The Elegant Architecture Design in the Contemporary Landscape, India

The post-Independence project of nation-building, after 1947, in the countries that are now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, was marked by architecture that was often influenced by the International Style, led by architects patronized by the newly formed sovereign states. The current exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, titled ‘The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985’, covers projects from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, noting that while the predominant mode of design in these parts of South Asia was defined by the principles of high modernism, there existed parallel design movements by architects who sought to utilize local materials, knowledge of indigenous craftsmanship, and motifs from precolonial culture.

Gandhi Memorial Museum, Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Kanchanjunga Apartments, Mumbai, Maharashtra

The United States Embassy Master Plan and Expansion

The Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls School, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

Tata Consultancy Services Banyan Park

Waterfront Clubhouse, Adisaptagram, West Bengal

Gallery House, Mithapukur More, West Bengal

Bandhan Training Centre, Shantiniketan, West Bengal

Happyworks - Working Pod, Newtown, Kolkata

Adisaptagram Workshop, Hugli-Chuchura, West Bengal

National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Arts I Gallery, New Delhi

Guest House - Centre for Human Genetics, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Full Fill Homes, Venice Biennale, Italy

Himalayan Mountain House, Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand 

The Riparian House, Karjat, Maharashtra

Huber House on a Stream, Alibaug, Maharashtra

Billion Bricks Homes

Swadhyay Reading Room, Lekawada, Gujarat

Shoonya House, Deesa, Gujarat

Arthshila Architecture & Design Library, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 

Swadhyay Reading Room, Lekawada, Gujarat

Shoonya House, Deesa, Gujarat

The Fishy Project Arthshila Architecture & Design Library, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 

Shoonya House, Deesa, Gujarat

For the past three decades, India’s architecture has been defined by the economic and socio-cultural shifts towards a robust market economy: rapid urbanization, densification, capitalistic development, and privatization.  Today, the state of architecture in India is characterized simultaneously by newer typologies, materials and technologies, and the critical question is how to deal with the edifices from its past.  This program seeks to look at the work of both the internationalist modernists as well as the more regionalist architects of the post-colonial period and explore the issues of public perception, preservation, legacy, along with the factors influencing architectural development in contemporary India.