fact, her work, in many ways, fell in the category of regional architecture. In many ways, she was ahead of her times. She was a true trailblazer for women in architecture in Sri Lanka and Asia.14

Notes 1 ‘Plainspeaking from Croydon to Chandigarh’, interviewed by Emily Green, http://chanceofrain.com/ wp-content/uploads/2009/04/jane-drew-interview.htm accessed on 31 July 2013. 2 Clare Lorenz, Women in Architecture: A Contemporary Perspective, New York: Rizzoli, 1990, p. 30. 3 International Archive of Women in Architecture, Virginia Tech University. 4 Clare, Women in Architecture. 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Drew, accessed in May 2015.

Appendix  |  401  6 Jon Lang, Madhavi Desai and Miki Desai, Architecture and Independence: The Search for Identity, India 1880 to 1980, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 218. 7 Both the photos are from the book by Minnette de Silva, Ashley de Vos and S. Sirivardana (eds), Minnette de Silva: The Life and Work of an Asian Woman Architect, Kandy: De Silva Trust, 1998. 8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnette_De_Silva, accessed in April 2015. 9 Ashley de Vos in B. Somaya and U. Mehta, An Emancipated Place, Mumbai: The HECAR Foundation, 2000, pp. 28–34. 10 It is important to note here that Minnette de Silva’s work is not well known in the subcontinent. It is only in the past few years that scholars have begun to pay attention to her. 11 De Silva, de Vos and Sirivardana, Minnette de Silva. 12 Sarah Howell, ‘Palace Revolution’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2000/may/01/artsfeatures1, accessed in April 2015. 13 De Silva, de Vos and Sirivardana, Minnette de Silva, p. 158. 14 I am aware that I am not covering other women in architecture from the subcontinent such as Yasmeen Lari of Pakistan as it is beyond the scope of this book, and there are no secondary publications existing to the best of my knowledge. But I do hope that this publication will inspire others to study women in architecture in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

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Interviews Mr Amar Rajinder Singh, Chandigarh, 25 March 2010. Mr Dasharath Patel, Ahmedabad, 9 March 2007. Mr Dileep Purohit, Mumbai, 25 February 2006. Mr Kamal Mangaldas, Ahmedabad, 13 March 2008. Mr Himanshu Burte, Ahmedabad, 21 July 2010. Mr Prithviraj Luthra, Chandigarh, 24 March 2010. Mr Rumi Shroff, Mumbai (shared by Dr Mary Woods). Mr Shirish Patel, Mumbai, 4 February 2008 (shared by Dr Mary Woods). Ms Brinda Somaya, Mumbai, 12 December 2003 (shared by Dr Mary Woods). Ms Minakshi Mani Amundsen, Ithaca, New York, 25 June 2010 (by email). Ms Neera Adarkar, Mumbai, 25 February 2006. Ms Neera and Mr Arvind Adarkar, 12 December 2002 (shared by Dr Mary Woods). Ms Vandana Ranjitsinh, Mumbai, 29 January 2009. Prof. M. P. Ranjan, Ahmedabad, 3 July 2009. Prof. R. J. Vasavada, Ahmedabad, 29 June 2010.

Web references ‘Chitra Vishwanath Architects’, http://www.earth-auroville.com/maintenance/uploaded_pics/03b-chitravishwanath.pdf, accessed in 2012. http://www.treehugger.com/culture/the-th-interview-chitra-k-vishwanath-earth-architect.html, accessed in 2012.

