Tag Archives: Modern Heritage

MODERN SOUTH ASIA | ACHYUT KANVINDE: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KANPUR 1959-1966

August 20, 2026 Matter Leave a comment

MODERN SOUTH ASIA
A Visual Archive of South Asia’s Modernist Heritage

The Modern South Asia (MSA) series is dedicated to exploring modern architecture of historic importance in South Asia through photography-based books. The series will focus on architecture from the 20^th century, designed and built by regional and international architects. Each book will provide the reader with an in-depth visual exploration of the architecture through contemporary photographs, architectural drawings, and newly commissioned writing by architects, thinkers, and academics.

The MSA series is edited and photographed by Randhir Singh. The project is supported and published by Arthshila Trust.

ACHYUT KANVINDE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KANPUR 1959-1966

Essay by Brinda Somaya and Alpa Sheth
Photographs by Randhir Singh

“Architect Achyut Kanvinde was a prominent figure in the world of Indian architecture from the mid-20^th century onwards. His architectural designs were characterized by a unique blend of modernist principles and a deep appreciation for the local context. Kanvinde’s philosophy emphasized the harmonious integration between architectural design and structural engineering. This essay explores his design qualities and philosophy through the lens of his iconic works at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur (IITK), particularly focusing on the academic core which includes the Library, the Faculty Building and the Lecture Hall Complex.

Alpa Sheth and I decided to structure this essay as a conversation. We began our discussions in the summer of 2023 (Part I) and were able to visit the campus in September. While Alpa had been to IITK prior to this, it was my first visit. Part II includes discussions we had while we were at IITK and also our conversations upon our return to Mumbai. I think the site visit was a very important decision because we needed to understand how the campus had survived, how it had changed and whether it was still relevant to the educational system of today. To experience this campus as an architect and a structural engineer, we echoed the importance that both disciplines jointly played in the formation of the buildings. The symbiotic relationship between architecture and structure is apparent, and these two elements of architecture must be read together as one entity. Credit must go to Kanvinde, Mahendra Raj, Damle and Phatak in this collaboration”.

—Brinda Somaya

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Frame Conclave, Modern Heritage

LE CORBUSIER AND M K GANDHI: AN UNLIKELY DIALOGUE

March 14, 2023 Matter Leave a comment

Riyaz Tayyibji

A Recorded Lecture from FRAME Conclave 2019: Modern Heritage

In this lecture, Riyaz Tayyibji speaks about a fictional conversation between M K Gandhi and Le Corbusier. Through the dialogue, he discusses their relationship with work and lifestyle, and their intimate connection with the inside and the outside.

Edited Transcript

Before I get to the two gentlemen that I would like to talk about today, a short note about the method I have used of juxtaposing two seemingly unrelated people together; this was a method that was first introduced to us as students of Prof. A.D. Raje, who would give students an exercise to imagine a conversation between, say Louis Kahn and Mimar Sinan at a coffee shop in Istanbul. This is certainly not a historian’s method; it is an architect’s method. An approach that would not only require the rigours of research to imagine the content of the conversation but would allow you to play with these ‘facts’ and their interpretations. In Raje’s exercise, the hypothetical context, the coffee shop was important. You had to define the hypothetical time in which the conversation was taking place. Somewhere in the process, it would emerge that this ‘hypothetical time’ was really a mirror of our own time.

Often the narrative of the present in which our history is written remains covert. One of the things that I enjoy about this method is that it ensures that the preoccupations of our own time are integrated into the narrative while always remaining explicit. Given the formality of our gathering today, I have chosen the form of a dialogue between one, Mr. M.K. Gandhi and another, Le Corbusier rather than a causal chat in a Byzantine café.

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Frame Conclave

GANDHI OF SPATIAL DELIGHT: THE CRITICAL PRACTICE OF LAURIE BAKER

June 6, 2022 Matter Leave a comment

Himanshu Burte

A Recorded Lecture from FRAME Conclave 2019: Modern Heritage

In this lecture, Dr Himanshu Burte speaks on the nature of Laurie Baker’s human-centric architectural practice; as an empiricist, environmentalist and extremely critical and creative practitioner.

Edited Transcript

So it is going to take a while for me to recover from one hour of Geoffrey Bawa and after this lush serenity, especially because I have to follow it up with an argument. But, I will go ahead and I am going to be talking about Laurie Baker. I have kept what I am saying fairly narrow and it is mainly in the form of a straight-on argument I am offering, and I am hoping that we can have a discussion afterwards, whenever we are scheduled. I have actually changed the title from what is published or what was originally given to it, because I actually took the title of my obituary for Baker, written just after he passed away and because of the resonance with yesterday’s discussion around Gandhi and Architecture.

I will begin by looking at the context, the objectives and the premises of what I have to say. To begin with, since this is about heritage and we are talking about Modern Heritage particularly, I approach heritage with the understanding that every map is really a plan. It just does not show you what is there, but it is a project. Heritage in that sense, I see as an exercise in constructing the future. By constructing the past in certain ways, by preserving certain memories and ascribing certain meanings to it, we are really constructing and doing the work of creating a future that we want. That I think extends to some extent to Prem‘s point, though I am sure he would not necessarily disagree with this. So, given that this is what is involved in thinking about heritage, it becomes very important to be conscious of our value positions and especially about the ethic of architecture, its politics, economics, the aesthetics and of course, the actual processes and practices that go into making the practice or the product itself.

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History, Modern Heritage, Research

Modern Heritage: Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur

July 2, 2021 Matter 1 Comment

CHARLES CORREA

Designed in 1986 by Charles Correa, the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur is of critical significance for the Post-Independence architecture of India. Imagined as a metaphysical echo of the city of Jaipur itself, the building represents Correa’s interest in the abstract, mythical dimensions of architecture and the power of their manifestation in a civic building.

Film and Text: Aman Amin
Analytical Drawings : Studio Matter; Plan of JKK traced over original.

A Point in the Universe

Programmed and built as a National Cultural Institution, the Jawahar Kala Kendra is a testament of the everyday in the City of Jaipur. Reinterpreted from Jai Singh’s plan for the Jaipur City, Correa’s manifestation allows for interpretation of the form and programme – inviting the people and the city to a familial occurring.

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Frame Conclave, Modern Heritage

Claiming Space/Designing Space: Women Architects in Modern India

March 8, 2021 Matter Leave a comment

Mary Norman Woods

A Recorded Lecture from FRAME Conclave 2019: Modern Heritage

In this lecture, Mary Norman Woods talks about women architects in post-independent India, and their role in Indian society. She also speaks at length about two prominent women architects from two different generations, and their illustrated body of work.

Edited Transcript

Exploring the different forms that architectural practice might take beyond the usual metrics of originality and innovation can complicate our understanding of modern heritage and its implications for contemporary practice.

Peggy Deamer, US architect, educator, and activist has argued that how architects practice is as important as what they design and build. Writing in 2018, Deamer put forth the proposition that “architecture cannot produce spaces of freedom — public spaces, healthy spaces, accessible spaces, affordable spaces, sensually liberating spaces — for the society architects presume to serve if they are produced in unfree circumstances such as unpaid labour, gender inequality, generational hegemony, unsustainable work hours, non-existence work-life balance, lack of collegiality or discipline, [and] crippling competition.” Her words remind me of a question that Ellen Perry Berkeley, another American architectural critic, writer, and educator, posed exactly four decades ago. Then, Berkeley wrote: “the real problem for a thoughtful woman is not whether she is accepted into the profession, but whether she wants to be accepted into the profession as it is now.”

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