Architecture in India

A G Krishna Menon is a senior architect, urban planner and conservation consultant based in Delhi. He is one of the eminent thinkers and writers in the country, and extensively written on education, practice and history. He is also the principal author of INTACH Charter of conservation.
 
Through the three-part podcast series, Menon introduces the listeners to the disunity of modernist ideas and local context in the form and space-making in architecture. Using the example of shopping complexes, AGK Menon, analyses the architectural failures and explores much the needed reforms in practice and education. He argues for heterogeneity in architectural response, accentuates and the braiding of the modernist ideas with the local context architecture.

A G Krishna Menon is a senior architect, urban planner and conservation consultant based in Delhi. He is one of the eminent thinkers and writers in the country, and extensively written on education, practice and history. He is also the principal author of INTACH Charter of conservation.
 
Through the three-part podcast series, Menon introduces the listeners to the disunity of modernist ideas and local context in the form and space-making in architecture. Using the example of shopping complexes, AGK Menon, analyses the architectural failures and explores much the needed reforms in practice and education. He argues for heterogeneity in architectural response, and accentuates the braiding of the modernist ideas with the local context architecture.

Sameep Padora, one of the noted architects in India, is the founder of Mumbai based studio, sP+a.  Along with practice, he is also involved in research on issues of urbanization and architecture in India through sPare, a research initiative. Sameep is one of the founding members of the Bandra Collective, an organization involved with the design of public spaces in Mumbai.

Through two of his projects, Jetavan and Maya Somaiya Library located in rural Maharashtra, Sameep Padora, in this podcast, questions entrenched notions of context and craft.  He argues for a value-based approach to understanding the region, a critical framework to rethink context and view craft as a function of its time.

Tapati Guha-Thakurta is one of the eminent art historians in the country.  Her work includes the fields of cultural history, history of art and visual studies. She has written widely on the themes of art, nationalism and modernity, monuments and museum practices.

In this podcast, Tapati takes the case of two embattled sites of contemporary India - Ayodhya and Bodh Gaya and brings to light how historical and archaeological monuments are radically recast through a series of institutional interventions and mediations.  In the first part, she takes us on a journey describing how Ayodhya underwent a change from a mosque to a demolished site to a site of contestation. In the second part, she talks up Bodh Gaya, a ruin that was remade into an archaeological monument, which too becomes a site of dispute.

Reference Resource: 

Background slides: Archaeology and the Monument

Prem Chandavarkar heads CnT Architects, a third-generation architectural firm based in Bangalore. Besides design practise at CnT, he extensively writes and lectures on architecture, urbanism, culture studies and education.

Prem Chandavarkar, talks about the fissures in disciplinary specialization caused by the lack of humanness in the professional deliberations. Critiquing modern-day architecture, he dwells on three central themes – to merit heritage without invoking the strictures of tradition; apathy towards the inhabiting subject; and, the importance of placing humanness at the core of an architecture project.

Annapurna Garimella is a designer and an architectural historian. Her body of work includes research on late medieval Indic architecture and the history and practices of vernacular art forms in India after Independence. Presently, her research focuses on architectural renovation in temples and post-independence pedagogy in art, design and architectural schools in India.

In this podcast, she maps the lineage and issues facing architectural pedagogy in India. In particular, she looks at the relation or the lack of it between architectural history and pedagogy touching upon three critical aspects - divide between theory and practice, the conduct of professional life inside and outside of the academy and the imagination of the traditional and the modern in student-architect’s learning experience.

Rajan Rawal heads the Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy, one of the internationally recognised research hubs on energy performance of buildings. His work and teaching include the areas of energy-efficient built environment, building physics, energy policy, energy modelling and simulations. Rajan is one of the few committed to promoting architectural science in education and practice.

In this podcast, Rajan Rawal introduces listeners to fundamental principles in climate-responsive building design and explains how an evaluation of a building should include energy and thermal performance. By taking various buildings designed by architects in India, he maps how architects have adopted multiple approaches to climate `responsiveness'. This podcast is narrated by Amanda Santiago.

Tapati Guha-Thakurta is one of the eminent art historians in the country.  Her work includes the fields of cultural history, history of art and visual studies. She has written widely on the themes of art, nationalism and modernity, monuments and museum practices.

In this podcast, Tapati takes the case of two embattled sites of contemporary India - Ayodhya and Bodh Gaya and brings to light how historical and archaeological monuments are radically recast through a series of institutional interventions and mediations.  In the first part, she takes us on a journey describing how Ayodhya underwent a change from a mosque to a demolished site to a site of contestation. In the second part, she talks up Bodh Gaya, a ruin that was remade into an archaeological monument, which too becomes a site of dispute.

Reference Resource: 

Background slides: Archaeology and the Monument

Sankalpa, teaches at CEPT University and his design studios are known for construction methods and modelling techniques.  He is one of the founding members of 'Thumbimpressions Collaborative' a collective that is involved in community-based construction initiatives and has rich experience in designing and building bamboo structures.

The podcast introduces the listeners to the fundamentals of bamboo construction, highlights the multi-functional nature of bamboo and the ways to use it in constructing simple as well as complex forms. He also talks about how innovative practices can be coupled with traditional methods, and, in the end, sums up with a brief comparison of bamboo to timber and steel construction.