Index Adarkar, Neera 126 – 35; early life 127; education 127; projects 129 – 35; women’s movement and 127 Alliance Francaise, Ahmedabad 253 – 6; architects: independent 190; modernist 127, 397; practising 3, 128, 345 architect’s office 10, 80, 98 Architectural Association in London 397 architectural conservation 39 – 40, 87, 158 – 9, 163, 300 – 1,  311 architectural conservation education curriculum 163 – 6 architectural education 7, 15, 32 – 3, 68, 77, 108, 179, 213, 367, 392 architectural euphoria 27 architectural histories 11, 35, 391 architectural practice 13, 33, 37 – 8, 40, 109, 117, 128, 137, 179, 247, 281, 358, 399 architectural profession 3, 9, 37, 39 architectural projects 14, 37, 180, 247, 258, 269, 311 architecture 3, 5 – 9, 11 – 15, 32 – 3, 77, 86 – 7, 125, 127, 158, 213 – 14, 268 – 9, 280 – 1, 367 – 8, 378 – 9, 392 – 5, 398 – 400; discipline of 5, 32, 41; school of 28, 75, 87, 148, 201, 214, 258, 345 Architecture League of New York 348 Architecture of the Indian Desert (2000) 87 Art Deco 23 Aste Bar, Bengaluru 99 – 102 Auroville 37, 40, 179, 235, 237 – 8, 241, 244 – 5, 259, 311 – 12, 318, 334 – 6,  339 Ayer, Suhasini 234 – 45; early life 235; education 235; projects 237 – 45 Bauhaus rationalism 29 Bethel Baptist Church 347, 348 – 51 Bhadli Village School and Community Centre 119 – 22

Bhagwati, Sonali 224 – 33; design compositions 226; early life 225; education 225; projects 228 – 33 Bharath Tourist Home 325 – 8 BITS Pilani 357 buildings: apartment 211; designing 31, 60, 127; institutional 114 – 15, 202, 347; residential 202, 213, 256, 298 Bhiwandiwala, Ardeshir 48 Bhunga 4 Broacha House, Alibaug 285 – 8 canonical modernism 19 Cardiff University 357 Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) 87, 190 – 1, 201, 225, 247, 258, 334 – 5, 345, 378 – 9 Centre Guest House, Auroville 237 – 41 Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) 367; and architectural education 367 Chaudhary, Archana 366 – 76; early life 367; feminist ideology 368; research on Chandigarh 368 Chawls of Mumbai: Galleries of Life 134 – 5 Cholamandal Artists Village 185 – 8 Chowdhury, Urmila Eulie 33, 53 – 7; early life of 54; education and 55; Le Corbusier’s concepts and 54; positions held 54; projects 54 – 5 City palace complex, Udaipur, 2005 – 9 362 – 5 colonial era, legacy of 20 – 3 Conservation and adaptive reuse of Fort of Bambora 87 – 92 Conservation and revitalization of Gobindgarh Fort 302 – 5 conservation master plan (CMP) 362 – 3, 365 Conservation of Chanwar Palkiwalon ki Haveli, Amber 150 – 3 Conservation of Ranchhodlal Chhotalalni Haveli, Khadia 153 – 6

406  | Index conservation projects 87, 99, 118, 301, 357 Conservation Society Delhi (CSD) 158, 161 – 2 ‘Contemporary Architecture: Beyond Corbusierism’ 368 contemporary feminism 24 contemporary Indian architecture 68 contemporary practices 36 – 9 Context: Built, Living and Natural 357 Correa, Charles 346 cultural heritage 40, 118, 149, 153, 300 – 1, 303, 357 Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative (CRCI) 300, 305 Daily Post 368 DCOOP architects 378, 379 Delhi Public School 142 – 6 design: architectural 5, 137, 149, 311 – 12; architecture and urban 40, 180; contemporary 40, 138, 228 design approach 36, 108, 235, 358, 368, 391, 393 design process 108, 114, 191, 358 design projects 138, 378; interior 149, 248 Development and Research Organization for Nature, Arts and Heritage (DRONAH) 357 – 8 Dhingra, Rajan 367 Doongerwala, Quaid 378 Doshi, Balkrishna 346 Drew, Jane 367 empire-building 22 Esperanza apartments and row houses, Bengaluru 207 – 11 feminism: architecture and 9 – 12; concept of 9 Fort of Nagaur, Jodhpur 92 – 6 Forysth Lodge, Satpuda 263 – 6 Fountainhead Centre for Learning, Bamansure 195 – 9 Gandhi (Mahatma) 24 gated communities 352 Gateway, Tamnar 170 – 4 gender 3, 5 – 6, 11, 41 – 2, 109, 127 – 8, 236, 268, 281, 378, 395 Generator House Siddheegram, Veraval, 2007 379 – 83 Getty Foundation (US) 362

Ghat ki Guni, Jaipur, 1991 359 – 62 Golconde House 27 Grandiose modernist buildings 27 historic city of Delhi 161 – 3 Housing Board of Haryana State 367 India: architecture and women in 17, 20 – 7, 29 – 33, 36 – 42; architecture in 25, 33, 127, 146; modern architecture in 60; modernism in 30; women’s movement in 23, 281, 358 Indian architects 5, 29, 248, 335, 398 Indian Architecture, traditional 68, 387 Indian Cities in the Arid West (1994) 87 Indian culture 77, 398 Indian ethos 118, 179 Indian Heritage Cities Network Foundation 357 Indian Institute of Architects 33, 57, 368 Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode 139 – 42 Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) 149 – 50, 162, 214, 300, 357 INHS Asvini Hospital, Colaba 109 – 11 Jain, Minakshi 85 – 96; career 86; early life of 86; education 86; non-profit organization and 87; projects 87 – 96 Jain, Shikha: academic and 358; co-convener of INTACH 358; projects 359 – 65 Javeri Kadri, Shimul 268 – 78; early life 268; education 268; about feminism 269; projects 270 – 8 Jeanneret, Pierre 367 Judicial Academy, Chandigarh 372 – 6 Kahn, Louis 27 Kamath, Revathi 167 – 77; early life 168; education 168; projects 170 – 7 Kaur, Sumit 372, 376 Kaushal, S. L. 372, 376 Khan, Sameera 378 Kirtidev Chinubhai Trust (KCT) 153 Koolhaas, Rem 346 Kurukshetra University 367 landscape design 238, 269, 281 liberalization 30 – 2

Index  |  407  Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) 77, 86 Maharana Mewar Charitable Foundation 357 – 8 Maherangarh Museum Trust 93 Mani, Meena 136 – 46; early life 137; education 137; projects 139 – 46 Mani Ratnam and Suhasini’s residence, Kodaikanal 215 – 19 Manubhai Zaveri’s residence, Ahmedabad 249 – 52 Mariwalla House, Alibaug 282 – 4 master architect 27, 202 master plan 108, 111, 125, 169 Mathew, Nisha 39, 344 – 55; early life 344; projects 348 – 55 Max Mueller Bhavan 347 meditation space 339, 342 – 3 Mehta, Pravina 33, 65 – 9; early life of 65; education 68; innovative and visionary thinker 65; preoccupation 67; projects 65 ‘Memories of Le Corbusier’ (Chowdhury) 57 Menon, A.G.K. 357 – 8 Mewar Charitable Foundation 362 Minja, Yang 358 Mistri, Perin Jamshedji 33, 47 – 52; early life of 48; education 48; projects 48 – 52 Mistry, Renu 97 – 105; career 98; early life of 98; projects 98, 99 – 105 modern aesthetics 19 modern architecture 39, 59 – 60, 62, 391, 396, 400 modernism 14, 17, 19 – 27, 29 – 33, 35 – 42, 68, 127 – 8, 137, 190 – 1, 214, 311, 335, 346, 393, 399 – 400; British Raj and 20 modernist architecture 27, 35, 75, 300; in Nehruvian India 27 – 9 modernity 19 modernization 27, 29, 38 multiple identities 41 – 2 Museum of Tribal Heritage, Bhopal 175 – 7 Nalanda International School, Vadodara 122 – 5 National Institute of Design (NID) 59 – 61, 86,  190 National Military Martyrs Memorial 347 Naval Academy, Ezhimala 111 – 15 Nirvana, Bengaluru 273 – 8 NIT, Hamirpur 368 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) 368, 378

Office Project, New Delhi 228 – 30 One Hundred Years One Hundred Voices: The Millworkers of Girangaon: An Oral History 134 Our Native Village, Hesserghatta 259 – 63 Paediatric Ward, Cancer Institute 219 – 23 Patel, Canna 37, 246 – 56; early life 247; education 247; projects 249 – 56 Patel, Hema 35, 76 – 8; early life 77; education 77; projects and position held 77 – 8 Penguin India 378 Phadke, Shilpa 378 post-economic liberalization 31 Prakash, Bhagwat 365 Quit India Movement 24 Rajendranagar slum 295 – 8 Raju Mahtani House 351 – 5 Ranade, Shilpa: CEPT University 378; early life 378; education and 378; projects 379 – 88 Ranjitsinh, Vandana 189 – 99; early life 190; education 190; modern regionalist 191; projects 192 – 9 Rathod, Samira 279 – 88; early life 280; education 280; projects 280, 282 – 8 Raymond, Antonin 27 regional manifestations 29 – 30 Rehabilitation of Rajendranagar slum 295 – 8 reinforced cement concrete (RCC) structures 50 religion 20, 23 – 4, 268, 298, 300 – 1 revitalization 96, 118, 302 – 5, 347, 361 RRM (radio resource management) 351 Salt Satyagraha 24 Samira Rathod Design Associates (SRDA)  280 Sankalia, Hema 70 – 5; career 75; early life of 71; education 71, 74 Sarabhai, Gira 35, 58 – 63; early life 59; projects 60 – 3 Sarin, Madhu 35, 79 – 81; early life of 80; education 77; projects 80 – 1 Sasken Corporate Office, Bengaluru 203 – 7 School of Architecture and Planning 179 – 80 Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Park, Khatkar Kalan 368 – 72

408  | Index Shankar, Sujatha 212 – 23; early life 213; education 213; national IIID-MK award 214; projects 215 – 23 Shilpa Architects 179, 184 – 5 Singh, Namita 106 – 15; early life 107; education 107; projects 108, 109 – 15 site plan 250, 260, 372 Somaya, Brinda 37 – 8, 66, 116 – 25; early life 117; education 117; method of design 118; projects 119 – 25 South Asian architecture 19 SPA (School of Planning and Architecture) 137, 158, 168 – 9, 235, 300, 357 SPAZZIO 225 – 6 Sri Prakash, Sheila 178 – 88; early life 179; education 179; projects 181 – 8 state-controlled industrialization 29 State Level Energy Conservation Award 2010 368 sustainability 37 – 40, 179 – 80, 258 – 9, 277, 281, 291, 324, 334, 368 Synergy Lifestyles, Karur 270 – 3 Switzerland 378 Thakur, Nalini 40, 157 – 66, 300; career 158 – 9; early life 158; education 158; projects 161 – 6 Thematic Space in Indian Architecture (2002) 87 ‘Third-World’ women’s movement 26 traditional materials 149 – 50, 394 UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) 357 University of Arizona 378 University of Kansas 357 urban design 19, 21, 40, 86 – 7, 138, 158, 180, 213, 225, 235 Urban Eco-community 318 – 21 Urbanism and Green Architecture 368 Urban Planning in the Third World: The Chandigarh Experiment 80

Varkey, Kurula 345 Vasavada, Ravindra 345 Vastu Kala Academy 357 Villa 87, Laughing Waters 102 – 5 Vishwanath, Chitra 40, 257 – 66; early life 258; education 258; projects 259 – 66 Visitors Centre, Auroville 241 – 5 Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets (2011) 378 women: and architectural conservation 39 – 40; and architectural education 32 – 3; in architectural practices 33 – 5; in architecture 3, 5, 9, 12 – 15, 32, 36 – 8, 42, 301, 400; and architecture in India 3 – 5; multiple identities 41 – 2; professional 26; and space 8 – 9; sustainability and 39 – 40; workingclass 24, 26 women architects 4 – 9, 11 – 14, 33, 37, 39 – 40, 48, 87, 180, 236, 379, 391 – 2; early 71 Women Architects and Modernism in India 11 Women Architects Forum (WAF) 3 women professionals 32, 38, 40, 51, 300, 368 women’s movement 9, 23 – 7, 36, 127, 281, 291, 358, 391 women students 32 World Architecture 1900 – 2000: A Critical Mosaic 378 World Architecture Congress 348 XS Pallava Heights, Chennai 181 – 5 Yagnik, Anjali 200 – 11; early life 201; education 201; projects 203 – 11 Young Architect Award 34 Yuva Centre, Navi Mumbai 129 – 33 Zaveri, Parul 147 – 56; early life 148; education 148; projects 150 – 6